Sarah Palin???

I have to say I can think of about...um...100,000 women I'd rather see as vice president. (Not to mention the men.) WTF???? (Not that I would consider voting Red in the first place.)

BTW, does anybody think it's weird (especially given the heating up of the old Cold War adversaries) that the Republican Party is Red??? (Apologies to any Reps that read my blog!)

Goal 52 - Walk home from the Library every work day for a week Get off at the Library bus stop instead of at home (habit)

My new bus stop - Main Street, across from the Library

This turned out to be such an unchallenging goal that I changed it! I was so tired and weak back when I was making my list, it seemed like a lot, I guess. Now that I'm exercising regularly, well, pfft.

The Library stop is like a block and a half away, and there's a zone change between that stop and the one in front of my building, so it costs 75 cents just to turn the corner onto my street. I started getting off at the Library last week, and so much enjoyed stretching my legs on the way home, even though I was really tired and it's uphill. Also it was really hot in the bus, and it's been quite cool outside here lately.

I decided to make it my default m.o. instead! Why not save 75 cents a trip? Especially since they keep raising the fares. (I should also make it a habit every week to count up the days and put that amount in savings.)

I would only break the rule for really bad weather, sickness, or late night. Or being in a mad rush to get home.

Speaking of being cool here lately--hey, it's August!!! Where's the heat??? I'm trying my best to get down to the pool (Goal 63 Swim in the pool every summer), but I can't swim in this weather; I can't stand being cold and wet. Fortunately the forecast is for it to warm up this weekend. Should be 87 on Sunday. That's going to have to be the day, because they close the pool after Labor Day. (My luck it will get suffocatingly hot then.)

Goal 59 - Write a Blog

Today is my one-month anniversary (mensiversary?). On July 28th I put up my first post, outlining my 101 Goals project. Being now qualified, I applied to be listed in the BlogHer directory.

Today I'm counting this goal as accomplished! It's been up for a month, I'm practically addicted to posting and bumming around with my favorite bloggers, and that's not likely to go away any time soon.

The blog also helps me so much keeping track of my goals! I'm so much more motivated to get things done, and it helps so much that people keep checking in on me! Thanks to all!

Goal Cloud

I thought it might be interesting to make a word cloud of my goals list. And it was!!!

Goal 45 - Weigh ≤130

Weigh-In!

I must be doing something right! Today I weighed 142.2, down from 146 last week. I've been very good about my exercise goal, so no doubt that helps, but I can't believe I paid no attention to food whatsoever--I remember having a Snickers at work on Friday, because I was severely disappointed with my lunch, and on Saturday having some of the greasiest Quiche Lorraine I've ever eaten.

Usually when I first start exercising my weight goes up--I think maybe because of muscle soreness or something, or maybe even a little muscle building. It must be the intervals!

Goal 54 - Visit the Dentist

Arrggghhh!! I buckled down and researched dentists today, and ended up with a dental appointment next week. One week from today!

I must explain: I have severe dentalphobia. One afternoon in the gym when I was eight I broke one of my front teeth on account of a girl I never liked very much barreling into me during a game of Flying Dutchman and knocking me down. What ensued during the following twelve hours was right out of your worst nightmare. And back then, dental science was not nearly as advanced as it is today. I know they knew about gas back then--they called it "laughing gas"--nobody thought about using it on me, probably because I was a very stoic youngster who had a mortal dread of making a scene. (I internalize everything.) I ended up (after what seemed like hours of drilling without benefit of anesthetic if I remember right) with an ugly metal cap on my front tooth, which some of my peers thought was way cool (though even "cool" was a word they didn't yet know in that definition). And then eventually with a more real-looking temporary crown that stayed on through my teens. Never will I forget that night at the dentist.

Anyway, I cannot now undergo even a routine cleaning without being gassed into oblivion.

It takes me a long time to "break in" a dentist. I had a really nice one in KY--I even got to the point where I could have a cleaning without gas, but then I moved to NYC. Then I almost had another one broken in, but he moved away, probably because of me. I had a habit of spouting copious tears while under treatment, and he found it a bit unnerving.

It's been way too long, so today I called around, and the first dentist I chose I made sure to ask about the gas, and they said "No way." What's up with that? I asked the receptionist if there was some reason for this, and she said I'd have to talk to the dentist, so I said, "Well, I'll get back to you." I found another dentist on the second call who had no problem with the nitrous, so I have an appointment in SEVEN DAYS! If it weren't for my Goals List I would never have called. And without the support of all you blog people I would probably chicken out. But I am going to be staunch about this. Don't want dentures! Vanity trumps dentalphobia.

Goal Management

So I finally got two goals in the green.

It occurred to me to wonder how I'm going to keep track of my progress. Let's see: 101 into 1001 is....um....(lower math always makes me nervous)...9.91. That means I have to accomplish a goal every nine or ten days, on average. (Is that right?)

Anyway, I was finding the spreadsheet I used to set up my goals very unwieldy when trying to sort out categories and progress, so I ended up constructing another database for it instead. I love building databases! Now I can pull up reports and stuff.

I've been at this 29 days, and I have 2 goals finished, with one due to mature in two days and another in five days. That's...um....:-P....four goals in 33 days. Let's see, four into 33, carry the two, add the square root of 33, that's one every eight days. So not bad!!!!

I need to add an automatic calculation to my database. Strange how I can do expressions and operators and calculations in Access just fine, but I have a real hard time just doing long division with pencil and paper. I tell myself it's just because I don't practice.

And I really need to replace that stupid piece of clip art with something of my own, don't I?