Day 229 - Beer Coaster Collection

#95 - Do Something with Coaster Collection - So I have collected a beer coaster for I would say about 80-90% of the bars that I have ever been to. I have coasters from Germany, France, Amsterdam, Key West, New Orleans, Hawaii and everywhere in between. I don't know how it started but everytime I walk into a bar I pick a couple up. Here are a couple of my favoites:


Kailua Kona, Hawaii

Key West, Florida

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Germany

Amsterdam

So getting to what I did: I was talking to my friend Pat and he was telling me how he was going through his old records and he sais he had them all on one wall. And the records just consumed the whole wall and he said it looked amazing. I told him that was an amazing idea and that I would be stealing it! I was cleaning and organizing the new diggs on Friday and I started the project. It took about 2hrs but it was def worth it. Some of them have fallen down already but I just replace the tape and stick them back up. Its pretty sweet I think. Come over and check it out for yourself.



I'll change the counter, cross it off the list and update the progress bar!

"YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH"

Day 224 - Night Caching / Ramen Noodles

#77 - Do 250 Geocaches: (59/250) now (61/250) - 24.4% Complete
Jordan, Teagan and I decided to do some night caching on Monday night. We left around 8:30 and after some research in the car for the right coordinates we made our way down the trail. Now I know what you are thinking... Not too smart! It actually wasn't that bad at this time and we found it after some searching. The not smart part came when we got greedy and went for another one that was further down the trail. Well it all worked out in the end. With the use of the flashlights on the iPhone and retracing our steps we found two caches in about 45 mins and we left the trail and got in the car a little after 9:15. It was pretty dark then, dark enough to use my high beams driving back... 2 caches closer!

So random thoughts:
Living on my own has really opened my eyes to how much things cost. I have also learned some things you might not think about regularly, or even at all. For instance...

#1 - In general, the more salt the product has in it, the cheaper it is... Example: Deli Cheese: $5.99/lb. Each-Slice-Individually-Wrapped-Cheese (yes that is the official name): 50% Higher Sodium 1.69/lb... same goes for cold cuts, chicken, and microwavable-meals.

#2 - I have also learned that the reason the cabinets and refrigerator are always stocked is because my mother went to the store often. Hint: Looking inside the refrigerator numerous times isn't going to make food appear.

#3 - How the hell is Ramen so cheap? I went to the A&P that's near me and I got a 6pack of Ramen for $1.69. That is 28cents a meal! Ill repeat that because it bears repeating... two dimes, a nickel and three pennies... 28cents a meal. This is crazy right? Well I got ripped off. You can get a 12pack of Ramen for $1.89 at Walmart. $1.89 or 15.7cents a meal. The packaging must cost more than that. The ink to write "Ramen" on the package must cost more than that! Its insane!



#4 - They don't make Value Brand Deodorant. Does not exist. I don't know why, seems to me with all this technology we could reverse engineer some of it and get it on the shelves. Shampoo, yep. Mouthwash, sure. They even make Value Brand Viagra, I have seen the commercials! Deodorant, no way!

#5 - With alot more extra time on my hands I have come to realize a couple of things. TV took up a large part of my life and I didn't even watch alot of TV(or so I thought). I can only read so much in a day. I only go to 5 websites. Well maybe its 10, but there is no reason to check my bank account daily. Why am I checking to make sure they took out the debit for the gas I bought? And finally, it has rained ALOT lately. Being outside has just not been an option!


Well that's it for now. Randomness has come to a conclusion...

"YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH

Day 221 - Donate Blood

#40 - Donate 1 Gallon of Blood (8 Pints): (1/8) - For all you math majors out there there are 8 Pints in a gallon and so I will do the countdown and tallying with pints. Each donation has to be at least 56 days apart.=, so I figured I had to start on it so I didn`t run out fo time. The technician told me that each donation can help to save up to 3 lives, so that is awesome! I am glad I went.






Also working on:


#77 - Do 250 Geocaches: (47/250) now (59/250) - 23.2% Complete
Jen and I did another 6 caches including one of our biggest nemeses. It was dreary out but we still had a good time, like always. I did 6 by myself when Jen was at Merries` Bridal Shower. I have to catch up with the logging on geocachers but I will do that as soon as finish off this post.


In Other News:
I moved and got my own apartment in Old Lyme. I am excited about it and will be starting a new diet, and excerise program on Monday as a part of the New Place - New Erik thing I am working on... I need to cross off soem of the things on the top of the list so push ups, crunches/sit ups and running are all a part of the plan. I will keep you updated. Monday includes the first run of the 8weeks to a 5k as well. So it`s going to be a busy week but it has to happen. Enough is enough!

I will leave you as I always do:

"YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH"

Day 219 - Brew My Own Beer

#81 - Brew My Own Beer - Im not sure exactly why this was on here, to be honest with you, as I dont even like beer. I am a Vodka Guy. I should have put Distill My Own Vodka on the list. Thats why it ends in 1001 days, I can do it all over again...
To the point... Thanks to Jen, (who got me the kit after reading my list back in November or December for Christmas) Motts and I dove in on making this beer alittle after he got back from his travels. Look at everyone chipping in to make this list happen!!




The first thing you do is sterilize everything, anything the beer is going to be touched has to be coated in this special syrum.


Then you have to create the Wort. Which is basically the Malt and Hops. I think. It needs to be brought to boil and then added to the water that is in the keg.






Then it need to be fermented for 2 weeks minimum. We did ours for 3 weeks and it spent that time in my closet to keep it around 76 degrees Farenheit.



So it comes out of Fermentation and needs to be bottled (of course in newely sterilized bottles) and the sugar needs to be added so it carbonizes. This takes another two weeks.









So after the 2 weeks is up the bottles are rock solid and then its off to the refrigerator for a week to Condition and then you are done! Dig In!!!



So last Saturday we drank the beer at Jordans and we need to do some tweaking. I thought it was overall really refreshing and good, but then again if it tasted like 6week old Milk I would have said the same thing due to the pride factor. To be honest and critical, it was a little cidery and it had too much carbination. The carbination part is an easy fix, jsut cut back on the sugar. The cidery part I will have to look into. I remebering reading about it in the brewers guide. We plan on doing it again soon, so I`ll let you know how the second batch works out. Or better yet, drop me a line and you can help drink it!!

So thats 17 down and 84 left! Yeah, I think that math is right! I plan on widdling a hole in a piece of wood to get the Start a Fire done with. If that doesn`t work it was suggested I use a flint, but that is only a last means!


Drive Slow, Drink Milk:

"YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH"

Day 214 - Yankees Winning Streak Intact

So its Friday afternoon and I`m making runs back and forth from my house to my new place in Old Lyme and I get a call from my buddy Brian from Marist. We are pretty much the same person and so when my phone rang I naturally picked up right away. We then had the following conversation:

Brian: Whats up buddy? What are you doing?
Me: I'm moving today and just running back and forth
Brian: Oh yeah? How long you doing that for?
Me: Well probably all day and into the night and I might go see The Hangover tonight.

- SideBar - I have heard from several people that this is the funniest movie that they have ever seen Funnier than Old School, Anchorman, The Wedding Crashers and even Dumb and Dumber. I think I am going to go see it tomorrow. I cant wait!
Anyway, as usual I am off topic...

Continued...

Brian: Ok. What what are your new plans for tonight?
Me: Having a beer at Chips with you?
Brian: No.
Me: Having Icehouse at the Beach with Girls?
Brian: Better than that still... How about having a beer with me at Yankee Stadium
Me: (some kind of gargled "Hell Yes" "Anytime" "Ill get on a Train" "Absolutely" long winded and only at points actual English Answer)

So its decided. I am meeting Me (Brian) at Yankees Stadium for the the first game of The Subway Series!!! I'm waiting in the station for the train to arrive and I see some friends of mine and I go over and say Hi and end up riding into the game with them. I came in from New Haven and Brian took the Hudson Line from our Old Stomping Grounds - Poughkeepsie. Well we finally meet up at the new platform the MTA made for Yankees Stadium.





Well we went in and checked out the Yankee Museum (2nd time for me) and it is just simply amazing, so much crazy history in that one room. I took some more pictures and we hung out and took it all in...




We made our way to our seats in the bleachers and watched the game unfold. We saw 6 Lead Changes and 5 Home Runs - 4 of them from Yankees (Cano, Matsui, Jeet and Tex) and 1 Very Peculiar PopUp Where The Mets Dropped The Ball! Literally!

Well the place went Nuts!!! One of the loudest that I have been there for! We were pumped. I was particularly excited because my streak of consecutive games attended with a win increased to 4... Also, each won of these games was won with some miracle heroics, improbable possession of a game ball or historical significance. It has been a sweet run... Here it is again...


#73 - See 25 Yankees Games: (3/25) now (4/25) - 16% Complete - Yankees Record: 4-0

Game 1 - 04/21/2009 07:05 PM - Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees
Section 130, Row 9 - Seat 7 or 8 - WIN (5-3),
Collins and I got a ball!

Game 2 - 05/15/2009 07:05 PM - Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees
Section 212, Row 13 - Seat 23 - WIN (5-4),
Gardner - In-The-Park HomeRun
Melky - Walk-Off Double

Game 3 - 06/07/2009 01:30 PM - Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees
Section 431a, Row 3 - Seat 8 - WIN (4-3),
Nick Swishers` 100th Home Run - Joe Gerardis` 200th Win
New York's Major League-Leading 20th Comeback Victory This Season.

Game 4 - 06/12/07 07:05 PM - New York Mets at New York Yankees
Section 238, Row 11 - Seat 13 - Win (9-8)
Alex Rodriguez - "Walk Off" PopUp to Shallow Left - Jeet and Tex Scored!


Hope there are many more to come!!!


We left and I got on the wrong train at the new platform and then had to wait 45mins for a train at Stamford to get home to New Haven, but it was well worth it! Thank you Brian for the invite! GTHBA! As Always!!! So HUGE!!!


I am also going to cross 1 off for #100 - Make at least 5 Trips a Year to Visit Friends. This trip to the Bronx, plus seeing Corey and Kenny in Poughkeepsie, Johhny, Liz, Donny and Co. in Boston, and Collins, Ann and the Aussies at the game last week makes 4 trips this year!!!


I have some more to share but I am beat right now! First night at my new digs. Going to try to get some good sleep in! Another Update tomorrow probably...

Remember:

"YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH"

Day 210 - Donate Old Clothes

Well its been a very long time since I actually crossed something off the list, I am working on about 10 things, but I needed to accomplish one so I got up early and hardcore cleaned my room...

38.) Donate Old Clothes - Finally went through all my clothes and got the ones that I was not going to wear to Goodwill. I did some research on who I was going to give the clothes to and Goodwill checked out really well and they are local, so its a Win/Win. I also put some shirts and sweaters aside that I may be able to sell on ebay. I love doing that stuff and if I can make some cash then thats good too...
The other thing that this allowed me to do was to work on getting the shirts ready for the T-Shirt Quilt (#86). So I have a bunch of shirts that mean something to me and will shortly be doing some research on exactly how I go about making one of those things.



Well that is it for now, but I will be crossing off another one on Friday, but dont know if I will have the chance to share right away, you will understand when you see the post Sunday or Monday sometime...

I`ll change the progress bar and cross off #86.

Stay Tuned...

"YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH"

Day 208 - Yankees Stadium + Museum

Well I have gone to 3 Yankees Games this year and in each one of them I have seen something new and exciting. This time I went with Jen, Collins, Ann, and our Australian friends, Ryan and Fiona. GTHBA - Good Times Had By All!

I have now sit 5 rows from the field (in the comfy seats), about half way up, and about 5 rows from the top. Let me tell you something! Its more fun way up top. THAT is where ALL the cheers start, no one feels entitled up there, just a bunch of diehard fans and hard working dads with their kids. I liked it up in 431a and on the way up there Jen and I got to stop at the Yankees Museum.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR... Get a Ticket and travel up to The Yankees Museum!









#73 - See 25 Yankees Games: (2/25) now (3/25) - 12% Complete - Yankees Record: 3-0

Game 1 - 04/21/2009 07:05 PM - Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees
Section 130, Row 9 - Seat 7 or 8 - WIN (5-3),
Collins and I got a ball!

Game 2 - 05/15/2009 07:05 PM - Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees
Section 212, Row 13 - Seat 23 - WIN (5-4),
Gardner - In-The-Park HomeRun
Melky - Walk-Off Double

Game 3 - 06/07/2009 01:30 PM - Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees
Section 431a, Row 3 - Seat 8 - WIN (4-3),
Nick Swishers` 100th Home Run - Joe Gerardis` 200th Win
New York's Major League-Leading 20th Comeback Victory This Season.


#77 - Do 250 Geocaches: (47/250) now (48/250) - 18.8% Complete
Jen and I did another cache yesterday that had been evading us. We don`t like using the hint unless we absolutely have to. We finally did after three trips there and it was a real easy find!


Think about it..

"YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH"

Day 206 - 8 weeks to a 5K

So I have been reading some more blogs lately and I came across one that my good friend Alex follows and its really good. It has been, in the recent future, mostly about an 8-week running program that works you up to 30 mins of running. Here name is Lis and you can read here blog here: Inchoate Debate. Reading her blog coupled with the fact that my buddy J just ran a 5k today I got inspired to do some damage!

The original version of my 101 list was actaully a 138 in 1001 list and I had to make some cuts, and the 5k got the cut along with some other things. Well I am not doing this list to be a corner-cutter so I have decided to add it, along with this obviously helping in the quest to lose 40lbs. Im sure this will help to get me into shape along with P90X which I have to fit in as well.



Anyway, Lis' blog is really entertaining! Check it out! Also, if you wish, the article can be viewed here: 8-Week Running Program


In Other News:

#77 - Do 250 Geocaches: (43/250) now (47/250) - 18.8% Complete
Jen and I did 4 caches before the Yankee Game started including crossing off one that has deceived us two times before, so that was rewarding. I am looking for the perfect location to put a cache and get the hiding going!

#24 - Learn 50 New Recipes: (12/50) now (13/50) - 26% Complete
Oreo Truffles
Buffalo Chicken and Cheese Dip
Cheesy Potato Casserole
Grilled Vegetables in Caramelized Italian Dressing
Cheeseburger Chowder
Eclair Cake
Minestrone Soup
New and Improved - Turbo Inside Out Burgers
Italian Marinated Pork Chops with Perogies and Onions
IceBox Cake
Teriyaki Steak and Potato Croquettes
Mango Peach Salsa
... Golden Grahams S'mores Treats




#90 - Send 35 Letters to Friends: (10/35) now (14/35) - 26% Complete

Sent out a couple more letters this week. And so far one has arrived, which is good, but an awful percentage. I hope to send out some more this week or next! So keep your eyes open and if you want one and you think you are on the fence, maybe you should say hi more ofter. Everyone loves getting mail!!!

And as always...

"YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH"