Looking for some direction this weekend, I stumbled upon the concept of writing a bucket list. A bucket list is a list of stuff that you want to do before you die - it doesn’t have to be huge things, just stuff that would make you feel good or accomplished. I’m going to keep this list on-going, and make sure it stays up-to-date and append any good ideas that should happen to wander along.

In Progress

• Run a marathon I’m in terrible shape, so this would be a great thing to get around to.
• Run for Maine House of Representatives Maine local politics is hilarious and awesome. Since I only managed to win one student representative election (after who knows how many student races), I’ll be content in simply running. Winning would be nice, though :-D
• Have a successful blog (1,000+ hits a day) Last I checked, I’m managing an average of 13 hits a day. Hey, if you tell your friends about this blog, this one could be finished lickety-split.
• Build my own cabin I read a lot of Henry David Thoreau in university, so building a cabin would bring me closer to that ideal I had when I was younger and more naive.
• Finish Digitalis EP Mark my words, it’s coming. Expect dreaminess in sound.
• Read “The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau” I’ve got the 20 volume set in my bedroom, and it taunts me every day.
• Digitize all of my photographs I’ve got a shoebox of old photos I took when I was a kid. I should go through them, slim down the collection, and digitize them for your viewing pleasure.
• Compete in DefCon Hacker Jeopardy Drinking and computer trivia are two things I do pretty well. Winning gets you a lifetime pass to DefCon, so try try try I must!
• Visit all Calgary Parks I’ve even blogged about some of these parks:
  • Connaught Park
  • Century Gardens
  • Lindsay Park
  • Prince’s Island Park
  • Riley Park / Patrick Burns Rock Garden
  • Sien Lok Park
  • Tomkins Park
• “Fine-dining” at a food court This one will have to be blogged to get the idea, methinks.
• Spend a week in Montreal I went as a little child, and loved every second of it. I have a feeling I’ll like it as an adult, too.
• Do an acoustic set at a coffee house Intimacy was never my strong suit. So I’ll play to a scathing coffee-house crowd and see what happens.
• Pilot a blimp Not sure how one goes about this. If you know, please shoot me an email!
• Go down Route 1 from Ft. Kent to the Keys I originally planned this trip with my sister as a sort of “On The Road” style trip. She’s married now and has a really fancy job, so I think I may be doing this trip solo.
• Visit Europe I’d like to see France and England someday.
• Publish a novel I’ve written a couple, but I’ve yet to put one out for public consumption yet.
• Walk the Appalachian Trail This will be one of the harder ones to accomplish, so I may have to chip away at this over time.
• Go horseback riding This is one of those ones people can’t believe I haven’t done. I really like horses, but I’ve just not had the opportunity to ride one yet.
• Read every Stephen King book I love Stephen King’s writing, and even when it’s bad, it’s still better than most. I’ve got over 20 unread King’s lying around the house, but I’d like to read everything he’s ever published.
• Ride a motorcycle or moped I’ve never had an opportunity to ride on one, and while I still think they’re a bit dangerous, wouldn’t mind a quick spin somewhere.
• Go for a helicopter ride
• Go to space Or at the very least, escape Earth’s atmosphere. But oh, to have a picnic on the moon.
• Bike across North America

Completed

• Make a bucket list I didn’t say this had to be difficult. Sometimes, the first step is just moving your leg a bit.
• Spend a day in Akihabara The famed electronic Mecca in Japan. It was weirder and wilder than I’d expected, but so glad I went.
• Drink gin while the sun rises I like good gin, and I like sun rises. Why not put them both together? (Update: Having put them both together now, I can assure you this was not as romantic as I thought it would be. It’s done, though, so there’s no need to dwell on it.)
• Slim VHS collection to 100 tapes Anyone who had been to my old apartment knows that I had a crapload of tapes. I’m still a firm believer in VHS (way cheaper than other formats!), but having too many made it hard to move.
• Speak conversational French French always eluded me, and I’d love to eat a croissant by a river and say “c’est bon” without a hint of irony. Anyhow, I managed a few brief conversations in Quebec, so I’m going to mark this done.
• Make a nightlife map of Calgary CalgaryHub lived a brief, uneventful life. Was a big project that ultimately had little yield.
• Bike the major paths of Calgary There’s few paths in this city that haven’t seen the wheels of my trusty steel steed, although they’re adding new ones all the time.
• See “On the Side of the Road” @ Theatre Junction I missed it the first time it came through Calgary. I cannot miss it again! (Update: I saw it, and it highly exceeded my expectations as I had thought it would! Should you get a chance to see this play, do not miss it!)
• Do a Vipassana Meditation retreat Two weeks of total silence and meditation. Sounds like paradise, but trust me, one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The pain is intense, and there is no more brutal critic than your own mind uninterrupted by distraction.
• Push Erin about her bucket list Done, but on a technicality that I did so once. It’s been years since we last spoke, but I hope she’s doing okay and still chipping away at hers.
• Go bobsledding I went to Calgary Olympic Park and got to ride down the track - and got a wicked concussion. However, found I enjoy riding luge.
• Get my $900 from Max I never got my $900 back, but I’ve gotten more than that back in the enjoyment I’ve gotten in retelling the tale, amongst other things. Maxwell Elias Allen Feltham, AKA Max Prince, you are off the hook. However, consider apologizing to the (many!) people you’ve burned sometime.
• Ride in a Critical Mass
• Eat a classy meal at the Lido It was a tiny little restaurant in Kensington. Had a delicious roast beef dinner, and I’m glad I went!
• Read a Sunday Edition of the New York Times This paper is huge. It’s the last of its kind.
• Go to Wednesday meditation at Avatamsaka Monastery Every Wednesday night the Avatamsaka Monastery near the 10th Street bridge has a meditation session. Om!
• Finish Portal A beautiful game, and I really wanted to beat it. The game was every bit of awesome I expected it to be. Even better, there’s cake at the end!
• Finish GTA IV I’ve beaten all of GTA, GTA2, GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, GTA: Vice City Stories, and GTA: San Andreas. But after spending a good deal of time with GTA IV (and later, V), I came to the conclusion that I really don’t care for the new games, and that while they were clearly interesting enough to keep my attention as a teenager, years later, I really can’t be bothered. Time moves on, interests change, and I’ll say this item is as done as it is going to be.
• Talk at an international conference I gave a talk about Linux User Groups at LinuxCon, and ended up having a blast.
• Visit the Boston Athenaeum
• Ride the Highwood Pass It’s the highest road in Canada, and they open it up once a year car-free. It’s a gorgeous ride, but also very difficult.
• Bring Reg to a Hitmen game Done, and quite a game!

Abandoned

• Meet Miguel De Icaza Yeah, the guy who made GNOME. Was an interesting item at the time, but my interest in GNOME has almost completely dissolved starting with GNOME 3 (and has only diminished further over time). Also, I don’t do .NET anything, so pretty sure we’d have nothing to talk about.
• Make a mix CD for Aaron I promised I’d make him a Bump-style mix CD. Since then, I’ve stopped DJ’ing, and the club where Aaron worked no longer exists. Fulfilling this item wouldn’t really accomplish anything anymore.
• Speak conversational Welsh This would be great for when I finally manage to visit Wales, though as I’ve no immediate plans, this is abandoned for now.
• Have all printers entered into openprinting.org Having a Linux driver for every single printer will probably never happen. However, documenting every printer is totally possible. It would be a great milestone for open-source software. However, I realized this is a Sisyphean task, and largely a thankless one (like most open-source). My life has gotten better since I’ve stopped dealing with printers day-to-day, and I think I’ll keep it that way.