To Do 251-260

251 - see a great white shark
252 - pass a wilderness survival test
253 - ride bareback along a beach at sunrise
254 - vacation on a Pacific island you can only get to by sail boat
255 - eat street food in Bangkok and wash it down with ice-cold Thai beer
256 - ride the train down the Malaysian Peninsula from Bangleole to Kuala Lumpur
257 - journey along the Silk Road from China to the Mediterranean
258 - climb the Great Pyramid at Giza
259 - spend a day on a nude beach
260 - work at an employee-owned company (done)

To Do 241-250

241 - go from London to Paris via the Chunnel
242 - collect enough individual ceramic tiles to cover one wall of my kitchen
243 - explore the caves of Lascaux and their 20,000-year-old wall paintings
244 - climb Mount McKinley, reaching the summit just as day breaks
245 - own a big-screen television
246 - drink sherry and eat tapas in Spain
247 - see a grizzly bear in the wild from a safe distance
248 - really spend a vacation lying on the beach reading all the books I've been saving up
249 - fly the Concorde (this one is no longer possible but I'm leaving it on the list just in case)
250 - go on safari across Africa's Serengeti Plain

To Do 231-240

231 - learn to tie a perfect bowline knot
232 - watch the sun set over Machu Picchu
233 - gather the neighbors and plant a community garden
234 - get the amaryllis on my windowsill to bloom in winter
235 - master the internet (done)
236 - take a course in sculpture
237 - swim with dolphins
238 - on a long airplane ride, sit next to someone who really doesn't want to talk (done)
239 - watch the lava flowing out of Kilauea
240 - pay off my mortgage and throw a party to celebrate

To Do 211-220

211 - buy a sail boat and sail for a year
212 - travel with no destination (done)
213 - ride out a hurricane on North Carolina's Outer Banks
214 - taste raw sugarcane on a Caribbean island
215 - be part of a human pyramid - preferably the apex (done)
216 - learn to rock climb (done)
217 - see a moose in the wild
218 - bicycle across my home state, and if I like it well enough...
219 - ...bicycle across the country
220 - see the cacti bloom in the Mojave Desert

To Do 171-180

171 - take charge of my own contentment
172 - explore West Africa
173 - bake scones
174 - work in flextime so I can balance career and family
175 - visit Utah's Bryce Canyon (done)
176 - store snowballs in the freezer and pull them out for a summer party
177 - overcome difficulties in a relationship
178 - redecorate my home from top to bottom
179 - walk the fabled Bund in Shanghai
180 - spend a weekend in Atlantic City

To Do 151-160

151 - make love in a public place (done)
152 - kayak over the Grand Canyon's Lava Falls
153 - take a woodworking class
154 - lunch at New York's "21"
155 - split logs with a sledgehammer and wedge
156 - get elected team captain (done)
157 - run my own business (done)
158 - create a computer database for my family tree
159 - pay off my credit cards
160 - sit in the infield for the Indianapolis 500

To Do 141-150

141 - visit Valley Forge in a winter as severe as that of 1777-78
142 - get a cosmetic makeover (done)
143 - cut my own firewood with a chain saw
144 - cross the Cumberland Gap of the Appalachian Mountains, following Danial Boone's Wilderness Road to the Old West
145 - drive a four-wheeler up a mountain
146 - dig a pond on my property and stock it wth fish
147 - celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans
148 - have a shipboard romance
149 - own a portable global positioning system and never get lost
150 - snowmobile in Finland

To Do 121-130

121 - skydive (done)
122 - celebrate my birthday aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean
123 - Learn to roller blade (done)
124 - skinny dip under a waterfall (done)
125 - celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Dublin
126 - throw a party people will talk about for years (done)
127 - dine in a five-star restaurant in France
128 - take my family on a backpacking trip through the Grand Tetons
129 - observe an avalanche (from a safe distance)
130 - travel to Bali to hear gamelan music on its native ground

Complete #49 - Swim in a pool on a cruise ship

In early 2003 I was lucky enough to go on a cruise to Mexico with my company. It was my first and last time on a cruise ship. I'm not a big fan of cruising as there isn't enough to do to keep me interested, but swimming in a pool while in the middle of the sea was fun.

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To Do 111-120

111 - drive a Maserati
112 - lasso a steer from horseback
113 - trek in Nepal
114 - force Hyacinths to bloom from bulbs
115 - bike the Greenbrier River Trail in West Virginia
116 - canoe the Allagash in Maine
117 - determine what is the one thing in life I want most
118 - dance a Viennese Waltz in Vienna
119 - get a tattoo (done)
120 - go on a walking tour of the Loire Valley

To Do 101-110

101 - help preserve a landmark
102 - smell the freshness of the desert fater a rain (done)
103 - sail a sleek white yacht into the Bay of Naples at sunset
104 - fly over the "roof of the world" - the 96 Himalayan peaks, reaching over 24,000 feet high
105 - see where the Hatfields feuded with the McCoys
106 - learn to box
107 - visit every continent (in progress)
108 - surf the big waves off Australia's west coast
109 - summer in a villa in Tuscany
110 - with the Odyssey as my travel guide, retrace Ulysses' route home

To Do 81-90

81 - attend spring training
82 - slip into bed beside someone who's not expecting me
83 - ski Aspen
84 - serve regularly at the local soup kitchen
85 - bid at an auction (done)
86 - write a letter to my descendants
87 - serve as the emcee of an evening's entertainment
88 - learn to read a river
89 - visit Windsor Castle
90 - cruise the Greek Islands

To Do 51-60

51 - drive I-80 from New York's George Washington Bridge to the Bay Bridge in San Francisco
52 - do the Sunday crossword puzzle in ink
53 - ride the Moscow to St. Petersburg wide-gauge railroad
54 - see the gigantic carved heads of Easter Island
55 - stand on the shore and roar back at the ocean as loud as I can
56 - study Buddhist and Hindy dharma
57 - be a mentor
58 - visit a new museum each month
59 - rent an entire restaurant for my 50th birthday party
60 - end a meal with Stilton, fresh pears, and vintage Port

To Do 41-50

41 - spend a day surfing the internet (done)
42 - own land on which there's a gravity-fed spring
43 - take the drain into New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain on the longest train bridge in the world
44 - win a week at Rancho la Puerta
45 - ride a fire engine
46 - submit a suggestion that saves money for the company (done)
47 - receive an impassioned love letter (done)
48 - go to a sherry tasting in Jerez, Spain, where sherry originated
49 - swim in a pool on a cruise ship (done)
50 - eat the world's best cheesecake at Junior's in Brooklyn (done)

To Do 31-40

31 - re-read all of the original Nancy Drew mysteries (in progress)
32 - drive through a dust storm in the desert (done)
33 - learn three jokes that get laughs every time
34 - run through Chicago's Buckingham Fountain
35 - celebrate Easter at St. Peter's in Rome
36 - bake croissants
37 - spend a summer in a chalet high in the Swiss Alps
38 - see a jazz funeral in New Orleans
39 - make charcoal rubbings of the stones in a ghost town graveyard
40 - canoe the lakes of the Adirondacks

To Do 11-20

11 - walk down London's Abbey Road in homage to the Beatles
12 - learn sign language
13 - keep a stash of Girl Scout cookies all year round (I love the thin mints!)
14 - spend a week kayaking among the islands on the coast of Maine
15 - volunteer at the Special Olympics (done)
16 - fly-fish the Yellowstone River
17 - travel for three months with just one carry-on bag
18 - work for a company that has child care
19 - fall in love with the right person, at the right time for both of us
20 - trace the shape of a fossil from millions of years ago

Completed #4 - Scuba dive the Red Sea

In October of 2001 I went to Egypt with the family I was living with in Geneva, Switzerland at the time. We stayed in Safaga at a resort right on the Red Sea. Jessica and I took an excursion one afternoon to go diving.

It was amazing. We were out for several hours and got to explore a reef. The colors were incredible and we got to see all kinds of fish.

On the boat ride back we were followed by a pack of dolphins and got to watch the sun set over the mountains of Egypt. It was a very memorable trip.

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Completed #2 - Take off now for a spur-of-the-moment vacation

Travel is my weakness, it always have been and it always will be. People laugh when I tell them how much money I want to save for retirement but then I tell them that I intend to travel about 360 days/year once I can so I'll need funds for that.

Ever since I got my license I've been known to just start driving. Pick a direction and go. It's harder to do that now that I don't have a car, but these days I pick a flight and go. Recent last minute trips include: Boston, New York City and Miami.

I'm moving to Portland, OR soon and I'm looking forward to exploring the North West USA since I've spent no time there. If you have road trip suggestions in that area, please let me know!

Where are your favorite places for a weekend getaway?

One of my favorite trips was when I was about 19. I was stressed out at work and had a 5-day weekend so I decided to hit the road. Didn't tell anyone, just went. I was living in Indiana at the time and I headed east towards water (water is my center). About 8 hours into driving I figured I should call my mom and let her know I wouldn't be home for a few days. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey mom
Her: Hey, where are you?
M: Somewhere in New York
H: Huh?
M: Yeah, I needed to get away for a few days
H: Ok. (long pause) So where are you going?
M: Not sure. Wherever I stop.
H: Ok. (long pause) Well, call me if you need anything.
M: Ok. I'll see you on Wednesday. Bye
H: Bye *click*

I ended up heading to Boston because there was a guy there that I wanted to see. I spent several days with him and his family (more time with his family than him since he had to work), explored Boston and New Hampshire, walked around the Harvard campus, had a picnic in Boston Common, made out on the beach while watching the sunrise and had an all-around wonderful time.

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To Do 1-10

1 - have my letter to the editor published
2 - take off now for a spur-of-the-moment vacation (done)
3 - design, build, and decorate my dream house
4 - scuba dive the Red Sea (done)
5 - milk a cow
6 - load new software without having to call Tech Support (done)
7 - bequeath enough money for my survivors to taost me with champagne each year on my birthday
8 - have cybersex - virtual, but very safe (done)
9 - bodysurf off Malibu
10 - spend a romantic weekend in a luxury hotel on the French Riviera