Good Afternoon True Believers…
As some of you (all 3 of you) may have noticed, I've been blogging about more than just technology lately. You will probably see a lot more of that going forward as I hope to increase the frequency of technology and non-technology related blog posts. Let me know what you think…
Anyway, today's post is about the bucketlist. I've seen the movie. Love Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. But I've never really taken the time to write down or even spend extended periods of time contemplating my list. Sure, I thought of stuff I'd like to do, but never have a made a permanent record of the things I'd like to do before I "Kick the Bucket".
I started thinking about this after seeing The Last Lecture during a teaching certification class last week. If you have not watched the entire video, take an hour, grab a cup of coffee, and watch one of the most inspiring lectures you may ever see. I plan to incorporate this into all of my classes. I think my students would get valuable insight about themselves and their lives.
Further inspiration to begin my bucket list creation came after receiving a tweet from @theartofmanliness on Twitter. If you have not been to www.theartofmanliness.com, check it out. I think it's a very funny and insightful website for Men on how to be a better man.
Before jumping in, what is a bucket list really all about? IMHO it's about dreams and fulfilling those dreams. It could be as simple as building a birdhouse or as hard as completing The Seven Summits. Chris from TheArtOfManliness.com writes an excellent guide to get you started thinking about and creating your bucket list. Check it out here.
While a bucket list is a list of things you want to do, I have found it helpful to add to the list things you have done. Just like with anything, it is often helpful to have a record of the things you have accomplished.
So I grabbed a cup of Joe and sat down for my list. Here's what I came up with. You'll note I've put the completed items at the top of the list.
- Complete an Ironman triathlon – I had wanted to do this since I saw Julie Moss crawl across the finish line at Kona in 1981. I completed this at Ironman Wisconsin in 2006.
- Write a book – Published April 2009.
- Teach Information Technology at the College level – Current career
- Travel: Spend 2 weeks in Scotland playing golf on 100 year old courses
- Reach a financial point where I owe nobody anything…zip…zero…nada. No credit cards, mortgage, loans…nothing
- Retire by the time I am 50. 11 years is not a lot of time…
- Ride a bicycle across the US.
- Tour the 50 states on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
- Take my parents to Europe for their 45th anniversary since it is something they would never do for themselves.
- Visit Everest base camp. I'm enthralled by Everest but have no desire to risk my life to that point.
- Bartend again.
- Learn how to be interested in conversations I have no interest in.
- See the UW Badgers play for the NCAA Football nation title.
- Go to the NCAA Final Four.
- Attend Oktoberfest in Munich.
- Ride my bike to work on a regular basis.
- Renew my love of reading NON-Technology books.
- Spend a semester at CIA…Culinary Institute of America.
- Write a book that isn't a textbook.
- Learn how to REALLY enjoy a vacation.
- Learn to be a better husband and son
- Visit Napa Valley
I plan to review this every once in a while…
What do you have on your list? I'd love to hear.
With That…EXCELSIOR!
Mike
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