Goal #43 - Change Banks

The banking fees of most of the major banks in Canada are daylight robbery. It's really shocking that anyone puts up with it, yet I put up with it for years. As of yesterday, I'm not gonna take it anymore. I signed up for an account with PC Financial. I went whole hog and got all the services including overdraft protection and all that shiz. And something really interesting happened when the lady credit checked me. I think this may have been the first time in my life that I was credit checked, that I knew about. Apparently, I have perfect credit, how about that! My boyf and my mother, possibly the two most fiscally responsible humans on earth, would have you believe that I'm a fuck-up when it comes to my cash. And, yeah, maybe I don't balance the books all that much, or know my bank balance at any given moment in time. But, I did set my bank account to pay the minimum balance on my credit card every month, whether I remembered to do it or not. And voila! An A+ credit rating. Sure sometimes I forget/can't pay off the balance, and so sometimes I pay interest on my credit card purchases... but, I'm that much closer to Goal #1 Buy Property.
Big pats on the back for me!

A big weekend of not doing what I said I would

Clearly the fear of God doesn't move me too much, it hasn't made me give up sleeping in on Sundays, eating meat on Good Friday, being mean, and the list goes on (I won't mention some of the bigger sins because sensitive eyes might be reading, but you get the idea)... well here's another one to add to the list! I started this Lent-themed-super-goal-crossing-off-extravaganza with a bang and then it all started to peter out. I lost my resolve, I did't run at all on the weekend, and I didn't floss!
Then I got an email today with a training schedule for a 10K run I'm doing in May and I almost had a heart attack just reading the thing. No frickin' way I can do all that training! On the other hand, if I do that training schedule (and floss while I run), all my goals will be done. I think I need a buddy for this training or something.
And Bill, you'll be happy to know that I haven't let #47 go, and that I have continued to make great strides at clearing my boxes out. Turns out my fear of my mother is a much greater motivator than my fear of God. Perhaps if her present career doesn't work out she should consider becoming a fitness trainer, the kind who rides along beside you in a golf cart.

Lent

What the hey, I'm kickin' the goals thing into overdrive for lent, you know, instead of giving stuff up. I'm going to try and finish:
#3. Do 50 situps and 50 pushups every day for 50 days
#17. Floss every day for 90 days
#46. Run 3x per week for 2 months
#47. Clear the mountain of boxes out of my mother's living room left over from my move
Think I can do it? I'm sure going to have less time during the next couple of months.

Goal #8 - Pay off credit card debt

As you all know, carrying credit card debt sucks. But I just couldn't seem to pay it down. This one was going to be a really hard one when I set out to do it. But it actually just kind of happened by itself. My mom broke her leg - and when I say broke her leg - I don't just mean crutches and colourful cast. She's still not back to work and it happened last fall. There's nothing like giving up a lot of your social events to move home with your sick parent, to keep you from overspending.

Goals #5 and 6

I'm really taking care of business today!

Goal #5 Bring lunch to work every day for a week
This one's not so ground breaking.... but.... the week I did this was the only week I've done this the whole time I've had this job. So clearly it was an achievement.

Goal #6 Get a Permanent Job
Getting a permanent job was an acheivement 10 years in the making. I've never really liked moving around (making new friends, finding someone to have lunch with, getting into a routine), but I didn't like staying the same place either (most people get old fast). I've done a lot of maternity leaves in the past. It's a really good amount of time to work somewhere. You're there long enough to make friends and find the good lunch places, but not so long that there isn't a light at the end of the tunnel. Also, I hate performance reviews, and the great thing about working contracts is that you don't have to do performance reviews. The last permanent job I had, I actually quit during my first perfomance review.
The place I'm working at now is awesome, I love most of my co-workers, it has a great vibe, and I see myself staying here for a long time. So, it's worth staying, even though they make me do performance reviews.

Back on the horse and Xing off Goals - #2

Getting an RRSP. I know it's not super sexy, but it's way sexier than eating cat food when you're old. Besides, it's been one of my life goals to retire as soon as I freakin' can. Anyway, I've been at my job over a year now, so let me into their matching RRSP plan. Signing up was a pain and I was very disappointed with the lack of choice and not excellent performance of the green and ethical ones. So I just picked one and tried to forget about it. Then I got my year end statement, and I already had 800 bucks in there woohoo!

101 things in 1001 days

I saw an example of this blogging exercise on Jessica's blog a few weeks ago and decided to do it myself. The idea is that you pick 101 goals to complete in 1001 days, which is a little under 3 years. At the end of this time, you donate 10$ to charity for every task that remains undone. I haven't settled on a single charity, but have a couple in mind as beneficiaries for my laziness. I've also added a couple of asterisks for ones that I'm going to consider more of a lifetime goal, no penalty for not completing them in 1001 days, but bonus if I do. Actually, this list kind of reminds me of that show My Name is Earl.

1. Buy property *
2. Get an RRSP
3. Do 50 situps and 50 pushups every day for 50 days (0/50)
4. Start using my bike
5. Bring lunch to work every day for a week
6. Get permanent job
7. Acheive BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 (0/50)
8. Pay off credit card debt (0/9)
9. Secret task *
10. Save 3 months rent/mortgage (0/3)
11. Run a 5K
12. Run a 10 K
13. Run a half marathon
14. Run a whole marathon
15. Get a really awesome pair of jeans
16. Get a comfortable reading chair
17. Floss every day for 90 days (0/90)
18. Find/buy a bathing suit I feel comfortable wearing in public
19. Visit Dan-boy in Paris and Sly in London
20. Visit the Maldives *
21. Go on a safari in Africa *
22. Get a new computer, possibly a laptop
23. Get a new palm pilot
24. Organize my digital photos
25. Get a fireproof box for pictures and documents
26. Try snowboarding
27. Learn to download music
28. Download and complete language tapes for 5 languages (0/5)
29. Learn how to use photoshop and make a photoshopped image worthy of hanging on my wall/using in a card
30. Frame and hang at least 15 photos in my apartment (0/15)
31. See the northern lights
32. Graduate
33. Get a facial
34. Take an art class, photography or pottery
35. Reorganize/purge closet
36. Develop old film rolls that are lying around
37. Get a Tetley tea pot with my saved UPCs
38. Donate blood
39. Have a set of indoor wheels and bearings and a set of outdoor wheels and bearings
40. Get a proper skate tool and a toe guard for skates and new elbow pads (0/3)
41. Get a crown on my right lower molar
42. Put together a cookbook with my favourite recipes
43. Change banks
44. Make/print photo albums for all major trips in the last 5 years
45. Visit remaining 2 continents (0/2) *
78. Get a Glamour Shots portrait done - can you still do that? (with Jessica)