Lesson Learned: NEVER Let On That You Don't Have Much Work to Do and NEVER Even Admit to Yourself That You are Slightly Bored Because of It

I learned a painful lesson at work this week.  Last week I was light on work.  I even got to the point where I was a little bit bored at work last week.

The Mistake: Admitting that I had time.  What did that get me?  An email to the entire company that I was light on work and if anyone needed help with anything, let me know.  And then the world of work came crashing down on me....

The Bucket List

If you know me, you know that I obsessively make lists.  Everything from 'to-do' today to 'to-do' in life.  I referred to my list in an earlier post and here it is: the 'to-do' in life list.  I don't have the full 100 but it does expand occasionally.  For now the 60 or so things I have to do are keeping me plenty busy.  Some things are definitely more likely to happen than others, but I'll make the effort to get through it.  And really, what fun is a list like this if it's not a challenge??


(Here is the key: Not yet started  Complete  Started at some point but haven't gotten very far  A work in progress)

• Get a masters (A whole class in - Really enjoyed that Finite Element Analysis though)
• Get a Ph.D. (I'm thinking in religious studies - just to learn about it - I already know the topic of my dissertation)
• Climb The Great Wall
• Raise $100,000 for charity (Over a couple years I organized fundraising events)
• Run a half marathon
• Learn a second language (This all depends on what we define as learning a second language.  I know Latin pretty well but can't speak it.  If we don't count Latin, then this is barely started since I only know a handful of words in about twelve languages)
• Learn to play guitar
• Learn to play piano
• Try to surf
• See the Pyramids
• Write a book
• Join the Peace Corps
• Go on a safari
• Start a scholarship fund
• Make a quilt 
• Learn to knit
• Learn to draw/paint
• Run for public office
• Visit Denmark
• Visit Switzerland
• Visit Italy
• Visit Spain
• Visit Portugal
• See the Taj Mahal
• Go to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day
• Set foot in all 50 states (Up to 35 out of 50)
• Go deep sea fishing
• Ride in a hot air balloon
• See a baseball game in every MLB stadium (4 out of 30)
• Be a groupie (in the follow a band around for an entire tour sort of way...not the band-aid sort of way)
• Meet a U.S. President
• Learn to cook
• Start a restaurant
• Buy a house
• Read the Bible cover to cover
• Scuba Dive
• Learn to fly a plane
• Sky dive (It terrifies me)
• Learn to box
• Learn to dance
• Camp (Last week I crossed this one off the list)
• Go to the top of Mt. Timpanogos
• Stop at the view area (I don't know why I haven't done this yet - And for that matter, I'm not sure why it's on my list but it's something I always mean to do on my way home)
• Finish a triathlon
• Learn to ride a motorcycle
• Invent something
• Start my own business
• Ride a gondola in Venice
• Go to the opera
• Go to the movie theater alone
• Dine alone
• Ring the NYSE bell
• Be a delegate for a political party
• Donate a gallon of blood (I am 5/8 of the way there.  Only 3 more pints)
• Read all of Kurt Vonnegut's work (I think I am about half way there.  He wrote a lot of books)
• See the 7 wonders of the world
• Set foot on all 7 continents
• Go to all of the National Parks in Utah (2 of 5 so far - Arches and Zion down...Canyonlands, Bryce, and Capitol Reef left)