It's been awhile

I haven't blogged in a LONG time. I really haven't done much as far as my list. I have read a ton for one of my classes, nothing worth counting for my reading goals, but that has taken up a bunch of my time. Now I need to write a paper on all that I have read. I am not excited about making citations out of 10-15 resources. That is going to take forever, but it will get done.
The other thing that has taken up my time is the birth of our son Charlie. I'm guessing I will continue for awhile not having much going on for my goals. I might find one that can get done, but really I think it might be a little while before I can get it all together. Maybe I will come up with songs for the girls. We'll see.

98. Take bags to the grocery store 50 times

After over a year of grocery shopping, I have finally attained this goal. I originally put this on as I find myself going to the store multiple times each week and found myself bringing in scores of bags each week. I knew something needed to change. I got myself a couple of recyclable bags and have greatly reduced the number of plastic Jewel/Osco bags that have made it into the house. I guess that for one of those bags, I save two or three plastic bags. They can just hold so much more.
While it is a little bit of a hassle bringing in bags with you each time going to the store, it turns out not to be too bad. I have actually started keeping my coupons inside the bags. That ensures that: 1) I always remember to bring my bags, and 2) I ususally have the coupons I want with me each time that I go to the store. Now if I only knew how many dollars of coupons have been used over the past year...
Now that the goal is over, I'm not stopping. I go to Jewel too often to keep adding up the bags again. I went tonight, and I will most likely go again tomorrow. They're giving away quite a few things over the next week. Time to restock our cereal stockpile and quite a few other free or almost free things. Another goal down!

84. Cash out on centsports.com ($20)

Finally! This goal is probably the one that I have been working the hardest at accomplishing. I have written about it a few times before about my frustrations from how difficult it has been for me to complete. When I get on the computer, I check my email, check facebook, then make another wager. Almost everyday since I completed my list of goals (and a few months before), I have been on centsports.com and placed wagers on athletic events. I have bet on everything form baseball, football, basketball, tennis, nascar, MMA, and even golf. I have tried everything. Finally, I have been able to go on a bit of a run and have been able to accomplish what I set out to do when I wrote my list of goals.
The concept of centsports is fairly simple. The website gives you a dime to bet with and you are able to grow that dime as far as you can as long as you keep winning and don't lose all of your earnings. If you lose all of your money, you get another dime. The sponsors pay for each dime as you go along.
Here's where it has gotten more difficult. When I started playing, the rule was when you get your total up to $10, you can cash out and they will send you a check, for your earnings. Since then two things have changed:

1. The total changed from $10 to $20 (that is a huge difference when you start with only a dime!)
2. You don't automatically get a $20 check when you hit that magical number, you need to qualify for it compared to other people asking for checks in that week. If they have done better (made more bets, bet on harder games, risked more money in their wagers and a few other things) then they will get their money ahead of you.

Here is the screen shot from my computer to show that I actually did it. The quality is pretty horrible on the post, but if you click on the picture you can see it clearly.

As of right now, I'm a ways off to getting my payday. I have conseeded that I most likely won't get my check, but I am saying that this goal is done. I set out what I wanted to do from when I wrote this list of goals, but the rules changed later. I'm not going to say that I am done betting, but I think I will be on the site a lot less.

39. Standardized Minds

I finished another book that I needed to read for class. It is about standardized testing and all that is wrong with it. It is something that is partially interesting to educators and that there are few others that really care for it. 300+ pages in small single spaced font, really thrilling stuff! I am putting this book into the "read for fun" section, not because it was a fun book, but because it was so long and took up so much time to read that I needed it to count for something so that is where I put it.
I'm in the midst of writing an analysis of it. It's going to be the kind of paper that only my professor and my mom would show any interest in reading (thanks for your constant support mom!). The paper is due tomorrow. It will probably be near 10 pages. I am at 5 now. I've got some work to do.