The Smarmy Carny

Even though it was just a click away, I finally discovered Lists of Bests, which is part of the 43 Things family. Read more about my 43 Things at Random Fodder.

Lists of Bests allows you to create and find lists of products, places, goals and people. From the Pulitzer Prize to the Oscars and beyond; you can start the list yourself or find existing lists. For example, I have already added myself to several lists, such as:

• Academy Award's "Best Picture"
• Roger Ebert's "The Great Movies"
• 50 States of the USA

You can also start your own personal lists like "My Top 10 Favorite Books," "My Films for Computer Geeks," etc. There are three types of lists: award lists (lists of particular award winners), definitive lists (lists from other publications that are set in stone), and personal lists (created and edited only by you).

The most fun part about Lists of Bests is that when you add or create a list to your profile, you can easily check off your progress item by item. Especially useful is that, when I checked all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners that I had seen, those movies were already checked off in the "Roger Ebert's 'The Great Movies'" list when I visited it.

Here are the lists I have completed:

Here are the 5 lists I am still working on, but closest to completing:

What are you waiting for? Go get started today!

This post has been re-posted at Random Fodder, Novac's personal blog.

The windmill farm

Yesterday, I decided to drive a little out of my way to visit the windmill farm and finally fulfill this goal. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy, but there was also plenty of wind.
To the best of my recollection, this farm had 10 windmills — three on one side of the road and seven on the other.
The trip was nice, though I imagine that a picnic-type adventure in a couple months would have been more enjoyable.

See more progress on: visit a windmill farm

This post has been re-posted at Random Fodder, Novac's personal blog.

Snowmen: 0, Heat: 2

Of course, the one winter I resolve to build an igloo, we have the warmest January since 1932!
Temperatures finally fell below 32 degrees for a couple days and we got some snow . . . enough to build a couple snowmen. Two days later, this is all that's left of them. If snowfall doesn't pick up in February and March, I might just have to hope for an extremely snowy November and December.

See more progress on: build an igloo

Running out

Today, I headed to Lake Erie for a Polar Bear Swim for charity.
The air temperature? A balmy 35° F.

I have read some things that mention the fact that the water temperature is often warmer than the air temperature. I assure you that today, this was not the case. The water was literally breathtaking. After completely submerging myself, I wanted to give out a large roar, but it took a good 10 seconds to catch my breath. Even getting out of the water wasn't really that cold an experience — except for the water in my shoes beginning to freeze!

I definitely think this was worth doing. I'm glad I added it to my list of 43 Things, or else I never would have taken the time!

See more progress on: polar bear swim

This post has been re-posted at Random Fodder, Novac's personal blog.