101 in 1001 - The ToDo list for Gary LaPointe

They're done and in the mail!!! I'm actually getting more back than I thought. I ended up making a little more last year (I ended up workng more hours at the end of the year) and I did a few different things with my payroll deductions. So I just wasn't sure where I'd be. (I'll have some opposite but similar issues later this year, so it'll be hard to judge for 2008 tax returns too)

Technorati Tags: 1040, April 15, IRS, puppy, taxes

The last day of the season that they do this is January 1st. We had a nice snowstorm on New Year's Eve so I went on the last day (I didn't want to go if there wasn't snow). If you're in the Detroit area and hav enever done this before, it's worth doing!

So I did get to go to the Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village. It was all snowy so I went this weekend! I don't like to do these Christmassy, wintery things when there isn't snow out.

It was cold but it was fun. I was hoping for more lights decorating things but since it was old fashioned and such a thing didn't exist in those times I was disappointed on that part. But the "Sleigh Ride" (it actually had wheels) and al the kerosene lanterns and all the little fires and carolers and everyone dressed up old fashioned was fun! And the fireworks at the end made it all worth it! (It was really cold)

I switched to a Chase card with better rewards six months ago, I'm not sure if the percentage is better, but since I'll actually redeem the points, it'll be way better for me. Plus, I just upgraded it to a better program.

I've got a dual-system here. First of all I use .Mac, it's a great easy seamless way to back up your files. But they never had enough disk space. But they just jumped up to 10GB for the same price. So I back up my music and photos there until a I get full DVD and then make multiple backups (copies here and a copy off site) and then free the space up. I also push those folders up to a non-published folder on a web server that I have extra space at (they've increased their space too).

I took a two week mortgage class. If you've never gotten a mortgage before, I'd recommend a class like this.

I had pretty much given up on the idea but about a week ago she decided she wanted to and I jumped on it; she came over we got a new laptop for her: HP 15.4 inch Dual Core, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB hard drive, Dual-Layer DVD burner w/LightScribe, SD chip reader (maybe reads more than that, with the media center “stuff” and a remote for that (which slides nicely into the laptop). A bit more machine than she needs right now but she won't need anything else more than that for a while and it's small enough she can bring it over when she has questions/problems instead of me having to always go over there. The cable people showed up today and she's now on-line at home! AND she signed up for a 4 week (2 hours a week) class that starts next week.

Specifically it's an HP Pavilion 15.4" Widescreen Notebook PC (DV6226US) from Circuit City ($699 AR this week).

Done! Got them mailed today. It's the earliest I've done them in years. I owe the Feds a little, but I get a four times that back from the state so I don't feel too bad, I just hate sending either money...

I emptied my Amazon wishlist! I ordered about 9 items, some from Amazon and some from Buy.com (if they were cheaper) and I even ordered one of them used. Then I deleted the other 50+ items and I'll start it over again as I see things I need want.

I went to Costa Rica in winter of 06-07 (http://garylapointe.com/costarica/blog)

I'm here right now! So I'm checking this one off. See my "adventures" at http://garylapointe.com/costarica/blog/

This was a success! We did it on Saturday the 23rd and I had 27 people over at my condo. A few people more and it would have been too many people in one spot. I'm very happy that I had it and everyone seemed to have a great time.

So I finished this up a few days ago but it's hard to tell the impact that it had. I wasn't feeling well during part of the experiment, so in the end I don't know if the lack of coke really helped me or not. I'll have to experiment more in the future....

So I got a new one of these back in November. I forgot to cross it off the list. I wasn't planning on replacing it at that time but the bulb blew and a new projector that was brighter was only a little bit more.

So, for spending $500 for the projector instead of $300 for the bulb, I got a new smaller, lighter (under 5 pounds) in-warranty projector, a brighter bulb (1800 lumens vs. 1100 lumens which is 61% brighter), it's smaller and has a digital zoom. It's got inputs for composite video (regular video), s-video (like from your DVD player) and SVGA (which doubles as a component video port which supports 480p). It doesn't have any audio inputs but I run it through the stereo so that's okay. It came with a remote and a great carrying bag too.

It's not exactly as high up as I planned to upgrade to, but it's better and the prices will just keep dropping on the better ones...

So I put some more photos up. And some other hieroglyphic-things I bought in Egypt. And I moved some other travel stuff around. Although I ended up taking the Mt. Washington stuff down, so I need to put those back up somewhere. Some of this is done because I have 28 people coming over Saturday for Christmas and the stuff was piled and sorted on the stairs and I needed to get it out of the way (and my Mom to helped me!).

I got it done! Everything seems fine except I'm having some near vision problems (which I knew) but I'm still 20/20 at the farther stuff. The Doctor told me to just get some reading glasses for when I need it. Generally it's just a little fuzzy in the morning sometimes and some evenings. I wish I had made the appointment in the morning instead of the middle of the day since it's usually fine then, I just wasn't thinking.

I've been in it four about 4 weeks now. They keep bumping classes later (I think my 10 week class is going to take about 16 weeks). It's great so far. I'll definitely do it again sometime. I guess it's not "done' yet, but since I plan to complete it and I do enjoy it, it fits the reason I put it on the list (to try it).

I did this when I was up north last month, I too my little one. It was kind of disappointing for 2 reasons.

After 3 weeks I've got some results/conclusions:

So I finally got some! And they're actually up and they look pretty nice too. (More money spent at Ikea)

And I finally got them! I replaced the bigger table and just one of the end tables (and I'm not sure if I will). I really like them. I got them at Ikea so they were reasonably priced and they match my house. (Although the end table is a little shorter than I want). Here's a link to the catalog page.

I saw here at TasteFest and she was great. It was an outside concert and it was a lot of fun seeing her again! I picked another CD up while I was there too! Here's some info on her: Times Beach Records (including a few 3s) and here's a few more MP3s and a video and another mp3 and a few more samples. Here's some reviews from MetroTimes 1 2 3 (plus a few more MP3s) 3, VenusZine, Adequacy 1 + 2.

I've got EVDO on my new palm Treo 700p cell phone and it's fast! I've got it connected to my laptop via BlueTooth and it's really fast for being mobile. We'll see how the coverage goes.

I got it! The new Palm Treo 700p, new this week! It doesn't have the WiFi, but that's 'cause they don't make it that way. But the internet is very fast. So far my main two complaints are no graffiti and it's too big.

I did it! I used photos from my trip to Egypt to complete my list of photos 26 things for May 2006. The rest of my egypt stuff is here.

I'm done with this one, I'm not sure when I finished, but it's crossed off now. I didn't count specifically and I can't remember when I watched which ones when but I've seen a lot. I'm sure the few I watched on the flight will balance the scales if I didn't get six in before I actually "left".

I did it! I'm in Egypt right now (April 2006) as I write this and I'm talking about it at MyTripToEgypt.com

Done and mailed!!!

So I got the Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera 18-55mm Lens. I liked the silver one better but Dell was out of stock and they had such a good deal (I think I got it for $739 shipped/tax and I have to mail in for $100 rebate). It's great and it's fast but it's got way too many buttons! I might actually have to read the manual...

I thought it would mount on my Macintosh desktop like a thumb-drive but it doesn't. Fortunately iPhoto recognizes it just fine. I was just surprised that it didn't mount. So now I need a few other things for it: plain or UV filter, some kind of case, a USB device to mount it as a drive and maybe a spare battery.

So I finally got the new battery for my Minolta Dimage XT. I had to get the energizer version from Buy.com since I couldn't find the actual factory battery anywhere. The old one just died of too much use. I charged it up today and it seems to work fine so far, I'll take a few more this weekend to make sure it's a-okay.

I'm definitely lacking nice brown shoes and I own several pairs of these shoes in black but need to order the ones in the color brown. I'll know I like them (this has been my standard black shoe for years) and I've been meaning to do this for ages so I added it to my 101 in 1001 list. So the guy at the Hush Puppies store said he could order them for me cheaper than I could buy on-line (which was true). I just wasn't sure exactly what my size was so I wanted to check my black ones at home.

So I found the size and called them back and when they got on-line to order them it turns out they didn't have the brown ones any more. So I checked all the on-line stores and the few places that did have them didn't have my size (and they were all more expensive than he could have got them for me)...

Then I found Boscov's they have the Sutton Hush Puppies in Brown and they were half off. So I ordered two pair! And I loved them.

Did I tell you I hate shoe shopping? And that they don't make these any more? And they were brown? And they were exactly what I wanted? Guess what? I ordered 4 more!

Done. So I'm hanging the degrees, I've got a really nice dual degree frame for my Bachelor's and Master's degrees (Kelly got me that for Christmas). And four smaller frames for the associates degrees (2 year degrees). But as I was opening the 4 frames it turns out one was broken and they discontinued these about a week after I traveled to multiple targets to get them. I had to hit two Targets to get a replacement.

I don't actually have enough room for all six where I wanted them (but I put them there anyways). Plus the color really doesn't match as well as I hoped (I like the color it just doesn't match where it is). Yes, that's the new armoire/desk that I completed as a task a few days ago (click for a larger view).

I also noticed the Associate's degrees just say which department where they're from but not what degree.

This is done, but the four of them might get reframed later...

And if anyone can tell me the correct way to fix the apostrophes above, I'll gladly do that...

It's here, it's great! I ordered the armoire, it's like a cabinet that hides the desk until you open the doors! It took a while to assemble it but it was worth it! It looks really good up where I've got it.

Mailed!!!! I hate doing them, I'm always afraid I should be claiming something else...

Up and on-line!!!! It took a while and then I kept finding duplicates and such...
It still needs some formatting, I don't like the default template.

My mortgage is actually a five year ARM (this means after 5 years it becomes an Adjustable Rate Mortgage). So in November of 2008 my rate will start fluctuating (probably up). So instead of paying the extra, I'm putting it in a "Christmas Account" in the bank, when I get $1000 I'll put it in a CD and start earning more interest than the 4.25% my mortgage is charging me (4.5%-4.7% in March of 2006). When my arm is up, I'll cash the CDs and pay down the principal a little more than if I did it the other way (a lot more if interest rates keep going up). If rates go down I'll go back to the old way (and my money in the CD will be lock in at the higher rate still).

Purchased and installed. And I plugged the old one in upstairs just in case it still works, I'll have extra protection...

Still trying to figure out if CO is more likely to rise or sink.

Done and mailed! (Only two years late!)
Got my refund already (March 13).

Got a new one! I liked it, I bought another one for the other desk.

I saw her on December 8, 2005. She was excellent! I got my picture taken with her too!