travel

Day Zero Project: Completed No. 37

February 2, 2015

A Day Zero Project goal of P.J.’s has been completed!

Goal completed: Travel by train

Date completed: October 26, 2014

Number: 37

Description: I love trains. I always have been fascinated by them, so traveling by them is a really cool thing. Basically, I just wanted to travel by train somewhere.

On the way home.

Why I wanted to do it: There’s something about traveling by train. This goal was on my first Day Zero Project, and I completed it then as well. One day, I’d love to travel around the country for 2-3 weeks, all by train. I’d pinpoint a few places where I’d want to hop off for a day or so, take some photos, geocache, maybe catch a game … and then roll on. That’s actually a blog post I have cooking in my head — and have for a long time — plotting a route and looking at each place I’d like to hop off the train. I wouldn’t plan on doing it in major cities, most likely, rather in the smaller towns so I could investigate some. This was all about being able to travel via train, though, and I accomplished it.

How I did it: I had to head down to New York City for a work conference and I know how much it costs to park in the city, and also how hard it is to find parking. In the end, it would be much easier to drive to a semi-local Amtrak station and take the train into the city. I went to the station in Rhinecliff for this. The trip is an easy one as the drive takes me about an hour or so. Once there, one is greeted by an old-school train station that has the feel of years gone by. I always like to snap some photos and put them up on my Instagram, which I did. I waited outside for a bit before the train pulled up. Being a Sunday, there were a few people on the train already. I found an aisle seat (my preference) and settled in for the two-hour ride. We arrived without issues. After a good day in NYC, I headed home On this trip, I had the row to myself and slept for most of the trip home. It was at that point when I was coming down with something (so much so that I took a sick day from work a couple days later), so an easy snooze on the way home was good. The train experience was good, though it would have been even better if it took me within 10 minutes of home instead of a little more than an hour!

About P.J.’s Day Zero Project: Day Zero is a project where people come up with 101 things to do over 1001 days. I started the project on August 1, 2014 with an anticipated finish date of April 28, 2017. Goals will not be revealed until they are completed. A private list is at the Day Zero website and the list will be made public upon completion of the project. It’s my thoughts that if things are kept private, should I not do them, change or find a way around it, I’d only be cheating myself.

2015: Looking ahead

January 4, 2015

Another year is in the books. Now, it’s time to look ahead.

I’m not one who is big on resolutions. Instead, I like to make goals and work toward them. I don’t do the weight loss thing, or exercise, or this or that like many do. I’ve found when I do that, I’ll go to a gym for a while and then fizzle out. I know I need to do all of the above and I’ve been working on that. But that’s because it’s for my health, not some silly resolution.

So, as I’ve done here for the past few years, I like to come up with a few goals I can aim for. These goals run a gamut of different things, so it’s always fun to see how far I get with each of them.

Let’s face it — I don’t always succeed, but I’m always pushing to attempt to succeed.

So, here, I present to you my annual list of goals. We’ll see how it all goes and by the end of the year, hopefully I am talking about how I succeeded in doing all of these. Some of these were done last year, so I am tweaking them slightly as they were ones I didn’t think I fully succeeded on in 2014.

1. Photography

This is easily the biggest goal I have this year.

Last year, I got away from taking pictures with my DSLR. I purchased a new one right before Christmas, so I am going to be working on using it a lot more. Further, part of my current Day Zero Project has a lot of photo-based things, so I want to work on those. Add in the monthly photo blogging challenge and other challenges and I want to use it a lot more.

My new camera needs a workout this year.

On top of that, next December will be the 10th year I have done an annual photo book. I have big plans for that and I want to go back to how it was when I first started that yearly tradition, which means stepping away from the iPhone as the main camera.

That being said, I won’t be leaving the iPhone completely. I love Instagram and the social part of it, so I am going to work on finding a good balance.

One part of this will go hand-in-hand with one of my other goals — travel. I want to visit more state parks in New York, which should give me many chances for photos (as well as geocaches), so it should be fun in that regard.

2. Geocaching

I didn’t find many geocaches in 2014.

In fact, it was the lowest total I’ve had since starting in March 2008. In 2014, I finished with 221 finds — an average of 0.6 per day.

I need to get into caching way more again!

Not good!

I say not good because it means I didn’t get out as much. Geocaching, for me, is a game that is fun because it gives me something to do outdoors and it gives me an excuse to go see and do some things. It’s also a nice way to get some exercise with walking and such.

So this part of my goal is several parts. The things I’d like to do include:

Reach 4,000 finds (I need 205)
Place at least 15 or so geocaches
Host 5 or more events
Average at least one find per day for the year
Add another state or country to my totals (hopefully more than one)

Some of this will require some travel. I have other geocaching goals with my Day Zero Project, so if I can do some of each, it will be a good thing. I also want to do more photos with geocaching, but I basically want to do more photos with everything, so that shouldn’t be so surprising!

Honestly one other thing I’d like to make sure I do is geocache with somebody I’ve only known through the internet — such as through blogging or Twitter. I have always wanted to do that for some reason, so 2015 seems like a good time for that.

Travel

My travel in 2014 was a tad limited, mainly because of the Summer of Baseball. An anticipated trip to Montreal (haven’t been there since 2009) never materialized and a few other places I was hoping to go didn’t happen.

So this year seems like a good one to try and take advantage of it.

Outside of Montreal, I’m not sure where else I’d like to go. But it could be a weekend getaway in New York, or a three-day geocaching road trip. It could be for some baseball, or for some brewery tours. It doesn’t have to be a 10-day European getaway (though that would rock), but something different would be nice. Maybe a extended weekend to Vegas? That would give some great photo ops and I am sure geocaching, too.

Part of travel, too, is meeting people. Maybe I’ll figure a way to set up a few geocaching events. Or I’ll look to play some disc golf. Or … anything. I want to expand some things when it comes to travel. It’s all about people.

I know I’ll get to places this year, and hopefully it will be ones where I can see things, do more and meet some people.

Better my blog

A repeat from last year, but I think this year I am ready to actually do this a bit more.

There are several aspects of blogging I am putting here that I feel will better this blog, as well as make it better overall for me. I want to expand blogging-wise, and I don’t necessarily mean by getting thousands of readers per day (though I could dig that).

Blogging to me, still, is about the community and having a place to express myself through writing. Whether it’s a feature, or a journalistic-style post, or something going on in my world, it’s my little place on the web. I don’t get advertising or anything like that, it’s just me.

But I do love visiting other blogs and talking with other bloggers. I learn as I read and peek around at other ones. I get inspiration and I’m always amazed by the talent and ability of other bloggers.

So, with that in mind, here are a few things I’d like to do this year with blogging:

Tweak my design a little (new header, maybe color scheme, maybe some other small changes)
Blog a tad more often and keep up with comments and such
Have, at a minimum, 250 posts for the year
Take part in a few challenges, as well as continue the Photo Blogging Challenge throughout 2015

Blogging is a fantastic community and a great activity. I don’t plan on making money through it, so I need to keep it on a personal level and continue to enjoy writing. Hopefully, it won’t change and I will enjoy tweaking and learning a bit more about the look of the blog.

Day Zero Project

This is a simple goal.

My current Day Zero Project goes through April 28, 2017. But I still need to be working to actually get 101 things done by then. The goal this year is to complete, at a minimum, 25 of those items. I’d also like to have several of them be in the “working on” stages.

I truly don’t know if I’ll get through the full list of 101 by the deadline. Some of the goals aren’t easy and might not be able to be done in time. But it keeps me reaching for something. As much as I would love to finish the whole list, if I can get through 75 percent of the items, I would easily consider it a victory.

Home brewing

I’m adding a sixth this year. And, much like the last one, this one is going to be somewhat simple.

I need to brew more!

I just want to brew more.

In 2013, the only beers I brewed were in December. I am hoping to do it much more often this year. I have ideas and thoughts for beers, so I need to see them through. I have some kits I still want to put together, and a few I want to order. Eventually, I want to work into three-gallon batches, and maybe the bigger, 5-gallon batches. Though, honestly, I like the smaller ones because it’s much easier to get through them if they are ones you don’t like!

The whole process is a lot of fun, so I look forward to doing several brews. For the purposes of a goal on here, I’ll say I’d like to brew a minimum of five beers, though I’d be shocked if I didn’t do at least double that.

There you have my 2015 goals. There are other things I hope to accomplish (such as playing disc golf more, learning more about the board game world that I’ve been getting into etc.), but these are the goals I hope to focus on. Come next January, we’ll see how I did. Until then, I hope you all have a great new year and follow any goals you are hoping to accomplish throughout 2015!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Traveling Notebook: Looking for some creative fun

December 2, 2014

A few years ago, I attempted to do a traveling notebook. The goal of it was for it to travel and eventually make its way back to me.

Always with an ulterior motive, I wanted something to blog about.

Unfortunately, during that time, I was unemployed. The interest was rather low and I lost interest trying to figure the best way to organize it. But the idea has always remained with me. It’s something I still would love to do.

So I figured what the heck, how about we revisit this?

traveling_notebook

The idea behind this is simple. We have a list of people who agree to get involved. I’ll try and set up a list of how things can get to one another as close as possible. So, for example, I’d send to Pennsylvania, not to somebody in California. But we’d try and get it going so it wanders around before coming home.

I’m going to open this to more than just bloggers, though. I am offering this, first, to people I have dealt with online and a few I know in the real world. Whether through Flickr, geocaching, blogging, letterboxing, disc golf, softball or something else, I want to see what I can come up with. I want different people to be involved and see as this book makes its way around. The only thing is this … I’d like to try and keep it to people who I’ve had interaction (even just a tad) with in the past and such, even if just through blogging or something else. This way, I kind of have a feel for those involved. I won’t rule anybody out, so if you are interested, post a note in the comments section!

I’ll have to cap it at some level, though. I’d love to get like 20 or so people to make this something that could last a bit as it traveled.

Once we get all the interested parties, I’ll divide it up geographically and then get going on it – the book will start its journey.

Each person, depending on how many sign up, would get a certain amount of pages. Right now I am looking at a spiral-bound sketch pad with 100 pages. But each person will get a number of pages to do whatever they want.

What does that mean?

Write a story. Make your pages scrapbook-like. Put in a photo or three. Do a couple of drawings. Put your favorite recipe in there. Maybe a label from a beer bottle. Or a wine bottle. And a story or two to go along with it. Maybe you’ll write about a day in the life of _____ .

That’s going to be the best part of this book — people can do whatever they want. Maybe a concert ticket. Or a speeding ticket. Let’s just try to keep it as flat as possible!

Please, though, keep it clean. Let’s not put anything in there that could offend somebody else.

You also don’t have to necessarily use up your allotted pages. That’s up to you.

The one thing I ask is that you at least put your name (first only is OK) and where you’re from and a little something on at least one or two pages. After all, what’s the point of getting involved with this if you aren’t willing to do something?

For now, I am going to limit this to the United States/Canada to save on shipping and to be able to have tracking. I would request that when you send it out, please send it with confirmation so we can track it. And, please, when you send it, e-mail me to let me know the number. If you are Canadian, my plan would be to group all of the Canada spots together and not have it going back and forth between the US/Canada. Basically, one time up, then one time back down.

There are but just a few rules for us to follow:

Please don’t share/blog the pages. The reason I am doing this is partially a blog project, so I’d like to blog about the whole thing once it’s done. I plan on scanning/photographing each page and having it available for all to see.
Please agree to be able to send this out within seven days of getting it. I realize things come up, but if people keep it too long it can become long and tedious for others. If there is a delay (vacation, illness, family etc.), please just let me know.
Please use delivery confirmation when sending this and make sure the package is secure and sealed. I will be putting the notebook in a heavy duty ziplock for inside the package, and this might need to be changed (as well as the mailer) at times.

A couple of other notes for you to all know.

I will be attaching a Geocaching.com travel bug. If you are not a geocacher, then this won’t matter. But if you are, please feel free to discover this.

I am also planning on making a letterbox stamp to put with this. If you like stamps, feel free to stamp something with it. Please keep this with the package. I will also make this available to log on Atlas Quest. If you are a Letterboxer, stamp your personal one in the book when you do your pages!

When this is done, my plan (as long as we have enough people) is to have a pathtag made. Everybody who participates will get one. For those who don’t know, these are small little “coins” that cachers use as signature items, or as trading items. The best is you can put a keychain on it for that purpose. Please, though, log it when you get it as it will be neat to see. I will only make these once we see how many people are involved and once the book successfully makes it back to me.

I would love to see this start and end within a year. That might not be possible, but I am hoping. An occasional photo of it on Instagram or in the Facebook Group I am setting up with be fantastic, too. I am posting this now so I can share with friends and such to see if we can start this soon after the start of the year.

If you are interested, let me know. You can comment here or e-mail me or call or text, depending on how you know me. I’ll put you on the list and keep you up to date.

The day it launches, I’ll do a post on my blog. I’ll then send it out. If you are a blogger, I’d like to make sure everybody is linked up so others can check out your blog and such, too.

I look forward to seeing if this will take off and if it will do well!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

As the summer approaches, it’s time to get back to normal

May 7, 2014

I don’t know what it is, but it’s been hard to blog lately. When I get home from work, I usually don’t want to sit and do it. My ideas are wavering, too.

The block!

Alas, as the weather turns and I get outside more, I’m hoping to have more ideas. Such as geocaching.

Remember that wonderful hobby?

A weekend trip to Pittsburgh in January was the last time I had geocached. A week or so ago, I had the chance to find a couple to snap that long skid. This past weekend, I went out and actually had an afternoon of caching. That included several park-and-grabs, as well as one cache I opted to archive. It was a multi and one of my favorite caches, alas, it was getting too hard to maintain so I opted to let it go. The container is great, however, so I plan on using it again.

With me, hobbies sometimes come and go based on the frequency and availability of doing them. For example, I got into letterboxing (similar to geocaching, but with clues and rubber stamps) and that kind of faded. As many of you know, I also really love playing disc golf. However, without a decent course close by (the nearest is about 1:15 away), it becomes tough. But, as the weather changes, I am looking forward to mixing a disc golf trip with some other hobbies, be it geocaching, photography or seeing a baseball game.

The recent health scare of the foot and all mixed in with it (post about all that…) has made me realize I need to start taking advantage of things a bit more. I tend to look at one thing, go with it and let it plays its course. But, I need to start mixing some of these fun things so the interest remains there in all of them.

As summer approaches, I am setting a few “wish list” goals for myself. I don’t know if they will all come true, but I’m hoping. Here’s a quick list of what I want to do.

1. Baseball

My goal is 10 ballparks this summer. I want to see different levels of the minors and maybe a Major League game or two. I’ve been limited, because of funds, from seeing many games since 2011. But with a job and the ability to go to a game or two on the weekend, I plan on taking advantage of it and doing a few baseball-related weekends. And, in a perfect world those trips my include some geocaching, disc golf and maybe a brewery tour or two.

2. Geocaching

I want to hit up a few events this summer, including possible two Mega (500 or more people). I’d also like to place several caches (I have some ideas!) and find a bunch in different areas. I don’t have any specific goals, per say, so it’s kind of just going with the flow. I am also more excited this year about our local “big” event as I have some ideas I’d kind of like to try.

3. Photography

I have long been away from using my main camera. No idea why, but I have. I need to get out and use it more. Maybe I’ll rent a lens or two to test things out and do some different things. But I need to get back into it. And I have about a year’s worth of photos I never processed and uploaded to Flickr. I should probably do that soon.

4. Montreal

By far my favorite city, I wanted to go there this past fall to celebrate a milestone birthday. That didn’t work out for financial reasons. There was a streak of about 11 years where I went every summer. I haven’t been since 2009 and I’m really looking forward to seeing this city again. I’m really hoping to do it when the Montreal Alouettes (CFL football) are in town as it’s a fun game to watch.

5. Brewing

Finally, this is something I have gotten away from and I really need to get back into it. I’m extremely excited about some kits I have that I need to brew and the ideas for some of them as well. I have several I need to do and once I do those (all one- and two-gallon batches), I’m seriously going to consider upping to a five-gallon deal. But I’m not sure yet. We’ll see how it unfolds. Either way, I just need to get brewing again

So how about all of you? Any plans for the summer months? I’ll have softball again as well and am looking forward to enjoying things this year. As much as I liked the summer gig I had last year, I rarely had weekends off and, when I was off, others were working. So I truly do look forward to getting back to “normal” this summer.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Go. Away. Mother Nature.

January 23, 2014

Sheesh.

Why is it when I have a little weekend trip planned, the weather gets all stupid.

I’m supposed to be going to Pittsburgh this weekend, leaving as soon as I’m done work on Friday. As per normal, I planned geocaches for the way down and while there.

The forecast? I bet you can’t guess.

OK, maybe you can.

Some snow. Cold weather. It seems like if I drive straight through Friday night, it should be OK. But there’s some snow coming in Friday night/Saturday morning. That kind of makes the morning difficult.

Now, I got a massively good deal on a nice hotel. So if I have to chill and relax a little extra, I can do that. But I have plans, so I want to be able to do them.

The worst part is it’s looking like snow showers and such throughout the weekend. That’s not bad to deal with when kind of being in one spot. But I want to get around a little. And if all goes well, there’s an event Sunday night. I’d be heading home after that — so leaving Pittsburgh at about 11:30 p.m.

If it’s snowy and such for a 5+-hour ride, that’s going to stink. Especially because I am planning on being home by 5 a.m., sleep for a few hours and then start a whirlwind day (I have it off) of three appointments (dentist, eye doctor, regular doc).

So, come on, Mother Nature, throw a guy a bone here.

It is still just Wednesday night, so I’m sure things can change for the better. Or the worse. But with hotels already paid for (Priceline) and tickets for one event on Saturday night already purchased, it’s a trip that’s happening or I’m eating a few bucks, which I’d rather not do. So, it looks like I’ll be attempting this and hoping for the best.

I won’t lie, though. It would be awful nice if Mother Nature could change things up. I’ll take bitter temperatures. Just no snow, please. At least not until I get home.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!