100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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Smithville NY

I ran my first ever 5K race this morning over in Smithville NY. Smithville is the town that has a great old unrestored mill. The mill captured my attention when I stated looking for property just after I decided to take the job down this way. I hope someday it gets restored. It feels good to do something that is good for yourself for the first time. You have to get over the natural resistance of something new (the biggest hurdle), plan, execute, and reflect. I have now moved into reflect. It was a marathon for me. I am planning on running in the Berkshire Heritage 5k later this summer too. Maybe another one, if there is another one close by.

I fueled up last night on some of Bonnie's most excellent Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies.

My exercise bike generator project is working now pretty good. I ended up using the motor out of a paper folding machine. I still have some testing to do to it to see if I have the right ratios. I am thinking about creating a website dedicated to contraptions I have built over the years. The RIMs machine needs a place to be documented.

I got my computer working again, sort off. What a piece of crap this windows thing is. I have paid all sorts of extortion (paid protection) money to Mcafee and the latest XP service pack 2 and you still get these anomalies. If I wanted to "fix it right" I bet I would have to buy a new computer with a new software install. It is just nuts.

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Anonymous said…
Congratulations on the race. Vic
10:13 AM
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