On November 24th 2010, I was officially awarded a master’s degree with merit in criminology and criminal psychology. When the degree paper arrived at my house on December 15th it was a big moment for me. I had worked very hard and learned a lot, especially with the dissertation. The graduation ceremony will be held in July, which I am looking forward to.
Completed Task: 60. Volunteer March 14, 2011
For as long as I can remember, volunteering has been an important part of my life. I wanted moving to the Netherlands not to create any exception to this. I continued volunteering with a charity in the UK that I was already active in but I wanted to add something new. Luckily, I found VolunteerMatch. For someone who likes to volunteer, this website can be a bit like a sweet shop as there are SO many opportunities, including for those living abroad. I spent several days looking at the opportunities, narrowing down the ones that were best for me and then picking three. The three organizations that I picked were:
- Aid the Nations – At the moment I am volunteering in their penpal programme, which means that I write back and forth with a few children in Uganda who are orphans and former child soldiers.
- WVeMentoring – I mentor a number of high school students as they work through a career guidance and preparation programme.
- Infinite Family - Infinite Family allows you to become a video mentor to a child in South Africa who has been affected by AIDS. It is quite a lengthy application/training process and requires a year long commitment but the concept and platform they use has been really interesting.
Completed Task: 86. Enter A Photo Competition March 14, 2011
I read an article once which said if you don’t enter contests you never stand the chance of winning. I totally agree with this statement but when it comes to photo competitions I learned they are a whole different kettle of fish. For starters, most of them cost to enter. Some a lot! Secondly, you have to take a look at the conditions and what will happen to your photo and its copyright were you to win. I have however, found one competition that didn’t cost to enter and that I was happy with the terms with. The deadline for the competition isn’t for a few months though so it will be awhile before I know how I did. Fingers crossed.
Completed Task: 53. Build Up To Drinking Eight Glasses Of Water A Day March 14, 2011
Not a very exciting task but one I wanted to work on. In the past I used to drink quite a bit of water but over the years I was not drinking as much as I wanted but I am now. 
Completed Task: 29. Pick apples November 21, 2010
On my last trip back to the UK, I took a detour down to a PYO farm in Kent and picked some apples, amongst other things. For the full story and photos, have a look here.
Completed Task: 91. Try archery October 3, 2010
Awhile back we visited Archeon. There was the possibility to try archery for free but the line was so long and there were so many people that it put me off a bit. Added to that was the fact that one man was really struggling to even pull the arrow back. So I ended up giving it a pass.
Luckily, a few weeks ago we were at Centerparcs where archery was one of the activities available to take part in. You had to sign-up for an appointment and there was the possibility that there would be other people taking part but luckily I was the only one! It ended up being a proper lesson with lots of bits and pieces learned and it was a really great experience.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I imagine it would be a semi-expensive hobby I’d consider taking it up!
P.S. The photos weren’t taken by me but someone with zero experience of using the point and shoot. 
Completed Task: 73. Take vitamins/minerals every day for a month May 11, 2010
You would think that this would be an easy task to complete but every time I started I would forget one day along the line and the next thing I knew I had broken the one month rule again. However, this time I employed the help of Goals On Track and have not only taken my vitamins for one month, I have moved right into the second month as well. I would even go so far as saying it is a habit…yay go me!!
Completed Task: 89. Try Pottery March 22, 2010
Completed this task last week and had a great time doing it as well. For all the details on my experience, visit here.
Completed Task: 79. Visit Vinopolis March 22, 2010
On my last trip back to London, I went with a friend to Vinopolis. I was a bit hesitant about going since there had been quite some bad reviews but in the end we had a really good time. I would not hesitate to recommend this attraction. For the full story of my visit, have a look here.
Completed Task: 39. Go Into A Library, Randomly Select A Book And Read It January 27, 2010
Yesterday I had some time before I was supposed to be at one of the schools I worked in so I headed over to the library that was close by. It was a very small library so it took me a few minutes to locate the non-Dutch books but once I finally did, I closed my eyes (okay semi-closed them) and picked a book.
What came of the shelf was red, medium sized book with the title The Private Life of the Cat Who… by Lilian Jackson Braun. Trust me to pick a cat book. However, this one was quite funny and a very quick read. My review for the book, which I posted on LibraryThing is as follows:
It was a super quick read about two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, who live with the writer James Mackintosh Qwilleran. The story starts off by explaining the strange circumstances by which Koko entered James’s life and his search for a playmate for Koko, leading to Yum Yum. The short chapters that then follow re-tell different adventures the trio find themselves in and ponders on the rather strange but loveable behaviour that the cats (and cats in general) display. This book was quite sweet and funny, although may not be as funny for a non-cat lover. :] Rating: 3 1/2 Stars
What this task did remind me was that the Rotterdam libraries have quite a large selection of English language books and while not all are from the current best seller list, there are probably quite a lot that I would like. So I need to use my library card a bit more!
Completed Task: 48. Buy a Stranger Something From Their Amazon Wishlist January 17, 2010
This task is one of those that I would have NEVER thought of, if I hadn’t seen it on someone else’s list. It seemed a nice idea and surely I could find someone who had a list that contained something that didn’t cost millions of Euros.
I actually started glancing through Amazon wishlists right after I finished writing up my 101 list, thinking this would be an easy task to cross off. However, it ended up being a little more challenging than I anticipated. First you had to pretend like you knew who’s list you were looking for. I guess Amazon isn’t used to random anonymous wish-list fulfillers, so I was stuck picking a random name and sticking it in the search field.
Then I had to decide if I liked this person…were they worthy enough of my good deed. I know that sounds a bit like a contradiction in terms to the whole task but I certiantly was not going to buy something for someone who’s profile said “BUY STUFF FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and yes there are a few of those out there.
Then you had to take into consideration if their list was current. For those people that added something back in 2006 and then never updated again, I wasn’t convinced that they still wanted the items on their list or still existed for that matter. Lastly, I also had to take into consideration the whole money factor. I hadn’t planned to be buying Joe Bloggs the whole Friends complete dvd box set. So after taking all these factors into consideration I promptly gave up and left the task for later.
Until today that is. Today I decided I was just going to get it done and over with once and for all. I pulled up the wishlist search box and typed in ‘Sam’. I picked the third entry, mainly because they had bothered to fill out their profile, something that earns them bonus points in my book. Sam’s profile read as follows:
I’m creative, eclectic, sarcastic, and open-minded. I’m always looking to learn and experience all I can. The Books are for my ever-growing library. I’m a photographer, so the Photography stuff is also for me. The DVDs and Video Games are, mainly, for my sister (if my books were dvd/vgs, she might have me beat).
So she was kind enough to put her sister’s requests on her list, she liked photography just like me, she had many pages to choose from and to top it off she had even added things to her list within the last week. So far Sam was ticking all the right boxes.
I scrolled through the pages and pages of items on the wishlist and then settled on the photography portion of the list. There were plenty of books, a few lenses, a camera body and some accessories/equipment like lights. In the end I passed up the several thousand dollar camera body, various books and lenses and went for the Designers Edge L-18 Home Light One-Light 500-Watt Halogen Portable Work Light. Partially because it was around the amount I wanted to spend (especially once you added postage) and partially because it was quite a practical and useful item but mainly because I thought it would be a pretty cool sized box to arrive unexpectedly in the post.
So Sam…this lights for you!
Completed Task: 50. Celebrate my half birthday. December 22, 2009
There are only so many 1/2 birthdays that come around in a 1001 day period. So I figured 2009 was as good a year as ever to celebrate. I decided that I was going to have a picnic and follow it up by a trip to a baseball game. However, the weather decided that I was going to have to make some minor adjustments to that plan. It bucketed it down for several days before the big day and rainy weather was predicted for the day itself. So instead we headed in doors at the local Pancake House.
We had pancakes, of course, and also some yummy vlaai from Multi-Vlaai. It was great to have my friends around for the day and my best friend, Elaine, even flew over from London, which was the icing on the pancake!
Afterwards, some of us headed off to the baseball game at the Neptunus Stadion. It was quite crowded as it was a World Port Tournament game but there was loads of fun to be had.
Completed Task: 35. Raise money for charity. December 22, 2009
A New Year, A New Country, A New Pool….
What better way to break it all in then with a new challenge? Of course there is no better way and that is one reason why I signed up for the Aspire Channel Swim.
What’s It All About?
Every year the charity Aspire, who help people with spinal cord injuries, organize the event for individuals to take part. You can participate as an individual, a fish or a group…Aspire isn’t picky, as long as you raise some money and/or awareness of their orginization in the process. A small excerpt from their website:
“Swim the distance of the English Channel (22 miles) in your local pool over a 12 week period and raise money for Aspire and people with spinal cord injuries.”
Where and When?
The challenge took place between September 14th and December 6th. For the majority of that time I went swimming at the Inge de Bruijn Sportfondsenbad swimming pool in Barendrecht, Netherlands. However, for two weeks during the period I was on holiday in Gran Canaria. Thankfully they had four (yes that’s four) swimming pools so I got lots of laps in then.
Well I’d Sure Like To Sponsor You
You’re in luck! I’ve already raised some money but donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity. Of course you can also donate the money directly to myself and I will then forward it to Aspire, however the JustGiving page is the preferred method where possible.
So please dig deep and donate now. For more information on the Aspire Channel Swim (maybe even to sign up!), please visit here.
Completed Task: 14. Take a walk in the rain. December 22, 2009
I got to complete this task a few weeks ago when the neighbours dog went missing. It was chucking it down but considering I would want the world and its dog out searching if any of my pets went missing, I decided I best go out and help. So I headed out with my umbrella for a 30 minute walk in the rain searching for the dog. Unfortunately I didn’t find the dog but I can cross off task number 14.
Completed Task: 46. Pull off an April Fools Prank. April 2, 2009
Yesterday was April 1st, also known as April Fool’s Day. In a 1001 day period there aren’t that many April 1st’s available, so I knew I needed to be a bit more organized than usual. So a few months ago I did a quick websearch on April fool’s jokes. I needed something that was practical, believable and that wasn’t going to have me laughing my head off during the act and thus ruining the whole thing.
I quickly settled on the trick of freezing someone’s desktop so that all the shortcuts were unusable. A brief glance at the instructions showed that this was a joke I could pull off and I was pretty sure it would be believable.
The Target
So yesterday morning I singled out the victim’s laptop as the target for my trick. First, I had to take a screenshot of their desktop, then I had to make that the desktop image and finally I then had to remove (or hide) the desktop shortcuts. The operation went smoothly and not even the fact that the laptop was in Dutch slowed me down. Then all I had to do was wait…oh and not laugh.
Before the Freeze
Eventually my victim opened the laptop and powered it up. He was on the phone to start with but I did see him frown as he attempted to use the web browser. A few minutes later when the telephone conversation had finished I heard:
Victim: There is something wrong with my laptop, the shortcuts aren’t working.
Me: Really?
Victim: Yeah, look they are doing nothing, crap do I have that virus?
Me: I heard the virus didn’t happen but that is weird, yeah.
Victim: Do your’s work? Maybe I need to restart.
Me: Yeah everything is fine with mine.
At this point he restarted the computer and of course it still wouldn’t work.
Victim: It still doesn’t work, what is going on?
Removing the Shortcuts
After a few more futile double clicks I burst out laughing and shouted ‘April Fool’s’ and showed what I had done. I even got a thumb’s up from him as he was impressed that I had managed to come up with something like that AND pulled it off without laughing.
