The movie the Bucket List has two old men trying to complete their list of things to do before they kick the bucket.
Given this week's milestone, I thought I would reflect on some of the things I have lived through in the first 40 years and then put out my current draft of the Bucket List.
Somethings I have witnessed or participated in or accomplished (in absolutely no order of importance or chronology) in my first 40 years:
1. Earned a PhD. (University of Utah, 1999).
2. Served a mission.
3. Learned a foreign language (Cambodian).
4. Got married in the Salt Lake temple and stayed married for at least 16 years (so far.)
5. Had 3 delightful (sometimes) children.
6. Received a major NIH grant.
7. Served as president of a non-profit organization.
8. Helped organize a major community cycling event.
9. Sang in the choir for a general conference session in the old Tabernacle.
10. Ran a marathon.
11. Won high school region championship in swimming.
12. Became an assistant professor at major university.
13. Experienced a major earthquake ("World Series" quake 1989.)
14. Attended a major league baseball game (A's, Royals, Cardinals.)
15. Attended an NFL playoff game (Titans vs Ravens 2008).
16. Attended an NBA game (Suns, Jazz, Pacers.)
17. Witnessed the University of Utah NCAA national runner-up season 1998 (we attended most of the home games that year.)
18. Presented my scientific work at major scientific conferences.
19. Witnessed the two BCS wins by the University of Utah football team (we use to go to most of the home games).
20. Experienced the death of my father.
21. Experienced the death of three of my grandparents.
22. Witnessed the RedSox blow the 1986 world series, and then finally win the World Series after 86 years in 2004, and then again in 2007.
23. Bought a house.
24. Completed an olympic distance triathlon.
25. Had two trees blown down on home or property.
26. Represented my high school in the Sterling Scholar competition (Science, 1987).
27. Made some friends who still keep in touch despite my being a curmudgeonly old man.
28. Completed a century ride (ULCER, Salt Lake, Harpeth River).
29. Snorkeled Hanauma Bay.
30. Certified in SCUBA, but only dove in Blue Lake, Nevada.
31. Served in my church as sunday school teacher (2x), sunday school president or counselor (2x), assistant ward clerk, student ward bishopric counselor, executive secretary, elder's quorum president or counselor(3x), primary teacher (2x), nursery leader, cub scout leader. Least favorite service (assistant ward clerk.)
32. Witnessed humpback whales breaching in Hawaii.
33. Witnessed reenactment of 1847 pioneer trek at This is the Place Monument.
34. Lived through tornado passing overhead.
35. Took my family on trips to Hawaii, Disneyworld, and the great Western trek.
36. Got thrown out of raft in a small rapid while river running.
37. Survived being hit by car while on my bike.
38. Saw moose face to face at short distances (City Creek, Dog Lake).
39. Hiked Mt. Timpanagos.
40. Watch sunset at Double Arch. Also hiked to Delicate Arch, Double 0 Arch.
41. Survived the hike to Kolob Arch.
41. Hiked the Zion Narrows and Subway.
42. Other favorite hikes or mountain bike trails: AF canyon: Pittsburgh Lake, Silver Lake, Julie Andrews Meadow, Timp cave, beaver ponds; Salt Lake Canyons: Red Butte, dog lake, Millcreek x-country ski main road, Donut Falls, White Pine, Lake Solitude, Albion Basin, Cecret Lake; Ogden: Adams Canyon. Wyoming: Turtle Rock; Tennessee: Virgin Falls, Burgess Falls, Fiery Gizzard, Fall Creek Falls, Volunteer Trail, Radnor Lake, Montgomery Bell Park, Lock 4 Park.
43. Mountain biked Slickrock trail.
44. Backpacked to Abram Falls in Smoky Mountains.
Bucket List items still to do (in no particular order of importance):
1. Snorkel/scuba dive with sharks in open ocean.
2. Learn to surf. (Then surf Waimea Bay).
3. Bicycle across the United States.
4. Motorcycle across the Unites States.
5. Hike the Grand Canyon's Havasu Falls.
6. Run the Grand Canyon via river.
7. Hike a substantial section of the Appalachian Trail.
8. Write and publish a children's storybook.
9. Write and publish a short story.
10. Ride L'Alpe d'Huez
11. Visit Angkor Wat.
12. Dive coral reefs in the following locations: Kaneohe Bay, St. John's Island, Great Barrier Reef, Catalina Island, Nassau, Biscayne Bay.
13. Publish a scientific article cited over 1000 times.
14. Visit Paris and ride the Champs de Elysee.
15. Run a marathon in under 4 hours.
16. Visit all 50 states. (Airports don't count.) So far: Hawaii, California, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Louisiana, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts,New Hampshire, Vermont. So by my account I am missing: Alaska, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine.
17. Visit Thailand.
18. Visit Ireland and Wales.
19. Visit Maui.
20. Visit my old hometown of Kaumakani, Kaua'i, swim at Salt Ponds beach, go to Na Pali coast.
21. Learn to snowboard.
22. Slalom water ski again.
23. Run the Ocoee River.
24. Ride a significant portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
25. Discover/invent a new therapeutic agent.
26. Publish an article in Dialogue or Sunstone or other major Mormon Studies journal.
27. Go to a RedSox game at Fenway Park.
28. Ride a century (100 miles) in under 5 hours.
29. Swim with dolphins in the wild.
30. Backpack the following the Smoky Mountains: Ramsay Cascades, Clingmans Dome, TwentyMile Loop, Mount Le Comte, Appalachian Trail.
