brianelsey.com

25. Buy a random book and read it

Watchman

Went to Asda to do a weekly shop and they had a bargain book section filled with books priced at £1 each!

I closed my eyes and picked a book which was ‘Watchman’ by Ian Rankin.

I read it on holiday and couldn’t put it down, a great read.

It was set in the eighties, a time before texts, emails and the Internet.

44. Re-decorate bathroom

Bit of a cheat but I’m claiming it!

I stripped all of the old paper off the walls with my son. The ‘cheating’ part is that I paid someone to paint etc. afterwards. Still… job done, the bathroom has been re-decorated.

41. De-clutter my computer space at home and get rid of what I can

Had a big tidy up today and threw loads of stuff away including old routers, graphic cards and modems!

Was really surprised what I discovered in all the ‘junk’, lots of useful material I had been saving for future website content. Can still use it as it’s history related, happy days.

36. Place a bet on a horse

Can’t remember which horse I backed now but it was in the recent Grand National.

My wife, son, daughter and myself placed a small bet each on the National and my daughter won… £72… Unbelievable! That’s a small fortune for an 11-year-old. Me? I won nowt.

62. Write a letter of praise to a company for good service

Went to Manchester last weekend to watch a show. Before the show we had time to shop and eat.

We ate at the Bella Italia in the Arndale Centre, fantastic food and service, couldn’t have wished for more. Prices were reasonable too. Sent an email of praise for good service. If you’re in Manchester I can recommend them.

5. Do a sponsored walk

On Saturday, 21st May 2011 a few of us (via wiganworld) got together and did a sponsored walk in aid of a local charity.

We walked from Parbold in Lancashire to our home town, Wigan. A distance of seven and a quarter miles with 5 pubs en-route to slow us down.

The weather was on our side too.

My son and daughter pictured with a new friend they met at Gathurst:

Sponsored Walk

47. Learn javascript

Since going self-employed 12 months ago I’ve had the time I’ve had to learn javascript, jquery, ajax etc.

With my knowledge of programming over the years and the similarity between PHP and javascript I’m pleased to say it’s not rocket science!

javascript snippet

Number 5 on my list is to do a sponsored walk.

A walk is planned on Saturday, 21st May, 2011 from Parbold to Wigan along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

All welcome, meeting at Parbold around 11:30am for a 7¼ mile walk to Wigan via a few pubs. Should be a good day out come rain or shine.

£10 to enter, all money going to a local charity. Please get in touch if you want to join in.

The Windmill Pub in Parbold

Wigan Pier

89. Stop smoking

Probably the toughest on the list for me and I’ve done it! 27 years of smoking 20+ a day to no cigs at all.

It’s tough, very tough. I’m on day 44 as I type this and could murder a smoke right now but I’m not.

Best of all, I’ve done it cold turkey – no patches, gum, pills. If I can do it anyone can!

66. Enter 10 postal competitions

I’ve entered 10 postal competitions. I did win one too! It was a years subscription to Lancashire Life Magazine for winning their Sudoku competition.