40 For 40 Year 1

1.  Publish My Novel

2. Get Another Tattoo (maybe work on a sleeve depending on the results of #6)

3.  Finish All 4,532 pages and 12 volumes of Winston Churchill's 'The Second World War.'

4.  Run a 5K  (to start with.  I'd also like to complete that 2,906 mile challenge I set myself and if I can run a 5K without dying, a 10K, Half Marathon and even a Marathon also seem like possibilities- but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.)

5. Visit All 50 States

6. Get ripped and get myself in shape.*

7. Pay off every single dime of my student loans.

8.  Write more novels, publish them.

9. I would like to ride a mechanical bull.

10. Go on a Caribbean Cruise with the Missus (through the Panama Canal and other destinations.)

11.  Call me crazy, but I think I'd like to drive to Alaska- maybe on a family vacation.  Just cuz. 

12.  People keep insisting to me that St. Louis and Kansas City are pretty cool once you get to know them.  Figure out if this is true or not.

13.  Have at least one culinary adventure a year.**

14. Vikings/Packers at Lambeau.  'Nuff said.

15.  Read one fiction book a year that's well outside my usual genre preferences.

16.  Work on my backlog of non-fiction and history books--  my Frasier biographies of Charles II and Cromwell, The Steel Bonnets and my Jenkins bios of Churchill and Gladstone are at the top of the list.

17. Read Wuthering Heights and understand/appreciate it.

18. Re-read and finish The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire

19.  Read Pride and Prejudice and understand it.  (Or at least appreciate it.)

20.  Master my ukulele!  (Even take lessons from someone if I have too.)

21.  I would like to shoot a gun.  Because I've never done that before.

22. Be the best Father I can be.***

23.  Be able to buy a really rare bottle of whiskey for my 40th Birthday.

24.  I'd like to visit Kentucky and check out the Bourbon Trail.

25.  I'd like to visit NYC.

26.  Ride a day of RAGBRAI

27.  Ride the whole week of RAGBRAI

28. Learn how to make bread from scratch

29.  World Travel Wishlist:  Brazil, India, China, Europe

30.  Brush up my foreign language skills and achieve moderate fluency in Chinese and Hindi.

31.  Get something pierced again.  (I really, really missed my piercings.)

32.  Go skydiving

33.  Go to Trekfest  (no excuses next year!  Gotta get this done or turn in my Trekker Card)

34.  Take the family back to the United Kingdom for a vacation.

35.  Make Our House Perfect (or move to a bigger and better house)

36.  Be able to afford a subscription to The Economist

37. Road Trip it up to Winnipeg for a Jets Game

38.  I'd like to see an Iowa away game somewhere.  (Football and basketball.)

39.  Go To A Major League Soccer Game

40.  Go to a Cubs Game at Wrigley