Things to do before I turn 30

In taking a page from countless sitcoms, and leaving myself what I think is a decent amount of time (not too much, not too little), I am making one of those lists. (Plus I have trouble sleeping at night :) ) But more than anything, I am putting it out here since 1) I'd like to hear your thoughts on this 2) Its kind of a binding public commitment 3) I'm a big fan of Scrubs.

Timewise, I have about one year and three months, December 13, 2009. The items are not in any particular order or preference. Enough already, lets get to the list

1) Climb a 14er (i.e. 14000 feet / 4200m high mountain ... no cheating to the top, it has to be a decent amount of climbing )
2) Swim 1km (well, one of my weak spots, and this is the only reason I'm not putting down a whole triathlon, maybe I can reassess....)
3) Do a week-long backpacking trip, oh yes, in the middle of nowhere.
4) Learn another language (Spanish?)
5) Do a bicycle-trip, 4-5 days along Pacific Coast Highway, maybe San Francisco to LA (Some of this stuff I've given more thought to / have the plan in my head than others :) , this is one of them)
6) Visit Yosemite (maybe this will be the long backpacking trip, but Yosemite backpacking permits runout pretty fast every year :/ )
7) Visit Grand Canyon

oh, a couple of formal things
8) Advance to PhD candidacy (Its rote anyway, since I have to advance before next summer, but if feels nice putting it here)
9) Get my driving license (I'm sure you guys will appreciate this)

back to better things,
10) Learn to play a musical instrument (Very naive, but so am I, lets see... I had a harmonica for 3 years but haven't done anything with it, maybe I should pick something else)
11) Learn dancing (If you thought I was holding anything back, forget it..)
12) Go outdoor rock-climbing (This is pretty easy, think I should switch it to multiple rope switch kind of climb? :) )
13) Go sky-diving / paragliding ... (Funny, but this is probably the easiest of the lot actually, it just takes some money and a free weekend)

I think 13 is a lucky number, so this makes a good rounded list right now.

So, what do you think? Any advice / more suggestions / sarcasm / somethings are too easy? (I actually think they are all reasonable) .. :) ... everything is welcome! Bring it on.

PS - Betting on all / individual items is also an open option, email me direct to negotiate ;)

Bike Car

I finally got around to lugging my bike up here. Which meant I had to take it on the Caltrain from San Jose to San Francisco, this is where the bike car comes in, a special train car for bikes.
There was an old guy in the bike car, in addition to couple of other people. Now the term 'old' is relative, he was only 54. Quite talkative. He had been biking up in the Santa Cruz mountains during the whole weekend. Now if you don't know about Santa Cruz mountains, let me tell assure you we're not talking gentle rolling hills here, there are several good 2000 feet climbs there. On narrow roads and steep grade its definitely far from an easy ride. Its a ride I'm still not fit for, and he is twice my age. And if you're by yourself, things can get pretty exciting.... he apparently had to sleep by the wayside one night. Even in the summer, those mountains get pretty darn cold.

He talked about being bought up in a farm, with 14 hour work days. He talked about his current work at a hospital, which is supposed to be a bureaucratic nightmare, and makes him yearn for this sort of escape. He talked about his kids, one who is in college and the other one who is starting next year, and how he will only have only several thousand dollars left after paying their tution fee.

But, he says it all goes back to his start, the farm days, to which he credits the endurance and attributes the desire to be out there in the 'boonies'. He said that you can't deny your birth call, otherwise you'd die. inside. This he meant to be what you grew up with, what you like to do, the call to be 'out there'.

I thought it was worth writing down as it was, anything I'd append would be simply redundant.