After a highly productive previous quarter, this past quarter actually surpassed it. Right out of the gate, I was stomping ass in October, and things just got better and better as I went.
Quarterly Metrics
Completed tasks this quarter: 9 (8.9%)
In-progress tasks: 25 (24.7%)
Overall Metrics
Days completed: 751
Days remaining: 250
Completed tasks (total): 47 (46.5%)
In-progress tasks (total): 21 (20.7%)
Failed: 1 (0.9%)
Tasks completed per day: .06 (completing a task every 16.67 days)
Completed in Q4
23. Get danbailey.dev up and running. This should have been done last quarter, but I spent too much time fucking about. I got it up and running at the end of December. Getting this done in October was a goal, and of course, I took it right down to the fucking wire, like always. I abandoned the idea of using Wagtail because of the learning curve involved, and opted to just go ahead and build it with WordPress. It’s up and running, and I consider it done for the purposes of this process, even if it needs some content more fleshed-out.
43. Two new tattoos. (2/2) I snagged the first one right after I got back from Philadelphia in October, and I started in on the code to generate the art for the second one right after that. Once I decided the code wasn’t going to be done anytime soon,I opted to take one of the glyphs from the movie, and then got my shit together and got the artwork to my new tattoo gal here in Minneapolis. The end result here is two amazing tattoos, one on each leg.
56. Philadelphia. I got to go to Philly for the first time in about 20 years, and see my friends out there for the first time since February 2002. Missed those guys. I made a long drive out there, spread over two days, hung out for a day and a half, and then turned around and drove home again. It was a whirlwind, but damn it was a ton of fun. I need to get back out there for a longer stay sometime soon.
89. Go to at least five concerts. (5/5) After talking extensively about not going to anymore multi-day festivals because they’re such a slog, we went ahead and booked the 2026 Yacht Club Festival. All. Three. Days. And I’m counting this as complete because we have the tickets and there’s no way we’re not going. Notable line-up members include: The Strokes, Atmosphere, Cage the Elephant, The Black Keys, and Lord Huron.
95. Buy a snowblower. I was waffling on this one, not gonna lie. Debated not doing it, but after a conversation with the wife, we decided to get a battery powered broom-style model well in-advance of the weather turning truly shitty. However, the weather turned instantly shitty, which was not at all what I expected. The experience with this thing has been okay, so far, so I cannot complain too much. It’s definitely saved a lot of wear-and-tear on my already-bad back.
98. Glock upgrades. I made the upgrade on the trigger mechanism (Timney) earlier this year, and in early October, I dropped off the slide mechanism to get the internals swapped over to a new slide. Then I brought it home and installed the optic, a Holosun 407c. I got it boresighted and dialed-in at the range, and now I’m pretty happy with it.
93. Get myself a good drone. This was a bit of a quandary. I really wanted a DJI drone, but with all the bullshit fear-mongering crap associated with them (ie.: the sales ban), I did a bunch of thinking leading up to this. I looked at potentially getting a Flightory drone, but the resin printer doesn’t have the build volume (and while it’s great at small details, I feel like the larger pieces have a tendency to warp a bit), so I’d need to get an ABS printer.1 And then in November, we were at Costco, and I laid eyes on a Potensic Atom 2, which bears a striking similarity to a DJI Mini, which I’d been looking at previously. I skimmed the reviews quickly, things seemed good, so I shelled out the money, and got to flying it. Below is some raw video.
100. Buy a PDW. With the current political climate in the country, I’ve opted to up my home defense strategy a bit. Didi and I both have sidearms, which are fine for carry-concealed situations, but in the case of the household, I wanted something with higher ammo capacity, but shooting lower velocity rounds that don’t penetrate multiple layers of drywall. The option here turned out to be a CZ Scorpion 3+. Higher capacity magazines than a pistol, but 9mm Luger rounds. I’ve got some mods to make to it — I might change out the trigger assembly, and I need to put an optic on it, too. I’ve gotten it to the range once and it’s a fun little firearm.
101. Switch to Burton Step-On Bindings. These are ordered and on the way! Much excite!
Notable In-Progress Tasks in Q4
5. Do three brevets of increasing distance (200km, 300km, 400km). (0/3) This is a lot to cram into the last nine months of the 101 Things, but I am still hopeful I can get it done. I’ve registered for Randonneurs USA, and I’m going to treat these three rides as tune-ups for busting out the DAMN (#17 on this list) in 2026.
18. Get the Surly repainted. I’ve been shopping around for quotes on this. I’m looking for an orange-to-purple fade, with glass-flake, and a couple layers of clear coat over the decals. She’s gonna be obnoxious as fuck, which is kinda what you go for in a single-speed road Surly.
19. Ride at Ray’s Bike Park. I’m eyeballing doing this on a weekend in February sometime.
21. Get at least two certifications. (1/2) The original battle plan called for me getting this done this quarter, but it was one of the sacrifices I had to make. I did study like crazy for it, though, especially in December. I finished a Udemy course, I generated a study guide for it with the help of Claude AI (and double-checked the information therein very thoroughly), and I’ve taken a couple of practice tests as part of my prep.
28. See all the Apollo Command Modules that went to the Moon. (2/9) My original plan for the Philly road trip (#56) was to hit the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, which I did, and bagged Apollo 8. The other part of my plan was to hit the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio, but the government shutdown killed that pretty thoroughly. That was unfortunate, and then to compound it, the Tour de Tucson trip got cancelled, so I didn’t manage to hit the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas, which would have allowed me to see Apollo 13 (Odyssey). This seems like it’ll be added to the fail list sometime next year, unless I win the lottery or something.
32. D&D World. I was hoping to get this wrapped-up this quarter, but seeing as a lot of things I had planned on didn’t quite get done this quarter (see #37, below). But I am pretty satisfied with how far along I got.
37. Finish three Zelda games I haven’t completed. (1/3) I am on the cusp of finishing Tears of the Kingdom, after a long haul, and am gathering resources for the final battle. Need to score some extra melee weapons and bows, stock way up on arrows and potions, and upgrade some of my armor. I should have this wrapped in early January. Next up: A Link to the Past.
61. Read 150 books. (134/150) This year was one of my most-productive, where reading is concerned, in the last two decades. Seventy books. Seventy. If I can maintain this pace — and with audiobooks and a long-ish commute three days a week, I’m sure I can) — this should be wrapped-up by March.
62. Write a novel. I’m in the planning stages still, trying to salvage a bunch of the stuff that I’ve previously written. It’s slow going. I don’t know that this is going to get done.
63. Write six short stories. Had a great idea, have a rough draft. Need to find a writing group so I can start workshopping this thing and get it cleaned up.
77. Master Python. Ongoing, as always. It’s the primary thing I do at work now, so I feel like I am making a boatload of progress. In addition to the stuff at work, I’ve been studying to take the PCAP exam, slinging more code, and even went so far as to put together a syllabus so that I can really get into the guts of things over the next 3-4 months. Atop all of that, my wife was kind enough to get me Knuth’s The Art of Computer Programming which, while not part of this task, is going to be key reading for 2026. I expect to feel comfortable checking this off by April or May of the coming year.
96. Get Didi set up with a woodworking space. Hah! This has been kind of ongoing for awhile now, but really started to take off this Christmas. I got her some books and a few tools, and throughout 2026, I’ll be adding more stuff to her arsenal.
Failed
4. Finish the Filthy 50 in 4.5 hours or less. Well, the back was too screwy this year to train well, and hurt enough that I opted not to take a crack at this. No sense in killing myself over an impossibility. I’ll add this to the next 101 Things list, which I’ll probably start on January 1, 2027.
