Some of the things I've done

June 2015: I performed my first oil change on my car. I did a lot of oil and fuel filter research and came to the conclusion that you should buy your own oil with the recommended viscosity (Mine is 5W-20) and to buy 5 quarts of Mobile 1 synthetic for $23.88 at Walmart. Pennzoil synthetic is also fine. Then also get a Motorcraft, Mobile 1, Bosch, or Wik filter, also found at Walmart for $4-$11. Then just call around to local shops and see how much they will charge just for labor if you have your own oil and filter. It should be between $15-27 for labor. This gives you a Full Synthetic oil change (vs the cheap conventional or blended oil) with a much better filter than the cheap filters they give you at Jiffy Lube and Firestone for a total cost of $45-60. (Or do it yourself, but you'll need ramps or jacks, a funnel, wrench for the oil plug, strap wrench to get the old filter off, an oil pan, and two jugs for the 5 quarts of old oil which you will have to give to a Jiffy Lube or Firestone along witht he old oil filter, for free, for proper recycling.

I also got in the top 25% at Leon's triathlon. (Top 40% for my gender and age group.)

May 2015: I now have memberships to the Museum of Science and Industry as well as Adler Planetarium

October 2014: Went to a credit card processing seminar at Motor City Casino in Detroit, then traveled to Providence, Rhode Island and toured the State Building the day before Obama visited the city. I got my picture with the painting of George Washington that is used on the quarter and the podium Obama would be speaking from in that room. I also had a personal tour by the caretaker of the First Baptist Church in the US and it lasted over two hours because there was so much history about the state, the people, and founder of Providence. Also went to New York and saw "On The Town" at the Lyric Theater on Broadway and saw "Dirty Dancing" at the Fox Theater in St. Louis the week after.

Fall 2014: Volunteered at and ran the Chicago 8 mile Super Spartan Race, then ran the 15 mile Beast then 7 mile Ohio Sprint Spartan Races back to back a weekend or two later. Also competed in the Sprint distance Chicago Triathlon (since the Olympic was sold out.)

Fall 2014: Traveled to Yellowstone National Park. Got to do a morning run and see four of the primary geysers vent while we passed them. We were among the very few people that were allowed to walk up to the roof of the Yellowstone Lodge and raise the flags on the top of the building.

August/March 2014: Traveled to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. Sparta was small. Athens was huge. Italian and Greek public bathrooms didn't have TP or running faucet water. The tax rates in Italy are so high, business do all they can to avoid paying any tax.

Late January 2014: Watched Forks Over Knives and Food Inc. at the suggestion of two friends. It basically associates meat, corn, and sweeteners for obesity, cancer,  I immediately changed my diet, with the help of a vegan friend that had lost a lot of fat, to include massive amounts of vegetables and reduced my meat and dairy intake. Though, if someone makes the meatloaf from Better Homes and Gardens, I will totally eat the whole thing. A few weeks later, after dropping 7 lbs, I craved meat and pizza so badly, I gained it all back in few days.

January 2014: Went on a tour of the Lemp Mansion, allegedly one of the most haunted houses in the world. Several members of the beer barron's family died in the house, as did children when it was converted to a foster home.

December 2013: Visited my grandparents in New York, saw my first Broadway play "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder", saw the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History, and bartered with street vendors.

August/September 2013: Competed in the Olympic distance Chicago Triathlon and then I toured Ireland, Scotland, and England. It was pretty awesome.

March 2013, I recorded a 13 minute, very detailed comparison between the Dyson DC23 and the Dyson DC39, $300-$600 vacuum cleaners. I posted it, and it exploded. So I learned how to activate Google AdSense in October and made $200 in four months from ad revenue (minus taxes). I gotta make more videos.

February 2013, I became webmaster for a group of healthcare risk managers.

August 2012, a friend asked if I wanted to go to Pigeon Forge for a week long vacation. I got to plan it, and we did just about everything there was to do there, except hike the Smokey Mountains. We flew over the Smokey Mountains in a 1927 open cockpit biplane, flew in a Bell helicopter to see some more sights, and I went Zorbing three times. We also did flips and somersaults on zip lines, went outlet mall shopping, saw an air museum with a replica of the Air Wolf helicopter, which is a retro TV show similar to Knight Rider, but with a helicopter, that I coincidentally had just watched on Hulu the week before. We also went to Dollywood (basically a themed Six Flags). Good times.

June 2012 involved going to Washington D.C. and getting my picture with Clarence Thomas from the Supreme Court as well as the Sergeant Major of the U.S. Army Raymond F. Chandler III, toured the Capitol building and White House, visited Mt. Vernon (George Washington's estate), and went to several Smithsonian museums. The day I got back, I went sailing on Lake Michigan.

May 2012, I ran the Soldier Field 10 mile at an average pace of 8:01 minutes/mile. Then I walked/jogged another 9 miles with a friend an hour later. The next day I biked 42 miles during Bike the Drive and another 10 to hang out with a friend later on. The day after that, my roommates and I used a Living Social deal and played paintball for 5 hours outdoors. That has to be a personal record.

In April 2012, I was selling someone a MacBook Pro and instead of grabbing his wallet he grabbed a revolver and said to give him the computer and he tried to grab it. There is a story there that involves me slobbering on his arm. I ended up selling the MacBook Pro to someone else who brought cash an hour later. One of the most random stories you may hear.

In March 2011, just to say I did, I played amateur "ghost hunter" in the Morse Mill mansion thanks to Groupon.
 
Later, I compiled some numbers that tracked the average cost of ownership of over 10 different vehicles, including depreciation, annual fuel cost based on fuel economy, insurance, maintenance and repairs on that make and model, etc. (Who does that? Right?) Some brands cost a lot more to maintain than others. If you are curious how much it would cost to buy and maintain a 2007 Nissan Altima for 5 years, check it out by clicking the link. http://www.edmunds.com/nissan/altima/2007/tco.html?style=100822188

February of 2011, went on a winter survival camping outing in 8 degree weather using only a blue tarp and some twine I'd tied between two trees for my shelter. I had heard about ultra light backpacking (not using tents) and felt like trying it. I used to help out with my brother's Boy Scout troop as an adult leader before I moved out here.

10/10/10 was my first day on a actual road bike, I rode 100 miles for TrailNet's Century Bike Ride. It took me less than 10 hours (including a few 30 minute to hour long breaks). Easy to remember. Right? I'd used the same 24" kid's size mountain bike from the age of twelve through college and had been on one 20 mile ride before that. I had carried one of my friends who didn't have a bike on the back pegs I'd installed on mine so a group of us could hang out by a lake in college.

Fall 2010: Went to California and hiked Half Dome Mountain in Yosemite, backpacked and slept on the top of a mountain in a backpacking tent. Stayed in San Fransisco in one of the pastel buildings on an extreme sloping road. Visited Pier 39, toured the WWII submarine, and saw an Irish relative. Toured the Ripley's Believe It Or Not!