Name a completely meaningless accomplishment of yours.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Last edited Thu Feb 21, 2013, 03:29 PM - Edit history (2)

I"ll start:

I once ate in the Westernmost Cracker Barrel in the entire United States.

Kingman, Arizona. I did it.

My friend and I were driving from the Las Vegas airport to the Grand Canyon, where he worked. We stopped for dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Kingman, and our waitress came over to us and said, "Did you know that this is the western-most Cracker Barrel in the country?"

And I thought to myself, "Oh. Okay."

[NYC_SKP]

1. I posted the 50,000,000th DU post!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8381188

And I stood on the Southernmost point of the US

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. I've actually done that too, twice!

(Except they don't actually tell you that it's not really the Southernmost point of the Continental US.....the Naval Base on the end of Key West is actually where the true southernmost point is. But of course that is not open to the public.)

[NYC_SKP]

6. No, the other Southernmost place:

In Hawaii!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka_Lae

[Tommy_Carcetti]

39. Oh lucky!

Hawaii is on my bucket list for sure.

[Callmecrazy]

55. You're right, Tommy

I installed solar panels at that NAS last January.
So I guess my accomplishment is that I stood at the actual southernmost point of the Continental U.S.

[madinmaryland]

60. That's really fucking impressive, skippy!

Seriously!

You probably were invited to the moderators hot tub with admins!!

[dr.strangelove]

3. I got the MTA to put a garbage can in the parking lot near my train station

I watched for years as people dumped trash in the lot because we have no trash bins on the Metro North trains and they removed the ones at the stations except at the main platform. Those that exit the train at the rear of the train like me carry garbage off the train, and many just dropped it on the ground. I complained about 100 times and finally they put a garbage and recycle bin at the rear stairs. I think I deserve a cookie or at least to get my homework hung up on the fridge with a gold star on it.

[backtoblue]

4. I read the entire Twilight series.

[Dr. Strange]

5. I've read the whole Left Behind series.

Your move.

[backtoblue]

7. well, there was this one time...

at band camp...

[Dr. Strange]

9. Go on...

[backtoblue]

30. I sat through an hour UFO show with that guy on it...

THAT is actually an accomplishment lol

[Manifestor_of_Light]

103. Guys, don't forget the orchestra and choir people at camp too!!

[pipi_k]

10. I'll bet

this involves a piccolo...

[Ron Obvious]

8. Bird sounds

I can make very convincing Owl and Cuckoo sounds by folding my hands together, blowing through the aperture between the thumbs and moving my left hand to vary the pitch.

I was best in school at bird noises, but I don't like bragging about it.

[pipi_k]

12. More animal noises...

I can take a blade of grass, position it between my two thumbs, blow, and make it sound like a charging elephant.

Oh, and one really cool thing I discovered about hand held shower sprays...

if you aim it directly at your back end as a fart is coming out, it sounds a lot like a drowning duck.

[Gorp]

11. I played the pinball machine "Flash" for about 4 hours on one quarter and left it with credits.

I also played "Frenzy" to the point where all of the walls became reflective and anything you fired was going to come zinging back at you. I made it to levels I didn't know existed. That's from back when we had arcades.

[rrneck]

13. With my right index finger

brought down sharply on the side of an individual serving restaurant creamer, I successfully completed 97 consecutive "flips" back to the upright position.

[lastlib]

27. If you had just asked the waitress nicely, she would've brought you some butter......

...no need to churn it yourself!

[rrneck]

31. True, but I was so pumped afterward.

Feel the burn!



ETA My buddy was doing the same thing and the server just walked up, opened it for him, and walked away.

[OriginalGeek]

46. lmao!

I like places with servers like that. You can get that at some of your better Waffle Houses.

[ohiosmith]

14. From 1966 to 1970 I took more than 300 acid trips!

[backtoblue]

15. that.explains.alot.... lmao

[ohiosmith]

18. Indeed!

[In_The_Wind]

20. all right

[ohiosmith]

22. Right on!

[In_The_Wind]

23. indeed

[nolabear]

25. HAVE mercy!

[Earth_First]

89. 301, Bob...

Those were the days, however for me it was 94-98

[ohiosmith]

92. I'm not sure if the exact number! The 300 plus was determined while tripping with some buds.

[Blue_In_AK]

106. Hey, I think I did, too!

Once again, I see why I like you.

Only I think mine were between 1967 and 1972. (A confession...my last one was a couple of years ago. It was still fun.)

[RevStPatrick]

16. I still remember all the words...

...to the ELP song "Pirates" even though I haven't heard it in 25 years.
I just proved that to myself...

[In_The_Wind]

17. I have driven from Thetford Mines in Quebec, Canada to

[IMG][/IMG]
the tip end of Key West. just because.

[OriginalGeek]

47. "Just because" is a perfectly fine reason

for a road trip.


Sometimes, it's the best reason.

[In_The_Wind]

48. good sig line!

and, yes . . . it is the best reason.

[srican69]

19. I once polluted 4 states with a single fart (intersection of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico & Colorado)

Well actually its not quite true. In fact I've never been to the four corners monument ..

but why let facts get in the way of an interesting story?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

35. Reminds me of my trip to see Wind Cave National Park when I was a kid

Last edited Thu Feb 21, 2013, 07:18 PM - Edit history (1)

in South Dakota. Wind Cave was discovered in the 1800s when a small hole in the ground was found to blow out a stream of wind so powerful that it blew off a man's hat. The tour guide first took us to the old "historic" entrance to the long cave and talked about the fact the cave would alternately suck in air and blow it out depending on the barometric pressure outside and just as he said that that day was a blowing out day, a kid blew out one of the loudest farts I've ever heard. Everyone started laughing and the kid's older brother said he'd been saving that fart all morning for the right opportunity.

[BarbaRosa]

101. Actually, I've done that.

[fizzgig]

21. i have the complete action figure set for two movies

sleepy hollow and the first xfiles movie. no, they're not in their boxes, they got played with.

[tavernier]

24. I've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower,

the CN tower, the Empire State Building, the Sears Building, the Tower of London, Blarney Castle and Pikes Peak; and never spit off the side of any of them.

I was tempted though.

[lastlib]

26. Graduated summa cum laude w/ honors from college.....

for all the value that degree has now, I could just as well wipe my ass with it.

[nolabear]

28. I know some great bar tricks.

Tying a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue, folding a dollar so you can make George smile or frown by tilting it, balancing a salt shaker on its edge on a single grain of salt, playing coin-spin "marbles", etc.

Helps to have grown up in a café/bar. John Boehner got nothin' on this bear!

[EnviroBat]

29. I've been at this useless, career-killing, life-sucking job

for 6 years. It's time to move on, but change scares me. Just today, one of our vendors approached me about a position with their company. The job would require travel, but not farther than one state away, and the opportunity to promote a software product that I'm passionate about. I wouldn't be sitting in this gray cubicle everyday watching complete idiots being promoted to "leadership" positions. Maybe I'll take him up on the offer...

[TexasBushwhacker]

53. As long as you get a salary, DO IT!

If it's sales and it's 100% commission, I wouldn't recommend it. Oh, don't forget about benefits.

[triguy46]

66. I've been in mine for 21 years...

and can retire in 541 days. yes I'm counting. each day. In all this time no one has yet figured out that I'm not good at what I do. But I have developed the abilities to deflect, obscure, partially complete, delay, forget, ignore, mis-direct and other skills essential for being a successful senior executive. Those might be my meaningless accomplishments.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

32. I once tossed an entire pack of 52 cards one-at-a-time into a hat across the room

It was back in the early 60s and I was a kid, sick at home with the flu. I haven't tried it since.

[Sweet Freedom]

33. I can say the alphabet backwards in less than 5 seconds

and I learned that from a Catholic nun.

[Xyzse]

34. Upset and Made a Waitress Smile During the Same Service

I signed the chit with a 30+% tip, but turned it over and kept it in place with a penny.

[grilled onions]

36. What A Fun Question!

I once won a boat cushion when I didn't even have access to a row boat! On my first vacation I put a quarter into the slot of the vibrating bed and the only buzz I got was thinking about the quarter I lost when the damn thing didn't even work. I dethroned the queen of "around the world" a classroom challenge on rainy days in math and every year I failed math. Now I require both shoes off to balance my checkbook. The only time I ever answered the telephone(not a toy in those days) by saying "County Jail" it was my doctor on the other end. I felt like quite an ass at the time.











'

[EastKYLiberal]

37. Rode the world's 3rd longest escalator.

Rosslyn metro station in DC.

[kwassa]

58. Is it longer than Dupont Circle?

The one that never works?

[LanternWaste]

38. 1st Chair All State Symphony three years in a row (81-84)

1st Chair All State Symphony three years in a row (81-84).

My particular instrument is rarely (if ever) played by more than one member in any symphony... hence, any chair placing is a de-facto first chair placing.

[harmonicon]

82. Contrabassoon or oboe d'amore? (nt)

[LanternWaste]

90. Bass Clarinet

Bass Clarinet...

[Bucky]

40. In 1977, I rang the Liberty Bell with a rolled up program while the guard wasn't looking.

It was outside in front of Liberty Hall in Philly. The tour guide told us it hadn't be rung in 200 years because of the big crack in it. I was 13 and I was all like, "fuck that, I'm gonna be the only person in 20th century to ring this sucker" and then I rolled up my program, waited for the security guard to look the other way, leaned over the guard rail, and smacked the hell out of it. It more sorta womp-pinged than rang, per se, but it was like touching history. I never felt more connected to the Founding Fathers than I did at that moment.

[srican69]

41. Not meaningless .. I sailed 55 days straight without touching Land ( Brazil to Japan)

I was an engineer on a Bulk Carrier ( We we shipping Iron ore from Tubarao to some place in Japan I cant remember)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

42. I taught myself to raise my right eyebrow by itself...

[pink-o]

87. I can do the same thing with my left brow.

Stephen Colbert has us beat, since he can interchange it!

Are you left or right handed, my dear CP? (I'm right handed and pretty left-brained.)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

97. I am mainly right handed, my dear pink-o!

But I can be a bit ambidextrous!

[Kali]

43. I can gleek.

[Glorfindel]

44. For some reason, in high school, I memorized all the English monarchs beginning at 1066

I can still list them. What's more, I can list the line of descent from William the Conquerer to Queen Elizabeth II, which is quite different and more complicated. About as useful as knowing all the vice-presidents of the USA, which I don't.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

45. my degree. meaningless in this job market.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

65. Let me guess...

...you majored in government transparency?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

68. lol ... close

liberal arts

[Tommy_Carcetti]

69. Well, at least it's not conservative arts.....

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

71. I was thinking in this direction as well.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

70. This brings to mind...

...a particular installment of the Tonight Show. Johnny Carson's guest was Vanna White. Johnny asked about the name of her position on Wheel of Fortune. Vanna explained that was a "Letter Turner".

Johnny asked what qualifications she had for that job.


...a few seconds of silence...



Vanna answered very deadpan, "I know all the letters."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

49. I can sing The Star Spangled Banner one syllable off.

Oh, say can you see by
the dawn's early light what
so proudly we hailed at
the twilight's last gleaming? Whose
broad stripes and bright stars through
the perilous fight, o'er
the ramparts we watched were
so gallantly streaming? And
the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, gave
proof through the night that
our flag was still there, Oh,
say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er
the land of the free and
the home of the brave?

[benld74]

50. I etched my initials on the Great Wall of China near Bejing in 2002! Let'em come find me

I also purchased a Starbucks coffee while in the Forbidden City.

Drank some 'snake wine'

Got propositioned by a working class miss in Guangzhou.(no thanks was the reply from me)

[geardaddy]

51. Did you see Mao?

I lived in Beijing for a year in 198-84. There weren't Starbuck there then.

I once ate 2 pounds of jiao-zi (dumplings) while my friends watched.

[cliffordu]

52. I've ridden across the US on a bicycle - from Sandy Eggo to Fla a couple of years ago

and this fall and winter, from Seattle to LA.

[triguy46]

64. that is not meaningless in any way.

Wife and I rode across England 10 yrs ago.

[cliffordu]

73. I'd love to do that.

I'd like to ride the same route as the giro, but I'm too old.....

[triguy46]

100. This was an easy 4 day ride. Could be a pub to pub ride...

Hired bag transport so each morning the bags were picked up and taken to next b and b. All we had to do was ride. Saw more sheep than people. It was in the north, near scotland. Long day was only 35 miles. A couple days had some stout climbs. But over all easy. Did I mention the pubs?

[cliffordu]

102. I heart pubs.

The running joke on this last ride was that it was a dash between liquor stores......

[midwest irish]

54. I sang in Carnegie Hall

I mean, I wasnt performing there or anything. I was on a tour and sang a few notes while we walked around. So Im gonna add that to the CV.

[Callmecrazy]

56. While sitting in a bar in Las Vegas...

I was playing video poker and turned $5.00 into $11,000.00 in about twenty minutes.




True story.

[Spike89]

57. I walked/hitchhiked ~200 miles just to get home a couple days sooner

I was on a commercial fishing boat in Southern Oregon and decided it was time to go home even though my Dad was planning on heading home in two days. I left in the morning with a cardboard sign and $3 in my pocket and a 17-year-old's energy. I got a couple short rides, but mostly walked up the Oregon coast. Towns are all 27 miles apart from Gold Beach to Florence for a total of about 128 miles. I didn't stop once, and even with the short rides I got, it took me about 20 hours to get there. (obviously, at just better than 6 mph, most of it was walking). I'd seriously overestimated the amount of traffic and the willingness of tourists (the majority of what little traffic there was) to pick up a scraggly teenage boy.

I got a ride in Florence at about 3 am from a crazy trucker who drove me into Eugene (50 miles or so), then I walked the remaining 15 miles to my house arriving at about 7 or 8 am. I was dead tired and totally stoned from the pot (the crazy trucker guy smoked pot almost non-stop and I felt obliged to smoke along with him).

In the end, I beat my Dad and sister home from the boat by more than 24 hours, but after the marathon sleepfest, it amounted to a few hours for an awful lot of effort.

[kwassa]

59. I've driven the entire length of Interstate 10. Los Angeles to Jacksonville.

I just lied.

We took a few side routes, later coming back to I-10.

side trip to San Antonio and Austin, sidetrip through Lafayette through the bayous into a back route to New Orleans.

and the coast road in Biloxi.

We did drive all the way to Fort Lauderdale, where I deposited my ex, never to see her again. Her choice place to move.

[Stuart G]

61. I once drove 7200 miles in 11 days..

well.,..I didn't get to stay long anywhre..,...but I sure did go far..
..Chciago, to Glacier National Park, to Banf and Jasper National Parks.., to Vancouvor to San Franciso to Reno..and back to Chicago....summer..1973..It was driven in a 1971 Dodge Dart...with stick shift...ok,,not exactly easy on those hills.................

[LiberalElite]

62. I can still recite all the prepositions -

learned in 5th grade to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel. Sr. William Marie would be proud.

[triguy46]

63. My draft number was 365.

[Scuba]

85. One.

[triguy46]

99. Woh.

I was a summer 'hand' on a pipeline crew in 1972 when they drew for my age cohort. A co-college student summer ditch digger drew a 5. He packed his bag, caught a bus home. Never heard of him again. I appreciate those that went, I mean them no disrespect. I will never win the powerball. I won my lottery in 1972.

[Scuba]

110. I'm still waiting for my "win".

[noamnety]

67. I own a prepaid VISA card with one cent on it.

I got a $5 card in a rebate deal and used it for 7 separate transactions and tried to run it down to exactly 0. Yesterday I screwed up though - I knew I had 24 cents left on it, and bananas are 24 cents at target.

My downfall was that while I was there, I used a $2 coupon for a $1.99 bottle of ketchup, and they applied the extra penny to the banana, so I only got charged 23 cents.

[Generic Brad]

72. Last year I caught 1191 fish

I ate only one. The other 1190 were released.

I get kind of obsessed about fishing.

[R B Garr]

74. I've been to all 21 California Mission sites

It took me three summers and some separate day trips to do it. Not that it can't be done sooner, of course, it just worked out that we took three separate trips each in June lasting about 5 days driving around California and then some separate day trips to see some of the missions that were within about a 2 to 3-hour drive each. It was a very worthwhile experience. After the first few missions, it became a goal to see all of them. Very educational and enriching.

http://www.missionscalifornia.com/california-missions-map.html

What a great thread idea! Thank you.

[eShirl]

75. scored 1310 on the SAT in 1983

680 verbal, 630 math

[liberal N proud]

76. Getting out of bed today.

[Art_from_Ark]

77. I've been to the southernmost point in the United States

(southern tip of the Big Island, Hawaii), the southwesternmost part of Canada, the only town in Washington State that is accessible by land from Canada but not directly from the rest of Washington State (Point Roberts), the easternmost train station in Japan (Higashi Nemuro in Hokkaido), and the Japanese train station that was closest to the sea (which was later wiped out by the 2011 tsunami).

[sinkingfeeling]

94. Been there too!

[applegrove]

78. I can do those maze puzzles in no time at all.

[Rincewind]

79. I read your post. nt

[HeiressofBickworth]

80. I started a "self-appreciation" list

An entry from childhood: In the late 40's, professional photographers were pushing the idea of photo Christmas cards. They had billboards up all across the US advertising photo Christmas cards -- the picture was me.

P.S. I highly recommend developing a self-appreciation list. Start with childhood, then teen years, then each 10 years. Add anything that you did that makes you feel good about yourself. It's actually quite fun.

[harmonicon]

81. I enrolled in and completed a PhD program. (nt)

[RudynJack]

83. 5 friends and I broke the Guinness World Record

for Hopscotch.

This was back around 1972 give or take 2 years. We played for 36 hours and 40 minutes. The local newscame out and covered it. The whole neighborhood was involved.

We had it all certified and sent it in to Guinness. They wrote us back saying they recognized the record, but it wasn't going to be included in future editions.

So we had a Guinness record, but not so's ya'd know.

[DFW]

84. I wrote a song that was performed in front of GW Bush

My dad was President of the Gridiron Club of Washington, DC, which always puts on a comedy roast for the DC political elite every year in March. After he passed away, Gridiron broke with tradition, and in my dad's honor used some of my songs (they usually only use songs written by Gridiron Club members) in their shows. When Saddam was captured, I wrote "Under The Floormat" to the tune of "Under The Boardwalk," and it was used in one of the Gridiron shows when Bush Lite was there.

Clinton was still president when my dad passed away, and there was a new generation on the Gridiron music committee by the time Obama took office, so I never got to write any Gridiron stuff for a Democratic president. However, I DID get a handwritten note from Clinton saying how much he liked the lyrics I wrote for some of The Freedom Toast's stuff, so that was a nice consolation prize!

[Scuba]

86. When we were kids, my cousin and I played board games. I once won three straight ...

... Queen of the Prom. And i'm still hetero.

[uriel1972]

88. Any of my achievements in "World of Warcraft"...

Dear lack of God I must have hated myself or something in order to play that.

[geardaddy]

91. I stuck 26 Planter's cheese balls in my mouth once.

[a kennedy]

93. Most improved bowler.....

I went from a 107 to a 142 in one season. Actually I thought it was a pretty good accomplishment.

[sinkingfeeling]

95. Raced a Corvette on the high banks at Daytona in 1978.

[Helen Reddy]

96. I can wiggle my eyebrows to the song

"A taste of honey" by Herp Alpert

[Grantuspeace]

98. I was playing catchphrase and the category was literature.

Before the question was asked, I blurted out "Moby Dick" and I was correct!

[XRubicon]

104. I drove from San Francisco to Boston in three days

I slept twice, Cheyenne Wyoming and outside Chicago.

[Adsos Letter]

105. I towed a car on a tow dolly from San Francisco to Philadelphia.

Summer of 2007---My oldest daughter got accepted to Med School in Philly. I put her Honda Civic on a tow dolly behind my pickup and headed out on I-80 smack at the beginning of a heat wave that crossed the US with us (it was 114*+ crossing Nevada).

Got to Philly in time to drive through downtown during the commute, still towing that car, during the worst summer downpour I'd ever experienced.

Spent three days helping her get situated, then drove home via Virgina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California coast.

Great road trip.

[Blue_In_AK]

107. I once sewed a 28-foot canvas tipi on a treadle sewing machine

when I was living on a commune in southern Oregon, and then lived in it for four months. It was a kit from somewhere in Washington.

[TexasBushwhacker]

108. I once tied a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue

Just once though

[Kablooie]

109. I got Chuck Jones to draw Bugs Bunny on my chest.

And I have photos to prove it.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

111. Another one: I have been to all but one of Florida's 51 peninsular counties.

Hamilton County, I'm coming for you!

Now my dad, he can recite the 67 counties of Florida by memory. And that's true talent.

[Bertha Venation]

112. I had quite a few solos back in the day

[steve2470]

113. I walked on Arctic Ocean ice

Granted, it was only a few feet off the shore of Barrow Alaska, but I did it. In November and it was -15 F, with a wind chill of -60 F.

Now I need to walk on Southern Ocean ice, down next to Antarctica. Only hitch is, last time I checked, it's $11K to get there.

[Enrique]

114. I won a bagel

a bagel shop had a daily trivia question, I knew that salmonella was named after someone named Salmon. Free bagel time!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

120. And you just taught me a new fact!

Now consider yourself having at least two totally meaningless accomplishments in your life!

[bluedigger]

115. I got hit in the head by a flying helicopter.

I was in Air Assault School in 1983 and a gust of wind blew a Chinook helicopter into me as I was trying to hook up a sling load to it. I got hit in the head by a tire and knocked ass over teakettle off the vehicle I was standing on to the ground. When I took my helmet off later it had a six inch dent on the side.

[JonLP24]

116. I took a SMU football program

from a 1-star program into a Fiesta Bowl victory over Nebraka the same year my speedy running back (that I used almost exclusively as he led my team in receptions) won the Heisman trophy. Then went to coach Arizona State and turned them into a dynasty w/ 2 or 3 more Heisman trophy running backs and maybe 3 national championships w/ the third one won so easily I got bored.

I then left my powerhouse program to coach Colorado State (something that would shock the entire world) for a challenge and to keep my interest. I couldn't fulfill my goal as being the top non-AQ school to win the national championship (Fresno State was the first non-AQ team to be on of the two teams to play for a NC but didn't win) I did win a Heisman trophy for the first time ever w/ a receiver who was my first recruit at CSU and won the trophy his senior season.

I did all this on "Heisman level" difficulty setting on NCAA Football 09. Speed was a huge advantage over other teams making kickoff and punt returns too easy against inferior teams and why it was so easy to win Heisman trophies w/ running backs, especially since my teams always lead the NCAA in rushing attempts.

[Tsiyu]

117. I haven't had any posts hidden on DU3

But, dammit, I keep trying.....

[Tommy_Carcetti]

119. Alerted. nt

[Tsiyu]

121. lol

I really hoped I would log back on and see that post hidden.

Guess another suck jury decision goes down....:

Have a great afternoon, Mr. Carcetti

[undeterred]

118. I took the German language exam four times in grad school before I passed it.

I think they finally just got tired of seeing me in there so they passed me.