Last week it was Xmas Eve, now it's New Year's Eve

list (lĭst):
1. A series of names, words, or other items written, printed, or imagined one after the other: a shopping list; a guest list; a list of things to do.
2. A considerable number; a long series: recited a list of dates memorized.

Once again, in the spirit of the New Year (Frohes neue Jahre fur Die Deutscheniks), I'm again organized by lists. Granted, my lists seem to serve little purpose. In thinking about the lists of usual items compiled around this time of the year, this led me to think about famous lists. So far, I came up with the following exemplars:

1. Letterman's Top Ten
2. The Ten Commandments
3. The Forbes List
4. The Fortune 500
5. Lists according to Craig and his sister Angie
6. The Late Mr. Blackwell's List
7. The Planets (with, or without Pluto)
8. Santa's Reindeer
9. The 7 Dwarves
10. The 7 Deadly Sins
11. The 7 Heavenly Virtues
12. The 7 Deadly Dwarves

I've also discovered that there are lists most people keep, including those I find myself compiling. In a statistically valid, stratified sample using random-sampling techniques that I once heard about in my graduate stats and research courses (yeah, a lot of good this whole Doctorate thing worked in terms of my research and statistics savoir-faire), I came up with the list of commonly occurring lists:

1. Shopping (do most people really put bread, milk, and eggs on their list?)
2. To-Do (and it's variations: ta-do, gotta do, honey do, shit I gotta do)
3. Wish (and the less popular, but heart-warming "Make-a-Wish" list)
4. Check
5. Favorite movies, books, movies about books, books about movies (less popular), songs, albums, or I suppose, these days, top downloaded (legal and otherwise) media
6. Places to visit before I die (or before you die)
7. Things I hate about you (surprisingly, many people have this list, or it's closely related alternative, People I hate)

Other kinds of lists I've come across, and at times have enjoyed compiling:

1. Desert Isle Books (movies, albums, items, companions)
2. So, you're going to prison, what are you bringing?
3. Places to visit after I die
4. All star line-up (musical, sports, super-hero)
5. All star line-ups versus other all-star line-ups (e.g. 1972 Dolphins vs. 2007 Patriots; Knights' Templar v. the Knights of the Round Table)