For quite a while I have wanted to learn some form of martial arts. I would like to achieve better focus within myself, better confidence, and a better waistline.

So, I have now booked into a Karate class this coming Thursday evening. What got me off my butt was when Erin said to me “So when are you going to start?”, I have been pondering for the last few days and I thought that there is no better time than the present to get up and get going.

So, I am hoping this could be the beginning of something fun. After Thursday I will be back to give you all a progress report. For now though, I would like to know, do you do any form of martial arts? If not, what do you to for fitness and relaxation?

Stuart

I have not visisted this since about March last year when I completed participation in the Worlds Greatest Shave 2008 raising money for Leukaemia research. So I thought it time, as part of the new year to revisit the register and do a general review.

As some of you know I have now started up an additional blog, Eccentric Reality, which is my blog which contains everything from my journey into photography. For so long prior to Canon Australia lending me a Digital SLR Camera I had a hidden desire to take up photography as a hobby. Now that I have had the opportunity to explore this and am diving in head first, I thought that I should add this to the register in hindsight.

So I now have a new addition to the Life Milestone Register; “take up photography as a hobby”. There is one other item on the register that I would really like to tackle this year and that is to learn a basic form of martial arts. I have decided that this year I MUST get healthy and I think that martial arts would help me to focus in my work, studies and every day life.

So, I guess that is a bit of an insight into where I am starting this year, and where I hope to be in a little under 12 months time.

Stuart

Well… here it is, it is over, I am now BALD!

I managed to raise just over $500AUD for the Leukaemia Foundation Australia, I am really stoked with this and it makes it all so much more worthwhile.

I guess I cannot really say anything but… take a look at the photos below, all the way from start to finish.

I hope you enjoy seeing the photos as much as I enjoyed having it done.

This is one thing that I can cross off my milestone register as a massive success, and what a great feeling it is.

If you want to do something fun and different, and have a great conversational topic for a couple of weeks, and at the same time do something for a great cause then I would say give this a go yourself.

Stuart

(as always you can click on each of the photos below to see a larger image)

Hi Everyone,
As per my Life Milestone Register I have decided this year that I wanted to raise some money for Charity and the Worlds Greatest Shave appealed to me most.

Each year the Worlds Greatest Shave raises money for the Leukaemia Foundation Australia.
A quick couple of statistics (as provided by the Leukaemia Foundation):
*Every hour of every day someone in Australia is diagnosed with leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma
*Every two hours, someone loses their life to blood cancer
*Currently there are more than 30,000 Australians that are living with one of these cancers. Only four out of 10 adults survive a leukaemia diagnosis

So, on Tuesday the 4th of March I will be heading into work with some state of hair loss (will be getting shaved on the afternoon of the 3rd).
If I can raise <$500AUD I will shave my hair to a number 1.
If I can raise $500AUD I will shave my hair with a razor to a number 0 (shiny smooth)
If I can raise $1000AUD I will shave my hair to a number 0 AND *also* shave off the fuzz around my mouth that I adore so much (it has only been removed once in 4 years, and made me look 16 again).

So if you have ever wanted to see me bald or beardless now is your chance. I will of course be providing photos and such on the site of the hair coming off and the final product. If you would like to sponsor me you can do so via the Worlds Greatest Shave Website Here (and enter the name as Stuart Ryan)

So far the tally is sitting at $400AUD so we are close to getting a number 0 shave. If anyone would like to sponser me that would be awesome and I am sure you look forward to the photos.

Stuart

Today I decided to go out and get some proper riding shoes for my bike, the ones that lock into the pedal when they are seated. Before I go on… the pics. (Apologies that the first two are kinda blurry):

You can see that the pedals are slightly different to what you would find on most bikes. The top and the bottom are clearly different. The first photo shows the side of the pedal that allows for using a standard shoe. The second photo shows the other side of the pedal that is used for a bike shoe that locks onto the wheel.

The metal cleat that you can see on the bottom of the bike shoe (pictured above) is used to slot in and lock the feet into the pedal by sliding the front part in then pushing down. I have to say at first this was a rather scary adventure when I put them on as to release the lock you have to twist the heel of the foot outward and lift. As I started using them I must say the feeling is *brilliant*. It stopped my feet from sliding around on the pedals and gave a much greater feeling of stability than without them. The general idea is to both stop the feet from sliding, however also allow you to use additional muscles to assist pedaling with the pulling up movement of rotation (if that makes any sense)… For example normally pedaling you only use power on one movement, the push down of the front pedal, where as being locked in allows you to use the lift of the pedal as you come round the back of the rotation… really cool.

Now for the last photo, the war wound of the day *grins*. When I was first getting used to them (which is still going to take me a while regardless), I got slightly off balance and *almost* fell off the bike. I managed at the last second to regain my balance however came out with a nasty scrape on my leg. LOL coulda been worse.

Well I hope you all enjoyed another little insight into riding. I have booked in to a two-hour-a-week-for-seven-weeks ‘See Sydney By Bicycle’ course starting on the 10th of Feb, so I should have a lot more things to chat about and post photos of course.

Until next time
Toodles… Stu

As I reach each of these milestones of course there will be a related blog post which will of course mean some entertaining new fun, among any other details I see fit. If you have any comments by all means let me know.

The Life Milestone Register is a page which you can see next to the About Me link at the top of this page, or under “Pages” on the menu. If you are a blogger and would like to follow suit, please let me know by leaving a comment here as I would love to hear about things that you would like to do and support you as you strive to do them.

Well I have already added a couple of items so check out my: Life Milestone Register.

Stuart