Goal 92 - six-pack stomach.

I am a little hesitant to actually sign this one off as being achieved. This goal, like several of the others, such as learning Spanish, or learning to play the harmonica, is somewhat subjective.

I will be the first to admit that I am not quite ready for the front cover of Men's Health magazine, but I am still pretty proud of what I have managed to achieve!

This goal has always gone hand-in-hand with one of my other goals, which was to get back down to a weight of 70 kilos, (11 stone, or 154 lb), and maintain that weight. I managed to reach my target weight just before Christmas 2009, and have been under that ever since. I am currently just under 150lbs.

These two goals have both been prompted by being somewhat overweight at one point, around 2005. At my worst, I was 10 kilos (or 22lb) heavier than my target weight. Not hugely overweight or anything, but bigger than I had ever been before, and I didn't particularly like it, or feel too good about it.

And so the thinking behind these two goals was to achieve a fitter, healthier, leaner lifestyle.

Over the last five weeks, while staying here with Val and Brenda in Colorado Springs, Val has been my motivator, taking me climbing up The Incline, and visiting the local gym. His buddy Tim has taken me on a few long hikes, and we have been trying to eat as healthily as possible too.

This is the sort of stuff I needed to be doing regularly for six months or more to really achieve the goal in fine style, but travel, time constraints, and the need to focus on other goals too has made this a bit of a challenge

As with any sort of development that takes place a little at a time over a long period, it is difficult to see any changes, but every now and then, as I pass the mirror in the morning, and I feel pretty pleased with the results so far!

The first picture here is from early 2005, when I was at my heaviest. I'm the one on the left - oh dear! The last two from this morning. Goal achieved, at least in spirit and intention, I think!



The video is a little tongue-in-cheek reminder of the tough regime Val has put me through for five weeks now. I certainly couldn't have done it without him.


We celebrated this goal by taking the night off, inviting all of the fantastic friends I have made here in Colorado to Red Robin, and eating burgers and fries, and drinking beer. That's the last five weeks of hard work undone!!



Thanks once again to Val and Brenda for their support and encouragement on this goal. Thanks also to Tim, and everyone else who came and climbed The Incline with me too. Also, I must mention Val's local gym, Anytime Fitness, who allowed me to use their great facilities as a visitor for a month at no charge.

Finally, thanks to Val and Brenda again for welcoming me into their home for five weeks, and to everyone who I have met in Colorado. What a beautiful place you have here. I have had a fantastic time over the last month. Hope to see you all again soon.

Seven Falls.

The last couple of days have been pretty busy, both with goal-related efforts, and with the more practical matter of preparing to move on again. I have been in Colorado now for about five weeks and have really started to settle in here, enjoying the place, the people and the lifestyle.

I have had a few interviews to fit in too, as a couple of newspapers and radio shows have wanted to catch up again as I approach the end of the trip. I was interviewed live on Talk Radio Europe, recorded for the BBC in England, and both local papers from England (The Northern Echo) and Australia (West Australian) have called too.

On Sunday Val and I went to climb The Incline again, and I managed a very pleasing 37 minutes again. Later in the morning Val, Brenda and I went out for a open-top drive in the sun, and a country cafe lunch.

On Monday and today I started to get organised for the next part of my journey, doing laundry, packing bags, and working on both the book and website which are to follow at the end of this adventure.

And then last night I got to play tourist a little, as Val and Brenda, along with rebel granny Mary, took me to the scenic Seven Falls, which is lit up spectacularly at night.



Colorado really is a beautiful place, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

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Accountability Progress Report:-

Saturday 26th June
Develop a six-pack stomach - nothing
Learn how to lucid dream - no dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - no progress
Night skydive - GOAL ACHIEVED !!
Book deal for 100goals - nothing

Sunday 27th June
Develop a six-pack stomach - The Incline - time: 37 minutes
Learn how to lucid dream - no dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - no progress
Book deal for 100goals - nothing

Monday 28th June
Develop a six-pack stomach - gym session with Val
Learn how to lucid dream - nothing
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - no progress
Book deal for 100goals - started on book cover and layout

Tuesday 29th June
Develop a six-pack stomach - The Incline again! (last time I think!)
Learn how to lucid dream - a couple of dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - contacted by DrugWatch.com
Raise $50,000 for charity - no progress
Book deal for 100goals - continued with book layout

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And that is the end of my accountability reports! Tomorrow is my last day in Colorado, and brings to an end my time for working on most of the goals. We have a last session in the gym in the morning, and that will be the closest I get to six-pack abs. I then pack my bags, flying early Thursday to New York, and am looking forward to celebrating the end of the journey.

Goal 91 - Black night.

It was supposed to be a full moon, but thick clouds had darkened the horizon, and looking out of the window of the little plane, everything appeared ominously black. There was a little light left on the horizon where the sun had set behind the mountains about forty minutes earlier.

It had been an eventful and tiring day at the dropzone, and most of the staff and customers had already had a few beers. By the time 9pm came around, I was the only skydiver that hadn't been drinking, and along with Skip, the pilot, who had also remained sober, I was the only person on board the little Cessna.

Being the only jumper tonight was good, in that I didn't need to worry about other canopies in the air at the same time as me. One of the biggest dangers of jumping at night is two jumpers not seeing each other, and getting wrapped up together. But the down side of being alone in the plane was that there is nobody else to share the ride to height, to laugh and chat with, and to dispel the nerves.

But with just Skip and myself on board the plane climbed to height very quickly, and as I fiddled with my camera and gave my gear a final check-over, I was surprised to hear Skip yell "Two minutes!" over his shoulder. I looked at my altimeter. 3,500 feet.

By the time we turned on to jump run, and Skip powered off, shouting at me to open the door and take a look, we were at 4,500 feet, and I would get almost 10 seconds of freefall. Looking out of the open door I could see the runway almost directly below, and could easily pick out the green lights of the landing marker, a huge T-shaped wind indicator in the centre of a large, flat, open area.

With a nod to Skip, happy with the spot, I climbed out onto the step, and hesitated for a second, trying to enjoy the moment, and the anticipation of what I was about to do. It really was dark out there. The only light I had was a small glow-stick attached to my chest strap, a faint glow from the luminous alti that I had borrowed, and a tiny red light on my helmet that told me my video camera was recording.

One second, and then I jumped into the darkness, accelerating downwards quickly, past the point of no return now. It is quite an extraordinary feeling to be falling in the dark. I watched the alti, and as it hit 3,500, and my audible warning went off in my helmet I reached behind me and threw the pilot chute.

I could just see the outline of my parachute as it started to open above me, and as far as I could tell all was looking good. I had a small head torch on my wrist and switched it on briefly to check that all was as it should be above me, pleased as ever to see a fully open canopy there. All I had to do now was get onto the ground without hurting myself.

I could clearly see my landing area marker, which showed wind direction too, and set up pretty well, making sure that I was going to land with the marker ahead of me to give me a decent height reference. I went a little too far downwind on the approach, and when I turned into wind for landing the marker was a little further away than I would have liked, but at least gave some indication of how far I still was above the ground.

As the very dimly visible ground came up to meet me, I flared the parachute at what looked like the right height, losing forward speed and lift, hoping to stall to a stop at ground level. But in the dark I had mis-judged slightly, and flared too high, stalling the parachuter while still three or four feet above the ground. As the parachute stopped, I knew I would drop quickly, and made the decision to roll when I hit the ground instead of trying to stay on my feet, which would have more potential to end in injury.

My roll was good, and I was laughing before I was even back on my feet. I gathered my gear, and was met by Val and the others from the dropzone, laughing at my dusty condition, but offering congratulations for a successful, and injury-free night jump.

I felt absolutely elated. I had been more nervous beforehand than I had cared to admit, and the landing area was darker than I had ever expected, but all had gone very well.



Thanks once again to Val for helping out, driving, and offering support and encouragement on yet another goal. Thanks also to Skip for being kind enough to run the plane for a single jumper. And also to everyone else at Skydive Colorado for being there to offer advice, encouragement, good-natured mockery and hearty congratulations.



In this picture, from left to right:-
Allan, Chang, Emily, Me, Tammy, Skip, Brian, Darlene. Kneeling: John and Nick.
This jump and blog dedicated to Bill. Thanks to you all, what a fantastic experience.

There is video to follow, but I currently don't have any way to get it from my skydive video camera onto my computer, but will put something up as soon as I can borrow a computer with a FireWire port.

Bad weather foils night skydives again!

There's good news and bad news. Which do you want first? In slightly less tan traditional form, I'll start with the good news. ebay refunded the last of my listing fees, and my outstanding bill with them has been reduced to 35 cents. I'm not sure where that comes from, but I'm not going to argue about it! They have been very supportive and helpful throughout, and I have no complaints. I still think it's a shame however, that they don't facilitate listing 1005 charity auctions without cost or risk to the seller. I think they are in a position to do so.

Further good news. Val and I are both doing well in terms of maintaining our fit and healthy regime of plenty of excercise and no beer. We faced the biggest challenge so far on Thursday evening, when we wnet to meet Val's buddies Clint, Larry and Doug in "Benny's" pub. Both Val and I opted for iced water rather than beer, but our will failed us slightly when the bar owner brought us all shots of Jägermeister. I don't think there are too many calories in a small shot, are there?



We managed to go and do The Incline again straight afterwards, and both managed respectable times, Val at 32 minutes, and me just short of 39 minutes.

Unfortunately things did not work out quite so well yesterday, when Val, his friend Mary, and I headed down to Canon City, hoping to do a night jump. Mary has just did her first tandem jump last week in San Diego, and I hope doesn't mind me mentioning that she is a grandmother of 72 years old. Fantastic! Go on, Rebel Grandma!

But the further south we headed, the gloomier the skies became, and at the dropzone the winds were howling, and the planes were chained to the ground! We hung around for a while in Canon City, and watched a raft race come down the river, but at around 8pm, Skip called any further possibility of jumping off, and the night was a bust.



Tonight is probably my last chance, as it full moon this evening. Sunday will be too late, as most skydivers and dropzone operators will be heading home, and the moon will be rising too late. I'm heading down again tonight, and the forecast is a little better, so am still hopeful of success.

Fingers crossed!

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Accountability Progress Report:-

Thursday 24th June
Develop a six-pack stomach - The Incline - 39 mintes
Learn how to lucid dream - no dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - $400+ recouped from eBay!
Night skydive - nothing
Book deal for 100goals - started to set up new website

Friday 25th June
Develop a six-pack stomach - gym session with Val
Learn how to lucid dream - one vivid dream remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - sold 1 photo
Night skydive - went to jump, bad weather stopped play!
Book deal for 100goals - more website work done

eBay issues! Always read the fine print!!

Unfortunately the $50,000 charity fundraising goal has had a bit of a setback, and I have had to withdraw the sales of the fundraising pictures from eBay!

eBay's Giving Works offers to refund eBay listing fees in the same proportion as the amount of the final sale that is donated to the chosen charity. In my case with the photos I am offering in return for a charitable donation, I obviously chose to donate 100% of the final sale to the charity.

I assumed that this would then mean that all of my listings would be free. Ahh, but be careful what you assume!

I listed all 50 of the photos as Buy-It-Now offerings in my eBay Store, with 40 of each picture being available, for a donation of $20. I then listed each of the pictures as an individual item too, each individual listing linking back to my eBay Store, where all of the other photos are available too.

I planned to keep listing individual items on short term sales, hoping to entice interested parties to the store to donate.

But when I checked my eBay bill, I found out that my outstanding balance was over $1,100. I sort of assumed (again!) that this would be refunded, but just to be on the safe side I emailed the eBay rep who had been helping me, and asked when these fees get re-credited.

I was alarmed by the response, to say the least! The listing fees only get re-credited if the item sells. I had already listed 50 pics as 1-day sales, and not one had been bought. I also had another 50 listings in my store. I am still unsure as to how this works out to be over $1,100 in listing fees.

If the photos are bought in similar numbers to sales from my website, I will soon have lost all of the money that I have raised so far, and then some!

I emailed my eBay rep, who has been very helpful, and all of my shop listings have now been cancelled. When I looked earlier this morning, my bill now stands at a slightly less worrying $410. This is for the 50 x 1-day auction sales already finished and unsold.

I am hoping I can get this money refunded too, but I don't really have a leg to stand on if eBay decides to keep this money, as it is my own fault. I should have read the small print. It does quite clearly state in their "How to sell on eBay Giving Works" info :-

Turn your eBay listings into a force for good with eBay Giving Works. With each listing you can pledge to donate from 10% to 100% of an item's final sale price to your favorite nonprofit and get a pro-rated fee credit on your Insertion fee and Final Value fees when your listing sells.

I guess I should have spotted that! But I think it is a bit of a shame that when trying to raise money for charity, especially when donating 100% of the sale price, that the seller has to take a gamble on the item selling.

If eBay really wanted to help charities maybe they could offer free listings for 100% donations? After all, their sales process is completely automated, and they seem to be doing pretty-well financially from all of the other non-charitable auctions. Their 2009 Balance Sheet shows a net income of over $2.3 billion!

I have already invested quite a sum of money into getting all of the pictures printed, and alot of time numbering and signing them, and then more time in trying to publicize my fundraising efforts. It took a long day of effort to get the 100 listings arranged! I will bear the cost of the $410 if I have to, it was my mistake after all, but I am hoping eBay will do the right thing here!

I will let you know the outcome.

If you would like to help with a donation, please don't go to eBay, all of my sales there have been withdrawn. My own fundraising page can be found here:-
http://www.100goals100weeks.com/getInvolved_Fundraising.php

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Accountability Progress Report:-

Wednesday 23rd June
Develop a six-pack stomach - gym session with Val
Learn how to lucid dream - no dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - nothing, and possibly $410 lost to eBay!!!
Night skydive - nothing
Book deal for 100goals - further reading, and started to set up book templates

Goal 90 - "On top of Old Princeton."

I have been struggling with the harmonica, and feel that my progress has been rather slow, but just the other day found a posting on the forum offering some support and encouragement from regular forum contributor "tacobet". He suggests that old favourite "On Top Of Old Smokey" would be a suitable one to learn as part of my harmonica-playing goal.

And yesterday I had the opportunity to achieve the goal in unusually fine style. Tim was helping his buddy Cliff and daughter Claudia again, by backing them up as they walked another section of the Colorado trail, and suggested we could climb another of Colorado's 14ers. The summit of Mount Princeton is 14,197', one of Colorado's 54 summits higher than 14,000 feet. It is relatively easy to get to, giving us time to climb up and down and still meet Cliff and Claudia at the end of their trek.

Tim picked me up at 4am, and by the time we had collected Cliff and Claudia, driven a couple of hours and dropped them off at their start point, unloaded Tim's ATV from the truck and driven up the track to our start point it was almost 9am. We were on the summit just over a couple of hours later, and found a patch of snow in which to tackle goal #90.



We took some video of the musical event, but my camera seems to be failing again. After it's dunking in the swimming pool in Costa Rica, and it's miraculous return to life, it has all sorts of auto-exposure problems, and the video is just bright-white, and the audio is almost all wind-blasted!

So unfortunately, there is no video of the wonderful rendition of "On top of Old Princeton, all covered in snow," but there is a photo.



However, this morning I have made a video of bit of my harmonica playing, and you can view that below. It makes somewhat painful listening, I'm afraid!! I am nowhere near the standard I would like to get to, and still struggle with trickier tunes, and keeping up the right pace, but I am on my way.


"Don't give up the day job!" I hear you suggest.
Haha. What day job?

On top of Old Princeton,
All covered with snow,
I lost my true lover,
For courting too slow.

For courting's a pleasure,
But parting is grief,
And a false-hearted lover,
Is worse than a thief.

After the climb Tim and I did a bit of exploring on the ATV, visiting a tiny town called St Elmo high in the mountains, and riding up into the forests. It is so beautiful on a sunny day up among these amazing peaks.

What a long and tiring day though. We finished with a soak in pool at Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort, and eventually headed for home, arriving back at 10.30pm. I was asleep within minutes.

Thanks again to Tim for accompanying me on my 9th 14er, and being there for the achievement of goal #90. Thanks again also to Mel, who bought me my first harmonica back in 2008, and to Brad Capper of Harp Attack in Western Australia for his fantastic intro course. Also thanks to Tony Eyers, and his wonderful, easy-to-follow online course at Harmonica Academy. And finally, a big thank you to all I have met on my travels who have had to put up with my practice sessions - you were all very tolerant and patient!

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Accountability Progress Report:-

Saturday 19th June
Learn to ride a unicycle - 15 mins practice, plus GOAL ACHIEVED!
Develop a six-pack stomach - nothing
Learn the harmonica - nothing
Learn how to lucid dream - no dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - no progress
Raise $50,000 for charity - no progress
Night skydive - called in to Skydive Colorado and arranged to jump on Sunday
Book deal for 100goals - nothing done today

Sunday 20th June
Develop a six-pack stomach - The Incline (40 mins)
Learn the harmonica - nothing
Learn how to lucid dream - no dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing done
Raise $50,000 for charity - nothing
Night skydive - 2 jumps at Skydive Colorado
Book deal for 100goals - nothing today

Monday 21st June
Develop a six-pack stomach - no excercise, but ate well all day
Learn the harmonica - 10 mins practice
Learn how to lucid dream - remembered a very vivid dream
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - sold 3 pix, but some eBay issues encountered
Night skydive - nothing
Book deal for 100goals - some reading, and a long talk with Kris Harty

Tuesday 22nd June
Develop a six-pack stomach - climbed 14er Princeton with Tim
Learn the harmonica - 10 mins playing on top of Princeton, including goal achievement
Learn how to lucid dream - no dreams remembered - slept like a log!
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - nothing
Night skydive - nothing
Book deal for 100goals - nothing

Wobbly Goal 89 achieved at the BBQ.

Goal #89 has been a long time in the making, going back more than a year, when Mel in Perth bought herself a unicycle, and I had a few goes at trying to ride it during the months I spent there after my first 7 months of travel.

In December last year, when it became obvious that I was never going to get to play in the Sedgefield Ball Game, as it took place on the same day as the culmination of Carnivale in Rio, learning to ride a unicycle was added as a late substitute goal.

At the time I could only get about 10 yards at best, but I have been doing quite alot of practice over the past few weeks here in Colorado, and last night was a chance to demonstrate my newly acquired skills.

And so at the BBQ that Val and Brenda had arranged, I had an audience of 11 when I made my attempt on wobbly goal #89.

I haven't yet mastered the art of getting on without a wall or step-ladder to help, but I had set myself a target of at least 50 yards without falling off to achieve the goal.

I made it about halfway on the first attempt, but on the second go, made it confidently past the 200 feet mark that Val and I had measured earlier in the week. I also impressed myself by managing my first full figure-of-8 too!



Thanks to Mel, who got me started with this goal, to Val and his work colleague Laura, who arranged a unicycle for me to practice on here, and to all who cheered me on last night too. After my success, I treated myself to a couple of celebratory pints of beer from John's wonderful homebrew IPA.

Some video of my wobbly ride here:-



We were up early in the morning, and at 6.30am seven of us met to tackle The Incline again. It was already getting hot at that time, and hindered slightly by the previous nights beer and BBQ food, I managed a respectable 40 minutes. I was very proud to beat Val for what I imagine will be the one and only time. He was even more hindered by many more beers, and plenty of cheesecake from the previous evening!



I set off immediately afterwards for the Skydive Colorado dropzone, and within ten minutes of arriving, once my gear and licence had been checked-out, I was on my first load of the day. Conditions were wonderfully clear, and it was a great jump, the first since leaving Australia in April. The view of the Royal Gorge Bridge was spectacular.

Wind stopped jumping for much of the afternoon, but I managed to squeeze one more jump in, with a bit of a telling-off afterwards from the chief instructor about going too far downwind in blustery conditions.

Hopefully I am now ready for a night jump next weekend when it is full moon once again. I just hope the weather conditions are favourable! Thanks to all at the dropzone who were so welcoming.

Getting fitter!

On Wednesday evening, as soon as Val got back from work we headed out to The Incline again. I have set myself a personal challenge of beating 40 minutes before I leave Colorado. Feeling good, we started our climb at around 5.30pm, and both did very well. Val almost made it in less than 30 minutes, his personal target for this summer, and I was very proud to gain the top in less than 37 minutes. I think we are both getting alot fitter!

After two long days on Wednesday and Thursday preparing all of the things that needed to be ready to list fifty different pix on eBay, and preparing a press release too, I was ready for a bit of a break.

Val had taken Friday off work, and we headed south to Royal Gorge, site of the amazing Royal Gorge Bridge, the highest bridge in the world from 1929 to 2001. China now has a higher bridge.

It is an incredible 1000 feet above the Arkansas River far below, and I saw the bridge from below as we whitewater rafted below it last year. I also saw it from the air at that time, when the skydive plane flew us over it.

But walking across is quite an experience. After a short hike through some rough desert to the south rim of the gorge, we returned and took the cable car across the gorge, and the cliff railway down to the river, all very impressive.



In the afternoon we went to try out some rock climbing at Shelf Road Rocks. It is a long time since I last did any serious climbing, and we started with a reasonably easy climb for me to lead, appropriately called Ian's Climb.

We tried a few others, and had a great afternoon, but I was a little frustrated with the lack of strength in my arms. I used to have much better climbing strength when I climbed alot more regularly during my college years.

Last night we met up with Eric, who was one of our companions on the "7 Peaks in 7 Days" challenge last year, as well as Eric's wife Jackie, and their son Dylan. They were staying with friends Kevin and Delena. Val insisted that I get my harmonica out as we sat around the small backyard bonfire, but I'm still not quite ready to claim that goal as achieved. The four guys slept in Eric and Jackie's pop-up caravan. Somehow, everybody but me had heated mattresses, and I had a pretty chilly night!

After a leisurely breakfast in the morning, we made our way into Salida, where there was a big river festival, with all sorts of kayak races happening. Eventually we had to say our goodbyes though, and Val and I headed home, where a BBQ and goal attempt is planned for the evening!



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Accountability Progress Report:-

Wednesday 16th June
Learn to ride a unicycle - 15 mins practice
Develop a six-pack stomach - The Incline - 37 mins (personal best), plus gym
Learn the harmonica - 10 minutes practice
Learn how to lucid dream - a couple of dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - no progress
Raise $50,000 for charity - eBay going ahead, prepared for auction listings all day
Night skydive - nothing
Book deal for 100goals - more self-publishing research, reading excellent guide book

Thursday 17th June
Learn to ride a unicycle - 15 minutes practice, almost got figure-of-8s
Develop a six-pack stomach - workout with Val at gym
Learn the harmonica - 10 minutes practice
Learn how to lucid dream - no dreams remembered
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - several entries, even though it's not yet finished
Raise $50,000 for charity - sold 3 pix, prepared eBay press release most of the day
Night skydive - no progress
Book deal for 100goals - no time today

Friday 18th June
Learn to ride a unicycle - nothing today, but reasonably confident for tomorrow night
Develop a six-pack stomach - short hike near royal Gorge, some rock climbing
Learn the harmonica - played at bonfire Friday night
Learn how to lucid dream - don't remember any dreams from last night
Set up the "BlindsidedNetwork" support forum - nothing
Raise $50,000 for charity - sold 1 pic
Night skydive - nothing
Book deal for 100goals - nothing

Return to eBay for final fundraising effort!

The end of my journey is now less than three weeks away, and to be quite honest, I am really looking forward to this all coming to an end, and taking a bit of a break. But in the meantime, here is my final push at fundraising.

This whole journey started on eBay two years ago, when in June 2008 I put my whole "life" up for sale there. And so, thanks to a suggestion from Linda in New Jersey, what more appropriate way to end the journey than with another eBay auction?

I have been trying to raise funds for an Australian-based colon cancer research organisation, and you can click on either of these links to see more details about the why? and how?

My fundraising has only been moderately successful, my total raised currently being $4,000, with a further $2,000 promised from Richard Branson. I am now hoping to raise some extra funds by offering my photos on eBay too.

But to join the eBay Giving Works project, I have had to choose a US-based charity. My chosen organisation is "The Colon Club"
(Certified for eBay Giving Works since 2006. MissionFish nonprofit ID 13174.)

Their mission startement reads:-

The Colon Club is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about colorectal cancer in out-of-the-box ways. Our goals are to educate as many people as possible, as early as possible, about the risk factors and symptoms of colorectal cancer, and for people to get screened when it's appropriate for them. Please check out our website at www.colonclub.com

Somewhat appropriate, I think, considering the "out-of-the-box" way I have arrived at this point in my life! I particularly like their "Collosal Colon" project - brilliant!

So, if you haven't yet supported my fundraising goal, and still wish to do so, it would be alot easier for me if you did so on my website at this page:-
http://www.100goals100weeks.com/getInvolved_Fundraising.php

However, please feel free to donate via eBay, and any of my auctions there. My eBay user ID is ian-usher, and you can find further info on my eBay "About Me" page.

You can find any of the individually listed photos by searching for "100goals" or "ALife4Sale", and you can take a look at my eBay Store, where all 50 photos are listed.

eBay Giving Works has facilitated raising over $166million for U.S. nonprofits by the eBay Community since eBay Giving Works began in 2003. I am hoping to get featured as one of the "What's Hot" on the eBay Giving Works home page.

Thanks to eBay for their help and support with this. I like the idea of this whole adventure now coming full circle, and having all began with an auction on eBay, now ending there too.

Once again, pictures available are shown below, click on any one to be taken to my fundraising page. Thank you again for your interest and support.