Last week I had my birthday, turning 35.. I don’t feel older at the moment. I still call myself low-mid 30’s

I’m feeling fit and strong, which is a good thing as I continue preparing for my black belt grading in June! I’m still doing the regular 5km run at Adcock Park, followed by 100 squat kicks, 100 pushups and 100 situps. To push myself, I’m then doing another lap, and then another 100 pushups. It’s feeling good – I’m feeling ready. I’m only doing it once a week at the moment but will be trying to increase it to twice a week in the next month or so. Finding time is the hard part!

The official “prep cycle” for the black belt grading starts in about a month – right after the Sydney All Styles tournament which is on March 7th. I’m really looking forward to getting the prep cycle underway. I’ve been training hard, and the prep cycle is going to be even harder. Bring it on!

From an Astronomy point of view, well, I haven’t really done much. I’ve been trying to motivate myself to get back out there with the Mars image a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it’s been cloudy since then, which really hasn’t helped. The 2010 CWAS “David Malin Awards” have just been announced, and hopefully trying to capture an image for that competition will inspire me to get out there more. I certainly don’t have anything worthy of submitting right now – I haven’t taken a single decent image in 6 months!

I’m motivated for IceInSpace though. With the IceInSpace Community Survey 2010 finishing up the other week, I’ve been busy analysing all the data and making plans for changes to IceInSpace to take us forward for the next 5 years. I have many lofty ideas! Pages and pages of them! I just hope I can get hold of enough of Terry’s time to implement my ideas

On the family front, it’s been very busy! Jacob started at a new school for year 5 – in an Opportunity Class at Gosford Primary School. So far it’s going really well and he’s enjoying it heaps. Abbey also started kindergarten this year! Our baby is now at school! Eliza started year 3 and got the teacher she wanted and the classmates she wanted! So far so good!

Jacob, Abbey and Eliza starting school in 2010

I guess that’s enough for today.. I’ve committed to try and update my blog more regularly this year, but finding the time is proving much more difficult than I imagined.

I’ll keep trying though and hopefully have more updates over the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading.

Hi all

When it comes to the end of another year, it always feels like a good time to reflect on the previous 12 months – to think about what you’ve achieved, what you didn’t achieve, assess the goals you had set for yourself, and start thinking about your goals for the next year.

At the beginning of the year, I set myself some goals for 2009, and it’s interesting to score myself now. Continue reading to see how I went and what I need to change in 2010.

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Finally getting through some old photos to clear out the backlog

These were taken on Fathers Day, September 2009. They’re happy snaps rather than any attempt at photographic art They were taken with my wife’s Canon Ixus compact.

At Crackneck Lookout

Continue reading to see the rest of the photos.

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Hi all

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had any news or images to post – sorry about that. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks both at work and at home.

Work has been flat out, as I’ve taken on new responsibilities since a colleague resigned, and trying to come up to speed with all the work he was doing and managing new staff has been very time consuming.

And at home, it’s been a very mixed bag. Unfortunately my Nan passed away last week (she was 82), and we had her funeral on Friday. So it was a very sad week.

My Nan on her wedding day (centre)

My Nan about 2 years ago

Dealing with all of that has meant I just haven’t been in the right head-space for astronomy. My motivation is at an almost all-time low at the moment. The last 3 weeks has seen fairly reasonable weather, probably with 10 or more clear nights, but I haven’t been outside once.

The consistent terrible seeing from earlier in the year has tainted me and I just have no confidence that seeing conditions will be good. I need to find some enjoyment in astronomy again, getting together with friends and just having fun.

Hopefully IISAC2009 will be a turning point. Only 5 weeks to go, so not long to wait! I need to finish organising it!

Thanks for being patient – hopefully I’ll have some new images to post soon.

My wife will tell you – I don’t get into hobbies lightly. I become engrossed in them, obsessed It becomes a passion, not just a hobby.

And so it was when in June 2004, I decided that I was going to start pursuing my interest in Astronomy and take it up as a hobby. Now, 5 years later – wow, what a journey it has been!

Rainbow of Comet McNaught. One of the major highlights of my time in Astronomy.

Writing this article has been quite a trip down memory lane.

Continue reading to find out how it all began, the ups and downs along the way, and my plans for the future.

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In a continuing series, every so often I’ll write a post about my Karate as I document my Journey to Black Belt. 

Last Friday night, I graded to Adv Red belt (still 3rd Kyu). Some of my good friends from Black Belt Martial Arts achieved their Provisional Black Belt (Shodan Ho) the weekend before, and received their certificates at the grading on Friday night.

Another 6 months of training and they can then receive their 1st Dan Black Belt (Shodan). It’s a long road! Unfortunately my road was just increased by 6 months. Continue on to read more about my journey to black belt.

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I’m currently a red belt (3rd Kyu) at Black Belt Martial Arts karate, and it’s about 12 months from now that I’ll be in prep-cycle getting ready for my Black Belt grading. The prep-cycle is a 9-week intensive program to ensure that the candidates meet all the criteria required of them to grade to black belt at BBMA.

Black Belt Martial Arts

Some of my friends at BBMA are 1st Kyu and are in the middle of the prep-cycle right now, and will be grading for their black belt on the 22nd May – only 4 weeks away! 

The black belt grading is not just 1 session – it’s a whole weekend of physical of mental exhaustion. Continue on to read more about the gruelling black belt grading weekend and how I plan to start preparing for it.

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Last Sunday I competed in my second Karate Tournament, the Sydney All Styles event. It was run by the NSW-AKF and was a huge step up from the first tournament I competed in, the IBS Nationals back in November last year.

I entered in the Kata and the Kumite (sparring), and didn’t walk away with any wins but it was another good learning experience.

I’ve got a video of my first Kata and some stills from it, but unfortunately no video of my sparring as the battery went flat on my wife’s digicam which a friend was using to record.

Performing Heian Godan Kata

Continue reading to watch the video, to read more about the day and about the upcoming National All Styles tournament this Sunday!

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The week started with some morning photography of the Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars Conjunction, and got busier from there. My photos have received a great deal of positive feedback throughout the week for which I am really humbled and grateful.

Excitement peaked again yesterday as I was fortunate enough to have my image chosen to be Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) on the 26th February, which always brings a huge influx of visitors to the site.  Just over 24 hours later (since APOD published the picture), over 5,000 people have visited mikesalway.com.au, and the APOD link was also submitted to Digg where it now has over 1200 diggs.  

Whenever I submit an image for APOD, you always want it to be chosen and published, but neverexpect it. It’s always a thrill, and very exciting, to receive an email reply after so many times of receiving no reply

This makes my 5th image published on APOD, and interestingly, my first 2 APOD’s (#1, #2)were hi-res images of Jupiter, but my last 3 (#3, #4, #5) have been of conjunctions with nothing more than an entry level DSLR, a cheap Sigma lens and a tripod.

I do put a lot of effort into these shots and sometimes I’m planning them out days or weeks before hand. I guess I’ve been lucky to have captured these beautiful events with the sky putting on a special show. It is really nice, and really rewarding when the effort is recognised. It makes it all worthwhile.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me and given such great feedback on my photography.

Well today (5th February) is my birthday, and I’ve turned 34 years old. I guess getting close to mid-30’s should feel pretty old, but actually I’m feeling pretty good about it. So far I haven’t really felt bad about getting older. That’s not to say I haven’t noticed changes. My metabolism changed when I hit 30 and I just couldn’t eat whatever I wanted and still stay thin like I used to be able to do. I had to actually work at it and watch what I ate a bit more (I do love my food).

However since starting Karate at Black Belt Martial Arts about 2 years ago, the training alone has definitely helped keep me fit and keep me thin. I haven’t really had to do any extra exercise except the karate classes to maintain my weight. My wife Kate has been a great help and inspiration though too. She started doing some serious exercise (mainly on the treadmill at home) last year and lost a lot of weight in the year. Along with that we’re both eating better, eating healthier and staying off the junk food (well, mostly!).

Please continue reading as I ramble some more and talk about some upcoming Karate tournaments I plan to enter.

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