I can't let them have all the fun

The January 2007 issue of Wired magazine challenges three contributors to improve themselves in just four weeks by learning to Run Faster, Be Smarter, and Shoot Straighter. As a jack-of-all-trades (aka hyperactive unfocused freak), I love this concept, and have resolved to embark on a similar challenge.

Over the course of the next year, I will embark on 10 month-long quests chosen by you, my dear readers. Dream up the challenges, and I shall endeavor to accomplish them.

The ground rules:

1. I will select 10 challenges from the set of all submissions
2. each challenge must be one I can accomplish (perhaps with great difficulty) within a one-month timeframe (max 4 hours/day 5 days/week)
3. my financial outlay for each challenge cannot exceed $250 (this may simply mean I need to be crafty about how I approach some of them)
4. each must "improve" me or those around me in some way; this might be learning a new skillset, toning up my body, banishing a childhood fear, or accomplishing a task for the greater good
5. each must have a measurable output, but need not be a distinct black-or-white result