So this will take a tad longer than 30 days because I had Relay for Life over the weekend and I'm a team captain (Go TeamJB!) and I had to coordinate a ton of stuff and wasn't able to get on here and follow through. I'm on it now and I'll keep trying to do one a day until something else gets in the way :)

2. How did you pick your goal weight? Did you pick an ultimate goal weight at the beginning of your weight loss? Did it change? Did you set smaller goals along the way?

My goal weight is sort of a rate adjusted version of the weight I was before I started gaining as an adult. By rate adjusted I mean it allows for age which just as a fact of life means more weight but also muscle which I want to have more of.
In the beginning of my weight loss journey the number was actually lower, but I met with a fitness professional and had some body composition analysis done (it helps that I work in a hospital) and found that I don't actually have enough excess fat to get me to my original goal without it being stupidly dangerous. So we settled on a higher number that included building lean muscle along the way.
I did set smaller goals, I started weight watchers and my goal when I signed up was to lose 10 lbs in the first 10 weeks. Each ten week series my goal changed a bit, but those last 3-5 lbs are the toughest so now I'm happy if I lose anything and my focus has shifted a bit to non-scale related goals. How much weight can I lift, how fast can I run, etc.