This is an ambitious list. I don’t expect to complete all of these things in my lifetime. I do think they’re helpful to inform how I can make incremental progress towards larger goals. There is some overlap with Topics of study, some of which are foundational to these larger goals.

Design

• Design a chair. This is something that every industrial designer aspires to. Some succeed.
• Design a useful object. This is a generalization of designing a chair, but I’d love to design something that is genuinely useful to a set of users. I’m not aiming for another kitchen gadget here, just something that’s genuinely useful. I imagine this involves designing lots of not useful things as well.
• Design a typeface. This is the graphic design equivalent of designing a chair. It is also a worthwhile endeavor.
  • There’s lots to be learned from Rasmus Andersson and the Inter project. It uses Glyphs.app to generate several weights and familes algorithmically.

Engineering

• Design an airfoil.
• Design an aircraft.
• Design an autonomous underwater vehicle. I did some initial research a few years ago and left my notes on the subzero project on Github.
• Solve a hard problem in Computer Science.

Business

• Make something people want. It doesn’t need to involve VC – in fact I’d prefer to bootstrap. But I would love to create a product that people use, love, and depend on. I’ve been on teams that have done this before, but I’ve never done this from scratch.

Communication

• Write something that helps a lot of people.
• Make a film that is remembered fondly.
• Take an iconic photograph.
• Release an album, or its equivalent.
• Make something that gets kids ecited about science and technology.
• Collaborate with my heroes (NASA, Disney Imagineering, ILM, Pixar, etc).

Travel

I have lived and visited many Places but would always love to visit more.

Aviation

I hold and enjoy exercising the privileges of a Sport Pilot certificate. I have most of the requirements for Private Pilot complete, and need to finish. Instrument and eventually Commercial (along with Rotorcraft maybe?) are natural follow-ons, with additional options (CFI, tailwheel, seaplane) appealing as well.