The world is full of amazing stuff to do, and the title just says it all.
Although... I suppose I really must warn you. I tend to define the 'world' as PC and embedded software, electronics design, FPGAs, robotics, and general tinkering.
These things are really a whole lot of fun to play around with. Some of them are even becoming somewhat mainstream. PC software is so mainstream that I've long since stopped seeing that as a good place to make a mark, even though it's probably my most developed skill. Everyone wants to write software. So, I don't want to take an incredibly trampled path that so many others are already taking (can anyone say iPhone apps?) ... I'd like to find something where I can actually make a contribution.
I am very happy that robotics really seems to be going mainstream too. I'd love to be able to thank Dean Kamen for all his efforts. He does great things for raising interest in this field. When my son is older, I am almost certainly going to join FIRST and help out. (Hey, it's my blog's first link. Kind of amusing, eh?) Look into it. It's awesome.
As hobbies go, even robotics is somewhat crowded. How many walking robots can there be? Now, I'm not knocking walking robots. They're damn cool. However, since there's obviously not nearly enough time, I've got to prioritize.
Hobbies and topics of research should:
- Be a lot of fun
- Not be an overly crowded space
- Expand your productive capabilities
- Create a cross-discipline advantage
- Avoid diminishing returns
Wow, spelled out like that it sounds like a rather cynical way to go about having fun. Still, would you rather waste a quarter of your life getting really awesome at something like a video game (don't get me wrong, I occasionally play games too)... or have the same amount of fun, expanding your skills in actually very useful ways? The satisfaction that comes from seeing a physical thing that you've created operate and serve some purpose is far greater (for me) than what comes from winning a game or even writing some cool software. Okay, okay... the last bit could just be a mild case of burn out ;)
Anyway...I'm trying to keep my eyes open after operating on about 5-6 hours of sleep for weeks. I'm not 20 anymore (mid-thirties)... I've got to stop doing this. But... there's too much to do!
I'll be moving some not-quite-blog posts over here and cleaning them up over the next few days. I've got a few neat things to show, and one or two that are really just plain awesome.
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