Confession: Your Pet Project(s)

[jpark]

I don't want to hear about part time contracts.  What projects linger in your mind that you hope to take sometime for either in the near (2007) or distant future (5-10years) ?  Projects that really speak to your creative energy that you have a passion for...

Near Term:  Fantastic Voyage

I am just getting a clinical study off the ground - which is almost there if ethics cooperates - that will use a camera the size of a vitamin pill that patients will swallow.  It will provide real time color images of the intestinal tract and how these patients respond to a drug.  I designed this fucking study - even if I am no longer with the pharma company that is funding it.  So I will do it as a hobby with luck over the next year with the docs involved - or so I hope.

Longer Term (5-10 yrs):  Brain Imaging of Music

I spent many years as neuroscientist before moving into investments and then pharma in private sector.  I would like to go back to my roots of basic research someday.  Currently, I am very ignorant - but I am intrigued about doing a brain imaging study (functional MRI - brain activity) of global changes in a person's brain in response to music - and how that changes over time as they become familiar with the music and their emotional response to it.  Hard to get funding for such basic research oriented project - so raising financing for this will be just as challenginging as designing the study... if I pursue it.

Longer Longer Term (my life):  Memory Transplantation

I have dreamed about this since I was a kid.  It's pretty audacious - so just as well I post under anonymous handle in a non-medical group.  It's a really crazy idea I fully confess:  is it possible to transplant a brain region impllicated in learning a task into the corresponding region of a developing brain - and see if the memory is functioning in the recipient (test subjects rats or cats).  It would turn every idea we have of basic neurocircuitry on its head over night.  The obstalcles are huge here - in every sense.  Metaphorically, I wonder whether we should envision memory storage as a "seed' (in the sense of a crystal) rather than something that becomes "hard wired' from trial and error.  Again, this is not something I have mentioned to any former colleague - it is pretty fucking crazy.

[stray]

Uh.....I'm way out of your league. Damn dude, pretty serious stuff :)

I have about seven albums worth of song material sitting around. I'd like to cut one album's worth all on my own. Then I can be one of the cool kids that posts his own music on MySpace.

My setbacks have mostly been financial/technical. Not creative.

Other than that, I was kind of an aspiring actor several years back. I got bored (and frustrated) with some elements about it, and pulled out...But I've grown up a bit since then. I'd like to at least get in on other people's projects in the coming year. Nothing serious. Just for fun.

[Strazos]

I have no projects. I am not creative. At all.

The closest I am to a project is trying to figure out how to arrange all the stuff in my jail cell-sized room. It's not working out too well. I've been living here since February, and I still have 2 boxes of stuff in a storage room, my room is a mess, and my clean clothes pile is larger than the pile for dirty clothes.

[Samwise]

I have a number of game ideas kicking around that I keep threatening to implement, but I haven't managed to get any of them past the design stage, much less start coding any of them.  One is a first-person puzzler, one is a 2D shooter/puzzler/crafter, and one is a browser MMO.

I'm a musical dabbler and every now and then think I'd love to write a song or two, but I think that's even less likely to happen than writing the games.   

[Krakrok]

I build websites for fun and profit so most of my ideas are realized within a couple months. I don't like pimping myself but you asked so... one of my newest 'pet' sites is viewable here.

I don't have a post mortem written up yet but I've done all the website hosting/backend/frontend/graphics and the video filming/production/lighting/set/dvd for the project. Thankfully, standing in front of the camera isn't one of my jobs. So far it's cost about $150 and around 100 hours over a ~65 day period plus ~13 hours of filming. That's starting from scratch on day one to it's current incarnation (existing infrastructure not included).

Completed additional filming this past weekend for our second DVD.

[Abagadro]

Pass my comps and write  my damn dissertation.

[jpark]

Pass my comps and write  my damn dissertation.

What's your dissertation on?  (legal lay person here - so be gentle)

I have no projects. I am not creative. At all.

I don't believe your comment about creativity.  What are your passions?  I can guess gaming - anything else?

[Viin]

Short term project: Finish up the metal work on my airplane (fuselage is about half way done!)
Medium term project: Figure out the electrical pieces for my plane (avionics, wiring, lighting, AHRS, MFDs, armament, etc)
Long, long term project: Build a home in (or start) an airport home community.. somewhere

Pretty boring for folks not into the whole "aviation" thing.

More exciting projects? Well, maybe not exciting, but we hope to pop the roof on our house and build a master bedroom + study in the next year or two. I also want to repaint and refurbish my Comet sometime next year.

As far as work goes, there's a ton of "evolutionary" stuff I hope to do this year to get us out of the dark ages and actually functioning like a software development company that cares about how it's customers view our products. But it's all boring internal processes and application rewrites. Yay.

[Strazos]

Pass my comps and write  my damn dissertation.

What you should do when it's done is check back with your school's library each year, to see if anyone is actually able to make use of all your hard work. 


I looked through one of the dissertation sections at my school once...most of them never get touched or checked out. Oddly enough, I was only in that section because I was actually using one of them in a paper.

[Abagadro]

What's your dissertation on?  (legal lay person here - so be gentle)

Not set yet but I am leaning towards a particular informal institution created under the Environmental Species Act. I'd be more specific but dissertation topics are jealously guarded secrets.

[sinij]

Short Term: I got tired of my wife car's shitty headlights so I'm retrofitting Xenons into it. I can't understand why stock headlights are so shittastic, its brand fucking new car.
Mid Term: Re-start my martial arts training, it was postponed long enough. Re-examine investments.
Long Term: Kill every single one of you while you sleep.

[Kail]

Short term:
    Learn how to use Blender; it's annoying trying to render stuff in the shareware version of Maya and I'm getting too out of practice.
    Brush up on Java; hopefully not fail comp sci 101b despite having taken 101a almost four years ago and not using it since.

Mid-term:
    Get better at drawing.  I suck at everything else, dammit, I should be able to be good at one fucking thing.  Work on my comic, make it suck less.
    Something game-y.  I keep wanting to apply for a game design career, but I have no experience, so I'll have to write some shareware thing myself, just so I can get rid of that blank spot in my portfolio.

Long term:
    Get real degree, get real job, move out of parents basement already, for crying out loud.

[bhodi]

Build an actual money bin with crumpled bills that I can go swimming in.

That, and go part-time by time I hit 40, and completely retire 15 years after that. Best case scenario, part time at 35, then retire at 45.

So I'm selfish. I have no aspirations of changing the world, I just want to live in it comfortably.

[Llava]

I've got a world in development, to which I keep adding characters and plotlines, and eventually I'm going to sit down and write a number of stories for it.  I'd rather not go into much detail about it right now, because it's still mostly bare bones.

[Cheddar]

I am buying a house next year, and looking forward to it.  Currently I can do lawn care like no mans business, along with pool care.  Electricity and computer networking are 2 other masteries I have (relatively!).  So my house will be the main pet project.  I do lack in one area though, and it will probably make a post here:

Wood.

I want to start getting into woodwork.  Shelves, desks, etc.  Wood work will be a major pet project of mine, along with certain areas of culinary. 

[schild]

Cheddar, my new pet project is to get you to make minimalist videogame/dvd shelving with ridiculous capacity. And ship them to Arizona.

[Sir Fodder]

I'd like to learn how to play some basic tunes on guitar (2007), I don't have much hope though; it kills my hands and back and my hands are musically retarded. Hundreds of hours in a previous attempt resulted in naught, pure masochism.

Getting out of debt (2007ish) would be great, not much hope there either, yay!

I am intrigued about doing a brain imaging study (functional MRI - brain activity) of global changes in a person's brain in response to music - and how that changes over time as they become familiar with the music and their emotional response to it.  Hard to get funding for such basic research oriented project

That sounds like a great project, I think some similar studies have been done, but go for it!

is it possible to transplant a brain region impllicated in learning a task into the corresponding region of a developing brain - and see if the memory is functioning in the recipient (test subjects rats or cats).

I believe in nonviolence but if I saw someone doing such a thing to cats there is a good chance I'd loose it and try to royally kick the shit out of them, if my eyes didn't burn holes in them first. Happy new years!

[Big Gulp]

Hopefully within the next 5 years I can begin hormone treatments and start on the road to becoming a real woman.

[Murgos]

Short Term - Lasik surgery to get rid of my glasses until presbyopia sets in.

Mid Term - Become competent at piano, I can read music and work my way through some of the simpler classical pieces.

Long Term - I have the skills to do a Youtube or a MySpace or a Craigslist now I just need to come up with a billion dollar internet app.

[Nebu]

Short Term: Finish a textbook that I've been working on.  I've edited a number over the past decade, but writing one on my own was a feat I had wanted to tackle for a long time.  Now that I'm up to my ass in it, I wish I had never started.  Funny how that is.  I also have 7 manuscripts that are 85% finished on my desk.  Time to get those out as well.

Mid Term: Diversify my research.  The work I've done over the past decade has focused largely on development of better DNA biosensors and the development of anticancer drugs with increased specificity.  I've been giving a lot fo talks and travelling more the past year and it has helped me find some new directions in the areas of pharmacogenomics, alternative treatments for Alzheimer's, and development of agents able to enhance drug delivery.  Breaking into new fields has always been a challenge I enjoy. 

Long Term: I'm mid-career and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.  I find that I'm becoming far more interested in ethics and behavioral psychology after having been a medicinal chemist for years but don't know if there's a way to pursue those areas without starting over.  Funny how the other side of the fence always looks greener.

[Paelos]

Short term: going back to school to finish my Masters of Accountancy and get my CPA liscense.
Medium term: finishing the novel that's at 35% currently
Long term: Holding some sort of small public office in city or state government.

[voodoolily]

Short term: Buy house (March '07), then promptly try to save $5K for a trip to Japan in '08.
Mid term: Finish my cookbook, bear Genius Progeny #1. Genius Progeny #2 will be considered, depending on results of Genius Progeny #1.
Long term: Retire early/wealthy, open Happiness of the Katakuris-style bed and breakfast (sans grisly murders. or perhaps avec grisly murders, depending on my mood.)

[HaemishM]

Short, Mid and Long Term: Just get my novel published.

[Merusk]

Short Term:

Finish out the Hedge line along the neighbor's fence so I don't have to weed-wack his goddamn grass as it grows into my yard anymore.  Reseat the brick edging in the front garden, as the heavy rains this late fall/winter blew a few bricks out.

Mid:

Install the Crown moulding & chair rail in the dining room and paint.  Finally decide on a color for the gameroom and paint it.  Maybe install a tile backsplash in the Kitchen.  Purchase & install the other half of the closet organizer layout for our Master WIC, so my side looks like the wife's.

Long:
Sell the house in a year or two, repeat the above.  Maybe work on getting licensed as an Architect since I paid for the professional degree and all.

[Yegolev]

Good job setting the bar so high right off the bat.  My dreams have devolved into things that orbit parenthood.  While these are indeed noble goals, they aren't flashy nor would they likely have a huge impact on the world.  Unless, of course, my long-term goal of having my son conquer the world in my stead comes to fruition.  Short-term, I'm hoping to get through January's minefield of special events with a minimum of stress-induced drinking binges.  I'm also hoping to get a promotion, but since all I can do is hope at the moment, I choose to not think about it.

Mid-term, I'm looking forward to getting more free time once my son is in proper school, which should be fall of 2009.  I have various home improvement projects I would like to tackle.  Realistically, however, I expect that I will have even more to do once my son starts real school.

[WayAbvPar]

I am planning on getting into home brewing soon. If I can quit playing EVE and M:TW long enough to get started.

[Yegolev]

Magic: The Wanking?

[Bunk]

Short: buy a house/condo

Medium: get more serious about my photography.  Having an indoor place to work is part of the reason to buy a house.

Long: yea right, planning stuff a year in advance is a breakthrough for me.

[Rasix]

Short Term: Move to Phoenix or Don't Move to Phoenix.   Also: work on my backhand. I'm this close to going back to a two-hander now that I know how to properly hit one.

Mid term: Procreate. Children would be nice, just.. not right now.

Long term: Do nothing.  Professionally.

[schild]

Short Term: Move to Phoenix

I agree.

Long term: Do nothing. Professionally.

Yes.

[WayAbvPar]

work on my backhand.

Wife getting lippy again? 

[Nebu]

I don't get the whole Phoenix thing.  I was offered a ridiculously high paying job in Tempe and I declined because I couldn't even imagine living there.  Old people + weather so hot you can barely go outside half the year = no thanks.  Maybe growing up in cold climates has ruined me. 

[WayAbvPar]

Air conditioning + women in skimpy clothing year 'round makes it pretty tempting.

[Nebu]

Air conditioning + women in skimpy clothing year 'round makes it pretty tempting.

If you're into senior citizens, yes.  If you want to see younger women, I recommend southern CA.

[schild]

Old people? What? In Tempe?!

What?