What I Want To Do

Here is a list of things I want to do with my life.

Some of them are outrageous. Some of them are not.

Some of them tie together and complement one another.

This list doesn’t attempt to answer “how will I make this happen?” But there is lots of beauty and mystery in the “how.”

Let’s go.

1. Send something to the moon

I think it would be fun to build a device that can go to the moon.

I’d land this device on the moon and then communicate with it back on Earth.

I would add a camera so it would be possible to see photos, and maybe live videos, from the moon. The camera would have a “selfie mode,” so the device can take photos of itself.

It would also be fun to turn it into a shared experience, like a Times Square billboard, so you could tell your mom “Happy Birthday” from the moon.

There are a few major parts to this:

1. Building the device: I’d team up with my smart friends who are better at hardware than me. This would be the really fun part.
2. Escaping Earth’s atmosphere: This is one of the most difficult parts. You have to have a rocket much larger than the original device to escape Earth’s atmosphere. One option is to do a rideshare with SpaceX or another commercial space flight. This costs lots of money.
3. Traveling to the moon: Once you’re in space, you just gotta point the device in the right direction and wait a while. Try not to run into anything.
4. Landing on the moon: This is another tricky part. Apparently, remotely landing a device on the moon from a long distance is very difficult. Israel tried to do this but they crashed, and their budget was $100M. So, we should find a way to not crash.
5. Existing on the moon: I assume this is pretty chill? You don’t have elements to worry about other than asteroids. We need to make sure the device can withstand temperatures and lack of atmosphere on the moon.

2. Found a billion-dollar company and take it public

This seems like a fun thing to do. I am pretty good with tech and building things with great people.

The problem is finding a problem to solve that involves my skillset or the skillsets of the people I know.

I would not like to do this forever, though, because it seems like it would wear on you. And my skillset as an early-stage founder probably doesn’t translate to running a billion-dollar company at scale.

3. Build a local performing arts venue

One of my favorite activities of all time is getting together with friends and making music or sharing talents.

Previously, I’ve done this in my basement. It is really fun.

But it would also be really fun to create a performing arts venue in my local community, which happens to be the western suburb of Des Moines, IA.

This would be a new facility that features a small-ish theater, a modest recording studio, and perhaps even an outdoor ampitheater for Iowa’s warmer days.

The community is growing, but there aren’t a ton of places for small groups like Lions Clubs to meet up, short of some park shelters or churches. This venue would be another option for those small, non-profit type groups.

I’d establish it as a non-profit, and allow the smallish groups to use the facility for free. The venue would be sustained by corporate donations and private event rentals.

Then I could start inviting friends to get together and share talents in this new theater, which will be larger than my basement.

4. Work in a bakery

I don’t know — it seems like fun. It probably wouldn’t be fun after getting to know all of the mundane parts of baking pastries and stuff, but I don’t need to do it forever.

5. Write a screenplay

I’ve started lots of these but never finished them. It would be fun to finish one someday.

6. Create a game

It would be fun to create a VR game. Or even something not VR, but an online multiplayer deal where you can meet up with friends and play together.

Bonus points if I can host it at the edge with Cloudflare Workers and use Durable Objects and WebSockets.

I probably need to learn some C#. Also how to design games. And how to create 3D models.