20 ms·

Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

• tobtoh 16y ago
  Trying to figure out the best way to pitch an idea to Google Australia to create a new job role for me in Melbourne (the only Australian Google office is in Sydney) in an area they don't currently cover ... oh and I'm not currently a Google employee.
  • ig1 16y ago
    Lars Bak managed to do it :-)
• lionhearted 16y ago
  I'm going to design my first article of clothing for myself next month. I'm going to Vietnam, and I'll do it in either Saigon, Hanoi, or Ho An. I'll be in the first two cities anyways, I might go to third just for its reputation as a tailor and fashion city. I've got a shirt I used to like a lot that's worn out, going to have a tailor use it as a model to make another. Going to get two shirts made. Depending on how that goes, I might make a crazy-ish piece since prices are somewhat cheap.
  • ronnier 16y ago
    I visited Vietnam three times over a 3 year period. Is it your first time? Since my last visit, laws have changed that require you to wear a helmet while on a moped. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the freedom in riding a moped around a huge crowded city for hours, not knowing where I was going, or where I'd end up. It's somewhat ruined now with the helmet law. Nearly 100 degree weather wearing a helmet isn't so fun.
    • mrtron 16y ago
      As someone who is currently riding a moped in 100 degree weather in Asia right now - I really don't mind the helmet. You really don't notice it. Hopping on a moped and heading anywhere, parking anywhere really is quite enjoyable. It is unfortunate north american cities are not well suited to it.
      • davidw 16y ago
        San Francisco is pretty good: doesn't rain often, relatively compact, lots of traffic.
        • mrtron 16y ago
          True. How about safety and parking there? Both are important factors. Rain isn't much of an issue. Being from Toronto, the cold and snow are big deterrents. But safety is the biggest concern for me, even riding a bike in a bike lane is really dangerous. Cars don't look for you when making turns, they just go. I was hit once cycling when someone made an abrupt right turn without signalling. My handlebar dug into the side of their van and somehow I was able to stay on my bike. They screeched to a halt and started yelling at me about how I hit them. They turned directly into me and I was in a bike lane! Riding a scooter here feels so much safer - drivers are aware of them and are cautious at the appropriate times.
          • davidw 16y ago
            Car parking is bad, which means scooters are good. Although I got a couple of tickets for putting mine on (huge) sidewalks, which was, IMO, incredibly lame. Safety... yeah, you're probably a bit safer than on a bicycle, but you have to watch out. The first night I had mine I hit some tram tracks and felt the back wheel skittering around, which was not a fun feeling. Kept it up, though.
    • chollida1 16y ago
      I had a close friend die from a crash on a moped due to him not wearing a helmet. I suggest you suck it up and wear one regardless of the heat if you either: use your head for a living, or just value your life.
  • quan 16y ago
    Hey, I just quit my job recently and my goal is to travel to as many places as possible for a year. My flight to Saigon is this Sunday, and I'm planning to do the whole country tour from Hanoi to the South for about 2 weeks. Let me know if you're interested in meeting up, just dropped you an email.
    • peteypao 16y ago
      I am going to Ho Chi Minh city next week, too! Talk about synchronicity!
• elomar 16y ago
  I want to leave mommy's house and start living as a "digital nomad", moving from country to country every few months as I want. I want to know the world a little better. The most obvious roadblock is making money along the way. My plan is to do it by launching a small web product, blogging about the travel, working as a local on countries where I'm allowed to, and doing some freelance programming work. I have at least one year to save some money and get started working on these ideas. I'm sure it will not be easy, but I want give it a try :)
  • deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  • metastew 16y ago
    I'm doing the same. Have you read Life Nomadic? The guy who wrote it did exactly what you're aspiring to do and he seemed to do alright for himself. I'm building up my programming skills and saving up 2 year's worth of money (as well as paying off any outstanding debts) before embarking on this grand adventure. by the way of advices, I guess I can only say just keep a tight lid on your wallet; spend it only on necessities, like food, shelter, and bills.
    • elomar 16y ago
      Nice! Yes, I have read it. Life Nomadic is what convinced me to do it for real. [for those who haven't, http://tynan.net/life-nomadic http://tynan.net/life-nomadic] Since I could take a very long time to save two years worth of money, I'll just save enough to get started in some low-cost country (something like 3~5 months in South America or Asia) and focus on building something that can generate some passive income. Thanks for the advices. Stick to it, and maybe we meet on the road :)
    • petervandijck 16y ago
      2 years worth of money is how much in this case? 30,000$-ish?
      • metastew 16y ago
• jeb 16y ago
  I'm planning to identify a suitable candidate to get married to, and who is genetically appropriate enough to give me good quality kids, then convince this person to marry me and carry my child, within the next year. Difficult, but I assume interesting.
  • MrMatt 16y ago
    You going to be split-testing?
    • swombat 16y ago
      He'll definitely be using genetic algorithms.
      • jholman 16y ago
        Before he tries that, he may have to divide and conquer.
  • FraaJad 16y ago
    Step 0: Get adopted by Indian parents. Step 1: sit back and relax ;)
    • deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    • mrtron 16y ago
      I was shocked to discover how often that occurs with families, even in the north america. A friend of mine is having a difficult time convincing his parents and hers that he has found his own partner - even though they would be very suitable candidates for an arranged marriage.
      • FraaJad 16y ago
        The Indian parents living in NA are still carrying their "culture" from 1960s (or whenever they left India) on their backs. Parents in India, esp in Cities, are open to "love marriages", as long as you don't deviate too much in terms of caste, language, social status, educational qualification and economic status :) . Yes, all that matters. Indians do not marry for love. Love is what happens afterwards.
• foxtrot 16y ago
  Debt Free
  • tomedme 16y ago
    Same here. I'm almost there. Selling the car as well, which will help. Then I go travelling on my own.
  • captaink 16y ago
    As someone who just managed that this year, a few pointers. 1. Budget. I know it sucks, and I know it is a hassle, still, no way around it. Grab excel or numbers or openOffice and do it start of each month. 2. Split accounts I have used this technique to great success. - 1st account is the "INCOMING" account, This is where all incoming money goes to and all fixed costs (see 1. Budget) go away from. - 2nd account is a "pocket money" account. Pocket money is transferred there. Nice about this: You can spend ALL of this and your bills and food are still paid. - 3rd account is a savings account. Not much to explain here. Make sure to save a good amount. 3. Keep at it 4. Get a seperate wallet for "food and household". I usually get a laugh about this, as it was something our parents used to do. Still, I withdraw cash beginning of the month and pay my groceries from this. Works wonders. 5. Keep at it 6. Use a big chunk from your savings account to remove all remaining debt at once. 7. Enjoy freedom. I know people will go on about "credit history", "credit rating", etc... However, I plan to nev er go there again. Best, ::captaink::
    • KingOfB 16y ago
      Great advice. David Ramsey has a bunch of material on getting out of debt and basic money management. It's amazing this isn't skill #1 we teach in school.
    • foxtrot 16y ago
      #2 is something that I am already in the process of setting up. I am going to leave my main card at home, and then setup standing orders to transfer my pocket money into my new account every week. This seems like the most logical way to reign in unnecessary spending. The other practice I want to get in the habit of is telling my self that I can only spend money if I have earned it from doing extra work, be it web design, cutting a hedge etc. That should motivate me to get out and about to earn extra on the side. Its going to be very tough thats for sure, then again some of the happiest times of my life have been when ive been broke.
• f1gm3nt 16y ago
  Hack a gibson...
  • tricky 16y ago
    les paul or an SG?
    • f1gm3nt 16y ago
      not sure, but I'm sure one I find it I can use the PW god to get in. There will be flashy colors.
  • nzmsv 16y ago
    My first thought was "Hackers" (the movie). I am appropriately ashamed :)
    • Goosey 16y ago
      Mine too, along with the infamous (at least among my friends) quote: "NO ONE Hacks the Gibson!"
      • keefe 16y ago
        nothing is impossible when sleeping with angelina jolie is on the line
• ebun 16y ago
  Hitchhike across southern Japan (Honshu mostly)
  • masterj 16y ago
    I hitchhiked around Argentina and Chile 2 years ago, and the experience has been far and away the best thing I've done in my life. I'm currently gearing up for a much longer trip, if I can just figure out where. My old roommate spent a few weeks hitching around Japan and loved it. He had no trouble at all, and the people were all really nice. You might want to read Hokkaido Highway Blues if you haven't yet.
• thestoicattack 16y ago
  Finishing my PhD.
  • kunjaan 16y ago
    Awww.
    • thestoicattack 16y ago
      I can't tell if you're trying to say that my goal is adorable or disappointing or that I'm a young'un or what.
• felideon 16y ago
  To do research in natural language processing. Roadblocks: * Time. Or if time = money then I need money to be able to spend time on this. Also, in itself this wouldn't bring in much income I don't think. * No CS background. Don't know where to start.
  • ananthrk 16y ago
    Three good books that can get you started: 1) Natural Language Understanding - James Allen 2) Speech and Natural Language Processing - Jurafsky & Martin 3) Statistical Foundations of Natural Language Processing - Manning You can brush up your probability and Linear Algebra from the prep guides available from Andrew Ng's machine learning course. My best wishes.
    • pchristensen 16y ago
      I have copies of 2) Speech and Natural Language Processing - Jurafsky & Martin 3) Statistical Foundations of Natural Language Processing - Manning that I'm willing to sell. I tried to bite off more than I could chew and moved on to a different project. peter at pchristensen dot com
  • thestoicattack 16y ago
    What part of NLP? It's actually a pretty wide field.
    • felideon 16y ago
      Not exactly sure, but after skimming through Wikipedia, natural language generation sounds pretty interesting. But text-to-speech and speech recognition is probably what I've had in mind.
      • thestoicattack 16y ago
        Conisder "Statistical Methods for Speech Recognition" by Fred Jelinek. Lots of math, not so much CS, if that'll make things easier for you.
• davidw 16y ago
  Raising our daughter. Current bottleneck: not using potty. Think we'll just have to wait until she's ready though!
  • felideon 16y ago
    Do you know all the tips & techniques there are? We've just been going through this with our 2-yr-old for the past 8 months and wouldn't mind sharing what I've learned. But, I think the best thing we did that actually worked---which we always had been reluctant to trying---was to leave him running around the house butt-naked. The whole apartment has carpet. Fun times.
    • petervandijck 16y ago
      Yea, and take it easy, they'll learn. Definitely no more diaper during daytime (unless, say, when visiting grandparents with expensive carpets or something).
    • davidw 16y ago
      I'm not sure if that's effective - we've tried it some, but there doesn't seem to be a connection, yet, to "I should have done that with the potty". People have told us that it sort of happens when they're ready and not earlier, so perhaps it's best not to rush things.
      • araneae 16y ago
        There's actually a sensitive period very early on in a baby's life when you can start to use that technique ("infant potty training"). Your kid is likely simply past that sensitive period.
      • felideon 16y ago
        Yes, definitely don't rush it and always be patient. But you may be surprised to find that she actually does make the connection and still refuses to use the potty.
    • pchristensen 16y ago
• ppruitt 16y ago
  Earn my FAA Private Pilot Certificate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_certification_in_the_United_States#Private_pilot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_certification_in_the_Unit...
• terra_t 16y ago
  launch a web site that brings in enough income that I can quit my day job
  • kadavy 16y ago
    Start blogging about everything you know. Teach the world. Check your Analytics regularly to find out what of those things people are searching for. Use the Google Keyword tool to measure market potential of digging deeper on those subjects. Start spin-off sites if there's enough potential. Sign up appropriate affiliates. Develop information products around those subjects. Sit back and relax.
    • terra_t 16y ago
      too much work & not scalable. sh1tm0nkey and all the "make money fast" people online tell you to do this... I used to hang out on forums with people who do this and I can say that 95% of them are broke, the other 5% are making money exploiting the other 95%.
  • deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  • Gibbon 16y ago
    I suggest signing up for the Challenge (formerly the 30-day challenge). It's just starting now and runs through the end of october.. you'll learn everything you need to know. The right way. http://www.challenge.co/ http://www.challenge.co/
• mattm 16y ago
  Become one of the world's top salsa dancers by 2020. Current roadblock is that I'm just not doing it enough. I get distracted by other interests of mine. I was previously practising 3 times a week (which probably still isn't enough) but lately I'm only going once a week.
  • wallflower 16y ago
    That's an admirable goal. Why do you want to be that good? Do you want to be a professional? By definition, a professional dancer is one who can teach, perform, and social dance. Please read this article by the Unlikely Salsero: http://www.unlikelysalsero.com/2007/08/magic-of-time-last-one-standing.html http://www.unlikelysalsero.com/2007/08/magic-of-time-last-on... The whole idea of going from canned set routines to dancing to the music is a bit of difficult hack that I'm still working on (but making progress). The hack for that I think is understand the structure of the song - (real-time Fourier analysis of a set of eight measures of 8-beats each..with your feet)
  • roel_v 16y ago
    Not to be cynical, but how are you going to be top of the world in anything practicing only 3 times a week?
    • mattm 16y ago
      Yeah, I know. Even three times a week isn't enough. Perhaps it's a goal that isn't really important to me.
• tricky 16y ago
  to find this surface mount resistor I just dropped.
  • tricky 16y ago
    found it!
  • HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
    The trick is to buy packages of at least 100 so if you drop one you just don't care :-)
• deleted 16y ago
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• terryjsmith 16y ago
  I would like to get my black belt in Taekwondo by the age of 30 (turning 23 in August) and fight at a Canadian national or Ontario provincial competition. I am currently a yellow belt (started about a year ago) but have won a gold and a silver at two recent invitational competitions. I had an excellent teacher in Thunder Bay, but just moved to Toronto a month ago to be in a more tech savvy town (I'm a developer) and am having difficulty finding a dojang that I like and that gives attention to nurturing their lower color belts.
  • robryan 16y ago
    I've considered joining Taekwondo for some time but worry that the lower belts will be to caught up in teaching very basic moves and the traditional aspects of the sport. I understand the need to learn the basics just wondering if you found this time a drag at all or it was all interesting and I'd have nothing to worry about?
    • b1ind 16y ago
      I'm a black belt in tkd -- I wouldn't consider learning it for self defense; it's more of a sport/exercise.
    • mattheww 16y ago
      It's definitely not a drag! If you're anything like I was when I started, it will take a lot of work to get the basic moves right. There are reasons for how each technique is performed, so it's important to understand them. Your form noticeably improves the more you practice. Martial arts are one of those things that you naturally improve at the longer you do it. Plus most classes will mix up the basics with other stuff like forms and different kinds of sparring, so you won't spend the whole time doing repetitive exercises.
    • terryjsmith 16y ago
      It's really important to have a great teacher and find a decent school. Find a school that divides it's classes into beginners and not and then go watch a beginner class. The basic moves are important and actually quite fun (front snap, sidekicks, etc.) and really hone your core, leg and hip muscles that you'll be using as you learn more advanced techniques and it should always be a challenge. Once you get to the yellow stripe/yellow belt level you learn your roundhouse/turning kick and back kick which are the biggest staples in competition and by far the most used techniques at all level of sparring. I also recommend finding a school that does multiple form of martial arts. Not only can you attend a variety of classes, a lot of masters will incorporate aspects of the other martial arts into each other for a more rounded course. Right off the bat we learned basic technique, self defence moves, patterns and traditional movements such as one step sparring. If you show an interest and find a good school, there's absolutely nothing to be worried about on the boredom front.
• ananthrk 16y ago
  Becoming a better programmer. Roadblocks: Lack of self-discipline and commitment (day job providing good money)
  • felideon 16y ago
    Maybe you've seen this from being on HN, but www.structuredprocrastination.com. Try to get busy with "important" things, and you'll find yourself programming more. One thing I'm starting to do, since I also have a day job, is going to the library for my lunch break (I eat lunch real fast right before I go) which is luckily a few blocks away, with and laptop loaded with Ubuntu to force myself to do some more lisping. Once I get in the habit I'll be able to work on harder challenges and hopefully become a better programmer.
    • ananthrk 16y ago
      Thanks for the link. My current structured procrastination is reading HN and lot of technical articles. I think I should stop doing that and start coding more.
  • gcheong 16y ago
    Can you get to some specifics about that? That might help you focus a bit as "better programmer" is rather general. What specific areas are you trying to improve? Also, it might seem that your lack of discipline and commitment comes from complacency due to the day job, but in my case, after being laid-off, I found myself procrastinating just as much (I got all day now right?) so be careful about making any sudden moves in that area.
• robryan 16y ago
  My goal should probably be to finish off my last uni semester coming up as well as possible but much more interested in my startup at the moment. Another aspect I guess is to get more involved in the Melbourne startup/ coworking community, only had limited contact thus far in what seems to be quiet a large and vibrant scene.
  • GVRV 16y ago
    Hey mate, I'm a final semester student doing CompSci at Monash. The melbourne startup scene is awesome! Definitely a lot of experienced and inspirational figures who're willing to give back to community. Would be awesome to catch up in person sometime.
• fezzl 16y ago
  Become an awesome martial arts trickster! http://trickstutorials.com http://trickstutorials.com
• wallflower 16y ago
  Learn OpenGL so I can finally make those mobile games I've always wanted to. Hangups are thinking in matrices, understanding of the math involved
  • z0r 16y ago
    The math involved for basic 3d is overrated. Just sit down and copy code at first, and write reams of stuff that works. It should be no problem to magpie enough code to get a simple engine together.
    • roel_v 16y ago
      Agree. Also, I liked this book: http://www.amazon.ca/Math-Primer-Graphics-Game-Development/dp/1556229119/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278602690&sr=1-7 http://www.amazon.ca/Math-Primer-Graphics-Game-Development/d... a lot, even if it's quite basic and not hardcore (i.e. many applied examples rather than formulas and proofs).
      • wallflower 16y ago
        Thanks all for the book recommendations!
  • nzmsv 16y ago
    I found Fundamentals of Computer Graphics by Peter Shirley to be a great intro book. Yes, it's a textbook, but it's one of the better written ones. I like that it also teaches you how to code the algorithms, not just the math behind them. It's not OpenGL-focused though.
  • tmsh 16y ago
    One of the best intros I've seen: http://duriansoftware.com/joe/An-intro-to-modern-OpenGL.-Table-of-Contents.html http://duriansoftware.com/joe/An-intro-to-modern-OpenGL.-Tab... Also: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596804831 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596804831 And then personally I've found this to be the clearest theory: http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Graphics-Principles-Practice-2nd/dp/0201848406 http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Graphics-Principles-Practice-...
• noelsequeira 16y ago
  My goal is an online social initiative that changes how people seek and receive real-time help. A lot of deserving folks without an online voice struggle to put the word out when in need (An urgent need for blood, a sudden need for funds for a critical operation). I'm thinking we can tap into influentials to help spread the word (who can earn karma in return). Bottleneck: As step 1 in this project, I've launched http://www.saveaplusk.org http://www.saveaplusk.org , but ironically it's suffering from the very same problem I want to solve - I have too small a voice to get the word out.
  • kznewman 16y ago
    I am coming from a similar place but not yet launched my site. I have thought about the challenge you describe, and there are many on this site with advice that can help. Whatever size voice you might have, it is louder when you use it locally. Are you and your friends using it to help people? Are the people then helped not willing to try it? I can’t see your site from my current location but with local and modest goals you might be surprised who the influentials are and what karma they might really want.
    • noelsequeira 16y ago
      Thanks for your inputs, they're insightful. Tapping into my local network might work only so much in my case - most folks aren't too active on Twitter. But I'm not going to give this up so easily - i will give it my sincerest shot. I guess the hard part's figuring out what works and what doesn't.
• deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
  • deleted 16y ago
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• nadam 16y ago
  To do research in building a consumer behaviour simulator, or more generally a 'society simulator' (simulating a whole city with people in it who have jobs, who are going to restaurants, go shopping, pay taxes, etc...) Meanwhile trying to figure out whether I can create some kind of startup/business out of this. Bottleneck: My boring day job, which is needed because I have a family to support.
  • roel_v 16y ago
    If you're serious about building a business around this (i.e., if you're into the business side of this rather than the pure research side), post a way for me to contact you - we should talk.
    • nadam 16y ago
      Yes I am serious about building a business around this. My strategy is to simulate as much aspect of a virtual person's life as possible, because the simulation of different aspects strengthen each-other, makes the simulation more precise, enables more and more emergent behaviour. On the other hand in the beginning I will mostly try to aim for those aspects which have immediate business value: to simulate consumer behaviour in shops, restaurants, etc... I happily talk about this with you. My email is: nadam60 at gmail dot com
• michaelaiello 16y ago
  I want to go on a deep sea submarine ride, so that I see bioluminecent fish. Road Block(s): No packaged trips to do this, no network with marine biologists/researchers who own the subs
  • fakeempire 16y ago
    not quite the same, but i live in thailand for about 1/2 of each year and i live about an hour boat ride from ang thong national park ( random pic http://www.thailand-travelonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/ang-thong-archipelago.jpg http://www.thailand-travelonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2008... ) and i usually stay the night. 2 or 3 times that i've been there, i see massive bioluminecents in the water. not sure exacly what causes it. but in the middle of the night ill go into the ocean and spash and its the brightest purple you've ever seen. like when you hit the water it 'activates' something and explodes with color. anyway. i do have the internet right here. should probably look that up. its amazing.
  • roel_v 16y ago
    I was in a bay in the east of Puerto Rico last year where they had bioluminecent bacteria in the water, where you could kayak through. I guess it's not the same as going deep sea but it's a lot more in reach I guess - you could do it for a grand over a weekend :)
  • caffeine 16y ago
    In case you live in London .. come see the Science Museum (South Kensington), they have an incredibly cool deep-sea fish exhibit going on, including bioluminescent ones.
• chunkyslink 16y ago
  I'm training for the 'Yorkshireman Marathon' in September in the UK. Its 26.6 miles of hilly off road tracks with over 3000ft of ascent. I don't just want to finish it, I want to get in between 3.30 and 4 hours. The biggest problem at the moment is finding the time to train. Ideally I would like to be out everyday but I can only manage 4 days a week. Each training run is lasting upto 2.5 hours and finding that time each day is tough. The rest is fun and massively rewarding. As I get fitter I need less sleep and I feel much stronger - both physically and mentally.
  • sab007 16y ago
    You might actually be overtraining. In my personal experience it's quality not quantity that matters. See the recent Tabata grace. I would check out and find a great personal trainer to help you along. And good luck!
    • chunkyslink 16y ago
      You might be right, but I run for a club and race regularly so its not like I'm coming at this from nothing. But thanks for your feedback.
  • dhyasama 16y ago
    In general terms, you may need less sleep when you are healthy and fit, but if you are doing 2.5 hour runs you really should be getting extra sleep. Distance running takes a huge toll on your body and you need to do everything you can to help it recover. My favorite long run recovery technique is an ice bath, ibuprofen, and beer (carbs!).
    • chunkyslink 16y ago
      Thats the catch 22 of it all. I get plenty of sleep, at least 9 hours a night. So when I'm up I'm full of it an could easily do a long run as I'm fully rested and ready to go. The only way to find more time to run is to sleep less which is obviously bad. I've never tried the ice bath, ibuprofen and recovery but I've certainly had beer. Thanks for your advice.
• clistctrl 16y ago
  Contemplating how to ask a girlfriend of 2 years how to take it to the next step when her view has been soured by a late parental divorce.
  • petervandijck 16y ago
    Just discuss it with her openly, not every marriage proposal needs to be about kneeling and stuff (that would probably just freak her out). Talk about it.
  • sab007 16y ago
    Take tiny steps. But my guess is that after 2 years she might even wonder why you have not asked her already; I would sure wonder and I am pretty sure her girlfriends wonder.Maybe ask her where she sees the 2 of you 1 year from now? The good news is she might be more ready than you think. The bad news you might find out over the next several months that you desire different things.
  • araneae 16y ago
    Asking someone to marry you (I assume that's what the next step is- maybe it's something else) when you don't know what the answer will be pretty much only happens in movies. And it's not a good idea. I was just at a friend's wedding last weekend, am engaged myself, and four other friend pairs are also engaged. In all of these cases, we discussed marriage extensively with our partners before anyone was officially asked. We all knew what the answer was going to be. If you want to consider going to the next step, you should bring up marriage casually in conversation. If she sounds like she's just not into it, she's either going to say no, or say yes because of pressure when she doesn't really mean it.
  • XFrequentist 16y ago
    Interesting, I'm in kind of the opposite situation: I recently asked my very excellent girlfriend of 5 years said question. I procrastinated so long at least partially due to residual trauma from an early parental divorce (plus the subsequent decades of court battles and screaming). My fiancee's approach was a combination of patience and understanding for 4 years, then basically telling me my time was up. The latter strategy wouldn't have worked without the former. One thing I'm certainly glad we did is to talk about it honestly and deeply before taking the plunge. I doubt I would have been able to work up the courage to do it otherwise. If marriage is important to you, tell her so, and give you reasons why.
• chrisconley 16y ago
  Sail the US east coast down to the caribbean.
• earth 16y ago
  To be the man who donates the most and the man who owns the least, at the same time. Bottlenecks: My empathy is ridiculed by the way I live. I believe I can make more of a difference in a position of power then if I just move somewhere and work as a volunteer for the rest of my life. Though to get to power I have to live in this world which I hate.
  • hariis 16y ago
    Know Life.
    • earth 16y ago
      One day I might understand that
• WesleyJohnson 16y ago
  I suppose the most interesting goal, to me, is getting my teeth fixed. I didn't take care of them all through my twenties and it's had serious repercussions on my social and professional life as well as taking a drastic toll on my confidence. Roadblocks and/or bottlenecks are easy: finances. Dental work isn't cheap, especially when you're looking at as much work as I need done. The "fear" of the dentist was also an initial roadblock, but not only is it far less worse than I imagined/remembered, I also happen to have "the hots" for my female dentist so it makes going far easier.
  • vgurgov 16y ago
    i'd suggest to go to other country with cheaper but high-quality med services. dentist are super overpriced in US so many ppl do that. And you can combine that trip with vacation at this country. )))
  • abstractbill 16y ago
    I had awful dental hygiene up until my mid-20s. A big step for me was finding a dentist I trusted, and just doing what he told me - letting go of the fear that he was going to completely drain me financially. It wasn't cheap, but eventually all the required work was done, and I formed new habits that have meant no no work has been needed for several years now. One of the most important things I did was get invisalign (braces). My teeth were really hard to keep clean before - flossing was almost impossible in some places due to the way my teeth were overlapping. Now they're straight it's really quite easy.
    • WesleyJohnson 16y ago
      I'm with you there. The dentist I have now I really feel like I can trust and she's given me a care plan that isn't just the highest priced option, but all my options. She recently went in to do a root canal and found out I didn't need one when she could've just as easily done it and charged me for it. But I do agree, I think once I've gotten the work done, taking caring of them should be easier.
  • thaumaturgy 16y ago
• ErrantX 16y ago
  Build a house; specifically a wood/earth "natural house" and fit it out to be self sufficient (for monetary rather than eco reasons :)). Current road blocks: finding time to build, finding a site without NIMBY neighbours, planning permission (grrr)
  • djm 16y ago
    I'm interested in this too and also for monetary reasons rather than the eco thing. Mostly what I've looked at so far are cob/straw houses. With these you are basically looking at a rubble/concrete base (which you can hopefully scavenge for free), clay/straw/sand for making the cob, and wood for the roof/window/doorframes etc. The best budget option for a roof seems to be turf, although that cuts down on the amount of rain water you could collect if you wanted to independant from a water company. The biggest obstacle in the UK seems to be finding suitable land and getting planning permission etc. I don't really know any solution to that. Over the past few weeks I've been reading 'building with cob: a step by step guide" which covers both the technical and legal aspects of building one of these structures in the UK. It's a great book.
    • ErrantX 16y ago
      I know this is self promotion :) but I recently blogged about my reasons for wanting to do this here: http://www.errant.me.uk/blog/2010/07/why-i-want-an-eco-house/ http://www.errant.me.uk/blog/2010/07/why-i-want-an-eco-house... The best budget option for a roof seems to be turf What I have in mind is something of a sunken/earthworks house - so yes, turf roof which I would try and double as a grass terrace etc. cob/straw looks like a useful material from my research too - coupled with the sunken aspect for insulation reasons. The biggest obstacle in the UK seems to be finding suitable land and getting planning permission etc. I don't really know any solution to that. Most of the "first generation" examples I have seen build first and sort planning later. But there are newer projects that have applied successfully - and that is the route I prefer. I think planners are becoming more open to self sustained housing, thankfully :) Thanks for the book recommendation! I will track it down from Amazon.
    • exline 16y ago
• lkozma 16y ago
  Learn every juggling trick I have seen, heared of or imagined. Roadblock: balls keep falling. EDIT: current status (as of yesterday): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lsuO0tQZaU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lsuO0tQZaU
  • dchs 16y ago
    Good skills - keep on practicing!
  • Random_Person 16y ago
    Awesome stuff. I have been juggling for years (self-taught) and it is all about practice practice practice. Also, having a juggling partner is an awesome thing. Just being able to work out the details of a trick and visualize them with another person is a vast improvement upon self-study.
  • nooneelse 16y ago
    > Roadblock: balls keep falling. Perhaps a powerful fan pointed upward could slow them down a bit.
  • SandB0x 16y ago
    Practise standing over a bed or a couch. This greatly speeds up the ball recovery process, allowing you to iterate faster with far less frustration!
• deleted 16y ago
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• jashmenn 16y ago
  I'm working on becoming a beekeeper. Learning about bee cycles and getting involved in a beekeeping group is easy enough. The biggest roadblock is finding a place to keep them in LA.
  • spaghetti 16y ago
    Perhaps Acton or Leona Valley could work? I went cherry-picking in Leona Valley last weekend and there was quite a bit of honey for sale here and there. Also my local grocery store sells great honey from Acton. If you're not familiar with these areas they are in and around the Antelope Valley (about one hour north-east of LA).
  • aharrison 16y ago
    Check out this awesome site (http://www.voiceofthehive.com/ http://www.voiceofthehive.com/). The background is painful, but the information is awesome. I don't know if it will actually help you become a beekeeper, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.
• pavs 16y ago
  Here is mine: http://blogriot.com/life-list/ http://blogriot.com/life-list/
  • ritonlajoie 16y ago
    good luck with the extra pepper !
• GVRV 16y ago
  Completing my CompSci degree and Financial Independence within 12 months. Roadblocks: Psychological. Bottlenecks: A boring regular job (partial financial independence) is an easier option.
  • mjtsang 16y ago
    What year in college are you now? Is 12-months on track to graduate with a CS degree?
    • GVRV 16y ago
      Monash University, I finish in 4 months.
• tiffani 16y ago
  To be a racecar driver--professionally or not. Sounds crazy, but something about watching Formula 1 for the last few years has driven (haha) me to really want to get involved some kind of way. Saving up for lessons at the Skip Barber Racing School for next summer. Current bottleneck: no time right now to dedicate to it. I just satisfy race longings now thru occasionally karting and flying around the backroads here in NC. http://www.skipbarber.com/ http://www.skipbarber.com/
  • tricky 16y ago
    Do you know about Drivers Education (DE) and track days? I just got my $1500 "race car" running and am planning to do a DE event this fall with my local PCA (porsche club of america.) There are also Solo2 and autocross events everywhere you can do in your daily driver.
    • mattmichielsen 16y ago
      I think I have about $1600 in my autocross (and sometimes daily driver) car. It really isn't that expensive if you find something cheap (like a BMW E30 or Porsche 924) and do all the work to it yourself.
      • tricky 16y ago
        heh... mine is an '88 924S. For anyone who's interested, there is a ton of support for DIY'ers out there who want to build a car. The bmw and porsche forums are awesome. I imagine there's a great forum out there for any car worth racing.
        • mattmichielsen 16y ago
          Sweet. The 924S was greatly underrated in my opinion. I have an '87 that was my previous autocrosser but is in need of new struts, which are pretty expensive (more than I paid for the car).
    • tiffani 16y ago
• z0r 16y ago
  Become a 4 dan go player. Recently ordered a lot of new problems & other study material to try to get there.
  • timdellinger 16y ago
    What's your present rank? I'm not devoting much time to it right now, but I'm trying to go from 10k -> 5k. (My efforts were re-invigorated when I got the iPad app from Many Faces of Go).
    • z0r 16y ago
      I've hit 3 dan before, but right now I'm probably a weak 2 dan. Life & Death is the key, so hopefully running through a thousand fresh problems will do the trick! If you do the same, you can do a lot better than 5k :)
    • kd5bjo 16y ago
      Are either of you going to be at the go congress in August?
• c1sc0 16y ago
  Raise a million for charity, preferable a research-oriented one.
• dhyasama 16y ago
  Moving to New York with my wife and two-year old. We've always wanted to experience the city and it's a major change from where we are now (Maine, 15 minute bike to work along the ocean). It scares the crap out of me but it's important to show my daughter how to have adventures.
• known 16y ago
  I guess Facebook will reveal these details.
• Brentley_11 16y ago
  I want to toboggan/sled in Antarctica. I don't see it happening any time soon, but I should probably go for it while I'm still young and limber.
  • chronomex 16y ago
    My goal is to do telecoms work in Antarctica. Let me know :)
• Mc_Big_G 16y ago
  Don't get killed by a bear or experience any other medical emergency during a week-long, dispersed camping trip in northern California.
  • abstractbill 16y ago
    Banging pots and pans together will usually scare bears away. If not, just remember you don't have to outrun the bear - you just have to outrun your slowest friend.
    • Mc_Big_G 16y ago
      I bought an air horn. If I don't need it for bears, it should be a funny alarm clock for my buddies. ;)
      • thaumaturgy 16y ago
        As you move through the wilderness, the wildlife around you runs away depending on how loud or out-of-place you are. Think of it as being a really effective animal-chasing flashlight. In the vast, vast majority of cases, a confrontation with an animal of any size will lead to the animal trying to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. I've been within 20 feet of big black bears and had coyotes sniff my toes; all I had to do was move a little and they took off. People just like to imagine "confronting" a bear and scaring it away because those few cases get a lot of media attention, and they're exciting. So try instead to shrink your circle as much as possible and see what you can encounter out there. I like to sometimes find the right sort of spot and sit really quietly for a few hours, to see what comes along. Tom Brown's books on tracking &etc. are pretty OK and talk about this a bit.
      • mahmud 16y ago
        Air horn? get with the times buddy, you need a vuvuzela.
  • k3dz 16y ago
    take a vuvuzela
• abstractbill 16y ago
  I'm trying to figure out: (1) how much time a newborn will actually demand from me and my wife, and (2) how we will fit in all the things we have decided must continue to happen (e.g. me still having a fulltime job, both of us getting regular exercise and a bit of downtime, etc).
  • dfdashh 16y ago
    First of all, congrats! I have a three month old, and all I can say is that you just learn to cope. I've realized that some of my goals are going to have to slip for the time being while I care for my wonderful little girl. As for exercise, planning makes all of the difference! I bike to/from work or exercise over lunch, while my wife works out after work while I pick our daughter up from daycare (we alternate days). On the weekends we use a jogging stroller to get our hearts pumping while the little one snoozes away...
    • huhtenberg 16y ago
      Three month old baby in a daycare? Woah.
      • run4yourlives 16y ago
        Welcome to the US. Pretty much the rest of the developed world gets 1 year parental/maternal benefits as a social construct.
  • pchristensen 16y ago
    Congrats! Here's the advice of a father of two: 1) Less and more than you think. Bank on at least one to two hours out of every four (that's about their sleep-wake cycle for the first couple months). Very little of it is hard if they're not sick, but the cycle is relentless. 2) Babies are very portable for the first 6 months or so b/c they're so oblivious to the world. Wake-up, change them, feed them, interact for a while, put them back to sleep for another 2 hours and they don't care what else you're doing. One parent having a full time job is easy, two is expensive and hard. Downtime is plentiful because of the frequent naps. Ditto for exercise as long as you're going one at a time while the other tends baby and unwinds. Ironically, scheduling is much harder once the baby sleeps through the night, because at that age they're much more alert and aware during the day and therefore need a more rigid nap time routine. It gets a little better around 12-18 months when they go from two naps to one, and even better around 3-4 yrs when they drop the daytime nap and stay up all day.
• Concours 16y ago
  turning my ventures profitable enough to do whatever I want, whenever and wherever I want. Then do a couple of Kids. If I could just find out how to do tweens, priceless. Bottleneck: have two kids at once, and gain some 2 years (time between first and second kid)
  • Psyonic 16y ago
    Solution: Two mothers.
    • Concours 16y ago
      yeah, great idea, but big cons: that's probably the fastest way to not see my kids grow, and loose my wife.
• toisanji 16y ago
  My current life goals are to run a marathon this summer (I'm running a half marathon this month) and to practice yoga daily. I've also been working on a project to help people accomplish their life goals: http://yana.com http://yana.com If you want to check it out, the beta code is "ycnews"
• mattheww 16y ago
  I want to start a company that builds solar panels in space. Roadblocks (the ones I think are the biggest anyway): Supply Chain. Probably going to first need a way to or supplier who can mine and process materials from somewhere other than Earth. Infrastructure. Definitely going to need some sort of factory in space in which this operation can be done. Knowledge. I don't know anything about manufacturing in space. There's some research in the area, but my guess is that the knowledge base just doesn't exist. edit: formatting
  • isamuel 16y ago
    What have you done to bring this to fruition? While not insurmountable, the current situation seems to be "I want to build space-based solar panels. I don't know anything about building them, I have no way to get the materials, and no way to turn the materials into the product once I do." Can I ask, given that, what led you to want to do this in the first place? Is the idea here to beam the power back in microwave form? I would add another hurdle, if so: Regulatory approval. You can't just aim a microwave laser at the surface of the Earth from space without anyone noticing or caring. This certainly is an interesting aspiration, though.
    • mattheww 16y ago
      I'll answer in reverse order. Beaming power back is certainly one application, but not the one I had in mind. I was thinking these would be used to power things in space. The vast majority of electrical power used by stuff like satellites and space stations comes from solar power. Total mass, electrical power, and fuel are the major constraints in all of these systems. If there was a readily available source of solar arrays in space, then that could effectively remove that constraint, and relax the constraints on mass and fuel (since you don't have to bring the solar panels with you). Now, why would I want to do that? I'm one of those people that not only dreamed about going into space, but also assumed that the future of humanity was not on Earth, but out there. For that to happen, we need to be able to expand into the solar system, which just isn't going to happen if we need to move all of the materials we need out of Earth's gravity well. Finally, what have I done? To be honest, it probably isn't going to sound like much. I'm open to suggestions. Obviously, it's going to take a lot of money. Most of what I've done has been focused on being able to make a credible case to get funding. I'm working on my PhD, which builds my credentials. I network with other students in the field because it's going to take more than one person. In terms of actual pen to paper, I decided to work on the supply chain problem first. I'm working on calculations for what it would take to send a mission to an asteroid and bring the whole thing back as a possible scenario.
• bartwe 16y ago
  After completing a compiler/language and used it for the ICFP contest i'm now thinking of making a debugger/ide for it.
• apop 16y ago
  get independient
• jpcosta 16y ago
  Quit smoking cold turkey (was a 1 pack smoker for over 7 years). I am 3 days nicotine free and that sounds very interesting to me. Roadblocks: they keep selling them... If someone else is planning the same, the tips at whyquit.com helped me.
  • marilyn 16y ago
    Read the book, Easy Way to Quite Smoking by Allan Carr. http://www.amazon.ca/Easy-Way-Stop-Smoking-Kit/dp/1905555008 http://www.amazon.ca/Easy-Way-Stop-Smoking-Kit/dp/1905555008 It worked for me, my partner, and several of our friends.
    • fbnt 16y ago
      It worked for me too. It's like reverse-brainwashing.
  • caffeine 16y ago
    This may sound hokey to you, but I quit using an iPhone app called Quit Smoking Now, which is basically just a recorded set of hypnosis tapes. I listened to it one night (~1hr), threw my pack away, and never smoked again. Then there's a second "booster shot" that you listen to over the course of the next couple weeks every night (about 20 mins). I didn't think it would work, originally, and bought it figuring that for $8, if I just skipped one pack of cigarettes it would've paid for itself. So far, I've gotten a roughly ~400x return on it (1 pack Marlboro Reds/day).
  • Psyonic 16y ago
    Solution: move to NYC. You won't be able to afford them anymore, so you'll have to quit.
• leftnode 16y ago
  Get back into amateur bodybuilding and compete in another show.
• donw 16y ago
  Fluent in Japanese. Roadblock: Day has 24 hours. Need 27. I blew past the JLPT 2 last year, so this year it's just a matter of finding the time to work on it every day. Would list my marathon training, but that's too popular as-is. ;p Farthest run has been ten miles so far; I'll get there...
  • gauthr 16y ago
    It's time to move to Japan, if you don't live there already. It's the closest you'll get to studying 27 hours a day, and the only sure path to fluency, given the level you're at.
    • donw 16y ago
      I'm writing this from my tiny apartment in Saitama. :)
      • dnsworks 16y ago
        Speaking of which, I'm hoping to visit my friend in Singapore in Sept or October, mind if I swing by and crash in your hallway or something? (or meet in Tokyo and show me around? :)
        • donw 16y ago
          My apartment does have a hallway, in addition to a bedroom and a kitchen. Unfortunately, they're all the same room. I'd have more space if this place said 'Adidas' on the side. That said, of course I'll meet you up in Tokyo and show you the city! As long as I'm in-country, of course; I'll be back in the US for August, and I'm not sure where I'll be for October and December.
          • dnsworks 16y ago
            Oh man if you're going to be in town in August, why don't you plan on crashing at my place for a weekend? I think you'd get along well with my new roommate, and if the timing is right a few other engineers will be in town hanging out as well.
• johnfn 16y ago
  The google codejam occurs about once a year ( http://code.google.com/codejam http://code.google.com/codejam ). If you make it past the qualification round and the first round, and you place in the top 500 of the second round, then you get a codejam tshirt. (This year, I placed around 1300, which is good, but not good enough!) Getting that tshirt is my goal - a nice, tangible way to symbolize the massive amount of algorithmic things that I'm attempting to learn. A year ago, I couldn't solve a single problem in round 2. Practicing for this sort of thing is a lot of fun. Programming competitions offer bite-sized questions to think about, and I believe that solving these types of questions really helps my coding style. If you don't write the best, most straightforward program to solve the problem, then you're going to run into costly bugs.
  • codevandal 16y ago
    Have you heard of TopCoder ( http://www.topcoder.com/tc http://www.topcoder.com/tc ) ? They run several algorithm competitions like this every month.
    • johnfn 16y ago
      Yeah. I've been practicing on topcoder and another, lesser known site, called codeforces.
      • cschep 16y ago
        Codeforces is run by this dude [http://petr-mitrichev.blogspot.com/ http://petr-mitrichev.blogspot.com/] who is the #1 ranked algorithms programmer on TC. Pretty cool!
  • jholman 16y ago
    Yay, code jam was fun! I meant to do it the last two years, but didn't notice at the right time of year. But in 2010, I did remember. What are your roadblocks?
  • outotrai 16y ago
    I'm interested in this sort of competition, but honestly, I don't know enough to even begin. What do you recommend to someone who'd like to learn enough to participate in these competitions?
• Random_Person 16y ago
  I am currently trying to get back into programming. I haven't touched code in 10 years and way back then I was still writing little-- applets I guess we would call them today-- in QBasic and cracking out some crappy VBasic stuff. I was completely self-taught which meant that my code was as sloppy and inefficient as you could possibly imagine while still successfully getting the job done. I had been writing BASIC for about 10 years at that point and was pretty competent with the way I hacked things together. Here I am, years later, vastly more knowledgeable than I ever have been, yet code dumb. I have a few things I would like to develop solutions for, and Java seemed to fit my needs. I started on the "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist" book and I've enjoyed it, but I'm starting to feel that maybe Java isn't the solution I am looking for. A few solutions I would like to have implemented quickly and I am heavily considering refreshing my limited knowledge of VB and cracking out some hack code. I'm torn right now. Learn a new multi-platform language and proper coding practices or just settle for some Windows only solutions that I could complete in a vastly shorter period of time. edit: spelling tl;dr - write code again (learn a language)
  • Poleris 16y ago
    It might be interesting to just learn how to be a great information architect and product manager. Head a team of offshore developers to make your ideas happen. Just an idea...
    • Random_Person 16y ago
      I honestly think I would be good that that. I am a very mechanical person-- a large portion of my friends and family refer to me as "the fixer." I feel that I generally am able to develop innovative solutions to problems, but I currently lack the coding skills. The problems with the few things I want to accomplish currently is that they are not really money-making solutions. They are personal things that I would like to implement across a variety of platforms to include Windows, Linux and my cell. Another would be simplifying work-related tasks that could benefit my co-workers as well, but are not something that the company (nor myself) would be interested in spending largish sums of money on developing.
  • 16y ago
• YuriNiyazov 16y ago
  learn as much mathematics as I can. Currently enrolled in undergrad summer classes at Berkeley, but I already have a CS degree from another school back east. Some obstacles: paying tuition out of pocket, navigating the bureaucracy of being a non-matriculated student, finding inexpensive housing near the university that's not utter crap; struggling to keep up in classes because I am older and my brain doesn't work as fast, etc.
  • M_Sanger 16y ago
    if your goal is to just learn as much math as you can. Why matriculate in the class and pay tuition? I've never seen a professor check if everyone is matriculated let alone kick anyone out for not being matriculated. Plus no bureaucracy. :-) I've sat in on tons of classes. Also MIT, Stanford and Berkeley post video lectures, notes, assignments exams of math classes online. also free. save the money and get a better apartment.
    • YuriNiyazov 16y ago
      Ah. Because at any given moment I may have some side projects that "might potentially make some money" going on, and if I don't pay for a class, I will naturally just want to work on those projects - this has been proven out by history.
• Poleris 16y ago
  I really like the concept behind this Ask HN, especially the "help someone else in the thread with their goals." I'll definitely try. Goal: Launch a non-profit student apprenticeship program in partnership with a few corporations. Roadblock #1: While doing my 9-7 job. Roadblock #2: A few of my web applications are finally reaching the "need to incorporate" stage. Have very little clue about law and accounting. Roadblock #3: Have some of the clients/partnerships down, but getting the right students and professionals involved is difficult.
• plinkplonk 16y ago
  Get admitted to a PhD in CS at Stanford next cycle. Bottleneck: At my age and with no formal education in CS and poor academic records, getting an admission is next to impossible by conventional wisdom. But the challenge is what makes it interesting :-). PS: If anyone has any data/anecdotes/advice on "impossible" PhD admissions, I'd be glad to hear it (either here or my email is in the profile).
  • keefe 16y ago
    as far as I understand it, it's pretty much not going to happen without a solid reference from a professor willing to work with you. it would be easier if you had research experience in other fields and slaughtered the GRE general & subject... but yeah stanford is not exactly hurting for applicants
    • plinkplonk 16y ago
      "it's pretty much not going to happen without a solid reference from a professor willing to work with you." Working on it (and on getting research exp) :-) "slaughtered the GRE general & subject" I have an almost perfect score on the GRE general (800/800 Verbal 790/800 Quant, 6/6 writing) . Taking the subject exams later this year. Not too worried about that either , but I heard these aren't of much value and research /recommendations are all that count. So I am working on those now. Ah well you work with what you have :). Along with many brilliant dedicated people, I also see people with rather mediocre research and recommendations (but perfect academic scores etc) get in (and then not do anything particularly brilliant/drop out etc), so I suspect there might be a (small) chance. If every one who got in thoroughly outclassed me I would have no hope. We'll see. :-)
      • keefe 16y ago
        nice scores, I think they do matter a bit more for you if you don't have a cs undergrad... if you get the professor to recommend you, you should have a chance so gluck! I'd like to follow that path, but for now I'll be chasing $$$
• alinajaf 16y ago
  The Japanese Language Proficiency Test N1. It has been a personal demon of mine for the past five years and I've only recently got the confidence to say that I may one day be able to pass it. Required for post-grad study in a Japanese university or work at a Japanese company (for a foreigner at least).
• antidaily 16y ago
  Build a successful web app so I can do less consulting.
  • shezi 16y ago
    you should try the challenge at challenge.co for that!
• gcheong 16y ago
  "Getting over" my fear of heights. An off-and-on project I've been working on for my entire life. Roadblocks: Being willing to put myself in feared situations long enough to acclimate to them. I know exposure works for me but it's still very hard as the next goal always seems to be the impossible one. I've been having some success in combining mindfulness techniques with the exposure practice.
  • thecircusb0y 16y ago
    2 things I can suggest. 1.) Try setting a goal with someone else, it doesn't have to be the same goal between you, you both basically have to spot eachother and make sure one another do what they require themselves to do. That said you could do both goals together doubling your experiences. 2.) I have a fear of heights too. However, the way I've tackled it was with indoor rock climbing, which transfered to outdoor freeclimbing, and once I lose the weight, skydiving next year.
    • gcheong 16y ago
      Good suggestions. Thanks!
• jackowayed 16y ago
  I'm not sure that it's my most interesting, but I want to someday make robotic fireflies. I'm about to leave the East Coast to go to Stanford, and I don't want to live in a firefly-free world. I thought about trying to import them and have them breed, but apparently most species like humidity and standing water, which the Bay Area isn't too long on. I'm also not sure if they could find stuff to eat out West. So robots are the logical solution. I realize it's going to be really hard to make something that small that's light enough to fly that blinks a light, has enough power to go for more than a few minutes, and can have the logic I'd like it to have. (In a perfect world, I'd like it to randomly roam campus for a few hours and then come back to where I launched them from.) Also, my friend who's into robotics tells me that the US government has put a lot of money into robotic insects (for spying?) and not really gotten anywhere. Nonetheless, someday I hope to make this happen, even if it doesn't quite have all of the features that it has in my mind.
  • jherdman 16y ago
    > I thought about trying to import them and have them breed, but apparently most species like humidity and standing water... Thank you for not doing that. The last person to have an idea like this introduced those god damn Starlings to North America. Mice came here in the same fashion (i.e. human intervention).
    • tansey 16y ago
      And let's not forget mongeese in Hawaii started out as just 8 little critters on a boat 130 years ago. The population is estimated to be in the millions now.
    • mattmichielsen 16y ago
      If you ever get a chance, watch this movie: http://www.badmovies.org/movies/canetoads/ http://www.badmovies.org/movies/canetoads/
  • johnfn 16y ago
    Hey, cool, you're coming to Stanford? I'm class of 13. We should meet up sometime.
• ddemchuk 16y ago
  1) Overcome my periods of overwhelming lack of passion and focus, that could potentially be rooted in some medical things 2) Write a few philosophical fiction books 3) Run a Micro ISV while I'm writing those books :) I guess none of these are unique to us all here, but they're my current life goals.
• jaxn 16y ago
  I am getting married next year. we are merging two divorced families (with both have kids and this will be a Brady Bunch size family). My goal is to make it work. We are doing pre-marriage counseling, talking openly, pushing myself to grow, practicing patience and acceptance, and everything I can. It is a huge challenge, but it is completely worth it. My secondary goal is to stop working in tech and focus on my retail business (which is profitable and ready to grow).
  • deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
• markeroon 16y ago
  Some really inspiring stuff in here. My short-term track/running/fitness goals: Break 4 minutes for 1500m, 2:00 for 800m. Currently at 4:06 and 2:00.1 (the latter is so heartbreaking!). Squat 250lbs (currently at 185, weighing 138). Educational goals: 4 publications in the next two years, complete PhD (CS). Get a solid grasp on differential calculus. Truly understand relativity and quantum mechanics. Any advice from people who've tackled any of the above is welcome. Thanks.
  • wallflower 16y ago
    You are a wicked fast runner! I never got below 5:45 for the mile but I enjoy the social aspects of running. Have you read "Once a Runnner" by John L. Parker? It just got reprinted in paperback.
    • markeroon 16y ago
      I haven't, sadly. My coach is reading it now, so hopefully I'll get a loan when he finishes it. And thanks!
  • cschep 16y ago
    Squatting 250 at 138 while running that fast is a huge feat! good luck. look into crossfit[crossfit.com] workouts if you haven't already.
    • markeroon 16y ago
      I will do that. Thanks!
  • hugh3 16y ago
    Well I'm way behind you in the running (I'm attempting to do eight-minute miles) but ahead of you in the relativity and quantum mechanics, so I'll say this: you'll never get a proper understanding by reading popular-science type books. You want to get proper textbooks and work through the problems one by one. I can recommend Understanding Einstein's Relativity" by D'Inverno and Eisberg and Resnick for Quantum Mechanics. Note: that last one won't get you into really interesting bits like the interpretation* of quantum mechanics, but I think you need to have a thorough understanding of the mathematics before you tackle the philosophical issues.
• keefe 16y ago
  $10k/mo passive income
  • rphlx 16y ago
    Same. Running a business is not easy, but it's the easiest way to get there IMO. It takes like 5-10M in capital to make 10k/mo "safely" on a long term basis now, which rules out an investment-only strategy for almost everybody.
    • lovskogen 16y ago
      Why do you need five million dollars for that?
      • rphlx 16y ago
        It's hard to live off passive investment income b/c world governments are intent on shafting savers to bail out the debtor majority. "High yield" FDIC-insured savings accounts pay like 1.2% now in nominal terms but their return will surely be negative in real terms.
• paraschopra 16y ago
  When I was a kid I thought of owning all toy robots out there in the market and then observing how they react with each other. I still think it will be a cool goal.
  • Poleris 16y ago
    There are some cool things being done in virtual cooperation/teamwork explorations. Make a robot in virtual space and see how it interacts with other robots!
• escanda 16y ago
  Get a programming gig in the UK. Roadblocks: (1) Language barrier, my spoken English is not as good as it should. (2) Non working experience in the country.
• dwsjoquist 16y ago
  Spend more time lurking on hacker news. ...oops, I posted, guess every goal has some setbacks.
• paulreiners 16y ago
  Play more hockey.
• cousin_it 16y ago
  I presume you're asking about goals not dreams? Here's the stuff I've been working on lately: 1. Fixing my motivation problem. No, not that kind :-) After a lot of self-analysis I discovered I'm motivated by my desire to be "the best", and this isn't a good thing because I tend to become a little better than the #2 guy and then stop, contented. Mozart or Microsoft didn't become what they are by trying to beat the #2 guy! So I'm fixing myself to always move forward even when there's no one ahead of me. 2. Becoming a better classical-style singer. The major roadblock is that my health is very poor, and my throat always seems to be sore for some reason or other. I rectify this by taking as many lessons as I can when I'm feeling well or even moderately unwell. 3. Becoming better with women. The major roadblock right now is that I don't know how to "raise the temperature" in a casual date setting. In nightclubs where the "temperature" is high, I've taught myself to pick up women pretty consistently, but this doesn't seem to be enough. 4. Releasing a neat piece of software that I've been developing in the last couple months. It's already pretty good and will probably make a bigger splash than my last "fun" project (http://openphotovr.org http://openphotovr.org) did, but the finishing bits just take so much time. Don't worry HN, I'll keep you posted. 5. Solving math problems in and around "computational game theory". My previous "neat" results were about quining cooperation (http://lesswrong.com/lw/do/reformalizing_pd/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/do/reformalizing_pd/ and http://lesswrong.com/lw/13y/freaky_fairness/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/13y/freaky_fairness/), and recently I've been trying to solve a similar problem in a more abstract setting. Not getting much results yet; so far it looks like a blank wall and I keep trying different directions of attack.
  • jackowayed 16y ago
    1: just find someone else to compare yourself to. Even if there's no one better than you at your job/in your group of friends/whatever, there definitely are people better than you. 4: You're probably trying to make it too perfect before you launch. Pick a date that seems a little too close, and resolve to submit it to HN by that date no matter what. If you end up pushing half of those "finishing bits" to after launch, whatever. It's quite possible that no one on HN will say that it should have one of those finishing bits, which probably means you can cross it off the list.
• cromulent 16y ago
  Learn to be happy. "Satisfied with my lot" is probably a better term. Life is excellent except for the 5% of my brain that sees the bleak side of everything. The main roadblock is the common depression / bipolar type II episodes.
  • Oxryly 16y ago
    Have you tried meditation? Specifically vipassana or zen meditation are probably good ways to start tackling the whole package...
  • zeta 16y ago
    Meditate! You will be happier, calmer and more focused. There are many meditations out there - be promiscuous and try out as many as you can. You will then be able to figure out what works best for you.
• aaronbrethorst 16y ago
  Publish a book (like on dead trees). The biggest roadblock for me so far is just having time to execute on it. I have friends who have published books through ORA, so I'm not too concerned about getting proper introductions to people in the tech publishing world; I just don't know if I have the time to sit down and bang out 200 pages of quality material.
  • JayNeely 16y ago
    Try joining NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month): http://nanowrimo.org http://nanowrimo.org It's a world-wide one-month novel writing sprint, meant to solve the "one day" novel problem ("One day, I'll write a novel"). Though the focus is on novel writing, there's nothing to stop you from working on a non-fiction book. The in-person write-ins, online community available for short word-count sprints, and other community-momentum / encouragement benefits can be a huge help to anyone who "wants" to find the time to write, but somehow hasn't yet been able to. Single moms with a job succeed at this. You can too!
    • aaronbrethorst 16y ago
      great suggestion. thanks!
    • philwelch 16y ago
      It's terrible luck, for me, that nanowrimo is always November, which is always end-of-semester crunch time for me.
  • hugh3 16y ago
    I'm working on this too. My general plan goes like this: 2010: Write a book. 2011: Write a good book. That way I hope to develop the habits required to write huge chunks of material before solving the much harder problem of writing material that doesn't suck.
  • lionhearted 16y ago
    Have you read Stephen King's "On Writing"? The first half is a mixed bag, some good and bad. The second half has some excellent, practical advice in it. Highly recommended. > I just don't know if I have the time to sit down and bang out 200 pages of quality material. You can write two pages a day in the morning before work, no problem, very doable. Do that for three months. BAM, book is done. Don't think about the 200 pages, think about the 2 pages. Do the 2 pages. Repeat.
• tmsh 16y ago
  Antigravity boots. Funding. Gravity.
• Ardit20 16y ago
  To write a novel. Bottleneck: Lack of discipline, perhaps also lack of life experience to make it truly meaningful and classic and maybe also lack of other softer skills such as how to convey in writing different accents or manners of speaking of different people.
  • JayNeely 16y ago
    Just recommended NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in another thread.: http://nanowrimo.org http://nanowrimo.org It's a world-wide one-month novel writing sprint, meant to solve the "one day" novel problem ("One day, I'll write a novel"). The in-person write-ins, online community available for short word-count sprints, and other community-momentum / encouragement benefits can be a huge help to anyone who "wants" to find the time to write, but somehow hasn't yet been able to. Their forums are filled with great advice on how to improve dialogue, convey more realistic characters, etc.
    • johnfn 16y ago
      Heh, seems like we both recommended nanowrimo at the same time :)
  • johnfn 16y ago
    As a roadblock helper: Have you heard of Nanowrimo? http://www.nanowrimo.org/ http://www.nanowrimo.org/ People get together and write an entire novel over November (50,000 words). I have actually done it twice. You're probably thinking of saying something like "how can you ever write a good novel in just a month?" The point of Nanowrimo, though, is to get you to ignore your internal critic. The reason that everyone wants to write a novel, but people rarely get too far (and I can see this in your comment) is because people are too concerned with writing the best possible novel they can write, and let down when it doesn't come out that way. This is why people run into writer's block: they endlessly self-criticize, and they can't sneak out a word past their highly critical self. Do Nanowrimo. Write the worst novel in the world, if that's what it takes. But you need to get rid of your internal critic. Or at least silence him until the editing stage. Then he can come out and go on a rampage. But he is useless when you are trying to brainstorm. You'll never get anywhere if you set out to make a meaningful, classic book.
• siculars 16y ago
  not exactly a life goal , but my next personal goal is to get my padi divemasters certification.
• hazmattron 16y ago
  I want to design and launch a improbably large space-mirror. If it were properly focused on earth (curvature adapting to distance from the planet), and given light-speed delay, we could direct a telescope upon it and see the state of earth 6.52x years ago, where the mirror is x parsecs away from earth. Roadblock: probably not a scientifically viable proposition, given space debris and lack of ability to build something that large/durable. Solution: write a sci-fi short story with this as a plot element, and call it good.
• hockeybias 16y ago
  Double the number of vistors to http://hockeybias.com http://hockeybias.com each year and rely on it for some retirement income!
• randomtask 16y ago
  Learn to sail and buy a boat. Ultimately I want to do solo expeditions. Inspiration -> http://www.bigoceans.com/ http://www.bigoceans.com/ My biggest roadblock is that I'm broke. I haven't really started on this goal in earnest yet. My intention is to finish my PhD by the end of the year and then freelance for a while to earn enough money for lessons and boat.
• kareemm 16y ago
  Move to San Francisco with my girlfriend, legally (we're Canadian). I can start a company w/ US friends that will sponsor me for a visa / work permit. Her situation is the biggest roadblock - she didn't graduate from college (a big strike in the DHS's eyes) and has been self-employed as an esthetician for most of her career. While she'd be open to working for someone else in the US, getting a visa for her will be tough without the college degree. And her preference is not to work for someone else so she can continue to run her practice while starting a skincare product line biz.
  • jaxn 16y ago
    Can she be a partner in your company too?
    • kareemm 16y ago
      good thought. probably, though getting her a visa through my company or someone else's is still the biggest challenge as she doesn't have a college degree.
• mkramlich 16y ago
  enough passive income to live on Tesla Roadster help a loved one to get cured of a horrible health problem not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily interesting to others, but they are among my top goals right now
• singular 16y ago
  Develop a programming language which allows you to easily write inline grammars then use them and mutate them at compile- and run-time. Additionally have a nice (default) syntax, nice support for concurrency (I'm thinking something similar to goroutines), and actually try to make the language reasonably popular (the most insane of my goals). Roadblocks: Myself, more than anything. So hard to work on something a. so big, and b. in spare time when I so often feel like chilling out!
• mcantor 16y ago
  Get my "C" rating in Foil at a USFA-sanctioned fencing tournament.
• wags 16y ago
  I'm preparing to start the application process to the United States Air Force Officer Training School to be commissioned as a 17D - Cyber Operations officer. Roadblocks are the back log to even talk to a recruiter, and the extremely long and thorough application process. Someone help!
• mjtsang 16y ago
  I want to start my own private equity firm, and then my own Fortune 500 company. Sky's the limit, right?
• bengl3rt 16y ago
  Trying to figure out if my dream job really exists anywhere. I am trying to move from pure coding to a job that combines coding with traveling and dealing directly with technical stakeholders. It seems in most companies the people who are responsible for the latter do very little, if any, of the former. Figure I will put another 1-3 years trying to find this position at an existing company, and if that doesn't pan out, I'll just start my own company designed around letting me do exactly that. :)
  • jaxn 16y ago
    I had that gig for a while. I was a consultant working on Business Intelligence and found a niche in automating rights management. After a couple of years the travel got old (and there were some not fun projects in there too).
    • bengl3rt 16y ago
      Yes, the verticals that are likely to feel like bankrolling all the traveling tend to be the larger corporate ones - the ones who are in the Business of Business, especially. Not saying there aren't fascinating problems to solve in there as well, but you're right, there can be a lot of churn...
• vineet7kumar 16y ago
  I am still in a job that I hated like anything when I had to join it two year ago. I couldn't join Grad school this summer due to lack of money. So here are my goals in order of priority: 1. Build a small webapp so that first of all I can quit my job and have time to hack on what I like. 2. Get admission to a good Grad school next fall with full funding. 3. loose all the fat (a lot of it) that I have gained in past few years. 4. Make extra money to buy a Royal Enfield Bullet classic (any MotorCycle enthusiasts from India here ?) and go on a countrywide motorcycle trip of India.
  • vineet7kumar 16y ago
    Should have started long back ....but better late than never.
    • beenthere 16y ago
      @Vineet you can try doing some research, Grad Schools value that a lot. You can try joining some research institute in india (I know they are rare) and have at least a paper submitted before you apply A good idea would be to target WWW 2011 conference which is going to take place in hyderabad, In my case I had 2 international publication in a reputed International chemical engineering journal on topics related to machine learning which helped me a lot despite of poor grades, you can try applying to universities like NCSU, UNCC which are decent also provide good support,
    • beenthere 16y ago
      As a reference point have a look at profile of my friend who is doing PhD on a full schol and is from a decent school (not IIT) http://www.linkedin.com/in/nmahatme http://www.linkedin.com/in/nmahatme he had done research while doing undergraduate degree and he got direct admit to PhD
• steveklabnik 16y ago
  Turning Hackety Hack into a force to be reckoned with when it comes to teaching programming. I was a really bad steward for the first half a year, due to crushing lack of assistance and being really demoralized. Lately, I've managed to turn that around, and am currently crushing it pretty hard. 1.0 for Whyday, and then more beyond... things are looking up, but it's a long hard road ahead.
• steveklabnik 16y ago
  Turning Hackety Hack into a force to be reckoned with when it comes to teaching programming. I was a really bad steward for the first half a year, due to crushing lack of assistance and being really demoralized. Lately, I've managed to turn that around, and am currently crushing it pretty hard. 1.0 for Whyday, and then more beyond... things are looking up, but it's a long hard road ahead.
• kadavy 16y ago
  I want to present at SXSW. I couldn't tell you precisely why, I just think it's a great conference and I love to share knowledge. The free badge wouldn't hurt. ROADBLOCK: honing in on a subject. I can only submit one proposal (which is due tomorrow), or, hope to get picked for someone else's panel. Here are potential panel ideas: - Website Optimization Basics: I wrote a post a few months back that was popular on HN, about how I reduced page load time by 75% (http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/wordpress-optimization-dreamhost-rackspace/ http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/wordpress-optimization-drea...). I would boil down the technical jargon to simple language. It would be a dual presentation with the engineer that gave me most of the advice I used. - Reverse-Engineering Visual Design: I would explain some of the classic principles and methods that designers use to make the decisions they do when designing for the web. I presented on this at BarCamp Chicago a couple of years ago (http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/design-for-the-coders-mind-reverse-engineering-visual-design/ http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/design-for-the-coders-mind-...), so I have something to start with, but it still needs more juice. - Everything You Already Know About SEO: the basics of SEO are stupidly simple, and widely known, but there are many misconceptions and unknowns. I would condense and explain all of the best practices and things that we do know about SEO, and how to use them to grow your business. - How to Get a Date Online: I have an alter-ego through which I give online dating tips (http://onlinedatingmatchmaker.com http://onlinedatingmatchmaker.com). I would talk about how to best represent the interesting aspects about yourself, present communication techniques for opening with matches and securing dates, and present data from studies that suggest provocative things, such as why you should lie on your online dating profile (http://www.onlinedatingmatchmaker.com/lie-online-dating-profile/ http://www.onlinedatingmatchmaker.com/lie-online-dating-prof...). I actually got a personal message from Hugh Forrest only minutes after submitting this presentation idea last year - about how much he liked the idea - but I guess it didn't make it through the selection process. Another ROADBLOCK is my relative lack of speaking experience. I find it hard to get motivated about smaller speaking opportunities like BarCamp or Peca Kucha, so I'm not sure where to find mid-level speaking opps to hone my chops. A BOTTLENECK is my relative lack of notoriety, or having a "thing." As you can see a variety of topics interest me, but I can't yet be thought of as "the four-hour workweek guy" or "the personal finance guy" Any advice, or opinions on which panel I should propose, would be appreciated! Thanks - I love this thread!
• yigit 16y ago
  Goal: Moving to Lapland. Roadblock: There are no job opportunities for a software developer in that area.
• nailer 16y ago
  To make something people love.
  • Oxryly 16y ago
    You do that every day...
    • nailer 16y ago
      How so?
      • Oxryly 16y ago
        Look in the mirror. (apologies for the glibness)
• anigbrowl 16y ago
  Becoming an attorney, without an undergraduate degree or going massively into debt. This is possible in California, although it's difficult and the career prospects are limited, given an abundant supply of competitors for a shrinking number of openings. Fortunately (?) I love law more than I love money.
• SethWilson 16y ago
  My most recent life goal is to learn how to shave with a straight razor... Don't ask me why, just seems like a cool skill to learn and someday pass down to my sons.
  • raintrees 16y ago
    I expressed interest in same. My wife bought me a nice introductory model (german-made) but the pressure required (and angle of attack at my throat!!!) to get any hairs cut scares the dickens out of me. Now it is slowly rusting in my bathroom...
    • SethWilson 16y ago
      Exactly why I've been putting it off. I thought about paying an old school barber for an hour of his time to show me the ropes and the "gotchas"
      • raintrees 16y ago
        So long as his name is not Sweeny :)
• Empact 16y ago
  Funding & national media attention for my political accountability startup. http://votereports.org/ http://votereports.org/ (next 6 months) Partner with a certain local government agency to make a major user-facing improvement. (next 2 years) Start a school using an the updated version of the monitorial/lancasterian system of education. (next 20 years)
• binaryfinery 16y ago
  My goal is to create a new programming language (sort of - in so far as I can talk about it). If monetized properly it would be worth billions. Questions is, should I incubate it myself, which will take longer, but be very financially rewarding, or work on it openly so that better minds than mine can make it better - but then no money for me... (except perhaps on the conference circuit!)
  • TheSOB88 16y ago
    Is this a joke, or what?
    • binaryfinery 16y ago
      No. What part do you find funny/absurd?
      • TheSOB88 16y ago
        You think you can make billions on a programming language? The only popular language that I can think of that isn't free is C#, so people are going to have options. You talk about it as though it would be easy, but promotion, debugging, libraries, support, tutorials, HOLY SHIT it's not easy.
        • binaryfinery 16y ago
          Well either I'm stupid and/or completely inexperienced, or I have a really good system. I take it you assumed the former. :-) Thank you for answering. I initially thought you were saying that the "go for money vs go for open source" question was a joke.
          • TheSOB88 16y ago
            Just sounds like you have a bad case of "shit's easy" syndrome, as Yegge said when I was reading him yesterday.
• RShackleford 16y ago
  Attempting to get TX/RX Labs (http://www.txrxlabs.org http://www.txrxlabs.org), the first hackerspace in Houston, up and going. I've had lots of fun attempting to get a lawyer so we could get our 501(c)3 in the hopes that we can also get a larger workspace. I have gotten the webservers and website up in the nick of time, and I've got a bunch of stickers and t-shirts I will be selling at the Next HOPE and at DEFCON 18 for the group, and adding a party/membership drive in Houston on the same weekend as HOPE will probably get us enough members to get over a vital hump so we can offer more to our members. I also get to go through the same drill with Locksport International (http://www.locksport.com http://www.locksport.com). In fact, visit the Lockpicking Village at The Next HOPE and DEFCON, or Security Snobs (http://www.securitysnobs.com http://www.securitysnobs.com) and buy some lockpicks or t-shirts to help your fellow hackers!
• deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
• Oxryly 16y ago
  Fully realize who I am, what I have, and what I am capable of.
  • Gibbon 16y ago
    Check out the book Zen and the Art of Making a Living by Laurnce G. Boldt. I just finished reading it and it's really inspiring/helpful in that regard.
    • Oxryly 16y ago
      That looks interesting... funnily enough zen is my current practice, and it's impact on my living has been and continues to be profound.
• thirdusername 16y ago
  I'm moving to Thailand or possibly the Philippines from Sweden at the end of August, to attempt to build apps aiming to be ramen profitable in a developing country and then work my way up from there. Problem: Worst case, my savings only last until December. Solution: Splatter "hire me" over apps, portfolio site and keep an eye out for freelance work to retain a reasonable life-support margin. Problem: May not find freelance work due to bad luck, recession, incompetence etc. Solution: Apply for distance courses and do 25-50% studies for student funding. Problem: May over invest in a horrible idea that is never going to make money. Solution: Aim to build small apps. Problem: Completely ran out of money, with no obvious way of getting new ones. Solution: Credit card should get me a few months margins. Problem: Completely ran out of credit, with no obvious way of supporting myself. Solution: Admit incompetence, feel ashamed, move back to comfortable Sweden and work at Volvo or Ericsson until retirement like everyone else. Problem: Pretty Asian girls. Solution: Don't. Biggest bottleneck is clearly money, and I'd really prefer not be studying at the same time. I'm also going to be staying with friends, so that'll keep my burn rate down.
  • d_r 16y ago
    You may have already thought about this, but have you considered getting a "teach English" job? In many cases, your housing (and possibly food/etc.) will be paid for, and you can focus your free time on building apps. Best of luck!
• shade 16y ago
  My most interesting goal right now is to try to make the time to start moving off of Microsoft development technology. I like C#, but ASP.NET annoys me and the whole platform feels like a massive dead end unless I want to work on boring corporate stuff. My primary roadblock there is trying to decide what tech I want to pick up. Ruby and Rails are appealing, Python looks interesting, and I wonder if I shouldn't be looking at some new stuff like Clojure or node.js as well. I also wonder if I shouldn't get into some of the evented frameworks like Tornado or EventMachine. This has always been my problem -- I'm interested in too many aspects of technology and there's just no time to pursue them all. My secondary roadblock, once I decide on a tech, is getting some good documentation and perhaps some mentoring on it. Some of those frameworks seem to be pretty lacking in good documentation and examples.
• eel 16y ago
  Summer: learn prereq material including functional programming and basic ai for an ai course that I want to take in the fall. Life 1: live with less (stuff) Life 2: meet a girl As far as progress... I've started on Summer's, but I'm not as far as I hoped. Currently working on SICP. Life 1 is actually progressing, as very often I find things that I can get rid of and not miss. Life 2... not yet..
• philwelch 16y ago
  Reduce my earthly possessions to what I could feasibly bring with me on an airline flight, not counting furniture and kitchen supplies and not Roadblocks: Most books don't exist in ebook form, I don't have an ebook reader, printed books cannot be ripped to disk as easily as CD's and DVD's. I have sentimental attachments to too many items. It seems wasteful to throw away valuable items, but selling them is a hassle.
• deleted 16y ago
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• Pistos2 16y ago
  To be honest, my primary goal in life is to be a saint. Second to that is helping others with the same. Roadblocks: Human nature. But grace overcomes that.
• anatta 16y ago
  Going into the wilderness to meditate and attain nirvana. No I'm not joking. I've got a tent ready, I've read the Samyutta Nikaya (Connected Discourses of the Buddha), and I'm going to the Ansel Adams Wilderness near a stream, under a tree or overlooking a cliff.
• davidwparker 16y ago
  I just started running about 14 weeks ago. I'm 26, 27 in October. I just ran my first half marathon (13.1 miles), and I'm aiming to run 30 miles when I turn 30. I'd like to do it in a respectable time too.
• Gianteye 16y ago
  My goal at the moment is to put a product out on the market. I've made a lot of free/open source/one-off projects that had potential to go further with a little investment. I'm currently taking one design, and getting it on shelves, being sold in stores.
• ig1 16y ago
  Stop consultancy work and focus on product building, move to Berlin (happening in a few weeks) and learn German upto A2 level.
• sushi 16y ago
  I want to participate in Volvo Ocean Race. Currently I am learning Python and Django and waiting for the Drupal 7 release to create a project. I hope it makes enough money that I can relocate to somewhere in Scandinavia preferably Finland.
• moge 16y ago
  To write business book management lessons I learned while working for Oprah. Bonus: My NDA