What would you think if I sang out of tune,

Would you stand up and walk out on me.

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,

And I'll try not to sing out of key.

Here comes the sun....

There's a break in the clouds... oooh ooh, look its the sun! This has made my day. We've been a week without sun. Maybe I will go skiing on Sunday (I am going to Neurnberg tomorrow evening and staying until Saturday afternoon to do some shopping at the most famous Christmas-market in Europe).

Working in a coal mine...

So, I had been told there was no way my side tubes are going in the combustion chamber. So instead, I have been diligantly writing manuals and documenting everything for whoever eventually ends up running my tests. Anyway, I was told today that maybe they are going in the combustion chamber by next Tuesday. As exciting as this is, I really didn't want many work obligations for my last few days on top of whatever I already have (mainly a lot of writing).

What would I do with a million dollars?

This was Sarah's question of the day. Its funny, but a million dollars really isn't enough money. But, let's just suppose for a moment, its enough for me to be rich for the rest of my life (so make that 40 billion dollars, a la Bill Gates), without working. What would I do?

First, I would circle the world (two or three times). On my list, I would definitely stop in Antarctica for a while, go to Everest Base Camp, take an African safari, and spend a long time in Australia being a beach bum (namely sailing and SCUBA diving). Then I would write a memoir of circling the world.

Then, I would probably go back and do something cool in aerospace for a while (maybe start my own company that generates zero profit but just lets smart people work on what they want with all the hardware they want) and I would probably devote a lot more time to flight training. I mean, I really really want to be a better pilot, but without the time and money, well..

Somewhere in there I would buy a trip to the space station :). Or maybe finance my own Mars mission where I would be the first ever Martian journalist-historian-homesteader.

I would also probably start collecting degrees and experience in the random fields that interest me: journalism, archeology, philosophy, public policy, international affairs, religion, astronomy...

Ok, maybe that's a little selfish answer.

The return question...

So, in a book I was reading last night, there was a reference to Goethe's personality profiles. Namely everyone's personality can be divided up into desire for: adventure, love, fame, and power. How much you want each of these compared to the others determines your life path. So, waht are you?