I think I'm a drifter for the most part. (I want to add, this entry was inspired by Nick S., who has recently started blogging again.)

I do a lot of thinking about what I'm going to do "next," I mean, after my current "career" at NASA. I'm pretty committed to sticking it out here for the next 5+ years the space shuttle is flying (well, that is if I like my new job as much as I expect I will... if not, well, I'll be looking for other alternatives sooner). I'm maybe committed to staying longer depending on what the future of manned spaceflight looks like when we start winding down the shuttle program.

But its funny, when I consider what I am going to do next, I totally don't think about career advancement and I especially don't think about accruing wealth. When I started talking to my Uncle Dean about maybe being interested in Public Policy and going to work for an aerospace consulting firm, or on Congressional Staff, he's like "Think bigger, think Cabinet-level..." and he started strategizing what I needed to do now (which including developing a network with some influential *gasp* Republicans). Meanwhile, my Dad continued to pitch the "airplane salvage" plan that he thinks will make me a fortune, if only I was more interested in disassembling beautiful "vintage" airplanes that I would rather make fly.

Though those ideas sound really appealing - so does taking a year off to study Policy as a poor student, or moving to Antarctica and sweeping floors or something (just for the adventure of living there), or joining the Peace Corps, or joining the Foreign Service (which will also involve a pretty serious pay cut since I'd have to take an entry-level government salary again).

But one thing is for certain, if I were to become a billionaire, I think I'd like to be like Richard Branson. He rocks.