Things You Want To Do In Your 40s

Work for myself so I don't have to work for some myopic middle manager more interested in climbing than doing the right thing?  Yeah, that'd be nice.  Work on something as hard as I can knowing that no one else can walk in on a whim and derail it?  That'd be nice too.  Challenge my technical skills and develop my diverse talents to new levels of excellence?  That'd be awesome.  Have the means to fearlessly explore technology and the world around us?  Brilliant!

$1.3 million doesn't sound like a lot of money but it would mean a thousand bucks a week until I'm 75 years old.  Somebody better at math and competent with investments could probably figure out a more accurate, lower amount that would do the same thing.  It's comfortably middle-class, but I don't really dream of being rich, I dream of being free from work to pursue my passions.  If I could pull that off what would I do with my time?  It's kind of like retirement, but I want to do it now while I'm still able to do something useful with it.  I don't think I ever want to retire.

Mechanical Sympathy would expand and become an
income stream of its own. It would be the centre of
an online media onslaught!

Here's what I'd aim at if I weren't busy pulling the plough:

MEDIA MAKER

Writer:  I'd exercise the English degree and write, but not in a specific genre.  I'd pursue motorcycle and travel writing more aggressively.  I'd be happiest freelancing and working once or twice a month on assignment with the occasional larger travel project which would lead to a book.  Lois Pryce is a role model.  While that wasn't happening I'd be writing fictional novels.  It would be nice to work for established publications, but developing my own brand online would allow for more control over what I'm creating.  I've been working in large bureaucracies for too long.

If it's new and technically challenging I'm into it. 
Having access to that kind of kit is exciting.
I like to be surprised by what new tech can do.

Photographer:  The goal would be to have the work pay for the gear, and the gear I'm looking for is pretty technical.  I'd like to have professional quality photo and video gear on hand, as well as technically challenging tools like aerial drones, full spectrum and 360° virtual reality cameras to test limits and produce original, even experimental work.  If it's new and technically challenging I'm into it, especially if it probably won't work the first time.

Digital Media:  Exploring digital media has long been an interest (I teach it now).  Having access to the latest tech, not to consume but to experiment and explore, would be fantastic.  Projects would include VR environment building in CAD and simulation, as well as immersive media creation.  I'm working on a VR research project in school at the moment.  I feel like major breakthroughs are currently happening there.  What we have in ten years will make our screen use today look archaic.

TECHNOLOGIST

I got into 3d scanning last year.  The resolution isn't
spectacular, but it's amazing what you can do with
a simple 3d scanner on an ipad.

Mechanic:  I've dusted off old mechanical skills with motorcycling, along with some long unused artistic urges.  Customizing motorbikes is an elegant way to combine left brained aesthetic creativity with right brained mechanical expertise; it's a whole brain hobby!  Having enough time, space and money on hand to chase down old bikes and see customizations through to completion would be grist for the writing and photography mill.

Digital Engineering:  I'm especially interested in micro-manufacturing using digital tools.  Multi-axis milling machines using CAD models offer new avenues into high-tech customization.  3d printers are making advances every day.  Being able to print my own fairing designs would be brilliant.  Being able to print my own designs with dragon scales would be even better.

An opportunity to borrow new technology and see what it is capable of would also be grist for writing and media creation.  If in the process I happened to get very good at producing customized parts, I'd lease the gear and get to it.  As prices fall on what was once expensive industrial grade equipment and digital management makes high tolerance production available to everyone, a new post-industrial age of customization will emerge.

Kawasaki's H2 supercharger impeller is a thing of beauty.

The technology that built it is becoming more accessible every day.

With table top laser cutters and various other digital tools becoming commonplace, the chance to explore these technologies without safety nannies hand wringing from above would be delightful.  The home garage of the future is going to be a magical place of customized, personal manufacturing.  It would be a blast to have the time and means to explore it.

I really do enjoy teaching, but the vampiric bureaucracies that manage it make working in education feel like giving blood; you're doing a good thing but you always come out feeling drained.  I'd happily take in apprentices on my own terms and genuinely enjoy helping them discover and develop their talents, I just wouldn't want to do it in an institution of learning.

One of the things I want to do in my forties is stop others from diluting my focus and wasting my time with their own mediocre expectations.

Digital Motorcycle Reading

I just finished Nick Sander's Incredible Ride on an ipad mini and really enjoyed the experience.  The integrated digital media in the ebook drew a different picture of that trip compared to just a written narrative.  It wasn't always better (as deep and developed) as a well thought out narrative piece of prose but it offered an interesting reading experience in a different way.

I've tried reading digitally before with older ipads and other tablets but have been unsatisfied with the quality.  The Retina display on this Mini is a revelation though, it has better screen resolution than my 15" laptop; it's so sharp and clear that it's shocking!  I also find my eyes don't get tired reading off it (perhaps as a result of that clarity).  With all that in mind I started thinking about alternative ways to read my motorcycle media.


My Cycle Canada subscription is coming to an end and I want to renew, but I think I might go digital.  I'm also keen to get into Bike magazine and Adventure Bike Rider magazine, both UK titles that cost me $13+taxes a pop when I find them in a local store.  Rather than get stuck into another year of dead trees I tried reading digital samples on the ipad Mini.
  

Bike Magazine showed the multi-media possibilities of a digital magazine.  The embedded video and layers of information available in the digital copy were fantastic.  The high resolution images on that Retina display were jaw dropping.  There is no doubt the digital copy is the way to go, and at £48 for a year (£4/$7.40CAN per issue) it's a much better deal than the $15 with taxes I'm paying at Chapters for a paper copy.

ABR is an even better deal.  Instead of $15 an issue in Chapters I'm looking at £20 ($37CAN) for a year with access to all back issues.  I'm going to check out its digital content, but if it comes anywhere close to what Bike is doing then it too will be a no-brainer.

Cycle Canada was a bit more basic.  The online sample said it wasn't at full resolution, so it expects me to commit to digital without knowing what it will look like, which seems a bit weak. 

The only downside to the digital copy is that I can't settle into a hot bath with an ipad.  Maybe I'll re-up Cycle Canada on dead trees for a while longer so I have an amphibious option.

If you've tried digital and not liked it give it a go with Apple's Retina display, it might surprise you.  The additional depth and media you get from the digital copy only seals the deal.