Some things I'd Like to Do with the Rest of My Life

Those who know me would say I tend to over-focus on the future. Perhaps it's true. I also tend to be overly transparent at a personal level--i.e. I tell people more than they want to know. Perhaps this note smacks of both ills.

I like my job as Director of the Civil Service College of the Cayman Islands, but I have already expressed my thoughts to the government that this position should be filled by a Caymanian. I would like to help train such a person and get them on the road to either a PhD in e-learning or one in leadership development. Both paths could be equally valuable. So, if my health is OK and the health of those closest to me is OK, I need to begin thinking about what comes after that training process. I figure that is 3 1/2 years away from today, perhaps a bit less. That coincides well with life planning for my children, and it gives my wife Kate time to think through what she's doing now.

So, the question is begged...what then?

Here's a cut at my own thoughts:

1. I'm thinking it is time to go west. I'd like to try California--perhaps somewhere around Sacramento or Fresno...perhaps a small town.
2. I'd like to be closer to students. I'm playing around with a post-PhD masters in Teaching History from the University of London. Maybe I'd teach at a high school level.
3. I'd like to have a Make Magazine type lab in a shed. That'd be fun.
4. I'd like to build/maintain a green (environmentally conscious) house and a xero-scaped yard.
5. I'd like to experiment with geography/KML/google-map type stuff and the teaching of history.
6. I'd like to write some fiction.
7. I'd like to see lots of natural places with my family...in fact, I'd like to spend as much time as possible with my family. After spending six months apart and now being back together, I have to say I missed the laughs--a lot.
8. I want to sort out some ideas in Experimental Philosophy and Learning Science theory I've been playing with.
9. I'd like to build an open source project of some meaning and wide usage.
10. I'd like to help a small place thrive by building civil society somehow...perhaps by mentoring managers or volunteering in some meaningful nonprofit venture.

That's about it except for the personal bits. Just a thought.