A Metalist

Metalist, as in list of lists.  Not as in someone who does metals.

For my first introductory exercise, I thought it might be productive to come up with ideas for lists.  It will hopefully allow me to focus future energies on coming up with subject-specific thoughts rather than having to spend a few hours coming up with a subject for which I'd then have to come up with thoughts.  Not all of these are groundshaking or even all that interesting.  I may not even do all of them.  One is, itself, another metalist.  And I have no idea whether I can come up with anything for any of them.  I've named the lists in terms of "10 things", but not all will wind up with 10 items.  Some will be more, probably broken up into multiple posts if I get rolling too much.  The plan is to do 2-3 of these a week, at least initially.  Some of them are lists that will result from items in other lists (this will make more sense when I actually do it below).  So, without further ado, 13 lists that I plan to make...

1.  10 ideas/philosophies that I want to pass on to my children.

This one has kinda been brewing for several years.  I think I may even have a google doc in which I started it.  It was inspired by a sermon a few years ago about The Next Generation and how to make sure that what we believe doesn't die when we do.  I can see this one being more than 10, but I'll try to condense it down to essentials.  And if I can't, I'll do another iteration later on.

2.  10 lists of how to fix the world.


This could also be called, My plans upon being elected supreme dictator.  Obviously, this is the other metalist.  We all (I presume) have water-cooler discussions wherein we solve the world's problems.  These lists will coalesce all of my ideas on such.  Obviously very little of this will be strictly original material - it's somewhat tough to have opinions that aren't influenced by other people.  Hopefully I'll have something to add.

3.  10 ways to get rich with minimal effort or expense to myself.


This is something I ponder a lot.  I have criteria in mind, but I don't think I have 10 items yet.  This will be the first serious mental challenge, and will probably spur additional lists.

4.  10 things that I would do if I had access to all of Google's information and all of Google's computing resources.


I think I've seen this phrased as a google interview question, but I can't find it at the moment.  I've always thought it an interesting question, because it's a completely unique problem.  You basically have access to infinite information and infinite processing power.  What would you do with it?  I have one or two ideas, but I'm hoping that I come up with more.

5.  10 Android/iPhone/iPad apps that need to be written.


This is a spin off of #3.  I've been contemplating the question for several weeks, but I have no idea what needs writing.

6.  10 subjects for books to write. 


Another spin off of #3.  I can't imagine having to write a book, even a non-fiction one.  I feel like I'm kinda a jack of lots of trades and a master of none.  In order to write, it seems like you'd have to be either a master of a subject (non-fiction) or creative (fiction).  I am neither.  This will be interesting.

7.  10 things that could be done if internet bandwidth to the home went up by a factor of 10.


So, 100MBps service to your house instead of 10.  How would that change things?  Obviously the impact would be dramatic, but how?  I'm not sure I know yet.

8.  10 investment theses for the next 5 years.


Those of you who know me know that I am a money nerd.  This list could hardly go by without SOMETHING investment related.  I have lots of thoughts here, it will be a challenge to sift through the garbage and find something worthwhile.

9.  10 boys-only things to do with David when Christy is not around.


Obviously, we need daddy-son bonding time.  And right now, he can't walk or talk.  I need to come up with something to do with him.

10.  10 educational trips to take our children on as a part of their homeschooling.


As many of you know, we will be homeschooling our kids.  We will take the money we would have spend on private schools and take them around the world to actually learn about it.  Question is, where?

11.  10 new Apple/Google products.


Apple and Google are both black swan factories.  They aren't afraid to try new things and see what works.  But for apple at least, I don't see the next new thing for them.  Seems to me that their pipeline is dry.  If I was Steve Jobs, what would I have them working on next?

12.  10 things that Baton Rouge needs.


This city seems like it has lots of potential.  But we've always stagnated.  I'm not sure I know what the problem is, but I want to take a stab.

13.  10 things that the Texas Children's Hospital Cardiology department needs to do to go from #3 to #1.


Obviously, we've spent some time there.  I already have a list of complaints pulled together, but this is a slight deviation from that.  Rather than just complaining, I want to be constructive.  I may even email them this list when I'm done.


So thats it.  Hopefully these will get better.  This one was pretty lame.  Plus, Christy is nagging me to get to bed.  But it's just a warm up.