Thread: Hi from Dave in Alabama!

Hi all,
I just joined this forum after buying the Fastlane book. I just turned 50 (ugh!) and I am 6 years from retirement, unless one of my ideas is ever implemented and successful, then I'm outta here!
I am an Aerospace Engineer, former Air Force, & an amateur musician. I have a music studio at home and have written & recorded many songs. Maybe someday I will finish them and have them posted on iTunes.

I have also kept a book of inventions that I have thought of over these many years, and would like to actually implement them soon, so I can retire from this job ASAP. I have a chronic medical condition that may force me into early retirement soon, and I need to have something to fall back on.

All my ideas come from the perspective of how can I make something better, easier to use, etc. Most people say I think outside the box. Unfortunately, where I work, thinking outside the box is not encouraged (although they say it is in their pep-talks, they really only reward clones who do exactly what they are told, and don't cause a fuss). In my career I have written many computer programs that were loved by all my co-workers who I freely distributed them too, but ignored or punished by my management. Some were even stolen by contractors and sold back to our organization. This tells me I write good useful stuff, I am just not rewarded financially for it, and I am P.O.'ed about this.

Anyway, I have many things I would like to pursue, time and heath permitting:
1) An add-on to iTunes, which will make all concerned richer, but I need to somehow pitch this to someone at Apple who can make it happen and get a royalty from it, which I have no idea how to do;
2) A graphic's program for TV sports events to sell the networks. This is simple programming, but again I have to get the attention of the network execs, which is not my strong suit;
3) Multiple inventions to improve the guitar. I'm not sure how to proceed with getting prototypes made; and finally
4) Finishing my songs and selling them.

That's me and my ambitions in a nutshell.
I hope to learn and contribute a lot at this forum.

-Dave

PS - Is Daewoo my beginners "car"? Ouch that hurts! I had a friend who was searching for a Daewoo online at work and he spelled it wrong. Apparently there is/are tons of porno sites with the alternate spelling. Obviously at work we aren't supposed to access these kind of sites for fear of being fired, so he was naturally pretty freaked out. He reported it to the computer folks and told him it was an accident so they wouldn't fire him. He's still here, so I guess it worked. However he has never been promoted...Makes you go "Hmmmmm?".