Crazy ideas
Once in a while, I get these crazy ideas of things that I want to do with my life, and I obsess over them for a while. Sometimes, I actually follow through on them. Recent examples include writing a book, and having a child. They both worked out pretty well, all things considered.

Some things I don't follow through on, but they're fun thought experiments, in any case.

One example is the healthy-and-local-food restaurant I wanted to open in Arlington Center. It would have been a sandwich shop kind of place (not an expensive sit-down gourmet restaurant), but one that would primarily offer vegetarian and vegan food, grown locally and/or organically whenever possible. Dairy intolerance? No problem. Meat averse? You'd have to ask for it anyway. Kid have a peanut allergy? You're safe. The emphasis would be on vegetables, fruits, and whole grains -- y'know, like the Whole Foods of sandwich shops, but cheaper. Anyway, it was an impractical idea, given the real estate availability and high rents in Arlington. And it would have been fun to design the experience, but it meant... well... running a restaurant! I'm not prepared to enter that particular circle of hell.

My current mini-obsession is starting an Internet radio station. For children. Well, sort of -- the kid's music I've heard so far is mostly hideous (with some excellent exceptions). A station that played only "kid music" all day would make me want to jump off a tall building. But I would *love* to have a radio station that would play interesting grownup music, but vetted for questionable lyrics, depressing stuff, dissonant and disturbing music, and so on.

"Gentle music." That's what I'd like. A mix of folk, mild classic rock, current pop, easy-on-your-ears jazz, classic show tunes once in a while, and some classical mixed in for good measure. High-quality music. Nothing to make a kid cover his ears. And no lyrics that would make a toddler look up and me and say, "Mom, what does that mean?" and force me to lie. :-)

It would be cool. Let's see... have we got lots of digital music? Check. Server? Check. Bandwidth for audio streams? Check (sort of). Desire to design the website and the aural experience? Oh yeah. :-)

I'm insane, right? Probably. Remember, this is one of the crazy ideas that I probably *won't* follow up on.