Same goes for you, I can't wait to see some baby raptor chicks :D
As for me, I always loved the red in birds (recessive red is my favorite color in my show homing pigeons), and I love the pattern on my partridge wyandotte hen (I regret only buying one hen at the time, they're nowhere to be...
Well I believe I started off just like you - finished college (Animal Husbandry), I love playing with genetics, and since we raise chickens for eggs and meat I thought I could experiment a little bit along the way.
I am mostly going for the color now, I am aiming for white patterned red...
Yeah I believe what you're saying about the long journey ahead is true, but (at least to me) the journey is more valuable than the finished product. Knowing myself I'd probably get bored when I would achieve it and move on to something else :D
That sounds extremely interesting, I'm looking forward to the updates :D I have also started a breeding program of my own last year, it's good to see there are other people as nuts as I am :D
Good luck!