Is There Anyone Else in the Hotel?

We stayed in a hotel, a nicer one, got a great deal on priceline.com the other day.  We had just checked in and the kids were bouncing around and we were trying to get everybody ready to go swim.  Well I get a knock at the door and it's the guy from the floor below wondering if we could keep it down because he's conducting an interview.  It was 5:30 PM on a Saturday.  I was a little frustrated at the man then at my kids and then at the hotel and then I had some good ideas.

First idea for the day is for hotels to book rooms as far away from occupied rooms as possible.  So if the hotel had three floors you could book up the hotel like a checker board with the same room full on the 1st floor and the 3rd floor but have the 2nd floor as buffer.

The second idea I kind of wish I had was some way of knowing if the rooms around me are occupied.  Perhaps a little map that shows the rooms around me with lights that indicate if it's got someone in it or not.  That way I know just to let the kids go wild and jump on the beds or if I need to be (like I was for the rest of the trip) overly sensitive to every sound and footstep taken.

Curtain Air Bags for the Kids

Yes if you couldn't tell from the last couple of posts we are traveling for spring break.  My mind is naturally full of travel and vacation and my ideas come along those lines.

What if there was a button the drive could push that would drop a curtain airbag between two fighting kids.  It wouldn't really matter how you built the rest of the minivan that option alone would sell the thing.  I can see it in my mind:
Potential Minivan Purchaser: "Didn't Consumer Reports warn that this van's engine starts on fire every fourth time you start it?"
Salesman: "Yeah, but did you see this?" (pushes button) "It keeps your kids from being able to touch each other."
PMP: "Wow that's amazing, I'll take it!"
Salesman: "This is a popular model so it'll take close to 6 months for the back orders to clear up.  While you are waiting for your new van our dealership would like to offer you a Toyota Sienna as a loaner.  We have a ton just lying around since this new model came out."

Suggested Pit Stops on a Road Trip

I think almost everyone has used a site like mapquest.com or maps.google.com to get from point A to an unknown point B.  I think it would be nice to have an option where you could type in how often you want to stop like every two hours (I've got 4 kids under 8) or three times during the entire trip.  Then mapquest would divide up your route and suggest cool places to take your pit stop.  So if I were driving from Boise to Salt Lake City I would type in how many stops I want to make and then it would spit out a suggestion like "The Garden of Eden" which is really a gas station along that route that has a waterfall and fake tree with a snake that has electronic red eyes.  It's a pretty cool stop.  Or I could only request historical sites, or state parks, or gas station near state parks.  You would also have an "off the road" option.  This way you could type in 5 miles and it would give you the coolest places to stop and all be within 5 miles of the main route you drive.

Watch the Process: Meat Processing

If you've been to Tillamook you know what I'm talking about.  So the joke (my wife and I laughed at how wrong this is) is  you would have a slaughter house where you could watch how it all works from behind a strong window.  The cheese factory in Tillamook, OR has it this way and you can watch how they make their famous sharp cheddar and then at the end you get a sample and a walk through their overpriced grocery store to the best reason to vacation in Oregon: the Tillamook ice cream.  In the slaughter house you could watch the process as the workers went about their duties and at the end of the self guided tour you would be treated to samples of beef jerky, walk through the overpriced grocery store and instead of ice cream there would be a huge stake pit where you could get any cut any way.  I'm sure PETA would be all over it so to hedge your bet you could open a vegetarian restaurant right next door and feed all the protesters at lunch.

Did you Remember the Attachment?

Have you ever sent an email and talk all about how the attached document proves the point you are trying to make or the attached photo is hilarious or the attachment has all the details and then forget to attach the attachment?  Today's idea is a suggestion to any company that makes email software.  Write the code so the program does a quick scan of your email, if the word attachment show up anywhere in the body or subject of the email the program looks to make sure there is an attachment with the email.  If there isn't it would politely ask "I see you have the word 'attachment' in your email but have not attached a document.  Do you want to continue?"  It would be pretty easy to add, I think, and you could have the option of turning it off if it got too complicated.  I would definitely use it.

Question:
Have you ever not attached a doc to your email?  And was it that big a deal?

Solar Power Tiles

Normally solar panels on the roof come in the big solar panel beds tilted at an angle sticking up off the roof.  I think some HOA's might even have covenants that prevent you from putting those huge things on the top of your house.  Why not engineer small solar panels that look like cement tiles?  That way your whole roof can generate power and you can mix in regular cement tiles if you have shady spots.

A Better Alternative to Huge Busses in Small Cities

My father-in-law has often wondered out loud how much a city like ours (about 250,000 with surrounding areas) actually spends on public transportation.  We have many buses scooting around town, powered by natural gas but most of the time they have only a hand full of people in them.  With a pretty limited schedule the buses are used predominately by those who need them most, those with disabilities who cannot drive themselves and those who cannot afford other transportation.  I have a few ideas that might work to reduce the amount of huge empty buses.

1) Volunteer drivers - This would/could only fill part of the gap, but perhaps we could call on the good citizens of our town to drive each other in time of need.  You could need to set up volunteers who could adopt a person in need or have a hotline that people could call and have volunteers drive over to pick them up and drop them off.

2) Smaller Buses - This one is pretty easy, the smaller the bus the smaller the initial cost, smaller the fuel bill and less empty space.

3) Cut back on regular routes, run busy routes more frequently and fill in gaps with Transportation Taxi's

Question:
Have you ever used your current public transportation?  If so what was your experience like?

The Most Advanced Baby Exercise Machine Ever

It's a padded block with wheels.  It would be just the right height you could set your baby on it's tummy and strap it in and the baby's feet and hands could touch the ground.  It would be a way for your baby to practice crawling.

Escape from Jail Vacation

I've posted once about a vacation in jail.  I think it would appeal to those who need a detox from the rush of our technology centered lives.  This idea is for people who think you come home from vacation to rest from vacation.  It would be very similar to the dinner theaters all over the place with actors in costume acting the part of the warden or security guard or fellow inmate.  You would pay an outrageous fee to spend the weekend in a maximum security prison with the goal of escaping before your three days were up.  You would be given a few "hints" along the way, like which inmates had connections on the outside or which guards could be bribed for small favors.  You would bunk with a professional escapee, an actor, who would know the best way out and depending on your abilities would guide the break out.

Pay by the Cubic Inch/Weight Ratio Air

So on a plane is weight or space a bigger deal?  Weight consumes fuel while the space you and your luggage take up limit the number of people that can fly and thus money from ticket sales.  Well what if you had an airline that actually charged you for how much mass you had?  All the skinny or small people would fly that airline and love it because they plenty of space around them (due to only skinny small people sitting next to them).  The seats could be closer together and you could get more on each flight.

Removable Windows for Furniture

I've had a lot of opportunities to help people move in the last little while.  I've personally seen a couch shoved into a hall way at three different angles and then, by finally breaking the wall enough, getting it to squeeze into the living room.  With all the banged up corners and scratched walls and furniture too big to make the turn it seems like someone should invent a high efficiency window that has the ability to remove it.  That way you could quickly move things in and out of rooms without having go through the back door, around the corner and through a tight fit doorway.  Now you may be thinking at this point, "But Quinn the only place with enough turn over in residents to make that idea plausible is an apartment building and they are usually multi-level."  I agree but with the slew of Baby-Boomers about to hit assisted living facilities developing single level apartments with removable windows is a great idea.

Adult Jogging Strollers

I love to be outside and I'm a pretty good runner.  My wife is a home body who chooses not to run, ever.  It would be great if they made jogging strollers big enough to put my wife in it and take her with me as I jog around.  Then I get a better workout, she gets fresh air and we both get some together time.

Product Review: Palm Ratchetting Wrench

Very cool, I thought I had come up with a great idea for my blog and went out and found these puppies. It's a wrench that ratchets and it's only as deep as your palm for tight spots.  I now know what I really want for fathers day this year.

An Alternate to the Current Day-Light Savings Plan

Why don't they make clocks that adjust just a few seconds a day in sync with day light savings?  For example instead of getting up an hour early and trying to adjust your body for a week of sleepiness you could have a clock that made you get up just a few seconds early every day from Nov 6th through March 13th.  That way every day you would get up 28 seconds earlier than the day before.  It seems like it would be better for productivity those weeks that the change is made.

For those of you who say "Wait a minute, what about in the fall when we get to sleep in an hour."  I say two things. 1) Does having to get up an hour earlier in the spring really make up for being able to sleep in an hour in the fall?  2) You get to sleep in but at work now 4:00pm feels like 5:00pm.  I would like to conduct a study where I prove that employees are more likely to play solitaire during that hour of work than any other hour of work the entire year.

Question:
What is your opinion on saving day light?  Do you love it, hate it, live in Arizona?  Given the option would you keep it the way it is or take the 28 sec adjustments if you could?

Vent Insert for your Central Heating and Air

I love the smell of warm bread, I love the smell of fresh basil, (don't be scandalized here) I love the smell of fresh coffee with caramel and whip cream.  So why can't I just stick those things in my vents and get the fresh scent of whatever when I want it?  They make huge HVAC scent systems for the diffusion of sweetness in public places but all I want is a little door in a vent close to the furnace (so the scent gets to the whole house) that I can slide scent sticks or those colored pine trees for your car into.  Then you could change what you wanted as the season changes or company comes over, etc.

Washboard Abs of Steel

A new market for plastic surgeons: guys who want abs of steel, literally.  A steel plate or multiple steel plates inserted under the skin for that perfect six pack.  It would be great for UFC fighters or levi models.

Buy a Holiday Web Site

Wouldn't you like to dedicate a holiday to someone you love?  Well you could if his awesome web site existed.  You would pay $15.00 and then pick an available upcoming date to name your own holiday for whatever.  It would only be that one day so you could sell 365 days every year.

Double Sided Dishwasher

How about a dishwasher that can be loaded from the front by the sink and from the back by the table?

Cheaper than Lipo Stomach Implants

This on is another one that's a little out there but with the plethora of weight loss diets, surgeries, etc. I thought I toss my idea out there too.  It's a super cheap way of filling stomach space and preventing America from eating too much.  A special foam insert would be placed laproscopically in your stomach to fill it up.  Then you only have room for half as much.  After you had lost 84 pounds you would take "after" pictures for the billboards and then have your foam insert removed.

Pool Cover for Your Driveway

Yes, I've said it before, I hate to shovel.  I love snow but I hate to shovel.  So here's another idea to save some work.  This would be a cover that you could flip a switch and it would roll out over your driveway.  It would be like a giant electric blanket and warm up as the snow comes down.  Then in the morning you go out flip a switch to roll the cover off your driveway.  Then you laugh as you watch your neighbors break their backs shoveling (maniacal laugh).

Product Spotlight: Spatula Tongs

If you have ever broiled or grilled or pan fried fish you will understand why this invention is such a great idea.

The Ultimate Swich-A-Roo Restaurant

Most restaurants have a meal they specialize in.  Some are breakfast places, some do great lunch and some are fancy dinner places.  Well it doesn't matter what meal you specialize in and the hours operated you pay rent for the whole day.  So what if you had two (or even three) restaurants in the same location?  You could open with an early morning breakfast place that can handle lunch really well and then around 2:00 they clean up and for dinner a Chinese place moves into the same spot.  I think my perfect combo would be greasy spoon for breakfast, BBQ for lunch and Italian for dinner.

What restaurants do you think would work well sharing space?

Third Party DMV

I personally believe a lot of the government's inefficiencies are due to a lack of competition.  So why not allow different companies to get permission to issue drivers licenses, titles to vehicles, etc.  Then with a little bit of competition you can choose who you want to get your license from.

Windshield Wippers for Your Kitchen

The idea here is kind of like robo-vac.  Along your floor boards would be a giant sweeper arm that would swing out at night and sweep up all the stuff on your kitchen floor.

Recruit Local Professionals to Teach HS Classes

So this one is a little off the beaten path of our blog here but lets give it a go anyway.  In order to teach you have to have a teaching certificate.  I personally believe it should be easier for professionals who have degrees in subjects to get certificates to teach.  I also think it would be nice if you could organize a way that local professionals could teach just one class a day.  An engineer could keep his job and teach one AP physics class a day.  Or a CPA could still do taxes in a big building downtown and then at lunch teach accounting 101 at a local high school.

Question:
What would you teach at high school?

100 books in 100 pages

I've done quite a bit of reading recently.  I found a great list of 99 books called the "Give Yourself an MBA" list.  Fortunately one of the first books on the list is one about speed reading.  Most of the books I read (business books) can be speed read and summed up in a single page.  I've created a folder at work that I keep that has key points from each book I read.  Well why not just make a book of the 99 books.  Some, of course, should be read entirely but imagine how fast you could go through books if they were summed up in a single page.  And for the authors of those books, a single page may be a great way to get people interested in something they wouldn't read otherwise.

Question:
Be honest now, how many of the books you've read in the last little while were great and need to be read whole and how many could be summed up in a page?

Fake Arm Baby Rocker

Anybody with kids knows exactly why today's idea would be a great one.  So you're getting the baby ready for bed and you have to rock the little stinker till he falls asleep.  Finally after hours of rocking the child settles into slumber, you gently get up from your seat and attempt to set the kid down in bed without waking him up.  If you're good they stay asleep as you slide you arms out from underneath but most of the time you end up setting them down and then patting their head/tummy/feet while they get back to sleep after waking them up in the transition.  So why not have a blanket with fake arms attached to it.  The arms would be hollow so you could stick your arms into them and hold the child.  When it came time to setting the baby down you walk directly to the crib set them down and easily slide your arms out of the fake ones.  No jostling or head bouncing drops just a quick smooth transition to dream land.

Baby Cuteness App

This one is real simple.  You just take a picture and no matter what the photo looks like the app would compliment you on your baby's cuteness.  You could take a picture of a pig and it would say, "Ahh, what a darling little girl"

The Anti-Time Wasting/Motivational App

Most apps are time wasters but not this one.  It would have a field where you would enter the amount of time you had just wasted watching TV or playing Angry Birds and it would give you an example of someone famous that had done something in that amount of time.  For example if you typed in 90 min it would say "In the time you wasted H. Ford's assembly line could produce a Model-T start to finish."  Or if you typed in 30 min it would say "If you had gone for a walk you would have burned 180 calories."

Voice Command Sprinklers

You take your dog out for a walk and as you pass a long forgotten section of your lawn you notice a brown spot.  Wouldn't it be nice to voice command your sprinklers to water that section of the lawn as you walked away?  Let me answer that: yes it would.  The sprinkler system would have to be set to a few key voices so the neighbor kids weren't over at your house wasting the irrigation water.

Robo Pooper Scooper

I've featured robo vac and I think the robo mower.  What the world needs is the robo pooper scooper.  It would run through your yard every day ridding your grass of the mess your dog leaves.