Hand Held Trash Compactor

I'm on a clean up the yard kick since my back is still sore from the work done over the weekend.  One of the issues I faced as I tamed my wild backyard into shape was the constant getting in and out of my garbage can.  I know if I put a bunch of leaves in my can I can get in and stomp them down to about a quarter their original size.  I tried using a leaf vacuum but it took forever and couldn't really handle the sticks and branches I had trimmed.  What I need is a big, talking huge, compression bag I could rake everything into and then cinch up.  Then I would have the kids come out and jump on the compression bag, it would have to be made of canvass or something.  Then you could have compression straps that would press it down further and then an easy to use trash hole where you could dump the crushed matter out.

Leaf Robot

I love our home, we have a great backyard.  It's great that is until the fall rolls around and I have to trim, mow, whack, rake and throw away the biomass accumulated through the summer.  I feel (I don't know for sure) that most of my time is spent blowing and raking and then throwing away all the leaves that drop from the trees.  It would be nice to have a little iRobot go around my yard cleaning up the corners and under the bushes and other general places where it's hard to get a rake.  It could potentially be the same robot that weed whacks, mows and picks up the doggie doo.  Now there's a machine for you.

Inventory on Your Smart Phone

It's the time of year when my accounting lady hands me a big list of furniture, computer equipment and pallet jacks and makes me verify that the company still has those things on premise.  Some of it is super easy, we only have one fork lift and I know it's in the garage, check (off the list that is).  With other items, despite my notes from the previous year and tags that fell off, I struggle to tell which of the 75 miss matched chairs are the "4 Lane Soho Chairs".  I need a program that quickly generates QR codes on stickers (that don't come off) that I can use with my phone.  Then I could simply walk around the office with my phone, scan QR codes as I go and know exactly what matches up to our inventory list.

Thanksgiving on Sunday

This one comes to me from a fellow co-worker.  I really liked the way they handled Thanksgiving dinner in her family.  Instead of trying to deal with sharing and timing with everybodies in-laws they don't celebrate Thanksgiving until Sunday.  Then the whole family gets together and they have a huge turkey dinner when there are no other family obligations.

Shop Local Saturday

I'm stealing today's idea because I really like it.  I generally believe that it is in most every one's best interest for consumers to be able to purchase goods from the sources that can most cheaply provide them.  I've also found that some of the coolest and most unique stores (not to mention best service) I've ever shopped in have a single location and are owned by the person behind the cash register.  The great thing about shopping local is the way money travels.  Imagine you spend exactly one dollar on a mug from a local company.  That dollar you spent then goes to cover the cost of the mug, payroll for the owner selling you the mug, rent and utilities for the store owner, insurances, etc.  Because the store owner is local he will pay his employee and that dollar will recirculate locally.  Any profit the owner gets during the year he will most likely spend locally and so it goes.  What a great way to spur the economy in your own back yard.

Check Out on you Smart Phone

Today being black Friday and all the hubbub that goes with it my mind turns to the only year I ever tried to participate in the retail madness.  We went to a store at like 7:30 (which was late, I know) shopped for a bit and then realized the people we kept bumping into way in the back of the store were in line to check out way at the front of the store.  I've been thinking about that and wondering if there were a better way to process people out of the store.  They have self checkouts at a lot of higher end grocery stores and hardware stores but I have yet to see one at a department store.  You could also use your smart phone to check out.

Imagine you're standing in a ridiculously long line and you look up and see a poster in the store that says, "Download our app and check out right now."  You download their app (basically a bar code scanner) and it scans the stuff you have and then sends the info to a special check out line for app users only.  Then you would set your stuff down on a scale.  The scale would read if you had too many items or what not and you could have one cashier patrol multiple machines to help people through quicker.  Because is it really a deal if you have to stand in line for four hours to get it?

Happy Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving Breakfast

Yes, I love the deliciousness of mashed potatos and gravy, I can't wait to make sandwiches out of turkey and drool all over myself waiting for the pie but if I had to really be true with myself I would rather have Thanksgiving Breakfast than Thanksgiving Dinner.  You could sleep in and then get up and have turkey and cheese omelette's with sausage, bacon, hash browns and toast.  You'd have a wide variety of beverages to choose from as well like any kind of juice, hot chocolate, milk, etc.  And for breakfast desert: cinnamon rolls.

Football Game Trips Disguised as Pamper Your Woman Trips

It would be awesome if there was a travel site that would set up trips that a woman would love in cites with football games that men would love.  For example the national championship for college football game is in New Orleans, you could have some spa offer fantastic ladies night packages and you could send you beloved to be pampered while you try to find something to keep yourself occupied (the game).  I would gladly spend most of a couples vacation holding my wife's purse if it meant I could go to a game like that and not feel guilty.

A Web Site to Sell All the Good Ideas

I need to put a web site together where you can purchase all the good ideas.

Age Ratings for Tourist Traps

It would be nice if there were a web site that rated different tourist attractions based off age appropriateness.  For example Disney Land would probably have an age appropriateness from 0-110 while the hike to Angel's Landing in Zion's National Park would be 12 and up.

A Good Idea a Day Generator

I need a program that will generate good ideas for me.  It would be easy to create I could simply create a list of 2000 different nouns and then have a random word generator put two or three words together with a verb at the end.  Here are some from a very short list: "Play pen clock dance" and "Boat alligator gar order".  The first could be a clock that measures the amount of time a child sleeps based off how much the crib moves or dances.  The second could be a company that creates custom boat shells to look like different animals you could order.

Air Compression in Fishing

I love to fish with my kids but my options are limited to ponds and lakes where a child could get far enough into the water to actually fish.  I also recently built an air compression cannon to launch...uh...things...and decided it would be nice if a kid's fishing rod had a means of throwing a lure really far.  You could have a little pump on the end that the kid could pump up and then pop the lure in the end of a tube and bang.  It would make fishing a little more fun on those days when nothings biting and way more fun on the days when your arm gets tired from dragging so much fish through the water.

Kill the Technology Switch

I need a switch in the house that will instantly kill the TV, computers, ipad and phones all at once (it's called the main breaker, I know).  Seriously I would like to have hours of the day where none of those things are operable and the heat and lights still stayed on.  Then I could be away from home and force the kids outside by killing all the "fun" options inside.

Toe Heater at your Desk

I hate dress socks.  My problem is my feet get cold in the winter time, all the time.  I sometimes wear my supper thick snow socks on less formal days but for the most part I'm stuck with thin dressy black socks and un-insulated dress shoes.  It would be great if there were a little heater just like the one in my car that would blow hot air (not like those electric ones that always trip the breaker) and I could keep my toes warm on those snowy days.

Robo Plow

With as much as I hate shoveling snow and as many posts I've done with robo this or that I'm surprised I haven't hit on this yet.  It would be great if there was a robot on wheels (preferably the robot that mows my lawn during the summer) that would shovel the front walk when it snowed.  It would be especially helpful in retail business situations where a good week snow storms could cost a lot and you have to have your parking lot clear by a certain hour.

Funny Track Shoes

I was joking with my wife the other day about a trip to the forest next summer and said we should get some Sasquatch costumes and wander around in the woods for fun.  That made me think it might actually be fun. I'm not sure I would want to go full body suit (for fear of hunters) but what if I could get my hands on some Bigfoot track shoes and go for a walk off the beaten path.  There could also be T-rex, huge bear and tiger print shoes you could wear around to just to scare people.

Competing Bids on Body Work (for the rental car I dinged)

I recently went on a trip where I backed the rental car into a pole.  The bumper had some paint on it but the car was totally driveable.  They charged me $240 to fix the bumper and even after I called to complain about the price they were only able to lower the cost to $135.  All they had to do was buff off some paint.  It would be nice to have a second opinion body shop close to the airport that could rush in and give a bid on the damage you've done.  Now we are held hostage by whatever the rental car company sets the price at.  Who knows maybe they could fill in work by repairing planes when they hit birds.  Or even better, do custom paint jobs on the planes and rental cars.

Interactive Childrens Television

My kids watch all kinds of different TV shows where the characters ask the kids questions.  Dora the Explorer is a good example.  They need to make episodes specifically for the iPad where the kids actually have to press the screen in order for the program to progress.  That way Dora doesn't just ask the audience to participate she will expect it.

Restaurant in the Movie Theater

How often have you gone for ice cream or after a movie?  How often have you gone for dinner before a movie?  I think it would be nice to have a really good restaurant in a movie theater.  You could go early and instead of spending your money at someone elses restaurant the movie theater could milk you for more.  And when the movie is over you could go for dessert.

Blue Turf at Our Office Building

We've done this two years in a row.  It's been a blast, great way to show support to our team and a good way to get a little buzz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84JFDfuwhfQ

The stuff we use is the same stuff they use to paint football fields.

Dragon Scales For Kids

My four year old boy seems to get himself into a lot of scrapes.  The traditional knee/elbow pads seem only to cover a portion of his body.  What he needs is a coat with carbon fiber scales on it.  Basically kid body armor it would protect from scraped elbows, arms, back and front (yes all of those he's scraped recently).  The coat could be light weight and flexible using overlapping scales and it would offer military grade protection for kids.  It would be handy for new bike riders, new motorcycle riders, new skiers, etc.

Product Spotlight: Ratcheting Crescent Wrentch

I can't tell you how many times (mostly under the sink) that I've wished that my adjustable crescent wrench would ratchet.  And behold.  This is the R2 Rapid Rentch.  It adjusts from 0 to 7/8" and will ratchet either way.  I know what I want for Christmas.

DIY Stitches

I went to the urgent care place just recently to get stitches in my finger.  It didn't take long at all and I kicked myself for going because when I was done I felt like I could have just done it myself with butterfly bandages.  What I really needed was a "Do-It-At-Home Stitches Kit".  It would come with sterilized needles and surgeons thread and stick to bite down on.  The same company could also sell the "Do-It-At Home Tattoo Removal Kit" and the "Infected Fingernail Removal Kit".

The Dad Suit

I have four kids and each one has ruined one of my church suits in turn.  At just a few months they spit up on you or blow out of a diaper.  As they get older they end up eating cheesy crackers during the sermon and grab me with those cute little orange died dimple hands.  What I've needed was a suit I could hose down.  I needed a suit made of tarp material, 100% water and stain proof.  I wonder if carbon fiber would work?

TV's with Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

With all the new TV's out there you can easily access apps, stream video and get on the internet.  We've been hooking our computer up to the TV for about two or three years now to watch netflix and hulu.  I only have two issues with the computer hook up.  The first is the resolution doesn't match that of broadcast television or our DVD player.  The second is there is no remote for the computer.  We could simply add a wireless keyboard and mouse to the computer to fix the problem.  In the future when you buy an internet capable TV you'll need a wireless mouse and keyboard.

33 Inch Inseam Pants

Today's good idea is a rant.  Why is it that there are only 2 inch jumps on inseam lengths?  I struggle between the highwaters of 32" inseam and dragging-under-my-heal 34".  The answer is simple and no it's not to hem my pants, the answer is for someone out there to start making pants with a 33" inseam.  Or another option would be pants with a velcro line along the seam so you could fold your pants up into the leg and stick it there if you needed to remove an inch of length.

Baby Sitter at the Movies

Most gyms have a little day care where a mom or dad can drop their kid off for an hour while they work out.  I've seen the same thing in a Fred Meyer.  They could put one in the movie theater.  Parents could bring their kids pay extra to have them watched and then go get ice cream all together when the movie was over.

Stream Instant Tours Via Pandora

I love to vacation.  One of the most amazing trips I've taken was to Italy.  I was surrounded by statues and building and fountains that were hundreds and thousands of years old.  It was totally awesome.  I was also surprised at how many of the places we visited offered tape recorded tours.  You would pay an extra five euro and you would stroll around listening to a professor of some sort telling you all about the museum's pieces.  It would be cool if you could create a free database of tours.  Something like a Livabox.org or Pandora for tours.  You could collect a large selection and not have to pay the extra five euros at each stop for a top rate experience.

No Video Games for a Month

This one is a little different than most my other good ideas.  This one relates to personal productivity.  If you watch a lot of TV you could replace the no video games with no TV for a month.  I'm going to try it out and see how much more I get done.  I expect I'll get my "Honey Do" list down 80% and actually get a book read with the rest of the month.

What could you give up for a month that would have a big impact on the time you spend on more productive projects?

Door to Door Back Yard Clean Up

It's the time of year when my back yard dies or sheds or needs to be trimmed or cut back.  On top of all the work I also have to battle the shorter days and no light after work when I get home.  So, with my precious Saturdays I'm required to get all my yard work done, do all my fall fishing and keep track of at least two college football teams.  I think a really good idea would be for a landscaping company to go door to door and offer to clean a back yard for cash.  I think it would probably work best on Saturday dinner time after everyone has spent the day breaking their back and are only half done or Friday so anyone with even a moments hesitation could think long and hard about what they could do with the extra eight hours of beautiful fall weather.