I Made It!

So I wrote 365 posts and I have to admit I cheated a little.  I do have to admit it was harder than I thought it would be.  I got through the first couple of months just fine because I had a backlog of good ideas just sitting around.  The key to getting through it was pretty easy though.  Creativity comes when you focus, most people don't think they are creative because they don't ever give themselves a chance to be so.  I will continue to post, hopefully once a week, so keep your eyes pealed they will have to be better quality and probably a little longer from now on.

Exploading Foam for Car Accidents

I like the idea of expanding foam.  I've used it to seal cracks around our building at work.  I've often wondered if there were a way to incorporate expanding foam into cars for protection during accidents.  The foam could be in the front bumper and explode out when forces over a certain amount were experienced.  The foam would act as an air bag for the entire vehicle not just the driver.

Reality Check Cookies

They would be like fortune cookies but more "down to earth".  Here are some examples:
"You'll remain single until you choose to grow up and learn to commit"
"Your children are naughty because you were"
"Get use to it, your front yard will never look as nice as the nice retired gentleman's next door."

Kid Pants with Carbon Fiber Knees

Kids go through cloths fast.  If their not growing out of them they are wearing through them.  It would be nice if they made a pair of pants that came with Kevlar or carbon fiber reinforced knee pads.

Magnet Buttons on a Shirt

Getting ready for church on Sunday's is always a little frustrating for me.  It takes forever.  Shirts with buttons, ties with knots, shoes with laces the list goes on for ever.  I can get around the shoe thing with slip on's and they make a pretty nice pair now a days.  I love nice ties and would never dare place a zip up tie around my neck but they do make them and if I wanted I could simplify by getting one.  What I need is a dress shirt that has super easy buttons like magnetic buttons.  Just slip the shirt on and pop, pop, pop the magnets hook up without too much help.  Another way you could do it is with a zipper.  Just sew the front of the shirt to look like a regular dress shirt and have a hidden zipper behind it.

Padded Slip and Slide

I thought it would be fun to participate in slipping and sliding with my kids last summer.  I lined up for a good sprint, slowly increased my speed as my white chest streaked across our back yard and then threw myself, sprawling, into the air head first with arms outstretched in perfect parallel with the ground.  I came crashing down with a thud and smacked my face on the ground, every muscle in my body flexing with the blow.  "Wow," I wheezed as I staggered away from the scene of the accident, "I don't remember it hurting so much."  Now that I know better I think they should invent a slip and slide with padding on the bottom so you don't feel every little worm hill as you slide along your back yard.

Belt Driven Bike

I loved my bike as a kid.  I took it apart and put it back together all the time.  I frequently lost my chain and had to put it back on and get my hands all greasy and gross.  That was fine by me but my mom would freak out if I touched anything.  Why not replace the chain with a belt?  It would be less dirty, less expensive to replace and you wouldn't get you pants stuck in the gears anymore.

Better Workout: Swim in Gravy

I don't think it would be a good idea to swim in gravy.  I also think swimming is a pretty darn good exercise to begin with.  But what if you could make four times as effective by "thickening" the viscosity of the fluid you were in.  Make it thick and you have a little more to push against.  It's a better work out for your strength and endurance.

Fart Noise Canceling Device

Only slightly inappropriate is our topic today.  For the thousands who suffer from gas in public places this might be just the thing for you.  The device would have a microphone that you would tuck in your back pocket.  The microphone would listen for the sound of passing wind and then use the wave nature of sound to offset the sound being made.  You could even hook up a little air purifier that would cleanse the air of the stench every time a flatulation was registered.

Turbines Along the Freeway

Today's idea is to use the movement of thousands, nay, millions of cars on the road today to create electricity.  You could set small turbines along the freeway that would spin as the cars and trucks passed.  You would need to construct the turbines to not cause accidents or to make pulling off the road dangerous.

Really Giant QR Code Historical Sights

To those of you who stop at historical markers along your path I apologize.  I don't think I've ever stopped and read one myself because I'm too busy trying to get the heck to were we're going.  I do think it would be cool however if historical sights had big qr codes that you could scan with your phone as you drove by at 75 mph.  Then you could learn all about your trip without stopping.  Or better yet have your GPS recognize where the historical sight are and read them to you as you pass.

Leather Aprons in the Kitchen

I might get some flack for this but I think aprons are cool.  I like to wear them when I cook and I'm thinking seriously about getting one for the work I do in the garage.  I'm not talking about the frilly ones my mom used to wear in the 80's, I'm talking leather.  They already make leather aprons for welding and other metal working applications, I think it's time to bring the leather inside and use them in the kitchen.

The Ultimate Dad Suit

I have four children.  I love them dearly, they do not love my suits (or really any of my nice cloths).  As a parent I've had about everything rubbed on me by cute little pudgy dimple knuckled hands.  I need a dad suit.  The Ultimate Dad Suit would be made of 100% waterproof, windproof and breathable Kevlar.  It would be black and almost bullet proof.  Some cuteness spits up on your leg in church?  No problem just spray it off with a hose.

Automatic Windows

Most homes have programmable thermostats.  You can schedule your heat to work hard during the day and then lay off at night.  It would be great if you could integrate your inside thermostat with an outside thermostat and open close motors on your windows.  That way if the inside temperature were warm and needed to cool off the system would open a window instead of kicking on the A/C.  You could have security risks with open windows so you could set it up so only the back windows open or only second story windows open.  You would also be able to set the system to work when the outside temperature was between 65-75 degrees.  You wouldn't want your temperature to hit 72 in the winter time and then open all the windows in the house to get it back to 70.

Christmas Party Scheduler

I love the holidays, I love the parties.  One problem I run into is getting just the right night picked out for the company party.  I need a program that I could have everyone in the office put in their previous engagements and then it would pick the best night for everyone to have the Christmas party on.  You could set certain parameters like no week nights or skip certain days totally.  You should also be able to set priority to the individuals going.  So if the program had two nights it could choose from and one night one of the main managers couldn't make it and the other night a guy who had only worked there for two months couldn't make it the program would schedule the party so the new guy missed the party (or vice versa depending on how great or horrible your parties are).

Keep Track of your Business Miles Automatically

I drive a company car.  At the end of the year our controller comes and asks how many miles I have on my vehicle and how many were spent on personal miles and how many were business miles.  I then have to go dig through my glove compartment, my desk and use google maps to recreate the last year of driving.  I would be great if I could just sit down in the driver seat and have my car ask me before I start driving "Are these personal miles or business miles?" and keep track of both independently for the entire year.

Plane Ticket on Your Smart Phone

I had to fly for business recently and printed out my own boarding pass at the hotel the day before so I wouldn't have to waste any time at the ticket counter.  It made me wonder why I had to print a ticket at all, it should be easy enough to just have the bar code they scan off my paper on my smart phone.

Alarm for One

My wife and I go to bed at the same time and never, ever, ever get up at the same time.  She often complains that I hit the snooze button to many times.  The answer is to get an alarm clock that only I can hear.  I have two solutions.  The first is to have a small alarm clock built into your pillow.  Then the noise it makes will only wake you.  The second option is a sock that gently squeezes your foot with increasing pressure until you wake up.

Professional Christmas Present Giver

I pride myself on giving good presents.  I had a good friend in high school that taught me his ways.  It's a pretty simple formula: listen and take note.  I listen to those around me (my wife, my dad, my siblings) and when they say they want something, no matter what time of year it is, I write it down.   I also think a lot about what to get people.  Some say it's the thought that counts, which usually means they put little thought into a pre-packaged cop-out.  Why not put my present giving talent to use and do it for others?  I could set up a service that allows people to access a web site that would give people the opportunity to answer a bunch of questions about the person they needed to get a gift for.  The site would collect the answers and spit out a couple good suggestions.  You could have price filters and "already has it" boxes to help the search along.  The site could also have a store where you could purchase a unique gift.