Hey...That Was MY Idea!

You ever hear of a new idea or some new invention and realize that you had (pretty much...) the same idea last month, last year, or twenty years earlier?

I have.

More than once.

I remember one of the first times I ever experienced this. Back in the 1970s our family bought a high fidelity stereo, and I had an idea to make it better. I envisioned an entertainment box. Each side of the box had a different entertainment option. On one side there would be a radio. You turn the box and you would find a cassette tape deck. Turn the box again and on the next side would be an 8-track tape deck--remember those? I do. On the top of this box would be a record player.

Now we've got three sides and the top of the box covered with entertainment possibilities. What more could there be for the fourth side of the box? Remember, we're dealing with 70s technology here.

On the fourth side I would have had a TV tube, but not for watching TV shows--this box would be dedicated to music. I thought that it would be cool to watch musical acts on a monitor using the same stereo system and speakers as were used by the radio, cassette, 8-track and record player. I remember thinking someone might want to watch Elvis Presley sing while they heard him on a good sound system. This was back when Elvis was alive.

So, a pre-teen imagined watching bands play music on TV in the 1970s. 

On August 1, 1981 a cable channel was launched, a channel dedicated to nothing but watching music videos. It wasn't until years later that I realized I sort of had that same idea. Of course, I'm sure many many others had the same thoughts, or slight variation of that thought. But still. It was something that I came up with on my own.

It happened again to me last week. I was listening to the latest edition of the Grammar Girl Podcasts and there was a new sponsor on the show called Verbling. For as little as $15 per hour, you can be taught a language lesson from a native speaker from the country where they speak that language. Basically, genius. 

My idea was to get people together to talk to each other. You could practice speaking and understanding their language; they could work on learning yours. I didn't think of it as a "for profit" project, just a way for people to immerse themselves in another language. Same technology as Verbling, but different way to reach the same goal.

I believe the human brain is wired to think about new things. Call it daydreaming, call it a muse, call it whatever. But with billions of people on the planet, how can several people not think of similar things? It's inevitable, really. I hope Verbling makes it--I hold no grudges. After all, I didn't do anything with the idea and Verbling's probably been in the works for years--long before the idea came to me.

But maybe, just maybe, one of those new ideas and/or inventions will one day come from me. That would be cool!

Ever Read Francis Thompson's "The Hound Of Heaven? Probably Not...

One of the responsibilities I have in my second job is to organized the bookshelves. This includes not only finding and fixing any books that have been incorrectly put on the shelves, but to make sure they look presentable to the public. I will re-shelve out-of-order books and also bring to the front any books that have been somehow pushed back and are otherwise hidden.

That's how I found Francis Thompson's The Hound of Heaven. I have never before set eyes upon this particular book, and there's a very good chance, neither have you. I even checked the back page. Now, I know that the library converted to a barcode check in/check out system probably 25-30 years ago, so I cannot say with certainty that this book has not been checked out since July 7, 1981. But there's a good chance it hasn't. Especially since the only other time it was recorded being checked out was when the year of the check out was not identified.

No, this little book has been hiding among it's taller, and probably more popular literary siblings. Wikipedia (a completely reliable source...) says the Poet Thompson was influential at the end of the Nineteenth Century, even J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a paper on this book in 1914.

An author can be discouraged by many things. Not only is there the story that's constantly fighting the author inside his/her mind, but there's so many books being written nowadays, and millions of books that have already been written. Will anyone ever read mine?

But if it's written and published, someone may just pick up a copy almost twenty-five years after someone else did and blog about.

Probably not.

When Sick...What Do I Really Need?

Because we're human and not immortal, we get sick, and sometimes the timing is not optimal. Of course, there's never a good time to not feel well, but some times are worse than others.

For the past several days I've been "under the weather," which is an odd phrase considering weather is something that takes place in the air and the air is above us (unless there exists weather systems that operate from ground level to between three to eight feet that I don't know about...).

But I digress.

Last week I began a new part-time job. It's been fun, but also tiring conditioning my body to put in more work after my usual ten-hour shifts end. I'm sure it will be easier once I learn all the new things about the job and get used to the work. But throw an illness into the mix and all bets are off.

Yesterday I came to work (at my full-time job...) hoping I could get through the day. I slept a lot on Sunday, so much so, that my "not-sleeping-so-well" Sunday night might be offset. Maybe it did--all I know is yesterday things were tough. The building was even having one of its famous "temperature issues" where it adapts from winter to summer. To everyone else on the floor, it was uncomfortably warm. I wore a jacket.

Yesterday, after eight hours I decided to go home and get some sleep. I also decided to not set my alarm this morning to sleep in (both decisions were supervisor approved...). The difference this morning was amazing! I'm not 100%, but much better than yesterday or the day before. Maybe talking all the medications helps. Maybe the illness that I had is winding down. But I think the best thing I did to make myself feel better is to just get some rest.

Three Screens...How Luxurious!

Last week I was looking at my working station and I decided to shake things up a bit.

I hoped up my laptop.

Some at work have desktop computers that they use. For us in our department, they give us laptops. Which, is fine with me. I have a docking station that hooks up my keyboard and mouse. It also hooks up two monitors.

I remember more than a decade ago they upgraded the computers we were using. The exciting thing wasn't the new computer, but they were hooking up everyone with two screens. Wow! Two screens! We were indeed living in the future! Gone forever were the days of the big bulky monitors. We now had flat-panel screens that looked beautiful.

Fast forward a decade and a bit, and two screens is commonplace, normal. But three screens--that's reserved for the truly important individuals. I think I had tried in the past to see if I could get the laptop screen to be Screen #3 and it didn't work. I don't understand why it works now, but I'm glad it does.

So, yes--I've joined the elite three-screen crowd. Then again, those four screen people will make my setup seem commonplace, normal. I guess there's no winning when it comes to screens.

This Is Who I Would Like To See At The Next Salt Lake Comic Con...Who's With Me?

The latest Salt Lake Comic Con event ended just over a week ago and fans have already added their 2¢ worth as to who the Comic Con Committee should invite for the big show in September. I have not added my opinion to the others...

Until Now.

Here's my pick for celebrity guests I'd like to see. Basically, anyone associated with the film, 

Galaxy Quest!

And why not? I mean, there's a comic convention going on IN THE SHOW! Yes, I understand they may not be showing Nerd Nation in the best light possible, but us nerds don't care. The film is a classic! It's got everything--space adventure, man's search for meaning, man's search for alien meaning, good vs evil.

Plus, I think it would be a great tribute to a true artisan and gentleman, Alan Rickman. 

There's another fantastic reason to see if we can get those associated with the film to come. It was written by David Howard, a Utahn.

So, if you feel the way I do, vote YES to see if the NSEA Protector can crash land into the Salt Palace. Of course, the Protector would probably get super-accelerated coming out of the black hole, and it, would like nail the atmosphere at Mach 15, which, we all know, is pretty unstable, obviously. So I'm sure we could find many MANY volunteers to help Laredo guide it on the vox ultra-frequency carrier and use Roman candles for visual confirmation.

Battery Woes...

I know there's been enough information written on taking care of the batteries in our electric devices out there, it could fill volumes of books. Don't keep your phone charging, charge your phones, don't keep them plugged in overnight. It goes on and on.

And for good reason. Everyone (it seems...) has a phone and we rely on them so much. For me, it's not necessarily a thing I must have,--I don't make a lot of calls, but it's something I seem to need. It's good to be connected.

I was surprised when I woke up this morning and my phone was unresponsive. Since I try to remember to unplug it when I go to sleep, I decided to plug in the power. After a few moments, it turned on, but only enough to show that icon. You know the one, a big battery with an ever-so-thin red line all the way to the left of the big battery, basically telling me my battery was the closest to dead that it can possibly get.

I don't think I've ever had this phone (after getting a new battery when it was given to us...) under 40% power. Since I had to go to work this morning, the phone only had a 25% charge. I thought it would be okay because at my new job I don't have time to keep looking at my phone. While on a break at work, I noticed that the battery was at something around 8%.

No worries, I thought. I have a portable phone recharger! Yay! I'm saved.

I plugged in the recharger, put the phone back in my pocket and went back to work. After a little while I checked the phone again--good news. I was around 15%. It wasn't until I checked it again that I noticed it getting lower, then lower, then dead. It killed the recharger, too.

I don't know if the battery is shot, or if upgrading to the latest version of iOS did something. I'm sure someone out there knows. Or I may be getting a new iPhone battery on Monday. Time will tell...

When Your Oldest Child Turns 21...

When you see your kids reach milestones in age, it reminds you of when you reached those same ages--at least, it does for me. Today our oldest turned twenty-one-years old. He's an old man. And considering I was almost thirty-years old when he was born, that makes me an extremely old man.

We had to whole family together today, which, considering I'm working two jobs now, is a rare thing. The only downer is the allergies hit me hard today. So much so, I missed out on going to see Kung Fu Panda 3 with the family.

Twenty-nine years ago I turned twenty-one. At that time I was living in Århus, Denmark's second largest city. I had a couple of months before my LDS mission was over. Because I kept a daily journal (even back then...), I just read about the day a few minutes ago. It wasn't a particularly rememberable day. Some friends of my mission companion came down from Ålborg (Denmark's third-largest city...) and we spent time with them. I don't know if we even celebrated my birthday all those years ago.

Tonight my in-laws came over and we had cake and ice cream. My son has his entire life ahead of him. He's got choices to make, school, marriage, career, basically decisions that will determine his future and the future of many others. It's a little strange--but also exciting--to watch your kids grow up. I wonder what lies in store for them.