Think "outside the box"

What is that? You can’t do that! What were you thinking? Hey wait a minute….where did you get that thing? Can you make me one? Clever idea! Why didn’t I think of that?

The stares I get from other hikers on the trail.

I’ve heard and seen it a thousand times.

A mind is a terrible thing to waist. My wife Sylvia, knows when my brain is churning out ideas. She looks at me and says, “You must be inventing something again, you have that look in your eyes!”.

You see, I’m know as the”kooky inventor”. I have a unconventionally, “outside the box” way of thinking. I dream of new ideas at night.

When I go shopping with my wife to Walmart or Home Depot for example, I do not see the same things normal people see.

I see alternative uses for everyday objects.   When sales people see me handling or just staring at a piece of merchandise in the store they may ask me if I need assistance. I say no thank you. It is difficult for me to explain what I am thinking. I’m really thinking that I can cut it here… add this to that… use part of it for this….. or this would fit perfectly with that.

I create “stuff”. All kinds of stuff. Some useless and impractical, and many very functional and useful. Some of my creations are just an improvement on existing ideas and many original.

In the past 10 years, I have been creating and inventing things related to my passion, backpacking and ultralite backpacking. I am proud to say that I have successfully patented a few of my ideas.

I should also mention that none of my inventions are currently for sale.

Interested in reading more?