I have had a million ideas - but most of them come to naught

An idea I once had for a series of t-shirts involving spider facts.

My wife tends to have a much more balanced view of life and the realities of how things work.  She has also borne witness to the fact that I am always coming up with new ideas on how to do things, ranging from unconventional to downright odd.  And we have discovered that half of my ideas have merit and the other half are out-to-lunch.  

One of my ideas involved making a t-shirt line with spider facts.  I would take the photos (the above one is mine), use the "Spider Fan" logo (obviously an adaptation of a certain Marvel character), and provide an interesting fact on the species.  While I was excited about the idea, the simple fact is that it would probably never work out.  The cost to make the shirts, having enough variation, finding people or companies that may be interested in the idea, and not ticking off the big-wigs at Marvel, as I have encroached upon their bread and butter, were all just part of the likely problems.  

Another brilliant idea came to me that I could build a bike rack on the back of my RV trailer.  I sourced out 4" square iron bar and attached it to the rear bumper of our trailer.  I carefully attached a 4-bike rack using half-inch galvanized bolts and hung off my creation, making sure it would hold the weight of the family's cycles.  My bouncing on the structure told me it would hold.  Then, being filled with certainty and fulfillment, I proceeded to hang all four bikes on it, with my wife's bike being at the end.

We were halfway to our destination when a car sped up beside us on the I-5 in Washington state, the lady wildly honking her horn and pointing.  I knew I was about to be disappointed.  Sure enough, one of the bolts sheared through, making the 4" iron bar slip down towards the road.  Guess whose bike took the brunt of the abuse?  That wasn't the only problem, though, because the other end of the bar stock dug a hole in the back of the trailer.  My creation was built to save money; it ended up costing us over $6000.  

The stories go on and on.  Some have produced great results, while others have been swept quietly under the rather large carpet.  I try to be a bit more objective on whether to implement an idea or not.  But of one thing I can be sure - my wife will always be there to remind me of the things that didn't work out so well.  Sometimes, a dose of reality is needed.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com