The Griffin SightLight.

I’ve always been excited by imagining new things, products, toys, funny t-shirts. The idea that I could come up with something nobody else has ever thought of has been a favorite pastime since I was a kid. But the concept that these ideas could actually become real things is a different story. Out of all these silly ideas, I’ve only followed through with one of them. That one became the SightLight, a light that slips over Apple’s iSight web cam. I based the idea on the fashion photographer’s flash ring. It is now available at Amazon, Apple’s retail stores, all over the place. And the best part is that it’s exactly the way I first designed it. There was very little R&D to be done, and now over 10,000 have been sold. I’m very happy with the outcome of the little partnership. Not because I’m going to retire off the profits, (because I’m certainly not!) Simply because it represents widespread validation of an idea I thought of, that’s all.

Here are just a couple of the other ideas I’ve had, doubted, forgotten about, and seen in action after it was way too late.

5 years ago, I imagined how cool it would be to buy a foam pumpkin that was molded and colored exactly like a real one. Kids could carve it with a dull knife, making it safe to do on their own. Secondly, the child’s creation would be preserved forever – rather than in a decaying gourd – so it could be used over and over, adding a new one each year to show their artistic progress! Finally, it would use a low-watt light bulb rather of candles, making it safe to leave unattended while the family is out trick-or-treating.

Several years later, I walked into Bed Bath and Beyond and glimpsed… the Fun-kin.

Second example… we bought a new car in 2001. Having no garage meant we were forced to keep it on the street, and it drives me nuts that people use my bumper to tell them when to stop. I thought – wouldn’t it be cool if there were some kind of padding on the front and back bumper to protect it as people pull in front and behind us? You could even be sure it wasn’t gone in the morning by building in straps, that close in your trunk or hood to lock it in place.

Surely there must be such a thing think of the millions of city dwellers without garages! But after searching for hours on the web, even looking through the lists of exhibitors at car product expos… nothin’. Not too long afterwards, we moved to a new place with a garage, and I promptly forgot about it (since the problem didn’t affect me anymore.) But sure enough, just the other day… I came rolling down our street and saw… the Bumper Pad.

Oh well… I’ve still got you, SightLight.

Click for the tracklisting.

After an extremely difficult week, I needed a little spot of sunshine. Well, today it showed up… in my mailbox. Inside was my box set chronicling the complete works of Scott Joplin. (Relax Mom, I’m making you a copy.) Four CDs of ragtime music, performed by the incredibly talented Guido Nielsen. The album was recorded digitally as Nielsen played on a full-size grand piano. The quality is stunning, and his handling of the tunes is amazing. He plays with the accuracy of a firing squad, every last note in perfect rhythm. But the songs don’t sound mechanical at all. They very much reflect the intended mood of the pieces, and I’m left feeling convinced that Joplin would be thrilled by the results. Nothing fluffy or romaticised… it’s just the way Joplin would have wished he could play them (rumor has it, he was a lousy performer!)

Even the artwork for this set is incredible. Chris Ware, the greatest comic book artist and illustrator living today (and proud Chicagoan,) designed the box set, right down to the artwork on the discs themselves. His interpretation of early 20th century design is a perfect compliment to the music, further transporting you to that time period.

This ragtime music is a happy trip down memory lane for me, listening to these songs from the “back back” of our clunky, brown Olds station wagon.

Here’s a Flash-based teaser for Ware’s graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan, Smartest Kid on Earth.

Re with my mom.

My grandma Re has left this world. I talked with her nearly every day of my life. Sometimes for over an hour, sometimes just a minute or two. We spent hour after hour together every week, and right up to the end – just minutes before she passed – I told her for the last time how much I love her, and how I knew she was improving every minute – that nothing could remove her from God’s care. She left this world knowing she was surrounded by people who adored her, particularly my mom, who was at her side nearly every minute of the day.

As kind and generous as anyone I’ll ever know, Re has been the biggest influence my life. Right or wrong, everything I’ve done as an adult, and ever will do, will be partly with the hope that she would approve. Her motives were purely to express love, and to be as generous as she could possibly be. Re has cast a long shadow over our whole family – a legacy that includes the deepest sensitivity and love for children, an empathy for the innocence of animals, for seeing immense beauty in nature, and in her wish to follow Christ’s example. I’ll carry all of that with me forever, and it is the greatest gift she could ever give.

Re and grandpa Bob spent their lives stopping for any poor family they ever passed in a broken car. They gave them money to have it fixed, bought food for the children. They clothed complete strangers, gave tens of thousands of dollars and countless, articles of clothing to the Salvation Army, (each little t-shirt lovingly ironed and folded,) delivered dozens of hams each Thanksgiving to be passed out to needy families, and took blankets to a camp of Native Americans in a blizzard as the government ignored them. Re would confront a parent yelling at their child in the middle of a mall… she could not stand to see a frightened child. Bob would give up literally anything he had to someone that needed it more. They were people that stepped in wherever there was a need, unconditionally. And they didn’t wait for someone to ask, they were already there. They viewed everyone through the lens of pure love, and that’s what I will try to live up to every day.

Re and Bob with my brother and me.