“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”

— Albert Einstein

September’s Muse

Don’t Tell the Dream Crusher

Albert Einstein on a bicycle, 1933. Photograph by Ben Meyer. Courtesy of Caltech Archives and Special Collections.

Gibby’s Big Dream: Find a REALLY big source of water…and a beach! Photo by Wendy Stieg

Like really laughing at bar ends on a bike.

Paul thinks they are a bad idea and wouldn’t be caught dead using them on any of HIS bikes, and really scoffs at them. He thinks they are so messed up that he wants to write a coffee-table book, take photos all over Boulder, and call it Boulder Bar Ends.

Mind you, he is, in fact, making fun of people who like bar ends and have them on their bikes.

I feel a little bit bad as we are making fun of people, except they do kind of look ridiculous with bar ends on their bikes…

But Boulder Bar Ends aside, I love how creative he is. He comes up with some of this on the fly, and other things have been floating around in his brain for a while. Like Safety Third. He thinks we could build a whole cottage industry around that one.

This Month’s Muse is Different

I wanted to really dig into inspiration. I have looked at inspiration from different perspectives, but this time I remembered something I wanted to invent when I was in college. While it stayed with me, it also made me think about who you should and, more importantly, should not tell. But it all started on a beach long ago…

Inspiration Strikes

I was lucky enough to go to college in Hawaii. It was an unusual place to go to college for many reasons, but it was also home to a lot of international students, and it was really awesome to learn from them and get a hold of different perspectives on things.

Okay, so I had a routine: Wake up, go to school, take a nap on the blue plastic couch in the ladies' room between my first and third class periods, go to class, go to W & M Burger (I was not always a vegetarian), go back to class, go to the UH Library because Chaminade's was small, go to work, go home.

Or, if I didn't have work, go to the beach, go home.

What I found was inspiration...there I was, sitting in an actual beach chair. I had it sitting on my towel in the sand, at the beach right across the street from the house where I was renting a room near Diamond Head.

I was reading, studying, underlining all over the textbook, writing down that phone number stuck in my head, checking on my locked bike, and going for a swim. Back to the now-wet towel and my now-wet textbook.

Then suddenly it struck me: could I maybe invent something?

I remembered reading about some college kids who made an obscene amount of money selling tie-dyed underwear, as boxer shorts for both men and women. There was a small group of college juniors, in I want to say Florida, and they had an idea and saw it all the way through to fruition.

After that thought came the inspiration, and I could really see it in my mind! A beach chair with a cup holder and a small table you could move up and over your lap so you could more easily read, write, or study. The chair could be ordered with your college mascot, colors, and logo right on the table. I could SEE it. I suddenly got really excited and wondered if THAT was THE idea. You know the one, where you make millions of dollars and then everything in your life goes according to your plans.

I can still see this beach chair, and I still wonder if someone else came up with that idea.

What do you do if you get an idea but you have no idea how you’ll make it happen? Building Best of Both Worlds explores this.

Don’t Do What I Did

A while after that happened, I moved to a different house. On a different side of the island. With different roommates. And I was about to commit the cardinal sin any time you get an amazing revelation like this. I told someone.

But not just anyone. It was My Roommate, the Dream Crusher.

I think I got suckered into it because he brought up some idea or other, which sparked my memory of the beach chair, so I slowly eased into it with my story about the tie-dyed underwear, made by college kids. He said, "Oh yeah. The underwear people. That wasn't even a very good idea."

Apparently, there were signs. Copper Mountain, circa 2016. Photo by Wendy Stieg

Random people on a beach in San Diego, CA. Photo by Wendy Stieg

I thought my idea was safe with him because I thought he would actually like my idea. I thought that was an invitation to spring my amazing beach chair idea upon him, since it was obviously way better than underwear.  I was so excited to tell him. Despite what should have been a warning, I persisted. And yes, I did tell him.

"Yeah, most people never do anything about their ideas. Most of those ideas are just too far-fetched. And you? How would you even make a prototype? Do you even know how to use any power tools?"

Whaaa whaaaaa. So perhaps my beach chair was a learning experience.

Sometimes you have to just START, even if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. Michelangelo and the Moving Truck explores this idea.

Paul still wants to “write” this book. Boulder Bar Ends by Paul Lampe

My Husband the Dream Creator

I still get really crazy ideas, and thankfully my husband Paul does too. You know Paul, the guy who re-engineers pants and shirts to his liking and comes up with his own temperature-control measures.

He does have some pretty fantastical ideas. He wants to build a special bike with a hot dog cart that he rides around on while selling "Lips and Holes" to people. He would literally have a sign trying to entice hot dog eaters that reads, “LIPS & HOLES.” I am not sure I would call it that, but he has a vision.

Then there is the idea of creating various T-shirts, coffee-table books, and sayings. He does have some really great ones, and then there are the funny but almost mean ones.

So despite my own crazy ideas, he does not shoot them down. Although, in all honesty, I kind of shot one of his ideas down, just the other day, because I was worried about how it might be perceived.

This is Paul. At Arapahoe Basin’s Beach. Of course, before Paul gets too carried away making fun of other people's questionable choices, I should probably remind everyone of something his own mother once said about him: “Paul is a very nice person who wears the weirdest clothes.”

What if I AM THE DREAM CRUSHER?!?

And then I suddenly realized! Had I JUST become a Dream Crusher? OHHHH NOOOO! It can't be! One must be careful when shooting down dreams because that dream might end up becoming something.

Maybe other people out there find bar ends on a bike hilarious. And maybe if you are weird enough to add bar ends to your bike, then you deserve to be placed in a coffee-table book. I would not be at all surprised if there is a whole population of people out there who feel equally validated about making fun of people who must use bar ends on their bikes. I would have to say it is not far off from people who insist on using Snowblades. They need a coffee-table book making fun of them because who would USE Snowblades?

Look at those boots. Look at those skis. Look at that form. I had absolutely no business judging anyone's bar ends.

But in all seriousness, think about it. The college kids with the underwear did, in fact, make money. And not just a small amount of money. And there are people who have built entire industries around better binoculars, a tent you can wear made of fleece, and power washers so strong you can wash the siding off your house.

But don't worry, we have really extra-strong glue so you can put it all back on. And it might just cut through that tomato like a hot knife through butter. The knife is in existence, and it is called the Ginsu. Maybe, just maybe, Ronco will eventually become Paulco. And there will also be coffee-table books.

Inspiration is a Fun Wave to Catch

Really, when you think about it, inspiration is fun. It's silly. It makes you laugh and gives you a sense that anything is possible. If you can make a tent you can wear, maybe anything IS possible! I should probably also say that some of my facts may be a little off. But you get the point.

Keep in mind that this is all from memory, from back in the days when we would come home from school, get buttered toast or cereal, go downstairs, and watch Gilligan's Island and My Favorite Martian, plus all the Ronco commercials. The sugar and the magical TV shows might have messed with my head, so I can't promise you that everything I just said was purely factual.

Maybe some ideas aren’t failures. Maybe they’re just unfinished. Second Quarter’s Muse‍ ‍explores what can happen when you keep going anyway.

So back to inspiration.

I thought I would look and see if my beach chair is even in existence. Maybe take a look and see for yourself!

So the next time you get a wild hair, identify who the Dream Crusher is in your life, and definitely DO NOT TELL THEM. Maybe the Dream Crusher made this beach chair! I will never know, but I do know this: My dreams are just as important to me today as ever. I am grateful to be married to a man with an incredible sense of humor who actually asked me if I wanted to make my version of the beach chair. To that I say, MAYBE! There is a pretty damn good chance we may be living on a beach in the next few years anyway! Maybe that long-ago inspiration just needed a beach, and I am certain I do too.

OMG it DOES exist! I actually found this on Wayfair