I did.
As a kid, I’d sometimes stare at the ceiling at night and think about things. (Who am I kidding? I still do that!) But, back then I’d think about stuff like time-travel and aliens and ghosts.
One night I thought about old ladies walking around. At the mall, in town, at an airport, or wherever. And I thought about how hard it was for them to get around. Then I thought it would be great for someone to make a way for them to move on sidewalks without walking. Then I thought about escalators and how they move people up and down stairs without walking… Then I thought that someone could lay the escalator flat and level, and people could stand on it to move.
Years later I bought a plane ticket to somewhere. On the way to my gate, I saw little old ladies standing still while moving. On sidewalks. Made out of flattened escalators.
Dang it.
28 responses so far ↓
Becky // November 7, 2008 at 10:10 am
Flattened escalators. That’s hilarious.
thejonmorris // November 7, 2008 at 10:16 am
i did the same thing with retractable dog leashes. dang it.
ramsey72 // November 7, 2008 at 10:36 am
When I was about 4 or 5 I figured out that if you hit the little red button on the escalator that it turns it off. I know because I pushed the button and then freaked out because i thought I broke the escalator and I thought I was going to get into a lot of trouble!
Heidi // November 7, 2008 at 10:42 am
I did the same thing… they call them roller blades now… DANG!!!
Marisa // November 7, 2008 at 11:38 am
@ramsey: lol!
Reminds me of when Ross says that he thought of Die Hard first…and later in the series, the “Got Milk?” slogan. (What happened to that? has anyone seen any of those ads lately?)
For some reason, I can’t think of anything I did like that. My brother, however, has had multiple ideas that later came into fruition…He made graphics for a Stewart/Colbert ‘08 ticket a good 4+ years before Colbert said he would run for president. He seems to be good at thinking of products that Mac produces years later…yet he hates Mac.
alece // November 7, 2008 at 11:47 am
you could’ve been a bajillionaire by now.
“dang it” is right.
Mike Mahoney // November 7, 2008 at 12:29 pm
When I was in college, I was thinking “someone should put coffee in a teabag so you could just make one cup.”
Bummer….
jon mark // November 7, 2008 at 2:31 pm
you could always try a lawsuit…but that would be tough to prove…may be very interesting story for the jury to listen to though…?
sara // November 7, 2008 at 2:57 pm
That is so cute. And I love that the idea came from empathy.
I’m not that good… I’m usually looking at a logical invention and thinking, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Never that I had thought of it first!
Jordan // November 7, 2008 at 3:43 pm
You’ve got to be kidding me Mike… I thought of the coffee-teabag thing too and then my mom brought home Folgers coffee singles! Yikes!!!
Brandy // November 7, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I hate when that happens!
Brandy // November 7, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I invented post its.
heehee
Brandy // November 7, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Totally kidding. Of course.
Gee, I hope everyone has seen Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion!
bellissimanh // November 7, 2008 at 4:19 pm
LOL… I’m not that creative, but my hubby is always dreaming up stuff and seeing it invented (with no input from him) years later. Remote car starters was one of his beauties.
Heather
Joy Renée // November 7, 2008 at 4:51 pm
ha. dangitttttttttttttttttttt.
don’tcha hate when that happens?
Joy Renée // November 7, 2008 at 4:52 pm
p.s. to brandy:
i TOTALLY got your reference as soon as i read it.
tam // November 7, 2008 at 8:52 pm
i can SO hear you telling this story!
im laughing.
see! you make me laugh.
with you. NOT at you.
much.
tam // November 7, 2008 at 8:53 pm
i love in your side bar it says “find mandy”
makes it appear your lost.
hello?
tam // November 7, 2008 at 8:53 pm
and “you’re” lost, too.
TheNorEaster // November 8, 2008 at 5:40 am
Umm…Well, I invented edible paper to cut down on trash. And I invented a way to save time when making a tuna fish sandwich: just fed the tuna fish mayonaise when it is still alive. And for spaghetti sauce, I realized that all we had to do is squeeze tomatos really, really hard when we pick them so now we have the sauce all ready.
Strange that nobody has ever used my ideas.
melissa irwin // November 8, 2008 at 11:49 am
hi. getting caught up today. i’m far behind on my fav blog reads. hope you are having a great women’s retreat!
Brandy // November 8, 2008 at 12:36 pm
TAMMY! The second I read “your lost” I thought “TAM!!! We talked about this!!” hahahaha!!
Jeanne @ Inspiring Ideas // November 8, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I hate it when that happens! If only we could patent our dreams ….
annie // November 9, 2008 at 2:20 am
This SO happens to me. And I have a few current ideas rattling around. I just never figure I could make money off them. Hmmm. I guess we’re all thinking that. Maybe ….
Does anyone know someone at the patent office?
tammit // November 9, 2008 at 8:23 pm
i know brandy. i let you down, for like, 4 1/2 seconds.
forgive me?
Abs // November 9, 2008 at 8:43 pm
You are so random - I love it!
Full of Joy // November 9, 2008 at 11:42 pm
My hubby does it all the time, seriously, all the time he is like ‘look remember when I invented that?’ and I am like ‘look could you patten (or is it paton) one of those ideas and make us a million+’ to which he replies ‘what would be the fun in that? the fun is in the inventing.’ dang.
carrie-the gremlin wrangler // November 10, 2008 at 12:46 am
I gave you something on my blog. It will be there shortly.