Interesting, I thought. The next thing I did was check my Google RSS reader for possible postings for SparkBugg. I had 108 postings so far for today. Which I thought was interesting in light of the last paragraph of my posting #71 below, from last night.

And today is the one year anniversary of SparkBugg. Yay for me.

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But life goes one, and the pull of posting feels like an obligation. There is slight growth in readership, but nothing close to my grandiose fantasies of thousands of adoring fans. I have a few, like Luke and the Birdman, and that may be enough for now.

But am I doing this for others, for validation? Maybe not. It is my own record of bright ideas, a record that happens to be public, perhaps. It is for myself, as inspiration as I one day form a invention house and need to spark more ideas.

Tonight, I saw that there were 108 hits for the day. Earlier today, I was waiting behind a fire truck, with that number 108, and it reminded me of the tv show Lost (see the Wikipedia post here), and I thought the possibility that there may be cosmic coincidences in life. It may be for this reason alone, that I continue posting. Some sign for me that there may be meaning there. That reason, and the support of Hechter, Birdman, and Luke, of course.

I am glad to say, that as I have been posting on SparkBugg more regularly, there is a steady rise in the average daily hits. It has been almost a year now of posting now, so it is good to feel like there is some movement. Thanks for visiting, and I hope that you return.

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Thanks to Greg, a generous stranger, my visits to SparkBugg are spiking these past few hours. Five times more visits have come via Stumble than directly.

Apparently, Greg simply added SparkBugg to his Stumbles, and that somehow is leading other people to my blog. Sweet! Check out Stumble Upon if you haven’t already. Much gratitude, Greg!

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Wow. I got on the PBS show, Everyday Edisons (EE), Season 2. I am so excited and blessed. My table-top game was one of the 12 inventions picked from about 10,000, for development, marketing, and production via EE and Bouncing Brain (BB) Productions.

To start at the beginning of my EE journey, click HERE.

To simply read a lengthy post about the announcement this past weekend, click on…

Though I got my notarized annuity agreement back to EE after the deadline last week (always the procrastinator, I am), I was still considered to be in the top 25 vying for the final 12-14 spots for EE.2. The announcement of whether or not I was actually chosen was schedule for that Sunday, 5/6.

On a sunny Sunday, I went with my wife to the 4 pm meeting time at the new USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) in Alexandria, VA, conveniently 10 minutes away from my new home. It is an awesome new building (see HERE), and announcement was being filmed in the USPTO Museum.

Outside, I bumped into a fellow finalist as we tried to figure out how to get into the building. He was a very friendly Chinese man (I think) from Maryland, there for his 4:30 appointment. He didn’t speak very good English, and I don’t speak any Mandarin or Cantonese, so we weren’t able to discuss our inventions or experience.

I was excited and running late, and was about to barge into the previous announcement being filmed at that moment, but the EE camera man signaled me to wait outside the Museum.

Around 4 pm, the beautiful and sweet Meredith Beck (Communication Specialist) came to greet me, and lead us into the Museum, to a back room, for the pre-announcement interview. I met the camera man, Daniel, and he miked me up. Meredith asked several questions (How did I come up with the invention? How did my friend convince me to go to the auditions? What would making it on the show mean to me?). I bumbled some answers (I sure hope they edit me well) and was clearly nervous (the camera man even commented on my nervousness). After the questions, they lead me out to the main part of the museum (pictured below).

For the announcement, I sat in a chair in front of a table, waiting. Meredith commented on the huge glass-enclosed shoe in the room, saying it was Shaquille O’Neil‘s, and it was size 23. (Note: this was a good sign, since the number 23 has had personal and synchronistic significance for me for many years now: see the 23 Enigma).

Then, Louis Foreman, one of the executive producers of EE and the founder of Enventys, came from “backstage” and approached me. He began to talk about all the great inventions they had come across during the auditions, over 10,000, and eventually said something about the toughest part of his job is telling people their invention didn’t make it onto the show. More anxiety crept in for me, and I thought that I would become the token deflatee for the show, to make for good viewing as a contrast to the other happy winners.

But, no, Louis would not be having to break bad news to me, since I was chosen to be one of the final 12 for Season 2! I was speechless. I think I said “Wow” a few times. I felt humbled and grateful, like a life-sentenced convict being pardoned and released from prison for good-behavior. I was also aware of the camera and feeling the pressure to say something clip-worthy, like “I am going to DisneyLand!” I couldn’t come up with much more than “Wow,” and “Thanks so much.” Louis gave me permission/reminded me to hug my wife, who was off-camera.

On the way back to the previous small room for the post-interview, I felt a surge of energy. I shook some of it out. By the time I got in the room, my face and hands were tingling, and I felt like I was going to pass out. I took a moment to collect myself, and answered a few more questions (Like how does it feel? What does this mean to me? What word sums up the moment? “Surreal”).

Louis came in to congratulate me again. He asked if I had seen Season 1 yet, and I told him, not yet, because it hasn’t been shown in my area. He mentioned that the next step would be filming a home visit in about a month, with production starting soon after. Louis ended with some encouragement to go celebrate (which I did).

On the way out, I wished the Chinese man good luck, and when I got outside, I ran around a little bit to burn some of the energy, and then I started crying for a moment.

This is really a dream come true for me. I have many ideas, but I don’t have what is needed to bring them to fruition. EE and BB will be the team I need to help me take this pivotal and huge step towards becoming an inventor. As I mentioned in the post-interview, making the show was a moment that was 33 years in the making for me. I can’t wait for what lies ahead.

I will keep you, my curious reader, updated every step of the way. And I thank you for being a small part of this journey with me.

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Over 2,176 hits on April 14th! How frackin’ great! It was a link to my Lamplamp posting, via B2.is. I wondered if IS was for Israel, but the comments (over a dozen of them) didn’t seem like they were in Hebrew.

Then, Clustr map showed an overnight bubble growth on Iceland, so it confirmed to me that IS is for Iceland.

Wild. Once again, I love how the web makes this world a cozier place.

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Yesterday, I got a call from Louis Foreman, the head of Enventys and one of the judges for Everyday Edisons (the PBS invention show). He informed me that I am one of the remaining 25 auditioners vying for 12-14 spots for season 2 of EE. I was honored, excited, and in shock. I was also a little discombobulated since the call came during the unpacking chaos of the first day in our new home. So that evening, surrounded by boxes and newspaper, my wife and I drank champagne in front of our first fire and had two great things to celebrate.

EE will be in DC on May 6th, and it will be then and there that they announce those selected for the show. It has been an amazing journey and I anxiously await the final word. No matter what the outcome, I am even more determined than ever to fully pursue my dream of being an inventor.

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For the announcement and outcome, click HERE.

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I have much gratitude to Kristin Pishdadi, the creator of Wiphey.com.

She was kind enough to post this comment on her blog: “SparkBugg is quickly becoming one of my favorite wordpress.com blogs. I really enjoyed this one here that has a camera & frame attached to a kite to take aerial photography.”

Her comment alone is more validating then hundreds of hits.

But because of her post, I have also gotten about 100 referrals from her site. This also indicates how popular her blog is.

Thanks again!

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The cool website UniqueDaily.com featured one of my posts (#207: the Concealed Towel Shelf), and it resulted in a massive influx of new visitors (660-680). Thanks so much! I have no idea how they found my blog.

Peculiarly, they linked to SparkBugg’s posting of the towel shelf, despite the fact that the same shelf was being featured in many other more popular blogs. Thus, I consider UniqueDaily’s link to SparkBugg.com even more fortunate.

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