Semi-pro Inventor

Jim and I pulled up to a stop light before we got on the freeway. There was a car behind us with over-sized thumping bass speakers rattling our windows.

“I’d like to invent a mirror amp that reflects the sound back to him so that it’s too much and he has to turn it down.” I said.

Jim didn’t say anything.

“Do you invent things?’ I asked.

Turns out Jim had been waiting for someone to ask him that.

I took him out past Waukesha West High School. It’s a much longer trip than we usually make but ... there were special circumstances.

It turns out he’s a semi-pro bowler that has been downsized and is out of work. And for the moment that’s fine with him. More time for bowling and working on his invention.

We talked about marketing, manufacturing, packaging, distribution - the whole sticky ball of wax. I’ve been in the wax before. I heard him make small, pleasing sounds a couple times when I passed along an idea or two.

Anyway, if you bowl a lot your thumb will expand. If you play long enough it will contract again. In order to bowl consistently it’s better not to have your thumb changing sizes. He fashioned a Velcro closure, elastic band to harness the thumb between frames. And, according to him, it works. He might have been my first inventor.

Anyway, if your thumb is changing sizes and ruining your game, keep your eyes open at the lanes. There might be something coming just for you.

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