Erin, Matt’s wife here…..I’m excited to report that Everyday Edisons Season 2 premieres today on several PBS affiliates.   You can check out the EE website which features Season 2 inventors here (Matt is on the right, in the green shirt).   Sadly, we won’t be able to see it today as our DC PBS station isn’t airing it in June or July (for your location and times, go here).   It’s been an exciting ride over the past 18 months being part of the show and we are thrilled that viewers will be able to see the journey!

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Check it out: the Promo for Everyday Edisons, Season 2. I am the guy in the black SparkBugg.com t-shirt (with my wife, also sporting the shirt).

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Here is a Bright Idea…try to see if this blog can help with an important cause. A dear friend of mine has multiple sclerosis, and I will be joining her and her team for the MS walk this April 5th. I have pledged $100 to the cause. If you would like to contribute as well, or just learn more about MS, please click HERE.

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I am coming up on one year of posting, but am quickly running out of steam. Lately, I have been debating retiring SparkBugg, but will continue, albeit with less frequent postings, for now.

I am still grateful to have any readers at all. Thank you.

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I just spent all day yesterday traveling to Charlotte, NC, to meet the folks at Enventys and Bouncing Brain, and my fellow inventors, for Season 2 of Everyday Edisons. That is why I hadn’t posted in a couple of days. I also plan to share more details about my travels in my neglected blog, MetaBugg.

Also, I just realized the SparkBugg mailbox has been full and maxed out for a while (via GoDaddy) so I cleared it out. Sorry if you have been emailing me and not hearing back.

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Dear Readers: Sorry that it took a couple of days to post: my home wireless modem is down (again), and I no longer work at my University job (i.e. no office internet access). I finally got access here at Panera, after the signal was too weak at Bear Rock Cafe, I didn’t have a reservation at the library, and realized you need T-mobile for the nearby Starbucks. Thanks for your patience. - SparkBugg

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Sorry about the delay in posting. I was in Pittsburgh for our good friends’ wedding all weekend (yay, Donna and Tim!). But, starting this Monday, I will be back to sharing Bright Ideas with all you loyal readers. Thanks.

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Hello, readers. I am writing you from an internet cafe in Charleston, SC (we are visiting my sister-in-law). Sorry about the delay in posting, but I had a broken modem last week, then the last several days I spent at a NC beach with no internet access. And since my vacation is continuing, I most likely won’t be able to post until next week. Thanks for your patience.

BTW, my childhood crush Mary Stuart Masterson was just sitting two tables down. Some Kind of Wonderful was one of my favorite movies as a teenager. I had to share that with you.

Talk to you all soon.
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Huge thanks goes out to my brother, Mark, for making this awesome header.  He just taught himself Photoshop this year as a hobby.  Lucky for me.

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For $15 a year and some self-taught basic HTML and CSS skills, WordPress allows me to tweak the look of the site. I wanted to make the font more legible, hyperlinks more obvious, and change the color scheme. Hopefully, soon, I will design a better header. Being creative is fun!

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Another reasons things have been hectic around here: I made it onto Season 2 of the PBS show, Everyday Edisions. I am so thrilled. If you are interested, you can read about this all HERE.

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Dear Loyal Visitors and Readers: sorry for the lack of postings of late. Computer problems at home and no time at work has made it hard to post. However, work will be slowing down next week and for the rest of the summer (I work at a university) so I plan to post a lot more and more consistently very soon. Thanks for your patience.

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Because of B2.is, I got over 2000 hits a few days ago (about a 1000% increase over the daily average). Thanks, my Icelandic friends, for visiting! And thanks to B2.is, for listing a link to my LampLamp post. Read more about the statistics here ( @ Metabugg.com).

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Hello, everyone! I am back, finally. Thanks for your patience. Not only did I not have web access at home, a nasty cold kept me from work and Panera, so there was no chance to post at all. But, the Comcast cable man came today and hooked me back up. Nice.

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Dear readers: unfortunately, for the next week, there will less then average postings. I just moved into a new home, and haven’t been able to set up internet access yet. I am writing you, today, via free WiFi at a local Panera Bread (I love this place). So, please bear with me as I set up home web access, unpack, and get settled. I am anxious to be back posting regularly, so I will be writing more soon. Thanks.

SparkBugg

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I am trying to link up with blog search engines, so I am posting links:

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The following few posts (or preceding few, depending on how you read blogs) contain some content of questionable taste. Partly serendipitous (I came across all three this weekend), and partly deliberate (I chose to post on each, and in succession), it is my hope that they make you laugh, and not repel you from SparkBugg.com forever.

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Umm…too much pressure to have a special posting for #200, so I decided to do this easy metapost. This reminds me of the pressure I feel on birthdays, anniversaries, and New Years Eve. Oh, well.

It’s over now…on to #201.

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Welcome, Sunday Source readers! I had the great fortune of getting a mention in the Post (article HERE), and I now have the pleasure of welcoming you to my blog.

This is a blog about ideas: mine, others, and maybe even yours. Feel free to read more About SparkBugg.com HERE. Quick Start Guide: IdeaSparks* are my ideas, Bright Ideas are everyone else’s; background reading music to your right (click on the Sonific Songspot play button).

If you are interested in more about the PBS show Everyday Edisons, check out their website HERE. Also, if you are interested in my account of the DC auditions (where I am currently a finalist in consideration for the show), go HERE.

Well, I hope you stick around and, if I am even luckier, join in on the conversation!

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Welcome, DC neighbors and Washington Post Express readers! Your curiosity brought you here, and I hope I can keep you coming back with regularly updated content of Bright Ideas.

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Sorry about the recent relative absence of postings. It has been a very social weekend, and my free time has been devoted to editing my next video (of an artist). I plan to post more tonight and/or tomorrow, as well as uploading the video real soon.

Also, there has been a recent spike in traffic (from an average of 60 hits/day, to 137 today thus far). Whyever and from whereever, I am grateful. Welcome.

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I have not been posting as much as usual the last few days. This is mostly due to my recent last-minute decision to audition for the PBS inventing show, Everyday Edisons. The DC auditions are over, so I am back to posting more regularly. It was a long, exciting day of auditioning, and one of my IdeaSparks* is being considered for the show!

If interested, you can read more details over at MetaBugg (click HERE).

(Artwork found at www.intentblog.com )

Posting 119 (Bright Idea: Magnetic Jewelry) was inspired by a video someone just sent me. That event was one part of a very synchronistic 24 hours. Click on if you are curious and willing to read a long posting about 3 recent interesting coincidences…

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SO, here is an account of three interesting idea-related coincidences that occurred in the past 24 hours. I thought it was significant enough to post it here, and not MetaBugg.

YESTERDAY: irrelevant background {My wife and drove home from Louisville, KY. It was a 10-hr drive; I listened to some of the 10-Second Internet Manager (that’s what they had at the library), while my wife watched 2 episodes of Gilmore Girls on DVD . We spent a lot of time discussing investing in one of my ideas (”Idea X”) that I have been kicking around my head for about 2 years (Idea X is the only IdeaSpark* I currently have and don’t plan to post on in Sparkbugg).}

We also got a call from our good friend, Rachel, who asked if I had watched a Youtube clip she and her husband, Jason, just sent me via email. I hadn’t, and she didn’t tell me what it was about.

We arrived home to Arlington, VA about 8 pm, greeted by 10 days worth of mail. I eventually read the Williams College Allumni magazine’s class update section to see what all my peers were up to these days. I tore out (exhibit 1a:) a page that mentioned that a guy I happened to remember, Zack Wiseman, and how he just started a company that sells “interactive magnetic jewelry.” I wanted to know what this jewelry thing looked like, but I forgot the laptop in the car and I was too lazy to get it that night. I planned to see if I could Google the product the next day.

THAT NIGHT: I kept myself up until 4 am as I found myself trying think of new parlor games. One game happens to involve (exhibit 2a:) a table-top game, where one iteration involves three players.

THE NEXT DAY: When I got home from my errands, my wife later greeted me when I got back from walking with Barkley (who looks a little like this). Right away, she tells me of an interesting coincidence that happened to her that day: earlier, she turned the tv on and immediately came across (exhibit 3a:) Oprah interviewing the authors of the book, “Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die”). Later that day, she came across the latest issue of Psychology Today, and opened it up right to (exhibit 3b:) an article about the same book. My wife wondered if it was a sign related to our previous day’s discussion about pursuing Idea X.

Later that hour, I opened up an email from my friend, Dave. It was (exhibit 2b:) a link to an article about a man who invented a similar ping pong table-top game. Dave rarely sends me articles. I was nervous, initially, but it looks a little different from my idea.

I also then checked out the Youtube video friend Rachel had called me about. It was (exhibit 1b:) the video of magnetic jewelry. (This is significant because Rachel never sends me video clips or ideas).

In summary: within the past 24 hours, there was seeming synchronicity involving an innovative product (magnetic jewelry), the book Made to Stick, and my ping-pong game idea.

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Admittedly, I have been posting less frequently lately, but this is temporary. For more update info, and the Global Shout Out, click HERE…

I posted # 96 (about a Bright Idea in a Singapore mall) the same day that Singapore became the first international city to reach 10 visitors to SparkBugg (see the clustrmap). Singapore: represent! (For a slang definition of “represent,” click here). (However, upon closer inspection, I am wondering if that large red dot is actually Kuala Lumpur)

Read on for more meta-musings…

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I have corrected some cosmetic issues with this blog. I write the blog on Mozilla, and it looks fine from that browser. MS Explorer looks differently (with some text and pictures cut off). I think I have addressed the problem, and will be sure to check my postings on MSE, as well, before publishing from now on. Thanks for your understanding.

(According to the clustrmap…) SparkBugg.com welcomes Australia (Brisbane?), Tazmania, Hong Kong, Stockholm, Hawaii, Winnipeg, Toronto, Warsaw, and the additional English and fellow Americans. Thanks for letting your curiousity lead you here.

(Wow. I love how the internet makes this entire planet within reaching distance.)

I have to love Clustrmap. If it is accurate, then I must say hello to what looks like The Netherlands (perhaps Belgium), Hungary, Venezuela, Great Britain, South Africa, and my fellow United States of Americans.

My good friend Josh is visiting tonight, coming back home from Budapest, but he swears he hadn’t checked my site in some time. But Hungary visited Sparkbugg.com yesterday. Go figure.

I have Yahoo Unlimited Music, To Go for my Creative Vision M. This random song is what happens to be playing as I write this post. It is Regina Spektor (to listen, click on Summer in the City). I like it. Maybe you will, too.

We just cracked 1000 hits! Thanks readers. Keep ‘em coming.

Dear readers: at the end of most IdeaSparks*, you will see this icon:

If you choose to click on it, it will send you to the posting of that particular IdeaSpark* on the popular news site, Digg.com. If you choose to register on Digg (one-time only; free, quick, and easy), you can then “Digg” that IdeaSpark*, as well as any other cool stories on Digg.com. “Digging” it means you give it a thumbs up, a vote of support. If certain stories get enough Diggs, they get promoted to the front page of the site. If it doesn’t get enough Diggs, it eventually gets removed from the site.

Now I don’t have any delusions about getting to the front page, but I do hope that the occasional Digg of an IdeaSpark* will keep it alive on Digg.com a little longer, and thus, more people may see it and come check out SparkBugg.com.

I appreciate any support you are willing and able to provide.

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