Idea-A-Day Four ~ Help a Brother Out.net

Idea Count: 4/20

Title: Help a Brother Out.net

Category: Social/Online

Feasibility: 8/10

Likelihood: 3/10

~~~~~

I like to go on dates. Dates are fun. I should go on more of them.

But see, I haven't been on too many dates. My bad.

But I distinctly remember homecoming. I remember that after all was said and done, after we had dropped the girls and Ryan off, me and kyle hung out at his house for a few minutes. We were both in our nice suits. We talked with his parents about how everything had gone, and thanked them for letting us have dinner there. As I started getting ready to go I turned to Kyle.

"Man, we totally pulled that off great. That worked out awesome. Good job buddy, way to go."

I really meant that statement. I felt great about the way that things had gone. We were pretty new to this business. It was a big endeavor, really. We had to pull off a day activity, dinner, the dance, AND shakes at Arctic Circle. We had to do it without real drivers' licenses and on a budget less than 50 dollars. While I stood there in the doorway ready to leave, we both looked back and a big smile came to our faces.

"Yeah, we did do pretty well, didn't we? Wow, we nailed that one. Booyah, let's do it again some time."

I was proud of him and Ryan for pulling the date off. Heck, I was even proud of myself. I was proud of our girls for not calling us tightwads and running away when we made them run through the forest in their dresses.

At the end of the day, we could look back and realize that we'd pulled it off. We had such a good time, and everything worked out great. It was golden, really.

And really, I don't understand why I haven't gone on more dates like this. I guess you could ascribe it to my lack of money, lack of lady skills, lack of whatever.

But really, it comes down to ideas. I rarely have good date ideas.

To illustrate this point, I'll fill you in on the most recent idea I had for a date.

So, it's a double date, maybe more. In any event, you split up into your couples, and each couple gets a hunk of play-doh/salt dough (bonus points if you make the salt dough earlier as part of the date). Anyways, you begin with a random noun that you pull out of a hat, like a cat. It's the first team's responsibility to mold a cat in 60 seconds or less. And then, it's team two's responsibility to think of something that beats a cat and then mold it, all in 60 seconds or less. At that point, it's back to team A, who has to beat whatever team B molded.

So, for example-

Team A does water, so Team B, to beat them, does Ice. Team A melts the ice by molding fire, but Team B puts the fire out with a fire extinguisher. Team A makes a fire extinguisher with a hole in it, so Team B molds duct tape to fix the hole. Team A, faced with no other option, molds Chuck Norris.

It goes on like that till you get bored, or can't beat the other guy. I'm not sure why I think this would be so much fun, I just do.

But this illustrates two points. First, I rarely have cool date ideas. Second, my cool date ideas really aren't that cool.

So, how do we remedy this? I want to go on dates, but I don't have any cool date ideas. Michael wants to go on dates, but he can't think of anything either. I recently emailed my brother in Costa Rica asking for date ideas, I was that desperate. He pulled through with some good ones, things I'll hopefully implement by summer, but that's beside the point...

So, how do we fix the problem?

-Ahem-

It, like most of my social problems, can be solved by the Internet.

We create a new branch of the Taylorsville Alliance. We call it Help-A-Brother-Out.net.

The main attraction will be a huge collection of date ideas. Before the site is launched, we'll send out several dedicated individuals on quests to collect as many good date ideas as they can. They'll ask their siblings, they'll ask their parents. They'll take surveys around homecoming and sweethearts and Prom to find out what worked well and what didn't. They'll create a huge database, and we'll put it online.

But the fun doesn't end there, oh no. Once it's up and running, you'll be able to log in to the site. You'll have a few options at this point. The easiest will be our custom "Suggest-A-Date" feature. You'll click this little link, and then fill in some information relevant to the search. The site will ask a few questions to find out what you're looking for. Example

• Number of people involved?
• Price Range?
• Time Limit?
• Desired Complexity Level?
• End Goal? (Friends, Romantic, Impress, Obligation, Etc. Etc.)
• Fun? Serious? Adventure?
  
• Time of Day?
• Season?
• Etc...

Then, taking these things into consideration, we'll search the database and suggest five or so dates that will fit your needs.

That's the quick way out. Of course, you'd have to be able to search the whole database, search by price range, search by desired complexity, whatever whatever.

So, there are good ideas, that's cool. But we can take it one step better.

There'll be a rating and comment feature. After someone goes on the date, they can come back and leave a comment, that others will see when they check that date out. Stuff like "Worked great, they loved it." Or "Lamesauce, girls didn't like insect hunting as much as you said they would." They could give it a rating from zero to five stars, and you'd see that on the searches. If you see a date with all sorts of stars, hooray, it'll go over well. A date with fewer stars, well, that's harder to make go well, but still possible.

And then there'd by the suggest-a-date. Instead of having my team of crack dating ninjas provide all the ideas, people like you could suggest an idea. You could write about a good date you went on, or just a good idea that you had. The more people that come and use the site, the more ideas you'll have, making it a better site. It'll be a party.

Aside from the database, there'd be the general dating advice. Elements of a good date, tips, tricks, etc. Maybe there'd even be a section dedicated to dances, the whole, asking and answering whatnot. There'd definitely be a calendar talking about local events that would make for good dates. Something like "Free concert at the park" or "There's this high school play, or this exhibit at the planetarium" It'd help people out, and that's what's important.

Why is it important? Because people need good date ideas. It will make peoples lives easier, really. It'll let people with good ideas help people without good ideas. All in all, it's going to be a party. It'd rely upon the community to really make it work.

So yeah, your one stop resource for all your dating needs. What do you think?

********************************
Title: Plan 5
Complexity: Epic
Results: Even More Epic
1,000,000 out of 5 stars.
********************************

Idea-A-Day Two ~ A Vital Improvement to the Region Dance

Idea Count: 2/20

Title: A Vital Improvement to the Region Dance

Category: Improvements/Upgrades

Feasibility: 8/10

Likelihood: 8/10

~~~~~

I love the region dance. You know it, I know it, we all know it.

Region dances are amazing for two reasons:

(in no particular order...)

Unity

I've got good friends. All of the guys I hang out with are Grade-A individuals. There's nothing quite as awesome as walking into the dance in my nice shirt and tie and being greeted by all my good friends in their nice shirts and ties. It's so great to hang out with all the good old fashioned stallions in a non-school setting. There's a social aspect there that's just amazing. Everybody cool is at the region dance. You get to see old friends, new friends, maybe even some Chinese friends.

It's a time to catch up and laugh with your buddies. It's a time to be able to just stand there and smile as you listen to Glen's most recent story of getting shut down by the ladies.

And then, when the music starts pumping, it's a time to line up with the all-stars and show the world what we're made of. You step in unison- you sweat in unison. There are few moments that have more electricity in the air than those first few measures of cotton eye joe or every time we touch, when all the guys are lined up, getting ready to go, eyes darting between one another. Smiles on our faces, we know that what's coming is going to be good. We've been waiting for this all night. For just a little while, everything in the world is going to be alright. You don't worry about anything else, you're in step with the greatest generation the world's ever seen. Austin, Alan, Kyle, Nick, Glen, Peter, Peter, Brad, Harsh. We're all out there, moving together. I can only assume that's how marching in step with an army must be. We're unstoppable, and we're grooving like mad men. Just you try and take a swing at any one of us, we won't let the bad guys win.

Girls

This requires no explanation. We all know why. But hey, since when has that stopped me?

At this point in my life, girls are like glaze on the donut. I suppose that, yes, theoretically I could live without them. But who just wants a regular donut? When given the option, who picks plain donuts over glazed donuts? Nobody does, that's who.

And it makes sense. Glazed donuts are better than plain donuts.

That's how it is with girls. The same way that glaze will take an ordinary donut and turn it into a delicious piece of pastral (adj. Of or relating to a pastry) magnificence, so will girls take the world and make it a more beautiful place to live. When they're around the world looks, smells, and is better.

Alls I'm going to say is this: modest mormon girls are the best kind of girls there are. And what better place to find them than at the region dance?

-ahem-

I've done a fair amount of study regarding region dances. I analyze and think about things, that's what I do.

And I often ask myself; what could have made this region dance better?

Aside from the stock answer of more slow songs, it always comes down to communication.

Lack of communication between the DJ and the participants is trouble.

Example: I'm standing there, sweating. A song just got over, and a new one is coming on. The beat is slow and irregular.

I turn to kyle, "Hey, is this slow?"

And he, still catching his breath from the last song, pauses for a moment. He beats his head along with the music for a few seconds, furrows his brow, and beats a few more. "No idea. Is anyone else dancing?"

I scan the gym. "Err, a few..."

He scans the gym. "Yeah, let's go."

I nod in agreement. "We're on the prowl, go go go."

And just then, the beat picks up, an electric guitar busts out a power chord, and all the sudden we're in a fast song. Kyle, who was quick to ask someone to dance, must awkwardly end the slow dance and sort of retreat back in to the shadows. I'm a little luckier, I delayed long enough to be spared the uncomfortable "Oh... it's fast.... haha..." Yeah, it's trouble.

And here is where the idea comes in. We need to increase the flow of information between the DJ and the participants. There is an easy way to do this, and I'm so surprised that nobody has done it before.

It's simple. You get a projector, and hook it to a laptop. Throughout the evening you constantly stream information on to that back wall. Everyone can turn around and see the following things:

• Current Time
• Current song, artist, album
• Duration of song, current spot in song, time left in song
• The next three songs coming up, the last three songs played
• How many minutes till the next slow song
• Total number of songs remaining
  
• Number of slow songs remaining
  
• Any other special messages. "We found a blue purse." "This is girls choice"
• Above all, it's going to say "This is a fast song!" or "This is a slow song!"

How is this going to make my region dance experience better? Check it out. Compare and contrast for life:

Without the projector:

I wonder what time it is. I ask Kyle, he doesn't have his watch. I rummage through my pockets, get the cell phone out. It's 8:34. I wonder when this song is going to end, I can't dance to it. It ends, and the mystery song comes on. The conversation we had earlier is replayed, me and kyle scientifically analyze the characteristics of the song. After 30 seconds we realize that it's slow, and scramble to find someone to dance with. I go into hunt mode, and scour the gym for someone not dancing yet. I have no idea who I want to dance with, I'm hoping that someone will just jump out at me once I see them. I run around, a minute passes, still no one available. They're all either dancing or hiding from me. After two whole minutes, I find someone, and we dance. A minute later, the song ends.

And the chorus of ladies says: "Lamesauce (8)"

With the projector

I wonder what time it is. I turn around, it's 8:34, sweet. I see that there's a slow song coming up in two minutes. Who should I dance with? I'm not sure, but I've got two minutes to decide. After some intense thought while I pretend to dance like a gangster, I determine to dance with Girl A. As I see the song dwindling to the last 30 seconds, I gravitate in her direction. No way am I going to get beat to the punch. As soon as the first beat of the slow song starts, I'm boldly asking this girl if she'd like to dance. She glances over at the projector. It's a slow song, that's for sure. And it's only four minutes long, that's good. She sees that there are going to be seven more slow songs after this one. She agrees to dance with me. We dance the full four minutes, have a good time. I laugh, she laughs. The dance ends with a hug, things are good.

Why is the projector important? Because region dances are full of decisions. The more information we have, the better decisions we can make. At this point, region dances are full of mystery. I have no idea how many slow songs there are going to be, I have no idea when the next one is coming. I don't know when cotton eye joe will appear. What if I'm getting a drink when it comes on. I miss the party!

When I know that there are nine slow songs throughout the evening, I can plan accordingly. I know who I'm going to ask, and I locate them before I have to. There is nothing quite so frustrating as searching the room for someone while everybody else is dancing.

The projector makes my life easier. It helps me make good choices. It helps maximize the region dance.

After all, as the level of information we have goes up, our power goes up with it. We're able to make better choices. The projector will make the region dance a much better place.

Comments, concerns? Lay 'em on me. Anything else the projector should tell us? Leave me a message. Yeah buddy.

Idea-A-Day One ~ Go Time Spirit Consulting Inc.

Idea Count: 1/20

Title: Go Time Spirit Consulting

Category: Entrepreneurial-ism

Feasibility: 7/10

Likelihood: 5/10

~~~~~

February in Junior High was always the best month of the year. Spirit month allowed me an opportunity to dress as a ninja turtle and exhibit fierce leadership skills. It was a time for my competitive side to burst out and wreak havoc on anyone willing to get in the way of me and my spirit points.

Spirit month was intense for one reason: it lifted the bar.

Let me explain. In junior high everybody got 100% on the test. Nobody ever got less than an A. We were all the same in the lunchroom; we were all the same in everything we did. It was impossible for one student to out perform another, simply by the virtue that you could reach the top by giving a half hearted effort. When I showed up to game time with 120 points and Jason only showed up with 40, we both walked away with 100%. There was no difference in what we got back out of the system. Because you could only go so far before hitting the top, everybody won.

Helen: "Everyone's special, Dash."
Dash: "Which is another way of saying no one is."
-Elastigirl and her son, as Elastigirl (Helen) tries to explain why it's not ok for Dash to use his powers.

Spirit week removed the glass ceiling. For the first time in my educational career, I was free to give my best and be recognized for it. It didn't matter how far I went; there was always an open sky above me, beckoning me to excel even further.

There was no cap to creativity; there was no cap to intensity. There was never a point in spirit month where the- "Alright, that will do" -clause came in to effect. I could push as high as I wanted; no one was there to stop me.

Perfect example: Dallas Bruehl. It's 7th grade spirit month, the assembly. The big cheese, the final showdown. What happened here would largely determine the outcome of the entire month. Weeks and weeks of cleaning the lunch room and wearing makeup to school all came down to these final moments. Champions were selected from each grade to participate in brutal and hilarious competitions, all in the hopes of earning a few hundred spirit points and the respect and love of their classmates.

Dallas was selected as the seventh grade combatant for the food eating contest. He gracefully stepped up to the table. Noticeably shorter than the eighth and ninth grade competitors, he was written off from day one. Seventh graders never win.

The command was given, and three lone heroes began the disgusting march towards victory. The food before them was edible, yes, palatable, no. The eighth and ninth graders jumped in; they gave it their all. Bite after bite and mouthful after mouthful they downed the atrocious sustenance.

Dallas Bruehl was unfazed. A brilliant student with a slight attitude problem and a lack of motivation, he was looked upon as average during the scholastic school year. He was faceless, just like the rest of us.

Dallas attacked that monstrous plate with a tenacity and alacrity that first startled, then amazed the entire audience. He was efficient, fast, and machine-like in his war of attrition against the putrid food. No one had ever seen anything like it. He was massacring the competition; his onslaught was unprecedented.

The entire seventh grade student body, collectively, caught the fever. We knew we had this in the bag. He was blowing the bad guys away; he was unbelievable. A mighty rumble rose up and refused to die. A sea of supporters cheered and screamed for the mighty hero of ingestion.

Before long the competition drew to a close, and Dallas Breuhl was announced the victor. We all knew he was a hero; we all knew he was a legend. Within moments he was placed higher than he had ever been before. No longer Dallas Bruehl the average student, he was Dallas Bruehl, the master of all things comestible.

Dallas was an amazing eater. And yet, if the competition had simply been an animal cracker eating competition, the results would have been entirely different. If the goal was to eat three animal crackers for 100 spirit points, all participants would have won, and none would have been relegated to legendary status like Dallas was.

Dallas was given the opportunity to rise up and do the impossible. Additionally, both the eighth grader and the ninth grader were given this opportunity as well. Dallas went above and beyond the call of duty to bring home the trophy. He's a legend, and the other two aren't.

I live for these moments. Moments when it's not about eating three animal crackers, it's about pushing yourself to the highest, most extreme limits. Who could wear the most creative costume to school? Who could drink the most tobasco sauce? Who would rise up and ribbon dance for the whole world to see?

Everyone can eat three animal crackers. Congratulations; you found the red pen.

Spirit week removes the glass ceiling. Glory is, for the first and only time, accessible.

It is because of my deep love and appreciation for spirit week that I suggest the following plan.

-ahem-

One day when I find myself financially secure, I am going to start a new branch of my business. I'll call the branch Go Time Spirit Consulting, at least for the time being. We will be a branch devoted to the enrichment, education, and elevation of individuals of all ages.

We will achieve this through three main services that we offer. The first will be leadership training and team building exercises for corporations and other such organizations. We will have a campus of sorts, wherein people will come and learn how to lead, effectively communicate, solve problems, and ultimately increase the productivity of their group or company.

It's amazing how much of a market there is for these kinds of services right now, and I can only assume that the market will grow in the future. You know all those times that a teacher misses a class because they were at a conference, or were at training? Yeah, it's this kind of training.

Except, we're going to be a little different. We're going to be scientific about our approach, and we're going to be effective, yes. But we're also going to be more fun and more creative. One idea I had for communication training was a human-based-text-adventure-game.

You'd have your group, say, ten individuals. One of the individuals would be a boss, and he'd be led off to a little shack where he sits with his cell phone. The other nine would enter our course, a sort of grid with all sorts of business in it. The game would commence, and the boss would be sent a text that says something like "You are in a clearing. You see a tree. Exits are East, West, and North." After which point, the boss will text back and say "Go East." (Or, ya know, go West, depending on how he's feeling.)

Anywhom, then the group will be required to go East. So, they'll go through the East exit and find themselves in a new clearing. From then on, they are responsible for telling the boss man what they've got. So, one of them will have to send the text that says "You are in a clearing. You see a log, a book of matches, and a key. Exits are West, North, and East." Then the boss man decides what they need to do, and they do it.

The trick is that they can't do anything the boss man doesn't tell them to, they must do everything the boss man tells them to, and the boss man can't tell them to do anything that they haven't mentioned that they could do. The boss can't tell them to climb the tree if nobody mentioned that there's a tree.

Anyways, we'll throw some twists in there, some good learning experiences. They're going to have to make a human pyramid at least once.

Anyways, that's where we're going to make our money. Offering professional leadership courses and the like. We'll study it out, we'll make it pro. That's arm one.

Arm two is a remake of the eighth grade dream we all love: Stellar Squared. It's sort of like an amusement park, minus the rides. We'll have our campus, something that resembles a giant war zone. It will be strategically laid out so as to be the perfect capture the flag arena. It will double as several other things. Basically, it'll cost a dollar or two to get in, and once you're in you'll be briefed and you'll join a huge and persistent battle against the bad guys. Maybe one night it's a capture the flag match, maybe another it's an all out American-Gladiators battle. No one knows, but you'll be able to come on in, hop on a side, and battle it out for your comrades.

The park will be flexible. We'll be ever changing. We'll be able to line up fields for an Ultimate tournament, we'll be able to have a rockin' region dance under the stars if need be. The idea, no matter our current configuration, will remain the same throughout: It's a place to come for something epic. Epic competitions, epic dances, epic opportunities. It will be the place for epic.

We'll make some money off of it, but probably not too much. This is more of a public service than anything else right now. With any luck I will be financially secure, so I'll be able to do this stuff. No, we won't be losing money, we just won't be rolling in it.

Our third, and my favorite arm of Go Time Spirit Consulting will be just that: Spirit Consulting. For a very small fee, high schools or junior highs can contract with us to come run the most amazing spirit month the world has ever seen.

We'll send in our representatives to have a meeting with the sbo's and administration. We'll talk about what they want to accomplish, and we'll work together to implement it all. We won't just walk in a take over, oh no, we'll work together. We'll offer suggestions, but we won't do anything without their approval.

Ultimately, we'll bring a lot of things to the table. We are walking in with experience. We've had a team of researchers studying spirit months across the country for a year now. We've gathered data, found out what works and what doesn't, and now we're ready to share it. When the kids eyes light up and they say "Oh my gosh, what if we...." And then the administration will gasp in horror, and we'll nod mischievously and say "Oh yeah, we can do that." That's what we're there for.

A little less than a year ago I had a dream about the best spirit week ever. It culminated in an epic assembly, one with four predetermined events. Events like the DDR dance off, the Halo tournament, the school wide treasure hunt/adventure, all sorts of stuff. It involved doing most of the events before hand, and then showing taped footage of it at the assembly, sort of like what they did with the Olympics. Of course, the final portion of all the events would be done live, it'd just be cooler that way.

I realized that Go Time Spirit Consulting would be the only way to really realize these dreams. Stuff on this epic of a scale would be nearly impossible to pull off without outside professional help. That's what we're here for. We will come in, and make things epic.

There are many reasons why an epic spirit week is beneficial to the school. First and foremost, it builds school spirit, which is crucial to success. I firmly believe that things run better when you really believe in the school you're attending. You'll see more people going to the games, more people joining the teams. There'll be community, it'll be amazing.

Spirit months are also very useful for mobilizing a large number of students to do whatever you want them to do. Can anybody say food drive? Look at all that food, all the good that Taylorsville does every year. Now, sure, some of it comes from the goodness of the SBO's hearts. But, I'm confident that more of it comes from competition. With a truly epic spirit month, there's no end to the good that a bunch of students could do. Think big, we're gonna change the world.

Me: "Hey, I'll give you 10 spirit points if you'll end world hunger!"
Them: "Oh man, I am SO there."

Go Time Spirit Consulting is my way of making things epic. The goal is to enrich, educate, and elevate everyone we come in contact with. We will teach valuable lessons in our giant capture the flag matches at the stellar squared campus. We'll make companies run smoother and more productively with our leadership and communication training. Above all, we'll let kids everywhere live my childhood dream. We'll let them excel. They will be able to go higher and further than they've ever gone before. There will be no limit; life will be epic.

So, there's the plan. Not exactly a money maker, but we ought to make a few dollars on the deal. If not, well, we made the world a better place. Any questions?