For the launch of Vendio’s Sales Manager Inventory Edition service, a grab bag handout was needed for the Professional eBay Seller’s Alliance conference. I had used an illustration of a wooden crate for the online branding of the product, and wanted to extend that to the print marketing. The first idea was to print the information onto six sides of a cube. However, the piece was to be distributed in a grab bag along with collateral from other companies.

The final, 4 pane design could be folded flat (occupying the footprint of a single pane), or could be popped out into a free-standing cube. The cube could then be opened at its velcro closure to reveal more information on the inside.

Also for the eBay Live trade show, Vendio needed “white papers” for each of their six services. Knowing the customer base and the friendly, fun atmosphere of the trade show, I didn’t think that six data sheets were the right way to go.

Instead, I found a way to present all of the important information in a single small, cool, folding design which fit to the form-factor of the company’s logo. If that wasn’t enough fun, a yo-yo topped it off.

The idea for Spotted.at began with Axl Rose. Axl hasn’t really been seen for a decade and a half, so when he started popping up at restaurants and clubs, I thought it was a good excuse to learn the Google Maps API and create my first mashup. The site was finished in one night.

The next day, Mike Effle suggested that I switch from just Axl Rose to all celebrities. I went on and on explaining how only Axl sightings are interesting, but came to realize that there isn’t a place online where interesting celebrity sightings and fan encounters can be catalogued by those who had the experience. So, a few weeks later, Mike Markley and I finished Spotted.at.

On a Thursday afternoon, I got a call from Breadshop Bob who invited me to the second annual “Uncle Bob’s Pleasure Cruise” on Saturday, just before he moved to Sweden. Upon inquiring as to what food I could bring, Breadshop said that we weren’t able to bring a grill on the rented pontoon boats due to the insurance. “What if I made a grill float on the lake?”, I asked.

I made a call to Firestone and got to talking to Chris, who ended up donating three tractor tire inner tubes to the cause. I bought a small charcoal grill at OSH and waked through the aisles looking for supports - finally settling on outdoor potted plant hangers.

The assembly was easy. I bent the plant hangers until they properly held the grill above where the lake’s surface would be and was able to screw the hangers into the openings in the grill meant for the grill’s stand (making the modification fully reversible). I went back to OSH to get pipe insulation for where the metal was to meet the rubber inner tube. To keep the grill centered, I added bungee cords to the ends of the hangers that wrapped around the tube and met at a keyring below the grill.