Last Fall, a researcher approached a friend of mine with an interesting challenge. Hawaiian Black Necked Stilts (Ae’o) are an endangered bird native to the Hawaiian islands. They have a high rate of mortality early in their life and scientists are keen to find out why.
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After a trip to Scandinavia, I got hooked on some of their traditional salty licorices. Looking to satisfy my urge once I got back home, I searched for US-made alternatives and found none. Most domestic licorice was soft, rubbery, lacking real licorice, and, most importantly not the right kind of salty. I was able to find imported varieties on Amazon and at Scandinavian specialty stores. But it made me think, what would it take to make it myself? I ended up going pretty far down the rabbit hole on this one.
My wedding anniversary was coming up and I wanted to make my wife something special. I saw a great post on Reddit where someone had an old school View-Master toy and they had made custom reels filled with personal photos. It ticked all the boxes for me: retro toy inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, get to use fun tools to make it, ability to make it highly personalized. I instantly fell in love with the idea and started work on my own version.
Around Halloween, my two year old was into all things firefighter related. My wife and I found him an excellent firefighter costume for Halloween and wanted something that matched. Dalmatian dog outfits were a natural extension and easy to find. I wanted something a little more unique, though. My son loved fire hydrants and would always be fascinated when we walked near one. I searched for a fire hydrant costume online but all were either poor quality, expensive, or just silly so I decided to make my own.
Cooking is often talked about at my work. We have several really good chefs and they are all proud of their creations. Recipes are easy to share but transferring them one at a time is inefficient and prone to misplacement. A coworker and I decided to solve this problem by getting funding from our company and creating a cookbook.