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The American Heritage Dictionary defines invent as: to conceive of or devise first, to originate and also to fabricate; to make up. I bring this up because it might be said that Invent, with a capital I, has to do has to with inventing a-la Thomas Alva Edison and invent, with the small i, has to do with most of us mortals. I will have to admit that once in my life I was an Inventor, capital I, though it did not take root. My Invention had the rather ponderous title of A Methodology to Reduce the Number of Fixed In-core Detectors in a Nuclear Power Plant. A patent was secured worldwide, including China (aha-aha). It saved a lot of money for customers, rather than the company I worked for. I received a $300 reward and a document suitable for framing from the U.S. Patent Office. Enough of that, I prefer the lower case version of invent. I have been much more productive in this area. I invented or rather re-invented myself a couple of times and I am forever inventing new things in the kitchen. The re-invention of myself has occurred twice in the last half-dozen years. The first time was after my early retirement, an event that forced me to find another way to entertain myself, fulfill yearnings of accomplishment and avoid becoming a burden to my wife and child. It took a lot of thinking, fumbling around, going up blind alleys and getting rejected (without losing hope of getting somewhere). I wrote a lot of resumes and became rather adept at fabricating past accomplishments into something that at least vaguely fit a job description. I had some spectacular disappointments, however. The worst one was to be turned down flat as an interpreter of Italian (I was born and raised there) by Berlitz. In retrospect it was a Godsend: a piddly $50 a day to translate verbatim and in real time some drivel from attorneys in a courtroom. The exam that I had to take over the phone and pass to get the job, was the most exhausting experience I had in some years, and I have a lot more respect than ever for the guys who act as interpreters for Presidents of this country or that. What happens if they blow it? I eventually latched on to the New Britain Museum of American Art, where I spent a school year in training and became a Docent. I conduct tours at the museum for children and adult groups and in the process I have acquired the equivalent of a M.A. in Art History. Not bad, from nuclear physicist to art historian! That volunteer position opened the door to other opportunities: I started giving lectures to the general public on aspects of art not necessarily related to the tours and that opened another door: guest lecturer on cruise ships. My newly enhanced art background became a welcome addition to my resume. In fact my whole past in the nuclear field is almost completely erased (finally I got rid of something akin to a millstone around my neck). The only vestiges of my past that still have relevance is my ability to stand up in front of people to talk, my significant experience in traveling to strange and far lands and the fact that I have lived both in the U.S. and abroad. While all this was going on I was also inventing all sorts of variations on cuisines that I had tasted and liked. I became a "house-husband" to the delight of my wife who certainly appreciates my culinary inventions and what I put in her breakfast and lunch "bucket". All this almost came crashing down one year ago to the day when excruciating pain sent me to the hospital. I almost "bought the farm" as they say with a giant blood clot that threatened to migrate to my lungs. All this was the result of an infection that seriously damaged one of my hip joints. Three operations and 6 months later I found myself with much friendly metal implants on both hips, a very healthy respect and empathy for physically handicapped people and a new challenge: re-learning to walk, inventing new ways to get out of bed, new ways to get in and out of the shower and up and down steps. Perhaps I will try to spend a lot more time to think about inventing something that a physically challenged person wishes existed. Who knows, maybe I'll get another document suitable for framing from the U.S. Patent Office. |
