An Inventor's Quest for the NHL Pt. 42
In Which I Spiral, Then Quit
This series followed my attempt to develop a product that I dream of getting into the elite levels of hockey. Previously on the Quest: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, Concept Launch, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41
I’ve decided to end my work on the Uncage. The full story is in the nine minute video below, but in short, the decision feels pretty final and the exact reason is difficult to pinpoint.
Back in the very first installment of this Inventor’s Quest, I talked about how the idea for this cage came to me in the first place, “Somehow overnight, from a primordial soup of thoughts, desires, whims, and recent experiences, a cohesive idea emerged.” Now, it feels like that primordial soup has reached out to claim its idea back.
There’s not much else for me to add, so I thought I’d include two behind the scenes pictures of how I filmed some of the video. The second one in particular – using light to literally highlight a quote in a book – made me unreasonably happy.
And finally, since I ended up cutting this part, a jumping elephant for your enjoyment.
As I said in the video, I really can’t thank you enough for your support. It’s been quite a ride. I hope to be back with a new project at some point. When that happens, you’ll be the first to know.
Thanks again,
Surjan
Sanjay – long time reader, first time commenter. My apologies for the late comment, I follow aling via RSS and went a while without checking my reader.
I suspect I am perhaps a bit odd among your followers – I am not particularly interested in engineering or hockey or the intersection of those two. I think what has captured me over the years is the dedication to exploration and craft and perseverance.
I am am amateur distance runner and one of the thoughts I live by is that "the marathon owes you nothing". You can totally nail a training cycle – execute every workout to perfection, have perfectly dialled nutrition, keep your body and mind healthy, and then by humbled by the distance through weather, sickness, or fate. It sounds like innovation also owes us nothing, but that is no reason to not pursue it relentlessly. When I fail I tell myself that it's not the destination but the journey, that I race to train not train to race, and what not. Lies I tell myself to make myself feel better. But I hope you can see the truth in those statements even when I don't.
Thank you for sharing over the years, the journey, the laughs, the Leguin quote (going in my notes). I am eager to see what bad ideas you pursue next.
This is my very favorite newsletter- thank you so much for including us in your process!