If Only there Were Such a Brain Pill™

We licked the last envelope, pressed on the last stamp, wrote the last address ... finally got all the rest of the original orders for Malkolm's story out in the mail today. There are still about 20 who haven't paid, and about 50 transactions canceled because people decided they didn't want it for whatever reason. I expect payments to be trickling in, or notes from people letting me know we forgot to seal the envelope (!! thought at first there was a faulty box of envelopes, but after hearing the descriptions, I think we just forget to seal some before we sent them out -- only about 10 so far, hopefully that will be the bulk of it)

It's been an eventful week.

My 4-year-old smashed her hand in the door at the post office. Her finger actually. She panicked and pulled it out instead of pushing the door open, so in addition to the heavy bruising, there is also quite a large bit of skin damage, but she is doing better.

We finally figured out that if Malkolm only signed instead of signing and writing the numbers on, that things moved much quicker. So Malkolm signed, and I wrote the numbers and we finished! I never realized how annoying paper cuts on my tongue and lips could feel. If I never lick another envelope it will be too soon. I heard there were pre-sticky envelopes ... yesterday. Ok, well. That's cool. Maybe next time.

Malkolm finished his first week of school. Only half-days, but school nonetheless! Kind of exciting. He finished his project for the economics unit. I'm going to post it below.

We kept the house clean the entire week. Not all day, but by the time we went to bed, it was almost CBS worthy. Oh, and I realized that CBS posted Malkolm's story under Politics. Things make a lot more sense now.

I had a long talk with Malkolm's Discovery teacher and she told me all about her interview with CBS. She spoke of Malkolm's character and how he is, his work ethic and such -- and they only used ONE line of her interview. The one that talked about Malkolm being a natural problem solver. And now I know why they only used that line and why they used the clips they used and included the half-information they did.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, and maybe I am a little naive. Ok, well, I do have that tendency now and then, but I just didn't expect it to be lumped in with the health care politics. Here I am posting on a Politics story about why it shouldn't be a politics story. LOL! I've posted several times, basically reiterating what I said in the last post, but probably a shorter version. I think it's fair to say, in general, people seem to be mostly accepting when I post about what I think Malkolm's story is about (not Luna, but the whole selling the story on Ebay thing). It doesn't really bother me that much, but I felt it worth mentioning.

I started working on some of my creative firm work for the first time in more than a month. I am wondering at this point if I am going to be able to keep up with the volume of work. I know for sure we're not taking on any more clients, just taking care of the ones we've got. One thing that has come about through all this is my realization that I do not want to spend the bulk of my day in front of a computer, I want to spend as much time with the kids as possible.

Being here is not enough. I've been SO spoiled for the last few weeks, and now that I have a taste of it, I don't want to stop eating.

On that note, here is the writing portion of the economics project Malkolm did for school this week. He had fun working with InDesign to create the package and the ad that went with it. I was impressed with how much he retained from our discussions about entrepreneurship.

Without further a due:

BRAIN PILL

My product is called Brain Pill™. The Brain Pill™ is a pill that, when taken properly, you will instantly know how to do a certain skill, like golfing, how to fly a plane, karate, etc. For example, your son expects you to go skateboarding with him, and he’s really looking forward to it. You are going to be busy all the time until the skateboarding, and you don’t know how to skateboard. All you would need to do is take the pill, and you would then know how to skateboard! This product would give the opportunity to people who have trouble finding time to learn. The Brain Pill™ would surely help a lot of people.

RESOURCES

The resources I am going to need are capital, labor, and I will provide entrepreneurship, land and management. Just so you know how much capital I am going to need, the things used to make the pill is: Chopped plant (gingko viable), a powdered rock (unobtanium), and a secret formula that has two chemicals in it (cranium volatile and cerebrum concord). The cost of each bottle of pills will be $50 to $200 per bottle. The simpler the skill is, the less expensive it is. So the golfing pills will be worth $50 per bottle. It will take about $10 to make a bottle of pills (including creating the pill, packaging it and advertising it), so our profit margin (or net profit) will be $40 per bottle.

ADVERTISING

We are going to sell it at stores like Walgreens, Wal-Mart, etc. For the golf Brain Pill™ specifically, we will advertise it in two papers called USA Today and the New York Times. For different types of Brain Pills™, we will advertise in different areas. For example, a cooking Brain Pill™ would be advertised in a cooking magazine or a commercial on a cooking channel. The golf Brain Pill™ will be put in USA Today and the New York Times because a business person uses golfing as a way to calm down the mood as they explain things to clients, and business people read newspapers like USA Today and the New York Times.

FUTURE PRODUCT EXPANSION

We will soon expand to baby food so babies can easily learn their shapes, colors, letters, and phonics. As soon as the baby learns letters and phonics, she/he can soon learn reading! The pills are for ages 25 and older, while the baby food would be for babies and toddlers. For children and young adults in elementary school to high school/early college, we can possibly create drinks (chocolate milk, fruit punch, etc.) that can help them learn skills like karate or skate boarding.

Ahhh, if only there were such a thing.

-Jennifer

:)