Love for inventing pays off

No one can deny the convenience of the life-altering invention, The Clapper. So, when inventor Mark Grossmeyer blew the minds of executives at Joseph Enterprises, a San Francisco-based company responsible for the advertising for The Clapper and Chia Pets, it was because of an addition.

The addition of a Plus and a remote.

The Clapper Plus is only one of the many innovative inventions Grossmeyer has lining the walls in his basement bunker.

The husband and father of two has several different inventions some of which can be found in retail stores like Walgreens including the Clapper Plus and VCR Co-Pilot. However, what makes him different is his passion for creating something new.

Grossmeyer’s wife, Barbara Grossmeyer, said his obsession with the invention started when he was young. “When I met him 30 years ago… his mother always told me he wanted to invent something but he didn’t know what to invent. The way she said it (mother) he had something that needed to come out of him but he didn’t really know what it was, and that really scared her,” Ms. Grossmeyer said.

Almost every invention under Grossmeyer’s belt has its own unique story about its creation.

When the Clapper Plus is purchased, you receive your typical Clapper which turns off your lights with a clap of the hands, but the Plus adds a remote.

Grossmeyer said the inspiration for The Clapper Plus came to him one night while he was lying in bed. “I thought to myself, I don’t have a Clapper in my house, why not? And I was lying in bed at the time and didn’t want to wake up my wife. I definitely wouldn’t want to clap… and I thought wouldn’t it be nice if you could just push a button instead of clapping,” Grossmeyer said. He added that there is a laziness factor to The Clapper Plus.

Although his other invention, the VCR Co-Pilot, isn’t the most applicable today with VCRs becoming obsolete, it was during its heyday. Grossmeyer said he dawned on the idea for the Co-Pilot after his wife, Barbara Grossmeyer, asked him to program the VCR to tape a show she wanted to watch, later. They were in a hurry and he couldn’t figure out how to program the VCR and thought about making a remote with large dials, making it simple to program times.

During the creation of the Co-Pilot, Grossmeyer said he went to the furniture and television warehouse American and tested the universal VCR remote on all the televisions. He became a regular at American, he said.

Grossmeyer has been an engineer at the Johnson Controls Inc. for 30 years but taught himself all he knows as a young kid. He built a tic-tac-toe machine in which he played against a computer. When he opened up the machine, thousands of coils and wires were scattered about inside of the wooden box. “I remember being in the 8th grade and instead of thinking about my classroom work I was thinking about, how do I wire the circuitry to get this thing to work,” Grossmeyer said.

One of Grossmeyer’s more novel inventions is the Quick Thought transparent keyboard. It attaches to a Smartphone and is about the size of a Post-it pad on either side. Grossmeyer said it makes it easy to get work done on a Smartphone while away from a computer. The way it works is the transparent keyboard attaches to the back of a smartphone and you use that to text or type on whatever program available. This makes it easy to get work done, while away from the office. You are also able to type on the back of the keyboard, if you don’t have a desk available.

The bunker-style headquarters in Grossmeyer’s basement is where he builds prototypes for his inventions. You see the massive desk with mechanical equipment only after you pass the 1900s-style radio, phonograph and Johnson Controls’ first Pneumatic Control Center which helped control building temperatures. The storage area full of Clapper Pluses, VCR Co-Pilots, Christmas Chia Trees and other inventions engulfs the back of the room.

For those golfers, Grossmeyer created a golf swing aide that can help correct crooked golf swings and putts. To use the Accu-Trac, you place the mat on the floor, dim or lower the lights in the room and test your swing over the mat with a special golf club. As you swing over the mat, the neon light will streak across the mat where your club does, showing you how straight or crooked your swing is.

Much of Grossmeyer’s products are manufactured in China where he helped Joseph Enterprises sent up a factory. The factory boosts up production every year for their big Christmas push, when Joseph Enterprises runs most of its advertising commercial campaigns.

Joseph Enterprises’ lack of an engineer was a golden opportunity for Grossmeyer. There relation grew as Grossmeyer helped with products like the Clapper Plus and Chia Tree with Star Light. He receives a portion of every sale of his inventions and is active in overseeing production in China.

Barbara Grossmeyer said the family always looks forward to the Christmas commercials for the Clapper Plus and putting up their Chia Tree with Star Light. “We would always looked forward to the commercials come November and December. We would always yell through the house to the kids, Clapper,” Barbara Grossmeyer said.

Grossmeyer said inventing was what he was meant to do in life. “For me, it was just my nature. It was what I loved to do, and I was drawn to it, some people are drawn to music, some sports but I love to invent,” Grossmeyer said.

Check out a multi-media presentation of Mark's inventions. Click here.

The Big Ten is Pregnant

Quality over quantity!

That’s what my father use to say. Okay, my father has never said that, but I have always wanted to say that my father said that so I can say that my father said that.

The Big Ten collegiate conference obviously has never bumped into my imaginary dad. The conference recently added another team to increase its number of teams to 12, with another possibly on the way. Does the conference really think it will catch up to other dominant conferences by adding teams? Nope, it will just confuse you and me. This equation’s sum is a negative number.

Major collegiate sports, college football and basketball, are similar to Major League Baseball because they are viewed as a very classic, historically old game. That old fart who lives next to me would say, “you can’t add instant replay, it will soil the game.” Under his breath he mumbles something about new-fangled this and that.

And yet, the Big Ten still has more than 10 teams and is still expanding. Oh yeah, the Big 12 has 10 teams. What madness.

It’s like the Big Ten is pregnant—who knows what it will look like in 9 months.

In some minds, the theory is the addition will make the Big Ten the power conference it should be. Well, it has been one of the super-conferences, however it will remain just so and not supersede the big boys.

Those big boys I speak of are the Southeastern Conference boys in college football and Big East Conference gentlemen in college basketball. They will dominate as usual and most of the Big Ten will look up at powerhouses Michigan State and Ohio State and whimper.

The top-heavy, Midwest-centered Big Ten is a backwards conference. I mean, what conference has 11 teams but yet calls itself the Big Ten? The Big Ten will welcome the Lincoln-Nebraska Cornhuskers July 1, 2011. Nebraska moves from the Big 12, which actually has 10 teams as mentioned before. Really, the Big Ten will turn into the Big 12 which will be the new Big 12 which is confusing me. Which…what? In addition, Notre Dame has been pondering their Big Ten future or whether to remain an independent. I would argue that the classic, old-fangled thing to do would be to stay true to your name. Big 13 anyone?

Besides being backwards, over the years, the Big Ten in college football has been characterized as big and slow. In contrast, teams from ACC, SEC and Pac-10 are known for, well, their team speed. I like being fast, how about you?

The Big Ten in college football is also known for its defensive-oriented teams like our own Wisconsin Badgers. Wisconsin is a perfect example of a typical, stereotypical Big Ten team--a defensive powerhouse that can’t score. Your typical ESPN commentator would say defense wins championships, but hey, not if you can’t score. In fact, the Big Ten’s top five teams last year were outscored by the top five teams of the ACC, Big 12, Mountain West, Pac-10 and SEC. Cornhusking isn’t going to help them change that.

Nebraska will fit in beautifully as it had one of the top defenses in college football last year only allowing an average of 10.4 points per game according to CFBstats.com, so it is more of the same. Notre Dame hasn’t exactly been the team to beat either. They have won a combined 16 games in the last three seasons including a three-win season in 2007 and six wins last year.

The Big Ten has had success with Ohio State and Michigan but the SEC has been dominated of late, especially with the Florida/Tebow franchise and Alabama’s emergence. The SEC has been to the National Championship game six times since 1998 including making it to and winning the last four titles.

Outside of the numbers, Big Ten football is just boring. Must be all that cornhusking (too much high fructose corn syrup isn’t healthy either)! Because of the new team movement some critics have argued that the Big Ten network, a cable channel devoted to Big Ten conference sports, will become more appealing and profitable for everyone involved. Nebraska is arguably a historic team, but come on. How big is that Nebraska market? Can you get Comcast in Potts, Nebraska? Notre Dame is currently independent and a national team. They are historically significant and would be a great add for the Big Ten network, but it isn’t a done deal quite yet.

Last year in college football, Alabama and Florida battled for a chance to play in the BCS National Championship game and the consensus was that the winner of the SEC Championship would ultimately win the National Championship game. The critics were right. And, the SEC’s Florida Gators won the year before that. The SEC is just better.

Michigan State has been the class of the Big Ten in college basketball and the Big Ten’s top teams dominated throughout last season including three teams with nearly 30 wins and one with nearly 25. However, the Big East has been the class of college basketball including sending eight teams to the NCAA tournament, more than any other conference. The Big Ten sent five teams. The big surprise is--Nebraska sucks at basketball too. They couldn’t husk their way out of the basement of the Big 12 conference last year with a pathetic 15 wins. Notre Dame did go to the tournament, but lost their first game.

Don’t get me wrong, the Big Ten has some great history, teams and moments. This has been a great conference and one of the super—conferences, but the team addition won’t add much to the conference because the Big Ten conference, network forgot about the one thing my dad didn’t say.

Quality over quantity.

Not so soft

As the “SOS” team tossed their rectangular briefcases, unpacked their weapons from them and smacked their magazines into the bottoms of their M4s and 9MMs, they talked about how they would arrive at the battlefield.

The team wasn’t on their way to complete a mission in Afghanistan or Iraq but rather in Sussex, Wisconsin. And their mission was to, well; shoot each other with plastic pellets.

You see, the SOS Airsoft group plays the game of Airsoft, typically, every Saturday in a field littered with old, soiled sofas and spray-painted pieces of metal that cover the earth scars they call their bunkers.

The sport of Airsoft originated as a way to train law enforcement but SOS leader Jamie Pinkert said a lot of people come out to play for fun. “It is a like a grown-up version of tag,” Pinkert said. “There are some people I met at UWM and they just want to come out and shoot their friends, and that is fine,” Pinkert added.

The group plays in a secret, remote field in Sussex, Wisconsin with about 30 members and requires a rigorous interview process to join. Pinkert said this is partially because of the nature of the sport. Unlike paintball where it is fairly obvious when someone has been shot because of the paint, Airsoft requires you have integrity because you have to call yourself out when shot. Pinkert said they have had problems in the past with members being truthful about being shot.

Much of the group buys their gear from military surplus shops and websites and wore battle dress uniforms and/or realistic militia clothing and carried extremely realistic weapons including M4 rifles, shotguns and handguns during their last skirmish.

Being that the sport originated as a form of training, some of the group members are law enforcement or military. Charlie Krumscheid is a police intern at a local police department and said he frequently uses his training on the Airsoft field. “I like doing this (Airsoft) because I get to use my training and enjoy the experience,” Krumscheid said.

Airsoft guns can run from $20 to $2500. “Most of us started out by going to Wal-mart and getting a $20 spring-gun… but we have a guy that spent $2500 on his gun, it’s top of the line, best he could find,” Pinkert said.

For a lot of the players the exercise and being outdoors is the reason they love the sport and for others, the guns are why they love Airsoft.

“The guns are why I play,” Airsofter Zachory Mathews said. “I’m a gun nerd,” Mathews said. He added that the military-like sport is why he chose Airsoft over paintball or another summer sport and his father’s military background and his joining the military soon fuels his love for Airsoft and guns. Krumsheid said he uses Airsoft to relax. “It’s a stress reliever for me because it’s an adrenaline rush…there isn’t a better feeling than to shoot someone,” Krumsheid said.

Over the years, the sport and Airsoft weapons have caused problems because of safety issues and the realistic look of the weapons. Airsofter, Joe Nikolaus, said the group and Pinkert take safety very seriously and have frequently stopped kids playing with their Airsoft weapons in parks.

The location of their field remains a secret to most but the love of the pellet is clear to some. “You go once, and then you just keep coming because you get to shot people. It’s like a video game but real life, and it’s just so much fun,” Airsofter Christine Isbell said.

Fear of raw meat contributes to corky personality

“She really hates kids…the smaller the child the more afraid she is,” best friend and roommate Sarah Luckasson said.

Jessica Pedersen’s hatred for children may be the least of her corky personality features and her independent attitude is what makes her who she is.

As a toddler, her independent outlook on life began. Suzanne Vigeland, Pedersen’s mother and an organization developer at Humana in Louisville, KY said, Pedersen use to move chairs in the kitchen to climb on counters and get into cupboards. “She was a very good baby. It was six months before I even heard her cry,” Vigeland said.

Pedersen, 21, is originally from Green Bay, WI where she lived with her mother and younger brother Jon Pedersen. She graduated from De Pere High School and immediately moved to Milwaukee, WI to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she is a journalism student.

Jon Pedersen also attends classes at UWM and said he is grateful he is at the same school as his big sister. “She is very considerate and always helps me whenever she can,” Pedersen’s brother said.

When she isn’t getting dirty listening to her favorite grunge-rock band Alice in Chains, Pedersen munches on an assortment of cheeses and samples wines. “She will go to Trader Joe’s and come back with 9 different wine bottles and cheese,” Luckasson said. Pedersen’s brother, Jon Pedersen, said he believes she picked it up from her mom because she was a big wine drinker.

Pedersen works as a cashier in the UWM student union’s restaurant operations. “She is a very good worker, really dependable and knowledgeable,” Student Manager Donna Whitenight said. Pedersen previously worked for UWM telefund as a telephone specialist according to her Weebly.com résumé.

On typical Thursdays, Pedersen and company, including her roommates and co-workers, go to the Gasthaus in the basement of the student union. She is also a big St. Patrick’s Day fan and has already purchased the appropriate Patty’s day gear including pajama pants according to friend Sarah Vanover.

Among some of the other corks in Pedersen’s personality are her problems with raw meat. “Jesse has real issues with food textures,” Pedersen’s mom said. She also owns a massive amount of nail polish.

In a telephone interview, Pedersen’s mom elaborated on the corky personality with a corky story about her daughter. She said when her daughter was a teenager they were on their way up north. Vigeland was driving, her son was in the front passenger seat and Pedersen was sleeping in her back, reclined seat. Pedersen snorted during her nap and woke herself up with her own earthy sound effects. She then asked Vigeland and her brother who or what made the sound. “We were laughing so hard, we couldn’t answer her,” Vigeland said.


After she finishes her degree program at UWM she plans to move to Louisville, KY where she will join her mother. In the meanwhile, she hopes to get an internship at the Milwaukee County Zoo writing, perhaps where she will learn to conquer her fear of raw meat.