And now for something completely different …
Way back about three years ago when I started this site, my goal was to find an outlet for my sports passion. I didn’t have many kindred souls at work to have water-cooler chats with and I was bored with what I’d found online. There were (and are) many great sports communities, but the partisanship always turned me off. I couldn’t find a good, neutral place to discuss sports that were interesting to me (mainly ACC sports, but not exclusively), so I tried to create one. It hasn’t really grown into a very big community, but at least I do have somewhere to dump my sports thoughts and interesting links I come across.
But there was another reason. Burnout. You see, I had (and still have) been working nights and weekends on a side project and had hit the proverbial wall. All but one of the guys who had started with me had dropped out and a few more joined to fill the ranks and then they dropped out. So I needed a diversion from my diversion. Dave Sez was it.
My initial diversion didn’t go away. I recharged my batteries and kept plugging along, finding time after “real” work and family duties until finally I (we) got to this point. We are now ready to pull the blanket off our project and show it to the world. BrightCar is ready.
What the hell is BrightCar, you ask? Well, it’s an idea I had many years ago when I realized that I wasn’t maintaining my car very well. I’m a smart, responsible guy and getting regular oil changes and tire rotations and whathaveyou seems pretty straightforward, but yet I couldn’t keep it straight. I was always late with my services and never felt comfortable that I was remembering everything. On top of that, I felt powerless against the high school dropout who’d show me a blackened thingy at Jiffy Lube and say it was time to get it replaced. Did I have that thingy replaced last time? Is it due again? Hell, I didn’t know and figured that I should. So that was my idea – software that could keep track of what services I should be doing and tell me when they were due! It would not only keep the schedule (5,000 miles and 6 months), but accurately tell me when I’m due based on when I got my oil changed or brakes checked last time and how many miles I drive a week. Don’t tell me (like my owner’s manual does) that I need an oil change at exactly 45,000 miles when I just had it done at 42,567!
The idea sat in my head for years. It would pop up in my forebrain every now and then – it should be easy to use, like Quicken! It should track gas mileage and how much your car costs per mile! It should make perfect cinnamon toast and be kind to small animals!
After years of working for the man and getting nowhere, the idea finally jumped from being just an idea to being a plan. Then it became a project. A loooong project. And now, today, it’s a company. It’s still a side project to be sure – I’m not ready to quit my day job (yet) – but it’s a real, honest-to-goodness company with a product for sale.
Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about it.
If you’ve read this far, I’m flattered and more than a little surprised. If you want to see what I and my brother-in-law have built, go check out www.BrightCar.com. Maybe you’d like to buy a copy for your spouse for Christmas! Or maybe get one for your teenage driver!
If you do make that choice, put in DaveSez for a coupon code and you’ll get 20% off the price. You know, for reading this far.