As Dave sat on the beach one evening while on vacation, an architecture for a portable loudspeaker began to form in his mind. He traced its shape into the sand. Later, he began drafting these ideas on paper. The design quickly took shape, and more details fell into place. As the trip neared its end, Dave had completed most of the engineering drafts and drawings for his new portable location monitor.  He felt a new sense of purpose, experienced the exhilaration that accompanied a new creative endeavor, and felt an uncanny sense that he was on the verge of something important. He committed to himself—and to Sheryl Lee—to begin constructing prototypes of his location monitor the minute they returned to Novato.