For these guys, thinking is doing.

• Position: Inventors Robert Roskind and Harley Levitt, founders of Best Friends Enterprises Inc and Y2K Solutions Group Inc

When they're bored, Robert Roskind and Harley Levitt light up a couple of cigars and put on their thinking caps. "We try to spot a problem that needs to be fixed," Roskind says.

That's led to some offbeat inventions. Consider their most recent brainstorm in May: a flushing litter box. When a cat does its business, the owner pulls a handle that sends the litter into a sifting tray. Once the stinky stuff falls through, the good litter can be recycled.

It's one of the zany but practical contraptions Roskind and Levitt, friends since age 4, have developed since forming Chapel Hill-based Best Friends Enterprises Inc. in 1995. Their first success came earlier this year with the Souper Spoon, which has a small rim to catch spills if the holder's hand shakes. Hospitals and retirement homes snatched up 10,000 in six months.

Other inventions include a universal bracelet clasp, in which tiny magnets fasten the jewelry. It's being sold by catalogue retailer Fingerhut Cos. Their cigar holster, which holds golfers' stogies when they take a swing, is being marketed by Bradley Business Builders Inc. Richard Simmons will pitch their low-fat frying pan - its sloped bottom catches grease - on QVC this fall.

The duo make 5% to 7% royalties but won't disclose revenues. Roskind and Levitt, both 51, keep overhead low by relying on four full-time employees and using small design firms and custom manufacturers to develop their prototypes.

Last year they latched onto what Roskind believes will be "the biggest problem ever in the business industry" - the approaching millennium, which threatens to wreak havoc on computer systems. Best Friends Enterprises took a back seat to...