For a while I was walking 5 miles each way to a weekly meeting. Then summer arrived and it was so hot I was not well suited for meeting with other people after walking 5 miles, so I switched to my motorcycle. Now, the weather is cooling, so I anticipate walking again starting in a few weeks. However, I struggled last year with a choice between a high visibility backpack versus a waterproof backpack. I decided to solve that problem this year by buying a pretty new waterproof, high visibility, backpack. I anticipated the problem, and I solved it before I felt the consequences.

Today we learned that the location where we have been meeting can no longer host our meetings. We’ve already had an exchange of messages within our group and think we have a new and better location. This location is much closer to where I live, has better lighting on the roads, and even has sidewalks so I do not need to walk in the street.

All of which means that I once again anticipated and solved a problem that I no longer need to solve.

This is part of my thinking pattern. I am an “early adopter”, meaning I try out new things way before others even know there is a problem in need of a solution. I frequently buy technology on the “bleeding edge”, meaning it is so unproven that the consequences are often just as bad as I would have experienced if I had not even tried to solve the problem. Well, that is part of who I am.

Afterall, it is a pretty new backpack. I am sure I will find lots of uses for it.