Doing Things for No Good Reason

That comment from Mercer sums up the thinking behind many of the projects I start or consider starting. It was prompted by a post about how “I want to make a book” because I want to try using self-publishing tools. I think there are many other perfectly good no good reasons like that for doing things. Here are a few that come to mind.

Camping for camping gear’s sake

I like camping for many reasons, but camping gear is possibly at the top of that list. Because I love camping gear! How cool are camping stoves?! I use them in the kitchen which my wife tells me is a bit much. But it’s hard to go camping often enough to satisfy my desire to cook in flimsy pots on wobbly things on fire.

Start a store for the shipping

I would like to start en e-commerce store so I can try using warehouse-as-a-service. I guess the fascination is to sell physical products without ever having to do anything physical on my part? Ironical. Also, I just like shipping containers. I hired a guy at one point to help me understand shipping rates between Europe and North America. I haven’t gone anywhere with that yet but one of these days I’m sticking something in a container and sending it across the Atlantic. Doesn’t matter too much what the thing is.

Bake for the sacks of flour

I bake a lot of bread partially because I enjoy buying flour in 25 Lb sacks at Costco. It also satisfies an urge to produce food in large quantities which is a result of growing up on a farm with many people and many freezers to fill. Possibly my way of playing out any prepper urges. No tinfoil hats but big sacks of flour.

It’s fine

That gear in it’s many forms can be a prime motivator for an activity is hardly a groundbreaking discovery. Maybe it’s really about the process more than the end point. The road is the destination sorta stuff. I don’t know, I just know it’s fun to prime a camping stove to make coffee.