Solving the Right Problem

Sometimes Knowing What to Fix Is More Important than How Clever the Solution Is

Today was the last day of a week long vacation, I spent most of the week using a computer significantly less than usual, I got almost none of the coding side project that I hoped to accomplish done, but I'm a whole lot more relaxed for forcing myself to actually take a break. I read half a dozen assorted graphic novels, finished one of the games that I've been playing, and spent a lot more time playing with my son than I do when I'm not on vacation, so it was a good rest.

So what do I do on the last day of my break? I tore down and rebuilt my entire home theater setup. The only step remaining is to actually wall mount the TV and front channel speakers. A big part of the rewiring was running cabling through the walls, and having a behind the TV surge protected outlet installed.

Until recently, I would have described that sort of rewiring as nice to have, but not necessary, and certainly not a top priority to spend time and money on at the moment. The thing that changed is that the tiny human is now highly mobile, and likes to explore his space. In particular climbing on pretty much everything. This includes the metal and glass combination entertainment center and TV stand that I've been using for years now. Plus, he considers any kind cords to be rather fun to grab.

This meant that the thing with sharp edges needed to go, and preferably every cord in the room needed to go. This suddenly meant that wall mounting the TV went from a "nice to have" to "solves two problems." It's also solving the right two problems, as the first problem being discussed was: "How do we keep the boy from getting into trouble in the living room?" This meant that originally we were thinking of how to make the current setup work with a 7 month old, whereas the right answer by far was "figure out how to make a new setup that the 7 month old can't get into trouble in" was the problem had a solid solution.