The quote is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson as, “If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.” In contemporary society, the idea of building a better mousetrap is the idea that if you can improve on something essential, then you’ll be famous, rich, respected, whatever; you fill in the blank. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant to me, I only plan to filch the idea to make a point.

Just because a person wishes to build a better mousetrap does not mean that they dislike mousetraps! I like mousetraps, personally. We had a really large Norwegian rat that decided to reside with us when we lived outside of Detroit, Michigan. (We’re clean people, really!) But for whatever reason, this rat just decided that our house was cozy, pleasant, and friendly - whatever it is that rats go for when choosing a domicile - and he took up residence. In fact, one night he chewed a large hole in the wall not more than four feet from the desk chair where I sat every day doing LIMS consulting. So, as you can imagine, what I needed was a really good, rather large, mousetrap.

Buying a mousetrap is a pretty simple affair. I drove to Home Depot and in less than five minutes picked out the best looking trap I could find. I can tell you what never crossed my mind: I never once considered building my own mousetrap, not once. Why? Because my goals were very straight forward, I wanted one dead rat. No mess, no frills, no desire to wine and dine my rat before death, just one dead rat.

Somewhere out there are people who dream of better mousetraps. You know, the do-it-yourself engineer type of person who really enjoys thinking up new, cleaner, more humane, better mousetraps. I have nothing against these people, but their desires were not mine: they wish to improve the design; I wished to use the design. More power to them! Yes, my rat was dead within a week, but maybe the next generation of mousetraps will be better. Maybe I’ll just push a button and every rodent within a hundred yards will simply disappear into vapor…I don’t know…whatever that new-and-improved mousetraps will do.

Let me make my point: Dreaming of a better LIMS is my job…it’s what I do, and in some twisted way, I find it rewarding. Don’t hold it against me! I love the products that are on the market now, I look forward to new versions, improved interfaces, faster performance, standards based technology, etc. Please don’t think that because I pine for a better product, process, or whatever, that I dislike what’s out there. As I said above, it’s really not in my best interest to upset the apple cart, challenge the status quo, complain, disturb the balance, make a stink, stir things up…

…but a man’s gotta dream!