early adopters, leading edge, envelope pushers, dreamers all. what happens when the rest of the world catches up? when the wave you've been racing and beaten to shore comes crashing down around you. looking around the beach, seeing everyone else, watching everyone else, go out looking for another wave, getting better at it, that new forged trail in the woods gets more and more beaten down, more well worn, and more taken. oregon trails, paths, towns and railroads, highways and service stations, and tourist traps, eventually. then it isn't really leading anymore. just barely holding on, head above water, just one amongst the crowd, the sea topped with bobbing heads, some circled in life preservers, clinging to driftwood and debris. it stops being about innovation. or maybe it never was about innovation in the first place. it's practical, it's true, and honest, and useful. and it works. and that's good enough. isn't it?