Microwave Fritz and Other Random Thoughts

My Panasonic microwave died.  I will not say an ignominious death.  There were no sparks, smoke or other dramatics.  Rather it was simply a hum-buzz, hum-buzz, hum-buzz and then shut down with no forewarning.  It worked that night.  It kaputzed overnight.  Sigh. 

I use my microwave nearly everyday.  Oatmeal.  Defrosting food for the canine vermin in my household.  Warm up coffee. Soften butter.  Boil water. Heat up leftovers.  Cook canned and frozen vegetables. It's greate to "mostly" cook 'baked" potatoes that are steamed in the microwave and then finished them off in the toaster oven. I think that they turn out better than all baked.

I don't "cook" with the microwave per se.  I don't bake cakes or cook meats or anything else.  It is the front end (defrost) and back end (warm up) except for oatmeal.  I realize that I may have cheated myself out of shortcuts all of these years.  But because I 'cook', I have plenty of leftovers, and nothing is more left-over friendly than the microwave.

I am rather partial to the Inverter (constant power at less than 100%)  technology on Panasonic, as well as their effective turbo defrost (enter weight, and enjoy thoroughly defrosted (not cooked) foods). So, those features make me brand loyal, though I would expect these microwaves to last a wee bit longer.  I get the full wattage (1250), full capacity (2.0 cf).  I ordered one from Amazon, taking advantage of their warehouse deals, which can be (and was) significant in savings.  Better yet, it arrives today after ordering it yesterday. (!@#$@#^#$%^^ WTF is it?)  It helps to have a warehouse just a couple of counties away.

Resolution Front: While I made no formal resolutions, I am re-embracing David Allen's Getting Things Done System. It is simple, elegant, and it works.  However, like most things, to get the results, you have to do the work.  You don't get six-pack abs by watching You Tube videos on how-to-get-six-pack abs.  You simply have to do the heavy lifting.

So it is with organization.  Like the smoker who tries to quit numerous times, I am the organizer who starts numerous times.  Sadly I'm one of those highly receptive people--meaning simply that almost everything interests me--so breadth is wide and I dive deep.  That means that time and energy spent on mundane things suffers.

KANBANFLOW to the rescue.  I have been using this wonderful product for sometime now.  It has a Pomodoro overlay.  It helps me plan and stay organized on specific tasks. Most importantly, for routine tasks, it helps me look at time it takes, and allows for some active thinking on how to make tasks more efficient.

So, I'm Kanbanning my way through 2015's accumulated stuff.  My goal is to have all things in order by the end of the month.  Yeah, that sounds like alot of time.  It is.  But for most of 2015 I had an accumulation of stuff--(and that was an add on to pre 2015).  So, like the overweight person who needs to shed a few pounds, what has accumulated over years, takes a little time to whittle away.

Now time to whittle.