Author Archive: joe

The easy answer would be “lots of places”, but that would not really answer the question. Have spent time asking myself that question, and don’t really have hard answers. What keeps coming to mind is “letting too many things get in the way of my morning.” Simply said, that means that first things have not been first.

It’s hard keeping your mind going where you want it to, when things and people scream for your attention. Whether it’s the dead battery, the piling up of “little jobs” that need to be done or just plain dead tired. All those and more were the “squeeking wheel” that tends to keep us (me) from what really needs to get done.

So, I’m back – “first things first” doesn’t really work. It’s got to be what’s important goes first.

Interesting how it sounds like I climbed down off some mountain, but that would not necessarily be true. After all, they sing and talk about “scaling the heights.” I gave up leaning over the sides of tall buildings quite a few years ago. Although, if the opportunity presented itself I could do it, but it would not be the first thing that I’d want to do.What this is about is my coffee machine – a gift a year ago for my birthday/retirement from some friends. Saved me a bunch of money and time getting to Starbucks or Peet’s for a mocha or latte. It also meant that no matter the time – day or night, someone’s favorite brew was a few button presses away. Weak or strong, with or without milk or syrups, the machine was there to help.That is until “Descale” popped up in the little glowing window. Seems that even the best waters have some chemicals in them that will build up in the pipes of the coffee machine. Somehow, the makers of the machine figured out how much water could get pumped through the pipes before the machine would start to get clogged up.One of the first things they have you do when the machine is unpacked and installed is to test the water with some of that paper that changes color when it gets wet by the chemical (nightmares of Mr. Tibbetts in high school chemistry!). Once the paper changed color, you changed a setting in the machine, never to perform the paper test again unless you moved to a new water supply.So…the “descaling” was performed according to their instructions. Using a chemical, the machine carried out its function with precision – all I had to do was add enough water and make sure the runoff did not run off onto the floor.Maybe this is kind of like life – every now and then we need to get rid of the crud that keeps us from functioning the way we were designed to. Something or someone holds up a “Get Rid Of The Crud” sign, or the proverbial light flashes in front of us, and we stop a minute (or longer) and flush the system. We run some good stuff through our life that will get rid of the crud. That’s our decision – we don’t have to flush the crud, but if we don’t, at some point nothing flows like it was designed to. Pipes burst (our lives become a mess), fittings leak (we always have problems). Worst of all we don’t accomplish much – we get too busy plugging holes and fixing leaks.