Wednesday, May 02, 2007

My Theory on Searching for Lost Items

As I briefly mentioned in an earlier post, I have this theory about looking for lost items. I know you've all been waiting with bated breath, so I'm finally going to elaborate.

Pretty much, my searching theory is a very passive approach. I don't search. Because if something's gone missing, and I search and don't find it, that means it's really gone. But if it's something I can do without for a while, like a necklace ... or the Neosporin ... once I look in one or two places, I'll stop searching.

I'll keep it in the back of my mind and, if I think of another possible location, I'll search there. But I refuse to turn the house/car/office/commute route upside down just to prove that I've really lost something.

I find this technique surprisingly effective. I'd estimate that, 90% of the time, the lost item turns up eventually. And the other 10% of the time, I just forget about it entirely. Which means I didn't really need it anyway. So I think that adds up to a 100% success rate!

For example, a few weeks ago there was that issue with losing the Neosporin. I looked in the most likely spots, and when I didn't find it I gave up. A few days later, Keith pulled open his bedside drawer and viola! Neosporin.

Which also proves that I haven't turned into my parents quite yet.

6 comments:

Amy said...

You know what I lost lately? A package of LaLa envelopes. I also can't find two books I checked out of the library.

In the first situation, I sucked it up after a week and e-mailed LaLa to request more. In the second, I'm just going to keep renewing them and hope they turn up.


Notice that cleaning my apartment and locating said items is not mentioned as an option . . .

Amy said...

Guess what? One of my missing items turned up! You can read all about it here!

M. Lubbers said...

Why is it so hard to convince people I'm a genius? You have all the proof you need right here!

Amy said...

Oh, and also: A member of Team 11 commented on my "End of an Era" post! Mind-bottling! (Yes, I said it!)

Unknown said...

Just remember, you always find something in the last place you look for it.

Amy said...

How can I follow up a deep thought like that? Here's how: By revealing that the library books have been located!!

I was packing for my trip to Athens last week, and discovered that I'd never emptied my duffel bag from my trip to Akron the weekend before Easter. I dump it out, and there are the books!

Now I remember that I took them with me because I thought I'd have the time/inclination to skim them and plan my Easter trip to St. Louis. Which I did not — they just got buried in the bottom under the dirty clothes.

Anyhow, since I'm sure we were all on the edges of our respective seats, biting our nails in worry over these lost books, I thought I would share.