Thanks, little label maker. You make it “fun” to print out labels for all sorts of things, including the current dates to put on a variety of objects around the house.
Yes. You might want to stick a date-label on your home furnace, just to know when you last changed your air conditioner/heater filter. But why would anyone want to know how long a jar of herring lasted?
Here’s why: That jar of herring has been sitting in my refrigerator for quite some time. Would you still eat it after one week? One month? One year? Now you get my drift, yes?
So now I will try to categorize some things on which I stick date-labels.
Things that relate to health
a) The home furnace: When do I need to replace that filter?
b) Certain foods: Past when should I not eat or drink that commodity?
c) Filtered water: When will my three months of “Pur” water filter use be up? — probably time to change that filter cartridge.
Things that relate to proper use
a) The tape recorder: When should I replace those batteries so that the speed of the tape I record doesn’t sound like Donald Duck when I play it back?
Things that relate to curiosity
a) The container of Metamucil, that box of cereal, that self-filled printer cartridge: I wonder how long one of those containers will last me? And I wonder how much it costs me per month (or per day) for that item?
b) It may be unwieldy or otherwise difficult to stick a date-label on your car, your house, or your pool filter, so that you can know how many years you have owned it. But, using a computer reminder service (such as the wonderful free site www.candor.com/reminder), you can have them email you an annual birthday reminder showing the original date of purchase. Now wouldn’t that be exciting!
c) If I want to know the last time I had a cold, I guess it would be best to write down the dates of my colds on a Word document and save it in a computer file. But how would I remember to look for the file the next time I had a cold? I could write date-labels (for the dates of my cold) just above the date-label on the Cold-Eeze box (for the date of purchase), and attach a Post-It note to remind me to check that computer file.
And, what if you wanted to remember (spell that forget) the date you read this essay?
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com