So I had some time this week to plow through my inbox, project list and checklists, a la David Allen’s Getting Things Done. R and I are big fans of this organizational system, but you’re supposed to do a weekly review in order for things not to fall through the cracks. I had stuff in my inbox from, oh, May probably.
Part of the “Getting Things Done” routine is the use of tickler files. I don’t have daily ones like he recommends, but I do have monthly ones.
The upside is that I found a bunch of cool stuff that is now timely—stuff I never would have been able to keep track of otherwise. A wonderful litany for World Communion Sunday that PPB shared with me last year. A slip of paper about the National Donor Sabbath, right in time to send the URL to our stewardship elder, who is planning a fall Sunday School class on end-of-life issues. Things like that.
The downside of the tickler is finding things—in your own handwriting, no less—that you have no recollection of. Several months ago I put a scrap of paper into the August file that says, “Polling Donuts.”
Wow.
I have NO idea what that means.
And just what would a poll of donuts be like?
“Should donut holes be given all the rights and privileges of regular donuts?”
“Do you favor changing the name of French Twists to Freedom Cakes?”
“Would you say you are more or less rich and fattening than you were four years ago?”
Share your own question here, guess at the note’s actual meaning, or, just eat a donut and think of me.
13 Responses to “the downside of a tickler file”
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I also think Polling Donuts would make a great band name. Lukee?
So basically you’re asking people to take a flying guess at a polling donut.
I declare this the year of the donut hole.
Donut holes are not just small donuts. They are their own people.
Donut holes are not gifts of our grandparents, they are borrowed from our grandchildren….
Donut holes deserve clean air, safe places to play, tetanus shots that don’t hurt, and, um, the right not to have to sleep in overcrowded cages!
PPB has my vote.
I’m not as clever as PPB, but maybe this is a reminder to find someone to provide donuts for the election workers at the local election polling place?
Sorry, I’m just not clever this morning.
i love the expression “keep your eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole.” (i googled it once and actually found a purported “source” of this expression. used it once in a children’s message at church w/ an illustration of when my husband was a boy. he was playing catch w/ his dad and his dad said, “be sure not to hit auntie mable w/ the ball. my husband looked at auntie mable, threw the ball, and of course he hit her on the head.” if his dad had said, “look at me when you throw the ball” everything would have been fine. . . .
don’t have a clue what polling doughnuts (or donuts) might mean. but i tried to spooner it and came up w/ polling? no duh!
and i’ve been trolling for a new way to “get it all together so i can take my act on the road” (get organized since we’ve just started this small business) so maybe i’ll check out the d.a. book.
and finally writing d.a. made me think of defense against the dark arts which made me think of dada and dadaism which made me look it up on the internet which made me think rowling is a genius which made me realize i could go on and on and never get anything done today.
Maybe, maybe, you misspelled it and you intended to put donuts on looooong poles and reach them out into the pews to give to attentive sermon listeners?
You could use the pole to poke sleepers…
and BTW, you are inspiring me to get back to the GTD ways I once adhered to!
Sometimes I have no submit button when I leave a comment here. Sometimes I do. So odd.
I think it’s sliding donuts over a long poll made of sugar and then eating the entire thing en masse, much in the same way one eats a corny dog.
Excuse me Mrs. Donut,
Am I interrupting your dinner?
I will only take up a few minutes of your time. What do you think about the horrible portrayal of transfats in the liberal media?
What rights do transfats have? Should they be allowed to adopt the day old donuts that no one else will have? Should they be treated as “normal” glazed pastries or should they be considered part of the unsaturated fat category of baked pastries?
What do you think about the horrible practice of allowing transfats to sit next to fritters in the pastry case?
Should transfats be given equal billing on the menu or should that privilege be reserved for chocolate alone; the one, the true, the purest form of culinary treat?
a lucky something for the 8,000 comment? drop a clue….a new bible? online hymnal? copyright use of your sermons? if it is something like a trip to a spa i’m just going to keep posting……
These comments are all hillarious, but Sherry has me rolling on the floor!!!
All of you make my day (week? life?) I’m still laughing. I will try to poll some donuts tomorrow since we have a work day (it’s hotter than heck here, and I’m the one who scheduled the outside work day..so I will need to have some donuts (I don’t know if they are polling however.) G
ROTFL … I polled all the donuts I could find, and none of them wanted to try to think of something to top these entries!