default.breathe (lessons from an ice maker)

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Yes, it does! If an ice maker has a lesson to teach, are we able to hear it? Only if someone listens…

So I enjoy ice in my drinks; lattes, water and LMNT! We spent decent money about 18 months ago on an LG side-by-side fridge/freezer that made small cubes AND large round cocktail ice balls. The system has been functioning swimmingly until a couple of months ago…then nothing. Let the troubleshooting commence! Is the freezer temperature set low enough? -7*F. Check. Is the water line and filter working? Water is flowing. Check. Did you reset your appliance to factory default and wait 24 hours, several times? Yes, and check! During this time I noticed an additional symptom besides the lack-of-ice issue. The seals around the doors were pretty warm, almost hot. My next guess was the compressor was going out and before a tragedy struck and we lost valuable food to an underperforming appliance I was going to buy a new one, not so expensive but something that would just…work, like the ones in some mechanic’s garage that’s been there for 20 years!

In a last ditch effort, and partly to get ready for a new unit, I cleared everything off the top and moved it away from the wall a little bit. The heat that was built up above and behind seemed really odd to me as these machines are ‘designed’ to be tucked away into a corner. I was curious and decided to leave the newly established air-gap in play to see what happened - no harm / no foul. As you can probably already suspect the next morning we had ice and wonderfully cold food! Eureka!

The lesson I recalled that day, and from my ice maker of all things, is that when you don’t feel your optimal or don’t feel like doing what you need to do, get a fresh bottle of ice-cold water and venture outside for fresh air and breathe! Clear your mind a bit and let that brain of yours work though everything without the heat, stress and lack of circulation life wants to give you. An old teacher of mine, Jack Klingler (may he rest in peace) would send students to go grab him a coffee (about a five minute breather for them) when they got frustrated during a lab activity to clear their mind and work out the issue during a walk down the corridor. Boy did he have that right! Thank you, Mr. K!

Do yourself a favor this weekend: get some ice-cold-water, go outside, give yourself some space…and just breathe!

default.water • default.outdoors