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I would not consider myself a very handy person. When it comes to understanding the mechanics of how things work, I become very right-brained in that my logical, methodical and organized left-brain decides to suddenly and unexpectedly, leave the building. I think I have always been this way as I can remember trying very hard to build my own tree house as soon as I reached an age wherein my father allowed me to use a hammer, but I could never quite figure out how to nail together the wood so that it formed a flat floor. I recall that I kept asking my dad where the really LONG nails were…
Even today, as much as I still love building with Legos, I can’t seem to construct anything substantial unless I am following along with the step-by-step instructions, complete with pictures. And when someone (like my husband) starts talking about how a light bulb was first made, or how an airplane lifts off the ground, or why the garage door suddenly stopped working … I stop listening: And not because I am rude or bored, but rather because I simply, don’t understand. However, right-brain characteristics also include being creative, spontaneous and good at solving problems. And so, when the electronic stove top recently stopped working, I embraced my inner right-brain and did what I usually do to try and resolve an electronic-type problem…I kept pressing buttons!
When the stove stopped working, I did not have the first notion of understanding about why it wasn’t working. I could see that, when pressing the power button, the light turned on, indicating that it was not a “flip the breaker” issue. I could also see that some sort of red light resembling the shape of a small key kept lighting up as well. In my quest to try and get the stove to work before having to enlist my (very handy) husband’s help, I figured that if I tried to press the buttons in some unknown yet effective order, the red key light would go off and the electric burner would go on. I pressed the power button again and the stove went off. I then, gently, pressed the power button and the stove turned on. I followed up this action with a gentle pressing of the red key light and a quick, yet gentle, pressing of the burner light. When this didn’t work, I tried pressing the buttons in reverse order. When that didn’t work, I started pressing more firmly and in random order of combinations, all the burner and temperature buttons. After repeated failed efforts of my secretly coded button pushing, I gave up and called to my husband. He assessed the situation and dug out the manual. Turns out the stove was in a child safety lock mode. I am sure that at some point, I would have eventually tried the ‘firm pressing of the power button and hold for 4 seconds’ combination that released the safety lock, but I am not sure how long it would have taken me to get there…
Right? Left?
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!
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