September 15, 2002
I'm sure you can all testify to M. Giant's Law: The fastest way to find something is to replace it.
M. Giant's law doesn't come into effect unless the item has entered a state I call "good and lost." Good and lost only happens when you've looked every reasonable place that something could possibly be, and then some more places. When you're utterly flummoxed, when you honestly can't understand where your objective has gotten to, when you've gotten to the point where you're sifting through the catbox for the remote control or looking in the freezer for the tent stakes, then and only then will the universes decide that you've had enough. And they'll still make you get a new one.
Amen, brother. I'm not sure that M. Giant would agree, but I think that sometimes it works to be going out the door to replace the lost item, firm in the conviction that you'll buy a new one even if you break your toe tripping over the damn thing on your way to the car. That's just to keep us humble.
