Because I'm freezing at work this morning, I went to heat my heating pad in the microwave.

Just a few seconds before the 3 minutes were up, I started getting this weird smell which I gradually came to understood was the smell of something burning.

Yes! My heating pad was actually burning in the microwave.

This was a highly disturbing experience, especially since I generally shove the thing into the microwave and head for the washroom. Can you imagine if I'd done that and the heating pad had caught fire while I was gone?