Another suggestion:

In my admin I have moved the "Orders" block from the bottom of the left column to the right one just under the "New Orders" block. This keeps anything related to 'Orders' in one column. I rarely look at the left hand column when doing my order admin stuff. All I am interested in are the new orders, the status of my orders and perhaps the new customers (who are you???).

Stats are being gleaned at only occasionally.