L'Affaire VCR

I had a VCR incident. What happened is this: I bought a new television. It's a high definition set, and it's in the living room now. The set that was there is now in my bedroom, and so is the VCR that is controlled by the same universal remote. I reasoned that I just had to get another VCR, and so I went out to do it.

I went to the thrift store I deemed most likely to have a good VCR with its original remote, but they did not have anything like that. I picked what looked like an acceptable one, and went to the trouble of locating the cables, TV and VHS tape that I would need to test it. This was a laborious process, but worth it considering that the wares there are sold "as is". I walked away thinking I'd done my due diligence and found a good VCR.

Old Man On The Kitchen Counter

I made an interesting discovery at about the same time as my birthday, which I recounted yesterday. It concerns my microwave, which I guess I never really looked at all that closely. I knew it was old because it had been made by Montgomery Ward. Cursory research indicates that store went out of business some nine years ago and exists today as an online store after being revived by some junk mail company. I certainly knew the microwave was old, but did not realize how old. The information plate on the back educated me. Interesting it was to discover that it was just eleven months younger than I myself.

That hit me like bad news indeed given its condition. It is not in good shape. It takes twice as long to cook anything in it as it is supposed to. The door is very creaking, and makes this horrible sound when I open it all of the way. The unit is very large, heavy and cumbersome. It certainly takes up far too much space on that counter. Those things are inconveniences to be sure, but one can live with them, as one could with what is probably very poor energy efficiency. Probably intolerable is the radiation that I have to imagine it puts out.