Steven Harper's Blog, page 10
October 13, 2024
The Saga of the Breadmaker
I know a lot of people buy a breadmaker saying, "I can make delicious, fresh bread anytime I want!" They make a loaf or two, and then the machine vanishes into the dark depths of the cupboard or is banished to the basement, never to be seen again.
Mine isn't one of those.
I got a breadmaker back when they first came out, and I used it semi-regularly, usually a couple-three times a month. It was a supplement, though, and not a regular part of the kitchen routine. We still bought store bread. But I loved setting it to bake bread overnight and having hot, fresh bread at breakfast.
Years later, when I got divorced and it was me and three boys (two of them teenagers) and we didn't have any money, I was looking at every way to cut household costs. I realized we were going through three loaves of bread a week at $2 a loaf. That was $25 a month, just for bread.
I did more math. Flour, salt, yeast, and a little oil for a loaf of bread came to about 25 cents. (!) So I could go from $6 a week to 75 cents, or from $25 a month to $3 a month. The breadmaker itself cost $50, so it would pay for itself in less than three months.
The breadmaker became a permanent resident on the counter. I became adept at quickly throwing the ingredients in and letting it crank through yet another loaf every other day.
Years passed, and the financial problems eased. But I still used the breadmaker. Not only is it cheaper, but the bread is also better in all ways.
Eventually the bread pan started to fall apart. The gasket sealing the bottom went bad, and it leaked. Fortunately, I was able to order a replacement part on-line, and life continued as before.
More years passed peacefully, as far as the breadmaker was concerned. Then a few weeks ago, things started to go south. The second bread pan was going bad. The breadmaker was making an alarming GRONK GRONK GRONK noise when it kneaded the dough. After 15 years of labor, it was time to retire.
I wasn't going to give up a breadmaker, though! I started shopping for one and found that they haven't changed much in the last 15 years, except in price. The model I had bought for $50 back then went for $100 now! Goodness.
More shopping ensued, and I found a different, cheaper brand of maker that looked promising. For one thing, it had two paddles in the bottom, which would make for better kneading, and it had more settings for different styles of bread. And the shipping information said it would arrive in three days. Well, good!
I ordered it. A bit later, I got an email that proudly announced my breadmaker would be on its way and arrive in a couple weeks.
Wait--what?
I double-checked. The original listing still had the breadmaker arriving in three days, but apparently that was a lie. When you buy it, suddenly it's two weeks. I suspect it had to be shipped from China or India or something, but they didn't want to say this, so they lied.
I tried to cancel the order and was informed it was "too late, as the product has already shipped," even though the web site said the order hadn't been filled yet, let alone shipped. I complained higher up the food chain and was finally told the order would be canceled and my money would be refunded. And lo, my money was returned.
Meanwhile, I ordered a similar breadmaker from a different company. Paid a smidge more, but it would arrive at the agreed-upon time (three days).
Also meanwhile, I got an email alert that my original breadmaker had shipped and it would arrive Real Soon Now. Huh. Okay.
The second new breadmaker arrived and it's a delight! I love the dual paddles. It also solved one of the perennial breadmaker problems--the stuck paddle. When you shake a loaf from the pan, often the kneading paddle comes with because it's buried inside the bread. You're stuck with two alternatives. You can pluck it out of the hot bread, or you can wait for the bread to cool and remove the paddle then. The first way leaves the loaf relatively undamaged but singes your fingers something awful. The second way saves your fingers, but the bread adheres to the paddle as it cools and pulling it out brings a big chunk of bread with it. I usually ran cold water from the faucet, pulled out the hot paddle, and immediately went for the cold water.
Anyway, this breadmaker provided a little wire hook that slips into the paddle and flicks it out of the bread in a trice. It's a no-contact solution to singed fingers and damaged bread. I love it!
I've also started baking bread with whole wheat flour. It's more effort--whole wheat bread needs more ingredients if you want something chewable--but it's healthier, and Darwin can eat it. I also know for sure it's whole wheat. A LOT of store-bought "whole wheat bread" ... isn't. The definition of "whole wheat" leaves a lot of wiggle room. But mine doesn't, thank you. The dough is HEAVY, though. My old breadmaker was too old to handle it, but this new one cranks right through it and produces lovely loaves of honey-and-molasses wheat goodness. Very satisfied.
And then the first breadmaker I ordered arrived. It was on my porch one day when I got home from work. Um...
I use my breadmaker way more than most people, but not enough to need two of them! I double-checked my debit account. Money is still there. And not a peep from the company about returning it. So I got a free breadmaker. It's still sealed in the original shipping box, waiting for me to figure out what to do with it.
Maybe I'll sell it on eBay. Or donate it somewhere.
Ideas?
Meanwhile, as I write this, the house smells of baking bread.
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Mine isn't one of those.
I got a breadmaker back when they first came out, and I used it semi-regularly, usually a couple-three times a month. It was a supplement, though, and not a regular part of the kitchen routine. We still bought store bread. But I loved setting it to bake bread overnight and having hot, fresh bread at breakfast.
Years later, when I got divorced and it was me and three boys (two of them teenagers) and we didn't have any money, I was looking at every way to cut household costs. I realized we were going through three loaves of bread a week at $2 a loaf. That was $25 a month, just for bread.
I did more math. Flour, salt, yeast, and a little oil for a loaf of bread came to about 25 cents. (!) So I could go from $6 a week to 75 cents, or from $25 a month to $3 a month. The breadmaker itself cost $50, so it would pay for itself in less than three months.
The breadmaker became a permanent resident on the counter. I became adept at quickly throwing the ingredients in and letting it crank through yet another loaf every other day.
Years passed, and the financial problems eased. But I still used the breadmaker. Not only is it cheaper, but the bread is also better in all ways.
Eventually the bread pan started to fall apart. The gasket sealing the bottom went bad, and it leaked. Fortunately, I was able to order a replacement part on-line, and life continued as before.
More years passed peacefully, as far as the breadmaker was concerned. Then a few weeks ago, things started to go south. The second bread pan was going bad. The breadmaker was making an alarming GRONK GRONK GRONK noise when it kneaded the dough. After 15 years of labor, it was time to retire.
I wasn't going to give up a breadmaker, though! I started shopping for one and found that they haven't changed much in the last 15 years, except in price. The model I had bought for $50 back then went for $100 now! Goodness.
More shopping ensued, and I found a different, cheaper brand of maker that looked promising. For one thing, it had two paddles in the bottom, which would make for better kneading, and it had more settings for different styles of bread. And the shipping information said it would arrive in three days. Well, good!
I ordered it. A bit later, I got an email that proudly announced my breadmaker would be on its way and arrive in a couple weeks.
Wait--what?
I double-checked. The original listing still had the breadmaker arriving in three days, but apparently that was a lie. When you buy it, suddenly it's two weeks. I suspect it had to be shipped from China or India or something, but they didn't want to say this, so they lied.
I tried to cancel the order and was informed it was "too late, as the product has already shipped," even though the web site said the order hadn't been filled yet, let alone shipped. I complained higher up the food chain and was finally told the order would be canceled and my money would be refunded. And lo, my money was returned.
Meanwhile, I ordered a similar breadmaker from a different company. Paid a smidge more, but it would arrive at the agreed-upon time (three days).
Also meanwhile, I got an email alert that my original breadmaker had shipped and it would arrive Real Soon Now. Huh. Okay.
The second new breadmaker arrived and it's a delight! I love the dual paddles. It also solved one of the perennial breadmaker problems--the stuck paddle. When you shake a loaf from the pan, often the kneading paddle comes with because it's buried inside the bread. You're stuck with two alternatives. You can pluck it out of the hot bread, or you can wait for the bread to cool and remove the paddle then. The first way leaves the loaf relatively undamaged but singes your fingers something awful. The second way saves your fingers, but the bread adheres to the paddle as it cools and pulling it out brings a big chunk of bread with it. I usually ran cold water from the faucet, pulled out the hot paddle, and immediately went for the cold water.
Anyway, this breadmaker provided a little wire hook that slips into the paddle and flicks it out of the bread in a trice. It's a no-contact solution to singed fingers and damaged bread. I love it!
I've also started baking bread with whole wheat flour. It's more effort--whole wheat bread needs more ingredients if you want something chewable--but it's healthier, and Darwin can eat it. I also know for sure it's whole wheat. A LOT of store-bought "whole wheat bread" ... isn't. The definition of "whole wheat" leaves a lot of wiggle room. But mine doesn't, thank you. The dough is HEAVY, though. My old breadmaker was too old to handle it, but this new one cranks right through it and produces lovely loaves of honey-and-molasses wheat goodness. Very satisfied.
And then the first breadmaker I ordered arrived. It was on my porch one day when I got home from work. Um...
I use my breadmaker way more than most people, but not enough to need two of them! I double-checked my debit account. Money is still there. And not a peep from the company about returning it. So I got a free breadmaker. It's still sealed in the original shipping box, waiting for me to figure out what to do with it.
Maybe I'll sell it on eBay. Or donate it somewhere.
Ideas?
Meanwhile, as I write this, the house smells of baking bread.
comments
October 10, 2024
Weird Mealtimes
Around here, supper comes at odd times. I eat lunch before 11:00 AM because high schools start so ungodly early. I get home around 3:30 and, since it's been four hours since I last ate, I'm starving.
Darwin, meanwhile, often works from home and rarely eats lunch those days.
So when I get home, we'll have supper. At 4:00.
But on days when Darwin works at his office, he doesn't get home until well into the evening, like 8:00. On those days, I eat something when I get home and then we have a late, late supper, sometimes finishing at 9:00.
Our house has a weird mealtime schedule.
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Darwin, meanwhile, often works from home and rarely eats lunch those days.
So when I get home, we'll have supper. At 4:00.
But on days when Darwin works at his office, he doesn't get home until well into the evening, like 8:00. On those days, I eat something when I get home and then we have a late, late supper, sometimes finishing at 9:00.
Our house has a weird mealtime schedule.
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October 8, 2024
Amazing Find
An original copy of the US Constitution turned up in the attic of a plantation home in North Carolina:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/.../this-forgotten-copy.../What's interesting to me is that my novel TRASH COURSE (written under the pen name Penny Drake) revolves around exactly this kind of find!
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October 2, 2024
PayPal Privacy
My fellow PayPal users:
PayPal is updating their Terms of Service to let themselves sell your shopping habits to merchants starting November 27. They're banking on people not knowing about it. You can opt out, and you should!
To opt out, log into PayPal. Go to:
>Settings (the little cog in the upper right corner)
>Data & Privacy
>Manage shared info
>Personalized shopping
Set the toggle to off.
I shut it off just now.
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PayPal is updating their Terms of Service to let themselves sell your shopping habits to merchants starting November 27. They're banking on people not knowing about it. You can opt out, and you should!
To opt out, log into PayPal. Go to:
>Settings (the little cog in the upper right corner)
>Data & Privacy
>Manage shared info
>Personalized shopping
Set the toggle to off.
I shut it off just now.
comments
September 29, 2024
Super Trademark
The novel I started has people with super powers in it. Last I knew, the terms "super-hero" and "super-villain" were jointly trademarked by DC and Marvel, meaning everyone else had to use terms like "supers" or "meta-humans" or "powered people" while pretending the word "super-hero" didn't exist. But I hadn't heard anything about this issue for many years, so I decided I'd better look into it.
I checked the web and discovered that a company called Superbabies had sued DC and Marvel over the trademark. They pointed out that "super-hero" went back to 1909, that DC and Marvel were NOT the first comics to use the term, and that the term has long been part of ordinary speech.
The deadline for DC and Marvel to respond to the lawsuit passed without a peep from either of them. As a result, Superbabies won the lawsuit by default. (I'm assuming the two companies decided it wasn't worth the fight.) So the trademark has officially been lifted.
When did this happen? Why, TODAY. This very day, September 29, 2024.
How weird is that?
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I checked the web and discovered that a company called Superbabies had sued DC and Marvel over the trademark. They pointed out that "super-hero" went back to 1909, that DC and Marvel were NOT the first comics to use the term, and that the term has long been part of ordinary speech.
The deadline for DC and Marvel to respond to the lawsuit passed without a peep from either of them. As a result, Superbabies won the lawsuit by default. (I'm assuming the two companies decided it wasn't worth the fight.) So the trademark has officially been lifted.
When did this happen? Why, TODAY. This very day, September 29, 2024.
How weird is that?
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September 22, 2024
New Project
I started a new book today. Character thumbnails, setting notes, plot sketched out. Go me!
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September 21, 2024
The Doomsday Vault Redux
In celebration of Open Road Media offering new versions of some of my books, I'm blogging about the history of these novels and how I came to write them. A trip down memory lane! (You can find the books here: https://openroadmedia.com/search-results/books/steven%20harper Buy a few copies for the kids!) For months I'd been toying with the idea of writing a steampunk novel. I'd already done a couple-three steampunk short stories, and found I liked the genre very much. But I needed characters. A world. A story. So I set about to make them ... by asking myself questions.[image error] There are generally two ways to start a science fiction or fantasy novel. You can start by building the wider world and deciding how the magic/science affects the world and the people in it, then narrowing the view down to one person and his or her place in this world. Or you can start with a person and slowly widening your view to the surrounding world, building the setting around the character. I always respond best to people rather than their surroundings, so I almost always start from the character and build outward. And so I set out to make some people in a so-far undefined steampunk setting. Alice came to me as a young Englishwoman who owned a windup cat and one good dress. This is where the questions began. Why did she only have one good dress? What would she use it for? Where did her windup cat come from? I answered my own questions, and Alice took shape in my mind. I also knew I wanted two protagonists who would eventually form a romantic relationship, and I wanted a male who was very different from Alice, so I deliberately ran in the opposite direction to create Gavin. He was younger, barely eighteen, and unlike ladylike Alice, he lived a life of travel and adventure on a small dirigible, and he played the fiddle. But where did Gavin himself come from? How did he get on the airship in the first place? Why does he play the fiddle? I answered those questions, too. Every protagonist needs an outrageous best friend, so I created Louisa to be Alice's. Louisa was great fun to write ("Puff up your chest, dear—here he comes with the petit fours!"), and as a result she ended up playing a much bigger role in the book than I'd originally intended. And we need an antagonist. My favorite kind of antagonist is one who is (rightly) convinced that she's doing the right thing, and the protagonists are terrible people who need to be stopped. Out of this, I got Lieutenant Susan Phipps, who is probably my favorite antagonist of all time. Don't tell my other bad guys! Then I needed to build outward and create my world. I wanted zombies in my world because ... zombies! I wanted mad scientists who created impossible inventions out of brass and steel and steam. But how did these things come exist? Why can the inventions defy known physics? What do you do with inventions that could potentially destroy the world? You put them in the Doomsday Vault, of course. The Doomsday VaultThe Impossible CubeThe Dragon MenThe Havoc Machine
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September 17, 2024
New Books at Open Road Media!
Hey, everyone! Open Road Media has released new versions of my steampunk series The Clockwork Empire and my fantasy trilogy The Books of Blood and Iron. The new covers are some of the best I've ever seen! And the books are pretty good, too. :) If you missed any of them the first time around, or want a spiffy new edition, now's your chance! Check them out: https://openroadmedia.com/contributor/steven-harper The novels are: THE BOOKS OF BLOOD AND IRONIron AxeBlood StormBone War Death herself is bound and imprisoned, leaving the world in chaos. Danr, a half-troll, half-human outcast, and Aisa, a slave girl kidnapped from her homeland, and Talfi, a boy who can't die, need to save her—and the world. THE CLOCKWORK EMPIREThe Doomsday VaultThe Impossible CubeThe Dragon MenThe Havoc Machine The clockwork plague turns some people into zombies and others into mad scientists. England and China are caught in an arms race to control them and their fantastic, deadly inventions. Alice, a fallen noblewoman with a very strange aunt, and Gavin, an American airship sailor stranded in England, are caught in a web of intrigue that spans three continents. The only way they can rescue the world is to destroy it. Have a look!
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September 8, 2024
Zap! Ow! Bleah.
On Friday, Darwin and I got covid boosters. I got a flu shot, too--I do work in a germ factory. For the other shots, we both got sore arms and felt a little run-down the next day, but that was it.
This time, when we got the shots, the needle didn't hurt for me, but the fluid going in felt uncomfortable. Darwin said the needle hurt a little bit for him.
The next day, Darwin started getting flu symptoms, pretty heavy ones. Aching, feverish, run-down. He finally went to bed and slept for four hours. He got up briefly, then went back to bed for the rest of the night.
I started feeling off in the early evening, mostly tired and a little achy, but not too bad. Just to the point where I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything. Overnight, I felt worse, but was able to sleep. This morning, I'm still tired. Darwin is much better, but not fully himself.
This is the worst reaction to a covid shot either of us has had, and I'm glad we got them on a Friday afternoon. Way better than covid, though!
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This time, when we got the shots, the needle didn't hurt for me, but the fluid going in felt uncomfortable. Darwin said the needle hurt a little bit for him.
The next day, Darwin started getting flu symptoms, pretty heavy ones. Aching, feverish, run-down. He finally went to bed and slept for four hours. He got up briefly, then went back to bed for the rest of the night.
I started feeling off in the early evening, mostly tired and a little achy, but not too bad. Just to the point where I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything. Overnight, I felt worse, but was able to sleep. This morning, I'm still tired. Darwin is much better, but not fully himself.
This is the worst reaction to a covid shot either of us has had, and I'm glad we got them on a Friday afternoon. Way better than covid, though!
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September 2, 2024
Hey, Dude! It's Shoes!
I've become a fan of HeyDude shoes.
I originally bought a pair when Darwin and I were planning our cruise around Greece and Italy. My tennis shoes are black and thick and not very summery or cruise ship-y. I wanted some white or pale brown shoes. And at the mall, Darwin (who wanted new shoes for similar reasons) and I came across this new brand we'd never seen before: HeyDude.
The shoes are very light-weight. You can barely tell you're wearing anything. The cloth looks like a rough canvas, and it's tied with funky elastic laces. We tried them on and bought pairs on the spot. We wore ours throughout the cruise and found them to be very comfortable while they look cool and (dare I say) edgy. They went with my usual summer pallet of bright colors and with my new white Mediterranean suit. And they accommodated the orthopedic inserts I have to have in order to walk more than four steps. I loved them!
I finally got around to looking up their web site and discovered they come in a huge variety of colors and designs. Wow! Suddenly I could have shoes that matched stuff! I ordered a gray pair and a white pair and a bright blue pair and a bright red pair to go with my beige pair. I've never mixed and matched shoes before, but now I can. And I do.
I've been wearing them all summer long, and now that school is back in session, I've been wearing them to work. (I try to wear bright colors when I'm teaching so the students can find me more easily in the classroom and because bright colors attract the eye, which helps keep the students' attention on me when I need it.)
They feel almost like dress shoes, but they really aren't. They're casual but can get away with a dressier outfit by pretending to add a touch of style or whimsy. One thing they definitely aren't is athletic. They don't have the ankle support. I wouldn't jog in them, though they're fine on a bike. I also don't know how warm they'll keep my feet in winter, and I wouldn't wear them in snow or slush. But I still have my heavy black sneakers for that.
The dress shoe feel, though, contributed to me at first not wanting to wear them often. I should save them for special occasions! But I eventually discarded this idea as ridiculous and started wearing them full-time, every day. Of course, this meant they got dirty, especially since I like to walk on the dirt roads behind our house.
And here I discovered another advantage to HeyDudes. They're so very easy to clean. My fave blue pair had gotten pretty grimy, so I popped them into the washer. They came out completely clean but wet, of course. I didn't want the noise of them banging around in the dryer, so I put them in the sun and they were dry in a couple hours. Fantastic! I swear my tennis shoes take three days to dry completely.
They're not cheap, but they aren't especially expensive, either. Their web site sells them for $65 on up, with most in the $75 range, but of course they give you a coupon when you arrive at the site for 20% off, so the real price is more in the $60 range. They also have other styles, including high-top, thick-sole, and even boots. I might try those to see what they're like.
Anyway, I very much like these shoes. Highly recommended.
[image error]
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I originally bought a pair when Darwin and I were planning our cruise around Greece and Italy. My tennis shoes are black and thick and not very summery or cruise ship-y. I wanted some white or pale brown shoes. And at the mall, Darwin (who wanted new shoes for similar reasons) and I came across this new brand we'd never seen before: HeyDude.
The shoes are very light-weight. You can barely tell you're wearing anything. The cloth looks like a rough canvas, and it's tied with funky elastic laces. We tried them on and bought pairs on the spot. We wore ours throughout the cruise and found them to be very comfortable while they look cool and (dare I say) edgy. They went with my usual summer pallet of bright colors and with my new white Mediterranean suit. And they accommodated the orthopedic inserts I have to have in order to walk more than four steps. I loved them!
I finally got around to looking up their web site and discovered they come in a huge variety of colors and designs. Wow! Suddenly I could have shoes that matched stuff! I ordered a gray pair and a white pair and a bright blue pair and a bright red pair to go with my beige pair. I've never mixed and matched shoes before, but now I can. And I do.
I've been wearing them all summer long, and now that school is back in session, I've been wearing them to work. (I try to wear bright colors when I'm teaching so the students can find me more easily in the classroom and because bright colors attract the eye, which helps keep the students' attention on me when I need it.)
They feel almost like dress shoes, but they really aren't. They're casual but can get away with a dressier outfit by pretending to add a touch of style or whimsy. One thing they definitely aren't is athletic. They don't have the ankle support. I wouldn't jog in them, though they're fine on a bike. I also don't know how warm they'll keep my feet in winter, and I wouldn't wear them in snow or slush. But I still have my heavy black sneakers for that.
The dress shoe feel, though, contributed to me at first not wanting to wear them often. I should save them for special occasions! But I eventually discarded this idea as ridiculous and started wearing them full-time, every day. Of course, this meant they got dirty, especially since I like to walk on the dirt roads behind our house.
And here I discovered another advantage to HeyDudes. They're so very easy to clean. My fave blue pair had gotten pretty grimy, so I popped them into the washer. They came out completely clean but wet, of course. I didn't want the noise of them banging around in the dryer, so I put them in the sun and they were dry in a couple hours. Fantastic! I swear my tennis shoes take three days to dry completely.
They're not cheap, but they aren't especially expensive, either. Their web site sells them for $65 on up, with most in the $75 range, but of course they give you a coupon when you arrive at the site for 20% off, so the real price is more in the $60 range. They also have other styles, including high-top, thick-sole, and even boots. I might try those to see what they're like.
Anyway, I very much like these shoes. Highly recommended.
[image error]
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