A surprise I did not need
Well, just when I thought everything was going reasonably smoothly in the run-up to Shore Leave — car repaired swiftly, COVID test scheduled promptly and turning up negative, my own physical fitness improved somewhat in recent weeks — I got thrown a bit of a curve ball. This morning, I noticed an odd silhouette on the clock of my microwave oven. Was there a bug on it? I looked closer, and it turned out there was a bug inside the clock. And then I saw another one crawl across it.
I have no idea how, but somehow some bugs must’ve nested inside the workings of my microwave, probably slipping in through the air vents or something. I’m not sure, but they’re probably cockroach nymphs. (I took a photo to show the manager, but I don’t want to inflict it on my readers.) I immediately took the microwave out onto the balcony, and as soon as the office opened, I went to notify the manager. Apparently I’m now required to get a cockroach spraying in my apartment, which is something I’ve always managed to avoid until now, relying on plastic roach baits instead. They’ve always worked in the past, but not so much lately, and now I’m wondering if a hidden nest inside the microwave might explain that. Anyway, they’ll presumably do it while I’m away, which works out, I guess. Unless they come today, but I didn’t get the impression they would.
Unfortunately, neither the manager nor I had any idea how to get bugs out of the inner workings of a microwave. Maybe putting a chunk of dry ice inside overnight would suffocate them, but I don’t have time to sort that out when I have to make final preparations for my trip tomorrow. And I’m not allowed to leave appliances sitting on the balcony. I hated to do it with an otherwise perfectly workable appliance, but my only option was to lug the microwave to the dumpster out back.
On the other hand, I just looked back through my records, and unless I omitted something, the last entry I have for buying a microwave oven was from 2005. Which appears to be consistent with when this model was on the market. So it had a good long run. And a new one can be had for about 100 bucks or so, which isn’t too bad, though it’s not great, either. (I’ll be getting a nice-sized check after I finish my current project in about a month, but I don’t yet have any work lined up beyond that.)
I checked, and apparently Target has a sale on microwaves that’s ending today. I decided to walk up to the Target store a few blocks away, a small one serving the university, to see if they had a suitable one. But I couldn’t carry it back; I had a hard enough time lugging the old one down to the trash. I thought I might ask if they did same-day delivery, the cost of which would presumably be cancelled out by the sale price.
But the only microwaves they had were 900 watts, while I’m used to 1100. Maybe if I’d had time to think it over, I’d have decided to settle for the lower power. But it was a token effort anyway, so I just went home (then promptly went out to return some library videos and mail a package, as long as I still had fresh sunblock on).
I guess I’ll just have to get by without microwave food for the rest of today and tomorrow morning, and then an unknown amount of time after I get home. That’s easier now than it would’ve been once, since I rely less on frozen dinners (stovetop mixes, pasta, etc. are cheaper) and use an electric kettle to boil water. But there are still a number of things I routinely microwave, like hot dogs, veggie-burger patties, and single-serve macaroni pouches (which I just restocked on yesterday, and only work in the microwave). Come to think of it, maybe I should get a smaller one next time after all, since I rarely use it for anything big.
I wonder if they make smaller 1100-watt ovens. Or does it scale with size, so that a smaller 900-watt heats as fast as a larger 1100-watt? I’m not sure that makes sense given how microwave ovens work, but maybe the energy is more concentrated in a smaller volume?
