Antiques

Awhile back I wrote about my cell phone - truly a relic from a previous era. No camera, no voicemail notifications, no text messaging, not even a color screen. How do I survive? you ask. It seems I have a knack for electronics both old and new. I don't judge a piece of technology by its manufacture date - that is, unless it doesn't work. Then I hold onto it for sentimental reasons for about 6-8 months before I reluctantly drag it to the curb.

Recently, the outdatedness of my cell phone became the least of my problems. That's right, I FINALLY got a new phone! But before I post about how awesome it is, I have to share the story of the other ancient electronic device in my possession. Let's talk about my microwave. It came with the apartment and it's bolted to the underside of my cabinets, so it isn't going anywhere any time soon. Kelly and I noticed shortly after we moved in that there is no timer on it. You can use the timer to cook things, of course, but not to just count down when something's in the oven. There's no timer on the stove either, and neither of us has gotten around to buying a countertop or fridge magnet timer. Maybe because we get paid about a dollar an hour for all the work we do in grad school, but that's beside the point.

The other day I was doing my usual procrastination routine of wandering in and out of the kitchen, examining the magnets, wiping at nonexistent spots on the countertop, getting more ice for my water, etc., and I became mesmerized by the microwave. I had never really looked that closely at it, just in passing to punch in "cook 1" and the numbers. But this time I noticed that, first of all, it says "MICROCOMPUTER" across the top of the number pad. The compact processor inside this thing was such a big deal at the time of manufacture that they got to advertise it! I also noticed that the word "timer" is written under the zero, like the letters on a phone. I pressed it a couple times, thinking I had unlocked the secret to the missing timer. Nothing. Not even a beep. I popped the door open to see if there were instructions for the timer printed inside. Nope. Must have been an "option" the apartment management didn't spring for, like the panels on a computer where cd drives could be installed before they came standard with the tower. What I did find, though, was the birthdate of this ancient appliance: October 1989.

Does anybody have a manual to the Whirlpool TimeMaster version 1.0 lying around? Maybe I can find it on eBay antiques. Till then? Guess I'll never get anything out of the oven on time. The comforting thing? By the time I graduate from this program, my microwave just might be old enough to celebrate by having a beer with me.