Microwaves

As I nuked my syrup in the microwave this morning, I took a moment to enjoy the wonderfulness that is instant warm food. Aren't microwaves the best invention? Love the things.

It reminded me of the first microwave my family got when I was about 7. My dad worked in a furniture store, so he was able to get one for less than $1000 when they came out. It was a behemoth of a thing, sitting there resolutely on our countertop.

I was fascinated by it. The food went in cold, and came out (seemingly instantly) hot.

The next day after school, I was hungry. We had some rolls left over from dinner, and I thought it would be really yummy to heat it up in the microwave and put some butter on it and have it melt. Mmmmmm....

I put the roll on a plate, and carefully placed it into the microwave. My 7 year old brain then calculated that it would most likely take 20 minutes to heat up. I set the timer, pushed start, and then went off to play.

After the fire alarm went off, my mom found a black hunk of charcoal in the microwave. Her new toy, not even a full day old yet, now had smoke and burn marks all over the inside.

The amazing thing is that it didn't kill the microwave. Mom had that huge box on our countertop for close to 20 years, permanent burn marks and all.