Love among the small appliances

What is it with this whole small appliance thing? Last year, my brother, my hardworking MUSICIAN brother with three girls under 12, went to a mall and bought me a quesadilla maker. Since I have a skillet, I was at a loss as to what to do with the thing. It took me a year to overcome my guilt and give it away.

So, this year, he gave me a omelet maker. And, again with the big box and the instruction manual and the warnings and cautions and registrations.

I will find the moral courage to give that away, too, but in order not to hurt my brother's feelings, I can never invite him over for a meal again. Ever. Because I will be busted!

And, it ain't just the younger folk. I very specifically asked my mother for a hand cranked can opener. But no, she had to buy a Rival Model CN770 electric can opener -- and she threw in a Cuisinart just in case there was a spare inch of empty space in the kitchen.

These people have known me all my life. They know my mixer is a fork and the N Judah is my chariot. What *happens* to people in December that impells them to buy things that plug in to the wall or to each other, regardless of the consequences?

I won't even get into the TiVo and the iPod. While the latter is doing a great job of holding down my desk in a mostly nonthreatening manner, I no longer know how to turn on Channel 2 and that big blue eye is oppressive.

It looks like an irritated cyclops.

These are the same people that only buy at health food stores and who mind their Chi or Chai or Chakras or whatEVER.

Next December, I'm going to have a low tech sick headache and bar the door -- or they'll be in here with electronic thermometers and portable CAT scan machines that also answer the phone and forward your email.

Merry damn Christmas!

It never ceases to amaze me how little people think about the person to whom they are giving a gift. They buy it, wrap it, give it. Duty done. No thought as to whether the person needs or wants it.

that I would really prefer something that can't electrocute me! :silly:

several years ago. I now donate to various causes and ask friends to do the same.

I must not be the Alpha female in the family :)

but it's hard to change the thinking of a 92 year old. It's also hard to find gifts for her.

a subscription to The New Yorker and a Magic Scarf. She loved the scarf.

I have a hard time, too, finding something she will like every year.

they were modeling and vamping in them- with one of the young boy's new star wars light sabers. It was so funny. The scarves were gorgeous on and ever so versatile!

that I needed help LIFTING.. I love my stainless steel bowls that I have had for 36 years.

Gadgets are a pain. I use a regualr can opener..the electric one's a pain to use and clean.. I use a grocery store peeler..I cut things up with a knife faster than the time it would take to even LOCATE the food processor thingie..

Less is more.. I agree with you :)

and this one right here.

Anyway, I hate to be outnumbered in my own home!

I miss the ones my mother had. They were the bomb!

Some things just work better in crockery, especially breads and doughs, IMO.

me last Christmas. Sure I could use the skillet, but the quesadilla maker makes one that cannot be beat. :hi:

Lol!

People need a special machine to make a fucking omelet? ~sigh~ I must live in the dark ages - no wonder everyone asks me if I have a bread maker. I bake all my own bread and I've never used a bread maker and don't want to. Shit, i don't even use a sewing machine.

A BREAD MAKER?

I thought that was me! :)

who like 'lectrical gadgets. :shrug:

Reminds me of George Carlin showing what's in the box in his "Let's Make a Deal" bit: "It's a genuine Cheese Straightener!"

Gimme a crock pot and I'm good to go. Okay, the blender's nice, too.

The people who came up with http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009XFX4/104-0398688-4193508?v=glance&n=284507 ">this oughta be strung up in the town square and buggered at high noon.

:)

Remember the Monty Python "New Cooker" and "New Brain" sketches?

Big Brother, aka the teevee, says, "new software found" and begins downloading God knows what!

It's finished now, the Big Blue Tivo Eye is dark.

What does that MEAN?

Should I duck and cover or WHA?

Oh, geeze! Now it's "acquiring info from the satellite"!

:wtf:

:rofl:

I don't own an ipod, I do have a george foreman grill (perfect for the femansion) and a baby crockpot - hmmm, I have a hair dryer and a tv & vcr (both gifts from a friend suffering with survivors guilt) and a radio/cd player.

That's it - oh my puter & cell phone.

I don't really do the gadget thing, haven't a clue what TIVO does.

By now, everyone knows that he maintains his balance by watching one old movie per day.

TiVo let's us record 'em if we can't watch them in real time.

But, come to think of it, when TiVo first came out, there was an uproar about TiVo *recording your information*.

Is that right? Or am I having a false rememory?

it could be part of big brother.

Like those big cities that are boasting that the internet will be available all throughout the city wirelessly, no connections needed. Well hell, that is the perfect opportunity for warrant free eaves dropping on your internet usage & pmails.

I mean - how the hell you gonna have an "expectation of privacy" when it is available to everyone????

:freak: Big brother/Corporate brother gives only to get :evilgrin:

He's a big advocate of giving all of SF wireless services.

Privacy is a shapeshifting category, isn't it?

whether or not a person's privacy has been violated is whether that person has an "expectation of privacy".

If, for instance, I send emails from my office and/or surf the net and use the office internet, I have no expectation of privacy. I know that others have ownership of and the right to review my emails and my behavior.

So how does one argue that they have an expectation of privacy when the internet is publicly made available and they do not pay for it and it is just their wireless device that receives and transmits the signals.

How could anyone presume that the government, in their efforts to protect us from terrorists, do not have equipment that can intercept our messages.

It is a very slippery slope.

Too new of territory.

Cable bandwidth or how the signals are transmitted are owned, that is why they can charge us and why it is not considered public airways, like the networks, local affiliates.

So would the public wireless service be public and subject to the same simple interception as the television signal?

Nothing given these days is for free, NOTHING.

JustMyHonestOpinion


Edited to correct spelling.

I don't do it anymore. I tell people "I don't want you to buy me anything, cause I don't do Christmas presents and won't be buying you anything. Spend your money on something you really want, or give it to charity".

I sent Christmas/Holiday cards, which I buy on sale after Christmas, and that's all.

"the N Judah is my chariot" was the best laugh I've had all day.

At least you give away the appliances that are of no use to you -- someone is enjoying them. I know people who store them in the closet for years and that's just a waste.

most people have closets.

lol

:hi:

Boston -- you think SF homes have no closets!

I love the N Judah. I used to ride it to work in the Sunset. :hi:

I don't even have a food processor - all I need is a sharp knife and some cookware.

All these electrical fucking things - what a waste of earthly resources, time, money, and space.

Quesadilla makers? Omelette makers? Electric juicers*? Electric can openers? Electric bottle openers? What the fucking fuck? Who needs that shit?

Why don't people just learn how to goddamn fucking cook.


* - I'm not talking the heavy juicers that make juice from the entire fruits nad veggies you feed into it; I'm talking the lazy ass electrical ones that you put half a lime up to and it rotates the juicer thing on the inside, just like the hand juicers I've been using since I was 3 years old helping mom make lemonade, except electric, because God knows that bovine America gets fucking winded manually turning a half a fucking lime on the juicing spindle thingy.

Couldn't live with out one, just got a new one for 7 dollars at walgreens, Is there any other way to make them besides not counting those fake eggo waffles?

perferred method. :)