Graz–Jan. 17, 2025

I went out to MediaMarkt and got a microwave 🇦🇹.

I may not have made the best choice:

• The brand name is “ok”, which, if you think about it, is not terribly encouraging. It appears to be MediaMarkt’s house brand.
• Doesn’t have an LED display for a timer or anything; you set the time like one of those mechanical egg timers. I suspect this is why it was inexpensive.

The good news is that it was inexpensive, and appears to work, well, OK so far. It also fits nicely on the counter top; I was worried there might not be as much vertical clearance as the manufacturer recommends. Also, because it was inexpensive, if I need a better one, I can sell this one off on willhaben.at 🇦🇹, which is the moral equivalent of Craigslist.

Getting it home was a bit of a challenge. The microwave plus box weighed about 12 kg (26 pounds-ish), which is not terribly heavy, but it was bulky. I had to carry it from the mall to the bus stop, and then from the destination bus stop to the apartment building. Usually I take the stairs to the 5th floor, but this time I decided I would take the elevator. Except the elevator was on the 1st floor (in Europe, one floor above ground level), and it would not come down to street level when I pressed the button. So, I had to haul the damn thing up the stairs. And that was my excitement for the day.

In other news: here’s a picture of the chocolate chip cookies from Spar. You can’t see it from the picture on the package, but the bottom of the cookie has a layer of milk chocolate. The price is right, too: 1,69€ for eight cookies. This is now my go-to favorite!