Random Ramblings

This week I'm not so much rambling, as ranting. And specifically, I have two totally unrelated rants.

Although really, only the first one is a true rant, the second is more of an observance of my continuing bad luck. :-)

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Normally, one of the perks about going away to a bowling tournament with my husband is staying in a hotel. Notice the word normally. This might clue you into the subject of my rant.

Last weekend was the Year End Tournament for 5-Pin bowling, which ironically marks neither the end of league bowling for the season nor is it the last tournament of the season. It's just the name they give it. Anyway, the tournament is held in Hamilton and includes ten games of bowling over two days. This necessitates staying overnight in the city.

Okay, it doesn't really necessitate staying over, it's only a two hour drive, but at the price of gas these days you might as well spend the night . And besides, it's more fun that way - there's a banquet and dance and general merriment to be made.

It used to be that we stayed at the Sheridan, which is a really, really nice hotel. But some moron in the Bowler's Association decided it would make more sense if we had to drive over to Burlington (the next city over) and stay at the Holiday Inn.

Sheridan: downtown in Hamilton; pillow-top, queen sized beds; quiet and classy; heated bathroom floor; shopping mall underneath it; a wonderfully restful night's sleep.

Holiday Inn: next city over; double-sized, hard and uncomfortable beds; insanely noisy AC unit which has to be run because the rooms are so freaking hot and you can't open the windows because of the noise in the parking lot; worst night's sleep ever. And the toilet didn't work properly.

Colour me unimpressed.

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The observance of my continuing bad luck has to do with small appliances. They say that trouble comes in threes . . . Well guess what. They (whoever they are) lied.

It started with the electric can opener, which suddenly decided it wasn't really happy opening cans any more, so it started skipping along the lids of the can so you'd have to try two and three times to get a lid open. Then it added special effects in the form of a grinding noise. The noise grew louder, and louder. Then it refused to open any cans at all, but it would still make the grinding noise if you asked nicely.

A couple of days after the can opener gave up the ghost for good, the inner element of the toaster decided to quit. I suspect it was in sympathy for the plight of the can opener. At any rate, only the outer element of the toaster works, so you have to run your bread through twice. The bagel setting doesn't work at all, but I got around it this morning by turning the cut edge to the outside and turning up the heat. Ha! Take that Toaster!

A couple of days later I was processing away in my food processer and couldn't help but notice the small lake forming on my counter top. Perhaps I filled it too full and it was leaking out the top? So the next batch I made sure I only filled it half full, and the lake expanded. No doubt about it. I had a leak. *sigh*

Which brings us to this week. Specifically, Tuesday morning when I made myself bacon and eggs for breakfast. I have not fried bacon since I got spattered in the eye with grease when I was much younger. I broil my bacon, and because I'm usually only cooking bacon for one or two people, I use the toaster oven. I love my toaster oven, but apparently it no longer loves me. Instead of crispy bacon, it was more like bacon jerky - it was fully cooked (eventually), but really dried out.

So there you have it. Four of my small appliances, one right after another. It's a conspiracy I tell you! And it totally wouldn't surprise me if the microwave is next.