The tale of the breadmaker

It was the early part of the 90’s. Friends had not yet aired its first episode. Seinfeld was still in full swing. No one has Internet, let alone a browser. I’m out shopping at (The Bay? Eatons? one of those two). I come upon it. A thing of beauty. I must have it. A breadmaker.

Now you have to understand a few things. I was a poor student. Bread makers were a lot more expensive then. I don’t know why, I fell in love and indebted myself. I came home with it.

My roommates were bemused. Sure its cool. But will it ever pay off? Mike does the math.

Flour, electricity, water, yeast, depreciation, inflation. This thing will take ~25+ years to pay off. Perhaps its not an investment in money, but its an investment in cool-factor.

We learn to make kahlua raisin bread. It gets used all through university. My roomates go to grad school, it gets used. I move out, get a townhouse, it gets used.

Well, 25+ years later, I present to you, the king of the weird-shaped vertical bread loaf, and its original manual. Still chugging along.

Some say I play the long game, but i’m not sure early 20’s me gave it a lot of thought.


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3 Responses to “The tale of the breadmaker”

  1. Still have ours since 92 and still use it regularly for pizza dough.
    Would not have given its age a second thought — thanks. Still a lot more utility than the next 10 computers purchased after that.

  2. James De Rosa

    Electronics that last — nice! Though I’m surprised not to see you made any McGyver mods.

    1. db

      i suspect the electronics are pretty basic in this 🙂
      I’m guessing an 8085 or 6502.

      I’ll stick to automating the fan’s. E.g. in https://blog.donbowman.ca/2020/04/04/the-fan-gets-an-ip-address/ … does the final product look like an IED? Who would want to take this as carry-on on a plane?

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