appliances, thumb whacking, and fire

Today I learned that you can replace your recently deceased, builder-model (read: freakin' cheap) over-the-range microwave with a new one with more features for only $200, which is considerably less than the $700 I was expecting and couldn't possibly have afforded on a ten-hours-a-week editor paycheck.

In other news, if you hit the funny bone in your thumb (where the nerve crosses the joint) on a piece of frozen asparagus, not only will it make the tip of your thumb numb for around 20 minutes, it will fix it so that even just brushing that part of your thumb against something three days later will remind you not to brush your thumb up against anything for days to come. If the air quality/pollen concentration doesn't improve soon, I bet I can parlay this into a proper case of full-blown tendonitis.

And speaking of air quality, there's a fire near Kitt Peak, so we're getting smoke. I was expecting a better sunset given the particulate reading here in town, but it wasn't that great.