new microwave installed

the microwave that came with the house was an over the range microwave complete with an exhaust fan. it was the original microwave that comes with the house, aged about 9 years. it just stopped heating things one day and so the hunt for a new microwave began.

since we got a stainless steel refrigerator, we decided to get a stainless steel microwave. let me tell ya, the exact same microwave that comes in white or black will cost you an additional $50-100 just because it has a stainless steel front. ugh.

so now our kitchen looks like it is slowly morphing from a white appliance kitchen to stainless steel. the stove and oven are probably next on my list of things to replace. i wonder if i can replace them myself. it looks kind of hard. i would love to replace our stove, though. that sort of sounds expensive.

installing the microwave was no small feat. i was hoping that all GE microwaves used the same mounting plate, but when i removed the old microwave and tried to install the new microwave, i realized that the mounting plate was different with different holes.

our back splash is made out of tile so drilling new holes through tile without the proper tools can be quite difficult. as it turned out, i didn’t have the right tools. a trip to home depot later, i had the right drill bit and made the new holes. the rest of the install was pretty easy and we now have a new, working microwave complete with rotating tray! it’s very exciting because our old microwave didn’t have one. it’s like we’re in modern times or something!

ebay flash triggers

i purchased a set of ebay RF flash triggers and they came in the mail last week. i gave them a test run over the weekend and they work fabulously. i have read about people who have complained about them misfiring, but so far i haven’t had any misfire issues. they say that particularly with the canon 580EX, there are misfiring issues. i don’t have a 580EX, but i’ll borrow paul’s later to see if that really is the case.

what i didn’t gather from the pictures of these units is just how small they really are. they are tiny! the only thing that i’m not fond of is that they don’t have a tightening latch on the hot shoe, so i can’t secure them to my umbrella mounts. there must be some kind of part somewhere in the world that will solve this issue for me, but i haven’t looked into it yet.

the triggers work as advertised, though, i haven’t tested range or how well they work around corners yet. i am hoping to bring with me the triggers and a flash with me to hawaii, so i’ll be sure to post some pictures of how that all turns out. i really hope that the super clamps that i ordered come in soon. i also plan to get some ball bungees from walmart. i’ve never seen them, so i don’t know where they would be, but we’ll see!