Speaking of toasters... when I was 17 I bought my first toaster, it was a Toastmaster, price was under $15 (I'm thinking $12.99) It was great, toasted evenly on both sides, exactly the way I like my toast and it did it the SAME every time. It lasted 30+ years, then I gave it to my son when he went off to college about 8 years ago, bought myself a new, fancy one (I won't mention brand at this time)..it was $69.95. I thought it would be HiTech and all, I was wrong. I worked okay (not great) for the first year, after the warranty ran out it became pretty worthless... way too light the first set of toast, then really dark, almost burnt black, on the second round. So I threw it out. I have bought a new toaster every 12 to 18 months as they all work (kinda sorta) for a year or so, then get worse. The last 2 I bought were off-brand models under $20 and they work about the same as the high priced ones, in a few cases, even better. A few years back I thought I'd scored big when I found a Toastmaster brand toaster, it was about $35, I jumped on it. Well, I got it home, tried it, what a disappointment. I turned it over and seen it was made in China, I Googled the brand and see they exist in name only now. It went back for a refund after a week. I'm getting by with a $15 department store unit that I grabbed on a Christmas sale last year, but I'm still looking.
