This Really Sucks!

Friday, June 25, 1999

You know, it's kinda nice to live with an engineer; at least when you buy a vacuum with "some assembly required."

Growing up, Mom and I usually had to depend on our own devices and cunning to coerce electrical appliances and other objects requiring mechanical skill into our service. Or, we hoped we could before my brother could lay his hands on it; my brother Larry is mechanically-inclined, to a degree, but he's also a lot stronger than he realizes, and if you asked him to fix something, or put it together for you, he usually managed to break at least part of it in the process.

Anyway, we finally decided on a vacuum last night; not that we had sat down and researched on the Consumer Reports site and said, "Okay, this is the vacuum we want," and then went out and bought it. Actually, we tried that over the weekend, but the reports were a bit out of date, and we couldn't find either of the models that really sounded like the one for us. We ended up just looking around at Lowe's, Wal-Mart, Target, etc, and finally settled on the one that had the best "cleaning effectiveness" rating.

Now, at the store, they have the vacuums on display all put together and ready to use. I figured at the most, there would be the upright shell, which you would have to attach to the wheels/beater brush part, and you're ready to go. That's not exactly the case. But then, I didn't have to mess with it at all, because Jev jumped right in, and had it together and ready to test in under fifteen minutes. Pretty impressive! And no, you can't have him, but I might rent him out reasonably, if you need a vacuum put together.

The cats aren't too fond of the new monster we brought to live in their house though. Munchie enjoyed the box it came out of for maybe five minutes, but in the end, I think it was too big, and she didn't feel hidden enough, so she hopped out and walked away, tail in the air. I think she's still a little miffed about the CD tower box that we got rid of; that was just her size... that is, she had to crouch down to crawl into it.

Her eyes went big as saucers when we turned the monster on, and I don't think they went back to normal until after the vacuum was put away here in the spare room, and she and Peanut had both sniffed it, to make sure it was good and dead. Poor girls... they're finally really getting settled in to the new place, and then we spring a vacuum on them. What was I saying yesterday about just vacuuming the cats and skipping the shedding stage? In my dreams, maybe!

Anyway, our new vacuum really sucks, and I plan to give it a good workout later this afternoon. I'd try to bribe Jev to do it for me, but then I want him to mop the floors this weekend. I'm such a slave driver!

Time to go crack that whip and make the cats wash the dishes!!!! (just kidding...)

~ Lis