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United States, North Carolina, Carrboro, English, Paul, Male, 56-60, All Music, All Food.

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Saturday, August 09, 2003

My Goombah, The Roomba   My curiosity with Roomba began almost as soon as I heard about it. Not just a nerdy robot, but a nerdy robot that vacuums your floors and let’s you laugh at the mortal terror of your cats as it follows them around!   Then Louis at work told me it’s not really a vacuum cleaner, more like an electronic Hoky sweeper, the one that gave its name to inferior solutions. So I didn’t buy one right away. Then my CyberBud runswithscissors got one and I was envious. I began to read other reviews and they say, yeah, you gotta get out the Hoover if you want really deep cleaning, but it’s okay.   I have been eying the demo unit at Linens ‘n’ Things for a couple months now, waiting for one of their frequent 20% off coupons to show up in the mailbox so I could reconsider. Last week it came, good for the entire month of August – enough time to figure it all out. At the same time, I had a computer that I thought needed a new motherboard, but by week’s end I had determined that all it needed was a new DIMM – and the old one had failed under warranty. I put the coupon on the passenger seat of my car, to be ready any time it might be needed.   Then yesterday the clincher came. This article in Slate rated vacuum cleaners and the Roomba came out #3!   This is the little robot vacuum that purports to clean your carpets all on its own. You set it in the middle of a room, turn it on, and it self-navigates around until it's covered every nook and cranny. I loved this adorable droid, despite its flaws. The navigation program is good, and in the two rooms I tried it in, the Roomba didn't miss a spot. I kept thinking, "No way you're getting under that desk chair, little dude!" and yet it always did. The drawback: Like the Shark Sweeper, the Roomba has no suction—just agitation—so it gets the visible stuff but leaves deeper dirt behind. On hard floors, though, this thing is an absolute monster. Set it up in your tiled kitchen and go run some errands. (I'm betting within the next few years, they'll perfect the Roomba for carpets, too. And so vacuums requiring human effort will go the way of the granny panty.)   $160 for something that doesn’t go in the computer room or kitchen is still a pretty big chunk of change, but I knew I wouldn’t regret the decision. I went in to work briefly this morning and on the way home I thought about the Roomba. I finally decided that I would let the car decide. If it pulled off at the Route 54 exit I would simply go home. If it sailed past that exit and continued on to 15-501 where the Linens ‘n’ Things store at New Hope Commons awaits. It did that. One last complication – gotta read the small print and see if the Roomba is eligible for the discount. It is! I pulled in and bought that sucker! It’s charging up right now… 1:22:03 PM    comment []

Arnold Pumps Up PR Machine   Do not confuse a headline, such as this one at CBS News, as “News”. It is propaganda and it reeks of the trademark Rove touch of Inevitability. Do not confuse phony populism with real populism. Real populism is the 500+ other candidates on the ballot (or irrelevant "flash mobs"), making this recall look like a sham. It is. Davis is a lousy Governor, but his “malfeance” is no worse than the President’s. The 500+ running for California Governor remind me of the throngs rising and saying, “I am Spartacus!” Most of them are more qualified to be Governor than Schwarzeneggar, because they live in the real world. Here is what Arnold said today:   Asked by Early Show Co-Anchor Harry Smith about his qualifications, Schwarzenegger said, "We have to worry about the environment. We have to worry about the airports overcrowding. We have to worry about the schools and all this."   Airport overcrowding – now there’s an issue that oughta electrify the populace. Outside of the airports, if you can fight your way through the teeming unwashed masses, there is the environment. There is no environment in the airport because it is overcrowded. Getting out is too complicated. We have to get people out of the airports on onto planes or taxis so they can worry about the environment. When we’re done worrying about the environment, we need to start worrying about schools and all this. Schools is where our children is learning, or maybe they is not! Holy Shit! That opens up Pandora’s can of vermin! There’s the environment, crowded airports, and schools. My mind is gonna explode! All This! Vorry, Vorry, Vorry!   When the Sturm of Vorry subsides, maybe California can investigate the complicity of Enron in their budget-busting energy crisis right after the oil guys started running the country. The Cheney Commission seems as incapable of finding criminality in energy market manipulation as their parent organization in finding WMDs in Iraq which (in case you haven’t heard) is as “large as California.”  So many details, such large areas, the objects are so tiny, my mind is exploding again! This airport is so damn crowded! Where’s my valet? I worry about all this. 3:19:29 AM    comment []

Sushi Machine Just one of hundreds of links available from Hanan Levin's Grow A Brain website. I will be editing my links this weekend and adding this and a couple of other links brought to my attention the past couple of weeks. The "Apparatus for Forming Sushi Rolls" appears to work on the same principle as the Rizla cigarette rolling box. It is patented, but not available commercially (yet). 1:39:30 AM    comment []