Roombaway

So I just bought a roomba.

As a terminally lazy bugger I have to say it far outperforms my expectations.

It's particularly effective in the small rooms that constitute my abode, even with the density of furniture present.  Given that I can barely navigate my tiny living space without stubbing a toe, that's no mean feat.

I wouldn't recommend using it when you're in the room, not least because it's pretty thick and will drive into your legs constantly, but also because of the noise.  It's not as loud as a normal vacuum, but the constant whine of its motors and the spinning doohicky that sweeps stuff into the hoovering part are both annoying sounds.  Not to mention the fact that it constantly rolls in and out of earshot, and quite often crops up when you're least expecting it.

Aesthetically it's uninspiring, but as a utilitarian object it's fine.  I have never been one to care about how an implement looks, and I'm not going to start caring now.

I don't know how many terraatorrs of vacuum it can generate, but it's pretty damned effective at picking up the daily detritus that I couldn't be bothered to.  There are noticeably fewer dusty spots, and it no longer feels like walking over gravel when I take my socks off.

Anecdotally I would say its pretty damned useful.  It's not going to eliminate all the work I'll need to do, but it's filling in pretty damned nicely so far.

I have one major gripe, and that's the things distinct lack of intelligence.

The high end models are just now starting to include cameras and lasers to map out rooms, and they will devise effective strategies for cleaning based on the maps they make.  The cleaners capable of this are about 400gbp above my price range, and this basic one took a long time to save for already.  There are modders out there who have been adding this functionality to their roombas for three or four years at this point, so why isn't this a standard feature?

Obviously it's not a standard feature because the manufacturers can incrementally roll out smarter and smarter devices that people have to upgrade to every year, just like iphones (and soon, gaming consoles) but it's pretty galling to know the tech, software and manufacturing processes are already available.

Then again that gives the NSA another direct feed of your life, as if they needed another.

I Think I'm About to be Assassinated

So I have an utterly, utterly filthy plastic cup that I've never washed (building up immunity) sitting on my desk.  It's so filthy that no matter what I put into it (usually tea, occasionally watery hot chocolate) it all tastes the same.

One of the English teachers I work with took pity on me and washed it out.  Evidently their cleaning liquids were not up to the task, so instead of giving up and telling me to stop being a bridge troll he took the nuclear option.  He cleaned it with bleach.

The nuclear analogy is perfect for a number of reasons.  Firstly, it worked.  The cup is now white.  Whether it's white because the filth has been whitened, or washed away, we will never know.

Secondly, it made a point about my personal cleanliness habits that I will not soon forget.

Thirdly, the area which has been bleached is no longer fit for consumables.  I can no longer drink from that cup.  IT REEKS OF BLEACH.  No matter how many times I wash it out, it won't stop smelling.  I was only away from that goddamned cup for an hour so it can't have been stewing for more than fifty nine minutes, and yet the poison is ingrained.  There is no way it's ever coming out of that damned cup, never ever, ever.

It's a shame because it took me the best part of four years to buy a cup to drink things at work (I only got it because I needed one for the hospital and it happened to be in my bag when I went to work the next week) and I will never remember to buy another one.

And what else is a cup useful for, other than cup stuff?  The cup has been destroyed.

It's also a shame because he's a really nice guy and I don't think he meant to utterly destroy my personal property - he only meant to slyly tell me that my colleagues think I'm a pig (I don't have the heart to tell him I don't give a rats ass) and that I should clean my stuff.

Anyway, it is said that we should learn something every day.  Today I learned that if you BLEACH a receptacle for FOODSTUFFS (drinkstuffs?) you are substantially reducing the ability of that thing to carry the item(s)/thing(s) it was designed to carry.

P.S.  If you're going to try to murder someone who isn't anosmic, bleach is a terrible choice.