I certainly didn’t see this coming! Sandra Lawrence will no longer be the president of iRobot Home Robots, effective May 16th, after a little more than a year with the company. According to iRobot she is leaving “to pursue other interests,” which is pablum. There has to be a MAJOR backstory here. Lawrence was touted as someone who could bring consumer sensibility (she had been a Gillette exec) to an engineering-heavy firm, and now she’s gone after a year with no obvious or clear impact on the co
Read more…

Last week we got the much anticipated new vacuum cleaner. And we spanked that machine this weekend. You simply cannot should not have a Great Pyrenees dog who lives inside your house and a half-functional vacuum cleaner. I was so impressed by the quality of the cleaning that I got inspired to dust off an old friend, the Roomba Vac. That machine was all the rage around here for about 6 months. Then I got tired of cleaning out the brushes after every single room. So it lingered in a corner until
Read more…

Because You Don’t Have Time to Clean Your Desk. There’s Drinking to Do. Posted on May 12, 2008 Under Culture, Techno-file | By Chris Haigy I haven’t used a broom once since I got my Roomba. It’s just too convenient (and adorable) to let the little sucker run around my floor, happily beeping away as it picks up my shed hair and and skin flakes. But as much of a technophile (and as lazy) as I am, I’ve still been forced to clean up pencil shavings and crumbs from my non-floor surfaces by hand.
Read more…

Music, the great outdoors, and being lazy I had a good weekend! Friday night, Josh and I went out to Pier 23 in the city to watch the Hobohemians and the Plastercatz play. They started late, and so we left about 12:30a cause it had been a long week and we were tired. But we got to watch one full set and half of another, so that’s good! I took pictures, but haven’t been around to take them off the camera. That’s tonight’s job. We got home around 1ish, and went straight to bed and passed out.
Read more…

Although his performance has been somewhat improved since his last inspection and routine cleaning, Roomba still hasn’t been himself lately. Empathetic, I found him this morning in a lonely corner, repeatedly banging his head. With screwdriver and seam ripper in hand, I performed a colonoscopy. Having only crude tools and no sedatives to offer, I wasn’t sure I was qualified; however, the procedure was successful. I found and removed the likely source of his abnormal behavior and weakness: a m
Read more…

Mother’s Day brought a ton of tech-y stuff to this family! First came Rosie the Roomba. I love Rosie. My kids love Rosie. On top of that, BP acquired an iPod (probably for himself) and lovingly (because I made him) gave it to me. I created my very own folder of my favorite songs (Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Van Morrison, and Van Halen–quite an eclectic group, eh?). I listen to my iTunes all the time while I lesson plan, blog, or read the newspaper online (because I am too cheap to buy a paper
Read more…

My vac died back on April 23rd, and so I’ve been using my Roomba almost every single day. The problem with this is how small it is. The dirt catcher is tiny, so like every 10 minutes of running time, I have to stop it and empty out the dust bin. I have 3 cats and 2 teens, the cat hair and dirt that gets in the rugs daily is simply too much for the Roomba. So I bought myself a mother’s day present. For just $49.99 and free shipping, I bought a Dirt Devil Breeze Bagless Upright from Amazon.
Read more…

Well, I didn’t get a Roomba for Mother’s Day. I didn’t get any of the Willow Tree mother figurines that I pointed out while dragging him around the mall last week either. And despite the fact that he told me he reads this blog, I didn’t even get the attention, back rub, foot rub, or dinner made for me that I mentioned would be good presents either. Instead, I got this and this. In case you aren’t clicking there, those are e-cards. Funny and sarcastic, yes, but not exactly sentimental, personali
Read more…

Have you heard of this great invention?  I happened to read an article about it in the Sunday Star-Bulletin, and immediately googled it for more information. It costs $3,839 with free shipping, but when the price declines, I might buy it.  These are some of the features to keep in mind: 1.  The average cutting time per charge is 3-5 hours.  2.  It takes 3-4 hours to charge. 3.  It can mow up to 1 acre before returning to its dock, 2 acres if you add 2 more lithium batteries. 4.  It can be
Read more…

Roomba Vacuum Cleaner- Vacuums With Infrared Technology Works Remotely » Posted under CONSUMER APPLIANCES, Vacuum Cleaner on May 12, 2008 | 0 Comments The Roomba vacuum cleaner is made and sold by the company iRobot. The Roomba vacuum cleaner was released in 2002 with updates and new models released in 2003, 2004, and so on. The Roomba vacuum cleaner days, millions of them have been sold, making it the most successful and popular robotic vacuum cleaner thus far. Accessories of Roomba vacuu
Read more…