And now for something completely different

My mother likes to say that I did not get the "shopping gene" or the genetic material that makes me want to or be any good at shopping.  But her idea of shopping generally refers to clothing, and I am admittedly fashion-challenged. David says I do fine when I pay attention. However, when I wake up tired and have only enough energy to lift a coffee cup and think in one-syllable grunts, what matches what is the last priority. Indeed, perhaps the thing I selected may still have a grease spot from my ineffective laundry washing. (I'm also inept in this category. Thankfully David excels at laundry.)

But in spite of my fashion problem, I do like to shop for other things, particularly gadgets.

A month or two ago a friend bought and sent us a Roomba. Really, this is a fabulous gadget for people with no time who put house-cleaning at the bottom of the priority list.  It's a robotic vacuum. It's about the diameter of a big dinner plate and an inch or two high. You tell it to vacuum a room and it does it.  And it doesn't just randomly circle the room. It REMEMBERS where it's been and focuses on the areas that have not yet been touched.  And it detects when a particular area is dirtier and stays there for a while.

It's not great on shag rugs, but if you have carpets that aren't too thick or padded, or if you have hard floor surfaces, the Roomba is really nice to have. 

Granted, it takes longer than you would take to do the same room.  It might take Roomba a little over an hour to do what you could have done in 10-20 minutes.  But YOU aren't doing it. You are out getting a pedicure or in the other room taking a nap. When you return you have a clean floor. (I marvel the same way over my crock pot, sicko that I am.)

Our friend bought us this device at Woot.  This site typically offers one product a day at a deep discount. When the product sells out, that's it for the day.  Sometimes the products are very cool and sometimes they are not.  Many of these fall into the tech gadget/electronics/home entertainment/computing categories, but there have also been bottles of wine, basketball toys, vacuum cleaners, emergency road side kits, etc.

Since our friend sent us this device, I have been moderately obsessed with Woot. The product descriptions are really well written narratives that can be vastly entertaining on their own. 

Once in a while, every month or two, they have a "Woot-off."  This event means that once one product sells out, they immediately put up another product. I'm told these woot-offs can last anywhere from 24 hours to a few days.  There is a woot-off going on now.

So enamored I have been with our Roomba that I have been waiting for the Scooba to come up for sale.  This one mops hard floors (not for use on unsealed hardwood though :-( )

Comments

[Eva]

I have fantasized about the Roomba or the Scooba, but I suspect my furry floors (I HAVE to sweep at LEAST once a day) would be too much for them. Jealous you have one though! And as a gift!

[Aurelia]

I fantasize about this too! I currently want the one that cuts the lawn. I'm so sick of mowing the lawn....