Friday, October 30, 2009
Gripe, Moan, Gripe, Moan
It's the end of the month and I have stuff I need to do. I want to take off early today because next month is guarantendamntied to be extra nightmarishly stressful. Why? Well, glad you asked. You see we get 3, count 'em, 3 days off for the holidays. The problem? Well that would be that we have to shovel the work for those 3 days into the remaining days. Still that isn't that big of a deal as it happens every year. The problem is the 4 mandatory training days that are also on there. Why they set up 4 full training days in a row on a month where we are already 3 full days short I will never know, but there you go. I am losing 7 full working days. Now I guess I could come in and work on those holidays, but I won't be compensated for it. Although if I have to, I might come in and work on some warrants or paperwork. But I would really rather not do that. Well, lets get to work. Put it off long enough.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Vacuums and Emails
I love my sister. Love her dearly and we used to talk a lot, but then for a while we didn't. Early on we spoke both on the phone and via email. Recently we started back with the email. I forgot one thing about her though and that is that she is a chain forwarder. I mean that she forwards chain emails like crazy. I get the inspirational emails, the bring religion back into the school emails, the forward this email to 10 different people and microsoft, appleby's, apple, red lobster, aol, gm, ibm, ect will send you free cash, $50 gift certificate, ipod, 1 month free service, labtop computer, 40 foot yacht, private jet, hooter's girl, ect. Okay, I couple of things you should know about me I guess. First, I check all those strange email rumors. Most have been around several thousand times before and a false. Second, I know tracking email is very difficult. You can only really do it through IP address and getting each individual address can require a court order. The chances are that no company is going to go through the expense and hassel of doing that just to give millions of people something free just to advertise some new service. The thing I don't get is who the hell starts these things and do they really think it's that funny of a joke?
There is no piece of code that can be inserted into an email to determine how many different people you forward an email to so that you can see the Taco Bell Dog do the macarana across your screen. If there was your anti virus and anti spyware software would throw a major temper tantrum.
Well, you don't want to know my views on religion, or on politics, but hopefully you do want to know my views on the timely and important subject of home carpet cleaning, aka vacuums. I currently own 2. The older and by far more expensive is a Kirby G6. I have had it about 7 years. It is a very good vacuum. It is also a very expensive vacuum. It is the Transformer of the vacuum world. It is a vacuum, blower, shampooer, handheld vacuum for car or stairs, lawn mower, motorcycle, nail gun and jack hammer. If you can figure how to rearrange the parts and have a plug in within reach it can do it. Now mind you the major manufacturing component in making the kirby was steel, so it isn't light, the handheld configuration can double as dumbells for your workout. There are really only a few downsides other than the intial expense to the kirby. First, by being so versital it kind of makes it complicated and a bit of a pain to clean. Two the impeller design seems a bit too open and easy to jam or break for what is otherwise a near indestrutable machine, although I have yet to damage the thing. Three, all components for the vacuum that need to be replaced are expensive. The darn bags are about $6 apiece. Fortunately they are rather large, but still.....
On the other end of the scale we have the Wind Tunnel. I am not an idiot, the wind tunnel is an economy vacuum while the Kirby is high end. I know I can't fairly compare a vacuum I bought for $75 with one that cost $1700.
The Wind Tunnel is bagless, that is it uses a filter and canister to hold what it picks up rather than a bag. since filters can be cleaned and last longer than a bag, these have become rather popular. Now both vacuums are self propelled, which is important with the super heavy Kirby, but not so much with the WT, whose construction is pretty much plastic. The thing is, the Kirby lets you turn the self propel option off, while the light weight vacuum doesn't. Both have power brushes.
Now I don't expect the little vac to perform like the Kirby. The Kirby due to complication and weight is a bit of a pain to get into action. This vacuum is light and no bag, so I was planning on it doing the regular work and the Kirby coming out for deep cleaning and shampooing. Unfortunately, the Windtunnel uses 2 belts and one is a pain. After around 2 to three vacuums, the belt starts coming off frequently. If you take 4 long screws out of the bottom, you find the two belts. One is long and skinny and looks fragile. Not had any issues with it. The thick, short rubber one is the brat. It loops over a metal shaft then around a rubber tire. You have to hook it over the metal shaft then stretch and roll it onto the tire. The shaft is long, you have to turn the belt sideways and wiggle it on. You don't have much room to work. Then you have to stretch and hold the belt with your thumb while rotating the tire with any remaining fingers you can get into the tiny spot. The you put the plate back on, vacuum 2 to 5 minutes and repeat. You have to put the screws back in, otherwise the cover falls off. Other than this it's a decent, cheap vacuum. I am contemplating putting a cover on the metal shaft. It gets really hot and that seems to be where the belt slips off rather than from the tire. Perhaps if I can work a piece of aquarium air tubing over the shaft, the belt won't slip as often. If I can't get the tubing, maybe some duct or electrical tape. As it is the vacuum is useless. I bought the vacuum new but at an auction, so I can't return it.
There is no piece of code that can be inserted into an email to determine how many different people you forward an email to so that you can see the Taco Bell Dog do the macarana across your screen. If there was your anti virus and anti spyware software would throw a major temper tantrum.
Well, you don't want to know my views on religion, or on politics, but hopefully you do want to know my views on the timely and important subject of home carpet cleaning, aka vacuums. I currently own 2. The older and by far more expensive is a Kirby G6. I have had it about 7 years. It is a very good vacuum. It is also a very expensive vacuum. It is the Transformer of the vacuum world. It is a vacuum, blower, shampooer, handheld vacuum for car or stairs, lawn mower, motorcycle, nail gun and jack hammer. If you can figure how to rearrange the parts and have a plug in within reach it can do it. Now mind you the major manufacturing component in making the kirby was steel, so it isn't light, the handheld configuration can double as dumbells for your workout. There are really only a few downsides other than the intial expense to the kirby. First, by being so versital it kind of makes it complicated and a bit of a pain to clean. Two the impeller design seems a bit too open and easy to jam or break for what is otherwise a near indestrutable machine, although I have yet to damage the thing. Three, all components for the vacuum that need to be replaced are expensive. The darn bags are about $6 apiece. Fortunately they are rather large, but still.....
On the other end of the scale we have the Wind Tunnel. I am not an idiot, the wind tunnel is an economy vacuum while the Kirby is high end. I know I can't fairly compare a vacuum I bought for $75 with one that cost $1700.
The Wind Tunnel is bagless, that is it uses a filter and canister to hold what it picks up rather than a bag. since filters can be cleaned and last longer than a bag, these have become rather popular. Now both vacuums are self propelled, which is important with the super heavy Kirby, but not so much with the WT, whose construction is pretty much plastic. The thing is, the Kirby lets you turn the self propel option off, while the light weight vacuum doesn't. Both have power brushes.
Now I don't expect the little vac to perform like the Kirby. The Kirby due to complication and weight is a bit of a pain to get into action. This vacuum is light and no bag, so I was planning on it doing the regular work and the Kirby coming out for deep cleaning and shampooing. Unfortunately, the Windtunnel uses 2 belts and one is a pain. After around 2 to three vacuums, the belt starts coming off frequently. If you take 4 long screws out of the bottom, you find the two belts. One is long and skinny and looks fragile. Not had any issues with it. The thick, short rubber one is the brat. It loops over a metal shaft then around a rubber tire. You have to hook it over the metal shaft then stretch and roll it onto the tire. The shaft is long, you have to turn the belt sideways and wiggle it on. You don't have much room to work. Then you have to stretch and hold the belt with your thumb while rotating the tire with any remaining fingers you can get into the tiny spot. The you put the plate back on, vacuum 2 to 5 minutes and repeat. You have to put the screws back in, otherwise the cover falls off. Other than this it's a decent, cheap vacuum. I am contemplating putting a cover on the metal shaft. It gets really hot and that seems to be where the belt slips off rather than from the tire. Perhaps if I can work a piece of aquarium air tubing over the shaft, the belt won't slip as often. If I can't get the tubing, maybe some duct or electrical tape. As it is the vacuum is useless. I bought the vacuum new but at an auction, so I can't return it.
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