Go-Go Gadget Weekend!

Well, folks, I am officially on the 21st century gadget bandwagon. Saturday was a day of technology shopping for us, making at least part of yesterday a day filled with exclamations of "how the hell does this thing work?" and excited squeals when I was able to get them to do what they are supposed to do. :)

For Christmas, Santa (aka my husband) brought me a Roomba, which is a robotic vacuum cleaner that vacuums for you--all you do is push a button and off it goes. Well, Bryan thought he was getting the one you could schedule to clean when you're not home, but it turns out it didn't have that capability. We talked about upgrading it, but the scheduler ones were so dang expensive that we just never did anything with it. We kept waiting to figure it out, until one day Costco figured it out for us! They had the scheduler model on sale for only about $30 more than Bryan paid for the one he got me for Christmas, so our decision was easy. Saturday we exchanged the Christmas one (yes, I know it's been 3 months since Christmas, but that's just how we roll) for the fancier one.

Well, my new Roomba was the beneficiary of many squeals of delight yesterday as she roamed around my downstairs sucking up all the little bits of dirt and dust we've tracked in. It reminds me of Johnny 5 from that 80's movie Short Circuit, during the part where Johnny gets confused and starts running into everything. The Roomba apparently has its own set pattern and method for cleaning a whole room, but the instruction manual is quick to let you know that you are going to think the thing is crazy. When it's doing its thang, it doesn't appear to make a bit of sense. That doesn't matter, though, because when it's done, the floor is clean! Awesome, I tell you, especially because my arthritic self and vacuuming do not mix.

The other exciting gadget that came into my world over the weekend in my new Samsung Omnia cell phone... or whatever they're calling the fancy ones these days! The Omnia is kind of like the Apple iPhone in that it is touch screen and can do all kinds of Jetsons-style things. This little bugger was the primary recipient of the "how the hell does this thing work?" sentiment, but she got a few squeals of joy, too. :) I had to be careful, though, because it was Bryan's first weekend off in ages and Saturday evening I think he was getting his feelings hurt a little bit because I was paying more attention to the phone than to him. :) Don't worry, I put it away after a little while. And not just because the battery died.

Photo Credits: Inspector Gadget, Roomba, Omnia