about me

Practically imperfect in every way. Start with a lot of silliness. Mix in some insecurities and a handful of awkwardness. Add a pound of naivety, innocence, and child-like wonderings. Blend well. Half-bake and top off with a sprinkle of imagination and dollop of dreams. It’s the recipe for me!

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quote of the day

  • "Moral of the story: Do not look at the gap. The gap is the mind-killer. Remember how Wile E. Coyote never fell down until he saw the chasm? It’s just like that." --Taylor "Tei" Lindstrom, Rogue Ink

dumbass quote

  • "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps. And I believe that our education like, such as South Africa, and, the Iraq, everywhere like such as. And I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., or should help South Africa, and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children."

    --Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina Teen 2007

kids say...

  • Jacob: "I need to operate on my frog, but first he needs some amnesia."

copyright

Copyright © 2004-2006 Kerrie Lee. All rights reserved.

iRobot for iDummies

June 27, 2006

We had a gift card to Home Depot that we were saving for a special purchase. We didn’t know what that special purchase would be, but we knew we didn’t want to spend it on the normal stuff. Through the month of May, I did some research on the Roomba iRobot vacuum cleaner and decided I wanted to get one. As luck would have it, Home Depot carried one model, which was on sale during our visit on May 31. We wasted no time in pulling out the gift card and using it for this item of luxury.

I plugged it in and began charging the battery as soon as we got home. Then we had my parents over for the holiday, so we didn’t get a chance to try the little guy out until after dark. Just before I sent the boys to bed, I turned on my Roomba and waited. The little fella wirred and hummed and spun in a circle. And that’s it. After several attempts to “fix” it, I gave up and decided to call the company in the morning.

So I called the Roomba customer service center and explained the problem. They quickly diagnosed it as a software problem, and would send me a gadget called Osmo so I could update the software. Until then, I would have to wait to try out the Roomba.

Nearly two weeks later, the Osmo arrived. I followed the directions, but Genius Woman forgot one important step. The Roomba was supposed to have a fully charged battery before the update. My battery was next to dead. Once again, I contacted customer service and explained my situation. And once again they diagnosed it quickly. The Osmo couldn’t complete the update because the battery wasn’t charged. But the battery could no longer charge since the Osmo had already started its update. They would send me a fully charged battery to use to complete the software update.

It’s June 27, and I still haven’t gotten my battery. And of course that means we’re going on 28 days that I haven’t been able to try out my Roomba. I expect to get the battery tomorrow, now that I’ve written about what a dummy I am.

CATEGORY: Good Idea, Bad Idea

5 Responses to “iRobot for iDummies”

  1. Oz Says:
    June 27th, 2006 at 8:10 pm

    —-I am VERY interested in this product. I spend a lot of time on the floor with Ella now, and I’m sure that trend will continue, and with the animals and whatnot, my floor is not exactly pristine. Rather than me vacuuming it every day, I would much prefer it if, let’s say, a little robot vacuumed the floor every night after I went to bed.

    —-I hope that once you get this thing working, you’ll post back about whether or not you think it would be worth buying for someone without a gift certificate.

  2. Whimsy Chick Says:
    June 28th, 2006 at 4:51 pm

    Between the boys tracking in who-knows-what and my lab shedding, the floor is always a mess. Having no carpeting is great when you want to get the floors really clean, but it also shows all the stuff more than carpeting ever did. Using the little guy to vacuum every night before bed was my plan too. :)
    The stupid battery still didn’t stupid show up, but I’ll definitely post back my results when I get the stupid thing stupid running.

  3. Oz Says:
    June 28th, 2006 at 9:43 pm

    Since your post, I’ve read some of the reviews on amazon and it seems like most people like the vacuum, but those who have had problems absolutely HATE the customer service. You’re not alone. And not exactly an endorsement to get the product….. but I still want a robot to vacuum for me as I sleep!

  4. Ro Says:
    July 1st, 2006 at 1:36 pm

    My husband purchased a Roomba Discovery for me off of Amazon at the end of May. I got it the first week of June. I love it, I use it all the time. I wanted to use it right away, but my husband told me it said in the manual when you first get the Roomba you have to charge it for a full 16+ hours or it will not work properly. We waited about 24 hours actually before we attempted to use it, and it’s been working fine ever since. It’s awesome. I love it.

  5. Whimsy Chick Says:
    July 1st, 2006 at 5:05 pm

    Ro, we have the Roomba Discovery too. Though, we brought ours home at the end of May and have yet to use it even once. I called again today to check on the status of the battery. They told me “it’s getting ready to be shipped out.” What the hell have they been doing with it for the past two weeks???

    I keep reading how great these things work. After all this waiting, it BETTER be great.

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about this blog

It’s the spark of an idea that hits me unexpectedly. It’s the silly wonderings I have after a whirlwind of thoughts. It’s about creativity, inspiration, and imagination. But sometimes, it’s just about eating noodles.

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