OMG I LOVE FREECYCLE

[rikibeth]

Or, adventures in vacuuming.

My vacuum is a vintage 1982 Kirby Heritage II that I bought off eBay for $120 more than five years ago. Probably more like ten years ago. Anyway. It weighs a ton, and requires periodic maintenance, pretty much like an older car would. I love it, though, because it has a VERY powerful motor -- I'd been through two mass-market vacuums that were totally useless before I bought the Kirby -- and I have all the attachments for it, the tools, the carpet shampooer, EVERYTHING. (Actually, I might not have the belt sander. I know I wanted it.)

However, last time I was vacuuming the living room, I ran it over a bump in the carpet (it's not flat, and the massively heavy entertainment center and my massively heavy desk prevent me from straightening it out) and it just conked out. Pfft, flat, dead.

mhaille has kindly volunteered to pick it up this weekend and take it back to her house to see if she can repair it, because she's got experience fixing old Kirbys, and she'll do it in exchange for an 8"x8" pan of apple crisp, because she's awesome like that. However, that doesn't get my carpet clean in the meantime.

eternaleponine has a lightweight upright bagless vacuum called the Shark. It is not as fearsome as its namesake. It's one of those where you have to run over a paper shred three times while whispering encouragement. It did okay at picking up the flea powder that was left in the carpet when Kirby broke, and when I detached its hose it took care of the mouse poop in the linen closet, but it wasn't really good for much else.

So, when someone offered a Kenmore upright vacuum on Freecycle, I was on it like white on rice. I picked it up this morning, explaining about my broken Kirby and how if the Kirby was repairable I might just Freecycle the Kenmore once Kirby worked again, and they explained how the Kenmore still worked just fine but they'd upgraded to a bagless vac, and they had also been Freecycling extra vacuum cleaner bags from vacuums they'd owned in the past, and we generally parted with cheerful feelings about the process.

After lunch, I set about cleaning the living room, so I COULD vacuum. It took, I think, three fifteen-minute chunks of tidying before I felt like I could do it. But those three fifteen-minute chunks also included a bout of rationalizing the power cords, and clearing down my occasional table and my left-hand desk return to flat surfaces with only notepads on them, and a session of filing and shredding, so it didn't feel like pure yak-shaving, more "this all needed doing anyway."

The new vacuum? ROCKS. You don't have to coax it back and forth over minor debris, and its onboard tool system is simple enough to use that I had the brush attachment out and dusted the bookshelves as I swept past them.

Of course, I managed to eff it up within fifteen minutes -- I ran over a cord thing and it tangled around the beater bar. In untangling it, I managed somehow to drag the belt off the motor axle. And when I flipped it over to check out the guts, I managed to mistake a guide pin for the motor axle, so it still didn't work. However, that was the point where I actually looked in the manual -- and bless the donors for including the manual! AND a package of three extra bags. The manual explained my error, and I finished up the living room and felt awfully pleased with myself.

This new vacuum is so awesome that I'm encouraging eternaleponine to let me offer up the Shark on Freecycle, where it might make an okay dorm room vacuum for someone, and for her to adopt the Kenmore as nominally hers (the if-we-ever-split-the-household plan), for us to make it the primary vacuum, and, if Kirby gets fixed, retire him to the basement and only use him when we need a carpet shampooer or a kiddy-pool inflater or one of the other secondary tasks he does so well.

So yes. This is my fascinating life when I don't have a job -- VACUUMS.

But I've got a temp assignment tomorrow!

Onwards!

Comments

[thevirtualjim.livejournal.com]

In the summer of 1991 I worked as a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman for about 2.5 weeks. Their vacuums are amazing, but I will never buy on from them (maybe I would on ebay from someone else) because of the HORRIBLE way they treat their employees! It was everything disgusting about sales combined with being manipulated constantly. It was scary how the heads of the office would brainwash everyone and get them to literally ostracize anyone who didn't agree 110% with their personal agendas. I HOPE they aren't as bad as they used to be but I will believe it when I see it.

I actually never had any personal problems with them myself, but the combination of discovering I didn't much like sales along with greatly disliking the environment they created, I had to quit.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

No, I know some people who've worked for them, and they're still pretty lousy as an employer, from what I hear. But the vacuums themselves kick ASS.

[thevirtualjim.livejournal.com]

Yea, its so sad that such a great vacuum has such horrible people representing it.

[cavyherd.livejournal.com]

Ah...Kirby. The first one I owned blew its fans (a neighbor borrowed it; I suspect they were vacuuming rocks or something; they moved out before I discovered the damage...which is a good thing for their continued existence, but I digress) and I foolishly did not keep it with the idea of replacing that one part.

Several vacs later (one sucks very well, but is a pain in the ass to use, the other one, well, doesn't suck) I limped along with a Shark electric sweeper (which is just the bee's knees, IMHO).

But then a neighbor put out a vintage Kirby. For free. Far as I can tell, it WORKS. (Haven't used it, I'm so out of the habit of vacuuming regularly.)

But, can you imagine? GIVING AWAY a Kirby!?

[thevirtualjim.livejournal.com]

giving it away? impressive, since they are so expensive to buy and last forever. I know there are places that will even repair/refurbish them too.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I know there are places that will even repair/refurbish them too.

Oh yes. The local indie vacuum-repair-and-supplies place knows me well, and has done excellent work keeping my Kirby functioning. (I might not have needed them so often if I were more diligent about removing my hair from the ends of the beater bar.)

The reason I'm not taking it back there right now is that their labor charges are up there with my indie mechanic's, and mhaille is willing to be paid in apple crisp.

[thevirtualjim.livejournal.com]

what is the rate on the commodities market for apple crips nowadays? :)

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Would you take one as a consulting fee? I oughta go out to LI to visit my brother and my nieces anyway.

[thevirtualjim.livejournal.com]

hehe. i dont even know exactly what is it...

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

it probably has some things you don't eat, given that it's a conventional dessert, not a health food one.

it's peeled, sliced apples, tossed in sugar and cinnamon, topped with a mixture of white flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, and butter, and baked until the sugar is bubbly, the apples are soft, and the topping is... crisp.

[thevirtualjim.livejournal.com]

heh not the most healthy stuff in the world, but its the butter that woudl make me avoid it :)

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

It's DESSERT. It's not meant to be healthy, it's meant to be a TREAT.

That said, I could always use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks and make it vegan -- they do a good job in vegan cupcakes and stuff.

[thevirtualjim.livejournal.com]

cool :)

[head-shrinker.livejournal.com]

You clean like I do (or, about 95% of the time, procrastinate cleaning): the If You Give A Moose A Muffin way.

I can't vacuum until I get all the objects off the floor, and some of them are filing (have to file) and some of them have an actual home (have to find home) and then I find the missing cat brush (brush cat), then the cat knocks my water bottle over which reminds me to water the plant...

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

That's a combination of yak shaving (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/03/dont_shave_that.html) and the behavior patterns that are leading me to seek testing for ADHD. So familiar!

[head-shrinker.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've seriously been considering Ritalin. The multi-tasking is getting out of hand. Will have to read yak shaving when I can concentrate :-)

[gows.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* In our family, we call it "but(t)-first cleaning."

[head-shrinker.livejournal.com]

LMAO! That is awesome! And totally appropriate.

[gows.livejournal.com]

This is my fascinating life when I don't have a job -- VACUUMS.

Sooo . . . you're saying your life sucks? :P

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

*babbles at you in Mock-Swedish*