The Joy of Vacuuming
My brother bought a Dyson DC24 off of Amazon for my parents as a Christmas present last year. My initial thought was "Did they need another vacuum cleaner?". Then when my dad assembled it, I was a little taken aback. The thing is tiny and looks almost like a toy. It seems a little flimsy and even a little mechanically quirky. And the dirt tray is so small you would have to empty it frequently. When I looked up the item on Amazon, I was a little shocked how much the thing costs.
I assumed it might eventually get shoved into some closet given how gadgets accumulate. That is until I heard stories. ... Apparently my dad uses it all the time. In odd places and at unusual times he would be found vacuuming or cleaning up. What didn't occur to me is that since it is so light, relatively quiet and so incredibly easy to use, the job of vacuuming became less like a chore. Even though you might empty the dirt frequently, its still so simple that it doesn't interfere with your task.
I have a Dirt Devil with a 12 amp jet engine motor that is so loud and difficult to move around, that just the thought of using that thing gives me palpitations. So I might not vacuum as regularly as I should - at the cost of my health! I think the dust bunnies are getting ready to unionize.
Anytime you have a burdensome repetitive job that must be completed, you need to stop and look at your methodology, and in this case: your tools. When I think about my daily tasks, I am aware of the tools I lack, which on my part is just laziness. (I'll fix this over time) When I think about the deficiency in tools for my day-job, it's downright depressing! (A story for another day) ... How much is my time worth? Or my peace of mind? or arm strain?
Don't go out and buy yourself an expensive lightweight vacuum cleaner (like I most likely will). But do take the time to examine how much self-inflicted torture you endure every day just because you might think you're saving yourself a few dollars. Trust me, you're really not.
Thoughts to ponder for anyone - especially those who might call themselves an engineer. (Hope you had a Happy Engineers Week).
2 Comments:
amleZ on February 20, 2010 ~ 09:09 AM
Holy Smokes, what's this made of? For the price, you'll have to ban dust bunnies from your dictionary too!
Well, there's no deficiency of tools in any field, we have adopted reuse like nobody's business and then there's Automation or macros for those mundane tasks like reports.
It all boils down to whether you want to use them, if its worth the trouble at all … to tweak it, it maintain it and so on. And then when it is all idealistic and you no longer inflict torture on yourself, then what?me on February 23, 2010 ~ 04:04 AM
if $ can solve da "prob," den iz not really a prob.
assumin' u have da $…