Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Playing with new Christmas Toys
Uncle Sarky (Nick's brother Mark) gave Hunter a basketball hoop for Christmas. Daddy struggled with assembly, but managed to finish this morning. This is a clip of some of the action.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
The Art of the Vacuum
Everyone wants a good vacuum. Everyone hates vacuuming.
So what are characteristics of a good vacuum? Good suction, not too big and heavy to carry around the house, low-maintenance, etc?
Traditional Vacuum for most households
Before I was married I had a bissel vacuum which was a gift from my mother when I bought my first condo. It was for the most part a standard vacuum although it was bagless. This is good because you don't need to change the bags! Its performance was fine, but it wasn't perfect. You had to lug the heavy contraption around the house; plug it in here, unplug and plug it in there. It was big and bulky just like any standard stand-up unit. It did the job and was under $200.
Introduction of Central Vac and the end of my life as I knew it
When we built our first house, my wife said we must have a central vacuum system. This is a product where the hose plugs directly into the wall and dust/dirt is sucked through the wall and is "bagged" and collected in the basement. She argues this is a better product because you don't need to carry around the plug everywhere and you don't need to change the bags. However, You carry around a 50 foot hose, which is 10 times more cumbersome than a cord. Also wrapping and storing the power cord is 10 times more easy than wrapping up the hose for storage. There is also a collection area in the basement which needs to be changed periodically. So you don't need to change a bag in the unit you carry around, but you do need to change the bag in the basement. The suction was good and it had a nice attachment for going over our hard-wood floors. Another HUGE benefit is resale.....right...just like my great cd player in my car adds resale value to my car.....This system is about $2,000 when you consider the work behind the drywall and the actual vacuum unit itself. And even after that big price, our unit broke (the part you actually run over the carpet) and had to be replaced.
Why does she care what Vacuum we have if she doesn't vacuum?
Here is the most astonishing point of all: my wife, who says we must have the central vacuum system, does zero vacuuming. We have a cleaning lady who comes every other week, and me, yes, me.....I do the vacuuming on the off week. I don't care what the cleaning lady prefers; she will do fine with whichever vacuum system I provide. Do I care what I have to drag around the house? Do I care if I plug a hose into the wall or whether I carry a hose around vs. a power cord? Absolutely not. My only goal is to get it over quickly and to pick up the dirt so when the wife inspects she is satisfied. Oh wait, my other goal is to not pay a shit load for the vacuum system. And since I am the vacuumer and I see my marginal benefit of plugging the hose into the wall, my vote is for a Dyson (one of the most expensive vacuumes on the market at $500, but still way less than a central system). But my vote doesn't count (and remember, I am the vacuumer.) She is the decider, and she doesn't actually use the damn thing.
Again?
When we decided to build another house, and it was confirmed the $2,000 spent on the first central vacuum was not recouped in the sale price of the house, I figured she learned her lesson. Recap: she wants the central vac because it is "easier and more convenient." However, I argue it is no more convenient than any other system, and why does she care if it is easier if she is not doing the work? Regardless, we are ponying up the cash for another central vac system in the new house! I guess my opinion doesn't mean shit and I am not the decider. I tried to negotiate spending the money on other upgrades, but for some reason she was hell-bent on keeping central vac. Then on top of all of that, we found out with our upgraded additions the hose wouldn't be long enough to reach all of the flooring area, so we needed to upgrade the central vac by adding holes in the wall for an extra $600.
More?
When we moved into the condo for 10 months we needed to buy yet another vacuum until the house was finished. Amazingly, I convinced her all we needed was a $50 dirt devil from Meijer and she let me pick it out! I figured for 10 months we could deal with a lower quality unit. This thing did a fine job for us. After 6 months in the condo, wifey decides she needs a cordless vacuum which is rechargeable and light weight. She loves this thing! No cords, no hoses, lightweight, bagless, etc. And one more thing; she is not the one using it.
The Future?
Is this cordless, bagless, lightweight model the future of vacuuming? It couldn't be; the dirt isn't funnelled through the walls and collected in the basement, there is no hose to carry around, there is no plug to worry about, it is lightweight, and only costs $60! This is way too cheap for a vacuum! Vacuumes in my house cost minimum $2,000.
Summary
In the past 5 years, I have spent $5,000 on vacuumes. This is definitely more than anyone in world over the same time period. We are spending the money to have the central vac systems, and vacuumes to supplement those. The irony is that the $50-500 units do exactly the same job, and in some cases, more conveniently AND the people who are actually using these expensive units are not consulted.
So what are characteristics of a good vacuum? Good suction, not too big and heavy to carry around the house, low-maintenance, etc?
Traditional Vacuum for most households
Before I was married I had a bissel vacuum which was a gift from my mother when I bought my first condo. It was for the most part a standard vacuum although it was bagless. This is good because you don't need to change the bags! Its performance was fine, but it wasn't perfect. You had to lug the heavy contraption around the house; plug it in here, unplug and plug it in there. It was big and bulky just like any standard stand-up unit. It did the job and was under $200.
Introduction of Central Vac and the end of my life as I knew it
When we built our first house, my wife said we must have a central vacuum system. This is a product where the hose plugs directly into the wall and dust/dirt is sucked through the wall and is "bagged" and collected in the basement. She argues this is a better product because you don't need to carry around the plug everywhere and you don't need to change the bags. However, You carry around a 50 foot hose, which is 10 times more cumbersome than a cord. Also wrapping and storing the power cord is 10 times more easy than wrapping up the hose for storage. There is also a collection area in the basement which needs to be changed periodically. So you don't need to change a bag in the unit you carry around, but you do need to change the bag in the basement. The suction was good and it had a nice attachment for going over our hard-wood floors. Another HUGE benefit is resale.....right...just like my great cd player in my car adds resale value to my car.....This system is about $2,000 when you consider the work behind the drywall and the actual vacuum unit itself. And even after that big price, our unit broke (the part you actually run over the carpet) and had to be replaced.
Why does she care what Vacuum we have if she doesn't vacuum?
Here is the most astonishing point of all: my wife, who says we must have the central vacuum system, does zero vacuuming. We have a cleaning lady who comes every other week, and me, yes, me.....I do the vacuuming on the off week. I don't care what the cleaning lady prefers; she will do fine with whichever vacuum system I provide. Do I care what I have to drag around the house? Do I care if I plug a hose into the wall or whether I carry a hose around vs. a power cord? Absolutely not. My only goal is to get it over quickly and to pick up the dirt so when the wife inspects she is satisfied. Oh wait, my other goal is to not pay a shit load for the vacuum system. And since I am the vacuumer and I see my marginal benefit of plugging the hose into the wall, my vote is for a Dyson (one of the most expensive vacuumes on the market at $500, but still way less than a central system). But my vote doesn't count (and remember, I am the vacuumer.) She is the decider, and she doesn't actually use the damn thing.
Again?
When we decided to build another house, and it was confirmed the $2,000 spent on the first central vacuum was not recouped in the sale price of the house, I figured she learned her lesson. Recap: she wants the central vac because it is "easier and more convenient." However, I argue it is no more convenient than any other system, and why does she care if it is easier if she is not doing the work? Regardless, we are ponying up the cash for another central vac system in the new house! I guess my opinion doesn't mean shit and I am not the decider. I tried to negotiate spending the money on other upgrades, but for some reason she was hell-bent on keeping central vac. Then on top of all of that, we found out with our upgraded additions the hose wouldn't be long enough to reach all of the flooring area, so we needed to upgrade the central vac by adding holes in the wall for an extra $600.
More?
When we moved into the condo for 10 months we needed to buy yet another vacuum until the house was finished. Amazingly, I convinced her all we needed was a $50 dirt devil from Meijer and she let me pick it out! I figured for 10 months we could deal with a lower quality unit. This thing did a fine job for us. After 6 months in the condo, wifey decides she needs a cordless vacuum which is rechargeable and light weight. She loves this thing! No cords, no hoses, lightweight, bagless, etc. And one more thing; she is not the one using it.
The Future?
Is this cordless, bagless, lightweight model the future of vacuuming? It couldn't be; the dirt isn't funnelled through the walls and collected in the basement, there is no hose to carry around, there is no plug to worry about, it is lightweight, and only costs $60! This is way too cheap for a vacuum! Vacuumes in my house cost minimum $2,000.
Summary
In the past 5 years, I have spent $5,000 on vacuumes. This is definitely more than anyone in world over the same time period. We are spending the money to have the central vac systems, and vacuumes to supplement those. The irony is that the $50-500 units do exactly the same job, and in some cases, more conveniently AND the people who are actually using these expensive units are not consulted.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
New Easy Site pics up
Grandma Dori came over on Saturday and we celebrated Christmas. There are some good pics on our easysite.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
initial post
We are trying to decide if we want to use blogger or continue using easysite.com/hopwood. Check out our existing site.
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