sarameg, that's just how mine is. With the dog, it's not enough on its own, but it keeps me ahead of the day-to-day stuff.

ita, I'm confused on those same marital privilege issues.

Am at my dad's, after three days at my sister's, headed to my brother's in DC tomorrow. All I want to do is go home. The dog concurs. Neither of us will get our way.

Love both the quilt and the babyvid!! His dissection and examination of the sandwich was hilarious.

I have to say something about Rufus Wainright--his singing style is driving me crazy. PBS is showing his "Rufus sings Judy" concert, and his nasal voice is annoying me to no end. I guess I can take him in three minutes snippets, but not an entire concert.

Oh, yeah - I forgot to say, the quilt is gorgeous.

That quilt is beautiful. How do I get one ;) ?

The fire equipment on planes isn't geared to fight the fires caused by lithium batteries. Keeping the batteries in the original packaging is still ok for spares.

Not totally accurate. The fire equipment is fine with fires caused by Lithium Ion batteries (Which are mostly found in consumer products) but cannot deal well with Lithium Metal batteries (The ones found in professional broadcast cameras and the like).

I have no pets and hardwood floors and the Roomba does an excellent job. My only complaint is that it has completely lost its ability to go "home" when it's done cleaning. (The contacts on the base station need to be lined up manually with the ones on the Roomba.)

Not totally accurate. The fire equipment is fine with fires caused by Lithium Ion batteries (Which are mostly found in consumer products) but cannot deal well with Lithium Metal batteries (The ones found in professional broadcast cameras and the like).

Thanks, ND. I couldn't quite get my head around the difference from the articles I read.

I'm really afraid of getting a roomba because I have a feeling Owen would try to perform and autopsy on it while my back was turned.

I really want to get a Roomba (2 dogs, 2 cats -- you do the math), and I got a gift card to Best Buy from my mom and stepdad for Xmas. But I was looking at reviews online, and the unfavorable reviews are making me leery.

I don't have one Steph - but you have hard wood floors now? Even if you only used it in the bedroom I ma guessing it would help keep up with the hair and dander

I think there's a "pet hair edition" Roomba with a specialized brush and a more powerful motor.

The best thing about the Roomba, IMO, is that it's a robot and therefore never gets bored halfway through vacuuming and decides to watch a DVD instead. This alone makes it better for me than a standard vacuum cleaner, even if it's not as powerful at sucking up dirt.