The death and resurrection of a robot, numb, Birds
The weekend was ok. A shadow was over my mood for most of it, I checked the sky at night and saw the moon was almost full again. I already knew it had to be. When these feelings arrive it makes me feel totally discontent with almost every aspect of my life. It’s wonderful.
So anyway, on Saturday I put the Dirt Dog to work cleaning the pool deck like I always do. I decided I would also brush down the sides of the pool while the DD was doing it’s business. I was a bit concerned about splashing some water onto the pool deck and the DD interacting with it but I vowed to be careful and keep the splashing to a minimum.
So away I went scrubbing away. The constant drone of the Dirt Dog brushing was nice background noise. I got to the far side of the pool when I heard a noise that was not pleasant or expected, KERPLUNK! I instantly looked over and saw a horrible sight, my Dirt Dog sinking towards the bottom of the pool! I instantly drop the brush and sprint over to the other side, you would think a baby fell in the pool.
So I quickly grab the pool skimmer and try to save my drowning robot although I figured the thing was dead the second it hit the water. It took me several tries until I got it balanced on the skimmer. I sort of figured when I got it to the top it would be dead as a doornail with smoke coming out of it. I had it balanced on the skimmer with the wheels and brushes facing up. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the brushes still turning, they were throwing water like a little paddleboat. Quickly I brought it out to dry land and hit the power button to turn it off. The button did not work, the only way I could stop the brushes was to flip it upside down and remove the battery.
I was pissed. As I shook the robot out and watched water stream out of it I tried to figure out why it went in the pool. I have had it out there every week since I got it without incident, however I never did it at the same time as cleaning the pool. There have been a few close calls where the front wheel has slipped over the edge but the robot always has immediately halted keeping it safe and dry.
This is my CSI-like analysis. The spot where the robot went in was right by the strainer basket. I had emptied the strainer basket beforehand which always splashes a generous amount of water on the ground. I think what happened was the robot went over the wet area, the front wheel went over and when it tried to stop the wet wheels on the wet concrete slipped enough to let it plummet into the murky depths.
So throughout the weekend I let the unit dry out if for no other reason than I wanted it to be dry before I tried to get it covered under warranty from Irobot. I didn’t plan to fess up to the Dirt Dog taking a swim, rather just describe the symptoms of it. Every time I picked both the robot and the battery up it seemed more water would drip out of it, it was a lost cause.
So today I brought the unit to work with me so I would have it handy when I called in to try to get it replaced. For the hell of it I snapped the battery in and hit the clean button. I couldn’t believe it, the Dirt Dog LIVES. It scurried about like nothing was wrong, like it didn’t drown only a couple days earlier. Wow that is amazing. I guess it dried out without any fatal damage occurring, wow. I plan to reenlist it by the pool, however there will be no water anywhere on the deck while it is working from now on.
On Saturday night we went over to our neighbors to hang out. We always have fun there but I came back feeling grumpy. The reason? Too tired and too much food. From the second we got there we were besieged with food. I wind up eating much more than I am comfortable with and as a result leave feeling pissed at myself. I’d much rather just pound alcohol, then you are too drunk to care.
On Sunday morning I did something I haven’t done in eons, went running outside. For the past month or two, Ali’s running schedule has evaporated into nothing. She suggested that she go to the track near us and give it a go. She didn’t realize that I planned to give it a go as well. We only did a mile at 10 minute pace, I could have done more but did not want to push it during my first venture back into the activity in months and months. It didn’t go too badly. I had some twinges in my right knee but that is normal, it always feels a little f’d up. It’s the left knee that concerns me, if that one starts to hurt then I am f’d. At least after a mile, it held up ok. I may test it some more as time goes on. Mixing running in and trying to not have it affect doing 300’s twice a week will require some careful planning. So far the only appreciable after effect I have is stiffness up the front of my calves from my big feet flopping on the macadam.
So today was part two of my dentist work, they had to attend to three teeth on the right side. I was apprehensive of this visit since the doc said she would have to numb me. Well whatever the stuff was, it worked. I didn’t feel any pain although the sensation of power tools in my mouth was enough to make me clench my leg several times. The worst part has been the after effect of the numbing, Ali told me how she couldn’t drink afterwards. I told her it wasn’t that bad. Well when I tried to eat my lunch I wound up spitting milk on myself 4 or 5 times. I just had no control over it. It felt really weird.
Speaking of weird, it felt like all night I had one long dream. I don’t remember any details except that it basically involved a huge amount of people all trying to deceive the others, it just went on and on. I’m not sure if I was participating in the deception or just observing it.
Who can predict the NFL? Who would have thought the Eagles offense that looked so anemic for the first two weeks would explode for 56 points?? Man that was something to see. I just wish I knew which team was the “real” Eagles. God those uniforms were hideous. I think those were the ugliest uniforms I ever saw, NFL, XFL, USFL, bar none, just horrific looking. Maybe the Lions D played so poorly because they kept breaking out in laughter when they looked across the line of scrimmage.