We’re wrapping up our 12th week in Japan and are starting to discover things we love about this country… and things we maybe don’t like so much. For me, cleaning house is pretty low on my list of favorite things. (As an aside, I like to treat my “Robert’s Least Favorite Things List” like an episode of “Oprah’s Favorite Things“… “You get a dirty house! You get a dirty house! Everybody gets a dirty house!”)
Which is why I’m pretty stoked about our new vacuum cleaner! I know… seems a sad thing to be excited about. But, between the construction across the street and the industrial-sized wind maker known as the Pacific Ocean, it’d be minutes after I’d finish a dry-sweep of the floors before a tumblin’ tumbleweed of a dust bunny would form and roll across my path. And forget about the tatami rooms. Seems like I’d just sweep the dust deeper into the mats.
But no more! Now I have a Twinbird Cyclone. It’s basically a dustbuster on a stick, but it does exactly what a vacuum is supposed to do… it sucks! Plus, in attachment mode, it kinda looks like the laser sword from the Thundercats.
Really, I figured this post might help other gaijins or anyone with a small space and an electrical outlet (dorm, RV…). With the main attachment, it cleans all the way to the edges, so it’s great for getting corners and edges. It’s lightweight and pivots a full 90 degrees, so you can get under low tables without having to move them. The main attachment pops off easily and the nozzle can be put in it’s place to do tighter areas. You can leave the long handle to reduce bending over, or take it off and have a handheld vacuum for cleaning the car, etc.
Best of all, it was only 3,027 yen ($29.68 USD) with free overnight shipping because I signed up for a free Amazon Prime trial.
I’d swept the floors two days before and was amazed by the “yuck” that the new vac picked up.
I can’t say I’m excited about cleaning the floors just yet, but I can at least take it off my list of least-favorite things.
I’ll have to look for one of those if our 30 year old $60 bright red plastic Sears canister vacuum ever bights the dust. It seems to be immortal. There. I’ve probably jinxed it.
Mad Photoshop skillz, yo.
I only felt a little bit of shame that I didn’t try to do a better job on the hand, but there’s something charming about the crappiness of it all, don’t you think?!