MarloElaine » Technology

How to: Give your Dyson Vacuum a “Haircut”

Elaine — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:29:56 +0000

If anyone in your family (or even your pet) has long hair, you’ve probably had trouble with your vacuum cleaner getting weaker or losing suction. It’s even happened to our powerful Dyson, which claims right on the vacuum that it’s “The first vacuum cleaner that doesn’t lose suction.” We have the Dyson DC07 Bagless Vacuum and we love it. Every few months, though, we have to give it a “haircut.”

Since I have had very long hair for most of my life, I have done this several times. This method works with other types of upright vacuums as well, both baggless and bagged. I have found the Dyson to be the easiest to clean.

I never heard of anyone else who has ever given their vacuum a “haircut,” so I was very surprised to see it mentioned in the Dyson instruction manual. The official directions are buried on page 7 of the 14 page instruction manual, under the heading “Where to Look for Blockages.”

Here’s how I do it:

First gather your supplies. You will need a coin or large screwdriver, scissors, a garbage can, and if you like, a face mask and/or latex gloves.
Make sure your Dyson vacuum is off and unplugged. Gently lay it down on the ground.
With the bottom of the vacuum facing you, you should see three colored “screws.” Turn these colored fasteners with a coin or a large screwdriver. You should hear a “click” when it is turned all the way.
You may want to put on a face mask for the next part, especially if you have any respiratory problems. The faceplate should lift off easily, releasing a lot of dust. You should be able to view the brushbar, probably entwined with a lot of hair, thread, etc. This is what causes the loss of suction.
With a pair of scissors, carefully cut through the hair and thread, making sure to avoid the bristles of the brush. I usually cut along the middle of one side, then rotate the brushbar and cut along the middle of the other side.
All of the long hairs and threads can now be easily removed with your fingers. Wear a pair of latex gloves, if desired.
When all the obstructions are removed, put the faceplate back on and turn the three “screws.”
Stand your vacuum upright, plug it in, and test it by vacuuming all the stray hair and dust that just got dislodged. You should see a marked improvement immediately.

Hopefully this will save someone the hassle of hauling their vacuum cleaner into a repair shop or even buying a new vacuum all together. Please let me know in the comments section if it works for you.

New Use For That Baby Monitor

Elaine — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:26:14 +0000

If you have a baby monitor, put the base in the laundry room so that no matter where you (and the receiver) are in the house, you can hear when the washer or dryer is finished!

Our laundry room is on the second floor. Without the baby monitor, I couldn’t hear the buzzer when I was working on my computer in the basement. Hours would go by before I remembered the damp laundry in the washer waiting to be dried.

If Sammy hears the end of cycle signal through the monitor, he tells me, “Mommy, your laundry is beeping!”

So go ahead and put that old baby monitor to good use!

Sharing Google Writely Invites

Marlo — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 22:23:27 +0000

Writely is a web application which allows you to create, edit and share documents online. The application allows you to upload from Word, publish on the web and even post to your blog. I recently got hold of an invite to beta test this nifty tool. If you would like to try it out, please leave a comment below with your email address. Right now, the beta release is by invite only.

I think this is a good application to use when there’s two or more people working on a document or blog article. Elaine and I often email our articles to each other prior to publishing them online. This tool would allow us to track updates which should reduce the time it takes to proofread each other’s work. Also, having a built-in spellchecker is a big plus as well. Anyone who is familiar with Wordpress, will know that it does not have a spellchecker.

So what are you waiting for? Get your free Writely invite today!

Stop Those Annoying Forwards, Politely.

Marlo — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:29:39 +0000

Are you tired of receiving email spam from friends, co-workers and even family? Seeing the same virus warning over and over again? If so, there maybe a solution for you! Send them this site: http://www.thanksno.com.

Here’s an excerpt:

You’re not a bad person, and no one hates you, but it would be valuable to learn the very personal preferences of your friends, family members, and co-workers before including them in unrequested email or choosing to expose their private address to people they don’t know.

If you ever received one of these letters from us, remember it’s nothing personal.

Apple MacBook order placed

Marlo — Tue, 30 May 2006 19:43:26 +0000

I just placed an order for the new black Apple MacBook online. My work has an employee purchase program which allows me to save a few bucks. It is set to be delivered on June 6th (just enough time for buyer’s remorse to kick in). I just wish I could get it sooner but I had it customized with a larger hard drive. I will be upgrading the memory myself seeing that I will be saving over $100 by buying memory separately from Crucial.

These are the specs I ended up with:

2.0GHz Intel Core Duo
512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM- 2×256 to be upgraded to 2GB
120GB Serial ATA drive
SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Keyboard/Mac OS
Airport Extreme Card&BT

I’m going back to my roots – a Mac was the first computer I used in high school. I have been a Windows user for quite a long time. I will still be using Windows machines especially when playing games online and of course work. The main purpose of this laptop is for web surfing, watching movies and for showing off ~~at the coffee shop~~ pictures.

Oh… and happy birthday to me!

Update 6/01/06: It’s been shipped today via FedEx! It’s coming from Suzhou CN. That’s in China. It’s estimated to arrive on Monday.

Update 6/02/06: Departed FedEx location – ANCHORAGE, AK. At 9:20a today, I signed for the package. It’s here!! I ordered on Tuesday and it arrived three days later using the free shipping option. Impressive!

Flagship Apple Store in NYC

Marlo — Thu, 18 May 2006 17:25:03 +0000

This isn’t your normal Apple Store you see at the mall. This one’s special… it’s open 24×7x365 like your local 7-Eleven. The grand opening is this weekend. Rumor has it they are giving out one Apple MacBook every hour.
Read more at Engadget.

How much for your domain name?

Marlo — Thu, 18 May 2006 06:08:12 +0000

I ran into this nifty tool on someone’s blog. The webapp can appraise your domain name and tell you what it’s worth. For the heck of it, I entered our domain: marloelaine.com.

It’s worth a whopping $1,944! Compare that to yahoo.com which is worth $1,393,944.

I don’t think I will cash in just yet.

Lessons for Startups

Marlo — Mon, 01 May 2006 02:08:26 +0000

Thinking about running your own software company startup? This article lists some valuable tips on how to be successful.

Release Early.
Keep Pumping Out Features.
Make Users Happy.
Fear the Right Things.
Commitment Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
There Is Always Room.
Don’t Get Your Hopes Up.
Speed, not Money.

What’s important about startups is the speed. By compressing the dull but necessary task of making a living into the smallest possible time, you show respect for life, and there is something grand about that.

It’s alive!

Marlo — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 04:58:51 +0000

Whew! I finally have this family blog up and running. I’ve been meaning to set this up a long time ago. It actually took me over a month to get everything settled. I was not aware that there were so many components to setting up this blog. Among them were:

Domain name registration
Web hosting
Blogging application
Themes/plugins

Now that I’ve got the easiest part completed. I have to focus on content. Many of these pages are empty. I will need some help with my better half to fill up the space. Right now I’m not too worried about that, since no one’s reading this blog yet.