The Magic Touch

My family had a pretty long-standing running joke about me, my computer, and Brad. Having majored in comp sci in college, I turned to him whenever my computer wasn't "acting right." Inevitably, no matter how many times I plugged and unplugged various cords, Brad would come over, jiggle a cord or two, and everything would hum along as expected, operating perfectly. You might even say he was "the computer whisperer."

Today I think I met "the vacuum whisperer." Last night, as embarrassing as this is to admit, I tripped and fell while I was using the vacuum. It was one of those slow-motion falls where I became more and more tangled in the vacuum cord and fell. Lovely and graceful, right? Anyway, the tug of my fall was hard enough to pull the plug from the socket. I thought, "no big deal," and plugged it back in. Nothing. I toggled the on/off switch... nothing. I tried a different outlet... to no avail. I sat on the floor and unscrewed the handle. exposing the internal power switch. Nothing. In my frustration, I admit tears were shed. Thankfully, I've already located and visited the vacuum store in Gainesville (yes, store, singular--there is ONE company with 2 branches in all of Gainesville) earlier this year when a belt came loose. I paid them a visit this afternoon feeling rather foolish as I explained what had happened. I thought to myself, "Watch this guy plug it in and have no problems." Sure enough, he plugged it in, flipped the switch, and it roared to life! "No fair!" I thought. He asked me a couple questions ("How long have you had it?") and suggested a filter needing to be changed could have instigated an overheating incident yesterday. "There's a filter?" I asked. I had checked the "filter" on more than one occasion, and it looked fine. He pulled it out and said it was just a cheap piece of styrofoam that accomplished next-to-nothing. I had actually wondered if that was the case, but didn't know the answer. He fit me with a real HEPA filter, and he accidentally sucked up another little filter it came with, so he replaced that (and my vacuum bag) for free! Altogether, what did his "girl can't even operate her own vacuum" look/filter replacement cost me? $15. I thought I'd broken the vacuum for sure, so I was quite happy with that total. And the living and dining rooms are quite happy as well, as I finally got to finish vacuuming them today. :)