Thank God I Work from Home

I finished my morning exercise on the bike in the bedroom a little while ago. I watch Colbert Report and music videos for the most part while working out. Upon my dismounting the bike, I press the Live TV button on the Tivo remote. It's the beginning of today's Tyra...which is all about women's underwear! Tyra and the audience are dressed in robes with tops and panties on underneath. They are going to spend the hour discussing cuts/styles and also health issues about underwear.

The 12-33 year old in me (*giggles*) could react in only two ways:
1) Laugh my ever lovin' head off when Tyra talked about the bunches of fat/skin that are created above and below the leg/waist of panties that are too small and the audience insanely applauds Tyra's fat concerns
AND
2) Press record on the Tivo!

It is for the sake of watching and laughing with JD later tonight as we unwind. I have the tubes of the Internets for porn (it's amazing how easy it is to find the 1% of the internet that is porn), so I'm not saving it for the delight of my love bone...just my funny bone.

Pardon me, I had to go slap my robot around some...

I ran my Scooba yesterday in the kitchen while exercising in the bedroom. When I was done, I heard the Scooba shut off in the kitchen. I walked in and the floor was drier than it should have been. I noticed that the red light by the power button was on. So, it seemed that the battery ran out before the cycle was done...but still there should have been some water down.

I run through all the steps needed to check for pump problems and put the battery into the charger. After the charger says the battery is back up to full, I reassemble the Scooba to do another swipe at the kitchen floor. It won't start. I run through my troubleshooting checklist and call up customer support. The rep and I basically run through everything and then decide that maybe the battery needed a full 16-hour refresh charge because the system was convinced that there wasn't water in the tank, juice in the battery, or something else the computer/robot does when it does its diagnostics before working.

After doing my Tyra post, I walk into the kitchen to do the Scooba. I have the same problem as what I had at the end of the phone call yesterday - the power comes on, I press the clean button, it blinks a few times, and then it flashes a blue "Check Tank" light. Soon, I'm back on the phone with IRobot's support personnel. I let her read the summary of yesterday's call and tell her all the steps I took today. Then the following happens:

IRobot Chick: Okay, I have one last suggestion for you.

Me: Lemme have it.

IRobot Chick: You have to try not to laugh when I tell you what to do.

Me (curious): Okay...

IRobot Chick: Try not to laugh...I need for you to remove the battery and tank from the robot.

Me: Okay...

IRobot Chick: Again, try not to laugh...Do you have a hard surface nearby? I need for you to pick up the robot, don't laugh, and hit it 10-15 times against the surface. You need to hit the side where the pump is. There may be something in there that you dislodged earlier while blowing water through, but it's still in position to hamper the flow of water.

Me: *bangs robot against the "half-wall" between our kitchen and computer room 12 times* Alright, I slapped the lil bugger around a bit.

IRobot Chick: Now put it together and see if it works for you now.

YUP! The damned thing started right up and was putting down water, too. I guess it needed the old Fonzi treatment.

She did say that if I have the same problem again and none of the steps work, they will send me a new robot. *whew*