Vacuum Repair extraordinaire by day, Cable repair woman by night

I like to fix things.
And I'm good at it.

I discovered this talent in Russia. In might have come from necessity when I found it difficult to communicate to people what the problem was so I just thought it was simpler to fix it myself, or maybe it arose from the fact that things kept breaking. Either way, I repaired door knobs, kitchen sinks, a shower hose (which in Russian is called a "Shlong" in case that ever comes up again, I'm ready for it), and a washer (before it broke again just before I found out I was moving to a new city, to which I replied "Ha! Now I don't have to deal with the washer!"). My theory is: it's not working, I can't hurt it worse right?

Today was the first stress-free day I've had in several weeks so I was going to clean my room and vacuum the house (Crazy fun, I know). And surprise! The vacuum cleaner was broken. (I'm about to amaze you with my vacuum cleaner terminology here...) The brush thing wasn't spinning. So I removed the screws on the plastic thing and the rubber-loopy thing that connected the brush to a metal post was broken.



I took the broken rubber piece to the vacuum store and bought a replacement for $2.77. I then spent a good 40 minutes trying to stretch the stupid rubber piece so that it would attach to the metal post. This was very difficult. I've since decided that upright Hoover vacuums are the most poorly designed pieces of machinery EVER! I say that only because I've had to attach that rubber thing back to its metal post 3 times since I've been acquainted with this vacuum... two of those times were today. After I managed to attach it, it ricocheted off not 15 minutes later. Granted I ran over the curtains while vacuuming, which were then promptly eaten by the vacuum, causing the rubber thing to dislodge... but STILL it shouldn't be that easy for it to come off; I've never had a vacuum do this before.

Hoover, I ask you, did you create a flimsy rubber-loopy thing/ metal post relationship just to torture people?! Let me explain the flaws in your design: 1) clearly the metal post should have something that keeps the rubber from escaping so easily. 2) The plastic piece that is in the way of the metal post serves NO purpose EXCEPT to make it very difficult to stretch the rubber from the brush to the post. I scraped at least 3 fingers on this blasted, useless piece of plastic. And 3) 5 screws, really?! If your customers are going to have to play the rubber attaching tango ever time they use their vacuum cleaner, you could have made a pop-off plastic guard. It would have made me much happier.

On the positive side--I am a vacuum cleaner repair extraordinaire! I do intend to put that on my resume.


Two weeks ago our cable went out in the family room. I was studying for my comprehensive exams so I had no intention on repairing it over the last two weeks. Plus the cable in my room was working fine so I figured it was a problem with the modem and not the provider. All the same, I wasn't going to mess with it until after comps. Today, I pulled out all the cables, reset the modem, attached everything back into place and voilà! Cable is back on.

I have talents. At least, I like to think so.