I must have been a good boy this year, because the nice folks at Dyson gave me an early Christmas present of a Dyson DC31 Animal Handheld Vacuum cleaner.

You would think this is the first hand-held vacuum that I have received as a Christmas gift, but as I child I actually asked and received a Black & Decker Dustbuster, in I am guessing 1985. I was a special kid. The Dustbuster was a pretty cool, little vacuum, but it had some serious issues; it would fill up quickly and quit sucking, the filters were not washable and needed to be emptied and/or replaced, the battery life did not last too long, it was not that powerful even when empty. I also remember picking up things like screws and them falling right back out the second you stopped the motor.

I would say until recently (Or October 12th, 2006 to be exact) this was a common problem until Dyson released their first series of handheld vacuums, known as the Dyson DC 16 Root 6. The DC 16 addresses many of the issues that the Dyson full size vacs did when they came out. The DC31 is an even better version of the DC16 and has some unique features that will set it apart;

The DC31 Is even smaller than the DC16 weighing in at 2.9lbs, and is more balanced. There were some complaints that the DC16 was too heavy, and hard to maneuver. The DC31 should take care of that.

• They have added 2 power modes to extend the battery life. 10 minutes at lower power or 6 minutes at full power.
• They have included a motorized brush on the Animal version of the DC31
• It has a new “Digital Motor” which is lighter, faster, more powerful and more energy efficient than a standard motor.

Well since none of this matters unless the vacuum can pick up a mess here is my review of the Dyson DC31 Animal:

As usual the Dyson packaging was impressive. It is not as amazing as apples, but it seems to be designed nicely, well packaged and pretty easy to open. The first impression I had of the unit when I saw it was that I loved the color. The DC31 Animal comes in this amazing metallic purple color. The feel of the unit was that of quality. The outside is made entirely of plastics, but they do not feel brittle or flimsy in the least. The unit feels solid.

Now comes the part that surprised me. Well I guess for 2 reasons. It was charged out of the gate, which I found surprising. The second and more important reason why I was surprised is that when I hit the trigger it sounded like a jet engine mixed with a dentist drill. I would say that this is the Ferrari of handheld vacuums. It just sounds really powerful and neat. (I will post a video so you can hear it soon)

Since my house was pretty tidy the first thing I did was dump some flour on my counter and suck it up. It did not stand a chance. The DC31 snorted it up like Scarface with cocaine.

The next thing I went after was my girlfriends couch. It is a plush couch and it seemed pretty clean. I put on the brush and went to town. Tons of really fine dust came out of the cushions and a bunch of the hair that was once on Sarah’s head. Sarah loved that you could see what was sucked up inside the clear canister portion of the vacuum.

I tried all of the attachments and did not find anything that it could not handle. The battery did not give any signs of dying, but Sarah reminded me that it was a bit late at night to be vacuuming the house. So I figured out how to empty it and put it on the charger before going to bed for the night.

The next morning I heard some commotion coming from the kitchen and asked what was wrong. A little coffee bean spill. I jumped out of bed and started seeking them out. Whole coffee beans went into the DC31 like it were a shop vac. It was awesome.

I installed a closet this weekend and used the DC31 to clean up drywall dust where my dc14 failed. This little handheld is powerful.

The other way I used it was to clean up my hairy mess after I shave my head. I am also looking forward to using it to clean my keyboards!

After using it a handful of times it has easily become my favorite vacuum in the house. My apologies to the DC14 and my Roomba 550.

The biggest complaint I read about was battery life. I did not see an issue with this, but I could see me trying to clean my whole car or house and running out of juice after 10 minutes. I think if you use it as intended you will never have a battery issue.

Overall I think this is a great vacuum. If you have a pet or a kid you should get one of these. It would be way faster then taking out the full size vacuum and do a better and quicker job then a broom.

Here is a quick summary:

Positives:
Small, Powerful, No Filters, No loss of Suction, Good attachments, Great for hair/fur, Excellent feel and quality, Beautiful color, Awesome powerful sound, 2 year warranty.
Negatives:
Expensive, Short battery life if you want to clean your whole house, Too loud to use at night.

All in all I recommend this to anyone who thinking about buying it. It would make a great Christmas gift to those of us out there who actually like receiving useful gifts and tools!

What I would really like to see changed with this handheld vac are the following:

1. My old dustbuster had a charging cradle/wall mount. I would love to see something like this for the DC31 because it does need to be charged and plugged in. The battery is removable and can be charged while removed, but an all in charging cradle would be useful. I guess the best way to describe my feelings are I need to have this item at the ready. I want it in a place where I know it will be ready, and I can go and grab it, know it is charged, and choose my accessory and get back to the spill/mess and get it taken care of.
2. I am not sure if it is possible, but I would love to see an option to charge/power the item with a longer cord. That was I could run around my house and vacuum the whole thing if I wanted. Even like a 12v cigarette adapter would appease those who want to do their car.
3. I did not really like the build in brush/other tool. I like the rounded brush tool I have with my DC14. I think a small round brush may be useful. I will know if it is needed when I clean my keyboards though.
4. Charge time. The card/instructions say 3.5 hrs. How come my ipod can do 80% charge in 1 hour or my power drill can do a full charge in 18minutes? I would like to see a speed charge mode, if possible.

None of the complaints are deal breakers. I am really blown away by this handheld vac, and it is light years better than my Dustbuster was 20+ years ago. It has 100x the power of that unit, and I would say almost close to the suction that my DC14 does. Dyson congrats on another great project/product, and thank you for letting me play with it!

I would love to see Dyson try building a wet/dry vacuum or shopvac, and a robot vac to compete with Roomba.

I wish I would have taken photos of my unit when it was clean… I will post what it looks like to the site shortly!

Business/Financially:

Business has had its ups and downs, but I am involved in a new project that has taken a ton of my time up. It is finally live, working out some of the remaining kinks but it is finally good to go. This is a giant weight of my back, as I have been stressing out about it for a long time now, and now it is finally done. WOO HOO.

Another thing that has happened with business is that we got a new office in Logan Square, and that has been been pretty good. A nice little walk or ride to work every day, and when I get home I leave 90% of the work at the office.

Finally regarding work, I have worked 2 times now as a bouncer at a local bar. LOL. Tuff GUY!

Socially:

My social life has seen a similar trend as my work life. It has had quite a big up this year, as I have met a nice lady friend. The downside is I need to better balance a relationship, some friendships AND work. Good luck with that. It will be a work in progress. But yeah, I met a girl and I am really happy with that. Seems like we have been together longer than the 6 months.

Physically:

This is where I took a big dip. I was working out all the time and becoming a beef cake (not really – but I was working out). Being really busy got me to cut back on working out. Once that happened, it became easier to blow it off completely. Anyhow due to the excessive working, and possibly my new bike, or just being old, I fucked up my wrist. Not sure what it is/was, but I think carpal tunnel/getting old. Long story short (more to follow?) I had to go to the doctor, take massive doses of ibuprofen, and finally got a shot in it. The shot seems to be helping, but I want to make it last.

Today I actually worked out again, and feel it a bit in the wrist, but it may be partially due to being a pussy, and not "hitting it hard" in a while. Tomorrow I need to work out again… and the next day, and the next day. Get back on a schedule of sorts.

Emotionally/Mentally:

I am going to say I am feeling pretty sound. Was bummed out by the wrist, but feeling better since it seems to be working again. The next big drain on me was the work, and that is now an UP. Other than that I had one big hit this year in the family, but we all seemed to handle it pretty well.

That is that… If you read this and I know you, drop me a line.

-g

Here is how to properly start and put out a toaster oven fire:

1. Put bread in toaster
2. Set it to toast
3. Go to remove finished toast from toaster
4. Knock piece of Toast through the rack on to the heating element.
5. Ignite toast on fire
6. First piece of toast should ignite second piece of toast on fire
7. Close door and hope it puts itself out
8. Realize it needs to be put out.
9. Unplug toaster from wall
10. Spray with fire extinguisher
11. Air out apartment
12. Enjoy huge mess
13. Take photos, spread story on internet
14. Put off cleaning up huge mess

I am guessing I should just throw out the toaster over, since it is now covered with fire powder.

When is the last time you lit something on fire?

Also just as a note… if you rent/own/stay at someones house with a kitchen, you should spend the 10-20$ on a fire extinguisher so you do not burn the fucking place down "When Good Bread Turns into BAD TOAST!"

It seems like I am no longer in control of my days. They just come and go and stack a large pile of whatever it is in front of me. Enough to keep me busy or annoyed and with my "eye no longer on the prize".

At this point I do not even know what the prize is. Is there even one? It seems like the harder you work, the more you get fucked over. At least as far as taxes are concerned.

Speaking of taxes, where is my refund? This is the first year I owned a home. If you can call it that. More like a money trap, but aren't they all? Buyer beware. Do not buy a condo. Why did no one warn me? Thanks a lot pal.

As far as the recession is concerned (can I call it a recessions?), what is really going on with that? I followed the markets and gave up. I made some quick money (like $200 – go me) and got out while it was still liquid. Unemployment is at an all time high, but it seems like spending may be only slightly lower. I wish I owned a credit card company.

Beyond this stuff it seems like it is finally starting to warm up. I guess that is a good thing. I will miss the weather as my excuse to be anti social. I guess I will need to resort to being fat, old, bald and lazy

Since we are talking about age, happy birthday to my grandma and gramps… 93 and 95.

Outside of that, I am going to Europe for a 2 weeks in May- June, anyone want to come with or meet up?

Thinking of extending things longer and doing some traveling. Figure I may as well go for longer since I will taking the time off, and probably taking on a pretty large new project/business in the next few months. So it may be some "well deserved" rest until the next stressful part of my life.

I also got an iPhone. Lol.

Loyal reader, what is up with you?