things i unpacked first
moving again, and the dumb little robot vacuum that made it feel like home.
my original intention with this blog was to post something every day.
but life happens.
i recently moved, which meant my evenings were suddenly all about packing, moving, unpacking, arranging, and trying to figure out which box had the thing i needed right now. and, of course, fishing clean underwear out of a pile of clothes that definitely had a system when i packed it.
among the first things i unpacked were my monitor, desk, chair, modem, router…
and my knockoff roomba.
i love that thing.
i’ve had it for about three years now, and there’s something very satisfying about coming home to clean floors without having done anything about it myself.
it’s not particularly smart. it bumps into walls, gets confused by furniture, and has absolutely no concept of rooms. there’s no mapping, no self-emptying dock, no fancy object detection. it just drives around somewhat randomly until, eventually, the floor is cleaner than it was before.
if anyone is actually shopping for a robot vacuum today, i’d probably tell them to get a nice one. get the mapping. get the self-emptying dock. get all the bells and whistles.
i think about upgrading mine every now and then too.
then i look at this stupid little robot bouncing off another wall, realize it still cleans my floor perfectly well, and decide i’ll use it until it dies.
maybe there’s something comforting about unpacking the same familiar things in a completely unfamiliar place.
i’ve moved every year for the last eight years.
different apartments, different rooms, different layouts. the same ritual of boxes, tape, missing chargers, and wondering why i own so much stuff.
i’ve started to hate moving.
this time, more than anything, i’m hoping i get to leave the roomba where it is for a while.