Once upon a time, I lived in Toledo. I had a cracker box of a basement apartment with a mini fridge with an even smaller freezer space. Full frozen pizza? Nope. Defrost every three months? Yep. It had no rooms but did have a rather large closet area that I made into a computer room across from the bathroom.  It was my first place living alone. I think I had a vac for the carpet, but I don't remember actually using anything. I'd had room mates previous and always would use their floor cleaning tools. Maybe I just never dropped any crumbs or I used packing tape to pick up whatever. I certainly didn't have the power house next to this satanic filth sucker. Heh. Listen to that title. What about Scum Heathen? Lucifer's Crud Catcher?  Meh.

When I was trying to get another job after getting Clear Channel-ed, I had a friend say that I could get a "decent paying" gig working as a temp for insurance. Louisville had just had their floods which meant thousands of claims and this was one of the biggest insurers in the country. I didn't have much in the way of cash and I knew we could split a place, so I relocated to Louisville. We had a joint within a week. He had a vacuum. Once again, I didn't need one. He had a 80's Hoover upright that was loud but we didn't use it that much. Soon, part of working as a temp, you eventually were reassigned to another temp gig. Things began to change and the jobs began to suck. My friend decided to move on for a better gig in Illinois and I was alone again. He left the vac. I still had a vac. Then, the bugs came. DUN DUN DUN! 

My room in the apartment was directly facing a row of trees. They didn't look to be the best of trees but I didn't think too much. The bathroom had a cheap drop ceiling of what look like florescent light diffusers that are used in any office. The ceiling would shift when you closed the bathroom door or any door in the apartment. The vent fan routed to the outside but you couldn't see it unless you moved the ceiling tiles. Once day, coming home, I found several insects, some with wings , a few in the ceiling but some had dropped down to the bathtub and most to all were dead. It wasn't enough to cause me worry because after a few more the next day, there were none. I didn't think anything about it. A year later, I came home and ARRRRRRRRGGGGG! *slam* HOLY S*IT!!!! *goes to the apartment offices*

"I came home just now and there is a TON of little black bugs in my bathroom!"

"They're NOT Termites!"

"I don't know what they are, there is a ton in my apartment."

"We have an exterminator coming to spray tomorrow."

Thanks for telling me exactly what they were. Termites. They were infested in the dying tree/dead tree next to my apartment. I of course looked on the web, found out what they were and what they did which explained why a ton of them had died when they hit the bathtub, and more still had lost their wings or didn't fly. So, I went to Wally and spent my money on the cheapest vac I could get with attachments so I could vac up all the bugs and got some disinfectant so I could clean everything. The Dirt Devil did the trick. It had every attachment. Credit Card gulped the debt and superdoopervac sucked away all the carnage and got my floors clean.

It is a pretty decent vac, and all very clean. Going from using an old Hoover to a DD with a bag that traps almost all of the dust in the bag, I liked it. One thing it was not however was whisper quiet. It was LOUDER than the old Hoover. I didn't care because I could use the tools to clean dust off the top of my 20" television or suck the dust from my cooling fan on my 100Mhz computer. It had nice attachments. The cord retainer was decent. It still works, but the hinge on the hose attachment went bad, other than that... NOISE! Is there any escape?

Here is the massive larvae from a left over Termite. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Just kidding. Here is where the action is collected. A hard shell covers the bag. I now have this in my basement and clean my car with it, where outside, the noise it makes isn't so bad. I used this my whole time I was apartment bound here in Cleveland and then used it until asking for a new one for Christmas. I got a canister, lightweight with a motor that still makes a lot of noise but not nearly as much. It's got filters and a reusable dirt cup but I use it all the time for general cleaning. A few years back, I got the shop vac for deep cleaning and dirtier heavy duty jobs such as the basement and other areas where I need to suction.  I wish I could be more wistful on this device, but it was cheap, it lasted, and man did it pick up them bugs. That is all.

-Ric