Always Something Fun in Jacksonville

 

One thing that's GREAT about Jacksonville, FL is there is always something going on; it just depends on how far you want to drive. Downfall about Jax is that's it's huge! Little unknown fact is Jacksonville is the largest city per square mile in the continental 48 states. Everything is Jacksonville here, we don't have suburbs, we have areas. 

So anyway back to my comment about always something going on. I was in the Riverside area working a Putt n'Crawl (mini golf and drinking combined at local establishments = lots of fun) and then headed to the beach for the Celtic Festival to see Flogging Molly at a pavilion right next to the ocean with my husband and some great old friends - PERFECTION! 

Old friends, Mexican food and an Irish Punk band. What could be wrong about that combination?! Definitely one thing I love about living in Jax, if you want to do something you typically have a list of things you can choose from or if you want to sit at home and have a quiet day/evening that's easy here too. 

It also doesn't hurt that my husband and I love seeing live music so that just made last night that much better. Until the next live concert or fun event, enjoy Jax! 

Being Nervous About the Next Chapter

I start my new job today! I start my new job today!

If you can't tell I am really excited but I am also nervous if I am being honest. I know I am nervous for a few reasons, I have butterflies in my tummy and it's 12:13am and I am up writing this blog! LOL!

I have been told that being nervous for something is good, it means you care and that there is something to loose. I'm excited about the opportunities that this job and this company has for me. It's really up to me as it seems the sky is the limit, but I determine the speed and direction.

The nervous part = I just don't want to do anything to screw it up.

My solution = I am going in with an attitude of, "I'm going to rock this!" Therefore, I think as long as I don't fall on my face, no really, I mean literally fall on my face then I think it will be a successful first day tomorrow. Come to think of it, I would probably just laugh at myself if I did fall so it can't be that bad at all!

Okay off to bed to rest my eyes, my brain and my body and get ready for this next chapter in my life.

My favorite new "kid"!

We have a new "kid" that might be my favorite. I know, I know you aren't suppose to have a favorite kid. BUT if your kid always did what you asked, when you asked and does such a good job each and every time how can you not place favoritism towards that "kid"?!

Please meet NEATO BotVac 80! 

This new family member, our new "kid" is a robot vacuum cleaner. We lovingly call him NEATO (I know super original - haha) and he truly is amazing. I can not recommend a robot vacuum cleaner enough and specifically this model, to people that are looking to simplify their lives and have a cleaner life. Especially if you have pets and I would image kids too (we don't have any yet so I can't speak to that directly). 

We have 2 dogs and a cat that all shed, not to mention I am not sure how I still have hair on top of my head (I feel like a lot of woman can say that) so vacuuming is a regular chore in our family. We have a one story home just over 2600 square feet so it does take a bit of time to complete this chore. 

We bought our house at the end of June this year. As a house warming gift my husband bought me the NEATO Signature Pro. The funny part was we couldn't use it right away, we were in the process of ripping out all the flooring, scrapping the popcorn off the ceilings and painting walls throughout our house. Thanks for the present babe that's awesome but I can't use it! lol 

My husband is one of those guys that does his research before purchasing something of significance. Unfortunately we were the lucky people that had bad luck with a product, NEATO Signature Pro, that no one else seemed to have issues with. After 2 replacements and two very easy customer service calls a third robot was sent to us and we were upgraded too (to our now BotVac 80) for the inconvenience we had experienced. Our luck right?! Still very impressed with the customer service at NEATO. 

Our new robot arrived, I plugged him in and let him charge for a full day, when I sent him on his first cleaning it was perfect and has been ever since. I have him programed to run at 10am Monday through Friday and at 2pm Saturday and Sunday. It's the most amazing thing ever, trust me coming home to a house that has already been vacuumed is flipping-fantastic! 

What shocks me every day is the amount of dust NEATO collects. The amount of hair has greatly decreased each and every day - Yippie! - but the dust, WOW! I even vacuumed regularly before but what he collects is just amazing. 

Okay so I have gabbed a bit (I'm guilty I know) so on to the Pros and Cons:

PROS: 

 - Excellent at cleaning floors, all types (We have tile and rugs)

 - The robot has a mapping system so it has a method to it's madness when cleaning unlike most robots

 - Efficient and reliable scheduling 

 - BotVac 80 has a larger dirt bin than other robot models

 - Approximate hour and a half battery life, longer battery life than most robots 

CONS:

 - A bit noisy when running

 - Isn't smart enough to not get stuck under a couch or place it's doesn't quite fit but does. NEATO combats this by providing a magnetic strip you can put on the floor that when the robot hits it, it can't go any further. 

 - Dirt Bin is much smaller than most commercial vacuums, you must remember to empty it everyday to prepare it for cleaning the next day.

 - Battery Life is an hour and a half which is not quite long enough for a larger house. It takes 2 trips to finish cleaning at our house