Patsy and Dick bought us a Scooba, the floor-cleaning iRobot. Simon and Henry named it "Mecha-G" in honor of the giant robotic monster built to defend Japan from the real Godzilla.

So far, Mecha-G works very well. It is quite loud, so it's a good excuse to bang out Blue Oyster Cult while conducting the chores. It vacuums and then scrubs leaving just a little bit of wetness, but sometimes gets stuck under the cabinets. Working on a fix.

Meanwhile, we've been enjoying the 21st century Godzilla movies from Japan. The boys like to watch in Japanese and subtitled rather than dubbed. The cool thing about the movies is they still use the intricate models (that spark when they get stomped) and monster suits -- not the computer generated special effects that you usually see today. Not exactly Kurosawa but has its charms. Our favorite is Guardian Monsters: All Out Monster Attack!!