Fear

Wow. I just got an email from iRobot pitching their Pool Robot, Verro, and I was suddenly reminded of my childhood fear of automatic pool cleaning devices. You want to talk irrational and consuming fears? If I was in a pool and one of these suction cleaner things was on, you could find me on the opposite end of said pool, eying it suspiciously. It had nothing to do with any real fear of drowning or being hurt; I had the full gamut of swim lessons and was completely comfortable in the water. There was just something about these roving plastic machines that scared the shit out of me.