59: Swiffer? I Hardly Know Her!

Are you a Swiffer Wet Jet person…or are YOU the Wet Jet? Promise that’s less gross than it sounds! Today, Andrew kicks off the pod with a RIVETING subject: his new Swiffer Wet Jet mop, for which he shelled out a cool $30 to get two (2) functioning cleaner-blasters.

Meanwhile, I’m way too cheap for a snazzy invention like that — I just fuck with a regular dry Swiffer and apply my favorite sweet almond-scented floor juice.

In other news, we also talked about this little low-tech gadget, referred to as a “slim Jim,” which helps yank disgusting wads of hair out of the sink, and we got back to a favorite topic: Serratia marcescens.

S. marcescens, also known as pink bathroom slime, is an airborne bacteria that looks extremely gross but is actually not that dangerous. Here’s a very good KUOW story about it that Andrew mentioned, which we come back to a lot.

If you’ve got it in your bathroom, don’t feel bad. You’re not gross. But there are some things you can do to clean it up, including a.) using a degreaser or anything that reduces fats (like in soap or moisturizers), and b.) trying to prevent landfall of the bacteria.

Want to listen to the episode yourself? Here it is:

Finally, we got around to answering a question about dog leashes. How do you clean your dog’s leash? And how often? There are some good rules in this link. Although I’ll be honest: I only clean the leash when it starts to get funky. Then again, my dog is a dainty angel so your mileage may vary.

Questions? Ideas? Critiques? Send the first two to the Spotline: 508-HOW-WASH. The last one? Welllll you can keep that to yourself.