Are puzzles editing too?

Yes they are.

We went through three different types of vacuums in the last seven days, trying to find the one that sucks the most - haha.

In an effort to return the products in its original packaging, I had to carefully remember how the vacuum was positioned and packaged in the box.

The first one was a Hoover and it was easy. The box was nice and big and the vacuum itself was sandwiched between two Styrofoam wedges with all the attachments and instruction manual thrown on top. We had to return it because it kept shutting off on me after just five minutes of use.

The second vacuum felt just right - it had a good price and it was feather-light. The only problem was it sounded like a lawn mower. My neighbour four houses down would know when vacuum day was; it was so loud. So back to Canadian Tire it went. This was were I struggled.

As you can see, the people at Dirt Devil invested more time on designing the packaging than making sure the vacuum operated on a satisfactory noise level. It was such a pain to figure out how to put this demon back into its original packaging. It felt like I had to cram 100 pieces in a square the size of a shoebox. It was very annoying to say the least. I wondered if this was part of Dirt Devil's effort to dissuade consumers from returning their product for a refund.

That's when I thought trying to figure how this thing fit was like a puzzle and how a puzzle was like editing because you keep editing your steps in order to reach the end point you had drawn in your mind.

When you have an idea of how a puzzle is supposed to look like, you put that image in your head then try to recreate that image by working backwards. Before you know it, the image you had in your mind is created before your eyes. Puzzle solved! Amazing Eman!

So, armed with post-modernism in one hand and patience with the other, I solve the vacuum puzzle and managed to find the proper place in the box for all the tools. The boxed closed nicely and taped back together. The beast was put back into its cage.

The third vacuum was eventually purchased from Future Shop and proved to be the winner of the vacuum challenge. It was another Hoover brand vacuum, top of the line in its class ;)