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One note that I forgot to mention from our trip out to Detroit for the Bitter Cold Showdown was that on the way back while on layover in Minneapolis we came across one of the most impressive displays of technological innovation that I’ve seen in a long time.  Earlier in the trip Jess and I were in a public restroom washing our hands when I noticed that the hand dryer was branded “American Dryer” or something and I made a stupid little joke to Jess, since he is British, like, “guess you’ll have to find another dryer.”

Fast forward to the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport and Jess comes practically running back from a visit to the restroom, “Now what!!  England, Bitch!!” he was shouting, “British technology has just kicked your arse!”  He was clearly excited about something, but I wrote it off to histrionics and figured that he was just carrying on with my lame “American Dryer” joke.

Jess insisted that I go to the restroom to use the Dyson hand dryer.  “Amazing!” was how he described it.  Jess is prone to hyperbole and I’ve seen “super” hand dryers before that have like jet engines or something that practically blast the skin off of your hands, so I wasn’t really buying the hype.

But there in the restroom was a sleek little stylish machine just waiting to rock my world.

Dyson of course is the company that took the mundane, unspectacular, everyday household item that was the vacuum cleaner and turned it into a beautiful, showroom-worthy piece of functional art.  The Dyson vacuum cleaner could make men envious of doing (women’s) household chores and it could make a simple household chore, like vacuuming, feel like driving a Ferrari (if women knew what Ferraris were).

What Dyson does, however, is more than merely put lipstick on pigs.  There are serious technological innovations at the heart of all Dyson products.  Dyson developed Root Cyclone™ technology that obliterated the suction capacity of other vacuums and they also developed Ball™ technology that cleverly (and artfully) replaced the four wheels found on conventional vacuums.

Dyson has established a precedent for awesomeness with their vacuums and now with the Dyson Airblade hand dryer they are cementing their place (and their legacy) as a bonafide badass company.  And when you can say that about a company that makes vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, then you are REALLY saying something!

Dipping my hands into the Dyson Airblade for the first time felt like being Baptized (or at least how I imagined it must feel). My wet hands passed through the invisible sheet of air that immediately sucked and simultaneously blew the water from my hands.  The process began as soon as my hands entered the Airblade’s chamber and commenced as soon as I withdrew.  I never had to touch anything.  My hands dried quickly in the chamber and best of all, they were actually dry!  I felt like I’d discovered the Holy Grail of public-restroom-hand-drying.  Paper towels and all other conventional hand dryers became obsolete all at once.  It was if I’d sent my hands on a voyage to the future; they were tiny little Vulcans boarding the Starship Enterprise.

I can appreciate innovation and Dyson certainly delivers innovation, but I especially appreciate great design and Dyson has got that too.  What more can I say about the compay that is changing the way we wash our hands in public restrooms and the way women do housework.

Let’s just put it this way, if Dyson was a woman I would buy her a Dyson vacuum.

I can think of no greater compliment.

Arlo

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