Material Concerns

Three days before I flew out to Los Angeles I dropped my iPod.

I had picked up my laptop, not realizing I had left the iPod sitting on top of it (the untold hazards of owning everything in "macintosh white"), and it crash jarringly to the floor.

It still worked, though. It was skipping over a few songs, but that's to be expected, the fall happened from five feet off the ground, how could the hard drive not be a little scratched up?

But I've had it for two years, and I hear most of these things die the week after the warranty's up, so I figured I was doing better than average.

I took it on the flight to L.A. without incident and forgot all about the drop because I was distracted by the incredibly loud whining of the jet engines. I resolved on the spot to purchase noise-cancelling headphones before my next flight.

When I got back home, a week later, I started thinking about the drop again. Thinking that the drop was probably the reason my iPod now refused to turn on. And boy does that suck.

I can't explain why it worked for six days to and from Los Angeles, why it chose to sound its death rattle the night I returned, but I'm just as happy to chalk it up to the drop. It's no longer important.

What's important now, is that I am without music on my morning commute. I figured I'd better get a pretty good book to read.

Luckily, I had one (The Worthing Saga, Orson Scott Card, I'd recommend it if you're a sci-fi fan). It's been doing remarkably well in distracting me from the train, fellow passengers, and the impending eight hours in the office. So well, in fact, that I nearly missed my stop, twice, this week.

Which brings me to the point of the entry: Moderation.

I had resolved to purchase noise cancelling headphones, and am compelled to purchase a new iPod.

So I decided to go all out. Bose Quietcomfort headphones for $300, a brand new 30GB iPod for $250, brand new, retail prices all around.

(are any of you bored yet? I don't have anywhere to go with this entry, go right ahead and skip to the end)

Thankfully, before I made either of those purchases I came to my senses.

I found a set of Sony headphones that retail for $150, and I found them even cheaper than that on ebay. Then I bought a brand new 1GB iPod shuffle, to save some money over the full size model.

Now I'm just waiting for everything to be shipped out. Hopefully I won't finish my book before then.

I'm only posting because I'm bored almost to tears at work. Congratulations if you made it this far.

-t

recommended downloads:
Lucky Boys Confusion, Broken, and Medicine and Gasoline