So this post is about a year too late, but I am not embarassed! Being in the technology field, people mistakenly assume me for the type of person to chase every shiny gadget. (I refuse to get a smartphone)

I'm the type of guy to run down an electronic years after it's use has passed - my laptop being a great example. I bought one of those lightweight Stinkpads from IBM (when it was still called IBM), which has been my primary work computer since late '05. It somehow manages to run a VM image of Debian, Skype, Firefox, Photoshop, and a whole slew of other applications without a problem! (People who complain about Windows stability need to use mine - it's solid as a rock!) And I'll continue to use it until it burns to the ground. (Random factoid: I've never had to *ever* reformat any of my computers)

I am the owner of a 3rd generation iPod (which still works after I did some surgery on it to swap out the screen and battery a few years back) which I still use in my car as a road trip iPod. Until the Tibet trip, I was also using a 4GB 1st generation iPod Nano as my main music player. Unfortunately, the Nano decided it loved Tibet too much and failed to return with me back to the States. 

And apparently music is a big part of my life - my life felt emptier when I couldn't set the right soundtrack to fit my mood. For example, Del Amitri's "Roll to Me" when I see a pretty girl walking down the street... or maybe "California Lovin'" by 2Pac when I felt particularly happy about the beautiful San Diego weather.

So I picked up a refurbished 16GB 4th generation iPod Nano ($149... not bad!) and got it today. And now my life is so happy!

My thoughts on the 4th generation iPod Nano:

• I have NEVER bought earbuds that failed to label one as "L" and "R." But the ones that came with the iPod AREN'T LABELED. THE FREEDOM ... IT CONFUSES ME. PLEASE TELL ME WHICH ONE GOES IN WHICH EAR!
  
• Holy crap, it feels nice. I thought my 1st generation was nice ... but this is super-sweet. But seriously, the 'iPod' text on the back is HUGE. Whatever happened to subtle?
  
• 16GB of storage?! Holy cow! That's more than my iPod! I don't have to decide whether to delete my Ashlee Simpson's "Autobiography" or my Britney Spears "... Baby One More Time" to upload Taylor Swift's "Fearless" I CAN HAVE MY CAKE AND EAT IT (TWICE)!!!!!!1!!!!!
  
• I got really excited that I saw "Radio" on the menu, then it didn't seem to work. So yeah, false hopes.
  
• I had to disable half of the "options" on the iPod Nano, which seems very uncharacteristic of Apple. "Cover flow"? Disabled. "Shake"? No, thanks. "Preview menu"? Please, no.
  
• It doesn't charge with my car's radio FM transmitter ... guess they're finally ditching Firewire. Sad panda.
  

Tomorrow, I'll talk about the revolutionary new smartphone from Apple - the iPhone. Stay tuned. Maybe I'll even start talking about how awesome Twitter is.

"Danger Smells Like Clean Socks": Where current events happen.