Posted by Forest on November 11, 2008
About two weeks ago, I got to work and tried to fire up my iPod. It started making a loud whirring noise from deep inside as if it was working extremely hard to turn on. But nothing happened. Eventually, a little symbol showed up on the screen directing me to the Apple support website. Uh-oh. I set it aside and went on with my work for the day, figuring I could deal with it later when I got home.
That evening I tried to plug it into my PC and a message came up that said it was corrupted! Double uh-oh! I have no idea how this happened. It wasn’t like I had just loaded it up with illegally downloaded music that were full of viruses or anything. Absolutely nothing had changed from the day before when it had worked perfectly and the day it decided it was corrupted. I headed to the Apple support site and went through the steps they recommend for fixing iPods. I reset it. Same corrupted message.
At this point, I was getting a bit nervous because the next step was to restore it which would wipe all my music off of it. I took a few minutes to make backups of all my music. I can’t imagine how awful it would be to lose my music collection. After the backups were complete, I restored the iPod. I got the same message. The next step was to uninstall and then reinstall iTunes. That didn’t work either. So I googled “corrupted ipod” and learned that this was not an entirely uncommon thing. At least I wasn’t suffering alone, but as I searched I couldn’t find a solution.
So I came up with my own solution: Buy a new iPod! The corrupted iPod is a 2nd or 3rd generation, 20 gb one that I got on ebay several years ago for around $200. It has a clickwheel, but only a black and white screen - no colors, no pictures, no video. It’s pretty much a technological dinosaur. Though it’s old and outdated, I consider it one of the best things I’ve ever purchased. I’ve used it almost every single day. So I’m not too sad about its passing. I’m actually quite excited about the prospects of getting a new one, but that opens up the debate: What should I get?
The new iPod Touch is pretty awesome, but totally expensive and it doesn’t have much storage. The Nanos are also very popular, but again, they seem to have little storage. I’m leaning towards buying an iPod Classic (they storage has gone way up and the price has come way down!). I’ve been shopping around a bit and I’ve found the 120 gb Classic on ebay for about $215. Part of me thinks that I don’t really need that much storage, but the 80 gb isn’t that much cheaper.
So what do you think?
What kind of iPod do you have and what do you like or dislike about it? Did you buy directly from Apple or some other place? Does anyone know of a place to score a good deal on iPods?
Posted by Forest on July 26, 2008
This morning I’m off to the mall to exchange two pairs of jeans at Express. HB thinks I’m crazy because I don’t try on clothes when I buy them. I just don’t. Usually it works out for me. This time, it didn’t. I bought two pairs and neither of them fit. Needless to say, I’ll be trying on the new pairs as I attempt to exchange these.
While I’m at the mall, I may window shop, but I don’t think I’ll have to fight many temptations. There isn’t much I want to buy. I might stop at Dick’s and look at sleeping bags because I’m taking a trip to the Boundary Waters in September and I’d really like a new sleeping bag. I don’t necessarily NEED one, but my old one is a very old hand-me-down and it would be really nice to have a new, higher quality one that is probably lighter and more compact yet warmer. I’ll be sure to let you know how my trip to the mall goes.
Posted by Forest on June 9, 2008
I spent almost three hours at the mall yesterday, and if the economy is hurting because Americans aren’t shopping, you could have fooled me. The mall was packed and it seemed everyone was finding something to buy. Since I only go to the MOA about once a year, I pretty much walked all the way around the mall on every level. I definitely got my exercise for the day.
I’ll spare you the gory details, but I did end up buying a pair of gray pants from Macy’s. They cost me $40 but they were marked down from $80, so I’m happy. Saw lots of sandals and came close to buying a pair at American Eagle that were on clearance, but I didn’t love them and really would have only been buying them because they were cheap. So I didn’t. Didn’t see any hats I liked either. Looked at lots of watches, they were all expensive (but shiny!) Sunglasses shopping is funny. There are several specialized sunglass stores at the mall and they are always empty, except for the salesman. As a general rule, I don’t really like talking to salespeople, so I avoided the sunglass shops because I assumed I would get pounced on upon setting foot in the store. Yes, I realize other stores have sunglasses and I looked at some of them, but no dice.
One of the highlights of my day was wandering into Nordstrom’s and witnessing what type of people actually buy $220 jeans. Hint: It’s not really people like me.
Overall, not a total waste of a trip. I got my number one priority item and plenty of exercise.
Posted by Forest on June 8, 2008
I’m off to the Mall of America this afternoon to go shopping. I don’t shop very much, maybe like 3-4 times a year. I’m not talking about everyday shopping, like Target and stuff. I’m talking about going to a mall, spending quality time, wandering around with the intent to actually buy something. This is indeed a rarity for me. But the weather isn’t great today and there are a few things I “need”:
- Clothes: The new job’s dress code is a bit more formal even though it’s still business casual. The old job was jeans every day if you wanted. Now it’s just jeans on Fridays. So I need to get some more pants. I’ve been cycling through about three pairs of khakis and three pairs of black pants for the the last couple months. I’m really hoping to add at least a pair of gray.
- Flip Flops: I’ve covered this before, but I still haven’t even looked for any. I’ll be looking today.
- Watch: My current watch is being held together by tape. It’s scotch tape and fairly invisible, but still, it’s ridiculous, I know. I’ll be browsing watches today but probably won’t be buying because I tend to like a more expensive watch and will probably ride the fence for quite a bit longer on whether or not I really need a new one anytime soon.
- Sunglasses: OK, pathetically, my sunglasses are also being held together by tape. In my defense, I only wear them in the car and they’ve only been taped together for a couple of weeks. There’s a bit of a story behind my current glasses too, which I’ll post about in the future. Again, I’ll be browsing sunglasses, but they are never a top priority because I don’t wear them that much. Probably because I like to wear hats.
- Hat: I’m talking baseball caps here, not like a fedora or a cowboy hat. In my youth, I was wearing a lot of surfing hats (Billabong, Rusty, Quiksilver), doing a lot of shopping at Pacific Sunwear before it was PacSun. But now, I’ve been rocking a Boston Red Sox hat since 2003. It’s getting close to the time to retire that one and start looking for a new hat. Of all my shopping, I think hat shopping is the most difficult. Shoes is probably second. 1. I wear a hat a lot (though not as much as I used to), so I have to really like it. 2. It gets noticed a lot because it’s on your head, so it sorta projects something about you and contributes to your overall image and so I like to have a unique hat that not everyone has (yeah, I know, the Boston hat isn’t unique at all!)…well, let’s just say I put a lot of time and effort into my hat shopping. So I’ll be looking at those today too.
- Shoes: Totally don’t need new shoes, but while I’m at the mall, I might as well look, right?
Anyway, I’m off to the Mall and I’ll report back tonight.
Posted by Forest on May 19, 2008
I like to wear sandals in the Summer. I wear them all the time. As you can see, my current pair have seen better days. I bought them maybe four years ago from American Eagle on clearance for $15. I think I’ve gotten my money’s worth and now I’m shopping for new sandals.
This time around I’m looking for a leather pair of flip-flops and maybe a pair that are slightly higher on the quality scale. I’d like them to hold up and last even longer than the last pair. Of course, I’m also looking for a really great deal.
Does anybody have:
1) a favorite brand of sandals?
2) recommendations on places to shop–online or the real world?
3) a funny story about “thongs” being misinterpreted?
Also: Who buys $350 sandals?
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