Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Hello, 21st Century!

Yes, I did have a great birthday - thank you for asking. I'm sure that the folks working in the T-Mobile store and at the Apple emporium didn't have too good a time, though, what with Miss Neanderthal here spending a few hours pestering them with questions about smart phones and contract costs and "how do you work this thing anyway?"-type inquiries.

That's what I did with my glorious free time - I researched how best to catch up with the rest of the world, technologically speaking. I learned enough to realize that Larry and I can't afford smartphones or even an IPad. So I moved right on to IPods, admiring all the fun colors of the Nano and marveling at the Internet connectivity of the IPod Touch. In fact, I was fondling the cheapest IPod Touch (the 8-GB model) and reminding myself that, no, I didn't need it and that I could be perfectly happy with a purple Nano when a gentleman and his preteen son walked up to the display table.


"This is what I want," said the lad, picking up the 16-GB IPod Touch.

"Oh, no, you don't," said his father.

Good man, I thought approvingly. What does a young kid need with an expensive device like this?

And then he told the boy, "You'll have to settle for the 8-GB one."

Settle?

Something inside my 47-year-old self snapped. My father had told me to pick out something nice for my birthday. Would he wish to be bested by some dope who was willing to spend 200 bucks on a toy for a prepubescent boy? I think not.

Reader, I bought it. And then I went home and spent 4 hours attempting to sync it up to ITunes on my computer. I gave up twice, but - somewhere past midnight - this 47-year-old dinosaur emerged victorious. I had Apps; I had music (okay, one song, but it's a start); I had, in a word, success.

It was a good day.





[Nano photo credit: cheapipodnano]
[Touch photo credit: upenn.edu]

20 comments:

  1. Yay! And happy birthday! You are up in the 21st century, yo!

    That iPod touch is so nice because you don't have to pay the dang $30 a month to AT&T for their data package, smartie.

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  2. Happy Birthday!

    I used to have an iPod touch until some hoodlum student stole it. I learned my lesson--I hope he feels guilty for years.

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  3. I got my ipod touch for mother's day last year. My husband got it through some incentive program at work, so it didn't cost us anything :0)
    When he first brought it home, I didn't really think that we would be using it that much.
    Boy was I wrong!
    I can now check my mail without turning on the computer, I can read blog posts! My kids find recipes online and follow them from the ipod touch.
    I put Max's favorite movie on it and we bring it in the car whne we know that we'll be spending a bunch of time in the car....
    I can't tell you how much we enjoy our ipod touch!
    I do need to warn you about the spell check. For some reason, the ipod thinks that it knows how to spell better than you, and it also thinks that it knows what you want to say better than you do.
    The spell check will correct your words, sometimes even when you don't want them "corrected!"
    Seriously, I have no idea how many emails I signed my name to before I discovered that the ipod was changing my name from Jill to "Kill"

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  4. I'm glad you got your ipod. I'm still a dinosaur in the 20th century. But I'm happy there!

    Happy birthday again!

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  5. Happy Birthday, dear!

    (But I must say, your choice of how to spend a free day makes me want to run into a cave and hide.)

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  6. ...[giggle]

    ...[guffaw]

    ...[laughing!]

    Oh my. So, so funny! Way to show up that little punk! ...kids these days... [mutter]

    ~Luke

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  7. Happy birthday! Who has two thumbs and is a jealous shrew? This guy.

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  8. AnonymousJune 23, 2010

    ATTA GIRL! And happy birthday to you!

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  9. Happy Birthday!

    My husband gave me an iPod Touch for my birthday last year. I'm surprised at how many things I can do with it. It even makes a fairly decent substitute for a laptop when we travel. What I use it for most often, though, is listening to podcasts.

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  10. AnonymousJune 23, 2010

    Good for you!
    My 4-GB Nano (used, boring silver, purchased off e-bay) is now hiding in shame.

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  11. AnonymousJune 23, 2010

    Hooray for you! You win! I just got a Droid and I like it, but the learning curve is quite steep, even in my 30s. :) Way to persevere and beat that silly technology!

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  12. First, Happy Birthday. Sorry that I missed it.
    Second, sadly, I have no idea what you people are talking about and I'm only 42. Okay, true, I have heard of these toys and I think that we may actually own some but if you put one in front of me, I wouldn't know what to call it. I'm proud to be a dinosaur and I have no desire to use one. Now that said, you'll probably see me in 10 years using what you are using today. I've been behind the times for years.
    Take care,
    Your Friend, m.

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  13. Happy birthday and many happy days with your iPod. Personally, I hated mine because it wasn't an iPhone...it was, though, the gateway drug to the iPhone. Just saying....

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  14. Congrats! Why don't you need a data package with the Touch?

    I resisted getting an internet phone for a long time . . . but I finally got one. Now I ignore my family instead of my boss. ;)

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  15. I have the 8 gig iTouch. I LOVE it!

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  16. So did you get the 8GB or the 16? I wasn't clear on that.

    Either way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY (terribly late but then the tooth fairy is a month overdue here so our bar is set very low) and YEA YOU!! for showing up a spoiled, ungrateful teenage punk.

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  17. AnonymousJune 26, 2010

    I have the 8g one too...my Christmas present. It's so much fun. It's my alarm clock, it's my book-in-the-car, my kids play games on it, etc.
    Happy Belated Birthday! I'm glad you showed that bratty snotty faced kid ;) YGG!

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  18. I am backed up on my reading but wanted to congratulate you and wish you a (belated) happy birthday. I have an older 8g iPod... I think they call it The Classic now. Nice way of saying outdated. But I only use it for music and it's a good thing, cause I don't know how to do anything else with it! Baby steps, baby steps.

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  19. Happy birthday! As the somewhat-electronics-deprived married to the not-deprived-enough, I salute you for going and getting your Ipod!

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