Grieving my iPod

(In the distance, a quiet breeze blows...the gentle sound of Taps rises on the wind.)

Folks, my most favorite gadget of all time, the absolute queen of modern electronics, is dead.

It went so suddenly. I hope it didn't feel much pain.

About a week ago, I plugged it in to charge it and to upload some new tunes, and it acted a little flaky, but then it coughed and blew its nose and got itself straightened out. Then, yesterday, thinking I might throw a little Afterdark: San Franciso on there to listen to while I cleaned houses, I plugged it in and this time it was a no-go. My computer won't recognize it. It says, in fact, that it is corrupted, which is a cruel thing to say about a nice, helpful little wing-ding like my iPod. I can't restore it, either.

I spent an hour going through troubleshooting sites on the web, and finally came to the reluctant conclusion that "i" is no more.

I held my iPod like a little dead mouse for a while and grieved.

Poor thing. So innocent. Gone before its time.