iPods and Tropical Storms

I’m not sure who invented iPods and iTunes (yes, I do know), but I don’t know whether I want to thank them just yet! After three hours of reading instructions and downloading information off the Internet, I figured it out (sort of). But as Hanna drenched us with torrential rain, I decided this Saturday was an inside “work” day.

After two hours into my “research,” I called my oldest son, Jer, the teacher. And he tried to talk me through the process over his crackling cell phone (that didn’t work out very well). He said, “Mom, I’ll be over tomorrow and help you out, okay?”

I knew better.

And then I said, “Is that what you say to your students?”

“No, Mom, I don’t, and you know I love you!” Jer whispered.

That was it, back to the instruction sheet, which was so small I needed my high-powered glasses. I couldn’t even find the on-off switch.

What’s disturbing about this whole thing is I can design Web sites, PowerPoints, Excel spreadsheets, blogs, and slide shows, yet this whole iPod shuffle thing totally escaped me.

The problem: I needed to register first! Imagine that? After I registered, all I wanted to do was hit the “auto-fill” button so I could listen to music (after all that’s the point—right?). And then, of course, they want you to give them your credit card information, so you can download iTunes.

Nah! No way!

I used my PayPal account because I know nothing is in there.

At the stroke of midnight, I finally GOT IT and I saw the screen light up…”Syncing. Do not disconnect.”

Don’t worry. I wouldn’t think of it. Are you crazy?

The little green light was blinking back at me as if to say, “You did it…don’t stop now!”

I hit the eject button (like the instruction sheet told me to do), and guess what?

I downloaded my boys’ music (Jer and Jon) from their high school days. Right now, I’m listening to “stuff” I can’t even figure out, and then every third song is Andrea Bocelli. At least I can understand Italian. So I shuffle back to “Andrea” over and over again, and in between is this “music” that makes me blush!

Give me a couple of days and I’ll let you know if I’ve changed my mind. Today was otherwise productive: two speeches down, one PowerPoint complete, two articles written, and one iPod figured out (sort of!).

Thanks to tropical storm Hanna, I was able to slosh through the whole thing!