Category: Journal

The case of the missing iPod

I lost my iPod.

This week was strange. Between appointments and other errands, I don’t think I actually walked to work all week. That’s the first time I’ve driven that much in a long time. I know I walked to the university on Sunday for gaming, and I had my iPod then. That’s the last time I’m sure I had it. I have this vague feeling I might have walked to work this week, but looking back, I don’t think I did. This is significant, because if I walked, I would have listened to podcasts.

Monday I had a cranial sacral appointment, so I drove. Or maybe I walked in the morning and came home to pick up the car at lunch. Tuesday I was supposed to meet someone for supper. I *might* have walked, but I’m not sure. Wednesday I had an chiropractic appointment in the morning and an appointment to get my car battery replaced at night, so I drove. Thursday I stayed home in the morning to make chicken soup and drove in for the afternoon. Friday I was going to walk but spent a half-hour looking for my iPod, so I decided to drive in.

Regardless, I don’t have my iPod now. This is kind of sad. I’ve only had it for a year. I got that particular model to put [iPod Linux](http://ipodlinux.org/Main_Page) or [Rockbox](http://www.rockbox.org/) on. Not that I have. But none of the current iPods will run either.

There are two general possibilities regarding what likely happened to my iPod. Either someone stole it, likely from my jacket pocket while I was in the chiropractic appointment (the jacket rack isn’t visible to the receptionist), or it fell out of my pocket somewhere. Or it’ll just turn up somewhere.

What’s really odd is I have my headphones. I’m not sure how that happened.

It’s been a pretty hectic week, so I’m missing a lot of detail.

Working on the “it’ll probably turn up” theory, I decided to go out to get a [cheap, sub-$20 MP3 player](http://factorydirect.ca/catalog/product_spec.php?pcode=SA0130). They didn’t have it, though, despite what their “check stock” thing says. I decided to head home rather than going with one of their other models, but I think I might go back tomorrow. I’ll let you know. I’m now thinking that the “probably turn up” scenario is looking less and less likely, so I’m looking at more of a long-term replacement. That requires some thought.

What’s most disconcerting about all this is the fact that I’m drawing a complete blank on what might have happened to it. My brain isn’t what it used to be (but then whose is?)

Insomnia

I am very, very tired, but I can’t sleep. What better time than to go ramble on my blog?!

Wa-hey, I have a blog. I keep forgetting. I’ve gotten out of the habit of thinking of things to post.

When I was in highschool, I had this idea in my head that I should really keep a (private) journal, because every once in a while I’d realize that I was framing things that happened to me into narrative, but I never wrote any of it down. I never got around to doing that.

It was actually one of the reasons I first thought it would be a very good idea to get a computer. Because if I had a computer, I could write things down there. My handwriting sucks, and typing out a journal on my typewriter (yes, I had a typewriter) seemed a bit silly.

Like I said, though, I never got around to doing it. Just writing for myself never seemed like enough motivation.

A decade or so later, I decided I could make my homepage more interesting by [posting stories and observations and stuff there](http://web.archive.org/web/19981206031231/www.undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca/~dscassel/). And that was nice. And then the whole blogging thing started to happen and I decided to get on-board with that. All because every once in a while I get things in my head that want to get out.

And I still get those, but I’ve never quite managed to get into a consistent routine about getting things out there.

[NaBloPoMo](http://www.nablopomo.com/) actually helped, even though I didn’t quite make it. Apparently they’re making every Mo’ a NaBloPoMo. It’s not [blog365](http://blog365.ning.com/), which seems like a bit of overkill for me, but maybe I’ll take up the challenge again in March or April.

I’ll have to think about it.

I have the stories running through my head, but they’re harder to tell right now. Work is interesting, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t get anything out of it. Trying to tell work stories is really hard, because trying to come up with something abstract to talk about that isn’t specifically about what I’m working on, yet isn’t so abstract as to be devoid of any meaning… that’s tough. I’m pretty happy with my personal life, but since another person is involved, I’m a lot more reluctant to talk about it.

Those two things are taking up a sizable portion of my headspace at the moment, so I suppose it’s not too surprising I’m having a hard time writing long dissertations on other stuff.

My brain is going all fuzzy now. I’m tying this in bed on [my new(ish) laptop](http://system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=47). That’s another thing I really should write about. I have things to say! Just not right now.

Maybe if I turn it off I’ll be able to get some sleep…

This just in!

[UW Students Vote to Kill Campus Radio](http://atuw.ca/feds-election-results-are-in-ckms-fee-is-gone-wusc-is-added/)

I could never really bring myself to listen to CKMS, but I’m still kind of sad. Who knows, though… maybe they’ll find funding elsewhere. But probably not.

LEGO is awesome

In order to celebrate LEGO’s 50th anniversary, [Boing Boing Gadgets](http://gadgets.boingboing.net/lego/) is posting retrospectives on LEGO sets over the years.

I was all about the space and town sets. It looks like Joel was more space and castle. No town stuff, sadly. In his summary of his [nine favourite sets](http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/01/28/50-years-of-lego-nin.html), I absolutely remember building the headlining [Galaxy Explorer](http://guide.lugnet.com/set/497). I didn’t have the [Futuron Monorail](http://peeron.com/inv/sets/6990-1), but I remember wanting it desperately.

So that was a nice reminiscence. But then he posted [The Six Ugliest Space Lego Sets](http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/01/29/the-six-ugliest-space-lego-sets/). I looked at it, and it looked like, except for the two robots from the 90s, I had every one of those. I loved the [Robot Command Center](http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6951)! Even as the robot. It had mini-vehicles that fit in the robot’s sides, which is always cool.

On closer inspection, though, I didn’t actually have the 1593 at the end of the article, but the [two](http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6929) [sets](http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6880) it was built from. I think. The vehicle docking thing in the 1593 looks awfully familiar. I know I had all those pieces, though. They were some of the first sets I got. There’s no way I have the boxes or instructions anymore to figure out what I actually had…

New Year’s Eve

I’m throwing my usual New Year’s party tonight. I still have to vaccuum the living room, but I think I’m mostly ready at this point.

I’ve got three screens set up for video games or watching stuff, two tables set up for video games, and a couple more old Commodore monitors and an extra table available for overflow. I’ve got my nacho dip chilling in the fridge and meatballs simmering in the crock pot. The house is cleaner than it’s been all year (I actually ended up cleaning up some stuff left sitting around from *last year’s party*), I’m resplendent in holiday finery (heh) and I think everything’s ready to go. I just have to pick people up coming from out of town, rent some Wii games and wait for people to arrive.

I hope I have enough chairs.

Even though I’m not really a party person per se, I really like *hosting* these things. I get to show off a bit, and it gives me something to do. I do wish Ellen could come, but I’m glad to be surrounded by friends at New Year’s.