Life's Little Rants #3: iPod, iPod, iPod, iPod!!!

Hey! Did you hear about this new thing called an "iPod"? iPod, iPod, iPod, iPod! It plays your music, it has some games installed, it plays your music. Uuuuhhhh...iPod, iPod, iPod, iPod!!! OH! I almost forgot! Now that you have your iPod, they have new iPods that store and show your personal pictures, too! In color! Wow! iPod, iPod, iPod, iPod!!! Aren't they stylish? Aren't they sleek? Aren't they pretty? "Aren't they expensive?" Well, that doesn't matter, because everybody has one, so if you don't have one already, you need one now! iPod, iPod, iPod, iPod!!! Got your iPod? Good! Because now the NEW iPods play videos! Also in color! Your iPod is old! It's so yesterday! You got it yesterday? Well, that explains it! Get one today, and be cool and beautiful like the people in our non-stop advertising! iPod, iPod, iPod, iPod!!! Where can you get songs for your iPod? Where else? iTunes!!! iPod, iPod, iPod, iPod!!! Got another brand of mp3 player, and you'd like to get some songs from iTunes? Tough crap! iPod, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano...

iPod, iPod, iPod, iPod!!!

Do you get the impression that I don't like iPods? Well, you would be wrong. I have no problem with the actual invention whatsoever. What I dislike is the hype surrounding it, and the fact that a ton of other, better, brands of mp3 players out there are virtually ignored, and all the attention is being payed to one single brand, simply because it was pretty much the first one to come along, and it's become trendy. I absolutely hate it when an item is stuck with a stereotype name like has become the norm for all mp3 players. People ask me about my "iPod", and I think about throttling them and yelling, "It's not a fucking iPod!!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" But to avoid being arrested for battery, I simply correct them and continue listening to my music.

I don't need games. I don't need to look at pictures and videos. I don't need a color screen. I don't want to look cool. I want to listen to my music, pure and simple. I have 40GB of space which holds every cd in my collection, plus a shitload of extra space for all the music I've downloaded, as well. At last count, I have over 5,800 songs. No videos, no pictures...just songs. As an added bonus, my player acts as an external hard-drive if I need a little extra storage space. And finally, I don't know if you could call this a bonus or not, but I've never had any problems with it. I've read about people having all kinds of problems with the iPods, all of which I refuse to dedicate any further space to.

Suffice it to say, I'm happy with my purchase. When I purchased my player, it cost me nearly half of what the iPod 40GB costs! I'd rather save some money and have it play my music than to pay that much more just because of it's name. I'd rather have a quality product than a trendy piece of crap that's probably going to break down within a week of buying it. There's other brands now that have iPod-like features for less money, more features than mine, but all I need is to listen to my music.

I'm not knocking people for buying iPods. Hell, everybody has a right to do what they want with their money, and everybody has a right to follow trends if they want. I'm not saying I bought mine simply because it's not an iPod. I'd like to think I bought it because I did my homework and got something good for my money.

Ok, so I named my player "The antiPod". Big deal.

So thank you, Creative, for making a quality, affordable product. Not much more to say, except that if my Nomad Zen Xtra ever poops out one of these days, heaven forbid, I will seriously consider picking up your new Zen "Vision:M" player (recent winner of "Best In Show" at CES 2006).

Life's Philosophical Quandaries #2

Is it necessary to chew pudding?

Life's Little Rants #2: Junk Mail!

How many of you out there come home from a long day of whatever it is you do, open your mailbox, and find a small tree's worth of brochures, flyers, ads and whatnot from local merchants, only to throw them straight into the garbage? If you do, you can certainly relate to this. If you can't...well, this is my rant, so deal with it. :)

Maybe this happens around bigger cities or something, because I certainly don't remember getting a barrage of this useless crap in the small town I came from. However, it's been a long time since I've gotten mail there, needless to say since I don't live there anymore, so maybe people there deal with this, too.

To keep this brief by getting to a point as quickly as possible, why do I have to put up with this? Although some might say these ads can often times provide useful information and/or valuable coupons, I couldn't care less about them! I have better things to do than sift through a stack of store flyers, only to find services I wouldn't use, can't afford, or have no need for in the first place; or coupons for food that I don't even buy to begin with, and wouldn't start buying just because I have a damn coupon!

Call the post office, you say? Oh, I tried that already. Their quick response is that they have to put them in our boxes, since the businesses pay for them to do it. Well, you know what? I pay for the rental of this mail box, and if I don't pay for the use of the box, then I pay rent for the apartment I live in, and I feel like I have a right to say what gets put into my mail box and what doesn't! Am I wrong in this? Am I completely out of line? Is it wrong to not like seeing paper wasted, considering what's going to happen to most of it anyway? Sure, I could recycle, but wouldn't it be easier to just not give me the crap? Of course that would be easier, but then the businesses that sent them out would have to worry about what to do with all the extra mailers, and they would probably have to spend more money trying to find out who wants to know about their sales and who doesn't. It's cheaper to just give them to everybody, and let them deal with the problem of discarding it. Consciences clear, and a dollar saved. Yay, Corporations! More trees destroyed? No-no-no, never mind that...they just made more money off the mindless masses who don't give a shit! Who cares what this one Infidel thinks?

Anyway...

I actually have one further step I can attempt in this matter. The post office I contacted previously was at the local level. Next, I try THE post office. The big one. The one that will hopefully tell the local branch what they can do with the wiping material they stuff my box with day after day.

It probably won't happen. We are talking about a service of our Federal government, after all...

...and that's a-whole-nother rant in itself. ;)

Vanilla Coke, In Memorium

Those of you that give a damn, I'm sure you know, or have at least heard, that Vanilla Coke has, at least for now, been discontinued. Like I referred to a few posts back, it seems the Almighty Company has decided it's not good enough that a lot of people like it, and buy it on a regular basis. Apparently every single person in the world has to buy it, or it's not good enough to leave on the shelves. Now it's time to make way for a couple NEW Coke beverages for our consideration. Enter: Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, and coming soon: Coke Blak. Strange name, I know, but that's its name, regardless. Let's review both...

Black Cherry Vanilla Coke is tolerable. I'll give it that. "Tolerable" is all I can give it. The stuff tastes like cough medicine. I'm sure I can drink one occasionally, but it's just lacking a staying power that will make me want to have one as often as I enjoyed my Vanilla Coke. Replacing my favorite cola beverage is like having your friends set you up on a blind date after you've just gotten divorced. You still love your previous partner, but since you realize you can't be with him/her any longer, you give the new date a shot. Unfortunately, the wounds are still too fresh, and this new person just reminds you of your ex a little too much. You want your ex back...and I want my Vanilla Coke.

Coke Blak. If you haven't heard about this one, it's going to be a little odd. We are going to be experiencing cola infused with coffee. That's right, your ol' cup of Joe just got a kick of carbonation and a double-shot of caffeine. From the sound of it, if this stuff doesn't wake you up, better check your pulse. It's going to be interesting, to say the least.

I read they might bring Vanilla Coke back in the near future. I was fortunate enough to find a couple 12-packs at one of the local gas stations this week, after when they were supposed to have taken it all off the shelves. Needless to say, I picked them up, inflated gas station prices be damned. This small supply won't last until the next time they put it on the shelves, but I'll enjoy it until then...can by tasty can.

Thanks for the ride, Vanilla Coke. You were good while you lasted. Maybe the Company will resolve its proverbial head/ass dilemma and realize that sometimes you don't discard a good thing just because every person on Earth isn't holding one in each hand at any given moment. Sometimes principle wins out over the dollar. Not often, but sometimes.

We can always hope. But until then...

...farewell, my favorite beverage.

Whaddya know...it IS a new year!

So, it's 2006. A new year.

Big deal.

Is it just me or has the "promise of a new year" completely lost its luster? I recall seeing and hearing about New Years past when people were so looking forward to good things happening in the months to come. Anymore, all we have to look forward to is the same old crap.

It's all been done. All anyone can invent anymore are add-ons to things already invented, and any new technology being worked with is used to clean up after all the previous "advances" that messed up the planet to begin with.

We're dealing with the same wars, the same domestic problems, greed, greed, and more greed.

2006. Whoop-de-do. Another year closer to dying.

Oh, don't get me wrong, though. I don't want to make it sound like there's no hope, or that I'd just rather kill myself, or that I don't care about anything. Far from it. There's always hope for the world. It starts by teaching our children how to be good, caring people, and not to put too much value on material things. Those children will grow up and deal with the problems in our world the way they should have been dealt with by us. And with each future generation, we'll get that much closer to having the world we always dreamed of...

...ok, you're right. We're boned.

And as for not caring about anything, here's a few things in the world I care about:

My cat...



My music...



Beauty in the world...



...and someone who understands me.



Ok...I realize the mp3 player is one of the "material things" I raved against earlier, but it's more than that. It contains all my music, and I take it with me just about everywhere I go, so I can escape from the world for a short while. Music has been part of my existance for as long as I can remember, and without it I would surely go mad.

All apologies to anything and anyone I didn't picture as being something I care about. You know I luv ya!

Anyway, here's hoping everyone's 2006 will bring them better things than the previous years have brought. There is a good future out there for us. Let's see if we can find it.

Just thought I'd share...

I thought this was funny...