My wife and I got an iPod Shuffle for Christmas.

The item has quickly morphed into "my wife's iPod."  She connected it to her computer, and has been downloading music from iTunes and collecting music from our CD collection ever since.

I must say, it's a slick little device.  About the size of a large coat button, the Shuffle is the smallest iPod, having no screen.  It simply plays, in random order, music you download to it.  It recharges while connected to your USB, so you recharge while you download/upload.  The Shuffle remembers the last songs played, so even though the order is random, if you want you can go back and replay songs you recently heard.

In fact, unless you want a way to play a specific song from your collection, there's really no need for a screen.  For most listeners, then, the Shuffle is fine.  The sound is great, and the few controls feel like there's some quality there.  I'm considering getting one for myself, but for now, I'll probably stick to my old, now-clunky-looking nex/IA mp3 player.

iTunes is interesting, too.  You download by the song, so you CAN get a whole album if you like, but in practice that rarely happens.

Some musicians have complained about this.  I can see their point--it cuts way down on the amount paid, and also prevents listeners from having the "deep cuts" in an album.  Imagine only getting "A Little Help from My Friends" and "Lovely Rita, Meter Maid" from Sgt. Pepper's.

On the other hand, I'm the kind of guy who likes very few songs well enough to want to own them.  90% of our CD collection was bought by my wife.  Yet there are a fair number of individual songs I would love to have.  That wasn't possible under the old way of doing things.  Sure, you could buy (for a short while) a cassette or CD single, but it was a pain to listen to.  Even later, when you could then rip the CD single to your computer then upload it to your mp3 or a CDR, I rarely if ever did.  First of all, the cost was about 1/3 of a whole album for 1/15th the music, so I really had to want the song.  In fact, there was usually a "B side" cut I had zero interest in.  Second of all, this option only really became viable for the last decade or so at most.

So there must be plenty of folks out there, like me, who ask their wives to get a few specific songs for them, which puts money in the pockets of artists who certainly never would have gotten a dime from me before.

All in all, I can see why the iPod has become a phenomenon, and, for the first time, I can say I'm an enthusiastic fan of an Apple product.

Man figures out "world's fastest" way to tie shoes

In this case, you end up with the same knot, but instead of forming the loops and then crossing them, you create them while pushing them past each other.

A bizarre little article, but worth checking out.

While on the subject of tying personal clothing, this is the knot I use whenever I'm wearing a necktie:  the Shelby knot.  I read about it in an old Wall Street Journal years ago, and have used it ever since.  Before I used whatever my father taught me, which I believe was a half-Windsor.

The link tells you how to tie the Shelby, but not what the benefits are:  the knot is small-to medium sized, perfectly symmetrical (most necktie knots are not quite symmetrical), and a nice triangular shape.  True, it feels a little weird at first starting with the tie "inside out," and the small end ends up facing "backward," but none of that is visible to those viewing you.  The main parts of the tie and knot are all facing correct-side-out. 

Next time you're wearing a necktie, give the Shelby knot a chance.

It was kind of an odd Super Bowl.  Some thoughts:

1)  The advertisers, by and large, avoided sex, presumably because of the whole Janet Jackson thing and the FCC still hanging over the event.  Instead, they turned to violence:  slapping, falling, crushing.  This is the same weird dichotomy you see with the U.S.'s movie ratings:  people can slash and mangle each other in the most graphic ways and get an R:  two married people can make love and it's almost certainly NC-17 or beyond.

2)  While the turnovers were exciting, after a while it kind of distracted from the game for me.  It took away from the professionalism of the thing.

3)  I saw it in HDTV.  I must say it's pretty impressive seeing a big event like that hi-def.  You figure you're just used to the graininess, and then suddenly your eyes are opened.

4)  I thought it was pretty cool that Prince was able to hold down the entire halftime show by himself.  Even the dancing marching band (there's some oddball name for it, but it escapes me) hardly distracted from him.  I've never liked his personality, but I've gotta admit, he held the crowd under less-than-ideal conditions.

I'm halfway through watching the movie version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

So far, I'm not too impressed.  If I wasn't a big, big fan of the book series, this certainly wouldn't make me one.  The dialogue isn't spoken very crisply, and as a result a lot of the jokes can't be understood unless you already know them.  Similarly, there are a lot of missed beats by the actors.

Some of the modern effects are fun, but frankly, without well-told jokes behind them, there isn't a lot of point.

Alan Rickman manages to pull out a halfway decent perfomance, and Zaphod is passable (played by a member of the "Galaxy Quest" movie), but the biggest roles of Ford, Arthur, and Trillian are all falling flat at this point, almost to the point of miscasting.

Still, I have half of it to go, and maybe it picks up some.

I've been busy, and haven't been updating.

Fortunately, this time it has nothing to do with being sick.  I just have had a lot going on at work, etc.

I'm fairly tired, but everything'll be okay in the end, I'm sure.

I feel normal again.  If only normal were better!

Ah well.  My sister's birthday is tomorrow, and she's doing really well.  She's now principal at the well-regarded private school she taught at in Tacoma.  It still sometimes feels weird that we don't live closer to each other.

I'm not sure what to talk about today.  I really don't have a thesis.  Nothing's really caught me on fire today.  I suppose I'm about done, then.

It's nice to feel a little better.

When you feel tired and your head is stuffy, but you've lost the draining down your throat and the achy feeling, your outlook vastly improves.

Actually, I slept a lot last night and today, and while I'm not over my cold, I'm feeling better.

The sinus issues are still there, but the achiness is receding, thank goodness.

Better still, I have my weekend off starting tonight, so hopefully that will help aid my recovery.

I'm sick again.  I hope this one doesn't last three weeks like the last one.

Some of the symptoms are similar.  I'm draining down my throat, and feel awful.

Headline:  teens increasingly interested in material things, wealth

Nice to know that, like old jokes, you can pull out old headlines and rerun the story after a few years when everyone's forgotten.

Designer clothes?  Spiffy new cars?  The latest gadgets?  Gee, we heard about this in the 1990s, the 1980s, the 1970s...I'm pretty sure every generation sees the new one as too interested in material things.

After all, old people have what they need, for the most part.  If they want more, they're often resigned to their status.  Plus, the older you are the likelier it is you're an irrationalist and given to bashing the "base material things."

Conversely, younger people are still looking for their niche, which includes "how wealthy will I be?"  And they're more open-minded, not automatically given to bashing things not of the fake, spiritual plane.  Most haven't learned to bury their inadequacies with sour-grapes religiosity.

What's next?  Complaints that kids play their music too loud, which is filled with messages that are bad for them?  That they have too much of a sweet tooth?  That they walk across old peoples' lawns too much?  I look forward to the next cliched, recycled news headline.