r.i.p., ichapod

i must confess: i do not have the best luck with electronics. or, this is what history is teaching me at least. the latest victim? ichapod - my ipod mini. yes - i still have a mini - it's almost embarrassing to bring out the oversized, yet once so slim and sleek mini. they haven't even made them in over two years.

anyway - a few weeks ago i dropped ichapod, once again. he usually was able to survive these little free falls to the concrete (much more resilient than you or i, for sure). alas - this time was different. after the fall, he started acting funny. i finally was able to get him to turn off - but, when i tried to turn him on again there was nothing. i gave him a couple uh ... taps of encouragement, we'll say - and finally he turned on. but instead of his usual menu coming up - he came up with a rather not good looking face:

i must admit - this was almost as traumatic a thing as when my sim decided to commit suicide. (for the record, i've decided no more virtual people deserve such a fate and have not played the sims since).

now, ichapod has been in this state for a few weeks now. i keep hoping in vain that when i try to turn on he'll be all honkey-dorey (just as when i cross my fingers when i try to turn on my old thinkpad every few months ... you can't accuse me of being totally devoid of hope and optimism).

and what impact has this had on me? well, my walking is now lacking a soundtrack. no pleasant tunes to keep my mind occupied. the result? i think i'm thinking too much. this cannot be good. i think it might be time to bite the bullet and buy a new ipod.