Now No Nano

My iPod Nano was stolen today. It was my own stupid fault - I left my jacket (with iPod in the inside pocket) at the cafeteria at lunch and didn't realize it until three hours later. The cafe was closed, but security recovered the jacket for me, sans iPod. I feel bad about it, but what's amazing to me is to watch the gymnastics my mind goes through with this.

Value - I got the iPod in late October 2006, about 7 months or 210 days ago for about $200, less than a dollar a day. Did I get that much enjoyment from it? Sure, I think so.

I'm an idiot - If you leave your iPod in the pocket of your jacket in even a small cafeteria for several hours, of course it will be stolen. Duh.

I don't need it - I've got music everywhere, on the notebook PC, home PC's, external hard drive for the notebook when it's home (10,000+ songs), hundreds of CD's, a CD-MP3 player that still works for the car, a cheesy 512K iRiver MP3 player that still works for walks and planes. This is not a disaster.

I love it - The iPod has the most elegant interface; is the most convenient music source for driving, walking, and flying; has a carefully refined set of 1000 of my favoritest songs, and is probably my favorite product ever. I use it every day. I'd rather lose the TV than the iPod.

Upgrade time - I was thinking of getting a video iPod someday anyway. 30 GB is a lot of tunes. No tough choices on what to carry.

Economize - Refurbished ones are available and cheaper.

Surf the Learning Curve - Wait, new models will come out, same money for more GB of flash memory. Wait a few months!

Don't Upgrade - I don't need more songs - 1000 songs is about perfect, bigger than any radio station playlist and all picked by me.

Hey, this is not a problem - I know people with cancer, people with real relationship troubles, people with kids who give them real grief. This is nothing (this is probably the correct answer, but the brain keeps going).

Prioritize - Hey, I'm spending a lot of money soon, Dallas for ISDC, maybe getting a new Toyota Prius in June, higher car insurance, don't spend money on something so foolish as replacing an iPod I barely need.

Spend to Save - Hey, I've still got free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime.

There's probably more, but you get the picture. My college roommate was right - I am an amazing rationalizer. OK, and an idiot. But at least I got a blog post out of it.

Free two day shipping, hmm, I could have a new one before Dallas...