The iPod went quietly

    I did something so dumb I shouldn't admit it. But maybe if I talk, the pain will go away.

    I opened the dryer door this morning to grab some clothes and saw my iPod. I had brought it to the gym, stuffed it in a pocket of a hooded sweatshirt and threw the sweatshirt in the washer and dryer.

     The last time I did something so dumb was when I stuck my digital watch in the microwave. The watch had an alarm that would go off every morning at 3, and I could not shut it off. So I stuck the watch in the microwave, watch jail, and the noise was muted.

    One morning I put a cup of coffee in there to reheat, and I heard what sounded like a cry of pain. It was my watch. All the numbers had turned white.

    I put a little towel down on the counter and gently set the watch on it. The numbers are still white. This was 20 years ago. The numbers are still white.

    I don't care about watches. I don't need a watch. I need my iPod. I have some rare blues songs -- at least I think of them as rare. I loaded it with Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin, U2 and the Rolling Stones, Robert Johnson and Leadbelly, the Replacements, REM and Spirit. I made playlists that still hold up.

     The only time I use it is at the gym, and that's enough. It sets the mood. Also, the gym I frequent is in the suburbs, and -- I don't mean to be sexist but truth is an absolute defense -- there are women that turn the place into Starbucks, with a modicum of sweat. They work out as if they get paid by the word.

    Many of the women at the gym are serious. But some are tourists. They're there to be social, and if they burn a few calories, hooray. The iPod mutes them. Somebody starts talking about their kid or, more likely, their kid's bad teacher and boom -- here come Jack and Meg White and "Blue Orchid," and the gossip goes away.

    I figured my iPod would either come out of the drier shiny and clean or it would come out destroyed. It appears to have been destroyed.

     But I put a towel on the counter and gently set the little iPod on the softest part. I'll wait.  

 

 

 

 

Comments

[thats whats up]

put it in a bag of dry rice.. works for phones

[scratchy1]

Ok, Tom, we get it. You're a workout warrior, full of joie de vivre. Everyone else at the Y is a latte-drinking, yoga-pant-wearing, BMW-driving phony who doesn't play touch football and run with a dog like you do. You obviously hate the city you constantly impugn. And yet here you sit, year after year, bitterly spitting out the same colum in different form.

[Grammar Checker]

Paragraph 2: "had taken", NOT "had brought"

Please check your grammar, Tom. :)

[Kirk Grosch]

Hate to admit but had the same thing happen to me this week. I "discovered" mine in the washer and went on-line to see if there was any way to save it. Tried and true method unfortunately did not work but it prolonged the anxiety until this morning. Tried to power it on but no luck not even a flicker. So Tom believe when I say "I feel your pain brother, I'm iPodless too."

[A. Nonymous]

gee folks, ever hear of backing up your files? that way you could have simply purchased a new ipod and restored those precious music files. so simple to do.

[Denny's Owner]

You may have "lost" your iPod but not your files. As I'm sure you know, all of the files on your iPod are stored on your computer; you don't load music or anything else directly from iTunes. Go buy a new iPod and reload your music and STFU! What's the point of this story anyway???

It doesn't have anything to do with the Panthers. Of course, rarely do your stories!

[Chuck]

Denny's Owner? WTF, you serving any brotha's in there? And yes I mean brotha's and not bro.'s or brothers!! My God man, you tring to make some kinda point during the week of Martin Luther King's Birthday? Just puy anonymous like everybody else!

[Sports Fan]

Maybe, Juuuust maybe, if you write some articles on the Panther's new coaching staff, or potential draft pics, maybe something on all our free agents or possible free agent aquitions....Maaaaybe you wont get fired and can afford a new ipod.

Buy a micro-sd card, put the songs on the phone, and get to work.

Here, i'll give you a start..

Panthers plan for success:
-Resign all free agents accept Richard Marshall
-Bring in FA's, Vince Young, Vincent Jackson, a RG
-Consider trading Steve Smith for Kolb or Haynesworth
-Draft DT Colins, WR Green, or one of the top 2 CBs

we don't care you fried you ipod, i didn't even finish the article

[EQ]

@Sports Fan: "-Bring in FA's, Vince Young...
-Consider trading Steve Smith for Kolb or Haynesworth..."

I'd rather hear about a fried iPod than discussion of bringing in Vince Young or trading Steve Smith for Fat Al Haynesworthless.

[Denny's Owner]

Hey Chuck, go f*** yourself if you don't like my screen name! BTW, JR, the ultimate Denny's owner, feeds plenty of your brothas on his Panthers payroll every week!!!

[Chuck]

Now that was funny!!! LMAO. Freekin Denny's Owner!

[Sports Fan]

@EQ

Not saying those are the moves to make, but we need to bring in acouple defensive tackles. We need to bring in another QB to compete with Clausen. We've got a big decision with the 1st overall pick, and we have to consider if Steve wants to stay or if we shoudl trade smith if we draft Green because then we have a an enourmous amount of picks invested WR in 2 drafts. FA this year could be huge for us, estimated Cap is 140-150 mill. we currently have 60 mill dedicated, thats it! Can we hear about those things? Not some stupid ipod. seriously Tom, pretty stupid. Start researching a sports article

[handyman]

YOU'RE ALL KIDDING RIGHT? WHO GIVE A (*&&^ ABOUT HIS OR YOUR (*&(*&^ IPHONES!!!!!! THIS IS AN ARTICLE A GUY GETS PAID TO WRITE ABOUT SPORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND YOU LET HIM GET AWAY WITH BLOGGING SOME DRIVEL ABOUT AN IPHONE IN THE LAUNDRY!?!?! THERE ARE REAL WRITERS OUT THERE DESPERATE TO GET JOBS WITH INSIGHTFUL OPINIONS ABOUT SPORTS AND THIS IS WHO THE FAILING, FLAILING OBSERVER HAS ON STAFF? I don't care if his inside sources include jerry richardson himself adam sch. on espn get's 3x more scoops about our own panthers than this guy. FIRE HIM AND GET SOME REAL REPORTING GOING ON!

[Lambonis]

What a garbage article. Completely erroneous

[I know how to use an iPod!!]

handyman,
you are dead on target!!! this was more dribble from the king of dribble!!

[JR]

Is this what qualifies as news these days?!?

[TribeHeel]

It's not an article, it's not "reporting", it's a blog post. A little personal vignette.

Yeah, I probably lost you with that one, too.

[Rick]

TribeHeel, thank you. It was a freakin' blog post; all reporters have to do them now; you don't have to read it. It's amazing how shallow and mean some people are. Their lives are so pathetic and miserable they've got to log on to the newspaper site to slam a reporter in order to get their daily jollies. Whatsamatter oh little nasty ones, run out of political stories to leave hate-filled rants on? Killing time before the Glenn Beck show gets you all lathered up? Geez.

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