Chris informed me that the BestBuy near my house had a table full of iPod Shuffles for sale. I was surprised, since no stores seem to have them in stock. I picked one up. Now I’ll see if I can use it as motivation to exercise.

I’ve used a flash mp3 player, some little sd player from rio. However, here’s the rub. The rio music manager software just flat out sucks. You couldn’t even treat the device as a removable drive, which would have even been preferable to the software’s non-windows like folder interface. It was awful, putting music on it was a chore.

So, this is why Apple wins again. Being able to toss the songs on from iTunes, where they all already nicely reside, is the biggest benefit. Would I like a screen? Probably, though, the only thing I ever used it for when running was to tell the time. Since I carry my phone, that’s a non-issue.

Anyway, it’s pretty sweet. And if you live in Orange County and want one, check out the BestBuy in Tustin Marketplace.

The CompUSA near my house has a managers special tag out on the slightly older, iBook 14″ 1ghz systems. They wanted $699 for them. Amazon sells the 12″ variety for $799, so as you can see, this is a great deal. I was ready to buy, and guess what, none in stock! Then they told me they’d sell me the demo…then they wouldn’t. Then they wouldn’t give me a straight answer if they would be getting any more from a warehouse to clear out.

I guess I’ll have to call around over the next few days to see if I can work something out, because that price is incredible.

Last night my girlfriend and I went out to see the play On The Mountain at the local playhouse. It was a decent production, though, it was more enjoyable by being there with her. I will say I quite appreciated the irony that 3 out of the 4 characters actually smoked on stage. The playbill and program warned of that fact, of course, the program also warned that smoking anywhere on the premisis was strictly prohibited. And don’t they have to get a special permit or something to smoke indoors? This is still California, right? Towards the end of the piece, the female lead passionately kissed one of the male characters. The 80-something year old woman nearby us loudly proclaimed, “She’s so aggressive!”, much to the amusement of the entire audience.

We also got a little cute before the show.

Last night I had a bit of a new, good experience. My girlfriend is performing in a 3 month run of Brigadoon at the local dinner theater, and I went to see opening night. It was funny that in preparing to go, I felt extrememly nervous. It was like I was giving a speech in front of a class, and had all the associated butterflies. But as soon as she came out on stage the first time, those all went away. It’s a pretty interesting experience to see your girlfriend in about 3 layers of skirts and wearing hair extensions (I think it’s actually called a fall).

A surprising element to me is that I even enjoyed the show more than I anticipated. We’d watched the movie together, and both agreed it was pretty weak. But I must admit, I remember smiling and laughing through the evening moreso than any night in recent memory. I’m also glad I finally got to visit the place, it’s something I’ve driven past for as long as I can remember (maybe 20 years?) but never been into.

And best of all, I got to see my girlfriend sing in front of a few hundred people. Unbelievably cool.