Yay consumerism

I went to the Apple store today. I wanted to look into getting my iPod serviced. The battery life is less than stellar, especially when I wear it running. The battery drains a lot faster when I’m moving around a lot. Also, one of the sides had popped out, which I thought must have happened when I got attacked. I was afraid that the unit had been damaged and that I wouldn’t get warranty service. I also wanted to look around. The Apple Store is like a big toy store, of course. As my Dad always says, “the difference between men and their boys is the price of their toys.”

Well, the nice folks at the Apple store were great. Just about everyone in the store talked to me at some point. They popped the case back into place with a special tool and did a software update and sent me on my way with instructions to test to see if that fixed anything before taking more drastic measures. All free so far, so yay. Apparently the side popping out like that is fairly common, and it might not have even happened when I got mugged.

I saw one of the floor reps having a little trouble with the demo model of the Palm Zire 31. I helped her turn off the “full screen” Graffiti mode so that the Note Pad would work right, and chatted her up about my idea to collect sketches people had made with their Palm devices. She drew an eye on the screen right then and gave me her card after beaming the sketch to my Palm. So now I think I’ll really have to do this thing. It’s a great contest or competition because the medium is so limited, drawing in 320×320 1-bit color or 160×160 1-bit color. It’s really challenging to get anything good done at that size, but it’s also quick and fun. My “Steve Rock” icon was drawn on my old Tungsten T.

I’ve been procrastinating on this competition because I do web development all day; the last thing I want to do when I get home is make websites. But I do have one advantage: I have a very advanced custom-built content system that I wrote largely on my own time and have every right to take advantage of. So I should be able to put it together if I can just bring myself to do it. I could even give away some kind of prize to the winner, but then I’d have to judge it or make a panel of judges. Plus, I wouldn’t know what to give away. A cheap Palm device? That would be silly because anyone submitting entries would have to have a Palm device already, and I certainly couldn’t afford to give away a high-end Palm. Maybe a nice stylus for a giveaway? Something to think about.

I also checked out wireless stuff. When I move I’ll be providing access to my housemates and I’d rather not crawl all over the place stapling down ethernet cable. So I asked a bunch of questions and got a bunch of answers. Cool.

Last, but not least, I looked at keyboards. I almost walked out of there with a $99 USB keyboard that would work with GarageBand. Part of me doesn’t want to admit that I want one, because I know real keyboard enthusiasts like who has (and builds) high end music equipment, and another friend who makes his living editing music industry trade magazines and buyers’ guides. I’ve always been around intense electronic fiends. Admitting that I have my eye on an M-Audio Keystation 49e feels a little like a living in an art gallery and thinking about getting a Backstreet Boys poster for the wall.

And so be it. I don’t want or need to be mister keyboard. I’m blessed with a lot of people that can give me pointers and feedback and so on, but in the end a keyboard in my hands might end up unused until it dies of obsolescence. I just want something to noodle around with, to play with. I want it to be easy, and I don’t want to have to think about it. I think getting the consumer keyboard is probably exactly the right thing.

Even though I made the decision to buy it while I was standing there in the store playing with it, and even though I had the money in my bank account to do it, I didn’t. The keyboards will still be there next week after I get my next paycheck, and if its really a good idea now, it’ll be a good idea then too. Even though I wanted to run right home and start noodling with it, I know I probably wouldn’t get a chance to play with it at all this weekend, which is stacking up to be pretty busy, what with Sunday being Bay to Breakers and I think I’ve got seventeen different things to do on Saturday. If I’m not going to get to play with it, it may as well stay in the store.