My favorite birthday present

I bought myself an Ipod for my birthday (I got another large infusion of cash in lieu of gifts, same as Christmas...y'know, I think I'll just start asking for money each year). I've been wanting some type of MP3 player for a while now and the Ipod is the top of the line. Hastings, the music and bookstore chain, had a refurbished Ipod Shuffle on sale for $50 (Brand new they run about $90. A refurb is brand new innards packed inside a used outer shell. They do it with cell phones all the time) so I picked it up.

The reason for wanting an MP3 player was to use at the gym. When I'm lifting weights and such, I really don't mind if I don't have anything to listen to. That is my zen time, when I can focus my thoughts and put both my body and mind through the wringer. But I also spend a lot of time on the treadmill. And if there is ever a time that screams boredom, it's jogging along on a treadmill. Consequently, I tend to give up running about 5 full minutes before I should.

So, I strapped on my Ipod (actually I just clipped it to my shirt...it's about the size of a half dollar and weighs about twice that) and adjusted my new ear phones and went to work. At first it was kind of cool, listening to my own music and drowning out the noise of the gym. Then I began to silently sing along with my music and before I knew it I had already ran for 8 minutes. This was going to be so cool!

I have a taste for classical music (it drives Heather crazy, but the kids seems to like it) so I made sure to include some of the more uptempo pieces on my Ipod. I even arranged the music to play at specific times for psychological reasons (uptempo for when I running, slower music on my cooling down walks). So there I was, at minute 20, sucking wind at a steady pace of 6 miles an hour when Gustav Holst's "Mars, Bringer of War" kicked in at the 4 minute mark. You've heard it before as it is one of the most used classical pieces for temp tracks on movies and previews. And sure enough, it got my adrenaline flowing. So much so that even though I was close to gasping at this point, I actually increased the MPH on the treadmill. And I ran for anther 5 minutes.

Yeah, I'm loving this Ipod. Now if I could figure out a way to have it help me eat less, I'd be set.