So. This morning I woke up, mowed two lawns, then showered up for my trip into Green Hills (Nashville) to go to the Apple Store in the Green Hills Mall.  You see, my iPod has been kinda quirky the past two weeks, and though I made a trip to the Apple Store about two weeks ago to fix it, it started to act like a defiant teenager to me again last night.  So I embark on my quest at 1:40, as I have a 2:50 appointment at the Genius Bar to get them to do something that I apparently could do, but can't.  You see, they make it look so easy, and even when I try to do the same thing they did during my previous visit, it won't work for me.  So I take the same route there...840 to I24 to I440.  I like making the trip actually, as I enjoy the think time and I would really like to take a road trip, but I digress.  I arrive at the Mall at Green Hills at approximately 2:20-2:30.  I enter the Apple Store, where no one is in line at the Genius Bar.  So I stroll up to it, discuss some logistics with the resident Genius, and he takes my iPod, does a quick fix, and I'm good to go.  It looked like it was working.  So I stroll around (a trip of that distance isn't truly justified by merely entering and leaving the Apple Store in a matter of 10 minutes.) and pick up an Apple Remote for whatever.  I find a guy who graduated from LaVergne working there, and we talk for a few.  I then pay for the remote and go to the Gap and buy a nice polo with a gift card I received for my birthday, then leave, with plans to visit the nearby CompUSA as I have a gift card and found directions online while in the Apple Store.  On my way to CompUSA, I decide to begin uploading songs to my renewed iPod as I had my laptop with me.  When I reach my destination, I look down at the laptop screen and find out my iPod was "not a readable or writable disk" (or for those that want a simple version...it wont talk with my computer, and my computer can't talk with it.)  With disgust, I decide to spend a few minutes browsing CompUSA and then return to the Apple Store to get it checked out again.  I find nothing of great interest (i.e. the card is for $25 dollars, and I just spent the last of my cash on the remote).  I leave and retrace my tracks five miles back to the Apple Store, realizing that this time I do not have an appointment, and if crowded, I may not be able to see a Genius for a while.  After waiting through three other customers before the scheduled person didn't show, I proceeded to discuss my newfound problem with a different Genius, the one who worked with me two weeks previous.  He also remembered me, and we hit it off again.  He ran the same problem solver program (iPod Updater...after a bit of Disk Utility and erasing), and I wasn't leaving until I was satisfied it would work, so I pulled out my laptop upon his advising as well, to make sure that it wouldn't run into any snags.  He then told me that he would like to help me more, but my iPod was more than a month out of warranty.  Me being the amazing random detail oriented guy I am, remembered that there was no way the iPod was out of warranty by a month, being that my dad bought it for me after May 29, 2005 for my birthday while I was at Governor's School. (May 29 was the day Gov. School started).  So I asked him if the warranty wasn't more than a month expired, what he could do, especially since it was him I saw two weeks ago for the same problem.  He told me that he needed proof of the purchase date, i.e. a reciept, which I had long ago lost I'm sure.  Luckily Best Buy keeps records, so I called them and asked them when I/my dad bought the iPod, and they told me June 9, 2005.  I asked the Genius if June 9, 2005 was acceptable being that it was yesterday and I saw him two weeks previously for the same problem.  He said he would try and work with me, but mentioned that the iPod was working now.  I then asked him how many times I have to come for the same problem before it is considered "replaceable".  He told me he understands, and that since I live in Murfreesboro it is a bit of a drive, but he needed a hardcopy reciept. So now I depart the mall again, but this time I head to Hickory Hollow to the Best Buy there.  After about 25 minutes of driving, I pull into the parking lot there and walk in, and the girl I talked to on the phone prints up my receipt.  I noticed an accident on I24 on the other side (the way I would go back) so I asked if there was an alternative route they knew of.  After confusing directions and unsufficient routes, I decide to take Bell Road all the way back to Hillsboro Parkway (mind you it has 8045980394598 lights.)  Surprising only like 3 of them were red.  So I made it back to the Apple Store in roughly 20-25 minutes.  I walk in and the "old-reliable" Genius isn't there, so I have to explain my story to the currently available guy.  After much storytelling ( I failed to tell them this entire time that the reason the case is slightly out of line is not because I've been "squishing" it, it is
 actually because Best Buy replaced the hard drive about three weeks ago, which I imagine would have voided any such warranty that I was pleading for.), the Genius gave me a shiny new iPod (still photo mind you), took my old one away, and lectured me that this one only had a 90 day warranty and I need to be more careful about not "squishing" it.  So after that escapade, I leave the mall for the last time, smiling all the way.  I return home at 7:00 pm., about 5 hours and 20 minutes spent on the whole shbang.  I return happily though, as my mom has a smoothie made for me, dinner was just finished cooking, and I have a shiny new iPod that I have yet to name.  I then watched Tristan and Isolde, very good movie.  And that brings us to the end of my day.


::b

In memory of "Ben Moser's iPod", as it was never officially given any name but of the one referred to.

June 9, 2005 - June 10, 2006