When something is working well, I’m always leery of upgrading it. That’s why, when iTunes 6.0.3 was working for me, I passed up all the subsequent releases. There were a few more 6.x releases, and then 7.0 and 7.0.1… and still, I waited. After all, rumors of stability issues, Remote Desktop and Windows Live Messenger conflicts, and other problems did not inspire me to upgrade. I happen to know at least one person that ended up with an iPod that would not communicate with iTunes following an upgrade. That didn’t raise the confidence meter.

Yesterday, I finally broke. For some reason, I have not been able to get to the “iTunes Store” since last week. I could not find a report of any problems, so I wondered if it was a compatibility issue my older iTunes version. I also speculated that, should Santa bring me a new Shuffle for Christmas, I would need the 7.0.2 version anyhow. So with that in mind, I crossed my fingers, held my breath, and proceeded to upgrade. The results are…

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Because I’ve written about it here, I thought I’d give a quick update…

As of last night, I have now have over 1700 songs, 7+ days, and nearly 8Gb of music on my iPod! AND, I discovered last night that I was missing some CD’s… that is, until I found the box we stored them in. I now have nearly 50 more CD’s to rip! I’m glad I got the 40Gb.

Also, I FINALLY got my case (a Countour Showcase) in the mail yesterday! It does add a little bulk and heft to the ‘pod, but man… it is slick! It looks great, and I really feel like my expensive toy is now protected against drops and dings. The fit and finish is fantastic (like the alliteration?)! The case is basically rubberized with a clear front and back and looks so clean that I’m now almost afraid of scratching it. lol! It also has rubberized “grips” on the back that will help keep me from pulling it off my desk.

One thing to note… this case is great for the 40Gb and photo, but I wouldn’t recommend it for the 20Gb because the thickness would probably seem too bulky. I also got the black one, though I think the white would’ve looked great too. I read the white one gets grubby fast, which is why I chose black.

…FedEx delivered my new iPod. And life was good.

That’s right, I finally broke down and made the jump to an iPod. And I splurged, too… got the 40Gb version. I thought I could live with my 256Mb iRiver, but it was just too small. It only held about 50 songs (give or take). I liked the physical size, but the space was just too limiting. On top of that, the earphones hurt my ears!

Anyhow, I’ve been working hard lately (patting my own back here) and can listen to it at work, so I decided to pull the proverbial trigger. I should have just saved my money and got this in the first place, but… bygones. I sold the iRiver on eBay for a decent take, and ordered the ‘pod through my sister-in-law (shout out to JoyNoel… thanks!). I also got a extra $30 off with a coupon code (shout out to Aaron… thanks!), which really made this an unbeatable deal.

So now I’ve got a shiny new iPod (quite literally), and here are my observations so far…

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Today, I am tired. And my eyes hurt. Perhaps because I stayed up until 1am watching my Colts on “Monday Night Football” (should this be changed to Tuesday Morning Football?). Or perhaps it is because I got up at 5:45 this morning to give my restless son a bottle.

But these things I can tolerate. They were choices I made, and therefore I can generally handle the consequences.

But today, I am also frustrated.

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Dear VCR Player,

This letter is to let you know your presence will no longer be necessary at our house. However, no reason to fret. Due to the fond appreciation we have for your years of service, and perhaps the occasional desire to pull out our VHS copy of “St. Elmo’s Fire” or our wedding, we will allow you to maintain a temporary home in the entertainment center.

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They’ve kept me extremely busy for the past week, these things.

Unfortunately, these aren’t the kind you use to catch fish. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be complaining. These were the W32.Blaster worm, the W32.Sobig virus, and the W32.Welchia/Nachia virus.

Anyhow - what a headache! I had all of our servers here at the office up to date, but we had not rolled out the patch to our user’s workstations. Oops. Added to this was the fact that the guy who had previously taken care of our login scripts had his last day on Wednesday, and I had to learn the scripting language in a hurry.

We survived, and are all patched up now. If I could catch these fools, I’d give them a wedgie and then pound them to a pulp. Of course, that won’t happen because I’m not looking for them.

Moral of the story - update your computers, people! If you haven’t done it by now, you’re asking for it. All things considered, these recent attacks have been pretty harmless. The next one could wipe you out…