Supplemental.

My iPod turns 11 months next week! And in exactly two weeks, God and all else constant, it will have a bigger brother! What am I doing in the little time I have to celebrate, I am converting my smooth jazz collection (manually) to AAC. Furthermore, I have recently acquired a new iCable, which allows me to connect the iPod, or any minijack device, to the stereo. Why buy that when I the iTrip, because reception's best with stereo cables. And the proud new owner of my 2nd gen'er will also be the proud of owner of the iTrip.
Also, I am deciding who gets my first iPod. And you know what, this blog is going to help me.


Possible candidates are as follows:
My brother, my mom, Tavie, Gabriel, and Brian. To all others: take no offense. You must consider the fact that this machine is almost a year old. These are the only people who have expressed the most interest in acquiring it. Now, let's start with Brian. Pros: we've been cool throughout college; considered one of da kliq; lot of music collection traded with mine. Cons: He uses PC, and favors the MiniDisc. While I can't say being a Windows user is a reason not to give him the iPod, it's good enough for me. Brian's out.
Gabriel is next. Pros: friend for the ages, a lot in common, vast musical taste means he'll most likely favor the machine. Cons: Not totally kliq material, in fact, he's the most odd friend of the bunch; and he uses PC. I am not favoring PC users for some reason. Okay, Gabe's out.
Next, Tavie. Pros: she's Tavie. What bigger pro can I possibly need!?! Also, Mac user (big plus); has a brewing collection; makes a great "I-said-I-was-going-to-then-I-changed-my-mind-now-I-change-it-back-again-cause-its-my-prerogative" Christmas present. Con (and perhaps the biggest one): it's a year old. I do not give anyone no matter how close they are to me year-old stuff, unless of course, if I was to just give it away. Which is exactly what I'm gonna have to do here. And sorry dude, I'd feel funny giving my old stuff away...
...Unless it were of course, to family.
Which brings me to the final two participants: my mother & brother. While I 75.98% of the time love my momma, my brother and I remain cool 100% of the time; he'd be real proud to strut down the block with me, listening to our iPods in stride. And I have the type of brother that if something were to happen to my 3rd Gen'er, God forbid, then he'll let me use is, no questions asked. How's that for a brother-to-brother relationship?! On the same note, him bringing that iPod to his high school is only an invite for trouble. I know no other 16 year old with an iPod, so he'll be the first. I can just warn him to leave it home, but the temptation of 2000 songs in your pocket will make almost anyone toss their CD player.
That leaves my momma, who mind you, I love 75.98% of the time. While 35-45% of my music originated from her music, she'll have a hard time adjusting to the likes of Elephant Man and Capelton. That means reformatting the iPod, and customizing it to her tastes, which are basically the likes of Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, and the entire Winans family. There is the 9-months-of-labor-to 9-hours-of-delivery routine which she'll run at me every chance she gets, which I often counter with the 900th,1000th,1000000th-time-she-runs-that-line-on-me-she-gives-me-labor-pains complaint. What better way to show my appreciation than to think of her first, and bring her some extra joy. And what a better way to get back at her for all the grief she gives me than to give my 2nd gen'er to my brother. Let's see: a nice gesture from a kind son vs. a new music toy to play with. Reformatting my first baby vs. letting my brother handle it himself. The one who gave me live vs. the one who gave me support in dealing with the one who gave me life.
Hey, this is a tough one! At least my mother doesn't read my blog. Come to think of it...
And the winner, and the most likely to retain the 2nd Gen iPod is... my mother. Hope she enjoys all of Luther, Regina, Whitney, and Aretha (no rhyming intended) in an electronic stack of cards...

WWE must start using their noggins (assuming they haven't bashed them in with chairs and such), and start releasing some video libraries on DVD. Until they can fix the current stagnation wrestling is seemingly going through, why don't they push some old skool on us?! Let us start, of course, with the Bret Hart definitive. Not that From The Vault crap. I'm talking a serious collection of his best performances, including some of the matches from RAW or Nitro that we might have missed. Like Hart/1-2-3 Kid, Hart/Benoit in the Owen Hart memorial match Even Bret/Owen in the infamous lumberjack match. Those bouts, among others, should definitely be included. And if they think that lack of buyers are the problem, I know a couple of hundred NY'ers who wouldn't mind shelling out the same $20 they shelled out for that 1/2 in 1/2 Shawn Michaels: From The Vault two disc set.
Also, we definitely can go for a Ric Flair definitive. For those who don't know why the 16-time world champ is da real deal, show them. The wars with Sting, Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, and Randy Savage were the best of his time. He was the friggin king of the cage! Why can't we bring back those memories?!
Okay, they are planning to do that. Well, what about Hulk Hogan? The Magnificent Muraco? Go far back, and bring us Bruno Sammartino & Pedro Morales!! Hell, what about Andre The Giant???!!!
You see, it ain't that difficult to think about. If Michael Jackson can come back with one definitive collection after another, after another, after another, and he gains sales from it, why can't WWE think that way?!
Just some friendly advice from a 14-year old wrestling fan.

Note to self: must find this song:
Grazin In The Grass - Rick Braun/Boney James

Well folks, that's it for now. if anything new develops, I'll be back. Until next week...