I promised a post about my Papa and his iPod. Cousin Bubbles left a comment on that last entry about how "Papa's iPod" just might be an oxymoron. Well, Bubbles... fret not. He is nothing like your Mom. Papa has got it going on! He's all over the email, checking stocks, digital camera, etc. It's really too cute.
Let me back up a few steps here and explain to my readers at large...
My 80-something grandfather received a nifty new little iPod Shuffle for Christmas. After a phone call from my Aunt Silly, I promised to help him set it up on Christmas Eve. He came prepared -- his laptop, laptop light (nifty!), iPod, and a bajillion ziplock bags full of every classical CD he owns. He looked downright adorable. And excited. And who was I to say no to spending the next few hours downloading oodles of music?
So. Why then did I spend last Sunday doing this all over again??
I received a rather brisk phone message from Papa on Thursday, stating: "I lost my iPod. I got a new one. You need to come set it up for me This! Weekend! You need to call me back to tell me what time you'll be here. Oh, we'll have lunch too." The food part was added as an afterthought (a mere second before he hung up the phone). Perhaps to ease the blow of orders? I have said many times before that my Field Marshall demeanor is genetic. Heh. Proven!
After talking to my Aunt in Houston (where he is currently staying -- he's a jetsetter and spends part of the year in Georgia with my other Aunts), it was determined that most likely he lost it while dining out, when he pulled his napkin from his shirt. They went back and (no surprise) it was not to be found. And to whoever took my Papa's iPod? You suck. Have you no decency? No guilty conscience?
Now, as far as using it... he's apparently quite electronically enlightened. My Aunt explained how he's spent every moment since Christmas with the ear buds in and the music blaring.... while ALSO watching TV, equally blaring (interrupted only by the occasional outburst to turn up the TV because he cannot hear it). Hey... there's nothing like watching Italian soccer at full volume while listening to Hungarian violin! He has his own built in soundtrack now. My Aunt and Uncle have taken to watching TV in the back room, with the door closed. Heh. He's so damn cute (especially when it's not my ears on fire from the noise level).
But setting up electronics? Not his forte.
Sunday, we showed up just in time for lunch (yum!) and then I retired to the back room with my grandfather to do the whole iPod set up and register thing all over again. Except... it seemed that someone had already attempted to do so (my Dad). It was registered already but had been set up to manually add songs instead of the automatic fill we'd done on the last one. I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to fix this. Still... we got it all set up and most of the music had already been uploaded to his iTunes so it didn't take quite so long.
He's now wearing it 24/7 again, blissfully lost in his violin adagios. I came home with a 2 disc set of said adagios. They really are quite beautiful so I'll put them on my own pod (a Nano my Mr. Clean bought me last Christmas).
I have to insert here that I think Apple has overlooked a huge market for their wares. Seriously. And they really need to think about adding more Classical selections to the iTunes store. At the least, they could make it so you don't have to manually type in ALL of the stinking song titles, artists, and album names. Do you have any idea how long some of these titles are, Apple people?? Look into the older folks. Make it a bit easier on them already.
I'll admit, I did think about documenting all the instructions so he could do this on his own in the future but then I decided not to. He'll pick it up on his own after watching it a few times and it gives me an excuse to visit. And, seriously? There is only one thing more cool than playing on iTunes with my grandfather....
Getting pedicures with him.
I haven't yet had the pleasure but next time that little pod needs some work, he's going to have to bribe me with pretty painted toes instead of lunch.
P.S. Have started on the new (re-invented) WIP but no pages/counts to report just yet. I'm still filling in some synopsis gaps with a little mythology research. Also? This post seems a little disjointed but I'm short on time (and brain cells, I think) so I'm leaving it as is.
Let me back up a few steps here and explain to my readers at large...
My 80-something grandfather received a nifty new little iPod Shuffle for Christmas. After a phone call from my Aunt Silly, I promised to help him set it up on Christmas Eve. He came prepared -- his laptop, laptop light (nifty!), iPod, and a bajillion ziplock bags full of every classical CD he owns. He looked downright adorable. And excited. And who was I to say no to spending the next few hours downloading oodles of music?
So. Why then did I spend last Sunday doing this all over again??
I received a rather brisk phone message from Papa on Thursday, stating: "I lost my iPod. I got a new one. You need to come set it up for me This! Weekend! You need to call me back to tell me what time you'll be here. Oh, we'll have lunch too." The food part was added as an afterthought (a mere second before he hung up the phone). Perhaps to ease the blow of orders? I have said many times before that my Field Marshall demeanor is genetic. Heh. Proven!
After talking to my Aunt in Houston (where he is currently staying -- he's a jetsetter and spends part of the year in Georgia with my other Aunts), it was determined that most likely he lost it while dining out, when he pulled his napkin from his shirt. They went back and (no surprise) it was not to be found. And to whoever took my Papa's iPod? You suck. Have you no decency? No guilty conscience?
Now, as far as using it... he's apparently quite electronically enlightened. My Aunt explained how he's spent every moment since Christmas with the ear buds in and the music blaring.... while ALSO watching TV, equally blaring (interrupted only by the occasional outburst to turn up the TV because he cannot hear it). Hey... there's nothing like watching Italian soccer at full volume while listening to Hungarian violin! He has his own built in soundtrack now. My Aunt and Uncle have taken to watching TV in the back room, with the door closed. Heh. He's so damn cute (especially when it's not my ears on fire from the noise level).
But setting up electronics? Not his forte.
Sunday, we showed up just in time for lunch (yum!) and then I retired to the back room with my grandfather to do the whole iPod set up and register thing all over again. Except... it seemed that someone had already attempted to do so (my Dad). It was registered already but had been set up to manually add songs instead of the automatic fill we'd done on the last one. I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to fix this. Still... we got it all set up and most of the music had already been uploaded to his iTunes so it didn't take quite so long.
He's now wearing it 24/7 again, blissfully lost in his violin adagios. I came home with a 2 disc set of said adagios. They really are quite beautiful so I'll put them on my own pod (a Nano my Mr. Clean bought me last Christmas).
I have to insert here that I think Apple has overlooked a huge market for their wares. Seriously. And they really need to think about adding more Classical selections to the iTunes store. At the least, they could make it so you don't have to manually type in ALL of the stinking song titles, artists, and album names. Do you have any idea how long some of these titles are, Apple people?? Look into the older folks. Make it a bit easier on them already.
I'll admit, I did think about documenting all the instructions so he could do this on his own in the future but then I decided not to. He'll pick it up on his own after watching it a few times and it gives me an excuse to visit. And, seriously? There is only one thing more cool than playing on iTunes with my grandfather....
Getting pedicures with him.
I haven't yet had the pleasure but next time that little pod needs some work, he's going to have to bribe me with pretty painted toes instead of lunch.
P.S. Have started on the new (re-invented) WIP but no pages/counts to report just yet. I'm still filling in some synopsis gaps with a little mythology research. Also? This post seems a little disjointed but I'm short on time (and brain cells, I think) so I'm leaving it as is.
