Music to My Ears

So, I finally broke down and bought it. No, I haven't replaced my 8 year old cell phone. Or replaced my 15 year old car either.

But I did buy an mp3 player. I decided to get one to use while completing yard work. I'm an indoor cat and yard work just doesn't thrill me. Sunlight burns. (No, really. I went on a trip last weekend and the mere two hours driving left me with a burnt shoulder.)

It was kind of a sudden decision. If I'm going to be puttering around outside, digging in dirt and picking up sticks and mowing the lawn, I'd like to have some music. Work is better with music. But it's gotta be music you can groove too-- nothing sad and slow.

I zipped off to my local retail store and browsed the selections. There's no way I'm spending a hundred bucks on a music player. I balked at spending $30 for the cheap ones. And none of those really inspired confidence-- just had that 'cheap plastic' look, ya know. Too cheap for even $30. I picked one out though, and kind of sulked off around the corner to look for batteries.

Then, I spotted them. The clearance players. I knew they had to have been some where, but hadn't found them in the normal locations. (I used to work at the store.) The clearance selection had a nice little player. And a lovely price: $12. It was once a $30 player. Whatever. $12 is my sort of price. Shoot, I spent more money on the rechargeable batteries for the device than I did the player itself.

So far, the player does everything I asked for and more. It plays music. It has a lock that keeps me from changing songs when I kneel to work on the flower beds. It won't take long for me to get $12 worth of use from this little thing. (Though I did dig out the cheap headphones we got from Northwest Airlines years ago on a trip and used those instead of the dreadful earbuds. Bleh.)

I'm hoping that the $12 mp3 player will be a prized purchase like my $13 scanner. I do love my cheap gadgets. =)

The only problem with all this... the yardwork part. I'd rather be writing. Oh well.