Month: October 2005

Winamp to iTunes

When I find software that does what it should without getting in my way, I tend to remain faithful. For several millennia—or seven years in Internet Time—I’ve used Winamp as my primary music player on my computer. The free version did everything I needed it to do without trying to “help” me do things I didn’t need or want; yes, I’m looking at you, Windows Media Player.

The simple fact is that iTunes works very well. Its organization and playlist capabilities are simple and elegant; I can’t say that for Winamp and WMP is just abysmal. I hesitated letting iTunes organize my music files because I had carefully categorized my files by genre before I concluded that it would be easier than trying to determine if a song should go in the “Rock” folder or the “Alternative” folder or if new Aerosmith is still considered “Classic Rock.”

Say what you will about the iPod’s irreplaceable battery or the Nano’s screen, but Apple did a fantastic job with iTunes, the best music management software I’ve ever seen. I’m switching.

Working Out

Annie and I saw a morbidly obese teen who was wearing a t-shirt that stated “This working out thing isn’t working out for me” in Burger King on Saturday. As we were leaving, I overheard him telling his similarly obese family about some other boy who was running down a hallway, waving his arms in the air, yelling “I LOVE SLUSHIES!” You already know he acted this out for his family.

The Big Move

I live in Baltimore, Maryland! That sentence has been in the works a long time. Last Friday, my parents helped transport most of my stuff to a Canton apartment that I will be sharing with Kevin, one of Annie’s coworkers. We arrived a little later than planned, but the move went off without any major complications.

As a housewarming gift, some woman backed her SUV into my car and scratched the hood and bumper and broke one of my fog lights. I then met one of Baltimore’s finest, who was able to locate the SUV owner’s boyfriend who told us this woman “didn’t know she hit anything.” That probably explains why she left her vehicle parked in front of my car where my white paint on her gray SUV was clearly visible. Did I mention that parking by my new place is not one of the selling points for the area? It’s not.

I’m not completely settled in my new apartment so it doesn’t feel like home just yet, but I will post photos next week once everything is the way I’d like it. I’m going to my house in Pennsylvania this weekend, so it’s strange that when I leave for Baltimore again on Sunday, I’ll actually be going home—to my new home in Baltimore.