Happy: a new iPod touch! The venerable iPod Photo finally gave up its ghost - and to my little white mp3 warrior I dedicate this snippet of lyrics:

To the tune of Smoke on the Water

The screen showed a bad icon
Then died with an awful sound
A funky sound was clicking on and off
As the hard drive ground
When it all was over I had to buy a new device
But swiss time was running out
A new iPod touch would be nice
Smoke from my iPod, I think it’s gonna die
Smoke from my iPod, it’s time to say goodbye

Sad: opening the fridge to discover a Diet Coke has exploded inside.

I finally found a silver lining to our catastrophic year in California: the 44 cents we’ll save by not sending Mike Woodward a Christmas card this year.