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I did something that I used to think I would never do. I bought an iPod. I’ve changed my mind on it at least 3 times in the past couple of days, but I finally placed the order today.

I’ve gotten the idea of getting an mp3 player in my mind several times over the past few years, but I always change my mind. I really don’t need one. All the stuff I can do on an iPod I can do on other devices. I can even do it better on other devices. However, the iPod has a convenience factor and a coolness factor. Although I am rarely in situations where I have to use the iPod, I’m sure I will WANT to use it once I have it.

At one point I thought that I would buy a Zune if I bought any mp3 player. I’m kinda anti-Apple lately. I changed my mine on getting a Zune after a friend of mine got an iPod. I’ve already ripped all of my CDs to my hard drive using iTunes. I still don’t understand why people get so excited over iTunes. It is something awful. I’ll have to get used to it I guess. I’ve also started organizing the mp3s I already had. I can see myself obsessing over this for many hours, but it’ll be great to be able to listen to any of my songs whenever I want.

I’m excited about finally making it into the 21st century in this area. It should be here by the end of the week. I think I’m going to buy some accessories today.

A couple of weeks ago I got an email welcoming me to OnStar and congratulating me on the purchase of a new vehicle. Since then I’ve gotten more emails from them like diagnostic reports, order confirmations, etc. The weird thing is that I’m not an OnStar customer and I got my car 3 months ago. The car this guy is driving a 2008 Cadillac GTS (He’s probably old. I’m just saying). Mine is a 2006 Nissan Altima. I love a good case of mistaken identity.

The email address that this is sent to has my first and last name in it. The person that these emails are supposed to be going to has the same first and last name as me, but his middle initial is different than mine. HIS middle initial begins with the same letter as our last name. My theory is that somebody entered the email address incorrectly.

I tried calling OnStar and explaining everything to them, but I couldn’t convince the customer service representative that I wasn’t this person and I don’t own the kind of car mentioned in these reports. Because we have the same first and last name, we had to be the same person, right? People don’t realize how common my name is. Finally, she agreed to take my email address off the account, but a few days later I got another welcome email and diagnostic report. I checked my bank and credit card transactions and I’m not being charged for OnStar, so I won’t worry about it anymore.

What else have I learned from the emails?
• He just purchased more hands-free calling minutes today
• His hands-free calling number is a Florida number (supports the old guy theory)
• He has 86% of his oil life remaining
• He has 1507 miles on his car
• 3 out of his 4 tires have low air pressure, but everything else on the car checks out okay
• He has XM Satellite Radio

I almost wish I had OnStar now.

Update, 09/30/2008
I got another email from OnStar yesterday asking me to complete my online account setup.

Someone from OnStar left a comment here asking me to call her to address this situation. I’m leaving it in moderation so it won’t show up here. She was in a meeting when I called here earlier this morning. I’m still waiting on a return call.

I recently made my way through Headcrash by Bruce Bethke. It was hard with the Olympics and dog stuff and whatever distractions I could come up with. Headcrash is a cyberpunk novel. The author is the person who came up with the term cyberpunk.

The VR elements of this book reminded me of Snow Crash. I liked this one a lot better, but I still wasn’t blown away. I guess cyberpunk just isn’t my thing. It’s a funny book and good satire. I liked how at the end it was making fun of authors like Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton, whose books I do like to read. Enjoyable book, but I’m ready for something else. Next I’ll be reading Watchmen.

• Headcrash, Bruce Bethke
• Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
• Timeline, Michael Crichton
• Unshapely Things, Mark Del Franco
• Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Appeal, John Grisham
• Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
• The Taking, Dean Koontz
• Playing for Keeps, Mur Lafferty
• The Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
• Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
• Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
• Lyra’s Oxford, Philip Pullman
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• Elantris, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare