To-day I received in the mail Apple’s video iPod. As tradition dictates, I have named it γραικύλος — grécaillon (fr), græculus (la). Though I am not what I would call a visually-oriented individual — one need only conjure the short list of persons I have loved to confirm — I felt compelled to purchase this particular iPod, i.e, generation. The compulsion resulted from the loss of Thyago, the iPod Shuffle I had purchased to replace Txaparro, a first generation iPod.
I must add that I still have Txaparro. He served faithfully for a year and a half without a glitch, except for the occasional freezing in extreme weather, before his battery was no longer able to hold a charge for long periods of time. Now, somewhere in New Mexico, in a tawny cardboard box, lies his white and beaten body — oh how many times did not fall upon the pavement! — amongst the miscellaneous.