Friday List of Random Things: Things I Got For Christmas That I Love

1. Silver iPod Nano (16 GB)

And I HEART it. Really. You know, I never had an iPod before, I didn't want to be all stupid and trendy. I had a Creative mp3 player for a long time, it held a ton of songs, but that bitch was big (TWSS), then I downgraded to a 6 GB, much smaller Sansa. Unfortunately, the Sansa's wheel got all filled with random fuzz, pita chip crumbs, and other detritus from my bag and busted up. So, I broke down and asked my Dad for a new mp3 player for Christmas (it should be noted that my Dad's had an iPod for like 5 years, way ahead of the curve there). I really like the player, it's light, very small, and holds more songs than I own, but, I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of iTunes. Really. I'm annoyed that I have to figure out how to convert my videos to some format that can actually be played on my iPod. I'm totally confused when it comes to Podcasts and can't figure out how to add pictures. I realize this is really embarrassing for someone under 30 to admit, but I am: I'm an iPod virgin. Please help!

2. All-Clad Stainless pots (3 qt. sauce pan and 2 qt. saucier with lids)


Yeah, they're beautiful, I know. So far, I haven't used them for anything legitimate, though. Boiling water for pasta is not how a pot like this was intended to be used, I know, I'm sorry, I just haven't had the time to make a port reduction or a delicious apple, onion, mustard sauce to pour over a ham. I will, though, and I promise to write all about it. I will say that I finally got to get rid of some of the old pots that I had accumulated through the years of living with assorted roommates, which both emptied my kitchen and helped refine my (soon to be) ever-expanding cookware collection.

3. Books!
So many books, so little time: "Comfort Me with Apples" - Ruth Reichl (which I've read already and love), "The Nasty Bits" - Anthony Bourdain (which I'm surrently reading and also love), "Julie and Julia" - Julie Powell (I liked it, apparently it's going to be a movie, too), "On The Line" - Eric Ripert (he's hot, what can I say, also the book is good), "The End of Food" - Paul Roberts (haven't read it yet, probably will next. This is a topic near to my heart), "Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer" - Tim Stark (it sounded interesting, I haven't read it yet), and "More Information Than You Require" - John Hodgman (whom some of you may remember as a correspondent on "The Daily Show" or as PC). I'm going to try to get through them all by reading during lunch and in the evening, you know, instead of watching 8 hours of TV, but I don't know how well it'll work - I do love TV.

4. Mario Kart for Wii!

Ha! Awesome! I love, love, LOVE this game. It's addicting and so much fun to play with a group of people. We played for pretty much all of New Years Eve (until we switched over to the New Years Eve coverage, to watch Carson Daly awkwardly lurch Times Square). So far I've played and gotten good ratings on all the 50 cc courses, and I'm about half way through the 100 cc courses. I can't believe how horribly bad I am at Rainbow Road and Wario's Gold Mine, though. Like, it's pathetic. Pathetically sad. My ratings for the cups that contain those courses are, well, let's say not good. I need someone who's great at those levels to just play those for me wo I can move on to the 150 cc. Anyone? I'l cook food...

5. DVDs!

"Firefly" and "Pushing Daisies" Season 1 to be more specific. Also awesome! I haven't watched "Firefly" yet (I never watched it when it was on TV, either), but I love Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin (he's the best part of "Chuck," am I right, ladies?) so I'm excited to power through the whole series one weekend. As for "Pushing Daisies," it's hard to talk about it without tearing up, since ABC canceled it, so all I'll say is that the show is amazing, I suggest everyone go out and buy the DVD of season 1 and (when it come out) the DVD of season 2. In fact, the season 2 DVD will probably be the only place we'll get to see the last three episodes (don't get me started - why would you spend all that money to film the episodes, then not even show them on TV?). Perhaps the "Pushing Daisies" rant is best saved for another time.

So those are the highlights, to be fair, I got a bunch of other awesome stuff, too, but I don't want to ramble on aimlessly...five things is good enough for a Friday List, right?