The randomization algorithm that's used by the "shuffle" option in iTunes is decidedly non-random. It seems to pick songs you haven't listened to before (those that have just been downloaded) to the exlcusion of other songs that have either been played a lot or have been around for a while. There does not seem to be any way to control this other than to create playlists, which seems like a lot of work when I just want to listen to a truly random selection of music.

Odd phobias and compulsions I’ve had (several of which I still suffer from):
1. Fear of dropping my hotel room key card down that little opening between the elevator and its doors
2. Fear of backing over a baby groundhog (this actually happened to me and I developed a compulsion to check under the wheels of the car every time I backed it up for a long time)
3. Fear of being killed by a hurtling hunk of burning space junk (ok, this is not really my phobia, but the series Dead Like Me is no longer running on Showtime and I had to work this into the entry somehow)
4. Fear of trichinosis (instilled by my mother who cooked all pork products until they were a few degrees shy of the “cinder” temperature)
5. Fear of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (also instilled by my mother who panicked when she found a tick in my hair when I was about 5).
6. Fear that my career will crater if I stop using the Secret antiperspirant labeled “Ambition”. They need a line for those who wish to indulge in the seven deadly sins. Who wouldn’t buy deodorant called “Sloth” or “Gluttony” or “Lust”?

I received a pair of Shure headphones for Christmas. These are, without a doubt, the finest passive noise blocking (meaning they don’t send out sounds at a wavelength to cancel other ambient noise) headphones I’ve ever tried. I will be writing them a fan letter, begging them to please develop a set of headphones for my cellphone that work as well, along with a headset for my office phone (I just got a wireless headset for that phone that looks like something out of the movie Brazil. The over-the-head set tangles in my hair and the over-the-ear version is awkward to put on, especially when dealing with both glasses and earrings.) The Shure ear buds can accommodate either a hard earpiece or a soft squishy foam sleeve that molds to your ear. I chose the latter – it makes a seal around your ear that blocks out almost all other noise. Don’t tug them out too fast however – your poor eardrums will flex violently in protest.

Movies: Mulholland Drive. Re-watched this David Lynch oddity and realized I had forgotten entire chunks of the storyline (the director who is told to choose a certain girl for the lead role in his current movie, for example). The strangest thing about this movie is not the role-switching or the unusual imagery, but rather that it was originally shot as a TV series. The possibility that anyone could have conceived that this would have found a TV audience is staggeringly unbelievable.