February 1: Me, Myself and iTunes

One day, I will brag to my kids that I was part of the original iPod revolution. In fact, I'm still the proud owner of my 3rd generation iPod Classic that my wife surprised me with years ago! Of course, when my kids are old enough to even comprehend this feat and even care, they'll likely be using iPods that link to your TV, get your slippers and pour you a Slurpee at the same time. But, I was still there when all of this "iPod-ness" began. I'll admit, my relationship with my iPod is an odd one. It's like my best friend - it has to be involved when I exercise, mow the lawn, engage in "busy work" for my job, and pretty much anything else I do that involves a task of some sort. I have over 1,950 songs in my iTunes library, and approximately half of those have been purchased from the iTunes store over the years. Which, if you do the math, at 99 cents per song, indicates some poor spending habits on my part. But, I'm sure American Express is thankful for those habits every time they receive my iTunes invoices (for those of you unfamiliar with iTunes, you need a CC to purchase items from the iTunes store). To be honest, though, most of the songs have been purchased via an iTunes Gift Card. that was either given to me or that I purchased using some other type of gift card (i.e. Target, Best Buy). If I think about it, I've never actually bought an iTunes gift card for myself. So, this first day of the month, as I entered CVS to pick up some dog food, I decided that I would also pick up a $15 iTunes gift card. See, there's some music I've been wanting to get, but I've also been focused on keeping the AMEX balance at, well, nothing. So, I was torn. The gift card seemed like a logical solution - I get my music, the credit card doesn't get involved. Everybody wins! So, I did it. And, it felt good. It didn't even feel like I was spending money; which is ironic because one usually feels that way after using a credit card. Go figure.