I accidentally left my iPod in the park yesterday. As luck would have it, I didn't realize until late that evening, and when I went back to check, my iPod was gone. I was really upset. I filed a police report, but I don't really expect anything. Not only is my iPod my music source, it's my alarm clock, my timer, and my notepad, I literally use it everyday.
As I set off for my run this morning, I was irked that I didn't have a soundtrack to run along to. Then, as I was passing through Kelvingrove Park, I heard a familiar sound. A group of bagpipers and drummers were standing in a circle and practicing. Most of you know that the founder of Carnegie Mellon University was Andrew Carnegie, a Scott. What might be a surprise is that CMU is the only university in the USA to offer a bagpiping major. And since a band of pipers are really too loud to practice indoors, the only place for them to practice is standing in a circle in the middle of the main lawn. It is one of my favorite things about CMU, that you can be headed to class on a random Wednesday and, if the weather's nice, you will be serenaded by the pipes.
This little taste of home meant so much to me. I realize that, while I shouldn't try to lose expensive electronic equipment with regularity, it is nice to become unplugged. Because maybe what I really need, is to turn everything off and listen.