As I mentioned in a previous post, my I-Pod died. Not only was that a bummer because I enjoyed my I-Pod a lot, but it was also a bummer because I USE my I-Pod a lot in my work – as a worship leader and as a music teacher. It’s a pretty handy tool. So I wanted to replace it right away, and thankfully things worked out so that I could get a new one.

My I-Pod needs are fairly simple – I used the I-Pod Mini before, which is now discontinued. So I replaced it with the I-Pod Nano. It’s small, but more than capable of doing what I need it to do. The full-size I-Pod, on the other hand, is just too much for me – both in dollars and in capability. I don’t care about watching videos – I can’t see them without reading glasses anyway, which is a hassle.

But to get to the point – I LOVE THE APPLE STORE.

What a great place. I wanted this one particularly cool red Nano, which is only available by ordering from Apple, or from the Apple store. It’s the same price as Target or wherever. Plus, $10 of my purchase price apparently goes toward resolving the AIDS problem. Call me optimistic, but I believe my $10 may be just what’s needed to push this thing over the top and get this problem solved once and for all. I can just picture a couple of medical research guys in a lab, and one of them saying to the other one, “Darn it, Dr. Johnson. We’re so close. If we only had another $10 we could totally eradicate this dreadful disease.” Anyway, I called the Apple Store in Manhattan Beach to see if they had it, and lo and behold, they did. So I was pretty happy I wasn’t going to have to order one and wait several days, or even worse, go to Target and settle for a less-cool color.

This Apple store is a great store. I went in, and a guy came to help me right away; almost a little too quick, but it was fine. Then he told me I’d need to get in what appeared to be a long, bank-style line, and someone would have to get one from “the back. ” Not looking too fun at this point.

However – I was in line about 38 seconds, when another Apple guy walked up to me in line, asked what I needed, and I told him. He disappeared for about another 38 seconds, brought the Nano along with a portable credit card machine, scanned my card, and we were done.

I also noticed that there were other similar little Apple guys, doing similar great customer service throughout the line. What appeared to be a long line was actually being take of really, really fast.

I’ve never used any Apple product except for my previous I-Pod, and probably won’t get a Mac or anything in the near future. But I may want to just hang out at that store, because I always like to be around people who are good at what they do. Plus, now I have a cool red Nano to listen to while I hang out there.