I've been using my iPod on shuffle, but only recently has it started cooperating again. I continue to believe that shuffle is not truly random, and that the iPod has good moods and bad moods, and some days it's out to get you.

Last week was a bad week. On the elliptical trainer, it kept throwing me either slow, melancholy acoustic guitar songs or incomplete dance remixes drawn from complilations. I would press fast-forward, but the next song would be just as unsuitable.

Then, later in the week, it managed to dig up all of my least favorite Phish songs. I kept pressing fast-forward, and the iPod seemed to say, "No, you are going to listen to Phish." When it insisted on "Foam," which I find to be one of Phish's most irritating selections, I gave up.

The RJKPod decided to be nice on Tuesday. It dished out one great song after another, including "Proudest Monkey" by the Dave Matthews Band (perfect for warming up), "Heavy Metal Machine" by Smashing Pumpkins, "You Wanted More" by Tonic, a live version of "Better Man" by Pearl Jam, and "Show Don't Tell" by Rush. Cool-down and post-stretching featured the perfectly downtempo "Church of Logic" by Medeski Martin & Wood.

I got my iPod a nice new case, so hopefully it will be appreciative and reward me today with another good shuffle.