What will keep your favorite traveler on the move, but treading more lightly on the earth?

Coming back from grabbing an early morning cappuccino in the bracing Brooklyn wind, I just dropped my iPod in spectacular fashion.

So far, so good, as it seems to work still.

But in the mad panic that ensued while I was unsure about whether or not it survived its tumble, something became quite clear to me: I am an iPod addict.

I mean, I am fairly certain that most normal people can handle a 5-minute walk down the street without needing a soundtrack to be playing in the background. But not me. I feel weird when I head to the subway WITH someone and thus have to forego my iPod. While we sit or stand on the train, talking, I have a little bitterness that I can't put my buds in my ears - that there is no music providing the backdrop to the rocking of the train.

I'm pretty sure this is not healthy. In fact, maybe I need to go on one of those intervention reality shows to wean myself off my addiction. I can see it now: crying friends, explaining to me how they felt unloved while I "tuned" out, neighbors articulating how I have destroyed our relationships - strutting down the street, completely missing their pleasant greetings, family members waxing nostaligic about the "Old Technophobe Heather" who couldn't even figure out how to make her Walkman work correctly...

Oh, that wily Steve Jobs. He's my pusher.

-Heather... off to back up all my digital music in case the blasted thing really broke...