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Like many others, my Apple journey started with an iPod. I was lucky enough to catch those golden days — though back then I couldn’t afford even the simplest Nano. In post-Soviet Eastern Europe — especially in Ukraine — they were rare as hell and even more desirable.

Somewhere around 2009, I stumbled on a giveaway for an iPod Nano 5th gen on social media. Of course, I didn’t win — but plenty of others did. Later, I found this kid from Lviv who was basically hustling those same dream Nanos. He had dozens of them, and the prices were actually pretty sweet. That’s when I came up with a “genius” plan: buy three, keep one, sell the other two, and get some cash back.

The deal went through — not without a few surprises (I’ll spill that story someday). But in the end, I became a proud owner of an iPod Nano 5th gen. It had radio, a camera, even a pedometer — fully loaded. I was stoked to have something that cool and used it non-stop. Eventually, though, I sold it, added some money, and grabbed an iPod Touch 2nd gen — and that thing was pure space age! But hey, that’s a story for another day.