Be careful with that ipod there, lastwish.
Well, I used my nextdoor neighbor's G4 to restore the ipod to factory settings, then it asked me to plug it into an outlet in order for it to reflash itself. I did that, and the apple logo showed. I figured it was done, so I restarted it. Doh. Blank screen. The Apple Store better take it back for exchange, or I might have to bring out the pyromaniac in me.