On The Radio

I still have my rental car. I called my mechanic again last Monday to ask what decision had been made - was my car totalled, or was he going ahead with the work - and, flabbergasted, he responded that he had called my claims adjuster half a dozen times, only to find out that he was taking a week-long vacation.

So, that means that a verdict will come in on Gretchen, at best, by this Tuesday (the adjuster has to come down from Denver to look at her) and if she's dead I'll have a week and a half more of the rental to find a new car, and if she isn't I'll have at least a week and a half of waiting for her to get fixed. What I like to call a "groundhog situation."

The DL on XM

A couple weeks ago I was super excited about the fact that my rental came with XM radio, and strangely I found that the "'40's" station could hold my attention the longest, with "Nashville" coming in a close second. At first I was super-impressed by XM. The 90's station wasn't playing songs like "Jenny From The Block" or Inrique Iglesias' "Hero," it was bumping jams like "One Headlight," "What I Got," and "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It."

By the same token "Nashville" wasn't playing "Redneck Woman" or "Save a Horse..." it was playing "When You Walk In" (early Lonestar) and "Indian Outlaw" (early Tim McGraw).

But, as fate would have it, my XM was only a trial and ceased to function on the same day that I found out I would be driving my rental for another two weeks.

I love resources like Pandora and XM because they prove that somewhere it is in someone's best economic interest to produce a quality product, and to cater to a group other than the "I Kissed A Girl"-loving multitude.

Also, I love that someone is trying to improve radio, while still holding to the principles that make radio great. While I know that at any time I begin a roadtrip I could use my iTrip to blast "Life is a Highway" and start things off right, I would much, much rather have "Life is a Highway" come up randomly on the radio 1 in 1000 times and know that the powers that be have blessed my trip.

The radio is beautiful because it is random, whenever I go back to it I'm always happy I did, and I feel a little guilty that I've had the mp3-player-strangle-hold over my musical life for so long.

So, let loose today, turn on the radio and hear the soundtrack to your life that you've been ignoring.




Also, I want ya'll to know that I came across my old CD wallet this week and, for the first time since freshman year of college, actually had a CD player. So, I've been listening to:

1. The Remix (a great CD Pat made me in high school), highlights: "Hot Stepper" and "Sundown"
2. High School Soundtrack (a CD I made for my walk to school senior year), highlights: "Authority Song" by Jimmy Eat World and "Fire Escape" by Fastball
3. Senior Year (a perfect mix of songs, none of which I can actually listen to because the emotion is still too raw), highlights: "Told You So" by BNL and "Champagne High" by Sister Hazel