Radio Sweetheart

[copied from dland]

Ever since my beloved oldies station changed format one Friday afternoon at 4:00 without warning and became a "Jack" station -- all I know is that it's not oldies -- I have been forlorn. All of the radio station buttons in my car are programmed for light music, or classic rock, or something, but nothing is right.

Now of course, it is just such a situation for which I have an iPod. But the iPod is not quite right for me in the car most of the time either. For one, most of my trips are very short; I only work four minutes away from home. It's not worth it to plug in the iPod when I get in the car and unplug it and take it with me when I get out. Also, since my car's cassette player broke, I play the iPod through the radio using an FM transmitter, and some of the places I go, there's interference from another station, so then it doesn't work.

I was lamenting this situation earlier today when the girls and I went to -- where else -- Target, and they suggested that I make a playlist on the iPod and burn it to a CD. Hmmm.

For one strange reason or another, mostly because I didn't have the sense to buy my car with a CD player built into the radio, I have a 6-disc CD changer under the passenger seat and wired into the radio (because that's all I could get when I decided I wanted a CD player after I had the car a couple of years.) So I could burn six discs, and leave them in there all the time, like my own private radio station.

Coool.

So I made a new playlist when I got home, combining three or four of my favorite playlists and deleting the duplicates and the really long songs and other things that I didn't want there, and so on. And this playlist has 553 songs, and will play, according to iTunes, for one day, eight hours, 27 minutes, and 38 seconds.

Hmm. I don't know if I've actually got that much time. Y'know?

So far, I've burned 11 discs. #12 is burning, and #13 is on deck. I had to go out to CVS to pick up some blank CDs, which to tell you the truth, were on sale for a stupid low price. I needed to pick up hearing aid batteries anyway.

I mean, I had to burn the whole thing, right? It would have taken me longer to figure out what to get rid of than to just do it. I'll have six discs in the changer, and when I've gone through all of them, I'll put in the next six. This ought to hold me for a really long time, I think. (Actually, for 32 hours, 27 minutes, and 38 seconds. Figure an 8 minute commute every day, and that's .... oh, I don't know; I'll be retiring in three years or so. Probably till then.)

It is an excellent playlist, btw, the ultimate happy boomer playlist. Lots of Simon and Garfunkel, Creedence, the Moody Blues, America, the Eagles, Springsteen, Chicago, Fleetwood Mac. And clearly, a cast of thousands.

I'm psyched.

The weather is not so nice today, mostly cloudy and much colder, very windy. Winter is returning this week, despite yesterday's temperature in the high 50s. My headache persists, four days now, but my eyes are still good. It's a trade-off, or, as my beloved Odd Couple would say, it's the razor's edge. (You do know that the Odd Couple is the best comedy that was ever on TV, right? Just so we're clear.)

Okay, I'm going out to put the first six discs in the car because my case won't hold all of them unless I do. And ... ew. Boo poo, right next to my desk chair here. Which requires my immediate attention, I think.

WATCHING THE HISTORY CHANNEL :: ENTRY #1391