Saamba

this past christmas i was given possibly one of the coolest gifts ever for a music lover (read: rolling stone rock journalist wannabe)-sirius satellite radio and a full-year subscription. if you consider yourself a music fan (any genre) and you don�t already have it, run, don�t walk, to the nearest best buy, plunk down the money, and get ready to be fully sated in your musical needs. no commercials and stations to fit your every mood -

munchies accompanied by a jonze for bob marley ? check.

getting down with your bad anarchist self and yearning for the sex pistols? check.

your polish heritage peeking out and you want to polka? check.

craving that song from your freshman year of college that you haven�t heard since the last time you puked from goldschlagger-cherry jello shots? check.

want to host a rave featuring the crystal method in your office cubicle? check.

all there. along with every sports game imaginable (finally i�ll get to listen to giants football when we�re out of new york!), comedy (they even play monty python and eddie izzard - heaven!), talk show, political view and even a station for trucker talk. yes, folks, it has something for everyone!

in the beginning, i wasn�t all that impressed, i only used it in my car, and when you only have a 20 minute commute and it interferes with howard stern in the mornings, it loses out at least on one of the two daily trips.

it was great for road trips though, driving through kentucky and sick of hearing dwight yokum over and over? sirius is looking out for you. an atheist in the bible belt? there�s a satellite smiling down on you from over your shoulder.

finally a few months ago i got a �promotion� and was given a cubicle with a window. bingo! i could use it in the office now. this is where things finally gelled and i became hooked. i�d get to listen 8 hours a day, uninterrupted. my cd collection grew exponentially as i found newer and more obscure bands and musicians to obsess over.

two weeks ago, i started to notice that the antenna would lose contact with the satellite, and i�d have brief disruptions to my otherwise perfect existence. but that just made me appreciate my time with sirius that much more.

last weekend on a road trip to boston, we encountered total blackout - the dreaded antenna error that wouldn�t go away (the antenna error that means no antenna is attached). i felt as though the pusher had pulled the needle from my arm and was waving the heroin-laden syringe just out of my reach. bastard! i want my music! give me my music! no. no antenna error. error bad. you have an antenna, antenna not missing.

i got fed up and banished the receiver and its "not attached" antenna to the back of the car, thinking maybe it was just the car antenna that was futzed up and that it would work at the office.

i was wrong, i tried every conceivable way to get it to work. i beat it; stood on my head while balancing it on my foot; i pushed; pulled; prodded; turned off; turned on; and finally, i cried. even that didn�t work, satellite receivers don�t fall for guilt trips.

so, now i am currently 24-hours-of-music-commercial-free deficient, and in the process of seeing what the hell i can do about it. i�ve lost my window to the world of all that is cool, new, or never heard anymore on the regular radio.

and i just realized i basically started this entry out as a glowing review for something which causes dispair, withdrawl pangs and the most cruel of all - music witholding evil bastardry.

oops.

my bad.

0 wrote to say im an idiot.