Technoserendipity

Thanks to an elaborate sequence of events - that began when a pickup truck we were borrowing burst into flame - my wife and I had to drive two cars back from our Christmas holiday back East with the family. And thanks to the generosity of a family member I was able to pass the long hours by playing songs from my iPod through the radio courtesy of the Griffin iTrip, which was given to me as a gift for the Baby Jesus Holiday.

Crass product placement? It's deliberate. I rant at length about the goods and services that disappoint or seem like a swindle. In 2006 I expect to do my little part to bolster the aggregate blogosphere buzz when a product delivers as promised. The burning, Sauron-like eye of capitalism is intently focused on blogs as a means to hump new technology uphill to the masses, and the phenomenon has spawned a corona industry of meme-trackers and market researchers. So until such time as the Marxist revolution takes hold I will hereby salute the free market.

The iTrip worked as advertised, and I was able to enjoy my tasteful iPod music selection on the stereo during my travel. The device broadcasts a strong localized FM signal on a channel of your choosing - and that's the only drawback. It seems like the expanse of rural Ohio and West Virginia used to be an FM wasteland punctuated only by the occasional preacher or country station. Now the kids are hip-hopping in Zanesville I guess, and there are stations on almost every tick of the dial. This meant I had to re-tune to an empty frequency every fifty or so miles.

But Rachel and I discovered a fringe benefit. The signal could be picked up a few car lengths behind. So as we traveled in tandem she could listen to the same FM station. And this provided a curious, ethereal moment. We hit a snowstorm in the mountains. So in our two cars cruising carefully through the gale - with headlights illuminating the snowflakes and no cell phone coverage - our wedding song came up in the random shuffle of music.

Live in fragments no longer...