Trial Balloon: December 22, 2008 Archive

It's the Monday of a major holiday week during one of the worst economic downturns ever, so there's a chance you're not reporting for duty today.
Maybe you have the day off because school is on break, or because you took some vacation time, or because your factory is idle, or shut down, or your company is bankrupt or your employer is in jail.
Some of these things are bad ways to get a day off, but you can't let the reason tarnish the beauty of some unscheduled time with your nearest and dearest.
Especially when Hanukkah started last night and it is the day before the day before the day before Christmas.
Before long, someone may surprise you with something nice.
Lisa, one of our Radio Heartland listeners, had such a surprise last Friday when her partner Gary revealed that he'd installed an HD radio in her car. It was unveiled using a little sleight-of-hand and a lot of style. The previous radio and the new HD radio were both the sort that has a removable face plate. Gary used Lisa's car on Thursday so he could have the work done, and on Thursday night convinced Lisa he had inadvertently left the radio's face plate at the office. On Friday morning when they got into the car, Gary unveiled the new face plate for a new radio with new technology - a technology he had researched. Thoroughly.

I'm a tech, so my natural tendency is to go into all of the possible ways to get HD radio in your car with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of each option. And I did that to my friends and coworkers. And I noticed that their eyes glazed over about 10 seconds. My sweetie made a valiant effort to understand, but I came to realize that she shouldn't have to. It should be simple to use and the HD tuner should be built into the deck (or at least act like it is).

I purchased it at Best Buy because they had it in stock, I'm impatient and I like to buy locally. I had them install it (for about $50) because there's one close to where I work in Eden Prairie and it could be done on my lunch hour.

So you see, dear listeners, it is possible to get HD radio on the road. .
All you have to do is get Gary to fall in love with you, drop a few hints, let him use the car, and wait.