Downtime Musings - Volume 1

One outlet for so much downtime is writing and thinking, and listening to the Bruins games on the radio.

It's exciting to listen to these games on the radio.  I've been lucky to catch most of the games on the internet by streaming the audio from my cell phone signal, which is them pumped via bluetooth technology into a portable speaker!  I can bring it anywhere.  I brought it outside for yard work, inside for laying on the couch, even into the bathroom for showering!  I like radio, and think the commentators are much more imaginative and exciting.  They make you really think about what is going on, and to pay close attention to the game.

I remember going to our family camp in Maine and listening to the radio a lot.  Most of the time, all we could pull were the French stations from Montreal.  Once in a while we got lucky and could catch the Sox or Bruins and listen to the game out on the porch while we got eaten alive by mosquitoes.  Our radio at the camp had one speaker....not initially two speakers, down to one...no - it was purchased new with only one speaker.  It had a single tape deck, with buttons each the size of a deck of playing cards.  This thing was a machine.

Another good place for listening to the radio is on a boat.  Radios on boats are great especially on a nice cool summer evening fishing for chub.  Music is okay in this instance, but again, the creme de la creme is listening to a sports game.  Give the anchor a good heave, prop up the life jackets in the bow, sit back, close your eyes, and relax.  Disposable radios are great for canoes, and unregistered aluminum boats.  If you are listening a shitty radio on a shitty piece of watercraft, there is a good possibility you may be shitty as well.

You young whippersnappers might not be in tune with the joys of listening to the radio, or "boom box" as we called them.  Most models had one tape deck, others had two (for creating mix tapes).  It was not uncool to prop it up on one shoulder with the speakers positioned approximately 3 inches from your ear and walk about town (or the woods of Maine and New Hampshire).  One note about the over the shoulder carry were the 8 D-Cell batteries required, so the boom box could get heavy depending on how far your travels took you.

Probably listening to Poison

Teens across the land rejoiced when the walkman was unveiled.  Gone were the days of walking about town with a boom box.  "There has to be a better way..." was the driving force behind this technology. It was the original hands free device.  I remember thinking how cool it was to be somewhere with my walkman and headphones (with the puffy earpieces) on.  It really was liberating to take your music anywhere.  

In my opinion, the discman was just a pain in the ass.  It was a so high maintenance.  Everyone was so impressed with this new technology..."oh my god, a laser reads this silver disc with rainbow reflections?"  The discman required so much care.  DONT scratch the discs.  DONT bump the disc man.  DONT get the discman wet.  The best uses for a discman were in the car or in the library studying.

Loser.

The iPod generation is lucky.  Or are they?  This technology is the end result of older generations experimenting and refining personal audio.  We have worked out the kinks for these people.  Remember when your walkman ate your Metallica tape how crushed you were?  Pulling, pulling, and more pulling of tape out of the innards of your walkman.  Trying like hell to recoil the tape back into the cassette with a pencil.  The new generation will never experience that.  

Either way, no matter the new audio technology, I will need to have it!  With a little more downtime ahead, I'm glad the B's have taken out the Rangers and there will be a few more games to listen to:)