RADIO DAZE
After two-and-a-half years going without, I finally have a radio installed in my car. It's been a valuable exercise in mindfulness to drive with nothing but the chatterings of my monkey mind and the sound of TAO 61's (the car's) exhaust. But this weekend, the Wizard kindly struggled to rewire the dashboard -- the thieves had made a real mess -- and get the new JVC radio+CD/MP3/iPOD-ready device installed and working. Still in the box, it had been taking up space in my trunk for two years. And in a Miata trunk, a half-cubic-foot is a lot of real estate.

It's a shiny black and silver thing, with tiny buttons, nearly invisible legends and indicators, and a coded display that I simply can't figure out, let alone see clearly. I did manage to set the clock, but I can't activate it to display the time. I'm feeling incompetent, maybe just old. (I understand why the Wizard wants an analog radio that tunes manually with a dial.)

I did manage to find a radio station this morning. I learned in a local newscast that a tree had fallen on someone and an assessment of the weak old ironwoods on the beach would begin---more tree wars; and that a nomination for the State Supreme Court Chief Justice with an unpronouncable--at least by the newscaster--Samoan name, Fa'auuga To'oto'o, had been criticized by the bar association. I once sat on a jury in his courtroom and thought he was pretty just. And I should give credit to our newscaster for trying; he has trouble with even simple things, recently commenting that we need to free ourselves of dependence on "important" oil.

Bored with the news, I opted for a CD, first of a Teaching Company series on comparative religion. But to effectively use the thing, it looks like I'm going to have to take a graduate class in radio operation -- or at least sit patiently for a while with a manual that's about as helpful as VCR documentation. (My iPAD came with no instructions, so intuitive it was, at least for a veteran Mac user --although someone considering one told me she took a class to learn it first-- I only had to ask a friend three questions about a couple of things I would have figured out anyway.)

The glitzy blingy look of the radio faceplate may help me to remember to remove it to prevent a fourth radio heist from my ragtop...it looks about as appropriate in the 20-year-old dashboard as a big diamond and ruby ring on a wrinkled hand with liver spots. (I need to schedule a detailing, to say nothing of a manicure and a facial.) My all-time favorite Sony, a couple of receivers back, was dull black and disappeared into the dashboard, although that didn't stop the rip-off artist.

If I have to actually learn how to use a car radio, I might just continue to listen to the sound of silence.

And there's something else; it really wants new speakers.