Woot XM alert

I now have a car stereo with built-in XM; before that I had used a cassette adapter and tried an FM modulator. The cassette adapter was close to the built-in for sound quality but the FM modulator was a distant third.

 

Amen, brother. There's a good listener-supported station at U. of Virginia that whined on its website about how satrad intended to kill all terrestial radio (by using horrible tactics like providing better sound, better song quality and more choices). Screw that. You want to beat satrad, give us a reason to listen to you. And Clear Channel cookie-cutter playlists with 20-minute commercial blocks, not cutting it.

 

I can't compare CT or upstate NY it to West Texas or Wyoming, since I've never been to the latter two destinations, but yes, there are some real remote areas of bumfuck in the northeast. There's three pockets of civilization once you leave Middletown, NY and head straight north: Binghamton, Syracuse and Rochester. Everything else is reeeeeeeeeemote. You can also find plenty of tumbleweeds in the extreme northwest, northeast and southeast portions of CT.

And you north of Augusta in Maine? As remote as remote gets.

 

OK, I'll give you north of Augusta.

But going north from Middletown on 17 you hit Wallkill, Fair Oaks, Bloomingburg, Highview, Wurtsboro, Mamakating, Emerald Green, Lake Louise, Wanaksink Lake, Rock Hill, Bridgeville, Monticello, Thompson, Bushville, Harris, Ferndale, Grossinger, Parksville, Livingston Manor, Joscelyn, Hazel, Roscoe, Crooks Falls, Butternut Grove, Horton, Elk Brook, East Branch, Hancock, Fishs Eddy, Hancock, Hale Eddy, Deposit, McClure, Damascus, Windsor, Occanum, West Windsor, Kirkwood Center and THEN Binghamton. That's within 123 miles, according to Google.

I realize some of these locales may be little more than a gas station, post office and McDonald's. That's OK. I don't consider civilization to be any location with a Nordstroms. I consider it a place where you can fill up your tank and receive emergency assistance (or just use a phone) if necessary.

By comparison, our beloved Roswell, NM to Lubbock is 174 miles. You will pass Caprock, Tatum, Plains, Tokio, Brownfield, Meadow, Ropesville, and Wolfforth then Lubbock.

I'm sorry for the geography-jack, and I'm not trying to pick on BYH, but some days I really feel people in the east have no concept of BFE.

 

Stop picking on me, Cadet!!!

My wife's best friend lives in Livingston Manor. You have got to trust me here: It is depressingly bumfuck. And that passes for civilization in that neck of the woods. Don't go to Monticello.

 

An update on this one. I got mine by Fed Ex and it works fine. I'm thrilled! Love baseball and it's what I got it for. I'm also in the minority. Many, and I mean many, have gotten defective units that aren't being replaced by the manufacturer or by woot. Maybe someone who has been wooting for a while longer than I could shed some light on whether this is has been a problem with them, but I just wanted th throw a heads-up to the who refurbished vs. new debate.