Various Updates

I have bad Car-ma:  Last weekend I was working on my car (see next update item), when a great freak accident happened.  I have a retractable power cord reel that hangs from my garage ceiling, and like most retractable items you pull on it a little bit to get it to retract.  Although it was hanging on a big-ass hook screwed 2 inches into a stud, it decided to pull loose and land on my car.  Fortunately for me, it landed entirely on the windshield, destroying it,  and only make a small (1mm square) chip in the paint.  I drove around Sunday with sunglasses on, just in case the glass decided to fall in on me.  It's a common windshield for VW, so I was able to get it fixed on Monday (instead of waiting weeks for parts).

Beyond FM:  The item I was installing in my car last weekend was my new XM satellite radio receiver.  I finally got it (mostly) installed and put back together Monday, and it's totally sweet.  The original reason I decided to get XM was for a talk show from some ex-NY radio people, but there's a ton of other good programming.  After driving to Denver last night, I'm pretty sure that driving with an XM radio is more dangerous than driving while talking on the cell phone.  I think I spent half my time looking at the XM display as I was turning the dial because it tells you who's one each channel as you browse.  I'm sure it'll be a little better once I figure out which stations I like, and also set up the preset buttons.  I think it's going to be super sweet when I'm driving to the slopes this season.

This just in from CNN: Martha whips up crab apple jelly in prison