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I was running this morning, listening as I often do to old Jean Shepherd tapes. That's one of the miracles of our age, or, more precisely, several miracles at once, that someone bothered to record Shep virtually every night, that the tapes still exist, that someone took the time to digitize them, and that they're available -- free -- as a podcast (The Brass Figlagee). Today, I happened to randomy select a show from September 8, 1971, and the sound quality was a little less than usual. It was clearly recorded from a distance, and the WOR signal wasn't rock solid. Oddly enough, Shep that night was talking about crystal radio sets, about hobbyists and a guy in a POW camp who built a makeshift crystal set to hear news from outside, and he was going on about that when I heard another station rising up from the background and I heard a name pop out clearly in the mix (click picture to hear):

Tommy Helms! Yes! Aha! Whoever was recording Shep was getting interference from WLW Cincinnati, one channel over from WOR! And then came this clip, with the "express written consent of the Cincinnati Reds" disclaimer, the Padres taking the field, the umpires (Andy Olsen, Tom Gorman, Chris Pelekoudas, Harry Wendelstedt) named, and the beginning of the National anthem, and the voice was familiar (click picture to hear):

A very young Al Michaels, fresh off a three year stint as voice of the minor league Hawaii Islanders, in his first big league season. It struck me that there might not even be any other recording of that game. This little clip, this barely audible few seconds of a September game between the Reds and Padres, a late start at what was then still San Diego Stadium, might be the only evidence left that this broadcast ever happened. So much of what we do in radio just goes out and disappears, totally ephemeral, not recorded at all, gone except for dimming memories. But because someone was obsessively recording every Jean Shepherd show on 710 WOR New York, there it was, a tiny bit of a now-obscure regular season game, Reds-Padres (the Reds won 4-1 behind Don Gullett, nailing Clay Kirby with three runs in the second inning, with 4.702 witnesses in the ballpark). I don't know why, but this stuff fascinates me.

And Shep knew all about the geeks like me. A few minutes later, he started playing a commercial, then stopped and replayed it for the radio obsessives who would want to save it for posterity. That's because it was for this (click picture to hear):

It closed four days later. This was one of the last times the legendary jingle aired. Shep jokes that someday old codgers would look back at Palisades Park with nostalgia. He was right.

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Have I mentioned that I hate traveling? That's not quite true, of course. The part I hate is this part, the dread of packing and preparing and doing all the stuff you have to do before going, not go mention the getting up early and going to the airport and dragging through security and getting on the plane and taking off and flying and landing and getting the bags and dragging th to the rental car and driving to the hotel, not to mention reversing the procedure to return home.

And that's days before I'm actually traveling. Travel is temporary, but anxiety can be forever.

I still have plenty of time to prepare, but I feel like I've punched out already. I have a lot of writing to do, but my mind's already elsewhere. Frankly, I'm ready to join it. The travel part may not be my favorite thing to do, but being away for a little bit can't hurt.

In the meantime, perhaps it would be a good idea to start, on, I don't know, packing or something. Excuse me.

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Sorry, late, busy with last-minute stuff. Why is it that a lot of breaking news happens the moment you wrap things up for your time off? Whatever the reason, I'm still trying to finish so I can get some sleep before a 3 am wakeup call.

So good night. Warning: things might get even more inconsequential than usual for the next week. We'll see.

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We made it back to the east coast today, and, naturally, the first thing we did was eat -- the Tick-Tock Diner, specifically, for the kind of Jersey diner food you can't get in Los Angeles. Coming back to the land of our youth always involves food, lots of it, making up for lost time. I'm going to try to control those impulses this time, though -- I've lost a great deal of weight and I don't want to put it all back at once in an orgy of cheesesteaks and Tastykakes. One each, that's the limit. Otherwise, it'll be salads and fish and other healthy stuff.

Besides, I'm wearing my "thin(ner) guy jeans." I didn't bring anything larger. If I overdo the food, I'll be flying back naked, and nobody wants that.

The flight was packed but unremarkable. Uncomfortable, noisy, but we got here okay. Naturally, the first thing I saw after the flight was an ABC News report about how they were able to smuggle bomb materials onto flights. Perfect timing, guys. It's not bad enough that we had to fly at Thanksgiving time. Meanwhile, my e-mail is overflowing with work stuff, because nobody seems to have gotten the memo that I am not working. But I don't mind -- send away. Just don't expect much action until I get back.

And now, I'll go administer more painkillers to the pounding headache I have at the moment. It's weird -- the last two times I've flown into this airport, I've gotten migraine-like, stabbing, intense headaches that don't seem to respond to painkillers. Maybe I'm allergic to New Jersey.

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I guess they do things a little differently here on New Jersey, judging by something I noticed at the mall. Every mall has kiosks scattered around the place, but back in California they're manned by bored youth just kind of hanging out by their cell phone accessories. At Garden State Plaza this afternoon, the Kiosk Kids were positively aggressive. They jumped out at us and even followed us once we spurned their offers. Do we LOOK like we want to try your rejuvenating hand cream? No, we do not. Leave us alone.

That's all. Just an observation.

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We had a nice day today, despite a frigid wind that cut my morning run short at 3 minutes (suddenly, the treadmill at the hotel seemed inviting) -- any day that involves family, friends, cheesesteaks, and Wawa runs can't help but be good. That's... it. That's all I got.

Look, I told you I wouldn't be posting anything of even remote import from the road. Gimme a break.

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I'm having connectivity problems tonight. I'm going to take that as a hint.

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