Don't Leave Home

I owe a lot to American Express, literally and figuratively. As such, I must take a quick moment to honor Karl Malden, the voice of AmEx's "Don't leave home without it" ads, who passed away on Wednesday.

By the way, the American Express Charge Card turned 50 last year. In case you're interested, check out the cute site that AmEx put together to honor some of its original Cardmembers. I may just be a sucker for good marketing, but the Cardmember stories are pretty interesting.


Of course, I would never leave home without my American Express, but I've recently discovered something else that's keeping me closer to home: the Public Radio iPhone app.


Until now, I've resisted the temptation to blog about how f*cking fantastic my new iPhone is, but yeah, this is just that good.

This iPhone app streams audio from any of the local NPR stations around the country -- even when you have crappy cellphone reception! In other words, while driving between Lubbock and Amarillo, where the only other sound is the whoosh of wind turbines and the crackle of South Plains Public Radio playing classical music, I can still hear my my favorite radio voices.


Don't get me wrong -- I love me some local radio, public or not. (This was one of my favorite finds: 91.1 WRVU out of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.) But every now and then, I get a little lonely on the road, and it's great to have some iPhone audio, streamed straight from Philadelphia, to keep me company.