I just finished listening to President Obama's inaugural address.

I'm not home, so I didn't watch it on TV (not yet, anyway, but I do have it recording at home). I thought I could watch it on streaming video over the Internet, so I didn't bother to bring a portable radio or anything to work.

But then the streaming video wasn't working. I'm not sure if it was overloaded at my end, overloaded on the server end, or something else, but the video stream kept cutting out over & over until it just wouldn't start up at all.

My old cell phone used to have an FM radio tuner built in, but my current one doesn't. The only radio I had nearby was the car stereo, but I wanted to stay at my desk, rather than sit out in the car for a half-hour in the middle of the work day.

The minutes were ticking by, and there wasn't time to go out and *buy* a radio (although I did ever-so-briefly consider it).

Eventually, I solved the problem.

I called from my desk phone to my cell phone and left it connected. I went outside & turned the car on (just to the Accessory position, not running the engine) and tuned the radio to NPR. I set the cell phone on speakerphone, and laid it on the front seat. I left the key in the ignition but locked the car doors with the remote control. I went back to my desk and put on my phone headset, and listened to the whole speech over the phone, with sound quality that I can only compare to a tinny old Depression-era radio.

At least I didn't have to miss the moment.