BoomBox…ever heard of one?

I’m in the middle of planning my 28th birthday party – a simple and sophisticated gathering at my house with a bunch of A-listers! As I’m thinking of what to drink (Miller Lite and Corona), what to eat (another question entirely) and what to do to keep the party the event of the year – I thought MUSIC! I like to consider myself a music lover, I have so many songs from so many different eras, genres and artists…I figured there will be something for everyone; not to mention my roommates recent obsession with Akon.

I knew that I need to do some work on ITunes, getting new songs, adding and changing playlists, removing those sappy love songs that remind me of past relationships that I like to turn up loud and sing along to on long car rides (you know what songs I’m talking about). I knew also that I would need to review the stereo situation, making sure I had the required wires. It’s not my stereo; it’s my roommate’s. She has the main component hidden in the bottom cabinet of our TV armoire, with two speakers on either side.

Now I grew up with a stereo. My dad was a big music guy. He loved to crank it up, playing random songs to which he loved to sing along. I’m not certain that any of his neighbors loved his taste. His stereo even had a 6 disc CD changer. The CD changer was one of those book like things were you load the CDs and then insert into the stereo. Not to mention the two full size detected speakers – of course they were wired to main the component meaning you could only place them next to the main component without running yards of wire all over the house. It is by no means cutting edge for 2008 – but in the mid 90’s it was a large and impressive piece of audio equipment.

Back to my roommates “stereo” – we do not listen to it often, maybe once and awhile we have played the radio, but mostly it remains in off mode and tucked away behind the cabinet door. I was excited to realize it was there so I could use it at my party. My intention was to buy an AUX cable (I didn’t know what that was until after this story unfolds) and connect it where the headphones would connect. BOY am I glad I didn’t do that. After further conversation with my AV guy (yes, I have one), it was decided that the headphones jack is not an AUX jack. That was certainly the best way to connect my Ipod to my stereo, but I needed to find the AUX jack. My AV guy was certain the AUX jack, if not in the front of the stereo, it would be in the back. After a trip to BestBuy at lunch, it was decided that I should look at the stereo before making a $14.99 purchase of an AUX cable.

What I failed to mention until now is that this “stereo” is not a stereo, at least not to the stereo standards that I am accustomed to. It is a freak’n boombox! A boombox?!?! Okay, so a boombox, now that we are over the shock of that, my roommate tells me that this boombox will also be celebrating a birthday – it’s 28th birthday! My roommate has had this boombox since she was in like the 8th grade. She graduated high school in 1999 – you do the math. Bottom line is, after further inspection following the advice of my AV guy, I found out that this stereo is so old it doesn’t even have an AUX jack. Not anywhere on the box is there an AUX jack. There is no way for me to connect my Ipod to the boombox to play great playlists at my party. Maybe I’ll make a mix tape as a party favor. Oh yeah…the boombox has a dual tape deck. That will make recording the mix tape making go even faster.