I'm an NPR geek.

When you leave a place that you once called home, you start to realize all of the things you miss. I may be a geek, but I will shout from the rooftops to let everyone know that I no longer miss and can now listen to NPR in New Zealand!!!

I love NPR.

NPR (National Public Radio, for those of you who don't know) had been an integral part of each day. My morning drive was made less frantic when I was lulled into a comforting trance listening to the voices of Renee Montagne and Steve Innskeep on Morning Edition. Morning coffee wasn't the same without local reports by Chris DeSimio and Mark Hayne. Chris and I would often call each other while on our drives to work and say, "Did you hear that story? Can you believe it?" Most likely we were both crying after listening to the same story from StoryCorps. (You would have been crying, too, if you heard some of these stories.)

Diane Rehm, Robert Siegel, Michele Norris (said Mee-shell), Melissa Block, Neal Conan, Terry Gross, Kai Risdall ... they were friends. Very informative and clever friends that informed me about the news of the day. They were people that I felt I knew even though I couldn't place a face to each voice. And I didn't want to. It might ruin my idea of what each of these friends looked like when they were talking to me from the radio. (These were very ordered friendships with obvious boundaries.) Hearing Ira Flatow on Science Friday signaled the end of the work week. The contagious laughter of Click and Clack on the weekends would accompany me on my drive to my Saturday morning yoga class. Wait wait ... don't tell me. Whad'Ya Know? Which one did we "like" the most, Jenny?

Ah, NPR.

Today I wrote to Jim at Cincinnati's local NPR station, WVXU, to help a desperate me try to connect to the station's broadband connection. I was having technical difficulties trying to set it up. Low and behold, Jim's suggestion helped. He is seeking round-trip tickets to New Zealand as compensation.

Anyone have the money to help me thank Jim? (I promise to continue to donate to WVXU while in NZ!)

Thanks, Jim. Hello again, NPR. (ETK)