Friday, September 21, 2007

How downsizing went.....

On June 1st we gave up television.
Meaning cable. We still used it for
Netflix. And it went well. I really didn't
miss the babysitter for adults.

But then at the last week of July, the
King couldn't take it anymore. And he
found a cheap way to watch network
television. Good old St. Vinnie's had an
antenna for $5. So he put it up. We got
channel 4. He told me that he knew I missed
the network news. lol.. yea, right.

He found two weeks ago, in the upper
channels of 46 and 35 he could get Krem
and Fox. So he is happy. And back to being
put to sleep with television.

I have found it is amazing how this is the
way I started to watch television about 37
years ago. With only one channel. You know,
the old stand on the roof while some one
yells from inside, how the screen is doing.
And when You are standing on one foot,
hanging over the eave, they said that's it.

This time went a little easier. We pointed it
the same as the neighbor who uses it for
local channels. And I have figured it out, that
this is enough. Yes, I miss the Discovery, A&E,
and TLC channels, but found out I can rent most
from Netflix. So don't think we will connect up to
cable this fall.

The newspapers went too. And those two were
not missed. Found our lives a lot lighter. Not all
the negativity of the paper. And finding out things,
a day or two later was not a bad thing. And as far
as the local, well, gossip runs well in this town. And
a little more reliable than the local fishwrap.

But as I said, I did weaken when they dropped the
price to a buck a week. This way I can see who
got married, who had kids, what group of people
have 5 generations and to see if I am in the obits yet.

So sitting for 2 hours reading the papers, watching
the news for another hour... wasn't missed. And we
had plenty to do in the yard and around the house.
And got a nice tan to boot.

Once again you all are going to have to fend for
yourselves for a week. We are flying down to lower
California and driving back. This ought to be interesting.
So will yak at you next week near the end
.

So party on....

1 comment:

Idaho Dad said...

Glad to hear it's going well. We're finishing our fourth year with no cable. Like the King, I also had to hook up an antenna just so I could get some sports and news every now and then. But I find myself almost completely out of the habit of just turning on the TV for no reason.

There's really not enough time to watch all the good DVDs that are being released each week. We're finishing up old episodes of The Cosby Show (the kids love it), while my wife and I are enjoying the first season of NBC's Heroes. Netflix has such an amazing collection of DVDs... I love it when a disc arrives in the mail.

The best part is NO COMMERCIALS!!