Nervous Changes part deux

In order to cancel the big cable package, you have to take the box back to Comcast. The box AND the remote. I didn't realize how attached I was to the remote until the customer service lady asked me if I wanted a moment alone with my remote before I turned it in. I left it sitting there as sad looking as a dog watching its master drive away down a country road.

I came home and plugged the cable wire that used to be attached to the box onto the old tube TV. Big mistake. Turns out the only thing keeping the TV working was the cable box. It no longer had any volume control, and when you try to change the volume the TV turns off. I'm sure I scared the hell out of the lady upstairs because at one point, the volume jumped up to the full setting. It was on some loud commercial with screaming guitars and scantily clad women yelling, "Woohoo!" and since I was sitting right in front of the TV, I got it full blast.

I think I'm deaf in one ear now.

I called Matt and he came over to check out the problem and diagnosed that the TV was a piece of crap held together by only the magic duct tape of Comcast electronics. Thanks to his discount at Best Buy where he's a master commercial installer, I have a TV that's smaller than the computer screen on my desktop PC. It's a better picture, but I can't see it from all the way over here. The old tube TV was about 50 pounds of 25" and this new TV is 10 pounds of 22". Aesthetically, visually, and remotely, this thing is smaller, but the goal was to watch less TV. When I said I wanted to watch less TV, I didn't mean watching a SMALLER TV.

I did also discover that the $16 package through Comcast has a lot of my favorite channels, including, unfortunately, the channel that shows Ghost Hunters.

Ghosts in HD.

Lordy.

Nervous Changes

I looked at my Comcast bill the other day and decided it was finally time to get rid of my cable TV.

I'm going almost cold turkey on this. I'm going from the "Silver Package" of a couple hundred channels to the basic 2,4,6,7,9,13 and well, that's it. I don't think I even will have access to OnDemand anymore, the last banyon of the "I'm bored."

I've been contemplating this for a very long time, and I'm nervous about doing something so drastic. I really think I've wasted too much time watching TV as a sort of escape from the challenges of living alone. I have a lot of things that I like to do and want to do more. Photography: I have a killer Alien Bees set-up I haven't practiced with in a while, as well as film, video, antique cameras and my trusty Nikons. Schoolwork: that helps me more bankable to employers. Artwork: in the form of my pens and inks. Friends: what an assortment!

True to form, I have my way around my self-imposed video hiatus. Thank goodness for things like HULU and my stout collection of DVDs. For $80 a month, I can go to see a few movies at a theatre or buy more DVDs. And I can always bother my kids and go to their houses and watch TV. Matt and Jill have a 52" plasma screen, Jason and Kate have my old 48" big screen with 8 speakers with surround sound and Paul, well Paul has even less cable than me.

I know people who have given up TV and are perfectly happy; Jason and Kate got rid of the TV upstairs and now if you want to be a vidiot, you have to make a commitment and go in the basement to watch it. Other people at school have given up TV and I see their productivity skyrocket. Surely, I can benefit from not having the boob-tube so readily available. The ole' google-lantern really needs to have less of a place in my day.

So, so long to Nip/Tuck, ESPN Drag Racing, Spike and the Food Network. Goodbye to my DVR and the 65% full contents. At least I won't have the hell scared out of me anymore by Ghost Hunters. Time to have a new assumption about my day and what's in it.

R.I.P. my beloved DVR.