Cable, I can’t quit you…even if it is a shotgun wedding
June 22nd, 2009
Back in April, I wrote about my successfully surviving the cancellation of my cable TV account. I also wrote:
Due to the physical location of my apartment, I am unable to receive my local NBC, PBS and CBS affiliates. I do receive ABC, Fox, CW, and a new network called This-TV. Hopefully, once the June deadline for digital-only broadcasting passes, the CBS, NBC and PBS stations will increase the power of their signals so I can receive them as well. We’ll see.
Well, the June 12 digital switch happened and I was left with ONE reliable TV channel. Due to the tuner in my TV or the fact that I cannot put up a larger, outside antenna, I can only receive WEWS-DT (Channel 5.1 - ABC) with any regularity in my living room. On some days, I can get the analog broadcasts from Canada that manage to make their way across Lake Erie, but they’re not dependable.
After June 12’s digital deadline, I started to receive WKYC-DT (Channel 3.1 - NBC) for awhile, but it managed to disappear from my living room last night (along with Channel 3.2 - the Doppler Radar Channel). After the digital switch, I lost 8.1 (WJW-DT- Fox), 43.1 (WUAB-TV), 43.2 (ThisTV) and 55.1 (CW affiliate from Akron/Canton) that I was receiving just fine before the switch.
So, with my tail between my legs, I called Time Warner last night to get “Lifeline Basic” cable, which is 22 channels of local programming. I had thought about getting “Expanded Basic”, which adds 32 more channels (including a lot that I would actually watch like SciFi, MSNBC, VH1 Classic, Discovery, History, and ESPN.) But the price guide that I downloaded said that would increase my bill by $58.99! So the $14.95 to receive the channels I should be able to get for free sounded much more palatable.
After waiting on hold for about 20 minutes, I finally was able to speak to a customer service rep who informed me that they were running a “special” and I could get “Digital Basic Cable” (the Expanded Basic I mentioned above plus 50+ channels), free DVR for a year, and free Showtime for a year for $23.00 more than I am paying now.
Like an addict falling off the wagon, I put the cable crack pipe in my mouth and flicked the lighter.
So, Saturday, the Time Warner van will roll up to my house and plug me back into the world of the Dual Action Colon Cleanse and the ShamWow!
I feel so dirty.
Speedtest.net Results from my Internet connection 6/21/09
June 21st, 2009
Teaser for the next phase of my site…
June 6th, 2009
Before he was a tool: Gene Simmons
April 11th, 2009
In this 1979 interview, Gene Simmons comes across as a guy who’s appreciative of his fame and sincere in his love of comic books. I doubt the Gene Simmons of today could do an interview this long without shilling something or bragging about how awesome and spectacular he thinks he has become.
I miss the Gene Simmons who measured his words and spoke almost eloquently.
How I cut the cable umbilical cord and how you can too!
April 11th, 2009
Last month, I disconnected my cable. Yes, that’s right. I no longer have cable TV. As you might guess, I still have the Internet.
First off, why did I get rid of cable? Because I never watched it. Well, let me rephrase. What I watched was generally shit. (Sometimes, literally. I’ll explain soon.)
Working my schedule, I never got to watch prime-time television during prime-time. I haven’t watched TV like a regular person since 2001. In 2005, I got a DVR and haven’t been without one for any lengthy period of time. Now, the DVR allowed me to watch shows that I’d have ordinarily missed. But it costs money to “rent” the DVR from the cable company. You don’t own it. Same thing if I’d have bought a TiVO. You still have to subscribe to the service.
Thanks to the recent trend of streaming video, most TV shows that I watch are available for free online. One visit to sites like hulu.com, TV.com, and the actual networks’ websites will allow you to watch shows like Lost, Lie to Me, The Daily Show, Rachel Maddow, The Office, Family Guy, and The Simpsons online. Free. So, why pay for a DVR?
Netflix now allows streaming of many movies to the computer via the Internet. Since Netflix has also allowed streaming to the Xbox 360, I can watch many movies right on my HDTV through the Xbox. (Sounds complicated, but it’s not.) To stream movies to the Xbox 360, all you need is an Xbox Live Gold subscription ($50 a year) and the $8.99 a month (1 movie at a time) Netflix account. You can also stream to your computer’s screen without the Xbox.
Now, I still need an Internet connection and I’m still getting that from the cable company. However, I dropped the TV part of my subscription and boosted the data part (RoadRunner) to the fastest speed. By doing so, I’m saving $45.00 a month. And I can still watch TV shows and premium movies.
The cable companies have wised up to people doing this and are now proposing new rates for Internet services based on usage. Streaming video does use a lot of bandwidth. Because I also play a lot of multiplayer Xbox 360 games online, surf the Internet constantly, download a fair amount of files, and use e-mail regularly on top of streaming video, I’m probably using a ton of bandwidth. Time Warner (my cable company) is currently testing rate plans in Texas (and Rochester, NY) that could make my Internet bill jump if they adopt a similar pricing model in my town. And, if they do, I’ll drop them immediately and sign up for (admittedly slower) DSL or (hopefully) Verizon’s FiOS.
If you’re wondering about local channels, I do have a digital antenna on each of the two TVs I own. Due to the physical location of my apartment, I am unable to receive my local NBC, PBS and CBS affiliates. I do receive ABC, Fox, CW, and a new network called This-TV. Hopefully, once the June deadline for digital-only broadcasting passes, the CBS, NBC and PBS stations will increase the power of their signals so I can receive them as well. We’ll see.
But, for now, the cable beast has been slain and I’m not the slightest bit unhappy about it.
Oh, yeah, you probably wonder what I meant when I said I watched shit on cable TV. Well, when I go to bed at night, I usually turn on the TV and fall asleep with it on. When I had cable, I would search for the most monotone infomerical I could find. My two favorites were the Dual Action Colon Cleanse and Kevin Trudeau’s Debt Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About. No, I don’t think either one is a viable product. They just put me to sleep.
I know this isn’t really a good post but…
March 28th, 2009
And, we’re back…
March 16th, 2009
A friend of mine recently read this blog from beginning to end. As such, she is the only known person to do so. (If there are more of you out there, please contact me. I’d love to hear from you.)
She told me that she misses the blog entries where I actually talk about how I am feeling. She noted that these seemed to dry up around the beginning of 2005 and completely disappeared altogether in 2007 and beyond. And, she’s right.
During the blog’s heyday as it were, I was extremely unhappy with my life and the transition to moving to Cleveland. I was in a terrible state-of-mind and I had no outlet for these feelings other than my blog. No one read it and it was a “safe” environment for me to vent my frustrations. Who’d see it?
But as I got more adjusted to my life in Cleveland, I gained some friends. And those friends became my outlet more so than the blog. Also, people who knew me were made aware of the blog’s existence.
Suddenly, I had a dilemma. I couldn’t always vent how I felt about certain things because the people I was going to vent about might read the blog. Reading about yourself online is not a particularly healthy way to find out that someone’s upset with you or doesn’t like the way you do something or dreams about you naked.
So I made a conscious effort to NOT blog about my feelings. As such, many people stopped reading the blog and I stopped writing in it altogether - replacing it with Twitter and Facebook.
Well, Karen…and any other people who read (or read, as in past tense) the blog. I’ll be posting again. Actual posts with feelings and meaning and not just survey results and links to other sites.
My observational lasers have been charged and are ready to fire. So prepare yourselves.
I’m back.
Album Cover Project
February 21st, 2009
I found this on Facebook, but decided to post it here.
1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to “Random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
5 - Post it to FB with this text in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in.
Here’s my version:
