we have decided to get rid of our cable TV

We have decided to get rid of our cable TV. I really like cable internet so we will keep that, but we have found that all we listen to on cable is the smooth jazz station. I can do that on CD’s or on the internet. Why pay $75 a month to watch HGTV or record old westerns?

This was especially when I found out it was $75 a month. I don’t remember the price being that high when we got it. We don’t even get any premium channels. That is a lot of trips to Red Box at the grocery store. Buying a couple of $5 DVDs at WalMart a week and Red Box twice or so a week still comes out a fat lot less. And I can always watch Star Trek or other stuff on the web.

So why not?

We got rid of our satellite service in Missouri before we moved here because of an argument we had with the satellite company. We were without for six months or so. And we really didn’t miss it. At first it was kind of hard, but after a while, it wasn’t. It was kind of restful not having the TV on all the time. We read a lot more.

We get so bogged down in stuff that we can hardly see straight. Not to mention the garbage we fill our minds with that comes from the TV.

It is part of simplifying. I cannot understand how people can pay $150 or more to get all the premium channels. For one thing, they only show the movies generally in full screen. And I hate full screen. I like wide screen. I like to see everything that happens instead of just the center part.

The first time I realized that was on Turner Classic Movies. They were discussing the value of wide screen over full screen with clips from Spartacus, one of my favorite all-time movies. In full screen, Spartacus and another gladiator with a trident and net were fighting. It was a fierce battle. When it went to wide screen, it dawned on me that the people watching were having a party. It completely minimized the fighting on the field and turned it from life and death struggle to entertainment. Their version of HBO Premium, I guess. It changed the whole tone of the movie.

I realized that there was a lot I was missing on TV and I started watching more DVDs. I liked the movies better. I still remember watching Star Wars in wide screen on TV. I had seen it at the movies, but man, it was great again. Instead of being a TV show, it became a movie again.

But anyway. We are going to do that as soon as I record some movies off the DVR, probably next Monday or Tuesday. There are some good westerns on there. And I will venture to say, we will not miss it. We will read more. I will probably write more and maybe even begin my book.

When you don’t have it, you wonder why you waited so long.