12/4/2006
DE-SPN
The Worldwide Leader in Sports will have to cross me off its list of vassals. ESPN, along with just about everything else in the television world, got the boot last week when we had our cable TV disconnected. (We kept the cable Internet; what sort of barbarian do you think I am?)
The decision was made partially because even expanded basic cable has reached $50 a month around here, but mostly because we didn’t like what the TV Beast was doing to our family. Everybody had carved out their own little timeslots when the TV was off limits to anyone else and only sepulchral silence was permitted in the room known as the “living room” or, sometimes, the “family room.” Given that “living” was not possible under these circumstances, and the family wound up being banned from their room for at least part of every evening, it wasn’t hard to figure out the idiot box was causing most (all) of the problem.
This is the first time I’ve been without cable since . . . uggh . . . December 1978. As in, 28 years ago. I’ve had cable for 80% of my life. Figuring an average of $25 per month (it’s probably more than that), that works out to $8,400 spent either by me or my parents to keep a steady stream of programming flowing into my presence, 99% of which I never saw.
Can you tell I don’t think it was worth it?
I made it through my first cable-less weekend just fine. It didn’t hurt that I had way, way too much to do. Still, after one week, I’m feeling pretty good about our decision.
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Before I moved to Portland last year, I had had cable for only one of the previous ten years. I watched a *lot* of TV at first (side effect of unemployment), but now I don’t think I’d hurt if I didn’t have it again, especially considering that the only two shows that are indispensible to Life as I Live It (The Daily Show and the Colbert Report) can be downloaded from iTunes. Besides, I have so many books I want to read…
Comment by Steve Casburn — 12/4/2006 @ 7:58 pm
While I currently have digital cable, there was a time not too long ago where I didn’t even think basic cable was worth it. I got three or four channels through a very poor antenna. It wasn’t so bad.
Comment by Run Up The Score — 12/4/2006 @ 10:23 pm
Hey Mark,
Now that the Marlboro contest is over, Would you tell us what your Hint: Henry Hill. Near a town in western Nebraska under a non-native fruit tree actually refers to? It Killing me. I never did find the answer. Thanks
Comment by Damon — 12/5/2006 @ 5:49 am
Steve: That’s the real problem, isn’t it? No matter how far the art of TV advances, it’s still not better than books. It’s just more convenient.
RUTS: We can actually get about ten channels on our powered indoor rabbit ears. If we had an outdoor antenna with a signal booster (like I had in Nebraska) I’m sure we could get all the Chicago channels too. But I’ve come to find that no matter how many or how few channels you have, there’s never anything on.
Damon: Sure. The Lincoln County Historical Museum in North Platte, Nebraska. Contains information about the North Platte Canteen, which served over 6 million servicemen during World War II. But now the rails are lonely because nobody stops there anymore The canteen is long closed, of course. Now only freight trains pass through town, and even automobiles don’t have to stop for them any more, since all the railroad crossings in town have been grade-separated. Henry Hill, the mobster on whom the movie GoodFellas was based, is believed to live in North Platte. The “non-native fruit tree” is a reference to Cherry County, Nebraska, which Lincoln County is south of (”under”).
Comment by Mark — 12/5/2006 @ 2:53 pm
// I’ve come to find that no matter how many or how few channels you have, there’s never anything on. //
Truer words have never been written. If it’s that funny, it’ll show up on YouTube eventually.
Comment by RUTS! — 12/7/2006 @ 4:50 pm
Mark,
The person who asked you to reveal your answer to The Henry Hill reference you made on one of the other pages. He has tricked you into giving your answer, because the Marlboro contest is not over yet. My problem is, I still don’t have an answer. Your answer is very good for the information you were provided. But you didn’t get the entire clue, you only got most of it from what people were typing in on the search engine. So I figure you knew about the North Platte canteen off the top of your head, you may be able to figure out the real answer and give us a new clue. So here goes:
Pick up First, and find this Penny in the Park by trusting the lonely rails. (Notice First, Penny and Park are capitalized.) The main part you didn’t know was that on our answer sheets it says “Give us the name of the penny” . Your answer didn’t give the name of the penny, and Pick up First didn’t seem to fit. The contest is about the western USA
Comment by George — 12/10/2006 @ 3:16 am
WHAT???? SOMEBODY ON THE INTERNET LIED TO ME?????
Comment by Mark — 12/10/2006 @ 7:35 am
Hey Mark,
I have come back to your sight off and on…just to read some of the stuff on here…you are pretty funny….I have enjoyed your remarks…and information!!!
Comment by Steph — 12/19/2006 @ 2:58 pm