I made a decision yesterday that left me with the feeling of equal parts giddy expectation and defeat. Next Tuesday we will receive a visit from the Cable guy who will be bringing with him the latest in offerings from Comcast’s digital cable – 150 channels of mostly crap delivered right to the back of our television for $40/month.
This represents a turning point, or at least a landmark in a longstanding internal battle going on inside me. The hippy kid who grew up on an organic farm picking rasberries in the sun vs. the technology geek who always wants the latest and most expensive gadgets, and media! Oh glorious media!
What is it in a person that loves media so much? Books, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, websites, wireless devices, more more. I always seem to be simeltaniously overwhelemd by and starved for media.
The last time I had cable TV at home was 1999 when I lived in a depressing apartment complex in a depressing eastside town. That point represented the height of power for my geeky inner self, 200 channels of TV, a new car, lots of computer crap, and no real quality personal relationships. Even then I found that having TV pissed me off more than it entertained me. So why TV now? …
… Mariners games! Yes I know.. but seriously, I absolutely love baseball and this time of year despite the weather getting nicer and the plethora of things to do instead of watching TV, I always want to sit my ass down and watch parts of a mariners game. Granted, this year I am also playing in 2 softball leauges and having tons of fun and getting excersise, so it’s not all bad but still..
Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, there is a lot of really quality programming on TV. The trouble is knowing when to watch, and when to turn it off and go live life. With that in mind, I’d really like to get a TiVo or some other nifty DVR kind of machine. Being able to pick what we want to watch, record it, and be able to watch it anything we want would be really nice. I’ve used them before at other people’s houses, and all my friends who have them absolutely love them. In fact people seem to get attached to TiVo like they to do only a select group of other “lifestyle” gadgets. the iPod, the Powerbook, the particular cell phone, and the TiVo.. Well, we shall see on that.. for now it’s just plain ol digital cable (with a few on demand features built in) and our tiny ass TV.
Anyone have a slightly less lame TV they want to part with for cheap?
Written and or updated while listening to:
Layla from the album “Clapton Best” by Eric Clapton