Downgrade in Order to Upgrade

There is now an empty space where the cable box once sat below the television in the living room. On a whim, which had been induced by unpleasant surprise when I opened my latest cable statement and saw my new increased rate (the special promotional period had expired), I decided to get only basic television service. Effective ASAP. I was asked to make sure there would be no pets in my yard this morning, because the cable guy would not have to come inside the house to tweak the cable outdoors. That was fine with me, since that meant I would not have to vacuum my carpeting, tidy up my house and, at the very least, hide my paper clutter. Oh, and dusting--I would not have to dust any furniture either.

The telephone service rep had not mentioned the two cable boxes, and it never dawned on me that I would not be needing them. So when the two cable guys showed up at my door this morning and asked me if I planned on keeping the cable equipment, I quickly decided that I would save myself the thirteen dollars, or whatever the additional charge, each month. I decided on the absolute minimum television service available. Therefore, my options were either to take the equipment to the local cable office myself or to let the cable guys into my messy house. I chose the latter option. That decision took all of two seconds, since I am neither mechanically nor technologically inclined. Never mind the vacuuming; but the least I could have done was to have dusted off the cable boxes, especially the one inside the furniture in the living room, which would not have passed even the most slovenly person's white glove test. On the bright side, I had gotten out of last-minute cleaning merely for the sake of appearances.

It wasn't until after the cable boxes left my house that I realized, that once upon a time in my adult life, I had actually lived without cable television or any kind of television (with the exception of an extremely snowy/blurry channel 5, which I watched on an old black-and-white television) for approximately an entire decade. During those ten years, I rented and borrowed a lot of videos. It was in the pre-DVD era. Somehow I had survived without television, although I would find it extremely difficult, if not almost impossible, to do so now. You see, recently I have found myself surfing the channels to find an interesting show or a movie I have not seen yet--and one that I would truly like to see, but I would almost inevitably just pick something merely for the sake of watching television. I mean I was just killing time--most of the time. Nonetheless, I still have some standards left, since there are shows I absolutely refuse to watch--meaning I would rather watch repeats of my favorite, and not-so-favorite, shows. Yes, I shall admit that I am a television addict. And yes, it was hard giving up a few of my favorite stations and shows. I guess I shall just have to wait until the shows come out on DVD. Such is life.

Looking at this situation from a my-glass-is-half-full perspective, this cable downgrade is an upgrade in the sense that I shall now have more time to do other things. Like read the classics! I have a stack of good books waiting for me to dust them off. Then there is all that yardwork staring me in the face each time I go outside. Maybe I can even turn the interior of my house into a place worthy of a visit from Martha Stewart (yes, I watch Martha's show)--okay, I am being ridiculously unrealistic regarding that idea. However, like it or not, I shall be weaning myself rather quickly off my television addiction. Not to fear, I have already subscribed to online movies. Two subscriptions. Plus, an in-store membership. After all, one should never stop an addiction cold turkey--it must be done gradually--or so I've been told. Me give up movies completely? I don't think so.

There is one thing I miss already: the cable box digital clocks! Whenever we had our power outages, I could always rely on my cable boxes afterwards to return to the correct time without my having to do anything. And I used the cable box time to reset the other clocks in my house. Adieu, dear cable boxes!