Done Away With Cable TV

 

JULY 2021...  marks the date that my wife and I finnally eliminated our dependence upon CABLE TV...  Prior to this month, we had internet, cable, and phone from our local cable provider and no only were we experience connectivity problems but technical support was lacking in competence as well.

We both have cell phones so we no longer needed our landline through our cable provider.

We went from a cable coax connection to the internet to a fiber optic internet connect which is must faster and much more reliable and has greater bandwidth than cable internet.

We went from cable TV to HULU LIVE which includes much more than our current cable package and the fee is much less than what we were paying.

In short, we are getting more for less money each month.

We are streaming HULU through a ROKU device which is a one time equipment purchase.  And, we have all of ROKU's free channels and movies as well.

We also have a KODI box which was a one time equipment purchase and while it offers access to more recent movies and is no always reliable...  so, we don't use it much.

Later in the week, we are going to make another one time equipment purchase for a digital antenna where once connected to our TV, we will be able to watch local channels free-of-charge within a 50-100 mile radius.

Our HULU contract is on a month-to-month basis which is good...  but our fiber WIFI is on a 2 year contract which does gives us some concern but something with which we have to live...

BREAK FREE OF CABLE...

Setting the Tone/Mood

Many people watch TV shows, Cable Series, and Movies with the simple understanding that they are sitting in the seat watching what is taking place for shear pleasure and/or enjoyment.  They observe the characteristic with neutrality and don't try to understand the plot or the subplots or even analyze them to see if they make sense.  They don't question motives or say anything critical about the acting or the lack thereof.

I, on the other hand, do look at stuff like that and do not really look at the time spent as wasted or not wasted but as time that was simply spent doing something.  As I sit there and watch, I do look at the quality of the acting, the quality of the sets, the storyline and if it makes sense or is logical, especially if the theme of the movie is dealing with a science fiction theme.

One issue that has always bothered me is that everyone is always drinking alcohol, either beer or whiskey and sometimes Vodka.  Everyone always drinks after work...  and, if there is a meal involved as part of the Director's methodology, everyone always drinks wine with their meal...

When I was working...  I never drank wine with my meal except for a special occasion like over the Holidays.  I never had a drink or a beer or two after work...  and, when I talk with other people, they basically say the same thing...  so, what do movie directors think that it is important to have everyone drink alcohol?

Is Hollywood trying to create a society of potential alcoholics?

Binging on BSG

During my mid-day exercise routing of riding a stationary bike and walking on the treadmill, I was surfing through the Cable Channels and discovered that Channel 63, SyfyHD, was broadcasting the entire series of Battlestar Galactica...  some of these episodes I had never watched before which made the journey even more interesting to me.

Spending Sundays @ Home

Typically on Sundays, my wife and I would go out to brunch after Church Services, then
spend the rest of the day watching movies on NETFLIX or CABLE or sit outside on our deck under the Gazebo (reading and surfing on the internet) or in our pool floating around or exercising against the water.

BUT, those days are basically over (at least temporarily) as a result of the Federal/State stay-at-home orders keeping us away from Church Services and going out to brunch.

So, now what we do after feeding the cats is watch FOX NEWS to get the latest on COVID-19 until Governor Cuomo does his NY State Update...  that is to say politely that we SWITCH CHANNELS and watch something else that usually deals with Cooking or HGTV and recently the ZOO which deals with behind-the-scenes at the BRONX ZOO.

For example, this morning when Governor Cuomo started to do his thing, we switched channels to the FOOD NETWORK's  The Kitchen, and learned about making broccoli fries by using the stems (that are usually thrown away) of the broccoli.  I thought this was so amazing that I found a video about making broccoli fries and posted it on my blog A Bipolar Scorpion on the MY COOKING page.

Since it is important to keep the wife happy when being sequestered at home, we for the most part always watch HGTV's Property Brothers which is actually being watched as I write this article...