Last September I stopped writing on my Town Kid blog as I wanted to work on a book that was playing around in my head using some of my Leader blog posts, family memories, genealogy, Port Townsend history, and other topics. My book is getting closer and I plan on inserting photos this month. This afternoon I had to delete one of the chapters and replace it with a new story as circumstances changed.  I thought I would share that chapter here so you can sample the book content a bit before I begin the advertising process this spring. The book is called “This Side of the Road” and I’ll be discussing it on my Facebook page.  This chapter is called ‘Cutting the Cord’.

My daughter gave me a Smart TV for Christmas last year. I was a little surprised at this generous gift because I’ve complained for years about how crummy television is these days.  Once it was hooked up, I realized I was able to pick up several channels that my cable company wanted me to pay extra for. I figured that sooner or later they were going to come up with a plan to scramble my Smart TV channels.

And they did.  Some will call it the world of commerce and business as usual. I call it greed.  The cable company sent out a notice that they were going “digital” and our internet speed was going to be improved.  I knew exactly what that meant.  They told us about a “box” that we had to pick up (for free) but they were going to charge a monthly rental fee in a year. The free box was just for one set in your house.  Your other sets needed a box too and those weren’t going to be free.  I went and picked up the box but I didn’t hook it up. I wanted to see once “they went digital” if it would scramble my stations on the Smart TV. I could still pick them up but the color was distorted and I wasn’t in the mood to watch green people.  I had a talk with myself about whether or not I was ready to cut the cable cord.  My mind was made up when another envelope arrived telling me they were increasing my bill by $5.  I can’t remember why now.  It was all double talk anyway and I ripped it up in a state of frenzy.

               I’d already dealt with Direct TV and Dish years ago and I wasn’t real thrilled with their service and prices either.  I knew people who lived their life without cable and they seemed to be doing okay.

I decided I was ready to join ’The Unplugged Society.’  I still had to keep my Internet coverage with the cable company but at least my monthly bill is a little easier on my fixed income of social security. Oh, how liberating that errand downtown was to return the free box and discontinue TV coverage. I did think about what I was going to miss—Seahawk games, professional golf, Wheel of Fortune, Alaska the last Frontier, and PBS.  But on the other hand, I didn’t have to jump up to use my mute button every time the blond buffoon took center stage.  And he was showing up all the time.  I could feel my blood pressure rise just watching his speeches that I muted.

               My Smart TV is still my friend.  I can click on HUB and get Netflix, Amazon, Pandora,YouTube, and several other stations. I have to pay a fee for some of those but I’m absolutely fine with that and I can stream in any movie I want. Plus there’s no commercials.  And my other TVs in the house? Well, that was easy. I have two Roku sticks that I plug in and can bring up Netflix and all the others. Life is good again.