Do you remember all those “Happiness is…” expressions in the 1970s? Happiness is.. a warm puppy. Happiness is… one soda with two straws. They were on greeting cards, stationery, those annoying little books in gift stores…
Anyway—the expression immediately came to mind this (Saturday) morning, after getting this e-bill notice from Comcast Xfinity. It’s my first bill after giving up my cable tv, and to see the amount plummet from $206 to $75 (a $130 savings) is a glorious thing.
But it’s more than the monthly savings… without MSNBC as my constant companion, I’m finally enjoying tv for more than a single cable news channel. I’m watching a better variety with my antenna than I ever did with cable.
(Actually I’m watching a bit less, but enjoying network tv and Netflix more.) All I know is, aside from that $9.00 monthly Netflix bill, my TV IS FREE.
What’s funny here is… in the last 2 weeks, I’ve had no less than SIX people ask about my new setup. Three tenants in the building knocked on my door, I was stopped twice in the lobby, and one giant fellow on my floor cornered me in the laundry room.
(I only told one person, my neighbor & friend Opal.)
I was so accustomed to having the time displayed below my tv (on the X1 box) I got a small LCD clock to take it’s place on the upper right glass shelf. On the bottom left shelf sits my Mohu Arc, delivering 40 OTA channels in HD format.
(If you don’t own a smart tv, the colored strips only appear when I hit the Home button on my remote; they’re the streaming apps available on my tv. I’ll be switching from Netflix to HBO Max soon.)
Knowing today is my friend Opal’s laundry day, I went down there earlier and suggested we stop telling other tenants about my free tv setup before Xfinity sent someone around to put the screws to me.
Opal said “Douglas, hand on the Bible, I told ONE person!” I said “That’s not a Bible, that’s your puzzle book!” She said “If you knew me, this IS my Bible!” We both had a laugh and she said “I only told Lorraine, the woman with the red hair on the third floor?” I said yes, I knew her. She was one of the tenants who paid me a personal visit.
Opal said “Do you want to know what she asked about you?” I said okay. “She wanted to know if you were gay, because your apartment is very clean for a single man.” I said “Yep, that’s a dead giveaway. Did you set this lady straight? ‘Cause if she’s telling others about my tv… “
Opal just laughed and said I shouldn’t worry about it. Easy for her to say.
Y’know, here I am ready to turn 60 and I’ve been getting asked that question since I was a teenager. At least it doesn’t worry or bother me like it used to, but that’s for a future post.
In the meantime, I’m going to lean back, put my feet up and enjoy my awesome tv. It isn’t a warm puppy, but it’ll have to do!
Hi Doug, your TV set up sounds great! The difference on your bill is incredible.
ReplyDeleteYour building sounds like it has lots of friendly people. Opal sounds hilarious.
Just to let you know, my hubby is a very tidy guy too. He is tidier than me!😆
Enjoy your week Doug.
Robin
Thanks Robin, and that's nice to hear about your hubby, I bet there's plenty of tidy guys around! Hm...we should have our own group or something like the Masons 😄
DeleteLooks like it is all working out, well except the intrusions. It is a good thing your apartment is clean or it might be embarrassing having all these people knocking at your door.
ReplyDeleteHaha--very true, Ed! I honestly don't mind the questions, I just don't want our landlord thinking I'm trying to convert tenants or something. I believe in keeping a low profile. :)
DeleteYay Doug! Congratulations on your lower cable bill:). One of these days cable will have to lower it's prices in order to compete with the streaming options but other than dish or satellite, it's the only game in town for internet access:(
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue, and I agree about cables future. They charge too much! As for internet access yep they still got us for that I wish the federal government had some kind of Internet regulation or something. Oh well!
DeleteWe switched when our bill hit $200 also. That's when we only kept the wifi and went to streaming. And I think a low profile is good for everyone these days...
ReplyDeleteThanks Rian, and you guys are smart, you did it sooner than me! This cable companies need to wise up, if they want to stay in business!
DeleteI never watch TV so this would be wasted on me but your happiness has rubbed off on me. :D
ReplyDeleteHaha! Thanks Joe! This is my final chapter in The saga of giving up cable 🙂
DeleteI need to do something with Comcast too. I laughed about the cleanliness and gay comment. It is obvious looking around my place these days that NO ONE would think that about me.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I've seen pictures inside your your house and you have a very clean very nice home. But you've also been living with daughters sons-in-law, grandsons and other people's cats for a couple months so go easy on yourself! Anyway thank you and there is one thing to consider, YouTube TV is half the price of cable just putting it out there! 🙂
DeleteSo glad you're still chuffed with your cable cancel. Like landline phones and VCRs, they've had their time in the sun. If they can no longer compete, so be it! Silly notion of labelling a person by their tidyness. Also really nobody's business, anyway. (Unless you were an extreme hoarder and public health risk.) If it were me, Doug, I'd inform and show anyone interested how you've economized. Good news should be shared.
ReplyDeleteFlorence, thanks so much for chiming in here. I always enjoy your comments so very much. I know this is an old subject, but it's the final chapter. Now I need to find something else to obsess over!
DeleteWow what a difference and so happy that you are not really missing your news only channel. I'm trying to cut back on the network news shows I watch. Well at least you now know how the grapevine works in your building. It could be helpful if there is something you actually want spread around. Opal or Lorraine will get er done:)
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Patti, you got that right about the grapevine! Anyway thanks for your fun comment, I know the subject was getting old, but I was a man on a mission. 🙂 And good luck cutting back on those news programs, I know they are hard to quit!
DeleteI'm so glad you are enjoying much more than just the news now.
ReplyDeleteNeatness is not just for gay people.
Thanks River, you summed it up nicely. :)
DeleteDoug, I'm happy that cutting the cord worked out so well for you! We get our internet through AT&T but the cost is about the same. It's a heck of a lot better bill to pay than the $200 cable bill! I think a lot of people are curious about cutting cable because they are also sick of the high cost of cable but are a little nervous about doing it. We were not sure at first, but the higher cable bill combined with our lower income when we retired gave us the push we needed and we've never looked back! Enjoy that FREE TV!
ReplyDeleteThanks Bonnie, you were on my mind thru the start (and end) of this; even though your internet is with another provider, if you decide to switch for whatever reason, can you let me know? You seem to be on the forefront of change. :^)
DeleteCongrats on joining the Antenna TV crowd! I only had cable once many decades ago when it first came into being and we lived where we couldn't have had reception otherwise. Here now in SoCal I get all the TV I want with our antenna which consists of plenty of stations including 4 PBS ones. Can get some subscription sites if I choose to sign up with them. What more could we want?
ReplyDeleteThanks Joared, and I'm glad to read you have antenna access as well--but I'm envious, the first time I did this in 2015 I also got 4 PBS stations--now I get none, in 2017 PBS here in Pittsburgh sold their broadcast frequency for like 1.5 million and now are only available thru cable or dish! But for what I get with my antenna, I'm grateful :^)
DeleteWhen I had cable was when I lived in Central Ohio, east of Columbus. I had a summer romance with a guy from Pittsburgh one of those years long ago. Also, had some family living just across the Ohio/PA border, husband worked in Sharon I recall visiting a few times.
ReplyDeleteHere in SoCal we almost lost a couple of our major PBS stations some years ago, when L.A. County station relinquished some of their national PBS affiliation. The Orange County station was threatened by a religious network wanting to take over. Lots of big bucks involved there, too. Somehow the Orange County PBS station (KOCE) managed to prevail, assuming being the primary PBS station -- later the L.A. station (KCET) connected with them so all worked out.
Very interesting Joared...you sure know your PBS history! I was unaware of our own PBS demise until recently when watching a video on YouTube on why cord-cutters were unable to get an OTA signal in Pittsburgh.
DeleteWell, enjoy your free TV. I rarely watch TV, but David is a TV fanatic. You have that in common. But, he watches a lot of sports, something you don't do.
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks Gigi but i wouldn't say I was a fanatic! But I was thinking, if you let me rent that spare room reserved for your daughter, I could watch my own tv when David is watching sports, and then we could watch shows like Doctor Death together :^)
DeleteYay, Doug! Good for you! I’m envious of your bill. By the way, we just watched Vivo on Netflix with Lin Manuel Miranda and really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI have so many bloggers to visit. I’m having a hard time keeping up because of my photobook project for the kids. Your Opal sounds like such a fun character.
Thank you Kay, and I'm going to check "Vivo" out today, thanks for the tip! And I'm not surprised you have a lot of blogs to check out, you're the Blog Queen! I've seen that long list of yours in the sidebar! But you have a lot of fans too :^)
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