Getting Cable...Sort Of
Posted: Monday, October 04, 2010
by Mary Fagan
Motherwise
Well the kids thought that hell had frozen over. We finally got cable television, which I had resisted for years despite begging and pleading of Biblical proportions. But to be clear, I got only the broadcast tier. What’s that? You have never heard of the broadcast tier?
That is because cable companies don’t want you to know that you can pay about $11 a month for excellent reception (no converter box) and get your regular broadcast channels and a few oddball things that may or may not be of interest to you. I am “very economical" and we don’t spend a lot of time watching the tube, so it’s perfect for us.
I am more than happy to oblige them the opportunity to continue on with their accounts of how they had to rough out their childhood with no cable. After all, I had to walk three miles through snow uphill both ways to get to school each day and they got a bus.
Everyone needs a story and since we didn’t even have a TV until I was in the fourth grade, I developed a very good imagination, which I now use writing stories that I post on the Internet, which drives the kids so crazy that they have to call me to complain. It's my own personal and effective way to get them to "phone home". (ET's got nothing on me.)
I didn’t want to deprive the kids of this opportunity so I am sticking with the broadcast tier. They need something to disparage when they have their own kids. And a whole heck of a lot of people are counting on hell NOT freezing over.
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Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)I like your humor! I am unable to RSS your website so I hope you come back and post more here again.Thanks, Dixie. I will sure try. Great to have your comment. ;)
You are my kind of mother! This was adorable.~ GraceThanks, Grace. It's good to know there are other moms with similar opinions out there. My kids tell me there are not.Oh there are lots of us out here! Maybe your kids and mine will meet up in therapy sessions one day bemoaning how awful we were to them ;)~ Grace
Are you as Irish as you look and sound? Your chat on cable is absolutely delightful. There is so much garbage that your family will not have to sift through because you have made your revolutionary decision. Love your piece.
I love your sense of humor - and your kids will thank you for this some day!
Great to see you around here again, Mary.
I'm fortunate to live in a place where free, over-the-air digital broadcasts are higher-quality than what the cable company offers. About a month ago we canceled our cable completely and we haven't really missed it yet. Of course our TV is connected to the Internet in several ways but the money we save has been great.
Welcome back!
This is funny, Mary, because we just got rid of cable at our house. We got to the point where a great digital antenna and the internet were bringing us all the shows we wanted to watch (which granted isn't all that many). I hope you're enjoying it, though! I'm enjoying not having the bill.
Motherwise suits you. You are very wise. I agree with you, we have to give our kids something to complain about and I'm sure they'll do the same for theirs one day. Very funny.
Great amusing article- it made me smile. Creative of you to give your kids something to complain about in the future-they seem to have so little compared to us. I've got a feeling they'll find quite a few things about the present to disparage in the future. "Back in my day, we actually had to poke the buttons with our fingers!" LOL Thanks- Always- Ella
Hi Mary.
It's so great to have you back. Of course, I haven't done a good job of keeping up with the new article notices, but still, I think you have been gone for quite some time.
I loved your humor then and I still love it!
Our cable company charges $20 for what you have, but that is all that Bernd and I need and we're grateful it isn't anymore than that. I'm old school though, and don't feel at all deprived. But then I had it hard as a kid. I had to walk to school everyday with the tears running out of my eyes so badly from the smog that I could barely see. Ahhh, life in SoCal in the 50's. :)
Anyway, I hope you're going to stick around now for a while. Should be great fun!
Hugs,
Dianne
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