I've learned two important things since our television broke on New Years Eve. First, I've been watching too much TV. Second, you can watch TV on the Internet!
While I didn't break the TV myself, I did set off the chain of events that led to it breaking.
It all started when I was fiddling with some of the TV cords, hoping they would help me connect my iPod and my new Tivoli radio (they didn't). When Michael attempted to reconnect the TV cords later that night (after he bought me the right cord), he made the mistake of tipping the old beast forward to access the back. The TV didn't like that at all. The screen turned blue, and then it went black.
We are planning to buy a fancy new TV, but we're waiting to see if prices come down before the end of the month. When we made that decision, we imagined that a month without a TV would be good for us.
It's been hard, friends.
I'm making it sound like we watch more TV than we do. The fact is, we haven't had cable for a few months now, and we only follow a few shows. Still, since the TV has been gone, we've realized that it must have been on more than we realized. I almost feel lonely without it.
We're adjusting though. The radio is getting a lot of air time (a well-timed purchase, if I do say so myself), we're listening to new music (hello, Eux Autres and The Good, the Bad and the Queen), we ate at the kitchen table for the first time in months, and - maybe most importantly - we've been exposed to fewer commercials.
Thing is, we can still watch TV shows and movies that we download on our laptop, and I just discovered that one can watch practically any show on network websites. I can watch The Office on Global, Corner Gas on CTV and The Rick Mercer Report on CBC (I wasn't even watching those last two before the TV broke, but hey). I even gave Mad Men a try last night. I didn't want to like it, but I'm intrigued.
So, in addition to those first two lessons, I guess I've also learned that breaking your TV is a great way to start off the new year.
4 comments:
Hey, I'm glad to hear you are trying life without the TV! They take up more energy than we think they do. Are you finding that you have more energy in the evenings? I spent Christmas at my Mom and stepdad's place in Arizona and they don't have a TV. The evenings seem so long without TV! And the house was so quiet! We played endless games of Scrabble and Cranium, read our books, went for walks, and did all sorts of fun things. Yay to no TV!
And isn't it surprisingly great to eat at the table? Don't you feel like such a grown-up? And doesn't food taste so much better? Yay to eating at the table!
Erin C.
I have a hot tip for you, Erin!
First off, go here and read this article:
http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2008/11/mio_on_the_downlo_hello_americ.html
You can download this thingy that gives you an American IP Address, so you can watch shows from US only sites like Hulu and NBC/ABC etc. It's kinds of awesome. Check it out!
I don't recommend downloading that program recommended by the CBC. We got a crazy virus on our computer that took us (i.e. Michael) all day to fix. Ugh. I'll stick with the Canadian networks for now.
I love the look of your new radio. B and I had previously admired them.
Cheryl
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