The world is still turning on its axis

It's almost halftime as I type, and it's been a good Super Bowl for a Falcons fan. As I was watching I thought about how we ditched cable a number of years ago. It happened not long after we bounced those two checks and knew we had to do things differently. For a while, we kept the most basic of basic cable. It was channels 2-14 I think, which at the time was the local channels, PBS (PBS Kids!), Windstream Channel 4, and I think Peachtree channel (there were some Braves games on that channel). But after a while we realized there was no point in even hanging on to that!

Translate that to mean that I got to watch very few sporting events. Also, Jen could no longer watch America's Next Top Model and Project Runway. Those who know me know how much I have enjoyed sports throughout my life. Frankly, I thought it would be pretty tough to endure not getting to sit on the couch and ignore my family and do nothing for 2-3 hours at a time. Turns out it's not so bad!

Granted, things have changed in the home entertainment landscape over the last several years. Things like Netflix and Hulu have turned the television market upside down. So we now watch Netflix or watch some of our favorite shows on our Roku TV with the national channel apps. And a lot of times games like the Super Bowl are streamed online, so we can watch it for free. (Full disclosure here, I borrow someone's cable subscription login so that I can watch games on WatchESPN occasionally. But you can also get Sling TV and some other options for relatively cheap.)

I know a lot of you reading this probably have also ditched cable or satellite. It's not so bad, is it? For you guys (or even gals) who are considering cutting cable or ditching the dish and think you can't live without sports or live television, I promise, your life will not come to an end if you don't get to watch your team at home 12 Saturdays a month. The world will still turn on its axis. Now, if you live in our geographic area, yes, the quality of any broadcast is beholden to Windstream. Even tonight watching the Super Bowl, several times we have been greeted with... 

(It is so ironic that as I went to insert that photo from Google Photos, a message popped on my screen reading, "There is no internet connection." I'm not kidding! You can't make this stuff up! Thanks Obama! We had to unplug and plug back in the modem to get the internet to rejoin us. We're gonna miss the Lady Gaga Pepsi Zero Sugar Halftime Show. Darn.)

So it can be frustrating when all you want to do is watch one video or one stream. Come on! But I suppose one thing it's good for is teaching us patience and remembering what things are not worth getting worked up over.

Here's the problem, and I touched on it in a previous post. We have to be careful that our TV watching has not been replaced by time with our faces in our phones, or tablets, or computers. We need to make sure we replace it with time on things that matter. Right now, Jen is sitting on the couch reading a book, I think that's a baker's dozen for the year. That's a good way to spend time. I'm still working on my progress in this area (I have read one book though). I need to be more "present where my feet are." That's a quote my friend Jacob shared with me. It makes good sense, Yes we are saving money, but I hope we're saving some of our lives too.