Off the air

Tonight I finally did something I've been wanting to do for a while: I cancelled my satellite TV subscription. That's almost $800 per year I was paying for television that I rarely watched. It felt good. But is it over yet?

The clerk at the other end of the phone line asked me why I was cancelling. Then she offered me a horrible-sounding "family pack" for $19.95 per month, which consisted of children's shows, religious programming, and FOX News! No wonder the USA is in the condition it's in right now. I declined.

Then she told me that they would ship me some boxes in which I had to ship back the DVR and other assorted equipment. She wanted me to retrieve a card from the satellite dish (a three-story climb on a rickety ladder....no thank you!) and she told me that somehow I still owe yet even more money for my final bill. And she asked me if I wanted to end it today. I said "Yes." But I can see the little red recording light on right now, recording The Daily Show...so is it really over?

It felt great, but it will be strange to have these two dead screens in my house. I might plug my iPod into them to watch podcasts of foreign news that I download from iTunes. Doesn't that sound great, actually?