Why I don't miss cable television

We live in Santa Barbara. Broadcast television is only possible for those with advanced degrees in electrical engineering and who can build towering complex antennas. For the rest of us to consider getting any channels with any reception you need cable.

Our local cable provider is Cox. In December I called Cox and said turn off the cable TV.

When you call the cable company to quit, they have a special department they connect you with. This is the "retention team". Their mission to keep you on board. They are usually very successful.

"Why do you want to cancel your cable television"

"To save close to $700 a year. And there is nothing to watch." When I mean nothing to watch, I mean nothing we cared about anymore. Netflix provides an endless variety of programming. The Internet delivering news, weather and a bounty of video on top of Netflix (like TED)

"If you sign up for two years will give you more channels for the same money"

"Nope, the channels you are offering are not interesting."

"If you sign up for two years we'll give you a special discount"

"So loyal customers pay more?"

"No, it's just that we want you to stay" And offers of DVRs, kitchen sinks etc. poured forth.

In the end, the retention expert surrendered to my recalcitrance wishing me a sharp "good life."

So far we have saved over $250 in the first 5 months. We have missed being glued to the horrors of the tsunami that wrecked parts of Japan. Missed the horror of the floods and tornados and Osama being killed. Rather we missed all the fluff that you have to get with the broadcast news. The teasers, the talking heads. They can have them.

I read that young adults are leading the charge dropping cable or never even getting it to start with. They lead, we follow. Next to go, the land line.

Life is good.

Here are my favorite iPhone and iPad apps

My favorite iPhone Apps as of September 2013

1. Evernote - note management
2. Toodledo - to do list
3. Snapseed - photo editing
4. Runkeeper - exercise management
5. FlightTrack Pro with TripIt - if you fly these work in tandem
6. The Weather Channel 
7. Planets
8. xQuake
9. Pandora - for the time being
10. Audible - for audio books
11. TED - inspiring video 
12. Netflix
13. DropBox
14. Zite - news
15. Flipboard - magazine

My favorite iPad Apps as of September 2013

1. Evernote - note management
2. Toodledo - to do list
3. Snapseed - photo editing
4. FlightTrack Pro with TripIt - if you fly these work in tandem
5. The Weather Channel 
6. Planets
7. xQuake
8. TED - inspiring video 
9. Netflix
10. DropBox
11. Zite - news
12. Flipboard - magazine
13. News360
14. Dictionary
15. Tides Near Me
16. StopLight Clock (if you are a Toastmaster this is a great timing app)

Shopping carts, parking lots and oversized trucks

She looks very fit as she pushes her cart to her car.  She lifts the heavy bags into the trunk with no effort.  Then something goes wrong. She can’t seem to make it all the way back to the store with the empty cart.  The effort overwhelms her, as if the cart now weights 10 tons. She makes it about five feet and the energy needed to push the cart is gone. Weakness overwhelms her. She has just enough oomph to push the front wheels of the cart over the lip of the curb of a nearby planter. The cart half in the parking lot and is half in the planter.  At least the cart is not rolling into another car.   She is able to make it back to her car, somehow. I imagine her energy drained. The exertion almost more than she can manage.   She starts the car,  she must be feeling okay now.   Her strength has returned.  She can go home, unload the groceries and get to the gym.  She knows how important exercise is.

A giant dually pick-up truck pulls into the parking lot. This is an extremely huge truck – likely used mostly for commuting to a desk job.  A regular size guy gets out – he seems puny next to the truck. No doubt pleased he was able to navigate the parking lot without hitting any cars or people today.  He has through expert parking skills not hit the small red car that he parked next to.  He has parked so close there is no way for the owner to get into the car.  There were plenty of spaces available in the lot. I assume he wanted to make two points. One, he is expert at leaving other drivers having to go through gymnastics to get into their cars. Two, he did not hit the other car. He is that good.  A woman who owns the red car arrives.  She walks around the truck. Probably thinking how nice it would be if the truck’s driver died, immediately after he moved it of course.