Cutting the cord

When live was much simpler.

I’m having issues with ATT Unverse and one of my tvs. First world problems.

I noticed that they do anything they can to avoid having the tech come out, even if they are charging me $150.00 for a “house call.” Even though I pay them a lot of fees every month for their service, or lack of it.

When you call them, they try to have you fix the problem yourself over the phone. I never know what they are talking about and while I understand most English accents, they use another country to answer calls and I can’t understand most of what the people on the other end of the phone are saying.

But they tell you dumb things, like, “Go to the other room and disconnect the box and see if it works in the room where you are having issues.” Or this one guy told me it was my tv that was the issue, it wasn’t their box.

In the end, when the first tech finally arrived a few weeks ago, he assured me, it was the cable box and nothing was wrong with the tv. To be fair, the idiot on the phone did tell me he had a list of issues he was reading from. He wasn’t a tech, he was a guy reading a list in order to keep the tech from coming over.

But the problem existed and I had another tech come out a few weeks later. I literally had to beg them to send him out.

I know I need to cut the cord. I have to. But I don’t like change – so I pay ATT through the nose not to have to change.

Interestingly enough, I also pay for a lot of streaming services, aside from the cable company, but I don’t usually watch the streaming services. They are just sitting there, waiting to be watched.

I’ve switched from Adobe to Affinity, now it’s time to charge from the big phone and tv companies to something else.

But herein lies the rub – I finally had someone at ATT tell me what it’s all about. The tech that came out yesterday told me they are doing away with ATT Uverse, it’s something they don’t want to deal with anymore.

He said the reason they charge me so much each month is so I will drop them for another service! Instead of just asking me to move to DirecTV, which is the service, they want me to move to, they screw me with high fees.

This is ATT for you. Horrible.

So the one great thing that came out of the second ATT guy’s visit was that he told me that the cable box is going the way of pay phones. He said I should switch to DirecTV and I will pay one third of what I am paying for cable now.

I finally had a guy who looked me in the eye and said, this is the way – I’m overpaying for an obsolete thing and if I make a change, I could save tons of money and will no longer have tv issues. And I should stop watching tv and start reading books. Just joking, he didn’t say that last part.

I checked online, I could literally save up to one quarter of what I am paying now! And it’s all digital, there is no cable box and it works via wifi. I will look into it this week. It’s time to join the 21st Century.

Till next time . . .

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I have a new favorite commercial

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I have a new favorite commercial. It’s the “Joy Ride” Amazon holiday ad. I never get tired of watching this. It’s one of those commercials that you actually stop what you are doing and watch.

As you know, this is my all-time favorite commercial. I show it here every year. It’s “The Publix Song.” Every time I hear it, it brings me back to my youth. I feel like I am in that place and time.

This commercial ran for a few years from 1987 to 1996 and every time it came on, I would stop what I was doing and watch. It’s part of my Christmas memories of my youth and it’s just one of those things – a song, just like a smell, that brings you back to another time.

The music in Last Train Home is from Still Life Talking an album by Pat Metheny Group, released in 1987.

To this day, when Pat Metheny is performing, he’ll refer to the song as, “The Publix Song.”

Till next time . . . .


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Our TV Channel Shake-Up


We may be switching tv channels again in Miami.

In the 1980s this happened twice, what I mean is that the affiliates – ABC, NBC, CBS changed channel numbers – twice.

Well, not, ABC, that always remained channel 10; but now it looks like Channel 10 will not be showing ABC and the weird thing is that Channel 7 will pick up ABC. The reason it is weird is because Channel 7 is now Fox. But it will remain Fox.

At one point, that song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” played incessantly on all tv channels to tell us about the channel changes and not worry about it.

Channel 7 will remain Fox and Channel 7.2 will become ABC. Crazy, right?

When I was a kid, Channel 4 was CBS, then it became NBC now is CBS again. Channel 6 was an independent channel that showed reruns like I Love Lucy and the Adams Family, then it became CBS and now is NBC. I remember watching Dallas on CBS 6 at the time.

Channel 7 started out as NBC and then became independent and then Fox.

Channel 10 was always ABC and now will be nothing, I guess.

Our PBS stations – 2 and 17, stayed like they were – stable. So far.

I’m in NY a lot and sometimes I’ll put on Channel 2 to watch PBS, but there it is Channel 13. I’ll realize it after a few minutes and then switch over.

The tv channel game.

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