Life After Cable TV

Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television.

Woody Allen

It’s been months since I cut the cable TV cord and ended the blood-letting by Rogers. For years I paid an outrageous amount of money for 100s of channels and nothing to watch. How is life without cable? In a word – great!

In the process I’ve made some interesting discoveries about myself. I always said that I didn’t like watching television, and in fact I didn’t. But, now that I’ve gotten rid of cable, I’m streaming my TV via a Roku device with 2 paid subscriptions – Netflix and Acorn TV – and I love watching TV. I discovered that it wasn’t that I didn’t like watching TV; I didn’t like how it was presented to me. I have no patience to wait a week for a TV show and I won’t waste my time recording. I detest commercials. I want to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it. And, I want to watch it commercial free. Streaming, on demand TV was made for me. I’ve also discovered that I’m a binge watcher – a term that I never knew existed before. I can happily watch an entire season of a show, or seasons of a show before moving on to something else. The other bonus is that with Netflix and Acorn TV I have an enormous amount of terrific programming not available with cable and my monthly subscriptions total $13/month.

Now my problem isn’t that I have nothing to watch; it’s that there is so much to watch I don’t know where to start. So many options, so little time…

If a Martian came down to Earth and watched television, he'd come to conclusion that all the world's society is based on Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. He'd be amazed that our society hasn't collapsed.

Michio Kaku

Make someone smile today.

Geri

Miracles Happen Everyday

Miracles happen every day. Change your perception of what a miracle is and you'll see them all around you.

Jon Bon Jovi

Miracles do happen every day, but we often can’t see them because of the salacious headlines and “bad news sells” mentality of the media. We’re constantly being bombarded with tragedies and stories of unspeakable horrors, but there wonderful things and wonderful people in our world. Unfortunately they will never get any airtime because good news doesn’t sell.

It’s incumbent upon each of us to open our eyes, recognize the miracles in our lives and celebrate these miracles. I’ve been fortunate to witness a miracle in my life and I’m celebrating it. My miracle is my friend Lise. Early last year Lise was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer. She didn’t fall to pieces, become depressed or paralyzed with fear. Lise was never angry or bitter and never felt sorry for herself. Instead somewhere, somehow, she found an inner strength and resolve, the likes of which I’ve never seen; and Lise took on cancer with determination and good humour. In this gruelling 7 month marathon Lise withstood 24 consecutive chemo treatments, with a hysterectomy thrown in for a change of pace. Seven days after hysterectomy surgery Lise was back in chemo. She never complained and frequently told me how lucky she was to be able to tolerate chemo. To be quite honest if I knew how to reach the Pope, I’d recommend Lise for Sainthood.

Lise and I have been friends for about 35 years. Unfortunately we no longer live in the same city so I watched this epic battle from the sidelines. All I could do was call and send flowers from time to time. After all she went through, yesterday Lise found out that she was cancer free! And after a diagnosis of Stage 3 ovarian cancer, this is a wondrous miracle! So now I’m waiting for Lise to get a little stronger so that I can visit and celebrate this miracle in person.   

Lise, thank you for being a miracle!

I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.

Audrey Hepburn

Make someone smile today and please celebrate your miracles.

Geri

Would You Continue to Work if You Won the Lottery?

Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Jay Leno

I just checked my lottery ticket and sadly, it appears that I’ll be working tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong, I love to write and would continue to write for no money, as is evidenced by this blog which is not monetized. This is just a lark that my friends were on my case to do for years, and as it turns out, it’s fun. Best of all there is no one that I’m beholden to. I write as the mood moves me and write anything that amuses me at the time. I answer to no one, except for my mother who on regular occasion takes objection to some of my “saltier” language (anyone that knows me will tell you that I swear like a sailor – a trait no doubt inherited from my late grandmother who swore very colourfully in Yiddish and Russian). But, the bottom line is that I would not work for money if I won the lottery. Would you?

We’ve all heard people say how much they love their jobs and that they would do it, even if they weren’t getting paid. All I have to say to that is BULLSHIT (sorry Mother). I don’t personally know one person who finds it joyful to:

• Wake to the sound of an alarm incessantly ringing

• Stare at a face you don’t recognize in the bathroom mirror

• Rush like crazy to get through your morning routine

• Fight commuter traffic or get trampled in public transit

• Arrive at work to report to a sociopathic boss who shouldn’t be allowed to live

And this is supposed to be better than greeting the day in a leisurely fashion, having more money than you could possibly need and doing whatever you want to do with no one to answer to???

The reality is that unless you truly have a calling, work is no more than vertical prostitution. Yes, some of you may have great bosses (for now) and enjoy what you’re doing, but would you really continue doing it without a paycheque? Even though I realize that my chances of winning the lottery are slim to none, there are winners; and without a ticket, I have zero chance of being one of them.

I despise the Lottery. There’s less chance of you becoming a millionaire than there is of getting hit on the head by a passing asteroid.

Brian May

Make someone smile today.

Geri

Global Warming – Convenient Excuse or Legitimate Environmental Concern

If the temperature is less than my age, I don’t get out of bed.

Ellen

Some call Global Warming the most serious issue facing our planet today, while others call it a hoax and a scam. Both sides are made up of credible scientists who back up their claims with statistics; but that doesn’t say much because statistics can be skewed to prove anything. Personally, I’m confused.

Toronto has been enjoying one of the warmest winters on record (at least I have in spite of my rather large investment in new snow tires). In fact, several golf courses were still open around Christmas. To date we’ve had one snow fall in January which came and went with great alacrity. Naturally, this climate change is blamed on Global Warming. Now, I would be inclined to believe it, except for last winter – one of Toronto’s coldest and snowiest on record.

How can Global Warming be responsible for the warmest winter on record and the coldest, snowiest winter on record? Global Warming implies a “warming” trend which last winter showed no evidence of. If anything it was an Arctic deep freeze which had more in common with a return to the Ice Age than Global Warming. Yet, when we have an unusually warm winter like Toronto is enjoying this year, the powers that be use it as a poster child to promote Global Warming. Why were they were quiet last winter?

Should we be reducing our dependency on fossil fuels? Absolutely. Should we stop using aerosols? Sure. Should we recycle more? Probably. But, shouldn’t we be doing these things because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of whether or not Global Warming exists? As long as we keep having winters like we did last year, I’m not sold on Global Warming.

Weather forecasting – only job where you can be wrong 99.9% of the time and still get a paycheck.

Someecards

Make someone smile today.

Geri

Does Your Memory Ever Take a Vacation?

Pretty sure roughly 1/3 of my life has been standing in the middle of the room wondering what I came in here for.

Someecards

If I had $1 for every time I got up from the computer to go get something, only to discover that I didn’t have a clue why I got up in the first place, I’d be driving a Ferrari, not a Corolla.

Last night I was going to my Mom’s apartment (we live in the same building) and I wanted to bring up a few bottles of Perrier. So, in order not to forget, I put the 2 bottles of Perrier beside my keys. Of course you know that I took the keys and not the Perrier, which I didn’t realize until I got out of the elevator.

This morning was another of my “brilliant moments”. I leave a pair of reading glasses on my night stand and this morning they weren’t there. Could it be gremlins? I assumed that they must have fallen down so I got down on all fours and checked under the bed, all around the night stand, in the basket with magazines and in another basket of books, to no avail. The reading glasses had “made a Houdini”, as my late father would say. Not long ago, as I walked past my piano, there were the reading glasses, perched next to my sheet music. Sadly, it wasn’t gremlins, just a bad memory.

The frightening thing about these little episodes is that I’m 61 years old. What the hell am I going to be forgetting as I get older????? I guess I won’t remember so it won't matter.

My brain is like the Bermuda Triangle. Information goes in and then it’s never found again!

Maxine

Make someone smile today.

Geri