Our TV D-day has arrived |
Loading ...Speaking of TV, it’s now finished in our home.Our six month free DirecTV package has now ended. This morning the signal simply shows the following:
It’s also day #2 of summer break and our youngest teen has already complained about having no Cartoon Network. Back in December we listed the channels we enjoyed watching.
I’ve started a counter beneath the Tablet PC Owner marked “Days without TV” just to see how long we can go. I’m not that worried about the summer months because our family have other things to do, including our annual vacation (which will be a mini one this summer, since we took the trip down to see the Mariners in Spring Training earlier this year), but when it gets to be back to school time and NFL season starts … I’m not sure how that’s going to go.
I recall Jeremy Zawodny writing about going TV-less and thinking: how can he do that? He’s got a got a good start since that was back in January 2004. Since then I’ve learned he’s a single guy which I’m sure made it easier not to mention that he also enjoys flying. Can’t exactly fly a plane and watch TV (although I bet some do while the plane is on autopilot?). Compare the lifestyle of a single guy to a family of five which includes three teenagers complete with mom/wife craving the Lifetime channel and we have to be in a very small minority of families that can afford to have TV, have multiple TVs (including one HDTV) in multiple rooms but have chosen not to buy cable, satellite or hang an antennae to get over the air signal.
Oh and to add to the challenge, one of our Xbox 360s is awaiting repair …
Tonight there’s something on TV …
Sure enough there is something on TV tonight I’d like to see: The Dallas vs. Miami game #6 of the NBA Finals. Wonder if that one is on the internet? Also we have a slingbox, what good is that without a TV signal? This might be harder than I’m thinking.
(no shakes yet)
The How Long Will Our Family Go Without Internet Pool
We’re kicking off a fun little Hmm pool to see how long our family can go sans TV? Go ahead and put down your number of days you think we’ll go without TV guesses in the comments below. The winning guesser will be closest to the number of days without going over, just like the Price is Right. If we receive at least 10 guesses below before we give into the TV signal gods, we’ll kick in some kind of prize so stay, er, tuned.
- 100+ days without TV and loving it
- Summer vacation has arrived!
- Enter pool maintenance guy
- Mile high married club
- Around the roach motel pool in a minute
- A la carte Cable TV: which channels would you keep?
30 days
Comment by Sterling Camden — June 20, 2006 @ 2:08 pm PST
A great excuse to go to the bar: To watch the game!
Comment by ^Lestat — June 20, 2006 @ 2:15 pm PST
Hmmmm, I’ll give it a month and a half. 45 days.
Comment by PeteRepeat — June 24, 2006 @ 12:32 pm PST
[…] Sterling has us pegged for 30 days. Pete Repeat gives us a half month more: 45 days. Go ahead and leave your guess here. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Entered double digits without television — June 30, 2006 @ 9:04 am PST
I’m guessing about 110 days total. Not to be negative. I would like to see you go over a year. I’m considering this myself, so it would be encouraging to see it done.
Comment by ^Lestat — June 30, 2006 @ 10:07 am PST
[…] Being without TV 57 days I was not that interested in the TV. It was more of a temporary distraction than anything. I kept checking my watch, wondering what was happening. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » What neck surgery is like in 2006 — August 16, 2006 @ 11:52 am PST
[…] The Seattle Mariners are in a miserable skid at the moment and can’t seem to beat anybody in their own division. When they score some runs, the other teams score more, when the other teams score less the Mariners come up zeroes. It’s an ugly thing to watch. Rather in my case since we have now been without TV for 60+ days, to listen to on the radio. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Mariners drop 10 in a row, Moyer traded to Phillies — August 20, 2006 @ 7:53 am PST
[…] Fox also made it so we could watch the debut episode of Prison Break Season 2 on their website, which we did a few nights back on our laptop in full screen. The video was grainy and pixelated and certainly not an HDTV viewing experience, but we didn’t mind. Since we do not currently have TV by choice for 68 days, our only way to get these new shows will be either to watch them online as released by the studio or via the online legal TV/movie services. It seems more of the studios are realizing that there are families out here without a TV signal. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Breaking into Prison Break — August 28, 2006 @ 8:50 am PST
[…] - Blurb.com is going to start producing full color hardcover books and will offer 600 bloggers the option to convert their blogs to books [via Wired] - Microsoft has launched Live QnA. I beta tested this extensively for 30 days. - Google’s Eric Schmidt has joined Apple’s board. I’m not sure what to make of this move. Does it mean Google is one step closer to buying Apple? I still believe the OS move, the one that Google has ferverntly denied to date will center around a Linux variant of some kind. I believe GoogleOS is coming in some shape or form. Does Google believe that online is the only way to fly? - Ubuntu on top in Linux desktop survey - A list of the new Fall TV shows by network. Hereos looks interesting to me. I’ll have to catch it on the internet (legally, if available) or wait for the DVD to come out. 70+ days without TV [via Digg] - electronic pink slips alert — Radio Shack tells 400 employees they won’t be needed any more via email. - Sell your software at Windows Marketplace [via Inside Microsoft] - Major Nelson shares that an episode of Battlestar Galactica in standard defintion available for download (free) on the Xbox 360. This has raised speculation that maybe they will be using the Xbox Live Marketplace as a legal movie download site? If this turns out to be true what’s the point if the movies aren’t in HD? And if they are in HD more than a 20GB hard drive will be needed for storage. I saw a 500GB external drive for $249 the other day. Sub $500 TB drives are here which means I’m about 6-8 months late on my prediction that this would happen at the end of 2005. - A few hundred people show up for Mike Tyson sparring on the Las Vegas strip. A true character study for the rise and fall of a prize fighter who could have been the greatest of all time. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Hmm quickies #39 — August 31, 2006 @ 11:48 am PST
[…] Sunday night’s three hour Part 1 of the controversial Path to 911 can be watched for free at ABC.com. Worth repeating, I like how networks are providing some of their content online, even though it’s not as good looking as watching on an HDTV in full screen glory, it fills a gap for those — however small a minority we are — without TV (day 83, woohoo!). […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Watch Path to 9/11 in your browser free from ABC — September 11, 2006 @ 5:34 am PST
[…] I’m hoping that over the next five years we finally see TV and internet becoming more integrated. It’s been a promise land for several years now that nobody has successfully pulled off, but being we’ve been TV-less for 147 days as of this writing, we’re ready. […]
Pingback by Web turns sweet 16 » Make You Go Hmm — November 14, 2006 @ 1:55 pm PST
[…] Who cares about Blu-Ray anyway? I’m sure high end video afficiandos care, but that’s not our family. We don’t currently own a TV over $1,000 (our 61″ is now gone), by choice we haven’t had TV service for over a half year (no cable, no satellite, not even over the air antenna). We have one lowend HDTV that only supports up to 1080i and has no HDMI inputs. We now are sharing this TV for one of our two Xbox 360 and the PS3. […]
Pingback by Got a PS3, now what? » Make You Go Hmm — December 26, 2006 @ 5:09 pm PST
[…] Although we have six television sets including two HDTV (max resolution 1080i) in our home, we’ve been without TV service (cable, satellite, over the air) for almost 200 days. This has saved us hundreds of dollars in monthly subscription fees and has gotten me thinking about what type of video content I’d be willing to pay for. […]
Pingback by TV in Japan luring me back » Make You Go Hmm — January 3, 2007 @ 1:43 pm PST
I salute you!!
My parents used to promise me $100 if I could go one full year without watching TV. I tried several times. End of story…
Comment by Justin Cook — January 3, 2007 @ 4:54 pm PST
[…] Noticed on iTunes that a season pass for 24 Season 6 is running $44.99. Compared to the $34.99 that’s too high, but hey, you’re getting it delivered the day after it airs. Must admit this is one of very few times I’m having TV withdrawls, but no, we’re not going to buy TV service for one show. […]
Pingback by Catching up with 24 on the eve of the Burning Crusade » Make You Go Hmm — January 16, 2007 @ 1:41 am PST
[…] Update 3:40pm PST: How about that the Bears come out swinging with a kickoff return for a TD and then get an Peyton Manning interception. Bears 7, Indy 0, oh yeah! I’m curious how others are enjoying the Superbowl? For us, despite our six televisions, it’s still a TV-less zone here. […]
Pingback by Superbowl XLI shout outs and predicting Da Bears to win » Make You Go Hmm — February 4, 2007 @ 4:58 pm PST
[…] TV Not in our house. We’ve had no TV service by choice for 250+ days. I’m not sure TV is stealing reading time like it did 15, 10 or possibly even 5 years ago. When I was a child I liked to watch TV, but I still enjoyed reading more. Give me a good Ray Bradbury story over anything on TV. Well, maybe except for Twilight Zone. […]
Pingback by Why kids don’t like to read » Make You Go Hmm — March 2, 2007 @ 7:03 pm PST
[…] Clearly the draw of getting at least over the air antenna TV coverage is starting to wear on us. As of this writing we’ve made it by choice 258 days without TV service: no cable, no satellite, not even an antenna for the free over the air channels. I’m wondering if we do at least buy an antenna, and that seems very possible, does that mean our counter should be brought to an end? I guess we could change it slight to “paid” TV service. I don’t see us buying cable or satellite service any time soon. I’m not about to say never, but we should be able to go a year at least. We really aren’t missing that much. […]
Pingback by Finding local TV channel lineups on the web » Make You Go Hmm — March 5, 2007 @ 7:34 am PST
[…] We’ve been without TV for 274 days and I’m still curious over the American Idol vote hacking to keep Sanjaya alive. This interests me for a couple reasons. One because Sanjaya is a local teen the same age as our oldest son (17) from Federal Way, Washington. Two because I think it’s funny that it took this long for organized attempts to manipulate Idol voting to hit a fever pitch. […]
Pingback by Sanjaya makes top 10 on American Idol » Make You Go Hmm — March 21, 2007 @ 7:58 pm PST
[…] going to start a daily countup like we’ve done for ridding our family of television and credit cards, but it is in the same […]
Pingback by Just saved $494 a year being energy smart » Make You Go Hmm — June 29, 2007 @ 1:11 pm PST
[…] days ago, our family of five dropped TV, so I don’t have a dog in this fight, but that doesn’t stop me for rooting for the […]
Pingback by FCC looking out for the little guys in cable with proposed restrictions » Make You Go Hmm — November 12, 2007 @ 6:09 am PST
I say “never watch TV again!” Its nothing but “white noise”. It clutters the mind and cloud the judgment. Watching TV is the only experience I have ever had where I actually felt dumber after being in its trance.
Comment by Carol — December 2, 2007 @ 4:13 am PST