We all but canceled our cable with Comcast about 10 days ago.  There were several reasons, among them being the cost.  I’ve determined that I can get more for my money through a satellite service (which we’ve had before) and so we’re going to do that at the end of the summer, probably.  I figured we could take the summer off - college basketball season is over, and college football doesn’t start until September, so ESPN is unnecessary until then.  I will miss some of the channels, most notably the cable news channels.  But I’ll survive.

We have the very basic cable package now - $9.95 a month for all local channels, plus a few others including The Weather Channel.  I’m sure with all of the taxes and additional overcharges, that will come to about $27 a month.  So far, I’ve primarily found a station called RTN interesting in the evening.  No idea what RTN stands for, but basically, it shows old television shows like The Brady Bunch, Gomer Pyle, and My Three Sons during prime time.  I would just as soon be watching those as much as anything that’s on these days, so it’s not been too bad.

I am currently reading Night by Elie Wiesel, in which he chronicles his experiences in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.  As a Jewish teenager, he went through a number of camps with his father (having been separated from their female family members), including Auschwitz.  I am about halfway through right now, but it has been very good so far.  (I almost didn’t buy the particular printing I bought, because it had an “Oprah’s Book Club” sticker on it, and I generally shun all things Oprah.)  It’s still hard to fathom how people could let something like this happen.  I was reading the other night and had the TV on RTN (where My Three Sons was playing.)  About the time I put it down, the show ended and Hogan’s Heroes came on.  When I think of comedy, German war camps during WWII usually doesn’t come to mind.

Also, due to the scaled back cable, I’m now missing the NBA playoffs.  Now, I don’t really care at this point. I would watch it, because it’s basketball and it’s on TV, but since the networks only show it on the weekends, I won’t be seeing any during the week until the finals, I believe, when they begin showing all of the games on network.  That will be sometime in June, I guess.  I think the next season then begins in July.  I’m still confident that some day, this will actually happen.