the idiot box......

For as long as I can remember, I've been addicted to television. I grew up during the era when TV was in it's infancy (as was I), and shows like Ozzie and Harriett could keep me in rapt attention for the full half hour it was on, as well as a myraid of other great shows. My Dad always enjoyed TV as well, and I probably got the habit from him. My Mom on the other hand referred to it as the "idiot box", and only watched something if it was important, or an old movie was on that she remembered from her childhood of going to the "picture show". We only had three channels (ABC, NBC, CBS), and it came into the house in black and white only. Color made its debut in the early 70's in our home, but you still had to get up to change the channel, or shut it off entirely. If you stayed up past 1 AM, the station played the National Anthem and went to fuzzy screen.... a signal that it was time to go to bed.

I lived without a color TV for many years on my own, as black and white was the only set I could afford after I moved out of my parents home. No big deal, at least I could still watch my favorite shows, even if I couldn't see them in color. I survived "colorless" till the middle of the 80's, when I moved in with my now husband, who had a great set.... with a remote! Wow.... I was styling now! I no longer had to get off my butt to change the channel, and we actually got a few more channels than the usual three. This certainly opened up the playing field a bit, and I was thrilled with the new freedom TV offered. We couldn't afford cable, but that was ok, as we could transport the TV into any room and just plug it in to watch. Reception was dependant on the rabbit ears that stuck out of the top of the set, and the closer to a window, the better the picture came in.

In 2001, I finally relented to the naggings of my son, and had cable connected to our sets. We finally moved up into the new millenium, and tantilizing from my friends ceased, because they couldn't understand how I had gotten along so far without it. Well, what you don't have, you don't tend to miss, and it was always because of the cost factor that kept me from having it in the first place. But relent I did, and it was one more item on the list that my son made that he could scratch off of "wantful things" in our home. (What's funny about that list is that I do manage to knock off the items listed, but he always manages to find new things to put on it. At this point in his life, I told him he needs his own home to do the bidding for, as the money tree had all it could do to afford the mortgage, utilities and upkeep of this house. Besides "wantful things" doesn't necessarily mean "needful things", and he has a hard time understanding the differences... but then all kids do, huh?)

After a very long weekend of catering two seperate weddings, I wanted nothing more than to sit back with my feet up and snap on the set to lose my mind in senseless sit-coms and movies. I came home Saturday morning at 1 AM after the first wedding, clicked the remote and the fuzzy picture greeted me. Hmmmmm...... that's odd, I paid the bill (for the first time I was even early doing it), and the connection hadn't been tampered with, so what's the problem? Within 30 minutes, my son came home from work and told me that cable had been out all day. We finally deduced what the problem was. My next door neighbor has sold their home and moved to Port Richey, Florida. They must have had cable disconnected, and cable guy snipped the wrong wire. It all made perfect sense, and was what I explained to the cable customer service people when I called. After plenty of apologies, an upgrade to my cable service for the same amount of money I pay now, and plenty of more apologies, they assured me that someone would be on it immediately. Off I go to cater my early wedding on Saturday, hoping that when I get home, cable is back to normal. No such luck. They didn't show all day, and I made another call to my provider. Again, many apologies, followed by "we'll call you right back with an ETA... so stay by your phone". That was at 7:30 PM, and I never heard from them again all night.
I picked up a book and called it a night. What the heck, I'm always complaining that I never have enough time to read anyway.

Cable was restored by noon today, but I was so engrossed in the book, that I had a hard time putting it down, and ended up reading over half it before finally starting dinner. I had already finished one book between Friday and Saturday, and was already into my second one. Amazing what a few days away from the "idiot box" will force you to do.... knowing that you should be doing these things all along. Of course I am glad that cable is restored, and I'm sure it will only be a matter minutes before I am once again glued to the set in my off hours.

Oh.... geez.... gotta go..... Desperate Housewives is on in 10 minutes, and that's another one of my favorites in the ever-growing list of addictions I have.