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Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine Vol 03 Issue 07
------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine -------
Vol 3, Issue 7
My apologies for missing the last issue. About a week before I
was to write the article for the last issue, my delightful
daughter came down with the cold/flu stuff that's been going
around. Those of you who are parents know that there is little
worse than seeing your child just lying there and suffering with
fever and the associated aches and pains. My sympathies, though,
dropped just a notch when I began to feel the telltale tickle in
the back of my throat.
By the time I was to have written the last issue, I felt that
discretion would definitely be the better part of valor. Better
a missed issue than one filled with the hallucinatory ravings of
a feverish computer programmer. Instead, I spent much of my time
propped up on the couch whiling away the hours with a little bit
of television.
Somewhere in the fever dreams, I hit upon a plan. I realized
that Lisa and I were paying over $80 a month just for cable.
Over a year, that amounts to close to $1000! What would I do
with an extra $1000 over the course of a year? More importantly,
how could I get it without having to give up on one of my
favorite pastimes -- watching TV?
Tune in below to read about my plans.
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In This Issue...
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1. Article: Dropping the Cable Line
2. Shameless Self-Promotion
3. The Fine Print
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1. Article: Dropping the Cable Line
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In these harsh economic times we are all looking for little (and
sometimes big) ways to save a dollar here or there. Lisa and I
are no different on that front. Lately we've been looking with
jaundiced eye at our $80 per month cable bill and thinking that
maybe it could be chopped. But how? Here's what we did and are
planning to do. Perhaps this will give you a few ideas.
1. Making a List. We sat down, first, to figure out exactly
what we were watching. What programs on which channels?
Surprisingly (or not) about 60% of what we watched was on the
normal broadcast channels.
2. Find New Sources, Part 1. The shows that we watch on the
broadcast channels were the easiest to deal with. I signed up to
get our coupons to purchase a digital TV converter box
(https://www.dtv2009.gov/). That pays for $40 of the box
(usually around $40 to $60). After I set that up, we should be
able to get most of the local stations in crystal clear digital.
I've already set this up on my mother-in-law's TV and the image
is pretty darn good.
3. Find New Sources, Part 2. Next came the trickier part --
those programs *not* on broadcast. We watch several shows on
cable stations like the Sci-Fi channel and the USA Network. What
about them? A converter box isn't going to help there. Well, I
took my list to the Internet. No, I didn't go looking for
pirated copies of them. I went to Hulu.com. Sure enough, Hulu
had the last five episodes or more of each of these shows. That
meant I could at least watch them on my computer. The cool
thing, though, is that my notebook computer has an S-video port.
A quick stop at Buy.com and I had an S-video cable to hook my
computer directly to my TV. Now I can watch any of those shows
on the big screen.
4. Deal with the Challenges. As they say, sacrifice would be a
lot more popular if you didn't have to give anything up. There
are some shows that you just can't find anywhere else but on
cable. For example, if you spend all of your time watching Food
Network, you might only be able to locate about half of the
programs you like. If you are a big sports fan, getting your
ESPN fix is going to be a bit challenging. Basically, it comes
down to asking yourself if watching those shows is worth $1000
per year.
I know this all seems like a bit of a hassle, but if you are
looking for ways to trim the budget, sometimes you have to feel a
little discomfort to get what you want. For me it looks like it
will definitely be worth it. I'll have to let you know how well
it works in the long run.
Have you found some ways to trim your expenses either online or
off without really giving up what you enjoy? I'd love to hear
about it. Drop me a line at gpeters@cyberdatasolutionsllc.com.
Copyright 2009, Greg Peters
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2. Shameless Self-Promotion
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The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg
Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data
Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better
web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us
on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your
webmaster.
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3. The Fine Print
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