My TV is broken

YEAH! My TV is broken.

Granted, if it broke last night while the New England Patriots were beating the Tennessee Titans, I would be less happy. But today, who cares. I will catch next weeks game at a friends or at the local hokey independent movie theatre. They have been broadcasting the games on their big screen. They have great popcorn, a hearty pork barbeque sandwich, and even serve beer. It’s regular movie seating, facing forward, but between each seat is a little spacer table for your stuff. They even have waitress service. Remember when the customer counted? That was how long ago this place was built.

The kids haven’t even made a squawk about the TV. This was my hope. The incessant fighting of my two youngest dissipated today. Somehow the noise and blather of the damn thing sets the wrong tone. “Can I eat in the living room?’ “I’ll be right in, right after this.” Blah, blah.

Unlike most Americans, we have only one TV. Instead, we have three computers. An iBook, a PowerBook, and the original G4 Tower. There is more on the web than will ever be on TV, and, I will guiltily admit, like to be up-to-date. The stuff is so good now, I can’t even find a reason to replace it.

For all my critique af Apple, I consider my purchase of an iBook three years ago a life altering event. Far bigger than my purchase of my lowly IIsi, many years ago. That only revolutionized my business. The laptop, it is turning out, is revolutionizing my life and business. (My wife seems to have adjusted to being a computer widow.)

When we first got married, we didn’t have a TV for a couple of years. Life was great then. I read more, and listened to more music. The world is better through a newspaper anyway. With the web, we now can get all three at once. If we could end copyright control and the the content really flow, imagine what a world it could be. The Great Library of Alexandria burned. We can rebuild it, and store multiples all over the planet, if we only had the wisdom to see it.

So, no TV. I will miss Smallville and Survivor, and a couple of other occasional shows. I know this won’t last forever, but I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.