------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Dropping the Cable Line 2. Shameless Self-Promotion 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Dropping the Cable Line ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Shameless Self-Promotion ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at: http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ezine Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the original author. We never send the "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-zine uninvited, and we NEVER share, sell or rent our mailing list to anyone. Your privacy is safe with us.