TV Experiment 2.0

A couple of years ago we pulled the plug on the tv for the month of November. It was a great month. I read more than I had in the six months prior, listened to more music and found that life was just better. The kids discovered other hobbies and passions, and by and large it was a good thing.

Last time we did it we wanted to see what life was like with no television at all. It was good. This time around our plan is a little different. DirecTV is gone indefinitely. Don't know when we will turn it back on, if ever. It's not that I don't like the programming, I enjoy it immensely, and that's the problem. It's too easy to spend your life in front of the tv keeping current with Falling Skies, American Restoration, Pawn Stars, Top Shot, etc. All of those are really good shows, but they make themselves more important than they should be by always being on.

So the rules this time: No TV at all Monday through Thursday. Friday we may throw a movie on if we want to do a family movie night but otherwise no TV. We haven't decided about the weekends, but Jacob is lobbying hard for a little video game time, and we might work that in.

The interesting thing about it is that our kids were excited about it this time.

Good times ahead!

Joel

The tyranny of the television

My daughter suggested we go to church on Saturday night this week, and so we did. This provided the opportunity for all of us to be home yesterday with nothing on the agenda. 

Feeling festive, I decided to put on some Christmas music. I fired up the xbox and browsed the music collection on the attached hard drive (some years ago we imported all of our CD's into iTunes, and I put those files on a drive attached to the xbox for music in our living room) and selected 252 songs for the day, and then turned the tv off and let the music play through the stereo.

With music playing, I started reading. After a while the first request came "daddy, can I play xbox?" to which I replied no, we were listening to music. An hour later another request for xbox and/or television came, and the response was the same.

What happened next was amazing. My son shows up with a baseball and bat, and asks if I will throw him pitches. We haven't done that in MONTHS. After doing that for a while we played tetherball, and then I came inside and continued reading. Jacob wasn't done, so he rounded up his sister, and they played tetherball together for what feels like the first time ever. 

With the tv off, jacob started playing with legos (to be fair he does this a lot) and my daughter did all sorts of things that she doesn't normally do because she couldn't watch tv or play video games. I was struck by how many good things our family did when the television is not available. 

Had we had the tv on, I probably would have watched a football game I don't care about, or watched some old episodes of top gear or who knows what. Instead I decided to go through a HUGE stack of magazines that I've been wanting to read and get rid of for ages. I probably breezed through about 2000 pages of magazines (no joke. I read fast and only read the stuff I cared about) throughout the day, in between cleaning, cooking, playing baseball, etc. 

It's not that we sit around and watch tv all the time, but it is amazing what happens when that option is removed from the list of choices. It seems like the house comes alive in a magical way.

We had already decided to turn the tv off for the month of January, and after Sunday, that can't come soon enough. 

Joel

The TV Experiment is over -- but continues.

On November 2 we turned off our TV. Totally. No TV, no DVD's, No Xbox. Nothing. We planned to turn everything back on for December, specifically December 4. It was an awesome month of reading, listening to music, playing games, and doing other non-tv-focused things. We did not enforce the no-tv rule for our vacation, but at home we did. At the end of the month I got to thinking about the experiment. Here are my thoughts:

I didn't have a DirecTV bill last month, but if I did, it would have been higher than my electric bill.

EXCUSE ME?!?!?

How did I not notice this before? It's amazing what a month off will do to provide clarity to a matter like this. That is absolutely ridiculous. On one hand, I have something that provides light for my family, ignites my stove, runs my oven, powers my clocks, powers the stereo, tv, air conditioning, runs the heater fan, runs my computer, powers my iPhone, powers the dishwasher and clothes washer, and is very difficult to live without in this day and age.

On the other hand, I have programming for my TV. And that costs MORE than electricity? Something is SERIOUSLY out of whack.

So I called DirecTV and told them that my bill was far too high, and that they needed to give me speed channel for less than $40 per month, or we were done. Since a new subscriber can get a package that includes SpeedTV for $34.95 this should be easy right? Apparently not. They would not budge on the "new subscribers only" mandate, so they lost a customer of 11 years. I guess it's ok to ripoff your current customers in their book, so I'm done. I am no longer a DirecTV customer.

Will I sign up for DIsh Network? Maybe. But for now, we will turn our TV back on tomorrow without service of any kind. Unfortunately where we live we cannot get OTA tv of any kind. There IS a translator, although I'm pretty sure it only broadcasts analog despite the digital drop dead date being long gone. The last time we tried it, we couldn't get anything, but I'm thinking that MAYBE if I put an antenna outside I might be able to pull in some signals so we can at least have a few things available. I have heard great things about this antenna, so maybe Jacob and I will build one and see if we can get any OTA TV at our house.

Of course the next question is if my tv can even tune in the analog stations. Sadly there is no deadline nor even a plan of one for the LPTV translators that serve communities like ours. It's astonishing to me that we can be considered in the "market" of a tv station, and yet they can do nothing to insure we get their signal and that's ok...

So anyway, back to the experiment. We didn't enforce the rules while we were on vacation, so there was a LOT of xbox going on with the kids and we watched a few movies. But we are back home and we still haven't used our tv (ok, Patty may have cheated yesterday, but we didn't make the rules clear for December) yet. Tonight the TV is allowed back on, and I am hoping to have a movie night, should be a nice treat.

We will allow dvd's and xbox starting today, although we have decided to limit the kids to xbox on Wednesdays and Fridays + weekends only. We initially wanted weekends only, but that would mean they could never play with their friends next door who come over in the afternoons after school and we wanted to be nice. This was actually a cool teachable moment for my son, because was upset about it when we said weekends only, and he expressed that it meant he couldn't play with his friends. Patty and I talked about it later, and then were able to communicate that we had listened to him and decided to change our minds. He was really happy, I think more about being listened to than about the decision itself. It was cool.

On the whole, it has been a great month for me. Life is better without tv, and I have grown a lot by reading a ton of books. I plan to continue this and try to leave the tv off. You can monitor my progress by the number of book reviews I post :-)

Now you've heard from me, here's Patty's take:

It is a bit unusual that we live in Southern California, yet in our rural area we have no cable lines, very limited radio reception, no access to quality/affordable High Speed internet, and the Los Angeles newspapers consider us too rural for their delivery routes. I'm feeling a bit isolated and ignorant again. I do like the space, the quiet, seeing the stars (except when pastor Scott turns his light on and blocks them), and our home. But with the media isolation, it can seem like we are in a third world country, to use an exaggeration. When we had television, I had a link to the outside world. I'm realizing that television is more than entertainment, although admittedly that is the majority of what we use it for. I agree that the DirecTV pricing is out of line with the worth we place in it. Many people also feel this way. Something has to change.

---

So.... We are a bit divided on whether no tv is a good thing or not. But the discussion is good and for now, we have a quieter house and lower utility bills both in electricity and no tv payment. That is a good thing. Now if only we could get internet...

Joel

Day 15 of the TV Experiment

After putting the kids to bed Patty and I sat in the living room and read. I can't think of the last time we both did that. I finished up Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles Kindleberger. This book wasn't nearly as good as I hoped it would be. It really focused on the idea of the need for a "Lender of Last Resort" in financial crises.

Kindleberger clearly knows his stuff, but this book is written almost as a book by an economist for economists. It expects that you have a clear understanding of events like Tulipomania, the British Government debt crisis of 1763 in Amsterdam, the South Sea Company bubble, Banque Royale, etc. While I am familiar with some of these things I found myself often confused as I read this book.

It is also interesting to read this book post-2008, as the US government, IMF and central banks all around the world worked to stop last year's financial meltdown from becoming a full-on worldwide economic collapse leading to a long depression. I'd venture that most of the economists who were making those decisions have read this book.

As a lay person though, this is a difficult read. I started it on Sunday and wasn't able to finish it, which is unusual for me right now.

After this I read A Short History of Financial Euphoria. I've read this book before, but I found myself wanting to read it again after reading Manias, Panics and Crashes. This book is an excellent introduction to why this stuff happens in the first place. I really like this book, it's a quick read and it gives you a good picture of how these things happen and what factors lead to their development.

What this book does so well is analyze the psychology involved as well:

"Although only a few observers have noted the vested interest in error that accompanies speculative euphoria, it is, nonetheless, an extremely plausible phenomenon. Those involved with the speculation are experiencing an increase in wealth—getting rich or being further enriched. No one wishes to believe that this is fortuitous or undeserved; all wish to think that it is the result of their own superior insight or intuition. The very increase in values thus captures the thoughts and minds of those being rewarded. Speculation buys up, in a very practical way, the intelligence of those involved."

Galbraith predicted the crash of the stock market in 1987 a few months earlier. He was widely vilified for this pronouncement. But as it turned out, he was very right. He has a good understanding of the speculative cycle and its impact on world markets. If you have any interest in why things happen the way they do, this is the book to read. Highly recommended.

As for music, we only listened to one CD: Yes No by a Japanese group called "The Square" at the time, and now known as T-Square. My friend Keiichi Yano turned me on to this a long, long time ago. I still like it.

Joel

Two Weeks without TV - Patty's Perspective

I have had a few requests to hear from the rest of the family. Here's their take:

Coming from the wife and kids, it’s been good overall. We have transitioned much better than I thought we would. Kids haven’t complained about missing their favorite programs – that is unless you ask them about it. They are needing more attention/direction, but are adapting quite well overall. Fights on way to school are not so bad. I think this is because they can think clearer while getting ready for school.

Since we live in a rural area and can’t get High Speed Internet that is worth our investment in it, I have felt a bit out of touch with what’s happening in the world. Felt lost with regards to the World Series, the November elections, the Healthcare Bill. On the positive side, ignorance is bliss. Just feeling ignorant.

One day when I was doing a lot of cooking preparation, I thought about popping in a DVD or viewing one of my TiVoed programs while I worked. It took awhile to reprogram and put in CDs instead for background to keep the pace. Wondering why silence is so hard to handle.

Thankful for the break from Xbox. When the kids play Xbox a lot, they do seem more aggressive and easily agitated with each other. When we do turn the tv back on, I’d like to make Xbox only on the weekends.

I could go another couple weeks, possibly until school lets out for Christmas break. I don’t think I’d like to do this “cold turkey” thing permanently, but I do feel we use our entertainment center far too much.

Patty

Day 14 of the TV Experiment

We are two weeks in. On the whole it is a great thing. There are definitely times when I wish we had it on, mostly to watch DVD's now. That's the weird thing. Haven't watched the USC or Anaheim Ducks games and haven't missed them. Haven't watched mythbusters, destroyed in seconds, the office or any of the other shows we like. Haven't missed them either. I do imagine that if this was the Formula 1 season I would miss that. Still haven't decided if we are going to turn back on DirecTV at the end of the month, but I'm leaning more and more away from it.

I have more time to read than I can ever remember having. Going without TV has also really highlighted how much we no longer listen to music around the house. Without the TV on, CD's get played more. I really enjoy music, and listening to it in the living room is a far different experience from playing it in the car or listening to it at my desk at work. I love iTunes, but a shuffle of thousands of songs is not the same as putting in a CD and listening to it from start to finish.

I am almost done with another book, I'll post a review when I've finished it.

Joel

Day 10 of the TV Experiment

I didn't blog days 8 and 9 because you really don't need to read about me shopping for a camera on the internet (Monday) and leading a cub scout meeting (Tuesday). The only thing of interest would be reviews of the music I listened to, but I don't think they are good enough to stand on their own...

Today is Veteran's day. We spent the morning working on the heating and air systems in our house, getting the humidifiers and air cleaners working properly again. One of the humidifiers had become a residence to a mouse at some point, and was filled with insulation blocking the fan. That's why we check these things...

I've asked Patty to write up her view of this crazy "month with no tv" experiment, so you should hear from her in the next few days. I might ask the kids to do the same. In the meantime, today I read The Desert Fathers, a book that I found fascinating (review to follow). Patty and Grace were gone for part of the day, which allowed me to put on a little more of "Daddy's Music" :-)

(1) AC/DC - Powerage - Not their best effort by any stretch. An average 70's rock album.
(2) Diana Krall - Live in Paris - My favorite Diana Krall album.
(3) Bond - Shine - Remember Hooked on Classics from the 70's? Classical music to a beat, but not nearly as cheesy as those were.
(4) Genesis - We Can't Dance - The last Genesis studio album that matters (Calling All Stations doesn't count).
(5) Linkin Park - Meteora - A really, really, really great modern hard rock album.
(6) Evanescence - Fallen - A friend of mine handed me a burned copy of this disc years ago. I played it once, loved it so much I ordered the real thing from Amazon. Simply outstanding.

Yesterday rather than watch TV we played "Sorry" as a family, which was fun right up to the point where Jacob ran out of the room crying... On the bright side, it gave me the opportunity to parent him about his attitude, and he seemed to wake up today with the desire to do better on that front.

Still have to lead a bible study tonight and then I'll probably tackle another book. I'll add that to tomorrow's entry if I write one.

Joel

Day 7 of the TV Experiment

I am still sick, but feeling a bit better. The challenge today is not overdoing it. I took a nap after church, and that seemed to help. Hopefully I can get to sleep tonight.

Jacob and I played oh-Wah-Ree, a game I played with my dad when I was about his age. The first game I beat him handily, but taught him strategy all the way along. The second game I helped him more, and made a few intentional not-the-best-moves and he won. He was quite pleased :-) So was daddy.

I read a book today, Go Green, Save Green (review to follow) and wasn't terribly impressed. At least the music was good:

(1) Shelly Berg Trio - Blackbird. - This is an excellent CD suggested by my friend Brett. Well performed it is not terribly adventurous musically, but most enjoyable.

(2) Star Wars Episode III soundtrack - I don't even remember buying this one. I think I must have imported it into iTunes and then dropped it in the box at home. I am not sure I've ever listened to it end to end. Although the movie was good, the music isn't all that special.

(3) Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going! - This is pop at its best. Phil's vocals are awesome and the whole album is light hearted and quick.

(4) Billy Joel - River of Dreams - This album is very hit and miss. It opens strong with "No Man's Land" which laments the commercialization of America, and goes right into The Great Wall of China, a song that is at least memorable. The album pauses for the forgettable Blonde over Blue, and then launches into the soulful "A Minor Variation" a song that sounds like it belongs on the Storm Front album. Next up is the overproduced and very forgettable Shades of Gray followed by the equally forgettable All About Soul. Lullaby (Goodnight my Angel) follows, and it is beautiful, a borderline masterpiece. The signature piece of this album is the wonderfully complex river of dreams, the one big hit from this CD. Unfortunately, these two songs are by far the high point of the CD. It finishes with the Goodnight Saigon rehash Two Thousand Years and the bland Famous Last Words. In this day and age I'd say buy the high points on iTunes and skip the rest...

(5) Genesis - Nursery Cryme - The first Genesis album worth listening to. The strongest number, The Return of the Giant Hogweed, is better on Genesis Live. Still, The Musical Box and Harold the Barrel are quite good.

(6) Genesis - Foxtrot - Not as good as Nursery Cryme. It starts strong with Watcher of the Skies (also on Genesis Live) and then but for a few brief moments is unremarkable.

(7) Cusco - Apurimac - Some albums age like fine wine. This is not one of them.

I also read Saint Thomas More: Selected Writings. I'll review that in another post.

Joel

Day 6 of the TV Experiment

Today was tough. Very tough.

I went to bed last night feeling sick. It got so bad that I had to get up and take Ny-Quill. If you know me, I am the type of guy that tends to look at a missing arm as a "flesh wound" and avoid the world of medicine unless absolutely necessary. It was absolutely necessary...

I woke up this morning feeling a bit like someone who had spent the night being slammed into trees. This is exactly the kind of day that would find me laying on the couch in and out of consciousness watching hours upon hours of college football. It is days like this where I find myself watching games like Nevada verses Fresno State...

Anyway, that wasn't an option. And the brakes in the van desperately needed to be changed, so I went over to my friend's house to work on the van, as well as another friend's volvo. We got the brakes done, made slow progress on the engine replacement for the volvo, and ultimately both guys looked at me and said "you really should go home and take a nap" which is exactly what I did.

Jacob complained he was bored, which makes sense because he spent like five hours playing video games at Mark's house. I had little sympathy. I took my nap, got up for dinner, and got back into bed. I did manage to read today though. Since these books are lighter fare, I'll include the reviews here instead of in a separate post. I read a small book entitled Fortress Introduction to the Prophets. I found it rather unfulfilling. It gave cursory introductions to Amos, Hosea, Micah, Habakkuk and Isaiah. Then it spent half of the book talking about Jeremiah. What happened to the rest of the prophets is anyone's guess. To me it seemed like Rodney Hutton wrote a book on Jeremiah that was too short, so they tacked on the first half of the book to make it saleable. It's not a bad book, I actually enjoyed the cursory introductions, I found them informative and interesting. But I was left feeling like I didn't get the whole book. Not recommended.

I then shifted genres entirely and read The Halfling's Gem, a fantasy book by R.A. Salvatore. This is the third book in the Icewind Dale trilogy, a series my cousin Scott turned me on to. These aren't Lord of the Rings caliber books, but they are quite entertaining to read. They tell the stories of four friends, a dwarf, a barbarian, a halfling and a dark elf. They are well written, and draw you in and keep you turning the pages. If you like fantasy, these books are worth picking up.

Music today was mostly quiet. After the kids went to bed I put on Chick Corea's Akoustic Band. I bought this when it was released in 1989 and long ago lost count as to how many times I have played it. As always, the level of musicianship displayed here by Chick Corea, Dave Weckl, and John Patitucci simply defies understanding. These guys have definitely put in more than their 10,000 hours...

I followed up Chick Corea with Hemispheres by Rush. This is a lesser known work that is, IMHO, one of their very best albums. If you like Rush and haven't heard this, it's time to pick it up or download it from iTunes.

Finally I put on Duke, by Genesis. This album is the last of the big rich sound tapestries that were a hallmark of Genesis through the 1970's. It includes two hits, Turn it On Again and Misunderstanding, that were the start of what became a more pop song orientation for the band through the 1980's. I don't look at that as a bad thing, simply different. This album is the bridge between those two worlds. Well worth a listen.

Today was hard without TV, I'll admit. It would have been a simple day to just lay on the couch and watch TV. On the other hand, I got the brakes done on the van, and being outside was probably good for me. Sleeping in my bed was probably better than watching tv all day as well. In the end, I don't think it would have been a better day with the tv.

Joel

Day 5 of the TV Experiment

Today was different, in that we had a plan. For my birthday I received a new board game, The Settlers of Catan, from Patty's brother and sister in law. I was really hoping to have it for this month, so it's arrival was greeted with much joy. This game was created in 1995 and is probably the best board game to be created in the last twenty years or more.

What makes Settlers so great is that it is fun for all ages. I know that phrase is always used for any game, but this one really was fun for mom and dad and kids alike. It's a strategy game, in which you build roads, settlements and cities, all the while competing for resources and such. It sounds complicated, and at first glance it kind of is, but once you've played it once, it's really rather simple.

The best thing about Settlers of Catan, and where it is so genius, is that there is a random element to it. You can win this game by planning a brilliant strategy and executing it perfectly. But there is also luck, and that luck can strike at the worst times for the brilliant strategy. When we played it took us about two hours, and my daughter ended up winning. She was probably the least planned and strategized, but the game fell into her hands at a few key moments (daddy might have helped her strategize a bit too...).

The game involves trading, which makes cooperation with one another essential, yet at the same time, has a way to trade with "foreign lands" if nobody will trade with you, making the game still fun if everyone turns against you and refuses to trade. I am really impressed overall with the design of the game.

Oftentimes games with a luck element feel pointless, because it's all just luck. This game is not. Strategy is crucial and makes a big difference, but the luck element is there to insure that the best player doesn't always win. Another great feature is the fact that the game board can be set up randomly, so that it is different every time you play. This avoids the "everyone wants austrailia" element of repetitive strategy you find in games like Risk.

We played until almost ten pm. I altered the rules a bit to end the game early, because the kids were getting REALLY tired. We need to try it again, starting earlier.

We listened to only two CD's last night, primarily because we were all playing the game so we didn't really need music on...

Before playing Settlers I put on Supernatural by Santana. This album is a masterpiece. Most known for the megahit "Smooth" the album is excellent from top to bottom. The collaboration with other artists means that the sound varies quite a bit while still retaining a cohesiveness.

We also listened to Much Afraid by Jars of Clay. To be honest, I was never all that impressed with this CD. It simply blends into the background. It is the musical equivalent of beige. It served it's purpose (background music to settlers of catan) perfectly.

All told, a very good night. A TV-less one.

Joel

Day 4 of the TV Experiment

I didn't writeup day 3 because it really wasn't much different than it would have been with the tv on. Last night though was awesome. I got home around 5-ish, and remembered that it was "National Men Make Dinner Day" so I put on Rush: Signals(a longtime favorite album), and started making tacos. Nothing special, but since I didn't remember until I got home, I wasn't prepared to make anything cool. I was going to grill something, but Patty said that was against the rules.

After dinner I sat down and started reading Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. I'll review it in another post but it was an awesome book. Jacob was on the couch reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) having just finished book five. I'm amazed at how fast he reads, he just started reading Harry Potter at the end of the summer. Now that he's gotten into it and isn't watching TV, he read book five in a little over a week.

Besides the aforementioned Rush album, we listened to:

Huey Lewis & the News: Fore! - Haven't heard this one in a LONG time. Good stuff.

Falco: Greatest Hits - Yes, I'm weird for listening to German pop music, but it made for good background music while I read.

Dave Brubeck: Time Out - An absolute classic. Most known for "take five" but a very good album top to bottom.

Beethoven: Sonaten - Pathétique & Mondschein - To my mind this is THE definitive collection of these piano works. I've never found another recording that, for me, captured the essence and spirit of these pieces. I use this CD as the standard to which I try to match when I play them. Unfortunately, I need to practice a lot more :-)

I'm amazed at how much music we listen to now, and lament how much of our life has been filled with the soundtrack of tv or video games...

We are four days into this experiment and every day our likelihood of turning DirecTV back on at the end of the month diminishes.

Joel

Day 2 of the TV experiment

Day 2 without TV was better than day 1 for the family. Patty said the kids didn't fight on the way to school and were treating each other better. Weird, didn't expect THAT from this experiment. I got home from work at the same time they got home from Girl Scouts, and Jacob sat on the couch and pulled out Harry Potter book 5, while Patty and Grace were doing email or something like that in the office.

As for me, I read Paul: In Fresh Perspective by N.T. Wright. I'll do a review of that in another post.

Around bedtime we read to the kids out of the The Book of Virtues. We bought this book in 1996 or so when it came out, and always planned to read from it to our kids. The last time we tried they were too young. They really enjoyed the stories and poems we read and it seemed like a great thing to do before bed. We read one story and one poem and they asked for more, so that was a good sign. We will try it again tonight and see if they are still into it!

With no TV on we listen to music more. Last night I put on three CD's:
(1) OK Computer by Radiohead. I bought this CD because it was so highly regarded in a book I read, but I honestly don't care for it much. It's a weird mix of screeching guitars and melancholy vocals that just never quite works. In Rainbows is a far superior effort, IMHO.

(2) Debussy and Ravel Piano Works - Long, LONG out of print, this is a fantastic CD of some not-all-that-well-known piano pieces. Alain Planes really does these pieces justice. I purchased this for "LA CATHEDRALE ENGLOUTIE" many, many years ago but the entire CD is top notch. It was really nice to hear this again, as I rarely listen to classical music on iTunes.

(3) The Look of Love by Diana Krall. I really enjoy Diana Krall and have been in the mood for her stuff a lot lately. This is a very mellow, romantic (duh) CD that really shows off her sultry vocals and gentle touch at the piano. The only downside is that I always feel like I should be in a smoke filled bar when I listen to her...

All told day 2 of the tv experiment was awesome. I can't think of anything we could have done as a family with the tv on that would be better than the last two nights. We had told the kids we MIGHT use the tv for a family movie night this month, but I am rethinking that with how much better it has been with it off. More to come...

Joel

Day 1 without TV

This isn't exactly a dramatic travelogue where I am going days through the desert without food and water, but pulling the plug on the tv is not only counter-cultural, it definitely shows how much time we waste in front of it.

Last night I would have sat down after work and watched the world series. That would have cost me 2.5 hours of the evening (got home at 6). No idea what I would have done after the game was over. Instead I did the following:

(1) Cleaned up the living room, packing up the xbox to lend to a friend for the month.
(2) Read Creator and Cosmos and Fingerprint of God, both by Hugh Ross.
(3) Listened to three CD's - Joe Satriani's The Extremist, Sting's Fields of Gold, and Diana Krall's The Girl in the Other Room while I was reading those books.
(4) Practiced piano for 30 minutes or so.

It was weird how much I got done. The real test will be what I do when I am fried. Yesterday I was feeling good when I got home, so it was easy to tackle various things.

I'll keep you posted as the month goes on.

Joel

November Unplugged

I called DirecTV this morning and asked them to suspend our service until December 4th. Then I unplugged the tivo and went to work. Today begins a month of no tv, no video games, and no dvd's (we did tell the kids we would not enforce this during our vacation).

It seems that too much of our lives get spent in front of the black box, and we decided that we were going to take a month off and see what life is like without it. To be honest, I'm quite excited about it, even though I will miss game 5 (and 6 and 7 if necessary) of the world series.

It will be interesting to see how the dynamics of our house change with the tv off. It will be interesting to see what gets done that has been lying undone, sacrificed to the gods of prepackaged entertainment. It will be interesting to see what God does with us during this month as well.

And how much our electric bill drops...

Joel