I didn't pay for cable TV for many years, but then I fell in love with a man who loves racing so we pay for cable to have access to the "Speed" channel. Sigh. We're talking about switching to satellite to cut down on the expense, though.
I think part of the problem is that past generations held stable work positions for many years offering a consistent plan. With the younger generations today many move between employers sometimes every few years and that disruption causes a disruption in the mind set.
I think all the laptops that I have had have been so noisy that desktops seem quiet by comparison! But I might just have been choosing the wrong type of laptop, or I didn't notice the noise with the desktop because the tower was so far from my ear. I can certainly understand why any noisy computer would be a hassle, though.
I am one of the 40,000 lucky people chosen to be a Chromebook beta-tester. I can tell you I love my new chromebook, but it has limitations. The biggest one I've seen is lack of plugin support. Though Flash works, Silverlight, Quicktime, and other plugins do not. You cannot download and install these. Additionally, I have had some pain with some downloadable files from websites (such as Travel Expense forms or PDFs). Still it makes a great laptop for people who have a desktop at home.
No, I haven't paid for TV service for over 4 years. I use a $40 HD antenna that I purchased off of Amazon to get my basic over-the-air HD channels, which I then record on a Tivo. I would consider paying for cable, but I can't stand the fact that I have to buy expensive packages filled with premium channels that I will never watch. If I could subscribe to channels "a la carte", then I would definitely try it.
Also, I'm hoping that we see more development in internet based television.
A few of my friends have gym memberships and go to yoga there - sometimes a gym membership costs less than a membership at a yoga studio, and you get to use all the facilities too. The only drawback is that there aren't as many classes, and IMHO, the atmosphere isn't quite as calming.
I like your article and agree with you and many of the comments made here about a desktop. But I did not like the heat and noise. I have a dell workstation with dual Xeon chips and twelve gig of ram but only turn it on when that kind of processing is needed. For my everyday work now I use a laptop set on a stand with, a large monitor, keyboard and mouse. It's cool and quiet and if for some reason I need to move it, it's not an all day job. Yes it is more expensive and when something goes wrong... I do plan on building a desktop and will probably do something smaller than the boat anchor setting in the corner.
Awesome! Did they hire a private instructor? A lot of workplaces now are sponsoring yoga classes - another perk to employees and a great way to promote health in the workplace. I think it makes employees more productive too!
Nope, no cable here. We got tired fo paying a premium price to waste our time channel surfing. Most of the shows we watched were on the pbs channel which we get for free on our antenna tv. Hmmm...free vs costly for the same show, I'll take free every time.
I pay for the lowest package offered by comcast, mostly watch the news channels. Also have netflix with roku which I really enjoy If possible I would cut the cable in a minute, I am hoping an over the air antennae will make that possible
I haven't ever paid for cable/satellite television. I had access to it while still living with my parents, but never made the decision to purchase it for myself when I moved out three years ago. I don't miss it, and the few times I have tried to schedule my life to accommodate a show, I fail miserably. Live television is only useful for the super bowl, otherwise I'll stick to my Netflix enabled dvd player.
Yes, I do pay for DirecTV. I live too far to use OTA antennas for my locals and live in a smaller town in Maine so high speed streaming is still a pipe dream (1.5 DLS)
I am not ashamed to say I pay for cable. Cable service is so villified and it is definitely a cost I could cut if I needed to but I enjoy it right now. I have bundled services so internet and phone too for $150/month. I get all the movie channels as the idea of Netflix does not work for me. I love being able to flip through channels anytime I want and record a recently released movie to watch over and over again at my leisure. I don't buy movies, though I sometimes borrow them from the library but there is still pressure to watch within a week and return it so I prefer my cable premium channels in the end.
I no longer pay for cable, mostly because my roommates didn't have it when I moved in. It is a huge money saver though so I will continue to not pay for it once I move out. I use hulu to catch most shows and I'm debating signing up for hulu plus or netflix once winter comes.
This was a major point of discussion for me and my family last summer. We almost ditched cable for online streaming. It can save a lot of money. It came down to deciding whether our favorite shows would be consistently available to us online. We are still waiting to make the jump. Right now we are willing to pay cable for the shows we want because we would not be able to see the ones that are most important to us online. Also with our carrier (AT&T) charging for extra data usage beyond certain levels, we are still waiting to make the jump until that issue is worked out compared to our online habits.
I teach a free yoga class one night a week at our church. It is open to members and also the community. To me it is just one way to give back.
I didn't pay for cable TV for many years, but then I fell in love with a man who loves racing so we pay for cable to have access to the "Speed" channel. Sigh. We're talking about switching to satellite to cut down on the expense, though.
We pay for the basic package with cable so we can have reception for our TV.
I think part of the problem is that past generations held stable work positions for many years offering a consistent plan. With the younger generations today many move between employers sometimes every few years and that disruption causes a disruption in the mind set.
Did you get the job in the end? Just FYI you can pause the recording. I had to when I needed a US zip code and phone number.
Hi, Thom,
I think all the laptops that I have had have been so noisy that desktops seem quiet by comparison! But I might just have been choosing the wrong type of laptop, or I didn't notice the noise with the desktop because the tower was so far from my ear. I can certainly understand why any noisy computer would be a hassle, though.
I am one of the 40,000 lucky people chosen to be a Chromebook beta-tester. I can tell you I love my new chromebook, but it has limitations. The biggest one I've seen is lack of plugin support. Though Flash works, Silverlight, Quicktime, and other plugins do not. You cannot download and install these. Additionally, I have had some pain with some downloadable files from websites (such as Travel Expense forms or PDFs). Still it makes a great laptop for people who have a desktop at home.
No, I haven't paid for TV service for over 4 years. I use a $40 HD antenna that I purchased off of Amazon to get my basic over-the-air HD channels, which I then record on a Tivo. I would consider paying for cable, but I can't stand the fact that I have to buy expensive packages filled with premium channels that I will never watch. If I could subscribe to channels "a la carte", then I would definitely try it.
Also, I'm hoping that we see more development in internet based television.
A few of my friends have gym memberships and go to yoga there - sometimes a gym membership costs less than a membership at a yoga studio, and you get to use all the facilities too. The only drawback is that there aren't as many classes, and IMHO, the atmosphere isn't quite as calming.
Hello Andrea,
I like your article and agree with you and many of the comments made here about a desktop. But I did not like the heat and noise. I have a dell workstation with dual Xeon chips and twelve gig of ram but only turn it on when that kind of processing is needed. For my everyday work now I use a laptop set on a stand with, a large monitor, keyboard and mouse. It's cool and quiet and if for some reason I need to move it, it's not an all day job. Yes it is more expensive and when something goes wrong... I do plan on building a desktop and will probably do something smaller than the boat anchor setting in the corner.
Are any readers planning on getting a Chromebook? Why or why not?
Awesome! Did they hire a private instructor? A lot of workplaces now are sponsoring yoga classes - another perk to employees and a great way to promote health in the workplace. I think it makes employees more productive too!
I love that idea! Do they do it during their lunchtime?
Nope, no cable here. We got tired fo paying a premium price to waste our time channel surfing. Most of the shows we watched were on the pbs channel which we get for free on our antenna tv. Hmmm...free vs costly for the same show, I'll take free every time.
I pay for the lowest package offered by comcast, mostly watch the news channels. Also have netflix with roku which I really enjoy If possible I would cut the cable in a minute, I am hoping an over the air antennae will make that possible
I don't pay for cable because everything I want to watch is available online either for free or with a very inexpensive monthly subscription.
I haven't ever paid for cable/satellite television. I had access to it while still living with my parents, but never made the decision to purchase it for myself when I moved out three years ago. I don't miss it, and the few times I have tried to schedule my life to accommodate a show, I fail miserably. Live television is only useful for the super bowl, otherwise I'll stick to my Netflix enabled dvd player.
Yes, I do pay for DirecTV. I live too far to use OTA antennas for my locals and live in a smaller town in Maine so high speed streaming is still a pipe dream (1.5 DLS)
I am not ashamed to say I pay for cable. Cable service is so villified and it is definitely a cost I could cut if I needed to but I enjoy it right now. I have bundled services so internet and phone too for $150/month. I get all the movie channels as the idea of Netflix does not work for me. I love being able to flip through channels anytime I want and record a recently released movie to watch over and over again at my leisure. I don't buy movies, though I sometimes borrow them from the library but there is still pressure to watch within a week and return it so I prefer my cable premium channels in the end.
That makes sense! Portability in the face of natural disaster.
I no longer pay for cable, mostly because my roommates didn't have it when I moved in. It is a huge money saver though so I will continue to not pay for it once I move out. I use hulu to catch most shows and I'm debating signing up for hulu plus or netflix once winter comes.
I've been cable/satellite free for the past year or so. Apple TV, Netflix, Hulu, Roku, Amazon Prime, and books equals no worries!
Tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/1upsuicide/status/78122571513606144
Nope. We just don't watch tv. It works well for us.
This was a major point of discussion for me and my family last summer. We almost ditched cable for online streaming. It can save a lot of money. It came down to deciding whether our favorite shows would be consistently available to us online. We are still waiting to make the jump. Right now we are willing to pay cable for the shows we want because we would not be able to see the ones that are most important to us online. Also with our carrier (AT&T) charging for extra data usage beyond certain levels, we are still waiting to make the jump until that issue is worked out compared to our online habits.