Unplug

This new year, I'm dropping the evil Comcast and committing to watch as little TV as I can without losing my mind.

Here's the plan:

1) Buy a "cheap" computer with no monitor.

2) Hook it up to the home theater with the biggest, fattest cables I can find

3) Get one of those blue tooth remotes that let you interact with media player

4a) Drop down to the lowest basic cable offering for $20. This has the added bonus of potentially allowing me to add the sports package for K$ so he can watch PennState play the foosball.
4b) Get a fancy HDTV antenna and live with the major networks only.

5) Fire up iTunes and buy a season pass to the series that I really want to watch

6) Tell Comcast I don't like paying bills, so I think I'm going to just stop doing it

Windows Media Center has DVR functionality built in, so I could still record any of the network shows.

It should be noted that the primary goal was to watch less televsion. I later came to the conclusion that paying $90/mo for a habit I'm trying to break seems counterproductive. I've canceled gym memberships for less than half that.

I get home from work on a typical day around 6:00pm, leaving around 6 hours of non-working consciousness per day before I fall asleep around 12:30pm and get my less then optimum 6.5 hours sleep. Between Cash Cab, the "quick" Alton Brown episode, some prime time comedy or drama, and the Stewart-Colbert hour, I average about 3 to 4 hours of TV a day. There's a whole bunch of sites that give you good reasons to watch less TV, but even simple math will tell you that 2 to 3 hours a day is barely enough time to take care of things like laundry, dishes, and making yourself a respectable meal. Let alone doing things I might actually want to do.

I'll let it stew for another few days, but after I've rationalized this idea to the point where I stop listening to good advice from friends and family, I'm heading to the Best Buy to see what I can put together.

Remember, 60% of the time, crazy ideas work every time.