Good Morning,
This week I applied for Medicare parts A & B and also decided to “Out” and start taking Social Security. After paying into the system for roughly 50 years, I figured I better get a piece of it before congress finds a way of wheedling us out of it for some greater altruistic purpose. Say like imposing democracy and the threat of Christianity on a tribal populous living in mud houses half way across the world, so they can find reasons to hate and kill us even more. I’m just saying….
With the impending prospect of an even more limited income than the one we currently enjoy, it is becoming important to evaluate where we spend our fiscal resources. Sure, it would be nice to have that sack under the bed full of greenbacks with engravings of my favorite dead presidents or a fat goose of a portfolio laying monthly golden eggs, but that is not the reality of the situation. It is more like “what you see is what you get” right now.
So with this in mind, I “pulled the plug” on our Cox Communications Service which was a “Bundle”. The bill for the “Bundle” of three services was starting to cost a “Bundle” as well having worked its way up a little each year, had finally reached its apogee of “Why”. Why are we paying $158.00 every month for this, that and the other thing? Through Cox we had a Land-Line Phone Service with very limited long distance, Cable TV Service with a HD Receiver box that only worked on one TV, did not record and had no premium channels and an Internet Service with “Power Boost”, which didn’t want to work on really hot days (not so good in Arizona) and seemed to slow down in the evenings when my neighbors were on. What is “Power Boost” anyway, isn’t that when no one else is using the cable you can have the whole thing? Doesn’t that happen normally? Anyway, it was probably something I should have done a year ago, but “Mr. Change” and I have never been really great friends. He always seems to be stirring things up and afterwards, I can’t find my stuff.
I grew up with a “Land Line” telephone, so it just seemed to be something that you “had to have”, at least to be part of a “proper” society. When you moved into a new place, you got a phone hooked up first thing. That is just the way it was, no question. For my Grandkids the black thing to the left is a phone and that funny looking round thing with holes in it on the front is called a dial. Hence the term “dial-up” someone. You actually had to put your finger into the appropriate hole for the number you wanted and with muscle power, pull the dial around clockwise until it stopped, then removing your finger and letting go, then repeat for the next number. This could happen7-11 times. It could take you, oh say, 10-20 seconds to initiate a call. Bummer huh? Cell phones 
were just something visionaries wrote about and Dick Tracy wore on his wrist.
So the decision to discontinue our “Land Line” felt like we were cutting ourselves off from society, withdrawing from friends and neighbors and I’m sure a bit of self imposed embarrassment, implying “you can’t afford a land line? Well, I guess not, at least for the value received, when most of our calls come in on our two cell phones (Blackberrys) and it is a safe bet that when our Land Line rings, it is either a Political Solicitation, Debt Reconstruction Company or someone wanting to clean the only remaining room of carpet we have in the house. I don’t think so.
Now for the TV (Cable Service). I must admit that I really like the Science Channel and tend to go there when “Wife Swap”, “The Simpsons” or some drama show where people are bent on killing each other, between every commercial, is on. I do enjoy a good mystery, but I really don’t care for some of the macabre I am seeing lately. To me it seems the stations are trying to outdo each other with shock factor. I would rather watch something constructive, informative or even funny. So with only about two stations that I cannot get from an antenna, I found it hard to justify keeping it. Besides I already had the HD antenna in the attic.
That leaves the Internet. Well we decided that it would be very difficult to give that one up, but fortunately there were other options out there, more economical. Qwest was one of them. A consistent speed (yeah!) for half the money, sounded like a pretty good deal. Besides, the Internet is the new medium whether it is through your cell phone or laptop; it has become the way to stay connected. I.e. Blog, Facebook, email and the like.
So this probably is just one of the first steps in the simplifying process, but I think it is in the rightdirection. Besides it feels pretty good shaving $130.00 bucks off the monthly. Something I can use to pay my new Medicare Supplemental Insurance parts C & D. It will be nice to have health insurance again.
Words of the day; Evaluate, Objectify, Optimize.
Love, Dad
Images:
Social Security Card: A little work with Photoshop.
Telephone: Indicium Technologies
Dick Tracy: Here is the image and where you can buy that watch. It looked pretty cool.
Keep it Simple: One of several places I found this one.
