Dealing with The High Cost of Cable TV

A look at the cost of cable TV, how it has changed through the years, options some people would like to see, the growing movement to leave cable TV behind and the technology brought about by the FCC that shows how people could be getting most of what they get on cable TV for free.

Dealing with The High Cost of Cable TV

Television is a regular part of most of our lives.  Some would even say it’s too much a part of our lives.  You may say you can do without TV, but do you have at least one night where there is something on that you want to watch?  Many people do, and they even schedule their plans to ensure they are home to watch that show.  For a few dollars extra, some just record it on DVR.

Sadly, it seems like every year we get a new increase in our cable bills.  Oh, it’s not much, they say.  It’s only another dollar for this and fifty cents for that.  You may not even pay much attention until you are looking at your bill one day and wonder why it went up so much.  In my neck of the woods, our bill has gone up over $35 in the last five years.  Of course, we get internet too, which doesn’t come cheap either, but it’s very fast.

There comes a time when some people will even ask if it’s worth the bill.  Over the last five or ten years, the “cut the cable” movement has grown due to other options.  You can use the antenna, which I will get to in a moment.  You can make use of various free and pay (at a cheaper rate) services online to get most of what you were paying for before at a cheaper rate.  The realty is that we do have options, though the cable company counts on the fact that most of us would rather just pay the high bill than bother making the effort needed to do something else.

Once Upon A Time On TV

Over the past 30 or so years, the options for TV have grown at an amazing rate.  I can remember back in the 70’s when we had cable, but it was basically the 12 channels we got on the dial, plus whatever the antenna picked up on the UHF dial.  The “Big 3 Networks” (ABC, NBC, CBS) provided much of the new entertainment.  The funny thing is, I seem to recall having more to watch back then.  Even in the 80’s, the early days of cable, we had more to watch it seems.  Remember the days when MTV actually played music videos?

Cable in the early days was that box that got you the movie channels.  No commercials and unedited.  There was Channel 100, Marquee and, somewhere along the way, The Playboy Channel.  You paid for that box with the idea that you got entertainment with no commercials, other than the ads for coming attractions.  Of course, movies did get played over and over again, and it sometime felt like there was nothing new for that extra $5 or $10 dollars.  That seems like chump change now.

More And More Channels

In the 80’s, cable grew and grew.  Turner Network gave us WTBS and all the Braves and Hawks games we could handle, plus the first 24 hour news network (CNN).  The phrase “I want my MTV” was everywhere, and the USA Network was launched, featuring a fledgling wrestling company known as WWF.  Country music fans asked for an alternative to MTV and got it with The Nashville Network.  Those were among the first, but other channels gradually followed.

Another trend began as these new cable channels that we paid for ran plenty of commercials.  It seemed like too many commercials back then, but these days we have even more commercials per hour.  The thing is, Cable TV was supposed to be about no commercials and customers paying for it through the cable bill.  If that really ever was the case, it went out the window fast.  At least back then it seemed like they made a better effort to put good programs on every week, and they had fewer channels in which to do it.

As often happens in the business world, the bigger companies bought out the smaller ones until we got what we have these days.  What am I talking about?  There are five really big corporations that own a majority of the channels on cable TV.  If you were to eliminate just those five, you wouldn’t have many channels left.  That is an interesting, if not disturbing, fact to consider.

They Have A Bill For That

Another thing that has happened as a result of technology and how the Cable TV industry has changed is the things you get billed for.  Some things, such as your remote control and cable box, have been on the bill all along.  We were fortunate in that the boxes we had to get a few years ago came free, but I could have bought the modem I have now at least a couple times over with the fees we’ve had to pay.  You would think once you have paid so much money they would eliminate that from the bill at least until you need a new one, but that’s not the case.

The cable companies have done a masterful job with their tiers.  Basic is cheap, but there’s a good reason.  You don’t get much.  Expanded Basic (Some companies call it something else) is double the cost in some places, but it has more choices.  However, there are a few tantalizing carrots they dangle over your head for a few dollars more, and I’m not talking about the movie packages.  Things like the NFL Network and a few more games, racing on Speed TV and music channels that actually still play music videos would be nice.

For us to get just those three things, we would have to pay another $30.  We’d get a bunch of channels we have no interest in watching if we did pay, but we decided it wasn’t worth it.  I’m still trying to figure out how the NFL could make a channel with so many new games and make us pay for it.  Oh wait, it’s about the money.  Never mind.

If you have a TV with HD as most people do, you still have to pay extra for the HD signals.  Isn’t that wonderful?  You can plug your cable directly into the TV or split it between your box and TV to get local channels in HD as is mandated by the FCC.  Your cable company won’t tell you that, but it’s good to know for watching network TV in HD.  The reality is the tuners on the newer TV’s are capable of picking up all that cable has to offer without the box.  The cable company has the ability to scramble what you don’t pay for, but still they make you get a box and pay more for HD.  This is because they love you as a customer, of course.

The DVR capability is nice, but again, it’s another fee.  Plus, you have franchise fees and a service fee.  I found that last one out the hard way when my internet went out.  The problem was the box in front of the house had switched off, but they still wanted to bill me $100 for the visit that wasn’t even caused by something on my property.  They did credit us on the bill before adding that monthly service fee, now $3 per month.  I know, it’s only $3, but when you add it all up, it’s not cheap.

A La Carte

With the “cut the cord” revolution gaining steam, one answer is to allow customers to pick and choose the channels they want and just pay for them.  This would lead to people probably just having the local channels and the dozen or so other channels that they watch the most, but we are told they can’t do this.  Can’t or won’t?

What they say is it will drive up the cost of the channels, but I wonder.  Remember, the Big 5 ultimately own most of these channels.  We can’t even get an honest answer as to how much each channel gets from our cable bill.  However, some estimates available on the web suggest channels like ESPN 1&2, TBS, TNT and USA Network grab the biggest chunks.  This is interesting, but not surprising.  ESPN’s estimated $7-$8 dollars for it’s two top channels might annoy non sport fans who never watch ether channel.

The movement to allow people to pick and choose what they want has gathered very little steam over the last five years, and I doubt it will happen anytime soon.  This is why you have people cutting the cable cord and going with internet and antenna TV.  It’s cheaper in the long run.  If you are internet savvy, you can find places that charge little to no cost as well as a few good sites that do charge for content you actually want to watch at a time convenient to you.  With all the connections TV’s have these days, it’s not very hard to run cords from your computer to your TV set.

Surely, you would think that cable companies know this is happening and would change the way they do things.  The realty is that the migration from cable TV is not happening at a rate that concerns them yet.  When it does, perhaps we will see some changes.

Not So Green After All

It’s worth noting that forcing people to plug one more thing into their power outlet is not very green now, is it?  This is at a time when we are inundated with messages of green this and green that almost daily.  Before we were forced back to the box, our cable went from the wall to the TV sets.  Pretty simple.  With the addition of the box, we had to plug one more thing in.  This, they said, was because of what the FCC was doing with antenna TV.  People on antennas at the time had to get a digital box to continue to watch TV that way.  They were told it would make their TV better, and they were right.  Still, it was another not very green thing to plug into the wall.

However, the cable company did not need to force the box on people who were content with expanded basic, even if there were a few extras on the box, such as tons of PBS and foreign language channels and free on demand for the channels you pay for.  We still could have lived without it.  Recently, even the Basic Cable subscribers were forced to the box.  I haven’t even touched on the fact that our bill went up noticeably when we had to get the box as we lost channels we watched and gained nothing we wanted at that time.

Cable Not Needed For Many Viewers

I said it before that with the new TV’s, we don’t even need a cable box for cable channels.  Our provider can scramble channels without the box and does so whenever we scan for new channels with our TV directly plugged into the cable.  We begrudgingly got new TV sets, and I’ll admit we were impressed with what they could do.  It was before we made those purchases that I made my most startling realization.

We didn’t need antenna boxes, but we accepted the two free ones that the government offered.  We had done this before we purchased the new HD TV’s.  Our home is in one of those locations where the network affiliates offered on cable are different than what we get on antenna, and, for one thing, that means different football games during the season.

I was impressed with the antenna box.  It was easy to scan, and we did pick up more channels.  The picture was crystal clear.  With digital antenna TV, you either get the signal or you don’t, and there are ways to make the signal come in stronger too.  Another thing I liked was the built in feature that lets you see what programs are on and what’s up next.  Very nice.

What startled me was the fact that some channels had sub channels.  You might get a network channel on 3.1, but MeTV is on 3.2 and maybe a Spanish Speaking channel is on 3.3.  Very nice.  That’s when it hit me.  They could broadcast all of the cable channels this way and make cable TV about movies and Pay Per View Events, and it’s really very simple to do.

Going back to when network TV started, the signals were sent to the affiliates all across the country and beamed from there to the viewers in that area.  I won’t get into the technical aspect, but I think the signals came from New York or Los Angeles headquarters.  As we went from antenna to where most of us were on cable, it still worked that way.

You need to understand that we still have the old Big 3 (ABC, CBS, NBC), but we have FOX and CW with new content nightly as well.  All five of those networks are part of the Big 5 cable companies.  They either own or are owned by them.  You have CBS Viacom (National Amusements), NBC Comcast, ABC Disney, Fox (News Corp.) and Time Warner.  So, hypothetically, they could handle this very easily.

Let’s say your ABC affiliate is Channel 5.  The local affiliate for ABC would be 5.1.  The channel might have two or three sub channels, but given the importance of the cable channels, they might go with other ABC Disney channels next.  So, 5.2 would be ESPN, 5.3 ESPN 2, 5.4 Disney, 5.5 ABC Family, etc.

Suddenly, you are getting all the channels on antenna in many areas.  Some might still have signal issues that require cable until a work around can be found.  For any of the other smaller cable networks, deals could be worked out with the other channels on the antenna dial.

So, I know the little secret.  We can be getting all of these channels without the $100 or more monthly cable bill, and these channels can still pay their bills with commercials as they do now.  They just won’t be getting double paid, and I really don’t think they should be anyway.  That’s just my opinion, of course.  Others may see it differently.

Losing Weight is More About Lifestyle Than Dieting

I’m not an expert or a dietician, but I managed to lose over 100 pounds by changing my eating habits. I wanted to share my story of what worked for me. I don’t believe it’s about dieting. I think it’s more about a having a healthy lifestyle. I probably didn’t do everything the way the experts would suggest, but it worked for me.

I was pretty fat for a number of years.  In fact, I was at about 300 pounds six years ago.  I’d have to say the biggest factor in my weight gain over the years was I really didn’t give a damn.  I didn’t care what people thought, and I didn’t see myself as being attractive.  So, I ate and didn’t exercise.

Over the years, I picked up some terrible eating habits.  Why is it that the least healthy foods taste the best?  I drank big Slurpees from 7-11 daily, downed a bag of Doritos in one sitting at times, three hamburgers and large fries at Burger King, a big bowl of ice cream at night.  Generally speaking, I ate big helpings with seconds and thirds at dinner.

At least for me, it was bliss to eat that junk.  Years after giving that stuff up, I can still taste it.  It made me feel better in a way.  No matter how I was feeling about life, I enjoyed eating junk food.  To make matters worse, I didn’t exercise at all.  I spent my time at the desk writing and didn’t really have a social life.  I threw myself into my writing.


Then, my sister died almost seven years ago.  I still miss her a lot.  A few months later, I started feeling ill myself.  I felt like it was a matter of time before I went next.  I began to worry about who would be there for my father.  He had always been there for me, so I needed to be there for him.  Sadly, he recently passed away, but I’m happy I made the changes in my life so I could be here for him.

One of the first things I did was shut off the computer.  I should write something about that sometime.  It was off for over a month before I turned it back on again.  You almost forget there is a world out there when you are in front of a computer all the time.  We all should take time away from the computer screen and even our smartphones and interact with people.  I don’t own a smartphone and don’t intend to get one.

I knew I had to change the way I ate.  I tended to sleep in and skip breakfast, but that changed.  I started getting up earlier and having a bowl of oatmeal, some raisin bread, some apple juice and a banana.  Most of my life up to that point, I never cared for breakfast, but now I enjoy it.

Doritos, Slurpees and fast food were banished from my diet.  This actually happened completely within a few months of changing my habits.  I loved Slurpees too, but I found a better way to replace that.  I eat fruits.  That’s another thing I never really did.  It wasn’t that I hated fruit, but I never ate it.  Now, my night time meals consist of watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe and other fruits, a bit of orange juice and some milk and cookies for desert.

Lunch is my big meal of the day and a good walk afterwards.  I tried to include a vegetable with lunch, which is something else I never did before.  I try to avoid seconds and have a moderate plate of my meal, which varies from day to day, from hot dogs to spaghetti or whatever.

The walk was what made the difference.  It started off slowly.  A quarter mile a day, a half mile, then a mile, then two.  I’ve had days where I walked for over ten miles, and I loved it.  Just being outside among the people, seeing all the green and pretty colors of the plants, saying hello to people.  I was feeling better too.

Within a matter of months, I had lost over 100 pounds.  I wasn’t paying much attention, because I never weighed myself.  I simply didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself.  This was about feeling better, not about what I weighed.  What I noticed was people I didn’t even know were stopping me and congratulating me on my weight loss.  That sort of thing made me feel good, but seeing other people begin to get out and walk or jog made me feel better.

I think the secret to losing weight and keeping it off isn’t some special diet or supplement.  In fact, those things fail many times in the end, even if there are success stories too.  No, the secret is that it’s up to the individual.  You have to want this, and you have to believe you can do it.  Nobody can do it for you.

You should evaluate what it is you are eating and make note of the junk food you are eating.  Cut back and eliminate it, while replacing it with healthy alternatives.  If you like soft drinks, replace them with fruit and natural fruit juices.  Don’t switch to diet drinks, which are even worse for you than regular soda.  Aspartame and High Fructose Corn Syrup are not good for you.  Look it up for yourself.

Eat slower when you eat your meal.  This was something I learned.  If you are eating faster, your body won’t get the message to your mind that you have had enough until it’s too late and you have over eaten.  So, pacing yourself when you eat is a good thing.  Eat home cooked meals over fast food.  I know the commercials make it look good, but fast food is one of the causes of obesity.

I’m not saying this to take your coke and burger away from you.  Moderation is the key.  An occasional soda or burger may not be bad, but daily consumption is not healthy.  It’s not about being on a diet, it’s about a healthy eating lifestyle.  You don’t just do it until you lose so much weight.  You make a commitment to eat healthy as part of who you are.

Exercise is important too.  Some people keep busy schedules, but even a half an hour is better than nothing.  You can walk or jog around the block, aerobics, exercise at home or the gym.  If you make an effort, it might be hard at first, but you will soon look forward to it.  You will definitely like the way you feel.

As for myself, changing my eating habits and exercising more was the best decision I could have made.  It could be for you too if you want it to be.

The Shows I Like Always Get Canceled

I have the worst luck when it comes to TV shows. Every time I start watching a new show, it gets canceled. It can be very frustrating trying to get into a new show when you wonder if it will be given a fair chance to evolve. I know everybody has had this happen to them. These are some of the shows I’ve enjoyed that were canceled early.

It never fails.  I start watching a show on TV, and it gets canceled.  It gets frustrating to me.  I don’t like reality TV, and I don’t care for the cop and detective shows out there.  That eliminates a big chunk of the shows out there with new content.  Frankly, if I had a time machine, I’d be hard pressed not to go back in time and stop MTV from ever airing The Real World.  It is to TV what Kurt Cobain was to Rock & Roll.  Sorry, not a Nirvana fan, though at least I respect them.

Reality TV is lowering the IQ of the country.  I know I probably have upset a few people here, but that’s how I feel.  You’ll probably say that I have no room to talk since I watch Days Of Our Lives and will watch All My Children online when it starts, but at least it’s new TV with stories.  I’ve been known to watch HSN and QVC as well a Pro Wrestling (I know it’s predetermined.  Notice I didn’t say fake since they do get hurt?).  So, I guess it’s a matter of taste.

So, when a show with an interesting premise comes along, I start watching.  I know it’s a matter of time before it’s canceled if I really like it, but I cant resist.  There was a show called Madman Of The People with Dabney Coleman.  I’m a fan of his.  I loved him in the movie Short Time and his old series Buffalo Bill.  I’m convinced he pissed somebody off in Hollywood.  Madman Of The People was another sitcom he starred in, and it was top ten rated.  Then, they replaced it with Friends and banished Madman to Saturdays, where it died.

TV doesn’t have enough good sitcoms these days, though there are a few.  Rob Schneider had a show called Men Behaving Badly.  I liked that show.  Canceled.  William Shatner did a show called Bleep My Dad Says.  This was expected to be a train wreck, but it was actually pretty funny.  Screw the “professional” TV Critics.  I don’t need to be told what to like.  Canceled.  Remember that show Cavemen, based on the commercials?  It wasn’t really that bad.  Canceled.

I always liked John Larroquette.  Come on now, Dan Fielding on Night Court?  Funniest show on that famous Thursday night lineup.  Then, he had the John Larroquette show, a comedy about a recovering alcoholic.  It was good until the execs “retooled” it to make it better.  Canceled.  He did a show called Happy Family.  This show struggled out of the gate, but it was actually good.  The ladies were a highlight, and Melanie Paxson should have her own show, not just commercials.  Canceled.

The one that really pisses me off is Nowhere Man.  This show was about a man named Thomas Veil who had his past stolen from him because of a picture he took in South America called Hidden Agenda.  Lots of twists and turns.  Canceled.  UPN blew it with that as well as canceling Enterprise when it started getting good.  We’ll never know what was really going on with Thomas Veil, and that’s disappointing to me.  By the way, it’s time for a new Star Trek series set maybe 60 years in the future after The Next Generation.

NBC had Journeyman about a time traveler named Dan Vasser, who went back in time and didn’t really have control of it.  Lots of potential.  Canceled.  The latest show I liked, 666 Park Avenue, starred Terry O’Quinn and Vanessa Williams, among others.  Terry’s done lots of stuff, and he was good as the psychotic wanna be father whistling “Camp Town Racers” after killing the families he married into as The Stepfather.

666 Park Avenue centered around a fancy apartment building in New York with a dark secret.  The building had a life of it’s own, and Terry’s character tapped into that and used it to his advantage.  Canceled.  Can’t I have one show that I really like in this world dominated by reality TV?  No wonder I don’t watch TV every day.  I just can’t handle the crap.  With all of the channels we have these days, you’d think there would be better programming.

The Challenges Of Earning Money From Writing Online

Working On An Internet Click Farm...

If you're like me, you love to write.  Making money on the internet through writing on a blog site isn't all it's cracked up to be.  There are plenty of frustrations along the way, and the pay is lousy.

I've come to the realization that my attempts to make money on the internet are nothing more than me just clicking for pennies.  You have to engage in heavy social media activity, which is a major drain on your time, and the results can be counted in pennies.  I spend an hour to two hours a day engaging in Tweeting.  That used to be fun before I started using it for money.

My first few attempts at writing for money were disappointing.  At Triond, I started getting hits and literally only earned a couple quarters for a couple thousand views.  Doing the math, that just didn't add up to me.  I mean, I know they must make money, but if I'm not being properly compensated for my writing, I'm being taken advantage of by them.

Then, there was iWriter.  This site has you writing for others, but the site is predatory towards us writers.  We write for them and depend on our ratings for a couple bucks a story.  They can pay us and torch our ratings or even just steal our stories, which happened to me.  The site compensated me for that, but I decided the stress of maintaining my Elite Level for such little pay was pointless.

Then, I headed for Bubblews, and they paid better than any of them.  A penny a read, comment or like for my articles.  The down side is you are in a click farm.  If you want those likes, you better be liking them back.  So, that's a couple hours minimum for that.  Don't ask me what they wrote.  I barely looked at the title.  Just like and go, like and go.  If I read it all, that would double my time.

I don't feel good about that, but that's how it's done.  I used to read and comment at first, but two things I noticed.  First was it didn't make a great difference if I commented at all.  secondly, they responded with "nice post" or other versions of a comment that showed they didn't read but wanted to throw a penny my way.

Bubblews paid all the time, but there's something about the place that has always annoyed  me.  It's not really a blog site in the purest form.  You don't get to track and monitor your posts to see how many views they get.  It's a "McBlogger" type site where you have to keep churning out more to keep the money coming in.  You can't feature your favorite articles on your page.  Plus, sharing an article more than once on social media seems to be a violation of the rules as I understand them.

They are making good money there off of us writers.  The money rolls in from ad revenue, but I wonder how long until their "bubble" bursts.  It appears to be starting.  The format change that happened earlier this year took the emphasis away from the blog aspect as it moved towards the social media side.  Then, they have started hiding views from us so we don't know how many we are getting, and my pay went down a good 30% or so.

They want us to click, click, click, and I won't be doing that.  I will use the site for basic posts now, and write articles elsewhere.  To use good articles there would be a waste of my time.  If something goes viral, I know I can't count on them to share the revenue fairly with me any more.  So, why would I allow them to use me?  I can write decent stuff that isn't too wordy, and I don't mind sharing it.  They still pay better than most, but I won't be taken advantage of.

This led me to Daily Two Cents, where they say they don't pay as well and have rules.  Fine with me.  I want the articles I write to have a fair chance and to know how much each article is being read.  Problem was I submitted an article and used the tags their page suggested and was rejected for using too many links.  I had no links in that story.  It was on their end.

What's going to have to happen is what should have happened a long time ago.  I need to monetize my own blog and make some money that way.  This just seems like it will end up being the best way for me to maintain complete control over my writing, know how each article is performing AND make money.

Social media plays a part in generating those "clicks for pennies" I get, but I'm not doing so well on my books so far.  I can't even give away copies of them at this point, which is beyond frustrating.  However, I engage in Retweeting for an hour or two every day.  I wonder if I'm just caught in a circle with other Retweeters who aren't getting very far with their stuff either.

I've come to realize that I am in the "click farm" and it's a terrible feeling.  I get frustrated and angry enough that I'm sometimes yelling at my computer screen.  I don't like sitting there liking stories I could care less about or dealing with browser crashes from all the Retweets.  This is what is happening as I click for my daily pennies.

I think it was Max Kaiser who spoke of the "Casino Gulag" system that the powers that be are creating.  We click all day for our money.  I know a lot of people are doing that on Bubblews, especially from Aisia.  They seem to be the ones being preyed upon to try and make a buck at iWriter and those other sites too.  I feel sorry for them in a way, but I'm in the same boat with them.

I want to write and have it be read by people.  So, I keep trying as it becomes less fun and less fulfilling.  It's a matter of being more effective with my writing and not  being taken advantage of.  I think I can get there, but I need to keep working on it.

Five Bands Who Lift My Spirits

Sometimes when you're down and nothing seems to be going right, it's the music that can cheer you up.  So, most of us have those "go to" bands that lift our spirits a little bit.  I can't imagine a world without music.  I wish the music industry wasn't so screwed up right now, but that's a side issue.  We all have songs or bands that put us in a better mood.  Here are some of mine.

Transatlantic:  Really, it's Neal Morse, who is a part of this band and was a founding member of Spock's Beard.  When I got the recent news of what was happening at a blog I have been with for a year and a half now, I was pretty upset.  Neal is a Christian, and though I don't claim to be, I like his music.  Transatlantic, on the other hand, is more spiritual.  Great progressive rock.  I love their album, The Whirlwind.

However, it's a song Neal did with Spock's Beard that I turned to the other day.  Its called, The Water.  Kind of a vibe about being on top of the world and then having it all come crashing down.  Feeling abandoned and then just launching into anger.    The "F You" part of this long song had me singing along.  Of course, it's followed by an apology.  The song lifted my spirits the other day.

Kansas:  The early, spiritual and more progressive band is my favorite time for them.  Songs like All The World, Apercu, Miracles Out Of Nowhere and Hopelessly Human.  It's the violin of Robby Steinhardt that gets me.  Steve Walsh and Robby's vocal harmonies.  The musicianship of this band.  People know Dust In The Wind, and it's a good song.  But, there's so much more to this band than that song.

Queen:  I can honestly not stay sad when I listen to his band.  Well, accept for Innuendo. Knowing what Freddie Mercury was dealing with when they recorded that album makes it hard to keep from crying sometimes.  But, early Queen.  Rock Opera Queen is amazing.  The Ferry Feller's Master Stroke makes my cry from happiness.  The Prophet Song. Lily Of The Valley, The White Queen and of course, March Of The Black Queen.  Queen II is my favorite album.  Really, you can't go wrong with this band.

The Flower Kings:  Really, all I have to say is The Garden Of Dreams.  Roine Stolt is an amazing melodic guitarist here and with Transatlantic, and I've grown to enjoy his vocals.  "All We Can Save Is The Love That We've Made" says it all. Flower Power is a great album.

Styx:  You want optimism?  Turn to Styx.  Catchy tunes, great music and harmonies.  When it was the five who played from Crystal Ball to Kilroy Was Here, this band was great.  Very underrated by the music snobs.  Come Sail Away is a song for me and a dear friend.  I'm Okay.  That song is for those who are tired of being told how to be.  The Grand Illusion, Best Of Times, Fooling Yourself.  Dennis DeYoung remains one of my favorite singers and musicians.  It makes me sad to see how he and the talented Tommy Shaw and James Young may never work together again.

Anyway, there are other bands that can cheer me up, but these five rank high for me.

A Brand New Home

I'm not entirely sure this is where I'm going to end up, but I am sure I am getting frustrated with things on the "pay" blogs and the changes going on there.  I've had people tell me I needed to start up a new blog of my own and monetize it.  I've started one up, but at this point they won't let me monetize it.  So, I'm not so sure how long I will keep at this.

I do like the idea that I can track my posts and keep an eye on how they are performing here.  Plus, I can run this blog as I see fit.  What I will cover here is pretty much what I was covering at the pay blogs.  I will talk politics, spiritual, pop culture, sports, fashion, entertainment and whatever else enters my mind.

I enjoy writing, and I just know I need to have other outlets.  The problem with signing up at other people's blogs is that you are subject to their whims.  They can change things without warning, and that generally results in you getting taken advantage of.  That's life working on the internet click farm.  Speaking of which, I will be debiting an article on the "click farm" shortly.

What I like to do with what I write is get people to think from time to time. Whether you agree with my opinions or disagree isn't what's important to me.  It's that you think for yourself and not be afraid if you are going against the grain in your beliefs.  Never take my word or anybody's word for it if it sounds questionable.  Do some research and think for yourself. 

Well, enough of that.  I should have some interesting articles for you to read in the days ahead, or at least that's the goal.