So far - I love it!!! The house is quiet and tranquil....a place for reflection, peace and interacting with my family - a place to escape from the hustle and bustle. It is my mountain cabin in suburbia. In the first week, we've enjoyed more time together, more talks, more walks and more art work!
We'll see how the family continues to react as time moves on. For now, one child says it stinks and doubts we can do this the whole summer. The other child says it's horrible. The third child says it's fine. Hubby thinks it's an adjustment and at this particular moment in time, that's all he has to say about it. He is trying to keep an open mind recognizing that it will be difficult.
5/5/10 - Monday morning came early as I woke up thinking "what have I done to myself? I still have papers to grade...." I co-teach an online class at TWU with my advisor and a colleague. Still, we were psychologically prepared to wake up to complete silence, no incoming media and the awareness that we would be traveling to connect from this day forward. I was looking forward to peace as it would be impossible to negotiate media usage if it's not available.
While DISH had drastically reduced the number of channels coming in - it was still available. We had infomercials, some smut channels and one channel with a satellite image of earth accompanied by classical music. The land line is off as well. But, we still had internet access. I made a phone call and was told it takes a day or two to complete the process. Ok, I can understand that. They've written up my request like an order and it will happen when they get to my request. At this point, I'm not too aggravated but a little disappointed. I want to know what it really feels like for us to be without access! And, I am sick of smut coming into my home. Yes, I can unplug the TV or throw out the DISH boxes but somewhere there is record of us receiving this stuff and I want the records to show, we've opted out for awhile. Plus, I'm getting rid of INCOMING media - not media tools altogether. We may want to watch a movie.....I shouldn't have to crawl behind the entertainment center to unplug my TV to be rid of this. I want them to quit sending this stuff to our home.
Wednesday comes and we STILL have internet access as well as the aforementioned DISH channels. Now, I'm aggravated. I can't shake this stuff. I want it out of my home. I want to be completely disconnected for the summer. I make another phone call and I'm told that our account shows everything is disconnected and we are not being charged (other than the vacation rate) so perhaps I should just leave services as they are. Boy, that's tempting....for about a second!! I ask about disconnecting. Disconnection will be a $200 disconnect fee since we are on contract for two years - I didn't know we were on contract with them for two years. We've had the services for six years so I'm not sure when the two year contract started. It's a racket - they don't want to loosen their grip!!! In the end, they say services WILL be suspended by the end of the day. If they aren't, I'm disconnecting......
Now, for time spent with family, doing yard work, scrap booking, writing an IRB proposal or charting resources for dissertation!!! Let the fun begin!!!!
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