Living in sunny SoCal, my monthly utility payments are satisfyingly low. The largest is by far my cable internet bill- approximately $40 a month, split with my roommate. I was reluctant, at first, to part with this extra dough for our own wireless- I have a laptop, and it’s easy enough to link to someone else’s network free of cost. My roommate has a desktop, though, and he had no intention of installing a wireless card for my convenience. So he signed us up.
Above: L. Appy 2, Apartment Number One’s Command Center
I’m a little poorer, but my conscience is clear, and my connection is fairly consistent. Although, I don’t feel any remorse for hopping on neighbor’s wireless networks- it’s a very simple step to set up a password if you want to keep the net to yourself. How about you, fellow first apartment dweller? Do you have any qualms about sharing internet with your neighbors?
Next on the tech list is cable tv, which usually comes as a package with high speed internet. We don’t have it now, but roommate #2 is adamant that we get HBO. I love Tony Soprano as much as the next guy, and I can’t WAIT to see what Bill Pullman and his wives have been up to all season, but I’m a little apprehensive. I grew up in a house without cable, and I’m not sure I trust myself with such constant quality programming right at my fingertips. I can just see myself a month from now, wearing the same sweatpants I’m wearing today, all professional and social obligations long forgotten, my right thumb frozen in a pale hook over the channel button on the remote. I’m muttering like the crazy guy who stashes his stuff in my front yard: “So many channels, so little time.”
With this picture in mind, I’m putting off the acquisition of cable for as long as I can.
