A certain cable company be damned!

So, I spent most of my last official day of summer vacation by first sleeping in and then just lounging about reading a lot of news articles online.

I was quite dismayed when I turned on the TV this afternoon to find a bunch of channels missing. When I'd first gotten cable, I'd called the cable company and asked them if there was any way I could avoid paying the $75 installation fee. Turned out that I could sign up for digital cable for free for the first month, and then downgrade afterwards. So, we did that and after that month (or was it two?) of having far too many channels, we downgraded to basic cable, since neither of us really spends that much time watching TV (I just require the Daily Show, Simpsons reruns and a good dose of cheesy reality shows - all available via basic cable). Anyhow, after I'd switched to basic cable, we still got about 6o channels! Sweet! And I was being charged for basic cable, so there were no complaints from me.

Well, I guess the so-called jig is up. I feared this day would come. I'm actually finding myself missing CNN (good background noise since the CBC is on strike), MuchMoreMusic and Showcase, since the subway has been full of ads for cool shows on that channel. Oh, and I'll miss the Comedy Network since they show the Daily Show at 11 pm versus CTV's 12:05 am.

So, if that wasn't enough hassle from that company (how dare they take away something that I didn't deserve anyway?), I went to the video store chain that they own to rent a movie and they claimed I had a late fee of $20 for a movie called "Lost in La Mancha"! Has anyone heard of that movie??? I don't even know if such a movie exists and I know for sure I didn't rent it. Anyhow, I had to argue with the poor cashier, who seemed pretty new to the job, but finally one of her co-workers told her to wipe the fee off of my account.

(Edit: I just googled "Lost in La Mancha", it does exist but it definitely is not something I'd rent!)