Cable Woes (and Salads)

So, just over a month ago I decide to bite the bullet and finally sign up for digital cable. And when I call the cable company, I actually tell the girl, in these exact words, “I want to see about signing up for Showtime.”

Because, truthfully, I wanna watch The L Word.

She tells me that in order to get Showtime, I have to switch from basic cable to digital cable — which I already knew because I had called a couple of years ago when I was thinking I needed HBO. She also tells me that SusCom is offering a free preview of all premium channels for 30 days!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

She sets up an appointment for the guy to come to install the digital receiver and what-not. And everything goes exactly according to plan; in fact, I like the cable guy so much that I am seriously thinking about having him come back to install a cable modem for Internet service. And then, over the next couple of weeks, I try out almost of all of my new channels and, except for a brief fuck-up on ... I dunno, HBO? Cinemax? whilst I am watching Glory, the channels all seem to be working perfectly.

And I remember, vaguely, making a note of the installation date: February 20. And as time moves along, I think to myself, well, they already know I want Showtime, but I probably need to let them know I am thinking I might just keep HBO, also.

And yet: They never said I would have to let them know, so I figured they might actually have the type of customer service that, a few days before my free preview ended, would contact me to say, “Your free preview will be ending on ______, and we were wondering if you would like to subscribe to any of the premium channels.” At which point I would have said, “Well, of course, as I told you, I want to subscribe to Showtime, and I would also like to add HBO.”

Or, what the hell? Maybe I would have kept all of them, just because I am someone who is highly resistant to change?

Idiots.

: (

I made a kick-ass salad Friday night:

Baby spinach leaves
Avocado
Mushroom pieces
Hidden Valley buttermilk ranch dressing

Spinach and mushroom are pre-washed and ready-to-go, right out of the package. Avocadoes take, what, 2 minutes to dice?

Though, next time, I will probably use Italian dressing instead. Because, honestly, the only kind of ranch dressing I like is the kind I make myself, “from scratch” (heh). And Italian dressing right outta the bottle does not trouble me at all.

My favorite kind of salad includes this stuff:

Lettuce
Artichokes
Red onions
Diced pimientoes
Parmesan cheese

Mandatory homemade ranch dressing on top. (They serve this salad at a place called Murphy’s Bar & Grill in Carbondale.)