...conveniently located minutes south of downtown

The fact that I was receiving free cable was recently discovered by the cable company. As a result of this discovery I have been left only with local channels, public access, WGN, and inexplicably, the NASA channel. Although I am still somewhat in denial (over the past several weeks my obsessive checking of channels numbered higher than 25 has waned from once an hour to once every several days), I have decided that this sudden loss is possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me. I only had cable for a few months, but even that short period of time changed my view of life in ways I didn't like. I consider myself to be witty and intelligent, but after several weeks of watching Best Week Ever and the innumerable other comedian-commentated shows it has spawned on VH1 I realized that TV watching had reached an entirely new level of passivity. I no longer even needed to make fun of asinine celebrities and reality shows myself. VH1 has hired people to do it for me.

As I slowly emerge from my cable-induced stupor, I realize I need something to fill the space in my life that TV briefly occupied. I no longer remember what it was I did in the days before I had 72 channels, although I suspect it has something to do with the many books that line the shelves in my bedroom. Looking at them now they seem so much less interesting than they once did, like something that would have entertained a less savvy me. Something I did before I knew about the 40 most awesomely badder celebrity hair moments ever or before I knew what Ashlee Simpson does in her day to day life (hint: it has nothing to do with boring old books).

So in the interest of filling the time it will take to heal the IQ-depleting wounds that I suffered as a result of my cable viewing I have started this blog.