I was working on a pretty time-sensitive customer project last October when I didn't come home from work until 8:30 one night. Even though I wanted to take my mind off everything for a while, it was too late to go to Tae Kwon Do, and it was too late to convince anyone to go out that night.  I ended up ordering a pizza and staying in, and that's when I discovered a reality show on truTV that followed repossession agents as they repossessed vehicles for banks and other lien-holders.  The next thing I knew, it was 11:30 at night, and I had to go to bed. Just like that, I'd wasted 3 hours of my life and I had nothing to show for it.  I was angry.  I cut off the cable on November 10, 2008 and I haven't looked back since. If you ask me if I saw that awesome goal during the Red Wings game last night, I'll just stare at you blankly.  And maybe I'll go online and look for some highlights.  If you recommend a show on the Food network, I'll never bother to watch it.  And when you start talking about some of the junk on TLC I'll have no clue what you're talking about. When I proudly announced my newfound freedom to my coworkers, they doubted me.  One said I wouldn't make it to New Years day.  Another asked me if I watched cable at other people's houses.  "Of Course," I replied. "Oh so you're just too cheap to pay for it," he retorted.  "You just go to other people's houses to watch TV." Trust me.  If you invite me over to watch people get their cars repossessed, I will find other plans.  I guarantee this.  I didn't cut the cable because I was hurting for money.  I cut it because I was truly outraged at the amount of time I was wasting on mindless crap. Do I miss some aspects of cable?  Of course.  Especially when the Illini are playing on the Big Ten Network.  But I've also discovered that ESPN streams most of their live sporting events online, so I've found that I can often still get the game I want to watch.  I'm not upset about spending 2 hours watching the Illini.  It's paying for junk channels that I don't want, and then wasting my time watching them that really kills me. There are a few way in which I admit I'm a little smug with my lack of cable.  One instance is when I hear those radio ads where DirecTV, U-Verse, FiOS and Comcast all argue about why their service is better than everyone elses. The second is a little more personal.  I am the youngest person in my office and I often have to hear a few of my coworkers tell me how lucky I am because they didn't have 96 channels to choose from when they were growing up.  Guess what?  I have ~8-9 channels right now; maybe 15 because I do own a digital converter box. So that's my horrible confession.  I don't have cable; no MTV; no Fox News; no CNN; no ESPN; no ESPN2; no ESPN-U; no DVR; no TLC; no Discovery; nothing.  Not for whats been almost 6 months. Although I admit its a little weird that its 2009 and I just had to listen to the Red Wings game on the radio because I don't get Fox Sports Detroit.