40 Years Ago

     What did we do forty years ago?  Where were we without the technology we have?  I found out in a couple of ways Tuesday night after I had just moved in.  It was the pits!
     Tuesday morning, as I said, I had all of my belongings moved into my new apartment.  The satelite TV technician came and set up my  TV.  Growing up, I remember three channels.  Life was easy.  It was a scandal when Harry Pappas challenged the big boys and started his independent channel 26 here in Fresno.  He was viewed as an outcast.  How dare he challenge the domain dominated by channels 24, 30 and 47.  I believe channel 18 was up and running, but it was Public Television, and nobody watched Public Television except those devoted to Sesame Street.  My satelite TV was up and running and I was a happy camper.  I had other things to do so I turned off the TV and did what I had to do.
     What I am going to say here is just a bit of wisdom I have garnished over my many years.  When something is going to be installed by a technician...where were we and what would this world be without technicians?...the TV company said that the echnician would arrive between 8:00 and 12:00, and they tell you that someone needs to be there when the technician is there the technician shows up at 11:59:59? I guess that is the way that God set up the rythym of life, I don't know.
     I'm sorry that I have led you astray from the story I began to tell so back to where I was going with this.  I returned to the appartment, opened a cold one...not going to say what...and sat down in my favorite chair to watch TV.  I used to plop down on the couch to watch TV, but we couldn't get the couch out of the house during the move so we left it, sort of like the stuff that went down with the Titanic.  It was going to be great, watch TV in my new apartment with no interruptions.  Life is sweet. 
     I turned on the TV.  The screen came on and all I got was the dancing logo.  Where is the remote?  I think that the tv companies logo is quite futuristic, but I want to watch TV, not watch a logo dance around the screen. I pressed every button I could think of and up came a 771 message.  What the heck is a 771 message.  OK, let's check the cable and the how it is hooked.  Just to be safe, let's call customer service so that I know that it is hooked up properly...An hour later the customer service man on the phone says that the problem is not in the hook up, but in the system.  He would have to send out a...technician.  When?  The earliest would be by Friday and this was Tuesday.  Needless to say, my patience was being tried.  The customer service man told me that he checked his schedule and there was an opening for tomorrow at when else....between 8:00 and 12:00 and someone had to be there.
      Life was so much simpler 40 years ago.  We didn't have a remote.  We turned the TV on by pulling out the on-off button.  We changed channels with a dial.  We had an automatic dial where you pushed a button and the TV cycled through the channels manually with a motor...now that was high technology.  We hooked up the TV antenna that was up on the roof bestowing us the pleasure of watching a whopping four channels, and channel # 4 very rarely came in clearly.  The antennae wire was brown and flat, and screwed into the back of the TV.  The only technician was the TV repairman, and if he came out you knew you were in trouble. Oh, for a simpler life.
     What did I do when I had no TV Tuesday?  In bed at 7.