I try really hard to remember that it’s the 2022, the 21st Century. Unfortunately, I don’t know most of the new actors or musicians. But I watch American Idol and The Voice in an effort to keep up with what’s new. I try not to cringe too much, or ask the question asked by my grandmother all those years ago as we watched Judy Collins perform: Is that music?

Technology provides me the biggest kick in the ass. I’ve told you before that I have no inherent understanding about how technology works these days. I have an iPad, an iPhone, a computer, an Apple Watch. I don’t know how any of them work. I memorize. Someone shows me how something is done. I watch. I absorb. I do. But when it changes, I am lost.

My newest technological challenge is streaming television. For a million years, Bill and I have paid Dish Network every month so that we can watch our favorite programs. Within the past few months, however, I realized that we weren’t really making much use of the channels beyond regular network television. A little of Food Network. NFL Network to watch the football games. Some ESPN. Yellowstone on Paramount. That’s about it.

So, I began to wonder if it wasn’t time to tell Dish ba bye, and go completely streaming. It made sense to me except for the fact that I don’t really know how streaming works. When we came to AZ for the winter, I signed up for a number of streaming services. In addition to Amazon Prime and Netflix, I now pay for Paramount Plus, Hulu, ESPN2, Disney Plus, and Peacock Plus. Oh, and I continue to pay for Dish.

That, my friends, is the rub. I am simply too nervous about streaming to break up with Dish Network, even though they kept me from watching NBC for many months because the two couldn’t get along. I don’t know who was right or who was wrong. But I wanted to watch Sunday Night Football! So I was mad at them both and got Hulu. And then, one by one, I got the rest.

On several occasions, I have gotten to the point where I am ready to pull the switch on Dish. About that time, my internet goes down. I am faced with the fact that without Dish, I would be without television if my internet isn’t working. I would be forced to (yikes) read a book.

I am taking baby steps towards what is the inevitable switch to total streaming. After all, this year the CMA awards program was exclusively streamed live on Amazon Prime, as will Thursday Night Football starting next season.

The handwriting is on the wall.