I heart SKY TV

And of course my siblings. For my birthday they were most thoughtful. Without them there would be no TV.

I went to Euronics (an electronics store here in Rome) and nodded as the salesman discussed the various TVs’ pros and cons. I had an idea of which brands I was interested in and was glad there was a sale.

However, I had no idea what the heck he was talking about. I asked him to please speak a little slower and then I was able understand approx. 40%. When I went to pay I forgot that you need a pin number for your credit cards here. I couldn’t remember the number to save my life and the numbers I wrote down were for a different account. I didn’t want to charge it to my American credit card because I had already transferred my siblings’ gift from my American bank to my Italian one.

Good thing I bought my little checkbook. In Italy checks aren’t used that often. For one Euro you get ten checks. Other than the security deposit for my apartment, I haven’t used the book and forgot how to fill it out. The saleslady seeing my frustration (I couldn’t use my Bancomat/ATM card because it was more than the limit) filled it out for me. She was super nice.

SKY came yesterday. Big problem they couldn’t access the roof. One of my neighbors was home. She speaks English and gave us the key and a ladder.

Second problem they need access to the apartment on the top floor to get to her terrace. Something to do with the cable. The neighbor isn’t home.

Later I run upstairs to leave a note on her door and she happens to be home. She tells me she’s leaving town the next day and not returning until late next week. I’m frustrated. I have a TV I can’t watch. I really wanted to watch some of the Republican convention and Mad Men. I don’t have a number for the office that made the appointment. Something told me to check my cell and I see ten minutes before my appointment someone called. I hit that number and it’s the SKY store. I tell them the lady is back, SKY shows up 10 minutes later. Phew. I think my neighbor or her housekeeper was annoyed though. One of them basically hung up on me when I called to tell SKY was coming back. I get it. She was leaving for a trip and had stuff to do.

After five months of not having a TV it feels kinda weird to have one again. The plan I picked is reasonable. I’m on a strict budget and I don’t really need a soccer package when I can go to several places in my neighborhood to watch a game. Movies, I need to see before they hit cable so I didn’t get a movie package either. I love how my cable package is cheaper, even with the exchange rate, than what I paid in L.A.

Last night I was going through the channels. There are a bunch of American shows I can watch in English or dubbed.

In the news section I have everything from BBC News to CNN World to Al Jazeera to French News. I can’t believe how many international channels there are. I have VH1 too. I will have to make sure I don’t get sucked into their reality show vortex. It will be hard but I must try.