I wasn’t going to say anything more about my high school classmate in the running for the best actor Oscar. However, this terrible thing happened and I am still spitting and fuming. No, I am not mad that he lost — I think we all knew it was a long shot. I am still thrilled that he was a nominee.

I am enraged because I couldn’t watch the darn thing.

Seems our cable provider hasn’t been able to hookup most of the community to ABC (channel 10) since the digital conversion the other night. And for this, I am paying how much? I was furious Sunday night when that little message box popped up on our screen proclaiming “no signal.” I had been in Colorado to visit my mom, arriving back here Saturday night. I buzzed around on Sunday doing the stuff one does when one has been gone for half a week, planning to watch the Oscars in the evening.

But at the appointed hour, there was nothing on the screen. Nothing. Do you think we can get a partial refund for the programs we’ve missed because we cannot get the stations we are paying to view? Oh, I bet not. Somewhere in the fine print of our agreement with this company is the part where we agree to suck it up, pay the bill, and never address the issue of shoddy service. I bet I have signed away whatever expectations I might have had that the agreement with Allegiance means they uphold their end of the bargain and provide me with adequate service. I still could spit.

I am not a big television watcher under most circumstances, but when I want to see something, I want to see it. We pay a nice chunk of change every month to do so. And I wonder why we willingly allow Allegiance to debit our account 12 times a year for service that is not only less than stellar, but is less than satisfactory.

As my Dad used to say, “We have learned to live with built-in obsolescence.” He was right. We don’t expect to get our money’s worth anymore.

I am really unhappy with our cable provider. Someone downtown Monday morning said Allegiance expected us to “re-program” the channels ourselves following the switch from analog service. Sure. I’ll get right on that. And when were they going to tell me I had to do this? And I am paying what for the privilege of being their customer?

Arrgghhhhh. Something is going to change at this address.

— Susan Marshall