I spent all morning putting together odds and ends:  rolling over a retirement account, setting up new healthcare coverage at a lower price, and, of course, petting Maggie who believes one of our times is “all morning.”  But the oddest part was attempting to change my newspaper subscription.  

A few months ago, the apartment maintenance man noticed the newspaper at my front door and commented, “You’re the only person in the complex that takes the paper.”  I said, “I believe in supporting my local paper.”  And I do.   But I don’t read that huge Sunday paper because I go to church and don’t have the time that morning.  What I hated was putting it in the recycle bin, unopened, on Sunday evening and I was paying for the paper I wasn’t reading.   Then it hit me:  I’ll cancel the Sunday morning paper and just get it the six morning I read it.   But I couldn’t.  I called customer service and discovered the Sunday morning edition MUST be part of the package.  I could order Wednesday and Sunday or Sunday only, but not NOT Sunday (if you know what I mean).    For that reason, I canceled the entire subscription.  I hated that because I really need the sports schedule and the carrier is so good.  I always give him a present for Christmas.  Sorry, Alberto.

Oh, I understand that  the Austin American-Statesman probably makes their money on the Sunday ads and needs me to subscribe to increase the numbers so they can sell the ads for more.  Yes, I understand that.  But when the decision is to have a subscriber six days a week or NO days a week, isn’t that a fairly obvious choice?   

(For those of you who may suggest this, I did get an e-version for $10 less a month and no recycling needed.)