At a TV Anonymous meeting: "I'm BuckeyeChuck, and I like to watch TV."

It is fashionable to say two things:

(1) "I don't eat at McDonald's."
(2) "I don't watch TV."

No, it's not cool to admit to either of these. The truly enlightened don't watch TV and they don't eat Big Macs and the greatest fries ever devised. Your professional colleagues would surely think less of you if they knew that you gazed at a glowing screen and consumed Hot Cakes and Sausage instead of reading Emmanuel Kant and sipping a homemade latte. And your children! Think of the example you would set by watching something so proletarian as television and eating something so base as a double cheeseburger!

So while we all talk about how we really don't like TV and we never eat at McDonald's, we glance at McDonald's latest P&L and realize that a lot of somebody's must be eating there. And then you see the hundreds of channels available on DirecTV and realize that a lot of somebody's must be watching.

So I'll cop to liking both of these. I'll say it outright: I like to eat at McDonald's, and I like to watch television. I'm not cool, and I don't care. We are one of DirecTV's "best customers"! We get the HD package, three movie packages, the full sports packages, and some expanded programming. I've been a long time subscriber to NFL Sunday Ticket Superfan, and until last year I was an annual subscriber to ESPN Game Plan. I love me some football, and DirecTV has more of it than anybody else!

Is this a waste of time? Probably. I don't deny that I might make more money if I studied my craft instead of watching two Mountain West schools play no-defense football, or that I'd be better educated by reading Mises, Rothbard, and Hayek instead of watching Turner Classic Movies.

Is this wasted money? Mmmmmm.... maybe, but watching TV is one of our favorite things. There are far more impactful things in a total financial strategy, like driving inexpensive cars for which you pay cash, living in a home that cost well under one annual income, and never buying things unless you have the cash with which to pay for them.

I don't doubt I would be better off by killing my TV. But somehow, I just can't see my way to doing so. I like to watch television. I can't imagine going back to rabbit ears, so I pay.