The last news paper

Today is a big day, representing a major technological shift in how we've been doing something for my entire life: consuming news.

Last week, my wife and I have made a big decision: we're cutting the cord on the newspaper. The gas surchage that is being charged now for home delivery is just way too much for us, effectively pricing home delivery at about 5x what it was just a year ago.

Instead, we've subscribed to the online version of the paper. I've been reading it more and more anyway; the news is more timely since its posted throughout the day.

We've been recycling for the past few years, and have gotten pretty good at it. The weight of collected newspaper is by far the heaviest load that I tote. I am also looking forward to not having to recycle so much paper. Less paper means I will make fewer trips to the recycling center, which will also save gas.

So over all I think getting our news from online will be a good change for us: less work, save money, save gas, and save trees.

I mention saving trees as a by product of cancelling the newspaper -- but we'll probably need to save the trees for burning in the fire place this winter to save on our oil/electric furnace -- I am joking just a bit now, with heating season 4 months away, but I am very worried about the cost of staying warm next winter. It gets very cold in Minnesota. Very cold, for a long time. I need to start planning now to have enough wood to last us the winter.