Last year, my buddy Curtis showed me how Netflix's streaming service worked through my Wii and I thought: Well, that's cool. You get all those movies on-demand, plus a new one in the mail, all for eight bucks a month (or whatever it was back then).

I'd avoided Netflix until then because I'd been a loyal customer of Tucson's wonderful Casa Video for about a quarter-century and, when possible, I like supporting the local brick-and-mortar guys.

But the streaming possibilities pushed me over the edge and I kind of broke up with Casa Video, even though I'd drop by once in a while to say hello.

Anyway, Netflix announced yesterday that it was splitting the mail-order DVDs from the online streaming, with a big price hike if you want to keep both services. For me, it won't be nearly as good a deal. I'm still trying to figure out if I'll keep the streaming part (I'm sure I will at least until I finish watching every episode of The Good Guys), but I'm certain that I'm dropping the mail-order service and going back to Casa Video.

I've missed the shop and I'm looking forward to browsing the racks again, especially one two-for-one Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And this time, I'm gonna be a lot better about avoiding late fees.