When the writers out in Hollywood began their strike a month ago, it really didn’t affect me.

Sure, I support their cause – everyone should be compensated fairly for the work that they do – but I didn’t really care if they were striking because my Thursday night line-up was still intact.

Now, one month later, I am beginning to feel the pinch.

Whereas I used to stress out about the sheer number of shows backed up on my DVR (“Ahh! There is never enough time to watch them all!”), the lack of new episodes of my favorite shows this past week has left my poor DVR out of a job. And left me with nothing to do after a long day at my job.

I have been forced to get a little more creative with my free time and have discovered some wonderful new activities to enjoy beyond my couch and remote. If you too are experiencing a little non-reality-TV-withdrawal, fill your newfound free time with some of these:

Reading For Pleasure: I didn’t realize just how little I have read in the past year until I sat down and began reading some new books this week. My God, there are so many good books out there right now! My new favorites (that everyone absolutely must read) are: A Thousand Splendid Suns and Eat, Pray, Love. I finished both in under a week!

Discovering New Music: Everyone knows iTunes is the bomb for finding just about anything, but my favorite feature is when they recommend new artists based on the music you like. I started playing around with it and three hours later I had found some awesome new stuff (like Dave Barnes). Read More »

Thursday nights I like to:

a) Relax with a bottle of wine and

b) Watch Grey’s.

But since I knew a new episode was not on the horizon, I chose to compensate with some extra “a”‘s which led to a night out at the bar and the hangover I’m still feeling as I sit in my cubicle. See what happens when I don’t have Grey’s in my life?

Anyway, last week’s episode really made me laugh, made me cry and left me hanging…

1) The Nazi. Initially, I really didn’t know what this guy’s deal was. Was he afraid of women? Was he gay? But soon, it became painfully obvious that he was racist. Now how Bailey handling this whole situation was classic.

She tried so hard to be the bigger person and although successful, she couldn’t help but make this dude pay for his tattoo/close-minded beliefs.

2) The ambulance crash. This is was probably the saddest and most emotional part of the episode. On one hand we have the Chief fathering emotionally unavailable Meredeth, which is so cute even though I really am not a fan of her.

And on the other, we have the paramedic exchanging his last words with his wife (which drew a few tears). It seems that Meredeth becomes emotionally invested in this situation and maybe beginning to appreciate who and what she has in her life. Read More »