There's was a television writers strike??

There was a writer's strike? And this really made a difference in people's lives? People were going through withdrawal without their weekly fix of Sex in the City and Grey's Anatomy and God knows what?

What did people do? Or the real question I have is, do people actually come home from wherever, work, school, the picket line, and plop down for hours in front of the television. And enjoy it? Good Lord, that's sad.

It's coming up on one whole month Sue and I have moved, and we haven't watched one hour of television. Well, I take that back. I watched almost the entire Super Bowl while sitting on the couch and sorting literally thousands of pictures. I can't just sit and watch something. I have to do something else, usually something with my hands. But the Super Bowl was it. That's all we've watched in a month. (I also didn't watch the World Series this year. Gasp! And it was the Sox and they won. Double gasp!)

For years I had cable, but only for my daughter who liked certain shows. I was spending almost a hundred dollars on something I didn't use. It was nuts. I couldn't afford it, but I still subscribed to it. Then I came to my senses. I finally just got the standard cable. Something like twenty channels. And didn't miss a thing and my daughter didn't either.

The television, right now, is sort of jammed over in a corner between a sofa (ok, technically it's a love seat) and a bookcase. We don't know where it's going to go. We've actually talked seriously about not having out. Then we say, well, we do rent a movie now and then. But just for that it seems kind of dumb to allocate a corner of the apartment for something we hardly use. We use the blender about the same amount of time, and we keep that tucked in a cabinet under the counter. Maybe we'll just keep it in a closet and wheel it out, like they used to do with Rose Kennedy, whenever we need it.

What do we do instead of watch television? We play guitar. We sit at the table and talk and drink wine. Or beer. We read or listen to music. We go out and do something in the neighborhood, whether it's just run an errand or walk the dumb dog. I've been known to hang out in a theater or two. Or we do what the Pilgrims used to do when it got dark.

So now everyone's going back to work and soon America will have a new feed of television shows? Well, good for them. One more thing I'm missing out on.

Remind me to tell you about the microwave and dishwasher we have but don't use, too.