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The Sunday Salon: I Need to Go On a TV Diet

The Sunday Salon.com Today has not been a great day for reading. I feel like that’s becoming a refrain around here!

This morning my friend Erin and I went biking for Ride the Drive, a twice-yearly event in Madison where many of the major streets get shut down to cars and opened for bikers. It was one of the things on my Day Zero project list, so blogged about it with photos more over there.

I got a bit of a sunburn, so since I got back I’ve been bumming around my apartment. I wish I could say I’ve been reading, but that’s not the case. I am easily sucked into watching tv shows, and with so many available on Netflix and other online sites, it seems like I can always find something to watch. Right now I have the first season of NUMB3RS queued up, but I also have Friday Night Lights and old episodes of Psych that Boyfriend and I are watching. And then summer tv will be starting soon… ahh!

I really should cut back on tv… try to just watch an hour a day or something like that, but it’s just so easy to get absorbed in, especially when I’m feeling a little sick and tired from being in New York last week. I want to get back to normal and get back to reading again.

Oh well, we’ll see what happens. I did finish Unfinished Business by Lee Kravitz earlier this afternoon, which I’ll be reviewing this week as part of a TLC Book Tour. I’m not sure what I’ll be picking up next — probably The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins or Election by Tom Perrotta, depending on my mood.

How is your Sunday going?

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Aths June 5, 2011, 3:16 pm

    The biking sounds fabulous! Wish we had something like that here. The watch-tv-for-only-one-hour-a-day thing? Doesn’t work. It takes a lot of effort to get off that couch after watching an episode, which always ends in suspense, whatever the show.

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:01 pm

      It was a really fun day — Madison does some cool events like that. And yeah, so far limited TV hasn’t quite worked… Hence why I finished almost an entire West Wing season in a weekend!

  • Megan June 5, 2011, 3:39 pm

    I have the hardest time leaving my TV off, too. Now that a lot of the usual suspects are over for the summer, I’m hoping to not pick up near as many shows to watch as I had been watching. Still, even the daily Law and Order marathons occasionally suck me in. We always joke around that once you’ve seen the murder, you have to watch the whole thing, and watch out lest you watch the end of one, forget to walk away, and accidentally see the next one’s murder and get sucked into *that* one, too. It’s a slippery slope… 😉

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:02 pm

      I like having the TV on in the background for stuff, but I end up getting really distracted by it if I’m not careful. I’m so glad I don’t have cable — that was the worst!

  • Gwen June 5, 2011, 4:12 pm

    Aw darlin’, yesterday I caught myself flipping channels and actually stopped for a second on Paris Hilton’s New BFF (or whatever the title is). It scares me what people will do to get on TV these days almost as much as the fact that people will actually watch them, do what they do. Luckily, I am always reading or on the laptop when I watch.

    Just got a new PC to replace the one that went kaplooie right before Armchair BEA, so I am busy downloading programs and tweaking in between chapters of L.A. Noir by John Buntin today.

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:03 pm

      Gah! That’s horrible! I try to always be doing something on my laptop rather than just reading, but that sometimes doesn’t work.

  • Teresa June 5, 2011, 4:40 pm

    I think I’ve mentioned to you before that I don’t have cable, and that is the biggest cure I’ve found for overindulging in TV. If a show’s any good, it’ll end up on DVD/Netflix streaming. The only big downside is that I sometimes get spoiled for favorite shows ahead of time. (I’m carefully avoiding all talk of Dr Who right now.)

    Now if I could just figure out a cure for overindulging in the Internet, I’d be all set.

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:04 pm

      Yes, I don’t have cable either, but we do have Netflix and that is almost as bad.

  • Cass June 5, 2011, 4:48 pm

    Good job crossing another thing off your Day Zero project list! That’s awesome! (Take that, TV.)

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:04 pm

      Lol, yes. TV taken down!

  • Jenny June 5, 2011, 6:08 pm

    I have a TV problem too. Because I get it on DVD and then I watch it a lot. I discovered I use my VLC Media Player more than I use Microsoft Word or Firefox. Surely not! (but my computer says yes) One of these days I’m going to go on a diet from TV.

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:05 pm

      Between Hulu and Netflix, I have way more TV than I ever need to watch. And then DVDs from the library… oy!

  • MoniqueReads June 5, 2011, 6:08 pm

    Ride The Drive sounds like a lot of fun. I wish there was something like that around here. I am too afraid to ride a bike in Miami, the drivers drive so badly I fear getting hit.

    As Teresa said not having cable does help cutting down on television time. I have limited cable and it is so hard to get good channels, that it either forces me to waste time online or find something interesting to do.

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:06 pm

      It was a lot of fun. I don’t bike normally for the same reason — scary drivers — so having the road free was great.

  • Amy June 5, 2011, 6:58 pm

    I find that once you turn the tv on, it stays on. Or at least for me. I just avoid it 🙂 Ride the Drive sounds awesome, glad you got to do it!

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:06 pm

      Yes, that is what happens. Apparently it should just stay off…

  • christa @ mental foodie June 5, 2011, 9:40 pm

    We love Numb3rs! Sad to see the show has finished… But yeah, when we watch TV shows (on DVD), I definitely read less…

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:07 pm

      I really like it too! I watched some when it was on TV originally, but now ALL of it is on Netflix. What is a girl to do?

  • Laura June 5, 2011, 11:17 pm

    I watch way too much TV as well. Summer is good because there aren’t as many new shows on, but I can definitely get sucked into just about anything. It is a problem when I’m tired in particular. Great job getting out and riding your bike.

    Here is my Sunday Salon

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:08 pm

      Yeah, that is a plus of summer — less new options to get absorbed in. But there is so much old stuff to love, sometimes it doesn’t matter.

  • Leeswammes (Judith) June 6, 2011, 2:53 am

    Lovely, that bike ride. I did one with my family (not organised, just ourselves) on Thursday as it was a holiday here. Lovely!

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:09 pm

      Nice! I haven’t biked much since I moved to the city, so this was nice.

  • Jean Lewis June 6, 2011, 7:03 am

    I could go long periods with no tv, if it wasn’t for my husband. So, many evenings we spend watching tv together. TV is the devil:)

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:10 pm

      Ha! Boyfriend and I spend a lot of evenings watching TV too. It’s just so easy to do…

  • Ash June 7, 2011, 5:17 pm

    I have done very little reading and quite a lot of tv watching since New York. I’m just so exhausted. I haven’t finished a book in what seems like a million years. I bought season three of True Blood and watched the whole thing in two days. Blegh. Really want to get reading again.

    • Kim June 7, 2011, 7:11 pm

      I was totally exhausted after getting back to New York I haven’t done a lot of reading. I’m hoping to get caught up by the end of this weekend. We’re waiting for seasons 3 of True Blood from Netflix.