Aunt Leah--

TV is flat-out evil, IMO, so kudos to you for going without -- now, can you make a resolution that if you get through the 40 days without it 9am-3pm, can you get rid of it altogether?  I challenge you!  [No, stop laughing...this is serious!  I really deeply believe that TV is evil incarnate...it destroys us in the most subtle of ways, by causing us to waste minutes or hours of our precious life in attentive servitude to commercial interests that, by definition, cannot care for us.]

From the time my daughter was born to about the time she was 4 years old, we had no TV -- and it was wonderful!  Of course, at that age, you're doing a whole lot as a parent...it was easy.  But while my wife continued to maintain the no-TV habit, I relapsed...and now my daughter is hooked too.  I have had plans for months now to unhook us again, but just haven't had the motivation to carry through.

There is so much more you can do with those hours you'd otherwise waste in front of the TV -- you'll see!  These forty days will be a period of rediscovery for you.   Allow boredom to build up...it is a powerful motivator, and the mother of curiosity.  Here -- I'll give you a few serious suggestions for things you could do to fill the gap left by TV: 1) (re)learn calculus or particle physics from a college textbook or online somewhere, 2) hit Hulu.com and watch every episode of your favorite sci-fi show in order (you'll notice things you'd never see watching the episodes week-by-week), 3) play a video game -- and get good at it!, 4) (carefully) learn a dangerous sport, like skateboarding or unicycle-riding (carefully!), 5) walk down the street and introduce yourself to a neighbor you've never formally met, 6) go on a city adventure -- pick a restaurant and a museum in DC or Baltimore and chart your way to, between, and from them -without- using your car [cities can be wonderfully mind-expanding for folks that don't get into them often].

I'm glad to hear someone else is trying to live *without* TV...we're not going to kill this social cancer until enough people ignore it that the advertisers take their dollars elsewhere.

   -Gregg