1) sleep in after staying up late
2) eat lazy breakfast at noon
3) make list of things to do: laundry, vacuum, clean bathrooms, do dishes, take out trash, wipe down kitchen counters

What's this...a TV remote?  Hmm..we'll just see if anything is on.

 
12 HOUR WALKING DEAD MARATHON!!!

END OF MESSAGE

If you haven't watched through end of season 3...you won't want to read on.

So...if everyone is infected...how do non-lethal bites turn people?  

For example...Herschal, why amputate his leg?  In the same episode, the huge AA inmate that is bitten on his back.  And potentially...Andrea at the end of season 3 (although...her wounds very well might have been fatal).  All three of these people might have survived their wounds.  Two were killed to prevent them from turning and the third was maimed.  

If bites do still turn people....does that mean there are different strains of the infection?  

I don't think we've seen any examples in the last season and a half of people that are bitten....don't "die"...and then turn.  

Did I find a plot hole?  Or another plot twist yet untangled?

You were supposed to pay attention to what Morgan was saying in the damn pilot! Bites and scratches are what cause the fever. The fever burns you out, you die, and then you reanimate.  

With Herschel, he was bitten on an extremity. Luckily, Rick hacked that shit off before it had time to enter Herschel's bloodstream. Big Tiny and T-Dogg were bitten in similar places (near the shoulder/back if I remember correctly). In those cases, what are you going to amputate? Their necks? Not likely.  

Everyone is infected with whatever causes reanimation after death. So whether you die from the fever that is caused by being bitten (the fate suffered by Morgan's wife, Jenner's wife aka TS-19, and probably Jim), if you die from the injury caused by the bite/scratch (Amy, possibly Sophia, and Dale if it weren't for Daryl putting him down first), or you die from some other cause (as evidenced with Randall, Shane, Merle, etc.), the result will be the same. Herschel got lucky because he was bitten on a spot that could be quickly and easily removed.

TL;DR: I am way too knowledgable about this damn show.  

I'm going to have to re-watch the pilot.  I've only seen it once.  I don't remember the fever discussion.  

Having said that...they could promote that a little more in my opinion.  These people go into fights all the time wearing little more than a loin-cloth (exaggeration) at times.  How is it that they never get scratched?  That...and with all the splatter...these people are absolutely getting zombie-juice in their mouths, eyes, etc.  That would have to communicate a fever as well as a scratch or bite. I would think they could play the "I got scratched but I'm hiding it from the group" angle at least once.  A surprise turn/attack would really up the surprise/horror rating.  

Oh well...it's still entertaining.

The Lori / T-dog death episode is intense...forgot how brutal that was!!!!

You're nitpicking the scientific veracity of a show about zombies.

Hey, zombies could happen!  

 

I sure hope not. I'm blonde and slutty with big jugs. Per the standard horror formula, I'd be the first one to die.  

Ridgetucky would follow soon after, being the token black guy.