The MTA transit strike that paralyzed the city for four days is finally over. New Yorkers are catching up on unfinished holiday shopping and making New Year plans once again. But political and economic issues aside, didn’t the strike give you a jolt by breaking the monotonous daily routine and testing your survival and comradeship skills yet again?

Unfortunately, walking city’s bridges, car-pooling with strangers and telecommuting from home isn’t new for many of us and definitely not fun. And yet, every time a cataclysm like a black-out or a strike (or worse) happens, we pull ourselves together, find ways to get to work and, more importantly, back home, reconnect with our co-workers and relatives in a whole new way in a joint effort to survive and make the best of the situation.