Google Reader having problems

I thought that the GFW may finally have started playing with my feed reader but it seems that Google Reader is genuinely having some major problems today. Scouting around for a few minutes I've opted for an external reader for now: RSSOwl, which has good reviews. I've also been astounded at the number of feeds that some people subscribe to: often 1000+. I'm not sure how people keep up and get anything else done.