# Four-Day Weekend -- what I did and didn't do **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 26, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878 "2006-11-26T23:02:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/1 "2006-11-26T23:02:08Z")
**Did** clean up the first floor pretty thoroughly, including totally clearing the kitchen table and vacuuming the living room and dining room (both jobs appallingly overdue). \*\*Did not \*\* mop the kitchen floor (another job that’s appallingly overdue). **Did** sort out a couple of months’ worth of junk mail. Guess what – when you ignore your mail long enough, it’s _all_ junk mail!\*\* Did not\*\* get bills paid; swear I’ll do it tomorrow; want to check my balance before I start writing checks. **Did** sweep the front porch and bring in the last few pots and odds and ends from the houseplants’ summer vacation out there, including snipping off the last of the amaryllis foliage and bringing in those 10 bulbs.\*\* Did not\*\*, however, repot those and get them started for this year, and \*\*did not \*\* bring in the geraniums. **Did** go to Pep Boys and get a replacement for the spare (had a flat on my way home from Thanksgiving dinner), plus a new headlight bulb. **Did not** actually put the headlight bulb in. **Did** do two loads of laundry – three if you include the lap quilt I had to wash after the cat barfed on me. **Did** take several naps. \*\*Did \*\* finish a book I was enjoying plus one magazine. \*\*Did not \*\* do any of the garden work I should have done (should, esp. given the fact that it was sunny and 60 Friday, Saturday, and Today), including planting a slew of bulbs, moving some peonies, raking, cutting back a whole bunch o’ dead stuff, etc. That’s the major black mark on my record here. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/2 "2006-11-26T23:31:06Z")
You actually used a four-day weekend to \*do \*stuff? Are you crazy? Four-day weekends are for sloth and hedonism. Everybody knows that! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/3 "2006-11-26T23:43:40Z")
[QUOTE=Lissa] You actually used a four-day weekend to \*do \*stuff? Are you crazy? Four-day weekends are for sloth and hedonism. Everybody knows that! [/QUOTE] Ah, shit! _Now_ you tell me! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/4 "2006-11-26T23:50:21Z")
I did do three chapters of reading for music history, analyze a Bach invention, and practice piano a little bit. I did not… finish my French paper, my orchestration project, or the composing I need to do for my lesson tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/5 "2006-11-27T00:35:07Z")
Did: Make two good dishes for Thanksgiving: Maple Glazed Butternut Squash and a whole mess of kale, picked fresh that morning. Everyone liked 'em. Helpful Hint: however you cook your greens–I saute in olive oil and garlic, at the end, put a little malt or apple cider vinegar and a cup of good murky apple cider, and steam them . It adds this great sweet depth. Did: Clean the car out. Hallelujah! Did: Rake the leaves in the yard (huge beloved 80 year old white oak shedding), mowed em into mulch. Usually, the landlady wants to burn 'em, but yay for mulch. Planted another evergreen tree, mulched it well. 🙂 Did: Get all the wood in the shed, gonna save on the gas bill this year. Did: Nap this afternoon, even though there was a passle of other stuff to do. Felt so good! I think the ol’ body has a certain wisdom, and will force a nap as the rare exceptional time comes. Did: Spend good fun time with eight year old niece who lives too far away. How did she get so old and smart so soon? Did Not: do most of the garden work I’d scheduled for the weekend. Dang that cute li’l niece! Good on you for the floors, twixt, was on my list, but, uhmmm, oh well. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/6 "2006-11-27T01:18:59Z")
Did: Make appetizers for Thanksgiving. Finish laundry and put it away (well, I’m about to put away the last of it). Make headway on clearing off the dining room table. Rake leaves. Continue emptying out containers in the garden. Go grocery shopping. Buy myself birthday presents with the gift card I got. Take naps. Put away a bunch of decorations that I’m storing for a group I belong to. Spend too much time on the Dope (excellent procrastination tool). Didn’t: Get some plants parked in the ground. Get the car cleaned out and washed. Get started on Christmas cards. Upload pics to be printed (part of Christmas present for Mom). Maybe I’ll start that now. Deep clean the kitchen. I’ve got a list that I started on Wednesday. Didn’t make as much headway as I wanted , but I almost never do… GT ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/7 "2006-11-27T01:35:14Z")
Did start learning to knit Did make turkey even though I did not host Thanksgiving dinner Did make turkey soup Did WORK on Friday Did WORK on Saturday Did thoroughly clean the bathtub (including dismantling the shower door and scrubbing all components) Did thoroughly scrub toilet Did thoroughly srcub bathroom sink Did scrub walls and trim and ceiling in bathroom Did paint bathroom Did spend over $240 of my boyfriend’s money on cleaning supplies Did spend 2 hours in the nice shiny bathtub, scrubbing paint off my arms, legs, hands, face and picking it out of my hair. Did wash bathtub again after taking bath Did get about 5 rows of grout removed. Did Not get about 200 rows of grout removed Did Not get bathroom floor regrouted Did not get any rest or relaxation For today (in addition to 9 straight hours cleaning the bathroom): Did Not eat anything. I think I’ll go take care of that now. On a side note, for the first time in my life, I am not looking forward to my vacation. It starts on Friday. I will have 6 straight days of doing basically what I did today - clean and make repairs. After all the friggen work I’m doing this damn condo better sell fast because there’s no way in hell I’m ever cleaning it again. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/8 "2006-11-27T02:21:51Z")
I **did** make a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat I **did not** listen to _Alice’s Restaurant_. Another tradition down the crapper. Oh… I **seriously did not** hang icicle lights from the eaves of my house. Everyone else on my street did, though. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/9 "2006-11-27T02:50:39Z")
Did: Finish various odd bits of homework Finish math problem sets for the semester Review orgo Sampled several local restaurants (something I’ve wanted to do for a while) Did not: Have a nice Thanksgiving dinner Review orgo well Start reading stat book ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/10 "2006-11-27T03:08:11Z")
Did: Drink good wine Eat good food Snoozed in my chair Saw a movie (deja vu) Ate more good food Drank more good wine Slept later than usual Didn’t Worry about work Shop on Black Friday ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/11 "2006-11-27T04:29:12Z")
You know, if you say you **did** not mop, it looks better. 😉 And I’m willing to forgive you everything except the outdoors stuff, 'cause it’s [-25 here](http://www.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/city/pages/ab-50_metric_e.html)😛 (-15 for you IIRC) Me, I **did** :[ul][li]do the laundry[/li][li]clean the bathtub[/li][li]shovel the snow[/li][li]shovel the snow again[/li][li]read lots of stuff, including far more [Inuyasha](http://furinkan.com/iycompanion/) fanfics than a single person should.[/li][li]drink lots of hot chocolate[/li][li]enjoy sitting in my [new sofa](http://www.thebrick.com/Application/Cart/BuyRoom.asp?SiteCode=EN&ProductCode=E3-S). (Did _not_ pay that much. Or get the sofa and chair. Or TV. Or hawt chick.)[/li][/ul] **did** not: [ul] [li]fold the above mentioned laundry[/li][li]manage to buy a hair dryer to shrink that plastic stuff you put on windows[/li][li]install said shrink wrap ('cause I [got distracted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=397773))[/li][li]finish the sudoku on [UpWithCavemen](http://upwithcavemen.com) 'cause I think it has two solutions instead of the requisite one[/li][li]request a 4 day weekend, even though I need to use 7 vacation days before the end of the year and really really _should_ :dubious: [/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/12 "2006-11-27T04:35:52Z")
Did: cook Thanksgiving dinner do all the dishes left at my house wash the kitchen and bathroom floors and countertops 3 loads of laundry bought a new pair of jeans and _Wish You Were Here_, NOT on Black Friday slept a lot Did not: grade any papers write a unit for my 6th graders put away all the clean laundry I feel like a slacker for doing no school work, but I did a lot of crap around the house. It was amazing to see 5 hours worth of cooking get eaten in 20 minutes, leaving an hour’s worth of kitchen clean up behind. Ah, Thanksgiving! At least we get a 5 day break to deal with it all. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/13 "2006-11-27T05:09:11Z")
Did: eat a lot of food have a few stiff drinks because: work 24 hours in a 37 hour period do my laundry and clean up my room go out Saturday night - saw an erotic hypnotist comedy show and played Guitar Hero for 4 hours with friends sleep for 9 hours last night and took a 3 hour nap today watch some junk TV finally restock the fridge Did not: figure out if I have any schoolwork due tomorrow or soon clean out my car make a Christmas shopping list relax enough ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/14 "2006-11-27T05:35:03Z")
Played about 40 hours of FF XII. Sigh. Ooh, I also went to a Thanksgiving dinner and I plan on taking a showed tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/15 "2006-11-27T11:10:16Z")
did not: grade a whole stack of papers–mostly because almost no one bothered to turn in their papers. (I wanted them on Wed, but had told them they would not be penalized for turning them in on Mon. ) Plan today’s class–so I’m doing that now–2 hours before class starts. Print out grade reports for my students–still deciding whether I want to do that or not. Do laundry–need money for the washing machine. Did: Visit library(more than once) Print 20 resumes/coverletters etc. Buy a newspaper (didn’t read it) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/16 "2006-11-27T19:11:50Z")
Those of us breaking the format of this thread humbly beg forgiveness: Thank God Its Monday! No, really. People, I’ve just sprinted through the week from Hell, and my only respite is work on Monday, along with the normal Monday meeting. It started last week with the trip to VA for my uncle’s funeral. Sure, everyone in the office thinks I’m just hosing two days off during busy-season, but he really did die, people. I shouldn’t have to wheel in his cold-dead corpse to show the Principal. I had to deal with my family…you want to deal with my family? Hell, I’d have switched in a heartbeat. Then there are the ‘free passes’ to Medieval Times. The ones that we couldn’t use on Thurs, Fri, Sat, or Sun, so that sat in a drawer forever. My wife discovers the expiration date is month end…so we book it for Wednesday, which was pretty much my only day of work last week. So, I ran around like crazy person all day, completing and following up on projects, before heading out to the Knights & Horses dinner show. Since we were ‘freebies’ they seated us in the ‘evil and despicable Green Knight’s section’. (C’mon, like this guy was never nice to his mother? Its not easy, being Green.) And all show long, these knights/studs were scoping the audience for the prettiest single girls in their section to throw roses to/ get phone numbers from. Thankfully, the green knight realized that those short people next to my wife were her kids and not her Dwarven Defenders from Minas Tirith. But on the Brightside, at least there was a cash bar. Thursday was Thanksgiving. The salsa went well, politics were avoided, and all in all the brothers-in-law were well behaved (keep reading for why later). Friday, my wife inflicts shopping on herself and her Mom. I had expected her to take youngest with her & leave the oldest son (to help me with yard work) but that got reversed, and I spent all day trying to keep a toddler happy. Its not that easy and now I know why daycare costs so much. But with much orange juice, peanut butter sandwiches and Fireman Sam tapes, he was manageable if Grumpy. Saturday, my wife had gotten us tickets to see the Radio City Christmas Show and off we went to Manhattan. It was a nice show, very PG, and I’m a little ashamed of myself for noticing how pretty the Rockettes were. Still, I resisted temptation and Did Not buy a souvenir martini-glass with Rockette Legs. It looked Way To Much like Darren McGavin’s ‘Leg-Lamp’ from a Christmas story, and I knew I’d have a hard time explaining clapping too hard for that one girl with short blonde hair in the chorus as it was. But, the show ended and we walked around Rockefeller Plaza and found, sadly, The Nintendo store. And my oldest promptly went 'Wii Wii Wii" all the way home. No, they didn’t have them. But Toys R Us Manhattan supposedly has stacks, they say, so we’re off to find a cab. Toys R Us Manhattan: “Nah, we were out of those by noon. Don’t know why they told you that.” So its off to find a cab to the PATH, which they were nice enough to say, would be easiest/best accomplished at 7th and 42nd. And this is where I tried to hail a cab from. Now, I never have I ever said that I have hailed cabs much or that I had ‘the knack’. All I do know is that if I stand out from the curb (or past the truck-bomb cement cylinders in this case) and put out my arm, sometimes a cab will stop. So I did this. I didn’t know there was anyone walking up behind me…and I ended up throwing out my hand into the shoulder of someone who looked remarkably like Arnold Vosloo of ‘The Mummy’ and ‘The Mummy Returns’. At least it would have looked like him if Arnold Vosloo was 6’6 and 300 lbs of pure angry muscle. He shot me a dirty look and I apologized as I threw out my hailing arm once again. For the record, How was I to know his girlfriend was 4 steps behind him??? (She’s much shorter too). :smack: Yes, I pretty much back-handed her in the face. She screamed a little and bent forward, but kept walking (Under the Mummy’s control?). I’m sure she must have been pretty, but with her hands up over her face like that I really couldn’t tell. Arnold Vosloo’s evil twin was giving me Death Daggers now and it looked an awful lot like he was pulling a Glock out from behind him under his jacket. He stopped though…perhaps it was my heartfelt apology and the fact that it was obviously an accident. Perhaps it was Christmas music. Perhaps it was my wife looking scared and holding the hands on my two kids. Perhaps it was the large crowd that day. Or perhaps it was the 5 cops on horseback trying hard not to laugh. In retrospect, I think I better donate to the PBA generously this year. Sunday…the Lords day…the day to rest, right? Not for a sinner like me. Hitting a poor woman while trying to hail a cab…even by accident…there’s a price that must be paid. My price, it seems, was having my wife tell me “Oh yeah, by the way, we have tickets to the Jets game today. I forgot to tell you. And my brothers…they’re going with us.” Eight hours of Budweiser induced hatred & bigotry, the likes of which would make Kramer and Mad Max blush. And I can’t even argue with them, as I’m not at all a Jets Fan, and these guys would be more than happy to out me as such to the crazed green-faced Budweiser-powered crowd. I should have taken my shooting in Manhattan like a man. Curse You, Imhotep!!! ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-day-weekend-what-i-did-and-didnt-do/381878/17 "2006-11-27T20:32:03Z")
\*\*Did: \*\* Damn little. Hung a couple curtain rids, stuck the snowman/lights in the front yard. Oh, made dinner Thursday. \*\*Did Not: \*\* The rest.