The Weekend Plans Post: The Long Weekend (Maybe)
Holy cow. Is tomorrow Friday already?
Indeed it is.
When I worked at the restaurant, I think I had three paid holidays a year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. But we also did catering… so, sometimes, I was offered a job on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day for some party being held up around the Broadmoor area.
I walked around drinks and hors d’oeuvres while wearing a tuxedo (a leftover from Chamber Singers) and was tipped outrageously for doing so.
That’s it. Those were the only days I got paid for not working that weren’t vacation or sick days.
Then, when I got my first “real” job (defined as “post-college job that said that they’d prefer a degree”) I got *SIX* whole holidays a year. New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day. (Man, January-May was a *DESERT*.)
Then, when I finally got my first “career” kinda job (defined as one that *DEMANDED* a degree or umpteen years of experience in the industry), I got 12 whole holidays. Like, I had one three-day weekend a month! (Well, March and April were kind of deserts, but the rest of the year was an embarrassment of riches).
And it is with that that I kind of leaned forward a little when my boss asked me “does anybody want to turn this upcoming 3-day into a 4-day?”
I realized that, yeah, I kinda did. (Especially since my Christmas vacation got rescheduled to February because a co-worker quit quite unexpectedly.)
And so, with that, I realize that my upcoming weekend plans involve cocooning hard. Like “as if it were the Christmas vacation I didn’t take” hard. Sure, I’m going to run errands and do chores and whatnot, but I plan on doing those things as bursts. Get them all done on Friday so that, starting Friday night, I can say “I don’t have to put on pants for the rest of the weekend and not on Monday either.”
And so that is the plan for the weekend. (Well, technically, Saturday night is a gaming night and a friend from out of town is in town on Sunday and Wrestling is Monday night… but, other than those: pantsless. Maybe I could figure out some pajama pants outfits that nobody would notice unless they were looking…)
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is “Cocoon” by slgckgc. Used under a creative commons license.)
The only unusual thing is that there’s a memorial service for a man (a well-loved pastor) who had been a friend of the congregation I belong to. Weather’s supposed to be lousy Saturday but I think I’m still going out for that.
Martin Luther King, Jr. day is the only Federal-type holiday I get in the spring semester (We do also get Good Friday off, which seems odd for a state school, but whatever). In recent years there’s been a push to have people come on campus and go do Official Volunteer Work and I get why, but I’m taking the day off. I figure I do volunteer work on a pretty regular basis, so I’ll leave this day for the people who normally don’t do volunteer work.
I don’t feel guilty about this.
I don’t feel guilty about this.
I don’t feel guilty about this.
(Well, I do, a little. But I’m still taking Monday to do what I want)Report
(Don’t feel guilty about it)Report
It was a real loss when we stopped pushing for shorter work hours as a society. I am so happy to work at a place that gives me ample vacation time, but everyone deserves it.Report
I noticed the other day that the rear wheel of my bike has a partial rim failure – I knew the rim was about done, but i didn’t realise how very much past done i had pushed it. So one thing I’m doing this weekend is building a bike wheel.
There’s a play I’d like to go to but i probably put it off too late to get tickets. So probably a quiet weekend otherwise.Report
Rim failures are a pretty rare event, what happened? Rigs and I rehabbed two mountain bikes just before Christmas, new tubes and one new tire. Crank bearings are a little dry but will fix that soon enough.Report
It’s really just a fairly significant dent in the rim – it’s still rideable for now. But it’s bad enough if I’m using the rear brake there’s a noticeable once-a-rotation grab in the braking.
I’d been riding on it even though the wear indicator in the braking surface has been gone for over a month so not surprising it dented easily. The bump that made that dent probably wouldn’t have done much of anything to a new rim – I certainly don’t remember hitting any really bad bumps or potholes, and I’m a pretty staid rider.
This bike has a Sturmey-Archer internally geared hub and 26″ rims, an unusual combination – hence building a wheel rather than just grabbing a replacement off the peg.Report
Interesting. I have one Sturmey Archer bike, an early 60s Raleigh. I don’t ride it as much as I would like do to parts availability (the early sports have a few no longer available bits) but man is that a great town ride. 26×1 3/8s is tough, but it sounds like you have it dialed!Report
Nice! I wouldn’t want to ride a beauty like an old Raleigh sports bike in winter around here. They’re gorgeous bikes though.
This is very much not a stock thing. It’s a cheap early 90s faux-MTB (not actually built for mountains, but no crappy suspension to seize up from ice and brine). So it’s a 26 decimal (559 mm) wheel size, not 26×1-3/8 (590 mm). The S-A hub is a nice way to keep one more piece of the works away from winter the sand and salt
You might be able to get away with replacing those 590 mm 26 x 1-3/8 wheels with a modern 584 mm wheel set (aka “650B”) – it should only move the brake surface by 3 mm, entirely within adjustment range when installing brake pads. And then you’d have easy access to tires, if nothing else.
And happy birthday!Report
Sun gears in the hub, that’s interesting. I didn’t want to get Rigs too spoiled so we deleted all the shifters/wires (which were thrashed) and just manually shift.
Slowly teaching him the art of shifting on the front three sprockets by pushing the chain via shoe. Glad we don’t have to contend with the salts and snow.Report
If it was a newer, post-’65 Raleigh then I could see that as being an option, but the pre 65 is such an engineering marvel along with being a museum piece that I would feel bad putting that into the mix. It really needs a full restoration to bring it up to snuff, but I also have a ’70s Peugeot that needs the work first. (Mainly convert the 27s to 700Cs)
Your bike sounds like an ideal snow buster, not too much to worry about but will go the distance. And thanks for the B-day wishes!Report
My mother and her husband leave tomorrow, after a couple day visit while they are in from Namibia. Been nice to see them, but ready for a little quiet. My 48th is next week, so I do think we are doing something on MLK day.Report
Happy b-day in advance!Report
Thanks!Report
I did a bunch of my usual Sunday chores yesterday. It remains to be seen whether that means I do unusual chores today, or just rest more (I slept in way late, so I’m suspecting the latter).
We had a surprise intown visit from a now-living-on-the-east-coast old friend yesterday, and gaming. Today we will run some errands together but things will be relatively anti-social until I go over to C’s house for Outlander tonight.
We’re both at the stage of burned out where social things are lovely and desirable when they are happening but afterward the misanthropy peaks even more than it usually would. Thank goodness we’re in sync and leave each other to rest up alone…Report