12-16-05

Alarm! As I went outside this morning to get the newspaper, wearing only socks, a tee-shirt and some sweats, felt a minor twinge in the old throat, like a cold was coming on.

That just can't happen. I can't get ill with a weekend coming up. Now, if it was early in the week, that wouldn't be bad. But not today! Maybe it was a false alarm or my body warning me that if I didn't start bundling up before getting the newspaper, I would pay the price.

We have a long driveway. The newspaper guy used to actually bring the paper up the driveway and throw it down near the garage, in the flowers or under a parked vehicle. Now, they put one of those silly boxes out on the road and I actually have to walk down and get it. One neighbor says my driveway looks like an airplane runway.

He even hung a stick with a piece of cloth out in the yard one day to accurately judge the wind. I didn't catch on for several days. I figured it was something one of the kids did. Rather clever, I must say.

I believe that Fridays should come with a nickname. Wednesdays are Hump Days. So from now on, I believe Fridays should be called something dramatic like "The Eve of Weekend!" I think would be kind of cool.

Fridays are one of my favorite days, right behind Saturday and Sunday. We get to wear jeans to work instead of the silly slacks and ties. I, personally, believe ties should be outlawed, but that's another subject and I'm trying not to wander.

Plus, sometimes work isn't as hectic on Fridays. The only really bad thing about Fridays is we usually have a meeting to over past-due customers at the main bank. This usually results in a few head shakes from the higher ups, the old what were you thinking when you loaned HIM (or her) some of the bank's money.

Must've been done on a Friday or Monday. Those days my work productivity is not exactly at its peak, you know. Some people might offer it isn't all that great on the three middle days either.

I am rather fond of having two days off in a row. Back in the old days, when I was a true journalist and actually worked at a newspaper in Denison, Texas, my work schedule was rather foul. I got off two days a week, but they were Sunday and Wednesday. No weekends!

Plus, I usually had to work on Friday evenings and always on Saturday until approximately midnight. Yes, that bit badly. Then, during the week we would come in at 7:30 as in the morning, and work until 4 or 5, unless we had a game to cover. Then we would bail at noon and come back later to go to some exotic location like Bells, Texas, to cover a football, basketball or baseball game.

A lot of times, I wouldn't get home until late and then would have to follow the same routine again the next time. Yes, my sleep schedule was rather messed up. I blame that for the frequent naps I took back then. I also tended to knock back a few at times and that really didn't help matters a great deal.

So I really feel good about this whole weekend thing now, especially the ones where I don't actually have to do much. I'm afraid there will be some shopping on the agenda on Saturday, but not much I can do about that and still keep the hairs on my back.

We have our Christmas party Saturday night. It is actually nice, but not exactly my cup of tea. We're having it at Fianna Hills in Fort Smith. Last year, we visited the Holiday Inn, also in Fort Smith, and the food was rather lame. Hopefully this year, the food will be better, but I have my worries as instead of saying roast beef and chicken, it's some fancy name only a chef would come up with.

Enough for now.