In the last five days I’ve accomplished the following:

• Mowed the grass
• Did laundry
• Shaved twice

Oh, and I moved the piano out four feet from the wall and later moved it back again so my wife could paint the music room, an enterprise for which my main contribution, besides moving the piano, was to say, “It looks lovely, dear.” I’ve also read most of Steven Pressfield’s “The Afghan Campaign” and two comic books that Tiger Lilly checked out of the library. All in all I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

The last four months have been very busy at work and at home. Well, home has been about normal, but I’ve been arriving there so late most evenings and working so much over the weekends that it seemed as if there wasn’t much time to do anything. I love those mid-week holidays, though, especially when I can extend the time off through the weekend with a couple of vacation days. I promised myself that I’d simply veg on the 4th and then maybe just check office emails on Thursday and Friday; as it turned out, vegging out felt so good that I never got around to the emails until earlier today. I know, I’m a slug.

I also got in some golf one day and this afternoon the family went out for a movie and pizza. We saw “Transformers” which was a high-octane, super-frenetic film perfect for getting my heart-rate back up to work-speed. The previews before the movie, however, suggested to me that Hollywood is even lazier than I am. I’m not sure I even remember the names of the coming attractions, but they all struck me as formulaic rehashes of other movies.

Let’s see, there was a “Napoleon Dynamite” rip-off called “Hot Rod”, and what looked like another by-the-numbers movie starring The Rock and an impossibly cute and precocious little girl about a pro football player who discovers he’s a dad when the said little girl shows up unexpectedly at his door. Comedy presumably ensues but I didn’t even bother to remember the name of that film. Next was a Will Smith vehicle that looked like a cross between “War of the Worlds” and the old Charlton Heston flick, “The Omega Man”; I think they’re calling this one “I am Legend.” This preview was followed by one for another apocalyptic “thriller” that may have been the same movie except it didn’t show any scenes with Will Smith. As either an oversight or a bold marketing ploy, they never gave the name of the movie. Ooh! Ooh! I’m intrigued — not!

As for “Transformers,” it was pretty good overall even though there were logic gaps large enough to drive a Decepticon through. The best part of all, though, was that I didn’t have to think or work too hard in order to enjoy it, which fit perfectly with my holiday weekend strategy.

Now it’s back to work tomorrow and, perhaps, more regular blogging.

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