I just got news this week that our annual 5 day family vacation is nixed.
Molecular/cellular biology takes precedence (daughter’s summer session class).
Everyone has found something to do except me. My husband and son are going over to Louisiana to meet my son’s namesake for the first time in almost 21 years.
So here’s the question, if you suddenly find yourself with 2 or 3 days to fill with fun - what would you suggest? It can be mindless or mindful. Using home as base = good.
-Sleep.
-Play StepMania.
-Browse CD.
-Watch TV.
-Play Guitar Hero.
-Sleep some more.
That’s about it.
Either that, or work out algorithms for robotics. (wow, free time defaults to being Truck Town property…proof I’m a nerd)
JBot
Well, it all depends on when this 3 day vacationish thingy takes place.
Starts Monday.
hmm, you should postpone it all untill around IRI and come pick me up so i can go also?
other then that,
go visit a NASA thing down there? go see a beach? water? go buy a tv, wii/ps3/xbox 360 and send it to me and i’ll send you something in return.
i am all outa ideas as of right now. 
I highly recommend not trying to redo the entire network in your house.
Billfred’s Home Networking Saga
[spoiler]Time Warner Cable finally came to our house to fix a cable modem fried in a lightning storm on Tuesday–that’s nearly 48 hours with no internet. Of course, we then find out that the router and Mom’s onboard ethernet are toast, leading to a Best Buy run and a dust-filled allergyrama to install the card and get it working. I also found out that our cable modem can only assign one IP at a time, something that stalled me for nearly an hour until I took my iBook off the network to get her back on–and the new router configured.[/spoiler]
When I had a few days during finals week with no real obligations, I found myself playing an awful lot of online Flash games. I’ve been a fan of Quadradius, a sort of checkers game on steroids, but other games tend to become favorites if you search around for them. (Some of the younger folks here might know the new hip spot for games–when you no longer have a school district blocking the hip site every other week, you tend to settle down on one.)
or re-wiring two seperate computer systems into using one monitor / sound / keyboard / mouse =).
I suggest hopping on a bike and go riding through out your states many parks.
Take a walk on a beach and enjoy the weather and water.
Go out for a drive and see where you end up.
Plant a Garden. If you haven’t already.
Ooo Ooo! Oprah had a book on her show the other day that sounded really interesting called “The Road”. It’s about the earth after an apocolypse and a father and son. The father is basically doing everything he can to protect his son from this weird newish kind of world. It sounded interesting to me and I wanted to read it, but unfortunately my accounting book is the only one I have time to read right now. So read that. Cuz it sounds fun
Drive to Corpus Christi* and see if it’s still there. Check into a hotel, spend the night. Play tourist.
Any big waterfalls nearby? a 3 day bender? Read any good books lately? Remind youself why you shouldn’t eat 2 pounds of chocolate-covered cherries? Look up an old friend from years ago & go to lunch - 3 times (different friend each time…). Take the train to New Orleans, spend a day and come back. Fly to St Louis (is the arch still up?).
Depends on finances, too. Maybe just 3 quarts of ice cream & a box of oreos…
Don
or another city about 3-4 hours away. Laredo?
Today is “Corpus Christi” on the catholic church calendar (Fronleichnam for you Germans), so that’s what sent me in that direction…
Buy a (daytime) round-trip train ticket to a destination like six-eight hours away. Get a good seat in one of the observation cars, and just watch the countryside roll by. Spend the night there, and the next day, take your return trip. Trains are way better than cars if you’re looking for a good, relaxing, scenic trip, as you can sit back and relax, and actually see the country. (As opposed to driving down crowded Interstates, where you can drive for eight hours and not actually ‘see anything’.)
Find a Segway tour near you, those can be fun and knock out a good 3 hours. You get to ride around on a Segway, hear about a town’s history and culture, and other cool information.
Get a machine with Inventor, and pre-design your team’s next season drive system. If you don’t know how, now’s a great time to learn!
On the contrary, I find redoing my server relaxing on a day off. Just be sure to have your backup system in place so that your files and services can still be accessed while your main servers are down (for network restructure and upgrades). Sometimes after a bad day at work I will bomb one of my domain controller machines (which is also a WINS and DHCP) and start over from scratch. This is always extremely relaxing, especially when I know that the redundant system kicked into place automatically without me having to check it!
Sometimes I like to change the color schemes on my Cat6 wiring, and so I just rip out all the cables to my primary machines are remake cables with new color sets! Then when I’m done with that, I’ll rip out the set going to my backup machines (the primaries are back online) and remake those (sometimes using complimentary colors to the primaries!)
So, I’m going to have to call you on this one, Billfred. Redoing the entire house network can be and is a LOT of fun. Kills some time, and allows you to think. Not to mention the fun in accessorizing (I have some AWESOME LED power cords going to redundant power supplies. I can swap them out to match the current network cable scheme.)!
Jacob
You should try kayaking - not whitewater or anything technically challenging if you are a beginner, but on a nice peaceful lake or calm river. Pack yourself a nice lunch and have a picnic on the shore or an island. Or, you could go to the library, get some good books, and head to the beach! What about that vacation spot you mentioned in Rockport on your facebook? Haha, as you can see I have a bias towards water and relaxation. It must be the fact that I miss the Florida beaches (being well inland in rural CT for the summer)!
What other hobbies do you have? Perhaps you could work on a craft or art project. Is there anything in particular you don’t normally have time to do while your husband and children are around? I think someone suggested it already, but how about doing a “beauty day” at your house - have a bubble bath, do a facial, paint your nails, grab a pint of ice cream, and rent some movies! Or, invite some of your women friends over for tea or lunch or dinner - a ladies only weekend. 
Or design one the first day, start building it that night, finish building the next day, get a sucsesful program in it, then show it off the last day, while enjoying the history and culture.
OR, just go on a bike ride. Ride all around the country areas. I always find that very relaxing.
You could also plan a picnic one day at your favorite park. Call up some friends and go for a walk.
Just a few ideas.
I would go to those Austin tourist places that you never go to anymore! I looked up your Austin Tourist Guide http://www.austintexas.org and you have some great events happening during those days!
Here are my favorites!
**Gems and Minerals exhibit **- Location: Texas Memorial Museum
On display will be 100 specimens collected from all over the world, including a 925-carat blue topaz crystal from Mason County, Texas, along with magnificent specimens of azurite, cinnabar and wulfenite, delicate leaf gold, unusual copper in calcite, and sparkling crystals of cerussite, among others.
**Bat Watching **- Venue: Congress Avenue Bridge Bats
Address: Congress Ave. & Cesar Chavez St. Austin, TX 78704
URL: http://www.batcon.org
Location: Congress Avenue Bridge
The 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats that live beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge take flight in a mass exodus each night at dusk.
Paramount Summer Classic Film Series - Venue: Paramount Theatre
Address: 713 Congress Ave. Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512-472-5470 http://www.austintheatre.org/site/PageServer?pagename=film#june
The summer’s best films at Austin’s best theatre - enjoy more than 80 classic films as they were meant to be seen, featuring many new prints, foreign classics, 70mm spectaculars, The Shadow serial and more. June 12 – Nick and Nora: “The Thin Man” and “After the Thin Man.”
The Big Game - Venue: Austin Children’s Museum
Address: 201 Colorado St. Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512-472-2499
http://www.austinkids.org/exhibits/biggame.htm
Oversized games mean giant-sized fun for everyone. In The Big Game, visitors to Austin Children’s Museum will get their minds and muscles in the game as they play on jumbo sized versions of popular family-friendly games.
The Big Game is designed for children and their grown-ups to sharpen their critical thinking and social skills on familiar games and discover new ones to try. Visitors will also gain a historical and cultural perspective on well-known games.
Now I want to come!!!
I also agree with Beth - there is nothing like the chance to read a book, just for fun with no time restrictions!
But this is my favorite of the suggestions so far!
Islands of Adventure…fun place! :ahh:
only about a 1000 miles away
It might not be a good idea to give Wendymom any ideas either. cough