Long weekend! I tried something new for the holiday this time around. I’m sick and tired of coming out the other end of my time off with a sense of failure. I never feel like I had enough fun, or got enough writing done. I usually end my vacations with the same books by my bed, with the same bookmarks on the same page. Lists of spring cleaning ideas, museum trips, tweaks and tips go undone. It turns out the trick was scheduling. Here’s my day in a neat little package — web browsing in the morning, then writing, then lunch, then fun, then fun, then fun, then sleep. I could get used to this.

I’m a day late due to copious amounts of extracurricular activities over the weekend. Visiting cousins, stunningly talented rockin’ chicks belting out a concert for the kids, Central Park Zoo, FAO Schwartz, question-and-answer session with Ricky Gervais (the creator of The Office)…All packed into two days.

I’ll admit I’m not a high-energy guy. In fact, I take the easy way out almost every time. A postcard is just as good as a trip there, without the plane ride. I’ll always take the escalator over the stairs. I believe in God. But sometimes it hits me. Hey, you’ll be dead before you know it and will people remember you for your work or your play? Then I answer, probably my work. Then I have to start the pep talk all over again to get me out of the house. Still, I’m possessed once in a hot pink moon to get out and go, and when I do — oh, when I do — well, I basically ache all over and worry about all the work I have to do.

If you enjoy sci-fi at all, you’ll know the old cliche about “tricking” a computer. How can you defeat a machine gone bad? First, you figure out its mission and you find the missing logic. Then, you present it with that missing logic in some clever way. Finally, you watch the computer sizzle and spit and get all pissed off. Victory! Of course, this is just a metaphor for what we all go through every day. We confront stupidity, we find the missing wisdom, we present the truth in some clever way and we watch the gentleman’s head explode. Of course, that last part never happens. As our friends in The Block are finding with Wolf…

Clip of the week! Spidey fans only, please…