The easiest thing to do is not go into work.

In the last week, I never got up on my old work schedule. Never took a shower, had a glass of orange juice, read a bit of Newsweek and then went out the door to start my car and go to work. I have been able to wipe that morning ritual from my brain.

I do take showers, have the occasional glass of orange juice, read Newsweek and drive my car. But the order and frequency has changed. This has been the easiest thing to accomplish in the last week.

I didn't get up at the same time on any given day. Breakfast/lunch was shoddy and all over the place. Some days I drove around town, some days I didn't get into the car at all.

Some days I woke up with coffee, others hot tea.

Some days I spent hours on the computer, others I just checked email and then left it alone.

I had to get the emissions checked on my car, so on that day, I drove the most I'd driven since ceasing my commute. You have to warm up your car for about 20 minutes before getting it checked, so I took a loop down Carlisle to Montgomery to San Mateo almost all the way back home to an emissions place a few blocks away. It was situated strangely in a parking lot, and I went into it the wrong way at first before driving around the block to go in the right way.

When I was about done, an irate man came in to the emissions place to complain because he'd pulled in the wrong way, too. It's tricky, y'know, getting into those cheap emissions places ($12.99 + tax)--I think that's why they are cheaper than others. But what I realized was it didn't really make me mad or want to chop the head off the guy doing the emissions test. But this other guy, who was probably doing this on his lunch break or a chance day off, was visibly pissed off at his circumstances.

So another thing I didn't do much at all this week was get mad because something was taking longer to do than I thought it would. Except when I went to see the new Woody Allen film at the big 24 multi-plex (I never go there, but it's the only theater showing this movie). A long line (only one person selling tickets to 24 theaters), I couldn't find the men's bathroom and the film broke during the transition from previews to the real movie. And, I have to say, driving home from that place in early rush hour traffic on Friday is not the easiest in the world. It broke the Zen calm I'd been cultivating all week.

Officially, I'm still on vacation. I can't apply for unemployment until the first of the month, because I was paid for the entire month of January. So this is not only free time, it's paid time off.

I haven't set a schedule (although Sunday mornings are still, and will remain, a regimented affair), but I've done some things I'm going to keep in the rotation.

One morning I did push ups and sit ups. The last couple of days I've been sore in places I didn't realize got sore.

Another morning I ran with my roommate. I didn't run very far, but did walk briskly when I wasn't running.

On a couple of afternoons, I took walks around the neighborhood. There are quite a few people who don't work during the day, and a lot of them have dogs.

I've thought of a couple of projects to work on. I've started some, and others will get added as my work recedes farther into my past.

But a good week. A friend who got fired last fall told me the first week was good for decompression. I'm not sure if that's what happened, but I feel good.

Although I am a little sore.

Matt Worley is considering the lilies in the field.