AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 20, 2005 — My buddy will start work again on Monday. So, naturally, we enjoy some vacation.

First, I sleep as long as I please. Then I get up and mess around with various computers around the house.

I go to a two hour tennis workout. My cousin's wife calls and tells me my aunt has broken her leg during this time. Sad, aging. Weak bones. Sigh.

Then I shower and dress and I'm watching some TV with damp hair when my friend calls from my office and I answer when I see it is me calling us.

"Where are you?" she asks.

"In the bedroom," I say. Meanhwhile I'm walking the not so many feet to my office. She is early.

I dry my hair a little and we hunt up a coupon for Hyde Park Bar and Grill and go there. I eat way too much (a Caesar salad and most of a pizza and some French Fries). We take my pizza home and go to Laguna Gloria and see an exhibit of paintings and other media on the theme of gardens and view the newly (well, it was finished months ago) renovated villa. (It's across the street from my club but I haven't been there in a long time.)

We stop off and look through the offerings at Architects and Heroes. Home, we watch some old Norther Exposure episodes.

My friend leaves and Forrest and I dress up a bit and go downtown. We just make it east of Congress and find a parking place around the corner from the Austin Club when downtown erupts in sirens. We walk down to Congress and see a dozen motorcycle policemen, police cars and some marchers a couple of blocks down. Marching for peace, I figure. We go back and go into the Austin Club and order a drink. Sipping my Manhattan, I pick through the menu and wine list and settle on foie gras and salmon and a Cambria Julia's Vineyard. We dine slowly and sip our wine and talk to our server and then the chef when he comes out. The foie gras is first rate and the seafood cakes FFP gets are good, too.

We get home and relax with some TV and the newspapers. I ate a lot today but I don't feel bad for it. I feel like I've had a vacation, too. I do. From what? Fretting, I guess. Because most days when I don't do anything particularly productive (which is most of the time) I feel bad about it.

It's good when a friend gets a job. They will have paychecks and you can hear tales of the workplace without working!