Fourth of July

Well, I survived the last two weeks at work and have managed to make it to the great American midsummer holiday: the Fourth of July.

For anybody out there who doesn't know, the Fourth of July commemorates the day in 1776 that the British colonies in America declared their independence from England and declared themselves to be the united (sic) States of America. Sort of. The date is a little fuzzy, and the whole story is really a little complex, what with the way communications worked back then (this was all before the Internet, so Thomas Jefferson couldn't just write a blog entry with a link to the official Declaration of Independence site.) But July 4, 1776 is the date printed at the top, so by George, that's the day we celebrate.

And how we celebrate! Hot dogs and hamburgers and watermelon and pie and beer and all sorts of good stuff! And then we go to legal public fireworks displays, or we declare our independence from the tyranny of laws by setting off our own illegal and dangerous fireworks shows, blowing off a statistically predictable number of fingers in the process. (Public displays are by no means 100% safe, either, and when they go wrong, they frequently do so spectacularly, killing and injuring dozens in the process.) And then, to cap off our weekend of celebrating the birth of our nation, a not insignificant percentage of us then get drunk and drive home on our nation's streets and highways, killing and injuring a statistically predictable number of people in auto accidents, and sometimes even themselves.

Ideally, I will spend tomorrow passed out on a friend's couch with a belly full of pie and beer, trying to forget everything that has happened at work these last two weeks, and trying not to think about the fact that a four-day week like we have next week only means that we will have less time to get the same amount of stuff done - or possibly more stuff. And I will crash there, and wake up on Monday relaxed and refreshed and ready to take on the world again. But maybe not. In any event, I'm planning on spending the whole day in a state of blissful indolence. I think the Founding Fathers would have wanted me to do that.