Things to do when school hasn't started yet

School starts on Sept 7th. Orientation begins this coming Sunday, which I think involves a series of meetings that I've already attended at least once every time I started another year of grad school where they explain financial responsibility to us and tell us to budget our time. I find this ironic as almost no one who's going to graduate school for music budgets their time according to one of those "how to work and go to school at the same time" books that say things like:
1. take naps whenever you can
2. do your homework before dinner
3. try not to stay up or work too late

simply because
1. musicians don't nap, they practice
2. our homework doesn't get done until we're out of rehearsal
3. staying up and working late is what allows us to work so you do the math

But until I go back to the daily grind, I'm enjoying a little bit of free time. Not the kind of free time that involves putting off things you have to do, but real free time. Yesterday, I took down all 16 sets of blinds and hosed them down in the back yard. Today, after cleaning the kitchen and putting up pictures and diplomas on the walls, I got the idea to sand and refinish my porch swing. Nothing is easy to find in Massachusetts so 30 minutes later we finally found the Home Depot. The fiancee is better at city driving than I, so I am the official navigator (barring today's experience, where I failed miserably) of our journeys into the wilderness. Tomorrow we go to Framingham to pick up some air conditioning units. Once again, northern social Darwinism at work, there is no AC in our house. So far it's been really okay - Boston is having "unseasonably cool" weather that permits us to keep the windows open and a box fan going, nothing so barbaric as what I experienced in the dorm in Vermont.
Tomorrow we'll finish sanding down the swing and start on the base - hopefully it'll be sanded and stained by tomorrow evening and I can drag it into the garage to dry. And then, I think I'll start on the window washing adventure. (Emily, your OCD is showing.....)

Hope everyone is enjoying the "unseasonably cool" weather as well. I'm going to take a walk and see the gas lights in the next block.