2002-12-29 - 4:47 a.m.

Note to self--if you have two days off in a row ever again, don't drink coffee 'till 9:00 PM the first night, and then start on beers.

Oh, and don't stay up until 4:30 AM either, just to watch some French flick with headphones.

You're just screwing over your tomorrow self.

Other note to self--if you ever get a shitload of stuff done in a day, to the point where you�re surprised at yourself, and especially when you have the next day off and won't have to worry about all the stuff you've already got done, it's OK to stay up until 4:30 in the morning to drink Miller High Lifes and watch stupid foreign films at your 'puter, with headphones.

In fact, that's the rule.

Smoke another butt, too. That's also the rule.

Oh, and if the last Patriots game of the season happens to be on at 1:00 the next day, you have to watch it, and drink some coffee too.

Also, and hey, these are the rules here, if it happens to be the last Sunday in December, which means that you have a rare shot at buying beer on a Sunday in Massachusetts, and if you haven't satiated that novelty yearn yet, you have to go out at halftime and get a 12-pack of Bud.

It's the law.

Wait--there�s more!

It says here that you must make more coffee (there's a little side note urging you to add a cinnamon stick with the grounds, but only if you have a little stash of 'em on your top left cabinet).

And you absolutely, unequivocally must watch the rest of the game--even if it takes five hours--even if the Pats are losing.

There's some more here, but those pages in the rule book got a little blurred.

Just stay within the above parameters, and you should be fine.

Trust me.