I woke up on Sunday — or Monday, I forget which — thinking that I was going to take Friday off this week. It was my first thought. Not ‘Where am I?’ or ‘Wow, my arm hurts and I regret sleeping like that,’ but ‘I’m taking Friday off.’

I’ve had late nights at the office three or four nights a week for five out of the last six weeks. And that other week was truly exhausting.

So I forgot almost immediately the when of that thought of taking Friday off, but I remember it clearly, and the rightness of it. Which is to say I have a three-day weekend. Which is to say I’ve been looking forward to that all day. Which is really saying something, probably.

I took this photo for the Instagram sky study before my last little chore of the day, which took place at 5:45.

It isn’t hard, but definitely accumulative.

I stopped on the top of the parking deck to watch the birds and the sunset for a moment. And I shot this in black and white because that’s the setting I was using at the time I decided to try to catch a bird in flight.

And here’s the last of the sunlight playing on the bottom of the clouds, from the top of a parking deck in the middle of town.

Though I recorded this last week and published it on Monday and have been circulating it on social media all week, I haven’t put it here. Dr. Sanya Carley does research on energy, and she and her colleagues have a new study that shines light on the crisis of something called energy insecurity, households at risk of not being able to pay their power bills, or under the real threat of having their utilities disconnected. A lot of people, a lot of people, are in that position this year.

This will be an eye-opening conversation for most of us. And it’s a great interview, at least from the interviewee. Give it a listen. You’re going to learn a thing or two if you do. I know I did!

And you can learn the latest about IU sports right here, from one of the programs the IUSTV people produced last night. There’s even a bit on the playoff soccer game that took place today, as the men’s soccer team is vying for their fifth straight appearance in the conference finals. It was incredible, and you’ll hear all about it right here.

After I watched that I went for a little run, and then a walk, and now this, which ends the work week for me. Three-day weekend!

I’m here to tell ya … not every photo of the same place is the same. I showed you, on Tuesday, my favorite parking deck photograph*. The second level shot of my parking deck, facing east in the morning. This one is from this morning. Same deck, though the ground level, and it is facing north. It’s just not the same.

It looked better through sunglasses and in the phone screen than it does on a computer monitor, too.

I’m also here to tell ya … sometimes the accidental photograph is better than the one that is carefully composed. Consider this quick draw shot. Easily the worst shot of the day, probably of the week. My fingers were faster than my slowing phone and sensor:

And I took this one today, as well. Both are a part of the running Indiana Sky Study series over on Instagram. And the concept is the same.

The first sky shot is better, and not because of the sun streaks. I will allow that the top of that tree in that second shot has good character, but side-by-side, no contest. I think the compelling part is because it has a film nostalgia too it. Sometimes you just made a mistake back then. (And we still do! Have you seen your friends’ camera rolls? Not everyone takes the exceedingly average style of photographs you see here.) On film, of course, you didn’t always know that you’d messed up until the prints came back from the lab.

In the film days we all sounded like we were in an episode of CSI.

Today, if your thumb jumps the gun on pressing the shutter button you see it right away. You just make a face and delete the shot. It’s forgotten instantly, along with all of the things that the brain decides isn’t worth keeping.

If you’re of a certain age, and those precious few prints inspire, or make up completely, certain memories, even some of those blurry ones can be important. And they definitely try to tell a story. Sometimes the memories might feel blurry in your recall, and maybe that’s another way to consider it. So, sure, the accidental photograph is sometimes better.

I’m also here to tell ya … this is not a safe way to travel. Our hero here is riding some sort of overpowered moped. At red lights he’s acting like it’s a drag race. On the seat of the bike he’s got his skateboard. And he’s sitting on the inverted skateboard.

I said yesterday I’d have a sports show for you today, and I’m here to tell ya … the sports crew delivered. Here’s their weekly highlight show.

Later this week their two talk shows will appear online. And they recorded a promo last night for another brand new show, a collaborative program with the campus radio station. I think there’s still another show in the works, too. They are certainly prolific.

I’m also here to tell ya … I recorded a podcast today. It’s timely, topical and important. My guest, being a huge expert in her chosen field, was terrific. I edited it this afternoon, but I’ll probably listen to it two or three more times before I publish it on Monday. It’s just good. You’re going to learn something, and I think you’re going to like it a great deal.

*That series of words, “my favorite parking deck photograph,” has never been typed together as one phrase, according to Google. Sometimes it pays to check. I’m here to tell ya.