On Day 4 of my forced time off I woke up to our local Fox affiliate’s morning news program. First, a disclaimer. Fox 5 here in DC is not Fox News. Their connection is in name only. And our local Fox station has a much more professional approach to the news. A crew interviewed me last year when I had my ads in the DC Metro and that was one of the first questions I asked. It’s clear the people on the Channel 5 morning news like each other and that makes watching them a pleasure, especially when you have to get up and go to work. Except, today, and for the last four days, I haven’t had to go to work. But I watch them anyway, just to feel normal.

There’s a segment I particularly like called “Ask Tony and Tucker.” It comes on around 6:45 a.m., just when I’m getting dressed. Newscaster Tony Perkins is “Tony” and Tucker Barnes, the weather man is “Tucker.” Every morning they read a viewer’s question “weather related or otherwise” and then attempt to answer it. I had a question I had wanted to ask them for months. And, true to form, it was a “meta” question, one about their newscast. But I never had time. The furlough changed that. With more than enough time on my hands, yesterday I sent in my question and a photo of me wearing my furlough attire.

This is the news I woke up to this morning.