There's a great feeling of anticipation prior to a trip when you look into your closet and think, "NO, I can't wear that t-shirt under my sweater today � I need it to wear in Florida!" You know, because the weather's warm down there, where here you spit and it freezes before it hits the ground.

But there's so much to be done before we leave. There's packing, but first there's deciding what to bring. There's laundry. There's accounting for your addictions � that is, mapping out all the TV you need to tape to ensure you don't miss a minute of sweeps action.

Yeah, it's embarrassing, but it's the truth. We've hit the trifecta of Worst Time To Go To Orlando � 1) it's a long (Valentine's) weekend (the 17th is Presidents' Day, and many schools are closed for the week, meaning lots of families and bratty kids around), 2) it's the Daytona 500 on Sunday and 3) it's Feburary sweeps. The only reprieve we got was Sunday's broadcast of The Music Man on ABC, so no Alias (but still Victor Garber). And there's still Jennifer Garner, what with her hosting Saturday Night Live this week (with musical guest Beck), but we might not be able to fit that one in.

You see, we've got two VCRs to use at my parents' house, where Dad can easily take out a tape filled to six hours and replace it with a new one. And we've got all but two hours of our obsession covered, but we're screwed with the Buffy/Gilmore Girls/American Idol hour on Tuesday, and the two-hour finale of The Bachelorette going up against Ed, West Wing and the AI results show (preceded by That 70s Show). It's like a puzzle � what shows to tape on what TVs (and tapes), keeping in mind that my parents will be watching the TV downstairs (where we'll tape shows they watch anyway, like Ed and WW). And how to cover our two hours of three shows on three networks? We could set a VCR at home, setting the cable box to turn on on Tuesday and hope the power doesn't go out or the cable box have a glitch. But it would have to remain on the rest of the week, since the "power off timer" is voided once you turn off the box. (Alternately, we could leave the cable box on when we leave, and set the timer to turn off. They have the technology for digital cable, to set it to turn on, to set it to turn off, to set it to change channels at a certain time � WHY CAN'T THEY PROGRAM IT TO TURN ON AND OFF LIKE A VCR??????)

In all, we have 18 hours to program ... and then 18 hours to watch once we return, but of course, we'll get back on a Sunday and have to watch Alias that night. I suppose we'll just have to watch everything chronologically, so that we clear the Tuesday shows by Tuesday, etc. On the 24th, if I get home from work at a reasonable hour, I'll have to forgo the Notre Dame-Connecticut game on ESPN just to watch taped shows from the week before.

I am a little flexible, though. I can skip ER if I need to because it's just not riveting anymore. I'm more intrigued by the storyline of Abby's missing brother than anything else (and her suspicion that he may have committed suicide by crashing his plane into Lake Michigan). And I could easily go without That 70s Show � as I have often when these multiple conflicts have arisen � and the AI results show, since they struggle to drag it out to half an hour anyway. I'll know who moves on by checking the web when I return.

Of course, it might not be 18 hours we'll need to catch up on. We're covering our bases for every night, but it's possible we might be at Casey's grandparents one night watching TV, or in the hotel with her dad once he arrives the second half of the week. So we may get to watch an hour or two here or there after all, but we can't take any chances.

It's sweeps, people!