What precipitated this was that The Girls were going to be home today (one of those "professional development" days for their teachers), and The Wife (following the"fill in for her boss" chaos of the past couple of weeks) got the day off for that. Being that it was just a couple of days past my birthday, I was strongly encouraged to get off as well today so that we could have a 3-day weekend together.
Today we're going down to the Museum of Science & Industry, then going up to Standard India for the buffet, and then, for the "entertainment" part of my birthday, going to see the Comedy Sportz improv thing (conveniently re-located to just down the block from the Indian restaurant).
Sounds like fun!