*Foot Notes

In this week’s *Foot Notes:

Procrastination is something we all succumb to now and then. Here are a few familiar scenarios. We wanted to come up with more, but, well you know. . .

* It’s 7:30 p.m. and you just realized a 1) payment, 2)job application 3)contract (choose one) absolutely, positively has to be postmarked today or you will lose your 1)house 2)job offer 3)business (choose one). The Van Nuys Post Office, 15701 Sherman Way, has the latest postmark pickup in the Valley at 8 p.m. six days per week.

* It’s Sunday and Little Johnny tells you he has a term paper due the next day. Johnny could go online, but you’ve had a hard time deciding which computer to buy, let alone which online provider to sign up with (“. . . all those features, all those prices!”).

Four public libraries in the Valley are open on Sundays:

Burbank Central Library, 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd., (818) 238-5600. 1-5 p.m.

Calabasas Library, 23645 Calabasas Road, (818) 878-9585. noon-5 p.m.

Mid-Valley Regional, 16244 Nordhoff St., North Hills. (818) 895-3650. 1-5 p.m.

West Valley Regional, 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda. (818) 345-4393. 1-5 p.m.

* If it’s 4:30 when Little Johnny gives you the bad news, there’s always the 1.2 million volumes of Cal State Northridge’s Oviatt Library, 18111 Nordhoff St., (818) 677-2261, which is open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. on Sundays. The resources of the Oviatt are available to the general public, but if you want to check materials out, you can join the Friends of the CSUN Library for $40 per year.

* That saggy tire you were worried about finally goes flat, and it takes you almost two hours to get home. With all the anxiety, who has time to cook? Luckily, there’s Waiters on the Run, (818) 366-0399. Waiters on the Run is a delivery service working with 26 Valley restaurants. All kinds of cuisine: Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Greek and American. The average delivery time is 45 minutes to an hour. The basic delivery charge is $4.95, with a minimum order of $15. And Waiters on the Run accepts cash, card or check.

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Procrastinate comes from two Latin words: pro meaning “forward” and crastinus for “belonging to the morrow.” Christian cultures have considered procrastination a sin, but earlier civilizations were ambivalent. The ancient Egyptians had two words for procrastination--one meaning laziness and the other: the useful habit of avoiding unnecessary work.*