Do What? It's time to unleash your inner Jack Bauer, because in 18 hours you can watch an entire season of Fox's hit show, 24. Wait ... how is that even possible? Isn't the whole premise of 24 that it takes place in a real time 24 hour period? Sure, but when you edit out the commercials you're left with a mere 17 and a half hours of Jack, Chloe, and nuke-toting terrorists. That's right, six and a half hours of the show is dedicated to selling you Budweiser, Viagra and whatever terrible movie is coming out that month. But maybe that's a good thing, since the writers of 24 seem to have enough problems coming up with creative ways to fill 17 hours, just imagine if they were forced to stretch the series out another six hours. Whether or not you would actually want to watch almost 18 hours of Jack Bauer torturing, yelling and never being stuck in traffic is up to you, but it should be comforting that you technically could watch a full season in the time it takes you to kill a Final Fantasy XI boss.

Is It An Upgrade? Whether this is a good idea or not all comes down to which season you decide to sit through. If you're thinking about watching season one, four or five, then you can probably have a pretty good time watching Jack Bauer run around and save the world. However, if you're thinking about doing a marathon of seasons two or six, then you're probably going to get a little punchy by the time everything is wrapped up. Then again, no matter which season you end up watching, you're going to have some exciting dreams that night. Unfortunately you're also going to wake up in a cold sweat looking for somebody to yell at. In comparison Final Fantasy XI's 18 hour boss battle is going to seem awfully calm and uneventful.

Do What? It doesn't sound like the most exciting thing, but if you're looking to burn 18 hours then why not board an airplane and fly the friendly skies to Japan? It worked out for Bill Maury and Scarlet Johansen, right? Oh, it didn't? Well, maybe I should go back and watch Lost in Translation again. Either way, if you have 18 hours to waste then you shouldn't have a problem flying from Los Angeles to Japan ... assuming you have enough money and don't mind being very, very bored. Heck, even if you don't fly directly to Japan, you're still going to have plenty of time to board other connections, get a coffee at the various airports and mingle with all the other people that have nothing better to do than journey to the Land of the Rising Sun. Oh, and did I mention that you could go to the Tokyo Game Show? Not in the 18 hours you have to waste, mind you, but at least it's a reason to take the long and expensive trip. Just keep in mind; if you only have 18 hours to waste, then you're going to be stuck in Japan. Because that 18 hour timeframe I just laid out is not for a round trip ticket. Sorry.

Is It An Upgrade? Is spending 18 hours in an airport and on an airplane better than fighting a boss for 18 hours? Well, I think I'm going to have to get back to you on that one. I mean, airports are extremely boring and nobody likes being cooped up in an airplane for 18 hours. Then again, at least you get to eat and go to the bathroom (something you don't have time to do in Final Fantasy XI). And you get in-flight movies, even if they are completed edited and the last thing on the planet you actually want to watch. This is a tough one for me, because neither of these things sound even remotely entertaining. They're both a colossal waste of time (unless you have something to do in Japan, that is), but at least when you're flying to Japan you're not playing Final Fantasy XI, so there's that.

Do What? So you have a good 18 hours to spend doing something, why not spend some time with your color portable game systems. I'm of course talking about the Sony PSP, Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and Sega Nomad. We would invite the Game Boy and Nintendo DS to the party, but Nintendo has always been able to get high battery performance out of their low-powered handhelds. Instead we play Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII on the PSP for seven hours, which is when the battery dies and we're forced to move on. Next up we turn our original Lynx and play Blue Lightning for just under 4 hours. Then we play Sonic the Hedgehog on the Game Gear for four hours. Then we boot up the Nomad and get a solid three hours out of Phantasy Star IV. All told that's nearly 18 hours, which pretty much sucked up your entire day. And look at that, you played a bunch of really great games, you can't complain about that. Right?

Is It An Upgrade? No this is not a complaint against any of those systems (except for the Nomad, saying it gets three hours is a little generous), I generally don't have a problem only getting 7 hours out of a PSP charge, I'm rarely playing the system for that many hours straight. The one advantage that playing these portables have over Final Fantasy XI is that at least you can go to the bathroom. Heck, you should be able to fix yourself meals and do all of the normal everyday things you do. Depending on the game you decide to play you can even have an active social life. You can't do that in Final Fantasy XI. You also don't get the nice variety, instead you're stuck fighting a boss for 18 hours straight.

Do What? If you're looking for a deal and you don't mind waiting around for the store to open, then chances are you've already heard of Black Friday. In the United States, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, a day when retailers around the country open their doors extra early and offer huge discounts. It's the time when you can get that $3000 high definition TV for $500 and pick up 200 CD-Rs for a penny. But don't expect these deals if you just stumble in at 10 or 11 am. Oh no, you have to get their when they open. Heck, you have to get there way before they open. I'm talking about 15 or 16 hours before they open. If you really want that super amazing deal, then you're going to need to eat your Thanksgiving meal early and then get your butt in line outside of Best Buy.

Is It An Upgrade? Sitting outside of a store on a national holiday can either be a bad or miserable experience, depending entirely on where you live. If you're down in Florida or California, then chances are you'll be sitting outside at a comfortable temperature. However, for much of the United States, the last week in November is generally a cold time of the year. Last year when I sat outside of Best Buy the temperature was in the sub-20 degree territory, which is a recipe for disaster when you mix that with uncomfortable seats, annoying people and that feeling you have deep down in your stomach that is telling you that you're a pathetic loser for sitting outside of Best Buy for half of Thanksgiving. Thankfully the one thing that always cheers me up is the fact that I may be a loser, but at least I'm not somebody who plays Final Fantasy XI!

Do What? It's not that Final Fantasy XI is a bad game, but with so many other massively multiplayer role-playing games on the market it's hard to get excited about Square Enix's six year old game. If you wanted to you could subscribe to every other MMO currently operating, including World of WarCraft, Lineage, Age of Conan, The Lord of the Rings Online, Anarchy Online, Asheron's Call, Guild Wars, EverQuest II, City of Heroes, Hellgate: London, Lineage 2 and about three dozen other titles. It's going to take awhile, but if you have all the discs handy you should be able to install and sign up for all of the existing MMOs. That way you'll be able to compare and contrast all of the competing games. Not that you'll be able to do that today, you'll only have enough time to install and subscribe. So get those install discs ready and find that credit card, because today is the day that you put your computer, hard drive and credit limit to the ultimate test.

Is It An Upgrade? The problem with this plan is that you aren't actually playing four dozen MMO games; you're just installing and subscribing to them. That means that all you're going to be doing is watching loading screens and throwing in the discs that it asks you for. Oh, and you're going to be inserting your credit card number over and over again. Thankfully you won't have time to think about it in the 18 hours, but at the end of the month you should expect a credit card bill that exceeds $600. And that's not including all of the discs that you had to buy to install this thing. Still, I would take 18 hours of loading screens over an 18 hour boss battle.

Do What? I know this goes without saying, but there sure were a lot of super hero movies this summer. I know, I know, that's like saying that there are a lot of documentaries about the Holocaust, but it certainly seemed like there were more men in tights than usual. Just off the top of my head I can think of The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy 2, Hancock, Iron Man, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Speed Racer and Wanted. I don't care who you are, that's a whole lot of super hero in a short period of time. The good news is that you won't need to spend too much time watching these eight movies. Collectively the eight comic book films add up to just under 16 hours. That means that you'll have enough time to go to the bathroom and watch The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2!

Is It An Upgrade? Okay, so there are a few stinkers in that list (I'm looking at you Hancock and Speed Racer), but that doesn't mean that your time would be too painful. Let's face it; The Dark Knight, Iron Man and Hellboy 2 are some of the strongest super hero movies we've had in ages, the kinds of films that go beyond the core comic book nerd demographic. Sure some of the plot devices are repeated in these eight movies, but for the most part you're going to be seeing a lot of fresh ideas and cool plot twists. On the other hand, when you play Final Fantasy XI for 18 hours you'll be looking at the same boss and not able to round out your day with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Bummer.