dusting. oh yeah, and having to iron my fathers work shirts.

Brushing out the dogs. And doing drive by sweeps twice a day in the summer. Shedding german shepherds are the WORST.

Opening the garage door
 

My parents were to darn cheap to get an automatic garage door opener. They didn't just have standard metal garage door, they had it covered with wood so it matched the house perfectly. It was a little heavy. Especially in the winter. So either my sibling or I had to get out of car and pull open the garage door. I hated getting out the car, especially in the snow to pull that having thing up.

After I graduated from high school they sprang for garage door opener. Go figure. No kids to do it.

My first assigned chore was setting the table. If I failed to set the table properly by dinnertime, my father would set the table - for himself and my mother and NOT me.

I also had to have all my homework done by dinnertime (never mind the sh!t ton of homework I got from my AP classes during my junior and senior years, and the fact that I ran track and had practice every afternoon). I vividly remember one evening when my father accused me of slacking off and threw a glassful of water in my face.

Non-automatic garages do have their advantages. My dad likes to remind me about the time I closed the garage door with my car clicker and drove away without realizing he had left his ridiculously expensive bike leaning against the side, half in and half out of the garage. Crunch... (Who leaves valuables in doorways anyway?!)
The sensor is not always effective. We also narrowly avoided a cat-related accident with a non-so-sensitive sensor and a cat who thought she was a little thinner than she actually was...

After over a week of having no power and having to open the garage door manually, I empathize. I wasn't able to work out all week, but I think that, what with opening the garage door, dragging the generator outside, lifting a 5-gallon gas can, refilling the generator's fuel tank, pulling the pull-string a couple of dozen times, plugging it into the house circuits, and then re-closing the garage door, I got my workout in. :p (By Monday night, I'd gotten so good at starting the generator that I could start it with one pull. That's just ... sad.)

By the way, CL&P sucks big fat hairy monkey balls the size of Pittsburgh.