How are furloughed federal workers spending their time?

Furloughed federal workers protest outside the U.S. Capitol to demand an end to the lockout of federal workers caused by the government shutdown October 4, 2013 in Washington, DC. Today marks the fourth day of the government shutdown as Republicans and Democrats remain at an impasse over funding the federal government.

We check in with furloughed workers Dan Stevens, training coordinator for FEMA, Lauren Weinhold, digital archivist for NOAA, and Ray Tchoulakian, contract specialist for the offices of Medicare and Medicaid to see how they're filling their days.

The furlough is leaving a lot of federal workers around the country with plenty of time on their hands. We expect there's going to be a lot of very clean garages and tidy yards.

We decided to check in with a few of those furloughed workers to see how they're filling their days.

When scrolling around Twitter this morning, we noticed that the furlough was having one very deliberate side effect: extra facial hair.

The Twitter meme #FurloughBeard has been making the rounds. Beards and mustaches are going unshaven until there's an end to the furlough. If you're experimenting with growing a beard or doing anything else with your time off, tweet us

Tweets by taketwo

and send us pictures!