Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Water Softener

I am looking for a solution that the GE book doesn't offer: I leave my house unattended for a week at atime quite often and do not want the WS to cycle itself every day or for that matter every week as it doesn;t need to...how can I set it up to do that? do I just bypass the unit? do I shut off the water supply ( I normally do this before I had the unit just to ensure i don't return to a flooded house) and would that harm the unit (not getting water). Even when I am home for a few days at a time I do not use all that much water hence the smallness of the unit I bought (only 3' high).:confused: