Hitting the ground at a sprint

I have always believed that a good vacation is best followed up by several days of working "vacation" with low stress and minimal work. Alas, this was not the case.

After getting home Tuesday evening it was time Wednesday morning to return calls and e-mails and then pack to go to one of the Boy Scout camps overnight. I left that afternoon for a 2 1/2 hour drive to visit 5 of my troops in camp and see the boss talk to the units the next morning. A lot of walking was involved, but the camp is really nice and the bright moon hanging over a lake with water as still as glass was well worth the evening hike. One of the leaders we chatted with is active Navy and told us many sordid tales of shore leave in SE Asia. Suffice it to say I know more about the oldest profession and its system there than I wanted to.

So Thursday, we (went with Brian to camp) stopped at our favorite sports bar in Manitowoc for lunch in full uniform and went to the DA's office for a meeting with a Scoutmaster. The other assistant DA's were really confused to see two guys in scout uniform at their office. After getting home, I had enough time to change and go to another meeting.

Friday morning was good. The cable guy came with my new DVR box...more in a minute. This was followed by a meeting with my boss here, a meeting in Appleton and a camp visit that evening at the Cub Scout resident camp. It was over 400 miles in business driving in the 3 days following the road trip. Suffice it to say I was dead for Saturday and Sunday.

The DVR (digital video recorder for the less dorky folks) box is excellent. It has a much improved guide and interface versus the regular box it replaced and is fairly easy to use. I have it set now to record all new episodes of Family Guy, Stargate, Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica and Firefly--proof of my dorkiness. There is little need now for my VCR except those lone few movies on VHS that I have yet to replace with DVD's. I will keep it as a memento of my childhood.

I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday. I enjoyed it. The original was better, but this one was certainly not bad. I could do without the flashbacks of Willy's childhood and the sappy ending, but the rest was fairly well done. The Oompa-lumpas were awesome. They were groovy in a 70's or 80's way. The squirrels were excellent. It was worth the $5.75.

I also watched Shaun of the Dead, a zombie movie. I normally dislike zombie movies, but this one is hilarious. It reminded me of what the guys from the lodge would do if they encountered a zombie invasion. It might almost be worthy of a DVD purchase...