Before dawn I was blasted out of bed by my kids fighting over needing the toilet and my wife screaming at them not to wake me up. Too late. The next hour was chaos as we got the vultures fed, dressed, and ready for school. Finally at 8 all was quiet. I could back to bed. Except I couldn't go back to bed, not at that point. So I did 3 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, emptied the trash, backed up the computers, and then I ate breakfast. At noon I went for my physical. Good news: I'm healthy. Bad news: being over 40 meant I had to get "The Exam" - yeah, real fun, still walking a bit gingerly.

But the day wasn't a total loss. The exam didn't take as long as I expected and I found myself with Free Time. 3 hours of nothing planned, no necessities, no priorities, no commitments.

So I went to the movies and saw a real film - sound, color, plot - and it wasn't rated "G". It wasn't animation with smart-mouthed fish or singing lions. Better still, it was opening day for the film, first screening, and matinee prices. Good thing I brought $50, it just barely covered admission and popcorn.

I saw and highly recommend Shaun of the Dead - a romantic zombie film. It's a Brit film, meaning they don't speak the Bush's english, meaning not everything they say can be understood but the film was funny and very well done with little touches (such as the zombies in the early part of the film look suspiciously like my co-workers). It's really a love story and about growing and taking responsibility which happens to have the zombie problem as the backdrop. In any case, see it and get your cricket bats out just in case.