Re: Back From Vacation
Hien Mondesir
Jim leads a meeting of the sales staff while Michael is away on vacation in Jamaica. Dwight turns on a portable tape recorder, explaining that Michael instructed him to record all meetings and type up transcripts. Jim jokes loudly to the recorder that Dwight is "completely nude and is holding a plastic knife to Stanley's neck", over Dwight's angered protest. Phyllis and Karen join in the teasing with their own absurd statements. Andy, however, takes the joke too far by shouting, "I am now chopping off Phyllis' head with a chainsaw!" He meekly adds a chainsaw sound effect.
Michael returns from his trip to Jamaica rejuvenated, unfazed by the news that Hannah quit while he was away and filed a complaint against the company. Stanley complains to Michael that his bonus check was $100 short and refuses to do any work until he gets the missing money.
Michael attempts to impart the lessons of his vacation, displaying to the staff a photograph of a sign in Jamaica reading: "No shirt, no shoes, no problem". An astounded Pam notices Jan in the margins of the photo and points it out to her colleagues. Michael states to the camera that Jan didn't want anyone to know they travelled together since it may get them both in trouble. He then reveals he and Jan had an affair in Jamaica.
Michael attempts to send another racy vacation photograph of himself and Jan as proof of the trip to Todd Packer but instead mistakenly sends it to "packaging". Warehouse supervisor Darryl receives and promptly forwards the photo to several other employees, and it quickly reaches the entire office. Mortified, Michael attempts damage control, avoiding Jan's phone calls and dodging inquiries from Toby.
Back in the warehouse, Pam and Roy joke about their failed engagement and Kevin takes home a large poster printout of the oversized vacation photograph produced earlier by warehouse personnel, stating that he will hang it at home since he doesn't have a lot of art.
"Back from Vacation" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 40th episode overall. It first aired on January 4, 2007, on NBC, and it was the first episode to air after the December holiday hiatus. "Back from Vacation" was the first script written by Justin Spitzer for the series. Julian Farino served as the episode director.
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) returns from his vacation in Jamaica and has a luau in the warehouse to celebrate. It is revealed that he went to Jamaica with Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) when a racy photograph of him and Jan is circulated. Meanwhile, Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) have an argument over Karen's living situation, leading to Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) offering him advice.
Michael Scott (Steve Carell) returns from his Jamaican vacation rejuvenated, and directs the Party Planning Committee to throw a luau-themed party in the warehouse to accompany the annual inventory. When Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) notices Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) in the margins of a photo from Michael's vacation, he admits to the documentary crew that he and Jan went to Jamaica together.
Michael attempts to send another vacation photograph to Todd Packer (David Koechner) as proof of the trip, but mistakenly chooses "Packaging" instead of "Packer" from the address menu, sending the photograph to the entire shipping warehouse, including Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson), the warehouse supervisor. The photo is quickly forwarded throughout the office and beyond. Michael enlists Dwight Schrute's (Rainn Wilson) assistance in preventing its spread, but these efforts are largely ineffective.
Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) has been upset with Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) because he expressed objections to the prospect of Karen moving into an apartment two blocks from his own. Pam convinces Jim that he is being unreasonable, and Jim accepts her advice and apologizes to Karen. Pam tells the documentary crew that she was glad to help Jim, but is then shown later to be crying in private, secretly in love with him and heartbroken over the fact that he is with Karen instead. Dwight walks in on her crying. He awkwardly attempts to console her, although he misunderstands: "So, you're PMSing pretty bad, huh?"
"Back from Vacation" was directed by Julian Farino,[3] who later was responsible for directing "The Deposition", a fourth season episode that featured some of the ramifications of Michael's circulated picture.[7] Recurring actors Creed Bratton, Ed Helms, Rashida Jones, Craig Robinson, and David Koechner appeared as guest stars in "Back from Vacation".[3][8] This was the final episode to feature background character Louanne.
The season three DVD contains a number of deleted scenes, such as Michael arriving from Jamaica at the airport, wearing warm-weather clothes, Dwight, Meredith, Angela and Kevin separately reacting to the news that Michael took Jan to Jamaica, and Jan maintaining the ruse that she was in Scottsdale while talking to a coworker at Corporate, who is viewing the photo on his computer. Additional scenes include Dwight complaining about Jim's pranks while Michael was on vacation, Roy helping Ryan with inventory, Andy challenging Dwight to a box-stacking race, and Meredith climbing on a shelf, which falls and traps her.[9]
"Back from Vacation" first aired on January 4, 2007 in the United States on NBC. It was the first episode of the season to air after the end of the December holiday break.[10][11] According to Nielsen Media Research, an estimated 8.80 million viewers watched the episode. It earned a 4.3/11 ratings share among adults aged 18 to 49, meaning that it was seen by 4.3 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 11 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of broadcast. The Office and its lead-in show, My Name Is Earl, helped NBC finish in first place for the night in that demographic.[12]
The episode attracted positive reviews from critics. Brian Zoromski of IGN rated "Back from Vacation" 9.7/10, an indication of an "amazing" episode. Stated highlights included the opening sequence, Carell's performance, and Pam's storyline with Jim and Karen. Zoromski concluded in his review that "with so much attention to detail, realistic character reactions, and very few completely over-the-top comedy moments, 'Back from Vacation' is one of the best Office episodes yet this season. We're very glad they're back."[10] AOL TV's Michael Sciannamea expressed surprise that Jan accompanied Michael on his vacation and immediately wanted to discover more about their relationship. He was also intrigued with Dwight's attempt to cheer up Pam, until the PMS joke when he thought it "would have been very interesting if Dwight had been a real comfort to her and offered his friendship."[11] Sciannamea concluded that "this was just a terrific episode. Well written, well acted, and had you begging for more at the end. What more can you ask for?"[11]
Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Abby West focused on Carell's acting, explaining that "the way that Michael's desire to boast and his healthy fear of offending Jan played out on Steve Carell's face was fantastic. From his braggadocio on the phone with Todd Packer (Packer!) to his death march up the stairs to face Jan, it was a thing of beauty."[13] BuddyTV's Oscar Dahl believed that "Back from Vacation" was "one of the two or three best of the season", opining that "simplicity" was the key to the series' success. Dahl continued, "Each episode's premise can be entirely mundane and inconsequential. It will still mine laughs from the situation at hand. We also had some nice development in the Jim-Pam-Karen triangle, with Pam giving Jim relationship advice, then bawling her eyes out afterwards. Maybe the best scene in the episode saw Dwight comfort her."[14] Television Without Pity graded the episode with an A.[15]
I just came home from a week holiday. I left my cat at home with my mum and when I came home a week later, my cat, who is usually very happy to see me, completely ignored me. Okay, so she might need some space, i thought. So I went to her later where she was sat on the bed in a different room (usually she will only sit on my bed) and I went to go and see her. She hissed at me. I tried to pick her up and take her to get some food and she bit me and ran away.
However, we did have a moment a few months ago where we startled each other and she subsequently came after me hissing and clawing. I was honestly scared but after separating myself from her via shutting the bathroom door, she calmed down.
I just returned to my house (northern New Mexico, ranch-style, built in 1972) after a ten day vacation and found an unpleasant musty smell to greet me. The smell is primarily in the living area and the master bedroom, and I cannot smell it in the attached garage, which is semi-open to the attic. Before I left, I closed up all the windows, so there would be no ventilation other than through cracks in the walls and ceiling.
As soon as I got back, I opened up all the windows and turned on the fans, and while that has helped slightly, the smell is still lingering. The smell is strongest in the area around my bed (foam mattress 5 months old), but I can't see anything particularly wrong there.
So then the humidity of the house goes sky high, mold spores multiply, and all of the major smells in your house that were hidden are multiplied. I go on a couple of long vacations a year and my house always smells when I get back if it is warm. Lots of times it leads me to clean something that maybe I didn't notice (steam clean the couch) and sometimes it is me being stupid before I left (leaving dirty clothes out, wet towel on the carpet, left fruit out, half full trash can). The mixture of no air movement, more moisture, and higher temperatures is an incubator for smell. And it takes very little mold growth to get that "old people" smell in your house. Open up all your windows, let the AC chill the place down, and repeat. Takes a couple days to go back.
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