Heroes

Pinch me. This show is getting even better and it's supposedly just starting to gear up for the ultimate showdown.

Hiro's dad IS involved with Bennett's group! Little Hiro! So cute!

Who is Eric Roberts' character? Bennett's boss, obviously, but not the BIG boss.

Bennett and Claude were partners! After Claude got away (or did Bennett purposely not kill him?), did he start protecting and training "the others" to keep Bennett's people away from them?

Ted looks a lot like the cavemen in the Geico commercials. Why did his power get so crazy after he was shot? Where did they shoot him? Why was he not able to control his power?

YIKES! When Claire walked out of the house after tranquilizing Ted? SCARY.

God, the heartbreak over Bennett trying to protect her. He's good when it comes to Claire but not good when it comes to pretty much everyone else. Or so it seems.

Little Haitian was creepy! So he's known Claire for a very long time. Maybe that's why he's so protective of her. How much of Bennett's memory did he erase? Where do you think they are going to go?

What's going to happen to Matt now that he's in Primatech's custody? Who is the new woman? How is she going to clean up Bennett's mess? All their neighbors saw what was happening at their house and they saw Burny Claire come out of the house.

Holy crap, the previews for next week: Simone isn't dead! I had a feeling she was one of them. Hiro finds his sword! Sylar and Mohinder!

I need to watch this episode again on the computer because I feel like I missed so much.

What else?

Update:
From Ask Ausiello:
Question: Why did Simone die on Monday's Heroes? Didn't you say the big death would occur on Mar. 5?— Rachel Stern
Ausiello: That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (Spoiler alert!) Feb. 19 is when she got shot; Mar. 5 is when she dies.

Also, I got another email from Wireless:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Primatech Paper
Date: Feb 26, 2007 10:58 PM
Subject: Plan A

Our first plan has gone into effect. Let's get together to observe. Go online to: http://www.samantha48616e61.com before 9:00 PM tonight.

In which we find tortoises do, in fact, have an "O" face

Fun weekend in New York. We headed down to my sister's after work on Friday and then were up bright and early to eat breakfast, fly around the living room (Sophie), pay a few rounds of "Get!" (as in, "I'm going to get you!") and get everything organized for our jaunt into the Big City.

Thankfully, I picked up my brother's Ergo carrier on the way down to New Yawk because it was a lifesaver. I had a feeling that Sophie wasn't going to want to sit in the stroller and it would have been a nightmare trying to navigate into/onto/off off subways and trains. I strapped her in the carrier, she fell asleep almost as soon as the train left the station and stayed asleep during the train ride into Grand Central, Aaron and I trying to find the right subway to Central Park, a couple of photos of Sophie sleeping during her first visit to Grand Central.

She woke up on the subway when we were almost to the 68th St stop, looked very alarmed by her surroundings, and promptly closed her eyes again.

We met up with the lovely Mia and Ryan at Central Park Zoo. Nothing, by the way, like Madagascar. No lions, no zebras, no hippos, no giraffes. Maybe these were the winter animals, but somehow, I think it's just a very small zoo. Still fun and they had some great exhibits. Like the rainforest - very, very humid and warm with birds swooping right by you. It's like an open terrarium with a path for the humans to walk. HUGE bats clinging to the ceiling above and little mouse deer traipsing along the ground below. The penguin exhibit was also cool. Ryan hit it off with the chin strap penguins and they kept swimming over to him and giving him the eye.

Also, we saw a couple of tortoises getting it on. ("What does 'getting it on' mean?" asked my 8 yr old nephew when we were back their house, recapping the day. "Um, they were making more tortoises.") Did you know that tortoises make an "O" face? And they groan really loudly? And that female tortoises are quite bored with the proceedings and will continue to quietly eat while male tortoises get quite, um, animated. Also? If there is another male tortoise in the vicinity? He will slowly make his way over and nod his head up and down excitedly to encourage the other male? Yes, it was all quite exciting. And it took a long time. We all laughed, took a bunch of photos, went on to another part of the exhibit and then later, Sophie and I walked back because she wanted to see the huge piranhas again and there was a big crowd watching the tortoises. STILL going at it. Slow and methodical, indeed.

Mia and Ryan were wonderful. It seemed strange that this was the first time we'd met. They were both way more stylish than Aaron and me and funny and warm and they laughed at Aaron's jokes so were immediately tagged "good people" in his book. Although they seemed a bit cold. Not sure why, it was a balmy 15 degrees outside. The photo below was in the rainforest building. Hence the no coats in the middle of winter.

Sophie handled herself quite well considering the strangeness of the entire situation. When she started commenting on the monkeys and polar bears sleeping ("Shhh!" "Nap."), I strapped her back in the Ergo and she promptly fell asleep. And then slept all the way back to the subway, all the way back to Grand Central, and almost all the way back to the train station near my sister's house. She missed Grand Central again. I think we timed it pretty well and we were both relieved that she actually napped. Not a bad first jaunt into the city.

Sunday was relaxing and Sophie had a lot of fun playing with her cousins.

And then she slept for almost 2 hours on the way back home.

Our house is a complete mess and we have about 3 weeks of laundry to get through. We're thinking we might just take it all to the laundromat and get it done in one fell swoop. We have a washing machine and dryer at the house but they only do one load at a time. Much more efficient to throw everything into 10 machines and be done with it.

I tried to stay up to watch the Oscars last night, but holy hell, did they stretch things out. Ugh. I made it as far as the screenplay awards and then called it a night.

Sixteen Months!

I almost forgot it was the 22nd! This month has been crazy with all the different schedules and 1/2 days and snow storms and days off and weekend trips. I don't know if I'm coming or going. I just realized today that tomorrow we're leaving for New York to see my sister and her family as well as meet Mia in the city.

Sophie is Sixteen Months! And in my crazy mind, that meant she was a YEAR and a HALF... Because there is a 6 in there and that means half a year. Until I stupidly said that out loud to someone and I was quickly and embarassingly corrected. Anyhoo, there are apparently two more months before she's a YEAR and a HALF. Where does the time go?

I had my yearly exam today and they asked how Sophie was doing and I was all "GREAT! She's fantastic! Very smart! Walking and Talking!" and the midwife made a comment about "first-born syndrome". I pretended I knew what she was talking about and thought about it for the rest of the exam ("that was the speculum... and that was the pap smear." "'Kay.") Did she mean that I'm going to think everything is fantastic with Sophie because she is my only kid and, thus, my first-born? Or does she mean that Sophie is advanced because she is our only child? It was a weird comment. And yet I also think 16 months means something different than pretty much everyone else. So, my translation is: Sophie is amazing and fantastic and very smart. You should be so proud of yourselves for raising such an incredibly wonderful daughter. Yep, I am.

I'll keep this short because I already talked about all the talking and the empathy and the amazing.

I leave you with some cute baby photos.

Also, a video of Sophie being pulled on the sled by Aaron. The annoying harpies shrieking in the background are decidedly not me and my mom. Whatever, she liked the encouragement. (In case you're reading this RIGHTNOW and the video is not showing yet, I blame YouTube and their video processing which takes forever.) (Please come back. I love you.)

Sose sad

Sophie has had a hard time transitioning back to being in daycare during the day. She was also running a fever for the last couple of days. With no other symptoms other than a fever. She's been miserable.

Daycare emailed me yesterday to say she was laying on her nap mat with her eyes open and refusing to come play with the other kids. She would start crying when DCL tried to quietly ask her if she wanted to play.

She's such an empathetic little girl and it breaks my heart that she's sad about not being around us during the day. There is not much we can do about the situation other than hope she gets used to being back there. She normally really likes the kids and DCL so I'm hoping that this is just temporary melancholy.

She's started telling things they are okay ("'kay") when they're sad or hurt. She has a book about a monkey named Bobo and she signs sad when he's looking for his mommy and she keeps telling him "'kay" and shaking her head. Translation: "It's going to be okay, Bobo." She will also shake her head and say 'kay when we're doing something she doesn't like, like take her temperature or get a vaccination. The way her eyes tear up and her voice wavers when she bravely says 'kay would make anyone want to scoop her up and cover her with kisses and hugs.

I'm having a hard time not imagining her on her little mat quietly saying 'kay to herself until her parents finally get her.

She did finally get up and play yesterday but only begrudgingly. The mysterious fever doesn't help but it seems to have maybe passed during the night.

Veronica Mars

Great episode last night!

Not all that sad to see Lamb go, but did he have to die? Cool that Keith is the Sheriff again, but I kind of liked him as a P.I.

Also, Richard Greico hasn't aged well, has he? Can his eyebrows look any more tweezed? I know his character is supposed to be all screwed up, but really? Richard? What is going on there?

I loved Veronica in jail with the tattoo and the cornrows. I'd probably do the same thing out of boredom. Loved the Wallace comment to Lamb about being a friend of Dorothy.

Loved, loved, loved Mac and her cute boyfriend. "So, is this what you meant by 'crash'?" "Hmm, I meant 'bang'." (I'm paraphrasing). Cute. Good for her, she deserves some happiness.

Can the multiple murder storylines get any more convoluted? Oy. What and what and what? I'm glad the coach story is finished and next week looks quite exciting with the Dean's murder. And now that Keith is sheriff, it should be very interesting.

Will Piz and Veronica finally get together now that Logan may have moved on with what's-her-name?

Great show.

Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend with my family. My sisters and I got manicures and pedicures and had double mochas and ate yummy, yummy sushi on Saturday afternoon as a belated birthday present for my older sister. Fun, fun, fun. The men stayed home with the babies and kids and it was relaxing and lovely. That night there was good food, good wine, homemade beer and lots of desserts.

The next day Aaron took Sophie out on the kid's sled and she loved it. That is, once she had an audience and got to see her cousin enjoying himself on the sled. Then she got a bit possessive about it. We ended up staying Sunday night as well since neither of us had to work yesterday.

Sophie slept better than she has in weeks. She's been quite funny lately by having to go through a recap of the day with us before she's ready to fall asleep. "Daddy! Fast! Nose! Sled! Sit! Down! Fun! Pull! Wee!" Over and over quietly until she's gotten her head around the past day's activities.

She ran a bit of a fever last night but hopefully whatever it is will blow over quickly. We're planning on heading down to NYC to visit with my sister and her lovely family as well as take a detour into the city to visit Mia, who is flying all the way out to NYC from sunny CA! I feel like I've known Mia for a long time but we've never actually met. I'm very excited. The plan is to meet at Central Park Zoo so that Sophie is semi-occupied while we chat. Keep your fingers crossed that Sophie's fever is just related to teething.

Heroes

Whew, things are really heating up.

We finally meet Wireless and they tell us almost nothing about her. And yet Ted says she's a friend when she shows up to his meeting with Matt. I loved how all the plant life died when Ted was near his wife's grave. Great special effect. He looks like a caveman. I guess radiation does that to you.

What was Matt thinking about giving his wife that ring? Or did he not intend to give it to her and she accidentally found it? He's never going to be able to get rid of the diamonds. I wonder if he left them there when he went off to meet Ted. Will she turn him in? I don't like his wife at all.

Wow, crazy about Peter channeling Sylar's power, eh? That was so cool. So Sylar has to kill people to get their powers and Peter just needs to be near them. Interesting juxtaposition of the two. Also, he channeled the scary Sylar voice when the threw Isaac. I can't say I'm all that sad about Simone. But does this mean that Isaac and Peter will team up? Or will they fight about it. Is Peter the one who kills future Isaac? How are they going to explain how Simone died? Don't the Heroes need Isaac's power?

What is the back story about Claude and Mr. Bennet? Also, if Bennet injected certain heroes with radio isotopes, why can't they track Sylar? He's in Bennet's files, along with Wireless, Matt and Ted, so theoretically they injected him, too.

Who does Bennet work for? Will we really find out next week?

So sad about Hiro leaving without Ando. Although I doubt it's the last we'll see of Ando. Also, awesome that Hiro's power sort of works even though he doesn't know it. It looked like he stopped the bullet by turning back time. Did he turn back time on just the bullet? It looked like he moved it back into the gun.

And yikes, Sylar! Mohinder seemed to be catching on a bit about how creepy he is when they were talking about Mohinder's father. I was sorry to see the hearing lady, Dale, die. I liked her. Very no-nonsense. Will this power be Sylar's downfall? She finally learned to control it, but how long did that take her? And won't Mohinder catch on that now he has horrible headaches all of a sudden? Also, doesn't Mohinder have messages from Sylar on his dad's answering machine? Doesn't he recognize his voice?

It looked like Claire recognized Matt from when he interviewed her after the cheerleader killing. But his mind has been erased since then, right?

Hmm, what else?

Cow! Neigh-Neigh! Cat! Pig! Pish! Baa-baa!

A glimpse at one page of thousands I've drawn at Sophie's request.

In other news, we're heading up to my parents' house for a day or two to visit with my sisters, brother, extended families, babies, dogs, cats. More later.

Valentine's recap

We ended up getting about 14 or so inches yesterday. Hard to tell exactly because the wind really picked up last night and whirled things around a ton.

Aaron bought salmon and other goodies the night before, so we had a lovely dinner with butter/lime poached/broiled salmon, spinach salad with pine nuts, sundried tomatoes and feta and oven-roasted baby red potatoes. Plus a yummy Shiraz from Australia. Yum, yum, yum - delicioso! (too much Dora, sorry)

Then we sat down to watch "Marie Antoinette" and had to stop it about 1/2 way through (she's still not pregnant) because Sophie was having a very hard time falling asleep. She was exhausted and wanted to sleep, but she kept opening her eyes and checking to make sure we were still there. If she did fall asleep, she'd wake herself up and get upset if we had managed to sneak out. I finally just laid down with her at around 9 and we slept straight until 1:30 or so (that's a mini record for her at the moment). Aaron thinks her brain is working overtime with all the talking and figuring things out and she might be having bad dreams because of it. So she's afraid to fall asleep.

And maybe anxious about going back to daycare today. We've been talking to her about it - "guess who you're going to see tomorrow?" and acting all excited, but I think she's gotten quite used to having Mommy, Daddy and Grandma at home, thank you very much.

In other news, I'm headed out today to man a booth at an internship job fair. I might be getting myself an intern! W00t! It also means I get to have a rendezvous with Aaron at lunch since the job fair is on campus.

Face Plant!

Well, we got Sose (her latest name for herself) all bundled up from head-to-toe and then I waited inside the doorway to take a couple of photos of her and Aaron out in the snow.

Of course, my camera batteries took that exact moment to give up the will to live and I ran to get more. In that time, Sose took three steps and fell face-first into the snow. No crying, just a panicked, crystal-covered face ("Cold. Face"). So much for looking for batteries. Aaron quickly brought her in, I wiped her face down with paper towels, added a neck gator to her ensemble and back outside we went. She left snowprints in the kitchen and was very concerned about them: "Uh oh! Nose! Uh oh!"

The snow is too deep for her to walk in so we let her walk in the shoveled areas and then carried her into the backyard to look around. Aaron made an enormous, lanky snow angel. "Wow! Daddy!"

We don't have a sled. Neglectful parenting, I know. BUT, we DO have a hard kiddie pool and that worked perfectly. Sose sat down in it and we pulled her down the driveway and then pulled her up and down the snow-covered street. Our neighbors probably think we're quite innovative and not at all insane. No cars anywhere. She loved it: "Weee!" "Nose!" She did not want to come back in but we were cold and tired. "Bye, bye, nose!"

We'll probably get all bundled up again after her nap. Although it is starting to sleet in addition to the snow. If we didn't have a baby who loved the snow so much, neither of us would go back out there. Sacrifices.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures.

Hmm, on second thought...

...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EST
TONIGHT...

A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EST TONIGHT.

SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES TODAY AS LOW PRESSURE STRENGTHENS AND MOVES UP THE EAST COAST. HOURLY SNOWFALL RATES WILL APPROACH OR EXCEED 2 INCHES PER HOUR LATER THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON.

IN ADDITION...WINDS WILL INCREASE AS THE DAY PROGRESSES...WITH
GUSTS BETWEEN 30 AND 40 MPH QUITE LIKELY BY THIS AFTERNOON. THE
HEAVY SNOWFALL RATES AND THE INCREASING WINDS WILL WORK IN
CONCERT TO PRODUCE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS...ESPECIALLY THIS
AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. VISIBILITIES WILL
FREQUENTLY BE REDUCED TO UNDER A QUARTER MILE. THIS WILL MAKE
TRAVEL DIFFICULT AT BEST...AND NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE AT TIMES.

THOSE VENTURING OUTDOORS MAY BECOME LOST OR DISORIENTED...SO PERSONS IN THE WARNING AREA ARE ADVISED TO STAY INDOORS.

Nose* Day!

UMass is closed; daycare is closed. I'm staying home. No sense going out in this mess. We got about 5 inches last night and it's still coming down hard. They are predicting another 12-16 inches today in addition to the snow that's already on the ground. Also? Aaron was getting anxious about staying home with Sophie all by himself today because he has a ton of homework that has built up from the Week Without Daycare (WWD).

Happy Valentine's Day! I plan on mostly not showering and eating all the chocolate I've stocked up over the last few weeks.

*Snow in Sophie-speak.

Ruh Roh, Snow!

Well, we're about to get hit with our first major snowstorm of the season. It's a Nor'easter! Batton down the hatches!

From the National Weather Service:

HEAVY SNOW WARNING IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EST WEDNESDAY NIGHT
Today...Mostly sunny this morning...Then becoming mostly cloudy. Colder with highs around 20. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight...Snow likely in the evening...Then snow after midnight. Snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches. Lows around 14. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.

Wednesday...Snow. Snow May be heavy at Times. Additional snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches. Cold with highs in the mid 20s. Northeast winds 10 to 20 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow near 100 percent.

Wednesday Night...Snow in the evening...Then snow likely after midnight. Blowing snow. Additional heavy snow accumulation. Windy and cold with lows around 6 above. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph. Gusts up to 45 mph after midnight. Chance of snow near 100 percent. Wind chill values as low as 18 below after midnight.

Heroes

I'm home this morning with Sophie, so this is going to be quick.

I got another email from Wireless:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Primatech Paper
Date: Feb 12, 2007 10:47 PM
Subject: better hurry

Last file 4 a while. Go 2 primatechpaper.com, find helix. Same place as b4. Usrnme: bennet pwrd: claire. Matt's code: MPggtn75x Rembr: Usrnme always bennet
---------------------------------------------

Jessica really is a psycho killer, eh? She literally ripped that man in half. Matt's lucky to be alive. Although very bad decision on his part to steal the diamonds. He could have handed them over and received some respect from the cops for finding them. How is he ever going to get money for them? Diamonds that big would be hard to sell. His power really came in handy this time. So he heard both Niki and Jessica and it looked like they had separated for a bit. Or was that just artistic license on the part of the director?

Also crazy that Linderman is having Nathan killed. Nathan genuinely seemed upset about the existence of Claire. Didn't he see paintings of her? Didn't he meet her in Texas? Or was that just Peter?

Poor Ando. All he wants is a little lovin'. That actress was hilarious on 'Galaxy Quest'. And poor Hiro. Did that gaming commission guy know they broke into his room? How did he find Hiro? Wasn't that guy on the show 'Coach'?

I digress. It was funny how Ando kept quoting Hiro's statements back to him.

And Sylar teaming up with Mohinder? Yikes! That new power was pretty cool but then how do you cook? Does everything metal he now touches turn to liquid? Or can he control it? Still didn't a clear idea how Sylar takes people's powers. He definitely split that guy's head open, but then what does he do with their brains? Eat them? I wonder if we'll ever find out.

What else?

Exhaustion

I'm pooped. I barely had time to breathe this weekend, never mind write anything.

To recap:
Thursday, Sophie and I went to get more Sophie portraits done; this time with another photographer. Sophie decided she didn't need no stinkin' morning nap that morning and I was hoping for the best at the shoot. She handled herself quite well and the photos looked pretty cute. She walked around outside for a bit and I was going to go to the grocery store on the way home but she fell asleep almost instantly in the car. She even missed her first car wash.

She stayed asleep and I just kept driving for about an hour while she slept. We got home in time for Aaron to get home and take the afternoon shift. Work was pretty hectic because we have a big customer coming in today and tomorrow and I had to edit a ton of photos and a big document for them that afternoon as I was going to be out on Friday and today. Finished just under the wire.

Friday, I was home with Sophie all day and we had a doctor's appointment for her in the morning. She was sick at her 15-month appointment, so this was a follow-up plus vaccinations.

She thoroughly impressed the doctor with her talking and understanding what he was saying. So much so that he stopped at one point and asked: "how old is she again?" He told me about research involving reading to toddlers and creating a sort of picture dictionary for them. The researchers believed they could help a child have about 200 words by 18 months. Our pediatrician said that since Sophie likes to read so much, we should consider creating something like that for her.

The last time I had tried to count her words, it came to somewhere around 50. But she's been talking so much lately and pretty much repeats everything we say all the time. And little sentences: "Hi Baby!" "Bye Bye Cow." "Help, it's stuck!" ("Hope, it duck!")

We sat down to watch "Black Dahlia" (crappy movie; don't bother) that night and I started writing down the words she says on a regular basis. Granted, quite a few of them only Aaron and I understand. Well, we ended up with a list of over 215 words! Crazy. Definitely a language explosion happening. Clearly she's a genius.

A genius who most likely ate cat food yesterday. She's very interested in giving Otto food and she'll grab pieces out of his dish and carry them around to hand to him. Except I think she forgets that it's cat food and absentmindedly eats some of it. I was laying her down for her nap and her breath smelled suspiciously of kitty snacks.

My favorite word of hers right now is "stuck". Anytime she tries to do something and she gets frustrated: "It duck!" or "I duck!" Cracks me up every time. She asks for help (hope) a lot and has been saying hi and bye-bye to everything. Even bye-bye when I throw something away. Every day she adds anywhere from 5-10 words to her repertoire. It is amazing to me to see this happening.

We've been talking to her for so long but it seemed like we were talking to a wall. It turns out we were talking to a sponge. We are going to have to be very careful about our language from now on.

Saturday was more photos at home. (in hindsight, probably too many photo sessions in a short time) We took a walk in the morning and she slept for a bit which was good because the photographers were late and she was starting to lose it. It didn't help that the lights and the furniture moving and everything was very exciting and she got more than a bit overstimulated.

She loves showing off all her toys to people who come to visit and she really, really didn't want to sit on the couch with boring old Mommy and Daddy. I think they managed to get some good shots but it was all a total blur to me. I barely remember smiling. I'm sure I look completely shellshocked. They also brought the contact sheet from Thursday's shoot and there are a lot of cute photos. How to choose?

The good news is that she slept for about 2.5 hours after they left and I was able to lay down and sleep with her. Aaah. I was so completely tired at that point so it was quite a relief.

Sunday, we went grocery shopping and walked around a bit. We visited a local pet store to get some a new kitty water bowl and a brush for dirty Tabitha and they had tanks of animals to view. Like little birdies at Sophie-eye-level. So exciting! And snakes! and hermit crabs! and bunnies! and fish! It was hard to get her to leave.

I was going to stay home all day today but my mother graciously offered to watch her for a bit this morning. So, I'm at work until about noon and then I'm home with her in the morning tomorrow. On the way to shopping on Sunday, she fell asleep in the car and Aaron and I were quietly looking at the scenery along the drive. "I don't think I could be a stay-at-home parent." I said. Aaron sighed with agreement: "Me neither, I don't know how [daycare lady] does it."

Sneezing Panda

Very funny video of a baby panda sneezing. And scaring the bejeezus out of its mother. (thanks, K!)

In other news, today was crazy as I was home with Sophie all day and I'm completely exhausted. Tomorrow is also going to be a bit nuts because we have some people coming here to take our family portrait and we haven't cleaned the house in forever. There will be mad rushing to clean the rooms they mentioned wanting for photos and that's all we'll have time for. There will also be scrambling to get ready, keep Sophie contented and super-fast ironing of khakis and white shirts for each of us.

Heroes, part deux

Okay, I finally got a chance to watch the episode on our fancy computer. What a difference! We need to invest in a better tv someday. I miss SO MUCH.

Little tidbits:

Jessica calls Niki "The little mouse".

Mr. Bennet lives on Juniper Lane (from his driver's license).

I think Isaac and Simone are much, much hotter than snively Peter and Simone.

Also, even if I couldn't paint the future, I truly wish I could paint like Isaac.

Also also, I covet Simone's black and white coat in these scenes.

Zack looks like a tool with the Mork suspenders.

Not that I am at all qualified to judge this, but Hiro's sister doesn't look all that Japanese to me.

George Takai rocks. (I'm paraphrasing) "But Father, you would like waffles!" "No. I would not."

On a side note - if the Heroe-ness is partly genetic - then from whom did Hiro and Matt and Niki, etc., get their power? Did HRG inject all of them since their lineage doesn't point, yet, to a parent having powers?

So, did Niki kill the psychiatrist with the Taser? Or is she not dead?

Side question: why does Peter know that Claude Raines (cool name, bytheway: cloud rains) can teach him? How does he know he's taught others? How does he know he's "been doing this for 15 years"?

Love this: "You see 'em for what they truly are: selfish, deceitful. And gassy."

Aw, Ando loves Kimiko.

Claire's mom lives in a pretty funky trailer home. At least from the outside.

Is Claire's hair real? It seems so long and curly and perfect.

EEEK! Sylar's sitting in Claire's room! I totally thought he was going to kill the dog.

Sylar reminds me of Jason Schwartzman from Rushmore.

It's interesting how they never say Mr. Bennet's first name.

Sylar just attacked Claire's not-Mom. AAAGH, creepy voice! I thought he didn't steal Eden's power because she blew her own brains out. So, from where does this super-creepy voice come?

Sylar was definitely shot once by HRG. But there is no bullet-mark in the fridge into which he crashed. And then it looks like he was gone almost instantly.

Creeeepy - Claire's not-Mom: "What do you mean, again?" No wonder she has an eye twitch. How many times have they fried her brain?

So, Claire's real mom has only been in Kermit a few months and yet her mobile home looks like it's been there for a long time - steps, porch, awning, etc. Not looking so mobile.

Invisible Man about Peter: "It's no wonder you live like an adolescent: posters on the wall, hair in your face."

The cab onto which Peter falls and is impaled has an advertisement for the Samurai exhibit at the museum. It almost looks like he was impaled on a Samurai sword.

HRG knows about Claude Raimes. Interesting.

After watching this again, I still can't get a read on Firestarter. I still think there is more to that story then they're letting on.

Heroes

Getting to this late today as I was home with a very demanding toddler this morning. Finally got through all my email and meetings at work.

Before I forget, I got another couple of emails from Wireless. One leads to this website. It has the password to get into Bennet's files on her as well as the password to get into Sylar's file.

And then this one about Ted, the radioactive dude:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Primatech Paper
Date: Feb 6, 2007 4:37 AM
Subject: unlock the secrets

Get to know Ted, too: Go to http://www.primatechpaper.com and find the helix. Same place as before. Username: bennet / password: claire. Ted's code: TSntz14b. Remember: Username is always bennet.
--------------------------------

On with the show. I loved George Takai's character. You know he was a proponent of spanking. I also loved how Ando has a crush on Hiro's sister. "Did you put on cologne?"

Sylar was soooo creepy last night. The way his voice changed before he was going to attack Claire's not-mom, eeek! How did he survive getting shot? The only power of his we know of for sure is telekinesis, right? He didn't know he was getting shot until the deed was done. So what other power does he have to survive that? It also looks like he has super-speed or something similar.

Did the Haitian rescue HRG from Sylar's cell? It would appear so, but we never saw the Haitian go into Sylar's cell area before so why would he have been there last night to see that he needed rescuing? Can he also read minds?

Niki/Jessica getting let out by Linderman's man was interesting. How is Niki trapped in the mirror? Or was that just showing that she's trapped in her mind by Jessica?

HRG knows about the Invisible Man. "Old Friend".

Oh man, I almost forgot! Claire's real dad is Nathan? I totally called it in the comments from last week. Aaron kept insisting that her real mom is evil. That she set the fire to kill Claire when she was a baby. If I was Claire, that is one of the first things about which I would have asked. What happened that night? Especially now that she knows she's a firestarter.

What else? The previews from next week show Sylar teaming up with Mohinder. CREEEPY.

Cool Math Trick: The Day You Were Born

I found this cool math trick for figuring out what day of the week you were born.

I was born on a Thursday. You?

Update: either I calculated wrong, or the trick is incorrect. Because I was actually born on a Tuesday. Hmm.

His Purple Funkiness

I kept flipping back to the Super Bowl last night because I had put $5 in a game pool. I had the worst numbers possible: 8 Bears/2 Colts. Pretty impossible. However, there is always a glimmer of hope. I managed to time one flip-back perfectly and I caught Prince performing at half-time.

Man, he still has it. Great show. What a performer! It was pouring rain and it didn't seem to phase him or his dancers one bit. Still sexy for such a tiny man - loved the shadow guitar projection. Do you think he was really playing guitar? Some of the music didn't quite match what his hands were playing.

Update: in case you missed his last song, here's the shadow magic. Fantastic.

And then I flipped back to X2.

A Case of the Mondays

It's always hard to come home after spending a whirlwind weekend with my sisters and our expanding families. We were down in New York this weekend for my niece's birthday. Lots of fun and great food and homemade beer. Sophie had a blast - she was leader of the conga line, dancing queen, stable hand and horse-leg-breaker (poor Barbaro). She slept for over 2 hours on the way home.

Our daycare lady (DCL) is on vacation this week and part of next. Aaron and I have divvied up the week along with some help from my mom. Today I'm at work all day with my mom taking the morning and Aaron taking the afternoon. Tomorrow, I'm home in the morning and Aaron's home in the afternoon. And so on through the week.

In other news, I keep breaking out in hives. I haven't been able to figure out the source - no, it's not new shampoo or soap or laundry detergent or deodorant or anything new to eat - and it's driving me nuts. That, in addition to a very sore throat. At least the soreness comes and goes. However, don't look up sore throat, rash on Google. Dr. Google will tell you that you have Scarlet Fever. Dr. Google is an alarmist.

ABCDEF-Cookie Monster!

We've been watching and bookmarking a lot of Sesame Street on YouTube. *cough* For Sophie *cough*.

I found this one this morning and it made my day. I miss Jim Henson.

It's Fine*

I'm having the worst hair day today.

It's like a brillo that was mauled by a mountain lion in 100% humidity and then the mountain lion felt bad about the mauling so it attempted to pin it back with bobby pins to lessen the mauled brillo effect. Only everyone knows that mountain lions don't have opposable thumbs and huge claws aren't very exact with bobby pin manipulation.

Plus, there's the fact that I try not to shampoo every day and tend to just put conditioner on the ends in a vain attempt to convince the brillo to not overtake my head. Today, however, it's painfully obvious that I went a day too long with the not shampooing.

Also my conditioner sucks. (recommendations for sort of curly/frizzy/brillo hair other than cutting all of it off and calling it a day?) (yes, I tend to ask this question on a regular basis)

*I knew it was bad when I asked Aaron if my hair looked okay this morning (knowing full well it was on the verge of a brillo revolt) and he said "It's fine." and then proceeded to look everywhere but at my head. I know my boobs are attractive, but that was not the question.

Now I'm very itchy and I CAN'T STOP TOUCHING IT.

R.I.P. Molly Ivins

I am so sad to hear that firecracker Molly Ivins passed away yesterday from breast cancer. Her wit, humor and take-no-prisoners' attitude will be sorely missed.

From the Free Press: "This war is being prosecuted in our names, with our money, with our blood, against our will. Polls consistently show that less than 30 percent of the people want to maintain current troop levels. It is obscene and wrong for the president to go against the people in this fashion. And it's doubly wrong for him to send 20,0000 more soldiers into this hellhole, as he reportedly will announce next week."

"What happened to the nation that never tortured? The nation that wasn't supposed to start wars of choice? The nation that respected human rights and life? A nation that from the beginning was against tyranny? Where have we gone? How did we let these people take us there? How did we let them fool us?"

"It's a monstrous idea to put people in prison and keep them there. Since 1215, civil authorities have been obligated to tell people with what they are charged if they're arrested. This administration has done away with rights first enshrined in the Magna Carta nearly 800 years ago, and we've, let them do it. "

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Goodbye, Molly. I miss you already.