Drugs and Dollhouse and LOST and Battlestar

I got drugs today. After a week of pain in my teeth and pressure behind my eyes, I finally went to the clinic to find out if my sinus infection is bacterial or viral. After an hour I left with my drugs. Hopefully this will kick it's ass. At least I had good reading material with me.

I have been sick more days of 2009 than I haven't. This year has not been fun. Over the winter break I had that horrible sore throat with a fever. That eventually passed. As I posted in the last entry, Leesha passed something to Jack. Naturally, both Cara and I got it, too. Whatever it was, it got worse for us than it was for the kids, which is a blessing of sorts, I guess. Cara had/has it but it seems to be moving out of her system. Now for the last week I've had the said pain all around my face and teeth and an irritating caugh that doesn't help anything and can't seem to be avoided. It's gotten so bad that my caughing is also now gagging. So hopefully these anti-biotics will kick it out.

Cara and I watched Joss Whedon's Dollhouse tonight. I didn't want to like it as much as I did. I posted about it on Cinema Judge's website...

* this review contains spoilers*

We just finished watching Dollhouse this evening. With so little time I didn't want this show to be as good as it was. Foolish of me to doubt Joss Whedon. He is a master storyteller. Fantastic start. Dollhouse, if you noticed, is partially produced by the star, Eliza Dushku. I imagine it's going to be a challenging role for her as she will play many characters throughout the show.

All the standard characters are in place, Eliza plays the empty husk Echo who is programmed with personalities [of previously real existing people] and is sent out on whatever job a client needs. When the gig is done, she returns and is wiped clean, no memories. There is the ruthless and focused Adelle DeWitt (the not-so-hot-as-she-used-to-be Olivia Williams); the savvy computer nerd that explains things for us, Topher Brink; DeWitt's lapdog, Laurence Domonic, loyally do anything she says; Helo from Battlestar Galactica, Paul Ballard, who is an FBI agent on the Dollhouse case. My favorite character so far is the company's moral pillar, Boyd Langton- Echo's handler and ex-cop.

I think this show has so much potential. How many episodes will air before FOX kills it?

While this show starts, its seems like the production quality for LOST has started to slip. If LOST jumps the shark and if Dollhouse gets yanked by FOX (which happens to almost everything Whedon does) we'll still have our Battlestar Galactica.

Survivors

We don't watch TV. Well, sort of. We do watch programs that have been downloaded and watch them right off the computer. Why not? No commercials, 16x9 presentation, not quite HD, but cleaner than what would be broadcast over the air... And the shows... We pretty much watch BBC. Doctor Who, [ spooks ], and now Survivors (we do watch LOST, but that's not currently on).

Survivors is a re-imaging of a show that was on BBC in the 1970s about a breakout epidemic that wipes out 90 some % of the Earth's population. The show is about those who are left alive and how they deal with the lack of society. We've seen 3 episodes and so far it is fantastic.

According to Wiki there will be a 2nd season. The original series lasted three seasons. Its a great show.

LOST

Cara's folks came over for dinner tonight.
I crawled around on the roof cleaning out the gutters with David's help.
LOST was fantastic on cd. We don't watch it on TV anymore. On cd (our DVD player can read DVIX files) its widescreen, clearer than our reception and no commercials.

The Better Bus and No Boundary

Sub bus, but not the one from yesterday. Bus 46. This one was almost impossible to steer. After it warmed up it was manageable. The seat was better than yesterday's bus, but it still wasn't as good as my regular bus- 192.

Cara was home when I got home. Left almost right away.

My honey made Valentine's kringle!

I was waylayed on the way home. Just north of St. Paul south-bound traffic on 35E was backed up to a complete stop. So I parked. Sat there for about 20 minutes. All traffic was stopped on the other side as well. There were no cars moving at all on 35E. Two firetrucks came squeezing through on our side, we could see another firetruck maneuvering on the other side. 20 minutes later, traffic moves again. I was expecting to see a huge crash or something, but there was nothing. Not a single hint as to what caused this.

Leesha was in bed by the time I got home. Cara said she was a pill when she was picked up from Grandma's. Grandma give Leesha vast amounts of choice. Leesha doesn't know it, but she really wants boundaries.

Unable to watch LOST again because of reception. We'll download it. It'll be clear, letterboxed and minus commercials.

I couldn't find any report on any of the local news websites as to what caused that traffic delay.

The Day I Finally Ate and LOST

There wasn't any cereal left this morning, so I finished off the banana bread and had a banana. Wasn't as much food as I'm used to having. By the time I got home I was starving. Sat down to check email and before I know it I'm called in to take bus from home to base to change a tiny light bulb. Aaarg!

So I drive the bus back. They said I'd be back out in five minutes. I was back out in about 55 minutes, on my way to the noon route and no food in me. AAarrg!

As soon as I was finished with the noon route I went to Wendy's and slorked down some fast food.

The sun was fully out today which made for a comfortable nap shortly after filling my belly.

Leesha was pushing the line tonight. Cara said she was doing so over at Grandma Darlene's house, as well. I think she's looking for a fight to define a boundary, because every time this happens, she will make scene about something and it will boil over and she'll get in trouble. But after that everything is great- because she now sees the boundary. Kids are strange. Cara wasn't helping this situation. She was giving in to Leesha's stupid demands. Cara sometimes lacks that resolve in the afternoon before she has food in her.

After Leesha went to sleep we watched the brand new episode of LOST that aired last night. Its amazing that one can miss a show, download it, burn it on a disk and watch it the next day. Its wide screen and NO COMMERCIALS! Its pretty much better than watching it on TV. Very cool episode. Resolved some things. I just have no memory of how Sawyer knew Alex's boyfriend's name was Carl.

I finally got our small group debriefing out. Next week we're not studying. We're all going out for dinner at Buca's in St. Paul.

The Man in Black Fled Across the Desert, and the Gunslinger Followed

An accident on 94 over the radio caused me to take a different route to my first stop today. Got there with 3 minutes to spare. I took Jackson street all the way downtown, cut over to Robert and all the way up the hill across the river.

Best comic I've read yet this year- in a few years, actually. Dark Tower is based on Stephen King's Gunslinger series. Amazing comic. The novels (which I've only read the first 3 of 7) are incredible and often called King's magnum opus. There are threads throughout the series that, in small ways, tie into almost every single other novel King has written. The series most clearly ties in with The Stand as the Man in Black is the antagonist in both the Dark Tower and The Stand. Reading the comic caused my hands to sweat and my heart to race a bit. Best comic I've read in years.

I had a guy do an evaluation and ride with me on the Wellstone route this afternoon- rather unannounced and suddenly. The guy's name was Steve. He displaced Davyon's regular seat so Davyon sat one seat back, in the 2nd row. Through out the ride Steve started chatting with Davyon and what was really interesting was Davyon was on the defensive right off the bat. And Steve kept pushing! Davyon was getting really upset, started dragging everyone else down including me, saying I wasn't so innocent on the bus. It was very strange.

Glenn Beck had an amazing guest. Ayaan Hirsi Ali may have become one of my heroes tonight. Her stance against Islam has made it so clear to me how the thought of opposition to Islam being politically incorrect is completely ironic. Islam may very well be the most politically incorrect set of beliefs and traditions on this planet, currently. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has a death sentence for saying the things she says.

Cara's mom was over when I got home. David is out of town for two weeks (he booked a flight on some other web page).

LOST resumed tonight, but since we don't have good reception and Cara's mom was here we didn't watch it. I did manage to start downloading the episode before going to bed.