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The extra whole-house humidifier I purchased on Sunday has succeeded in raising the humidity levels in the house to near 50% which is a blessing. It doesn't do quite as well when the fireplace is sending out its warm dry air but even then it stays around 40% and that's good for the nasal passages and the logs. Without that extra humidity things start cracking and checking--especially when the outside humidity plummets with the temperature.
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I managed to switch out the two 512 MB memory chips in my laptop for two 2 GB chips and have seen some improvement in the behavior and speed of my computer. Now I can make mistakes at least twice as fast.
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I didn't watch the SOTU address last night or either of the follow-ups. From what I've read today I didn't miss much in skipping the President's speech. Even his supporters seem to agree that it was not one of his finest productions.
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I tuned in to Harry's Law the last two Monday nights--mostly because I wanted to see Kathy Bates in action. I followed the first episode through to the end but switched off the second with 15 minutes to go because the liberal leaning, right bashing, rhetoric got to be too much. It airs at 10 PM on NBC and is a product of the Law and Order folks. For awhile there during the second week I thought I was watching MSNBC and that the head writer was Keith Olbermann. I will not be watching any more.
From the sound of this review after week 1, I won't be the only one not watching anymore.
Harry’s Law is, first and foremost, a colossal waste of Bates’ talent.
There’s no reason it can’t be a shoe store and a law firm, Jenna says to Harry. In Kelley’s world, that is true. In the real world. it’s not. It’s just stupid. Not whimsical, not quirky, just stupid.
Beyond that, Harry’s Law is littered with bogus courtroom rambling on soap boxes so tall they are an insurance claim waiting to happen. Let’s legalize drugs, Harry goes off, and the next thing you know she’s talking about stupid Republicans and Rush Limbaugh. It’s all cheap, easy, predictable and not very clever.
Layered upon the lectures are gobs of sap, as two African-American clients (one a drug addict going to college but facing a third-strike charge, the other a lovable goon who leans on merchants for protection money -- but they love him dearly!) desperately need Harry’s help. And she does help them, although the treacly piano music meant to pull your heartstrings will have you vomiting in the nearest bed-side or couch-side cylindrical object, so you may not be able to figure out how she pulled it off.
Do you want to know a feel-good story that would help television immensely? If Harry’s Law failed miserably -- now bring up the piano and strings in this part -- and Kelley went home, reconsidered his strengths, then came back with something completely different next time. No crutches, no quirks, no lawyers, no stupidity. Just a show that allows him to reconnect with his talent. Fade to black. Kill the saccharine music. And, redemption.
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Another TV show I've started watching is The Cape. It too appears on NBC on Mondays (in the hour preceeding Harry's Law) but is more comic book super hero action oriented. With story lines, heroes and villains in a fictional city that are all just a bit beyond reality. Pure escapism reminiscent of the weekly visits with my cousins when we would get together with our stash of comic books and trade/read for a couple of hours while the adults played penny ante poker. I like it. Besides, the heroes sidekick (and bad guys estranged daughter) is played by Summer Glau of Firefly and Serenity fame.
I've watched it for four weeks now and I'll be tuning into this one for as long as they continue to air it. Unless they let things really fall apart. This review from after week one gives and indication of why. The author went in figuring to be disappointed and let down--much as I did.
In execution I found myself reluctantly, completely charmed by it.
The deft flips between SERIOUS vigilante BUSINESS and jokes about stage voices; between a corporate security firm conspiracy that would be just a tiny bit over the top for 24 and a presentation of sideshow life that would seem right at home in an episode of Doctor Who; reminded me of nothing so much as the DC Animated universe. That is, the shows that taught me that in order to make the Joker really scary, you’ve first got to make him really funny, and there’s no reason why characters can’t make sardonic jokes about how weird and mentally hazardous their crime fighting lives are.
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Glad I'm not over there on the east coast. Especially in the Rhode Island, Cape Cod area. Another humdinger of a snow storm over there. here? Not so much. Hardly anything at all. AccuHunch is saying we'll get some snow flurries and showers that may amount to an inch.
We stared down the barrel of Mother Nature's gun and she proved to be a bit cross-eyed. Missed us by t-h-a-t much! (Or do you really think she was aiming at all those Democrat controlled cities/states to begin with?)
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