Lost - "Lighthouse"

I'm befuddled. I missed the first few minutes due to a late changing of channel from American Idol. Jack has a son? Maybe my mind is deteriorating with age, but I don't recall a son. This was a sideways time bit. The son's quite the classical pianist. Jack and the mother are divorced. I'm lost. Yikes! In sideways time, the ninja dude from the temple is the father of another child at the recital. Jack didn't know his son still played piano. Curiouser and curiouser.

At least Jin is saved from the jungle by Claire and Hugo is still talking to dead Jacob. Okay, I'm down with that. Claire seems a changed woman, though. The black captor claims she'll kill both him and Jin. The people at the temple told Jack "something happened to her." Claire thinks the temple people have Aaron -- her father and her friend told her so.

Jim told Claire that Kate took Aaron three years ago. Whoa. She killed the black dude with the ax anyway. My, she's gotten surly since living in the jungle, eh?

Oh ... sideways time, Jack's father left Claire Littleton something in his will. Hmmm ...

Jack told Hugo he came back to the island because he's broken. I think they all are. Hugo, directed by Jacob, led him to a lighthouse. Again with 108. Hugo was instructed by Jacob to crank the wheel in the lighthouse to 108 degrees. Oh ... names and numbers on the wheel. Sheppard is 23 degrees. He can see the house he grew up in. Jack realizes Jacob has been watching all of them for years. So he smashes the heck out of the place. Okay.

Jack "broke the lighthouse," yet Jacob says someone is still coming to the island. Jacob told Hugo that Jack has something he has to do and must figure it out himself. He also says someone bad is coming to the temple. Jin is lying to murderous Claire saying that Aaron is at the temple. So is she the bad person? Or could it be Not Locke? Eep ... she says Not Locke isn't John, that's her friend.

Curiouser and curiouser ...

The Amazing Race 16 - Blog Party Post - 2/21 Episode

Yay, the show is starting on time (wow, two weeks in a row) here on the East Coast! Everyone is invited to join in down in comments -- cheer on your favorite team or your pool team, grouse about bad moves, and more. I'll be posting the major show events here in this entry as they air. My full review of the show will be posted on TV Squad late tonight.

Pit Stop
1. Jet and Cord - each won a sailboat
2. Joe and Heidi
3. Carol and Brandy
4. Brent and Caite
5. Monique and Shawne
6. Jordan and Jeff
7. Steve and Allie
8. Dan and Jordan
9. Louie and Michael
10. Jody and Shannon, Philiminated

Off Topic - That Was the Week it Was - 02/21/10

Another week gone by, another Sunday morning here. Since I generally don't work on Sundays, the morning is my favorite one for relaxation -- a good breakfast and settling in to watch CBS Sunday Morning. But it's also time for an off TV topic look back on the past week in words and photos I've taken.

I'm tired of winter. It's really bothering the non-replaced knee. All of the snow, while beautiful when it's falling and fresh, creates all kinds of pedestrian obstacles. I've lost shortcuts due to snowbanks higher than my waist. The daytime temperatures have been rising above freezing (a good thing), but then dipping down low again every night. Thus, I have to deal with black ice patches. I've been having to leave earlier for my walk to the train every day. Grr.

I want spring. I want daffodils and crocuses. Yes, I'm getting some really good snow photos. However, I'd just as soon shoot flowers and bugs.

My return to work from vacation was pretty much what I expected -- more work trying to figure out what was done, rearranging my office back to my suiting, catching up on things which weren't done, reading a gazillion emails, and being exhausted by the end of each day. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to have a job with sort of decent pay, paid holidays, several weeks of paid vacation, retirement pension, paid sick time, short term disability pay, 401K, and all. But, gosh ... if time could just stand still when I go away on vacation, it would be so much easier when I return!

This week has really been uneventful. Go to work, come home, eat, sleep, rinse, repeat. My "happy night" guy (the one who speaks Spanish but has really been working on his English for more than a few years) on the train had a new language dilemma last night. He got a text message and couldn't understand it. He showed it to me. "I am in Philly." I told him whoever sent it says they're in Philadelphia. "Liar!," he said. Apparently it's a girl who's standing him up and he knew she was at work because someone else told him she was. So I had to teach him how to spell "you are lying." I don't think he's going to see that girl anymore. But he learned how to spell a new sentence in English!

Oh, well ... onto my photos for the week ...

Vincent in B&W

When he's not in color, he has a clown nose! No more mice this week, but that isn't for a lack of him staring at the radiator.

Stalactite/Stalagmite Chainlink Fence

Nope, this isn't regular ice. It's the radioactive (yes, I'm sure) stalactites and stalagmites growing under the New Jersey Transit Bridgewater railroad overpasses. Since part of the wall fell down last winter, they fenced it off. Yes, that's a great fix. Now the fence is growing these on it.

Sunset over the Plainfield (NJ) Train Station

Aw, purty, ain't it?

Roadblock

I edited this one to leave the police car in color while the rest is in black and white with slight "posterizing." The latter is the GIMP (photo editor) term for it. Is a criminal on the loose? Nope. It was "snow removal." All it means is that there were guys with shovels and a payloader doohickey shoveling off the benches and making paths through the snow. East Front and Roosevelt Streets in Plainfield, NJ.

New Jersey Transit - The Way to Go

I used the same effect on this shot, leaving the windows in color reflecting the Plainfield Train Station lamps.

More daylight is a good thing

Same day, no editing. It's nice to see daylight when I'm coming home from work. Will spring be here soon?

Bicycle Parking -- Vacancies!

Although these are unused, there are still plenty of folks on bikes. Unfortunately, so many think the sidewalks are acceptable while the law says STREET. Grown men are the worst offenders. With the sidewalks so narrowed by snow, it's almost impossible for both a pedestrian and an illegal bicycler to pass on them.

Uh-oh

It looks like the birds are having a major gathering in their efforts to overthrow mankind. Taken from inside the train at the Dunellen (NJ) Train Station.

Plainfield Train Station lamp in snow

Because snow is EVERYWHERE!

The Queen City

Railroad underpass on Watchung Avenue in Plainfield, NJ. Elizabeth is the county seat while Raritan is where there's a railroad yard for NJ Transit. Now you know all about New Jersey. ;-)

Okay, it's pretty, but ENOUGH

Looking down East Third Street at the Watchung Avenue intersection after a clinging light snowfall one morning. I edited it to leave the yellow schoolbus and the golden glow from a streetlamp intact while the rest is black and white. I couldn't get to the sidewalk without climbing a snowbank. Traffic was light, so I was walking in the street. That's not my train at the station -- it's a delayed one going the other way.

No, that doesn't mean I'm a streetwalker. Sheesh!

Snow on Supremo

The snow is melting quicker on that side of the street. It gets more sun. Roosevelt and East Front Streets in Plainfield.

SnoCone

Heehee. I crack myself up.

Ahem. Never mind.

Chainlink Snow

Are you sensing a theme here? East Front Street, Plainfield.

Go Snow

East Front and Richmond Street in Plainfield.

Religious snow

I'm sure that solar panel in front of the Presbyterian Church on East Front Street is having a grand old time.

Branches and Wires ... and snow

I have no snowy words left to say.

Snow on the bush

This was taken from the driveway to my apartment building. Now, had I gone for rehab for my knee replacement, I was set to go right to the beige-ish building you see on the left (not the brick one -- that would be someone's apartment and they probably wouldn't want to put up with a knee replacement patient).

Eek! Psycho Killer Bunny!

Heh. This was at the Bridgewater Train Station. Apparently the rabbit doesn't like getting his sensitive little paws in the snow. Someone was coming up the path from the other direction and he was darting right along the path directly into ME. I think I stunned him with the flash. He quickly decided to take his chances with snowy paws.

ATTENTION NJ TRANSIT -- THIS IS A SIDEWALK!

What is wrong with them? I have to hang onto the fence to get over this! Bridgewater Train Station.

Plotting in strategic groups

Birds of a feather gathering together -- geese and sparrows (wrens? chickadees?) discussing just how they will take over the world.

Snow kidding

That's it. I'm out of snow humor!

I'll join Vincent for a cat nap.

Look at that Paw of Death! And, he looks so innocent, doesn't he?

How was YOUR week?

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Blog Party Post - 2/18 Episode

The show is about to start here on the East Coast. This entry will be updated with major events as they air. My full review of the episode will be posted late tonight over on TV Squad. But the real fun is to be had hanging out in the comments section of this post! Come one, come all! Share your thoughts on the show as it airs! Just remember that minors can't drink alcohol. ;-)

Rob,. the only one really working on his tribe, has passed out. Medics have arrived, into commercial. He's staying in the game.

Eep. Villains won the combined Immunity/Reward challenge -- tarp, nails. James and Rupert are probably going to push for Stephenie to go. Into commercial.

Stephenie was voted off.
:-(

Lost - "The Substitute"

Oh my. I'm so addicted to the show, yet feel so Lost.

Okay, let's see what's going on. As the whole series has been, we've got entirely separate stories going on simultaneously (just to drive us bonkers, of course). In the past we had flashbacks. Now we're in some sort of sideways-flash ... a "what if" Oceanic 815 had never crashed scenario. But, for a sideways flash, we have tons of discrepancies with what we thought was the real deal from the flashbacks.

For example:

• In previous flashbacks, we accepted Hugo as a lucky unlucky man, winning the lottery but feeling he was bad luck to all who come in contact with him -- sort of a Reverse Midas. Ah, not so. In the sideways flash, he's still the lottery winner, but he's a successful business man, as well. And a generous one, too.
• In flashbacks, Locke got fired for his walk-about mission. Well, that remained true. But in sideways Hugo saved him by getting him a job through one of his (apparently) many companies.
• In flashbacks, Helen left Locke. In sideways, they're making plans to get married and even hint that his relationship with his father is okay. Say what? How? That would have to be after the kidney fraud. If his father didn't shove him out the window, why is he paralyzed from the waist down?
  
• In flashbacks, Ben grew up on the island and never left it. In sideways, he's a teacher of European history on the mainland. Huh?
• We also saw continued relationships betwixt the Oceanic 815 folks in sideways. Rose works for Hugo's temp agency, although she has the cancer cured by the island. The first person interviewing Locke for the job (the "what animal are you" person) in sideways was the "therapist" Hugo's father hired in flashbacks to convince him he wasn't cursed by the winning numbers.

What's been going on at the island is even more confusing for me. Is Jacob a force for good or evil? Could it be that the Man in Black (now Locke or Fake Locke or even FLocke) be actually good? After all, we know Ben can be one evil bad dude ... he was in cahoots with Jacob.

And how about the blond kid? Could that be Aaron in some sort of weird time warp kind of way? And where are Walt and Michael? Shouldn't this include them, too? Don't even get me going on the name and number list on the cave wall. It's obvious that FLocke wants to recruit Sawyer, but that's all that's obvious on the island for me at this point. I think the stones on the scale, white and black, signified good and evil. But I don't know.

My head hurts. What animal are you?