From One End of the City to the Other

Our conference is over, and man am I glad. Don't get me wrong, it was a great conference. It was just long, long days with lots of information and thinking. We did get to see some pretty neat stuff, though. Not only did we get previews of some new Microsoft technologies, we also got to have a reception at the top of the Space Needle, a party at the Experience Music Project, a visit to the SciFi Museum (definitely a hit at a nerd convention), and to hear from some very cool speakers including Steve Ballmer.

Anyway, after the conference let out, I went wandering the city for several hours with my camera. I took some shots of a few cool things that caught my eye, and I tried to get another shot across Puget Sound. You could really see the snow capped mountains on the other side today, but the haze kept my camera from seeing it very well. Too bad. I also tried to find a place to get a pic of Mt. Rainier, but I couldn't do that either. Oh, well, you'll just have to enjoy what I did manage.

Now, I'm going to try and find somewhere to eat, so I can get to bed. I've got an early flight in the morning to take me back home to Leah and the kids.

Friday, May 11, 2007

In Seattle

I'm here. The flight out was long and rough. We only got a few minutes of time with the seat belt sign off. We did get a really good view of Mt. Rainier on the way in, though, and I was surprised by how much snow is still on the mountain. It was on the wrong side of the plane for me to take a pic, so I can't show you how cool it looked.

Once on the ground, I found my hotel just fine and then set out to explore the city a little. I made my way down to the waterfront and went to the Pike Fish Market. Unfortunately, everything was closed down by the time I got there. I did get some pics of the Bay and the Sound that you can see below. I ate at a place called Elliotts which was a little overpriced, if you ask me, but still good food.

Right now I'm getting ready for bed since I have a very full day tomorrow at the conference.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

The Pacific Northwest

I was in NYC a few weeks ago, and now I am preparing to head out for the Pacific Northwest. I'll be flying out to Seattle in a few hours, and I won't be back until Saturday afternoon. I'll be spending most of my time at a business conference, but I will have my camera with me in case there is anything of interest to be seen, and I did bring the cable with me this time, so I can upload photos as they are ready. In the meantime, please enjoy my NYC pics that I just now got around to posting:

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The Hardest Part

Last night was not one of the better episodes. After the past two weeks, I was really pumped up about the next chapter in the story, and I felt a little let down. Highlight below to read more:

Sylar is cuckoo. And so is his mother. At least now we have a little more idea of why he's so bent on gaining power. He wants to impress his mother. And now that she's dead, and he's been finger painting in her blood (which was a little gross), he'll be even more psychotic I think. I was a little impressed with the depth of the character, though, in that he revealed a little bit of a conscience in trying to stop himself from being the source of the bomb. He has a reason to kill those with powers, but no reason to kill normal people. So he's not just a cold-blooded maniac.

Hiro needs to get a backbone. It's nice that he's all innocent and what not, but what's the point of having a sword on your back if you aren't going to do some killing? And he knew that he was supposed to do it, future Hiro told him that he had to do it, Ando told him the consequences of failure, and he still hesitated. He was lucky to get out of there alive. And interestingly, we found out in that scene and in the one immediately preceding it what the white glow around Sylar's hands was all about in the fight between him and Peter in the previous episode. From somewhere, Sylar gained an ice power. Anyway, Hiro is up a creek now. His sword is broken. He's ashamed that he couldn't do the job. And what if he never gets another chance?

Parkman and Sprague are following HRG to New York to stop the Walker system. I don't think that Parkman and Sprague have any idea that it's a little girl, though. If you didn't pick up on that, remember that HRG told Parkman that the Walker system didn't need to use any radio isotopes or satellites to track them and that it was in New York. Also remember that when Mohinder met Molly she said that her power was to tell them where anyone is and her last name is Walker. She's the Walker system, and Mohinder is helping the company keep it online. Ironically, Parkman first got put on Sylar's trail when he found her hiding in her a secret room at her parents' house. I wonder if HRG wants to kill her or just take her from the company?

Mohinder is trying to save Molly's life with his own blood. Does that make Mohinder special? Was Mohinder "created" by his father so that he could be a cure for Shanti? Or is it just coincidence that he has the rare antibody that is needed to stop the disease that killed his sister and is killing Molly?

Peter is getting a little reckless, but he's less annoying when he keeps that hair out of his face, and now he's met Sprague. It looks like he's going to get the power under control for now, but what is it that will set him off later? Will he really blow up at the end of the season? Or how will they stop him?

Nathan apparently has bought into the idea of letting Peter blow up. He seems to be on board with Linderman's plan for now, and his mother has all but said that she's involved with Linderman, too. I still wonder if she has powers of her own and if she was a part of Linderman's group that wants to "change the world." Too bad Nathan doesn't realize that the painting is not really one of him in the oval office.

Micah is being held by Candice for some unknown purpose. I'm happy that he saw through Candice's illusion, but I still don't care much about whether he lives or dies. I do wonder what Linderman wants to use him for, though. It seemed like, unless I'm remembering incorrectly, that Micah is being held in the same building where Molly is being held and where Sprague, Parkman, Claire, Peter, and HRG all met back up. This just further solidifies Linderman's connection to the company in my mind.

D.L. and Niki/Jessica are on their way to New York to find Micah. Will they try to make Niki a good guy now? Or will she continue to be on the other team? I don't really care, I just think it's fun to try and see how they are going to try to make me care about those characters. Personally, I thought D.L. had a pretty good idea when he said that he should have left Niki stuck in the wall.

I hope that next week is better than this week. There's only two left in this season, and I'm really hoping for a big finish.

Dumb and Dumber

You tell me where the real stupidity lies in this story from Kentucky: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18251472/

Is it on the part of the prisoner who had a buddy fax in fake release papers? Timothy Rouse, charged with a beating an elderly man, had an escape plan. A friend sent a phony fax that "demanded" his release. The fax indicated that it was from the governor of Kentucky and that the prisoner should be released under the orders of the Kentucky Supreme Court. A good plan except that it was not on state letterhead, it was full of grammatical and spelling errors (some places report that "governor" was even misspelled), and it was sent from the grocery down the street. What dumb crook thinks that plan will work?

I hope not too many, because it did. Mr. Rouse was released from prison after the phony fax was received and the error was not caught for nearly two weeks. In order to put the community at ease, though, the prison officials claim that they frequently receive faxes with grammatical and spelling errors and that there is no policy to check the origin of a fax. That's really the position that they are going to take? This news story is going out around the world, and the state of Kentucky is going to defend themselves under the premise that apparently most of the people in government there are borderline illiterate and that checking the origin of a fax that demands the release of a dangerous and violent suspect that is not even on state letterhead doesn't fit with their policy.

I thought it was pretty dumb of the crook to not even try to fake the letterhead, but I wonder who's dumber, the guy that didn't take the time to make a decent forgery or the guy that thought a fax from the grocery store was good enough to release a prisoner?

There's no real good answer, but we could probably sum it up with two words: Hickman, Kentucky.

String Theory

WOW!! I was completely blown away by last night's episode. It was definitely, without a doubt, the best episode yet. Highlight below to read more:

Hiro and Hiro. I love future Hiro. He's certain of what he needs to do and powerful enough to get it done. He lost his innocence when Ando died, and he's been working for years to get it back by changing the timeline. Let's set aside the technical questions like how he's able to keep an apartment with all of these strings when he keeps going back in time to change things. I mean, wouldn't the ownership of the apartment and the things that he's done in the future change when the past changes? Unless you accept the theory that there are an infinite number of universes playing out every possible result of every possible decision and that Hiro can not only jump through time and space but that he can also jump between these universes, it doesn't really make much sense. Regardless of that, though, I think it was touching for Peter to tell Ando that Hiro has been doing all of this to save his friend.

Peter is married to Niki. What a man! I loved the fact that Jessica is apparently dead, but I wonder how that happened. How did she get rid of Jessica, and why? Of course, the part I loved the most is that she was only a bit player in the whole episode. Peter, though, what a cool dude. He's gotten control of his power and become a serious force to reckon with. My favorite part was when he stopped time and rescued Hiro and Ando from Parkman. What's the deal with the scar on his face, though? I had assumed that the scar future Hiro referred to when he met Peter on the subway was from when Sylar tried to take his powers; apparently, that assumption was incorrect.

Matt is working for Homeland Security. Actually, Matt seems to be in charge of Homeland Security. So, my question here is, wouldn't he have to talk directly to the President from time to time? And if so, how does he not know the big secret? How does he not know that Nathan is really dead?

Nathan is obviously dead. Sylar took his power and the power of the office. How far back did that happen? Was Nathan elected President and then killed by Sylar, or was it actually Sylar who was elected to the office? And does Linderman know? Linderman wants to change the world, and he wants Nathan to be elected to make that happen. He has a copy of the "Nathan in the White House" painting, and he wants events to unfold that way. At the same time, he appears to be involved in HRG's company and the orders given from the company are that Sylar is not to be killed. I might be reaching, but do you think it's possible that Linderman may know that Nathan will never really be President? Is it possible that Linderman knows it's an illusion? If so, then it could answer the biggest question of the night:

If the point of saving Claire was so that Sylar couldn't have her power and heal himself when Hiro attacks, then how can Sylar and Claire both be alive and the bomb have still gone off? Of course, we know that the bomb was actually Peter, so that part of the question is easily resolved, but Hiro specifically said that he stabbed Sylar and that he had healed because he had Claire's power. Well, that just doesn't make sense since Claire is still alive. When you throw Linderman in the equation, though, it makes a little more sense. Linderman was able to heal that plant without touching it, so what if he can do the same for people. Hiro stabs Sylar to try and stop the bomb, which we know is the wrong move for stopping the bomb, but a good move overall. Linderman wants Sylar to be in the White House using the illusion of Nathan Petrelli, though, so when Hiro stabs Sylar, Linderman heals him and Hiro believes that Sylar healed himself using Claire's power. At that point, Hiro goes back in time and tells Peter to save Claire from Sylar believing that that will stop the bomb, but not knowing that it will make no difference.

When Peter and Sylar finally meet in the halls while trying to rescue present Hiro, I thought it was interesting that Peter has Ted's power and Sylar has some other power. Peter's hands turned orange, like Ted's do when he's charging up, and Sylar's hands turned blue. What power was Sylar using, and where did it come from? Either way, I wish we could have seen the fight rather that just flashes of light from behind a closed door.

HRG is running an underground railroad for mutants or heroes or whatever you want to call them. I'm sure glad that he turned out to be a good guy, and that he finally found Claire again and his helping her. It was also nice to see Hana Gitelman working with him to aid the refugees. At present, she's trying to stop him, but apparently something happens down the line to change her mind. I thought it was equally interesting that Parkman knows about Claire and that Parkman has a kid with special abilities. I wonder what his child can do. And I wonder why his wife left.

We Just Need Some Time Alone

It happens in every relationship. Sooner or later, especially when you have kids, two people in a relationship need to spend time isolated from others. That's how we stay connected to our significant others or spouses. If we allow too many distractions in, then the next thing we know we're focused on parallel but separate lives and things start to go wrong. Reid Stowe seems to understand this principle all too well. He's planned a getaway for himself and his girlfriend that can end only one of two ways: marriage or death.

Check out the full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2063275,00.html

Mr. Stowe plans to sail around the world three times in 1,000 days without making any stops, no port calls, and no walking on solid ground. Interestingly, he's planning on taking his girlfriend along for the trip, and all I can say about that is that 1,000 days is a long time at sea. Let's do the quick math. One thousand days is just shy of three years. Is this guy insane?

Three years with no "I need to work late tonight." Heck. Three years without even a chance to go to work in the first place. Anyway, it says that they've tried to plan for every contingency. They've both learned first aid, learned to set broken bones, and learned to stitch cuts. I'm just wondering if he's learned anything about how to deliver a baby.

I know what he's thinking. I'm a guy. I can read between the lines. Mr. Stowe is 55. His girlfriend is 23. He's figuring on lot's a playtime. There's nothing else to do when you're stuck on the ocean for three years. At least that's what he thinks because that's how guys think.

I guarantee you that if you asked 100 guys what they would do if they were stuck on a deserted island with a sexy, younger woman, 95 of them would say that they'd be practicing for marriage. The other five would be hoping a cute boy showed up to rescue them, but ultimately they're still thinking the same thing. The women on the other hand would be thinking that they could get a great tan if that guy would quit blocking the sun.

I'll be interested to see whether these two end up with a kid born at sea and a marriage that lasts forever or if she slits his throat late one night, feeds his body to the sharks, and tells the Peruvian Coast Guard that he had an unfortunate encounter with a rogue white whale. I'm betting on the latter if he doesn't get that libido under control. After all, he's got nearly a year's worth of weeks where her hormones are going to be out of control, and he'll have nowhere to hide.

.07%

Finally, after a seemingly endless wait, we were able to continue the saga of "Heroes" with a brand new episode last night. When last we saw our beloved characters, Peter was getting a haircut from an amateur neurosurgeon, Hiro and Ando were looking for a better travel agent, Mohinder was auditioning for a part in "Supernatural," and Claire was at a family reunion. Highlight below to find out my thoughts on how things are advancing:

Sylar obviously misjudged Peter's abilities giving us the opportunity to see a little bit of a fight between the two. Of course, Peter is still learning and doesn't fight as dirty as Sylar, so he just ended up with a big piece of glass embedded in his head. Thankfully, Claire was at the house when Mohinder dropped Peter off so she could remove the glass and let Peter resuscitate himself.

Speaking of Claire, wasn't the Haitian with her when she met her grandmother (Angela Petrelli)? So where was he in this episode? He just seems to have disappeared.

I like how Peter changed his hair toward the end of the episode. Maybe now that he can see clearly from both eyes, he'll be able to focus on his powers, get chicks, and stop whining about everything. I also like how he theorized that saving Claire wasn't directly going to save the world, but that it led to him being able to regenerate which might save the world. I think I had the same theory in a comment that I posted. Don't I wish the writers were trying to keep up with me?

Based on the fact that Angela knows about Claire's power, I had wondered if she also knew about Peter and Nathan. Apparently, she does as she said that she knew before they did. That then leads to the question of how did she know? And how can her orders supersede those of HRG? Is she a part of the company that HRG is working for? And does she have any powers of her own?

There is an apparent connection between the company and Linderman since Matt overheard them say that they needed to meet with Linderman, and Linderman has the power to heal (at least plants, but presumably humans as well). There is some kind of connection between Angela and the Haitian that works for the company, and Angela knows a great deal about the powers of at least a few people. Based on a comment that she made to Claire about trying to save the world and a comment that Linderman made to Nathan about trying to save the world, I'm betting that Angela has a power of her own, that she was part of the original group that Linderman was talking about (that went astray), and that that original group was the foundation for the company that HRG is working for. That's my guess.

Linderman, while seeming mildly insane in the previous episode, now seems to be completely off his rocker. How does he figure that setting off a nuke that kills only ".07%" of the population will be good for the world? Is he planning to have some kind of mass healing ceremony at ground zero so that he can be elevated to some kind of demi-god status? And how does Nathan being in the White House play into that plan? I can't figure out the real end-game for him, but he sure knows how to push Nathan's buttons.

After missing out on Peter, Sylar made his way over to Isaac's place. Not only does he enjoy killing, but he's somewhat methodical about it, too. I think he intends to use his new ability to paint the future to locate the others with powers. I am encouraged, though, by the fact that Isaac said that he would show the world how he stopped Sylar. I'll bet that it's part of the story next week since the last comic that he wrote was about Hiro in the future and next week's episode is set five years in the future. Isaac is communicating his visions to the world through the comic, so it stands to reason that the message is in that last issue, and we'll get to see it next week.

Of course, Sylar couldn't wait to try out his new power, and it looked to me as if he were painting another copy of "Nathan in the White House." It seemed a little off, though. Nathan was colored oddly and had disproportionate hands. I wonder if that hints at something going on when Sylar steals a power. Maybe he can't control them as well as he thought. When Peter painted using Isaac's power, the image looked the same as if Isaac had painted it. Does this mean that Peter is better at absorbing powers and doesn't lose anything in the translation while Sylar only gets an approximation of the power? And if so, doesn't that give Peter an edge in any future battle between the two?

Matt, Ted, and HRG are all teamed up now. An unlikely trio that was originally a pair bent on destroying HRG. I still think that HRG is a decent man that got sucked into something bigger than him, but I wonder how much of that brainwashing is still there. Matt and Ted need to be extremely careful.

It was pretty cool, though, how HRG told Matt exactly what to do to get them out of there, and it was very cool with Ted created the EMP. "He says, 'Burn bright not hot,' and I shouldn't be near you." What a great line.

Finally, Hiro and Ando are in the future and they've run into future Hiro. I like the look of future Hiro better than the dorky Hiro of the present, I wonder if I'll like the character as much, though. Part of Hiro's charm is his innocence, and future Hiro doesn't seem all that innocent. He seems determined, and if I'm right, all those strings and clippings are his attempt to understand the fabric of time, but it doesn't seem to be doing him much good so far. I think we're in for an interesting conversation between the two of them in the next episode.