Maria got us hooked on Heroes

I call my friend Maria my pusher. She lends me books and DVDs and gets me hooked. For a while, she was lending me every Anita Blake book, until I decided they had become too racy for my taste.

The latest addiction is the TV series Heroes. She and my friend Dan had been raving about Heroes for the last year. Well, it's nearly impossible for me to watch regular network television, so I had to content myself with her raves.

A couple of weeks ago, Maria lent me the first season of Heroes on DVD and now Maki and I are hooked. We have precious time to watch the episodes, because our son keeps us quite busy, but we absolutely love the show. My favorite characters are Hiro and the cheerleader. And I loved the scene where Nathan evades the bad guys by shooting straight into the air, shows up in his pajamas at a diner in the Nevada desert, and proceeds to give Hiro this "you are crazy" look when Hiro tells him he can bend space and time. Awesome stuff. Thanks, Maria!

HD content has arrived on the Apple TV!

Last night, when I turned on the Apple TV to watch a couple of Thomas videos with CJ, the device took forever to boot up. It went through several update cycles, then finally booted up. I thought something was wrong with it.

But something had changed! The interface is different and there is now a menu item for HD Content. HD content? Really!

There are about 40 or so classic and new movies available to rent in regular format $2.99, HD format for $3.99. CJ was lobbying for us to rent Charlotte's Web, but I want to rent The Little Prince, yes, the classic version with Gene Wilder. We have a backlog of movies to watch, so it may be a while before we actually rent an HD movie from iTunes, but I'm psyched that HD content is now available. Woo hoo!

I need a mommy coach

I think I need a mommy coach. You know, someone who can guide me through the ins and outs of being a mom, especially a mom of a pre-schooler.

I had a near traumatic experience on Tuesday morning, Valentine's Day. I woke up early to get some work done before my early meeting. CJ had a Valentine's Day party during school and I checked his school newsletter to check the time.

As I read the announcement about the party more closely, it said, "please make sure you bring a valentine for every child in class." Oh my god, I realized that the valentines that CJ had made in school were not sufficient. My child was expected to bring a valentine for every child in the class. So here it was, 6am, I need to be in Maryland by 9am and I hadn't showered or eaten.

I ran around like a crazy woman, looking for supplies. Luckily, CJ and I had made a bunch of paper snowflakes the previous weekend. I decided to make Valentine's Day cards with the snowflakes. Problem was, I could not find the glue stick. I actually called the nanny at home at 6:30am to find out where she keeps the glue stick.

I did it. I made 15 Valentine's Day cards, got dressed, got CJ dressed and ready for school, and was only 15 minutes late to my meeting. CJ did not have to endure the trauma of being the only child without valentines for his classmates. Phew. Saved by the snowflakes.

So I definitely need a mommy coach. Someone who will remind me to buy CJ's Halloween costume in September, tell me what snacks are good for pre-schoolers, teach me about playdate etiquette, and tell me about upcoming craft projects. Dear God, CJ is only 3.

I'm interested in politics again

I have two degrees in International Relations and I used to be very interested in domestic and international politics. I campaigned for a few candidates and I faithfully read the Post, the Economist, the Far Eastern Economic Review, TIME. But over the past few years, I just lost interest in politics. Although I have never missed voting in a general election (I have even voted in all but one primaries), I just lost interest.

This year, like many people I suspect, is different. I am reading about the presidential campaigns, I'm reading the detailed profiles of the candidates from both parties, and I'm staying up (not too late, but still staying up) to watch the returns. I'm excited that the Democrats will make history with their candidate this year, and it's fun to see a real race for the Republican nomination for a change.

I'm sure the campaign leading up to the November election will get really ugly, really soon, but for now, it's great to be interested again.

No bubble bath

I am finally using the fancy jacuzzi tub in our master bathroom. On weekends when I have time, Maki lets me soak for an hour in hot, bubbly water. I think it's a leftover from our trip to Japan last November, when I rediscovered the joys of hot baths at the ryokan (Japanese inn) in Kyoto.

So here's my beef. I ran out of bubble bath last week and trooped over to Bed Bath & Beyond. It's a bath store, they have to have bubble bath, right? Well guess what? Bed Bath & Beyond does NOT carry bubble bath (I asked three salespeople). How is that even possible? No idea. They did have a bath pillow, which has made my baths even more relaxing, but no bubble bath.

For bubble bath, I had to go to Target. God bless Target, which even had several choices of bubble bath. I now favor the Aveeno bubble bath coz it's got fancy moisturizers.

I love Amtrak

Last week, I took the train up to New York City to make a presentation at a client's Board meeting. Did I think about flying up to NY from DC? Not for one minute. Here are the many reasons I love taking the train to NY:

1. I can get my tickets last minute. Of course, there is always the chance that a specific train will sell out, but I almost never have trouble buying a ticket the night before.
2. I can get to the train station 30 minutes before the train leaves and still have plenty of time to park my car, go downstairs, go to the bathroom and grab coffee before boarding.
3. 9 times out of 10, the train leaves on time and arrives on time. On the few occasions that the Acela or Metroliner has been late, it has been by 5-10 minutes. How often does that happen with a commercial flight?
4. When I arrive in NY, I am less than 10 minutes away by cab from pretty much anywhere I need to go, and there is a civilized taxi line.
5. It takes less time to get to NY from my house on the train, door to door, than flying.
6. There is AC power on the train so I can work on my laptop.
7. There is plenty of legroom.
8. Although the food is not great, there are lots of options. I can always get by on a bagel and yogurt or pepperoni pizza.
   
9. The Arrive magazine actually has some good suggestions for events and restaurants in NY and Washington.
10. I can use my cell phone if I need to, or go into the quiet car if I want absolutely peace and quiet.
11. I have a lot of interesting people on the train.
12. I met my husband on the train! No kiddng!