Heavy Snow, Four Wheel Drive (Or Lack Thereof) and The Kindness of Strangers

There have been much snow these past few weeks in the northern USA. Both Jia Nin (in Minnesota) and I (in Michigan) have been liberally sprinkled with 20-30 cm on some days. I have a Honda CR-V in Ann Arbor with four wheel drive so I was able to drive around OK as long as I was careful. Jia Nin's car, however, only has front wheel drive and no amount of electronic traction control would allow it to climb an icy slope. We were trying to get out of her condo complex and the exit was an uphill climb. Not a particularly steep slope, but the patchy ice that has formed due to partially melted snow (from vehicles driving over it) refreezing (it was below freezing after all) made it very difficult. We almost made it 3/4 of the way up the slope, but a pickup truck towing a trailer made a wide turn into the complex, blocking the entrance and forcing us to stop. Darn. Since we lost momentum, the car couldn't make it up the rest of the way so I started to drive backwards down the slope to get to a flatter section so that we can accelerate back up. No luck. A garbage truck came in and I was forced to back down again. But since it was much wider than the pickup, I edged closer to the side of the road to give it more room; right into a snow bank. #$%^&*! No damage but we were stuck. Wheels couldn't get traction and the "rock back and forth" method of getting out of snow wasn't working since the car was on a slope. We got shovels from the condo complex and started to dig the car out. Thankfully, two gentlemen who were driving by in a pickup stopped to help. They were thinking of towing the car out but the Volkswagen GTI is not what you would call a sturdy car. Attaching a tow rope to the bumper is more likely to tear it off than move the car (this example comes to mind!). Instead, they made short work of the snow behind the car and helped push the car sideways to prevent it from sliding back into the snow bank as I backed down (did I mention that the slope was also slightly curved?). We're out! We thanked the two very, very helpful gentlemen and went back home to wait for the snow plow to clear the road some more. Thanks again guys! P.S. Yes, we made it out after the road was plowed around noon.

TV Shows

Although it has been really busy these past twelve months, I did manage to sneak some time to watch a few TV shows. No, I absolutely refuse to watch any "reality" shows. Life (wiki) Cop gets framed and jailed for 12 years, but finally was freed by DNA evidence. Sues the city for a ton of money and his old job back. He tries to solve the mystery of who framed him and why, while doing the regular day-to-day crime fighting. Best new show this year. Excellent acting and characters, riveting and consistent background storyline, good episode plots, storytelling at a fast pace, funny bits that don't need to try too hard, and all the little details that tie the entire season's episodes together just makes this show primo. Bones (wiki) A group of scientists help the FBI solve cases which involve often mysterious human remains. In its 2nd season, Bones continues to be THE geek's TV show. Loads of science (though they take liberties with it), good chemistry between the lead actor/actress and the cast, gory corpses that died in really creative ways, and clever storytelling. Getting a bit relationship heavy but not in a bad way so far. CSI, CSI: New York (wiki) In their 8th and 4th seasons respectively, these two shows are part of the Crime Scene Investigation franchise (the former is the original, set in Las Vegas). There is another CSI show set in Miami, but very NOT recommended. As with any long running show, the focus is not really on the central theme of forensics anymore, though it still plays a big part. The episodes now tend to be about the characters, their relationships with each other, their lives and how work is screwing that up. I fast forward quite a bit these days, but the shows are still good to watch. Chuck (wiki) Computer guy receives a mysterious email, gets a top-secret database downloaded into his head. Now he's an "asset" and has to help the NSA/CIA/rest-of-the-alphabet-soup. One thing to note, this show absolutely cannot be taken seriously. The villains are laughable, the science is fake, the heroine-super-spy practically gets captured every single episode, guns everywhere but it still devolves to heee-yaaa hand to hand fights, and the most annoying supporting character ever (the "best friend" who I really, really hoped from episodes 2 to 8 would get shot). However, I still watch it because the main character (computer guy) evolves. Not the "turn into super spy" kind of evolve, but more the "gets more mature" growth that screen geeks don't typically experience. Fast forward about 20min of 40min show. [Note: there was a 2003 show called Jake 2.0 that was similar, and IMHO, better. But it got canceled in its first season :-( ] Bionic Woman (wiki) Remake of the Bionic Woman show from the 80s. Back when I first watched The Six Million Dollar Man and the original Bionic Woman, the main theme was "oh wow, look at all the cool things they can do". This version of the Bionic Woman keeps dwelling on "oh my god, these enhancements will kill me one day". The main character is just so whiny. Not much story arc other than trying to get those nannites fixed. There is a semi-evil Version 1.0 who is after a cure too. This show would have been so much better if they had the Version 1.0 go around taking advantage of her powers. Fast forward very, very much. Reaper (wiki) Guy's soul was sold to the devil by his parents (they meant well, but....) and now has to hunt down souls who escaped from hell. The pilot episode was pretty good but it rapidly went downhill with a main thread that is going nowhere. TWO irritating supporting characters (best friend and love interest), a devil that is more mischievous than satanic, dumb plots. Fast forward through 35min of the 40min show. Heroes (wiki) People with super powers. What do you mean you've never heard of it?! Season 2 now. The first 6-7 episodes of this season was slow going, a disappointment after the fast pace of the first season. Quality has been inconsistent, but the storyline remains good. Too many new characters that don't seem to contribute to the main plot though. Oh yes, and almost every key character who died earlier gets resurrected. Not badly done so far, but really easy to abuse and overuse. Stargate Atlantis (wiki) The series, and its predecessor (Stargate SG1, which ended last year at season 10) have been suffering from "the bug hunt". Bug hunts are episodes which contribute almost absolutely nothing to the main storyline. In the first few seasons, when some alien race is being built up to become a super-duper enemy seeking to destroy Earth/our heroes/the galaxy, bug hunts are good since they help build up the characters and background. But now in season 4, instead of looking frantically for ways to defeat the enemy, the cast goes on vacation, or an exploration mission, or a "monster of the week" pops up on the base, etc, etc. So instead of promoting character growth, they now seem inserted just to fill the episode quota of a season. In short, fast forward to the nice CGI effects and skip around enough to see if the episode is worth watching at normal speed. :-P Top Gear (wiki) Top Gear is an award winning car show. Yes, a car show. This is not your average car show. It's hilarious, showcases cars that you won't be able to buy anyway, and generally have a lot of fun. Good Eats (wiki) You expect me to go through all that and not have a cooking show?! This is the best cooking show ever made. Humor, food science, "how to cook meat" episodes :-D, funny host, interesting recipes..... Yummy! Before you think that I'm watching way too much TV, keep in mind that I'm recording them on my computer so all the fast forwarding and skipping around is really easy and fast to do. Best thing: absolutely zero commercials!