Reviews and More

I just got done watching the CSI episode called “Sweet Jane.” It’s the first one after Grissom takes his sabbatical, and we got introduced to a new character: Mike Keppler (played by Liev Schreiber. I haven’t been reading the tabloids or any CSI gossip, so I don’t know if Schreiber is going to become a permanent member or if he’s just going to appear in a few eps. Similarly, I don’t know if William Petersen’s absence will be permanent or not.

This episode focused on a single case, and although slow-moving at times, I liked it as a whole. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I liked the Keppler character: he’s so different from the other team members — but in a good way. He’s smart, he’s got experience, and he looks at things from a profiler’s perspective rather than the strictly scientific method that Grissom advocated. It was a nice change from what I’ve been watching for the last seven years.

Anyway, in “Sweet Jane,” the ep starts with the discovery of a dead body. It’s a young female who has been stripped of her clothing and left in the middle of a bad neighborhood. She has no ID on her, so is taken in as a Jane Doe. Fortunately, the team is able to identify the girl later based on fingerprints and a tattoo.

Something about the case doesn’t sit well with Keppler, so he starts checking into similar unsolved Jane Doe killings. The CSIs uncover three other cases: one in 1975, one in 1988, and one in 1999. All of the victims were of a similar body type, and all were posed in a similar fashion after their deaths.

Everyone chips in to help solve the case, and the team eventually does track down the serial killer, a guy who shows a complete lack of remorse.

Like I said, I really did enjoy this episode because of the new character. It makes me think that maybe there should be even more cast changes in the future just to shake things up. I, for one, wouldn’t miss Catherine if she were to be replaced. Would you? Just food for thought here….

Last month I forgot to include a couple of people on my Christmas card list, and as a result, had to really scramble in order to get their cards out on time. In fact, I opted to send ecards instead of paper ones just to make sure they would arrive on time.

The recipients actually liked the animated greetings that I sent and I got some positive comments about the cards, so now I’m thinking about doing this for even more occasions. There are just so many benefits associated with eCards that it’s hard to go back to store-bought cards. For example, I can schedule my eCards to arrive on a specific date, which means I can prepare birthday, anniversary, and holiday cards whenever I have free time — even if it’s months in advance! In addition, I can send the same greeting to everyone on my mailing list, which means I only have to fill out one card instead of a whole bunch. What a timesaver!

Right now there’s a 30-day free trial membership at MSN greetings during which time users can experience all the benefits and convenience of the wide selection of American Greetings eCards. After that, it’s just $13.99 to send unlimited eCards for an entire year. I don’t know about you, but I spend at least 10 times that amount on cards in a year, so this would be a tremendous savings for me.

Sign up for the trial membership and tell me what you think!

This week on Grey’s Anatomy, we got part two of the episode called “Six Days.” A lot happened in this one, so I’m going to jump right into the recap and my thoughts on the ep. Spoilers throughout.

George: There was a lot of emotion in this storyline tonight. First, George found out that Bailey and the Chief operated on his father despite the fact that the cancer had spread to his vital organs. Even when those two explaines that that’s what Mr. O’Malley wanted, George didn’t back down. He said his father didn’t know any better, but that Bailey and the Chief did. George would rather have had weeks or months more with his father than risk that kind of surgery.

There were more terrific George moments later in the episode. One occurred in the conference room when Bailey was explaining the options they had regarding keeping George’s dad on life support or pulling the plug. The way George’s brothers finally took him seriously and asked for his medical advice was awesome — very touching, and just awesome.

Then, after George’s dad died, it was nice to see all the interns waiting out in the hall. They didn’t have to say anything. Just being there was enough. It’s been a long time since they were all on the same page, and it was cool to seem them together again.

Cristina/Burke: Preston is still just hanging out in the hospital bed. I don’t understand why he is bed-ridden after surgery on his hand??? Anyway, these two went through the entire episode without talking to each other (again), but Preston did cave in at the end by talking to Derek about his hand when Cristina was in the room. Apparently, he hasn’t had any tremors in a week, so maybe he’ll be back in action soon.

Bailey: Bailey had two strong scenes tonight. One was where she just got done reinserting the tube in Mr. O’Malley’s throat and said “My son is named after his son, so I need a moment here.” The second came when she told Izzie off about donating the money for that girl’s surgery.

Izzie: Didn’t annoy me today. I’m glad to see that the character is getting back to normal.

Addison/Alex: I love Kate Walsh so much!! She is definitely my favorite actress on the show now. I thought she was a bit cruel towards Mark when she told him that he would have made a terrible father, but their relationship is so messed up that maybe he deserved that. Anyway, she and Alex finally do kiss (Addison totally initiated it), but as I said before, I’m not really interested in another intern/attending hook-up at this point.

Derek/Meredith: Not much this week… yay!!!

Overall, a very good episode. Looking forward to next week as well.

I’m surprised at the number of people I know who don’t have a broadband Internet connection at home. Some of them seem to be content to access the Internet only when they’re at work, while others don’t seem to mind the agonizingly slow pace of dialup services. I rely heavily on the Internet for both business and entertainment purposes, so I can’t imagine living without my broadband connection.

Maybe my friends would change their minds about broadband at home if they found an ISP that offered a low enough price. For example, Eclipse has a great promotion going on right now. New customers will not only get a cheap broadband deal but will also receive a free wireless router. That’s high-speed access plus the ability to use the Internet from any room in your home (if you have a laptop)… Sounds too good to pass up, so check it out!