Reviews and More

I love having extra storage for all of my computer files! I own several flash drives ranging in size from 256MB to 2GB and two external hard drives (80GB and 160GB), but am still not satisfied. What can I say? I’m an electronic file pack rat and would much rather save all of my videos, MP3s, photos, e-books, PowerPoint presentations, and assorted documents than delete them — only to wish I still had them later.

That’s why I’m VERY interested in purchasing this Western Digital 250GB portable hard drive from Buy.com. This particular hard drive is just 3″x5″ (the size of a typical index card), weighs a hair over six ounces, and doesn’t require an external power source or special installation software in order to use it. That means I can easily carry 250GB worth of data around in my purse or pocket, and access that data on any computer I come across, be it at the office, at the school computer lab, at the public library, etc. Perfect!

You’d think that a portable hard drive with these specs would cost a couple hundred bucks at least, but that’s not the case at all. This Western Digital 250GB model is currently one of the special weekly deals over at Buy.com, and is priced at just $99.99, which includes free shipping. Plus, that price can go even lower if I use Google Checkout (an extra $10 off) or apply for and use a Buy.com Visa card (an extra $30 off).

I know I won’t be able to beat those prices anywhere else, so I might end up ordering one even though I haven’t quite filled up my other drives yet!

Last night’s episode of Desperate Housewives was called “Mother Said”, and actually featured a lot of plot movement. It finally feels as though these season-long storylines are going somewhere! I guess that’s a good thing, seeing as how the finale is next week, so it’s definitely time to start wrapping stuff up. There was no indication of which way the confirmed “time jump” is going to go (whether forwards or backwards), but as I said before, I’m anxious for the change. I really think the show will benefit, and I’ll be happy to get some of these characters off my screen for good (cough *Kayla* cough).

Bree/Orson/Edie: After seeing Orson and Edie kiss last week, Bree reacts in her usual over-the-top way. First, she sabotages Edie’s clients during a house showing, and then she forbids Orson from seeing Benjamin by playing the “He’s not really related to you anyway” card. Orson decides to talk to an attorney about seeking visitation rights, so he prepares for the consultation by writing down all the pertinent facts about Benjamin’s parentage. That’s when Edie happens to come by his motel room to tell him to get Bree off her back, and of course she conveniently finds Orson’s confession.

So in typical Edie fashion, she immediately thinks of ways to blackmail Bree. She tells Bree that she expects to be treated as a best friend: she wants to be invited to all parties and events, plus she wants Bree’s cooking skills to be at her disposal. Bree doesn’t stand for that, however. Instead, she tells the three other housewives the whole story, and together, they decide to freeze Edie out for good. At the end, Edie is seen telling Travers that she’s going to be spending a lot more time with him in the future.

Katherine/Dylan/Wayne: After hearing that Dylan has invited Wayne to a school recital, Katherine decides to take some action to stop Wayne from coming around so much. She tells him that she lied about Dylan being his daughter. Katherine had lots of affairs when they were married, and can say for sure that Wayne is not the father. He doesn’t believe her, but takes Dylan’s discarded gum for a DNA analysis.

The results come back and prove conclusively that Katherine was right. But then Wayne notices something strange. While watching old home videos of Dylan, he remembers that she had 11 stitches in her arm after a bicycle accident. The current “Dylan”, however, doesn’t have a scar on her arm, so she’s clearly not the same child.

Gabby/Carlos/Ellie: Things are going surprisingly well with these three, as Ellie gets along nicely with both Gabby and Carlos. That is, until Gabby finds Ellie’s stash of cocaine under her bed. Carlos insists on going to the cops since he’s still on probation, so that’s what they do. It turns out that the cops already know about Ellie and have been following her for months. The problem is, they’re not interested in busting her; they want her supplier. So they ask Gabby and Carlos to act like they know nothing and just let Ellie continue dealing until they find out where she’s getting her drugs from. In return, they’ll drop Carlos’s remaining probation time.

Lynette/Tom/Kayla: Lynette and Tom bring in a child psychologist to observe family interactions at home. The guy suggests that Kayla’s acting out because she doesn’t feel loved by Lynette, so he recommends that the two spend lots of “alone” time together. Lynette then takes Kayla shopping, but Kayla immediately turns into the demanding little brat that we’ve seen before (like in the ice cream shop). After Kayla threatens Penny, Lynette loses her cool and slaps the brat in front of everyone at the store. Later, Kayla calls the shrink and says that Lynette hit her, that it wasn’t the first time, and that she’s scared.

Susan/Mike: Mike’s mom comes to stay with them for a few days. She’s “Southern”, which I guess means she speaks her mind, no matter how rude she ends up sounding. It turns out that she knows all about Susan’s shortcomings from Mike, and she has no qualms about bringing up these faults and offering to help. This obviously drives Susan crazy, so she demands that Mike do something about his mom. Just as Mike is about to tell his mom to lay off, Susan starts having contractions. She has the baby before the end of the ep, but we don’t know whether it’s a boy or a girl.

My Reaction: I actually thought this was a solid episode for once. There certainly wasn’t as much humor as I like to see on DH, but I’d gladly sacrifice a few chuckles for some good old-fashioned plot movement any day.

It looks like we’re finally seeing the end of Edie Britt. That rumor has been going on for a while, but it seems as though this time it could be true. I never really liked the character, so it’s not going to be a big loss for me. She was funny sometimes, but, honestly, there hasn’t been much for her to do in the past couple of seasons. Again, change can be good.

Another character that REALLY needs to leave is Kayla. God, I don’t care how they do it, but I just want that brat off my screen now! She serves zero purpose on the show except to give the Scavos something to argue about. Give me a break. I hope Tom decides to divorce Lynette and take Kayla away. He’s becoming just as annoying as she is, so that would be killing two birds with one stone as far as I’m concerned. Wow, how could Tom not even care that Kayla threatened Penny? What a clueless dipshit.

The Ellie storyline took an interesting twist with the setup/sting, but knowing Carlos and Gabby, they’ll find some way to mess everything up.

I’m surprised that the housewives simply took in Bree’s story about Benjamin without batting an eyelash. Don’t they remember everything Bree put them through? All the lies? Sending Susan to that shady clinic? Yeah, Edie was way out of line for trying to blackmail Bree, but Bree hasn’t exactly been little miss innocent over there. Sheesh, a little indignation would have been nice to see.

I thought Mike’s mom was kind of funny, and thought Susan did remarkably well putting up with her. I’m glad they didn’t drag that storyline out though, as I’m sure it would become tiresome very quickly.

Still not interested in Dylan/Katherine/Wayne. We knew Dylan wasn’t the same girl because of all that stuff with Julie, and we knew Wayne wasn’t the real dad because of the grimy guy in the rundown apartment that they showed a few eps ago. So, yeah, yawn.

Anyway, like I said, I’m looking forward to the season finale and the time jump. I just hope it works in renewing my interest in this show!