Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

This post is now a part of the first edition of the Food and Travel Blog Carnival.

In a recent trip to visit the Dearborn, Michigan, area, I stayed at the Sleep Inn for a total of four nights. Their Henry Ford vacation package seemed like the best deal, but I cannot wholeheartedly recommend them to other future travelers.

I have a high tolerance level when it comes to hotel stays, and my experience obviously did not annoy me to the point of changing hotels. If I were ever to return to the area, however, I would take my chances by booking somewhere else.

First though, there are many positives to the property.

1. The free breakfast is great—hot sausages, hard boiled eggs, make-your-own waffles with optional strawberry topping, cereal, danishes, bagels, etc. The woman taking care of the breakfast area is fantastic.
2. Excellent sound-proofing—no conversations, TVs, alarms from your neighbors
3. Good hot water and water pressure
4. Free wifi, parking, and pool
5. Courteous and attentive staff

Now here are the reasons that I cannot recommend staying here.

1. Highway and train noise—I’m a city girl so things like this usually doesn’t bother me but it will probably bother a lot of other people. The train tracks are right outside the window. Plus there’s an ungated crossing at the corner of the hotel so the trains have to blow their horns. Then right after the tracks, it’s the highway.
2. Cleanliness—For the most part, nothing was really dirty but there are scuffmarks on the walls and residue in the corners that made it seem dingy and well used. The fan vent and the hair dryer in the bathroom had a lot of built-up dust on them. Little details like a missing sink stopper and loose threads on the bed cover detract from the overall presentation.
3. Overall noise—Because of the pool and the more reasonable rates, there are going to be families with children. While the rooms are well insulated for air noise, structural noise is another matter entirely. This factor is going to be hit or miss depending on how lucky you draw your neighbors. For two out of my four nights, the upstairs room contained kids making a lot of noise late into the night. The floorboards creaked with footfalls, and any heavy footsteps or jumping created thuds that shook my room and bed. In both instances, I had to make a visit to the front desk. On the second occurrence, I had to follow up with a personal visit upstairs.

Tags: Travel by Ms. SP
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Come read the seventh BSG “so say we all” blog carnival.

spoilers for “Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?” (4.7)

Wow.

This felt like a throwback episode. I had not realized just how much I’ve been missing this pace of storytelling until just this past weekend.

Starting about mid-season three, the breakneck speed of the series slowed. It’s not that the show was no longer tense or explosive, but that the explosions usually came after a lot of talking and extended focus.

I used to chair dance during the drum part of the theme song. Somewhere along the way, I stopped. BSG became more like a drawing room drama while exploring such worthy topics as social predeterminism, religious and expressive freedoms, and constitutional democracies. But in “Guess What’s Coming to Dinner,” the show felt like it did in the olden times, when the fireworks happened around every corner.

Right off the bat, when Roslin called Tory out about sleeping with Baltar, I gasped. And then she got scary as only Roslin can get scary, and I found myself holding my breath.

That pattern continued all through the episode, where almost everything was surprising while making absolute sense. I can’t remember when we last dealt with a problematic jump, but this episode’s first one had an audible “no!” from me, while the last one just plain had my jaw on the ground.

The entire episode was a roller coaster ride. The Natalie Six in front of the Quorum. Hera and Athena’s chase through the halls. The shot. Planning double crosses. Gaeta’s song full of sadness. The reactions of the Five (minus one). Everything had me sharply focused, trying to catch everything there is to catch.

I tend to extol and talk about the philosophical, thoughtful aspects of genre shows. But episodes like this remind me why I’m a fangirl too and that I love the “whoa-that-was-cool!” aspects so much.

And that’s why BSG deserves all the good things that people say about it. “Guess What’s Coming to Dinner” brought the excitement and the anticipation while being chocked full of content. No filler here.

Separate wonderings:

• If Cavil’s faction tried to lobotomize the Raiders, are the Raiders still with them? Do the Raiders have enough sentience to leave? What about the Centurions?
• I didn’t even consider that Hera was also having the same dream. Since that’s the case, why does Baltar not owe up to his part of the process?

Tags: TV by Ms. SP
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Before I begin, let me recommend the good batch of posts included in the latest blog carnival.

spoilers through “Faith” (4.6)

This has bothered me ever since we first started seeing daily life on a basestar. Why are the Sharons so inconsistently portrayed? In this episode, we saw some more model Eights asking Athena to lead them, to be in charge. They looked docile—arms pulled meekly into their bodies, their hair arranged so they looked like children, and wearing sweaters and outfits from the softer side of Sears.

The Sharons we know, Boomer and Athena, have never been like this. They have both endured unbelievable mental anguish, and while they may have become unstable at times, they never broke.

Now, Boomer’s with Cavil, having made a cold steel decision and Athena’s with Helo. “Our” model Eights are tough.

Why then, are the other models so different? They speak softly and duck their heads. They do naked Tai Chi under the creepy male gaze of a One. There must be something inside all the rest of these Eights.

I wonder if the final words of the sacrificed Eight in this episode is going to bring about a lot of fireworks in future episodes. Athena told them to pick a side and stick. Otherwise they’ll never have anything. And the Eight agreed at the end. The problem is, they were already going to turn against the Sixes. And Boomer has “something” over on the other side. I think it could be possible that the Eights choose Cylon.

Tags: TV by Ms. SP
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