TV, Telephone, and New Neighborhood Tastes

I have come to the conclusion that the number of episodes in each season of PBS's Call the Midwife is woefully insufficient. Season 1 only had six episodes and Season 2, eight. It isn't enough, I declare! I demand more! 

Ahem.

Last season, I enjoyed Call the Midwife. But this season, well, I fell in love. If you're unfamiliar, the series is based on a trilogy of books by former midwife Jennifer Worth. (I've just finished reading the first book, The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times, and it's outstanding. More on that in a bit.) It's set in post-WWII London (the East End, to be specific) and follows the Sisters and midwives of Nonnatus House. Like I said, the first season was good, but I was waffling a bit on whether or not to continue watching. I'm so glad I did. Season 2 just ended a few weeks back and I was in tears. (Truth be told, I was in tears during episode six, as well as episode eight!)

Now: a little disclaimer. If your ear is unaccustomed to hearing the Brits speak (especially the Cockney dialect) it might be a little hard to get into the series. But just give it time! You'll adjust and will be hooked as quickly as I was, I'm sure. The characters are so heartfelt and human, and that's something that really shines in the book, as well. 

It was interesting for me to read the book after I had been watching the series. Generally, if I've seen a show or movie, I have a very hard time reading the book it was based on, especially if I have enjoyed the show or movie. Then I feel that the bar is set and, if the book differs from the production in any way, I'm disappointed and grumpy about it. But, in this case, reading the book after seeing the series only made me love it all the more. And I'm happy to say that the show is very faithful to the true-life accounts Jennifer Worth describes in her memoir. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the second book in the trilogy from the library. It seems the series is in high demand; good on ya, you smart cookies!

Now, enough about TV for now. Let's talk telephone. Anyone have Time Warner Cable? It's been a very frustrating month at the Czaplewski house. We've had repeated outages of not only our telephone service, but along the cable and internet. Whenever I call to find out the scoop on what's going on, I get the standard canned answer of "there seems to be some temporary issue that our technicians are aware of and they are working to resolve." I'm just wondering if anyone else is having similar troubles.

And, finally, speaking of getting the scoop, I checked out the newly opened Longhorn Steakhouse the other night. My rating: a B-. The service, from being seated to being served, was, at best, slow. We waited nearly five minutes after being seated for our server to even approach our table and take our drink orders. Then, when our food came out, it was poorly prepared (I had an overly salty chicken specialty and my mom had an under-baked potato) and incorrect. I need to be one of those patrons who is unafraid of sending something back to the kitchen if it is incorrect, but I'm always too nervous to do so. So, yeah. It was an okay meal. Certainly, in our opinions, not worth the price tag. Anyone else try it out yet?