Caught these two brain-related stories on the way to preschool drop-off on Morning Edition:

The iPod of the Brain

Thinking is Doing With Cyborg Techonology

Fascinating stuff. Kept us in the driveway, engine running until we heard the end of it.

After picking L up from preschool today we went over to the local movieplex and saw Because of Winn-Dixie. It was a fair interpretation of the book. My biggest peeve was that it was filmed in Louisiana. The entire time I was watching the movie I was trying to identify the location. It's supposed to be Florida, there's even sugar cane growing in the background, but there was not one town I could think of that had that combination of farmland, flora, and architecture, and God knows, I have been through nearly every little town in Florida at one time or another looking at real estate. So maybe I was a tad distracted and it was really a blockbuster, but I don't think so.

Missed the trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while I spent a small fortune on popcorn and drinks. The kids were a bit weirded out by it and insisted I take a look online when we got home. Being a fan of Roald Dahl, Tim Burton, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and especially, Johnny Depp, I am highly interested in seeing this one, good or not.

The older two girls and I went to the Charlotte Symphony last night. S looked so grown up and sophisticated; so poised. At one point during the first Tsaichovsky piece I had to gently curb her enthusiasm as she was humming along and practically dancing in her seat. G, on the other hand, was dying to get out of there. After intermission she was squirming and writhing in her seat with gas pains, threatening to explode. I whispered to her to make a quick exit for the restrooms in between the last three movements, when I expected applause, but alas, there was none and she was forced to wait it out until we got to the car. The people in the theater have no idea how lucky they were.

During the performance of Tsaichovsky's "Romeo and Juliet," the second piece, the audience was at first startled, and then highly perturbed to hear a baby googling. Well, the Charlotte Symphony encourages children to attend performances, admitting one child free with each paid adult and only charging half an adult ticket price for children, but that was pushing it. From where we sat we could see the older folks stiffen each time the baby made a noise and at some point, I missed the actual confrontation, the lady and the baby were escorted out. As intermission drew to a close, a woman came on stage to apologize for the disturbing event. She went on to explain that the mother had been very receptive to their request to leave and passed on the story that the baby had been born deaf and had just received implants in her ears and was reacting to the first music she had ever heard in her life. A big collective, "Awwwwwwwww!" arose from the crowd and I bet quite a few people felt a little guilty for being so crabby.

While all this was going on, Big G took L out for a special night of her own at an upscale local restaurant. She wore her favorite fancy red dress and picked out an extra loud shirt for her Dad to wear. What a sport!