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So is anybody besides me watching Numb3rs, the new crime drama about the math geek who helps his FBI brother (Rob Morrow) solve crimes? The plots are not exactly rocket science, but thus far I'm finding the show entertaining enough to hope it sticks around.

One plot, for instance, found another mathematician (played by Doogie Howser) nearing a solution to the $1million Riemann prize when his daughter is kidnapped. That's actually a perfectly valid plotline combining FBI and math geeks. When it's determined that his solution is not correct, and Rob Morrow asks if his brother can't help out, he replies "You just asked me to solve a 150yr old math problem in a couple of hours." So they're being realistic about the tasks, too.

When the FBI brother is injured on duty, math brother (David Krumholtz, btw) retreats to his garage which he covers wall to wall (and ceiling) with chalkboards and begins working on unsolvable problems. "Please understand that I can't always work on what I want...sometimes I have to work on what's in my head" was the quote of that episode. Been there.

When I asked my math geek friend to watch it her primary complaint was that it is unrealistic to believe that a single math savant can each week demonstrate his genius is seemingly random areas of math. One week he was predicting the pattern of serial killers, the next he was doing structural integrity of skyscrapers, the one after that he was doing the spread of a disease. So she's got a point there. The only defense they've come up with so far is to make him a genius at "applied mathematics" so they have at least a basic excuse for why they can use him all over the place.

The writing is fun. Krumholtz's character manages to keep a great semi-smug expression on his face whenever trying to explain math to mere mortals. Sometimes he does it as if he really does want them to learn. On the subject of predicting the serial killers next move he said, "Imagine a lawn sprinkler. I can't predict where each drop of water will fall, it's impossible. Too many variables. But give me the location of enough drops, and I can tell you the location of the sprinkler."

Other times it comes off like he is treating them as 2yr olds. After discovering that 36 was a significant number in a code, somebody else spotted a 37 and declared that it must be connected to 36, since they were similar. "37 is prime," says Krumholtz, "36 is not. How could they be similar?"

Hey, I know it's not very deep stuff. But given that all primetime tv these days can be divided up into: fatguyhotwife sitcom, reality show, law and order spinoff, CSI spinoff, I have to say I'm finding it refreshing.

Like all good geeks I'm something of a packrat when it comes to my "obsolete" stuff. But I'm not as hardcore as some, I rarely find the time to hack the things in new and interesting ways (though I always seem to find the time to read the articles about other people that do). Recently I've found a new use for my old toys. I let my 2.5yr old daughter play with them.

• Our old Thinkpad 600 whose battery died now sits in the family room (plugged into the wall forever onward) with the almost sole purpose of playing flash-based games on sesameworkshop.com. I also stuck an email reader on there so my wife can check her mail if she wants, but we hardly ever use that.
• Bought one of those "key chain" cameras that are about 2inches square but never used it because the picture quality was so poor. So now my daughter carries it around and takes pictures of people. She never asks to see them developed, she just likes pushing the button and hearing it beep.
• Most recently I let her use my old MP3 player. Since I got a 20gig iPod this 128Meg one has just been sitting around. So I ripped a bunch of her Sesame Street CDs and stuck them all on there. Since it has its own speaker she doesnt need headphones. She now has her own personal jukebox.

Next I want to setup the old scanner that's sitting in the closet so she can send her drawings to her grandparents.

Last night's dinner conversation...

"So my doctor saw something on my tonsils she didn't like and sent me to an E N T."

"She sent you to one of those giant tree creatures from Lord of the Rings? That's cool."

I've found that, when meditating, the "watch the inside of your eyelids" trick tends to work for me. That is, try to get your brain to get past the "I have my eyes closed, therefore I see nothing" stage and into thinking that you see what's there. Articulate it -- "I see a spiky purple circle surrounded by yellow with perfect black in the center. It's floating from right to left." Kinda neat, and it gives your brain something to do instead of constantly saying "Doodley doo, here I am sitting with my eyes closed."

Different one. Across my bedroom is the cable box, which has an LED display. So in a pitch dark room I close my eyes until I can see only the LED and nothing else. Then I just focus on it.

First thing that happens is I see two of them. Fair enough, that's just my eyes unfocusing.

Then they both keep trying to drop, quickly but smoothly, to the bottom of my field of vision. I'm intrigued by this. After all, the light is a constant. Therefore I must be witnessing my eyes rolling back in my head. Fascinating. Each time I become aware of it, the lights come back up to the center where they belong - but only deliberately, when I will them to. I can let them stay down there if they want.

Then, they begin to move independently. This is a little weird. They get farther apart, then closer together, like two little spaceships floating around my field of vision. I wonder if my eyes are supposed to be doing that, and since I'm not sure if it's bad for my vision, I give up on this little exercise.

I have to try that again. It was definitely unexpected and very close to the state I was aiming for, since I would periodically become aware that I was no longer looking at an otherwise blank room, but rather that my awareness had come to be focused entirely on the lights, and the surrounding area was not just dark, but nothing at all.

My daughter (2yrd old) gets the concept of Jesus and God's house, because my wife takes her to church and explains it to her. She also is working on the concept of Buddha, because I'm explaining it to her.

So the other day at the dinner table she says "There's Jesus! There's Jesus right there!" and begins pointing. We're trying to figure out what she's looking at, moving things closer to her pointing finger. Finally I found it.

My daughter is seeing Jesus in the Land o Lakes Butter. This is the one with a female indian sitting crosslegged as the logo.

I thought this was hysterical, because now I could say things like "Daddy put Jesus back in the refrigerator now" and have her say things like "Bye bye Jesus, Jesus go in fridge."

Yesterday at dinner she reached for the butter and said "Katherine hold Jesus." At that point we decided that a joke's a joke, but it was getting a little silly. So I tried to explain that it's not Jesus, it's an Indian. At which point I think the joke was on me, because the conversation for the next five minutes was:
Indian.
Jesus!
Indian.
Jesus!
Indian.
Jesus!
Indian.
Jesus!
Indian.
Jesus!
Indian.
Jesus!

Finally I put it away and said "Indian going back in the fridge now" and she said "Jesus going back in the fridge now." I think she's playing with me.