TEXT: Scene: Webcam conversation between Bernadette's Office and the International Space Station Howard: Hey, Bernie. Bernadette: Hey, how's my little astronautie hottie? Howard: Okay, I guess. It's just, being cooped up in this tin can for weeks on end is starting to get to me. Bernadette: Well, hang in there. You just have a couple more days to go, and then you'll be home. Howard: I know. Bernadette: I got to get back to work. I love you. Howard: Love you too. Hey, Bernie? Before you go, can you do something for me? Bernadette: What do you want me to do? Howard: Okay, here it is. I really miss gravity. Can you drop something so I can watch it fall? Bernadette: Really, you're serious? Okay. (Drops a pencil) Howard: Oh, baby, you're killing me. Scene: The apartment. Penny enters, carrying a box. Penny: Ugh. Hey, Sheldon? Hi. This came for you today. It's from your mom. Sheldon: Oh, thank you, Penny. Penny: M-hmm. Sheldon: Yeah, wait, here. For your troubles. Penny: Oh, boy, a whole dollar. Now, I can quit my paper route. So, what's in it? Leonard: Mmm, doesn't matter. Half the time, he just ends up playing with the box. Sheldon: Yeah, it's journals and research papers I wrote as a child. Penny: Aw, how cute. Is this like a diary? Sheldon: No, that's my potty training journal. Penny: Really, your potty training journal? Sheldon: Yeah. And forgive my crude penmanship. I didn't start typing until I was six. Penny: August 7, 8:42 a.m. This is humiliating. What was wrong with diapers? Sheldon: There are some charts in the back where I kept track of shape, colour and consistency. Penny: Oh, disgusting. Leonard: No,
SUMMARY:
Sheldon has his childhood scientific notebooks sent from home, hoping to discover Nobel Prize material in them. Having no time to read the notebooks himself, he hires attractive female grad student Alex Jensen to do so. When Amy finds out about Alex, she is jealous and inspects Sheldon's office despite Penny's insistence that Alex has no interest in him. Amy and Penny later see Alex flirting with Leonard in the Caltech cafeteria, now making Penny jealous. Amy points out that though Penny is unsure of her feelings for Leonard, subconsciously the thought of him with another woman bothers her. Penny gradually realizes Amy may be right. After finding an elementary school project of Sheldon's with Nobel potential, Alex visits him at home where Penny and Leonard are. Penny introduces herself to Alex (with Penny subtly hinting that Leonard is hers) then drags Leonard to her apartment for sex. Meanwhile, a homesick Howard wants to return to Earth as soon as possible. When the return Soyuz capsule is delayed, he suffers anxiety attacks, cabin fever, and "space dementia" (i.e. he talks nonsense). The other astronauts give him a sedative which relaxes him but also makes him remove his pants and windmill in microgravity.