A number of topics can be seen on the stacks of index cards Monk prepares for his telephone conversation with Michelle from the power plant, including: investigation, where from?, thinking about you, history, English lit, biology, organic produce, reality television, travel: US, travel: Europe, 2004 compact sedans, 2004 film festivals, and, of course, Trudy.
The monocular night vision device that Adrian dons when the lights go out is nearly identical to the set worn by Ted Levine while acting in the movie Silence of the Lambs.
There was a similar scene to Silence of the Lambs where a villain in the dark (Ted Levine who plays Cpt. Stottlemeyer in Monk) wears a pair of night vision goggles (NVGs) while looking for someone in the dark.