"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

That is the sound of local television here in Florida any time a storm heads our way. Right now we are under a Hurricane Warning". This is stretching from Vero Beach, 40 miles north of me, to Miami. TROPICAL STORM Katrina is expected to make landfall in Broward County, 90 miles south of me. As it skates across the Bahamas, Katrina has winds of 45 miles per hour and is forecasted to hit the mainland as a category one storm.

To watch the local newscasts you would have thought Lucifer had just announced he was beginning the apocalypse and it was starting in Ft. Lauderdale.

"IT'S THE COUNTDOWN TO KATRINA!"

Give me a friggin' break!

These dolts on local TV are having a field day trying to stir up the masses. I will admit to doing more hurricane season preparedness than last year. I will also cop to a certain amount of nervousness which might be called delayed stress as I watched the skies darken and heard the words "hurricane" and "headed for Florida" in the same sentence again. But, I think of myself as being a reasonably rational person. These Abbot and Costello news anchors are the biggest bunch of loudmouthed clowns.

Hey, newsgoons! Here's a concept for you.....report the news. Your job is a simple as that. They make such a good show of sounding like our best friends who "aren't trying to scare you but just want you to be prepared". Well, you can do that by simply telling us were the storm is, how strong it is and where it's going. Please stop sending your reporters out in weather we wouldn't send our dogs. We know what rough water on the beach looks like; you've been playing last year's storm footage every time it clouds over. We don't need team reporting every time a tree limb falls.

Storm Team. Storm Trakcer. First Warning.

CLICK!

Ahhhhhhhh......There's Bogey on TCM. That's better.

If you're reading this, chances are you're a Star Trek fan. OK, let's qualify that as "a Star Trek fan of one sort or another". I just had proof over the past month that there are fans everywhere.

Friday was the end of a "period of mourning" over the passing of Jimmy Doohan. For the past 30 days I have been wearing a commbadge with a black mourning band. Regardless of where I was or what I was wearing it was pinned to my chest in honor of "Scotty". This is a tradition I started 11 years ago when the father of a friend of mine passed away and he was a fan. He was also a retired police officer. The marrying of the tradition of a mourning badge and Trek seemed a natural way of showing respect for the man. His son thought it was the most moving gesture he had ever seen. The last time I wore one was when De Kelley passed away.

I was surprised by the number of people who not only identified that I was wearing a Star Trek item but identified exactly why I was wearing it as I was. The reactions ranged from "Oh, that such a nice thing to do" and comforting me as if I'd lost a family member to a wide range of Trek references. None of the comments were derogatory. While some comments did make a joke or two, "If I hit this and said, 'Beam me up', would you disappear?", none of them were of the making-fun-of-the-Star-Trek-geek variety.

It was a welcome change from the usual "Fan Bashing" which has followed me most of my life. From the days of being pelting with rocks and food in the schoolyard for wearing the blue sciences uniform/windbreaker sold by Ertl. No longer will I see the geekiest person in a TV sitcom being portrayed wearing Spock ears whereever he goes.

We're here....
We're Fans....
Get used to it!!!!

I came dangerously close to embarrassing myself at work today. Turns out the woman I had my eyes on at work has a lovely little collection of diamonds sitting on her left hand.

And when I say close....I mean close. She was also there working. We had made our usual eye contact. My adrenalin was racing and my palms were cold and clammy. I had an opening line all ready, just about had enough nerve built up and was ready to walk over and open my big mouth when a moment of indecision came into my mind. I asked my "sponsor" friend her opinion of what I was going to say and I'm so glad I did.

"She has a boyfriend, you know."

The rushing sound of blood returning to my brain was almost deafening. My blood pressure returned to normal and the realization of how big a boob I could have made of myself turned a knot of nausea in my stomach. Proving herself still a good friend, my sponsor came back a few minutes later with the personals section of the paper highlighted with promising prospects including one woman describing herself as "an ugly crow" looking for someone "willing to take a chance".

I'll keep taking my chances by playing lotto, thank you.

But at least I learned something over the past few days. That all it takes is one good looking woman to turn an otherwise reasonable adult into a babbling, drooling idiot with clammy hands and a stutter.

And here's to the next one in line!

Today is my 2nd Birthday!

It was two years ago today I had my gastric bypass surgery. Two years and two hundred and thirty-some-odd pounds ago. It's amazing as I look back over the past two years and compare where I was before walking into the hospital wondering if I was doing the right things and where I am physically today. Everything about my life was changed with the slice if the surgeon's scalpel.

And I couldn't be happier!

OK, maybe a little happier when I get closer to my final goal weight.

So, Happy Birthday to me, anyway!

It's been about two years since the last time I tried this but I am getting my nerve up at ask a woman for a date. And I'm right back in some of my old habits and trepidations. If you read some of the first entries in this blog you'll see my last attempt at this and I'm just as nervous this time around. But for different reasons.

This is a co-worker who I have only seen in passing. We have made eye contact a few times and might have possibly exchanged an audible "Hello" at each other. That is the extent of our contact with each other. At least the last time, I had some sort of contact with the girl. This one is completely out of the blue.

I did ask some questions of a friend who works with her and got two very important answers. She's very intelligent and a single mom. The operative word there is SINGLE! And, yes, she's very pretty.

But to simply walk up to a total stranger and say "Hello, you don't know me, but I was wondering if you would like to have lunch with me" sounds as if it smacks of "stalker". I asked a female friend of mine and she says that really isn't the case. I don;t know how much better those words of encouragement really worked.

You have to understand that I really have not been "out there" much in my life. I dated in high school and most of those came from a close knit circle of friends. I met my first wife when I was 19 and had known my second wife since about the same time. I never really dated as an adult. This is very foreign to me.

There was one time when I actually "picked someone up" and that was back in high school. I was working as a score keeper at a basketball game and got introduced to a girl named Roxanne. I asked for her number and actually got it. We dated for almost a year. That was the only time I ever went on a "cold call". And it has me petrified.

When I was talking with my female friend about this earlier this evening I even stuttered. My "friend" is going to have fun simply watching me squirm my way through my anxiety. I don't know how soon I'll be able to let my testicles grow to a normal size and actually approach this woman but I'll keep you posted.

Wish me luck.......I think I'll need it.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm unapologetically a couch potato. SO here's some recent thoughts on TV I've been watching.

My son got me into watching "House" and, at first, I thanked him. Hugh Laurie is the biggest reason to watch this show. House is a well written character loaded with flaws and a sarcasm that will not quit. However, the entire premise is beginning to wear on me. It is soooooooo repetitive week after week after week. Someone gets mysteriously sick, they try a treatment which almost kills the person, the huddle, House insults the other doctors, they find the cure and all is well. YAWN! There has got to be more than one way of telling these stories.

"Stranded with Cash Peters" is an offering on the Travel Channel which I gave three weeks to redeem itself and it never did. Peters is a BBC, NPR radio host and author with cheekiness that makes you want to vomit. He gets "stranded" somewhere different each week and has to weasel his way into free food and lodging while learning something new about a culture or place which he has never visited before. I guess it's his hook, but he seems to have utter disdain and for everywhere he goes. He ridicules everyone and their beliefs. He jokes about his surroundings and cultures which have been around much longer than his fifteen minutes of fame. I tried really, really hard to enjoy this show and to get the joke but Peters wore me down each and every show. I kept watching and waiting for one of the locals to deck him and kick him out of town. Give me a good Michael Palin travel program any day. He will make a joke and be witty while still having respect for the lives upon which he intrudes.

"Over There" is pretty good. While it may be trying to shock for shock value, the fact that Bochco is shocking us about Iraq might be just what this country needs. There are some with their heads in the sand about this war and this show brings home just how difficult things are there. Maybe if more people were exposed to the realities of the situation they might reassess why we are there in the first place and if the lives lost are worth the price.

I'm catching up on "Lost" and "Rescue Me' thanks to TiVo. "Lost" has certainly kept my interest with its interwoven story lines and flashbacks. "Rescue Me" may well be one of the best dramas on television. Dennis Leary is magnificent and the show consistently delivers superior acting and writing.

But NOTHING beats "Battlestar Galactica" for the best drama on television. (Well, at least while "The West Wing" is between seasons!) Forget that it's science fiction and throw out the original. Top notch acting. Writers who are not afraid to take chances. This show ROCKS!

Paramount continues to show they have no idea what Trek fans want. They have just announced a deal to produce a Trek themed phone. This phone will allow you to download Trek games and ring tones and will come with themed face plates.

What we want is a freakin' cell phone that looks like an original series communicator. They would make a mint as every geek and their brother would walk over each other to get one. The technology has been there for a long time. When they finally get a deal set with a provider all they can come up with is face plates and ring tones; those are already out there and for lots cheaper than Paramount is going to rip us off for. These are the same marketing idiots that think we want to buy full sized cardboard cut outs of Kirk, Spock and Seven of Nine.

No, damn it, no!

We want a quality uniform that actually bears resemblance to what is worn on the shows. We want tie-ins we can use. Bring back the Enterprise-A blanket and the bathroom towel set; throw out the unending parade of plate series and polystyrene statues.

My son has no idea just how much trouble he is in for this year. He just completed his first day as a high school freshman. I called him to check on his classes for the year and to see how the day went. He has the usual class load with the added surprise of ROTC. This is probably due to his brother's influence; we'll see how that turns out during the semester.

Then he revealed the goldmine to me; in his English class he is going to be getting into Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". This is my all time favorite Shapeskperean play. The Zefarelli version is one of my favorite films. I even enjoyed the Leo DiCaprio version. And now, my son is going to be studying it!

I'm already making plans. We'll watch both of those version and "West Side Story" as well. We'll read it together. I'm sure he'll be sick of me in no time!

Long before I had a son I can remember a conversation I had with a friend of mine about what I was going to share with a child and how I was going to connect. I was concerned because I was never really into sports. I was never going to be the Dad who taught a kind how to play baseball or take him to games and teach him all the intricacies of the game. I like to watch football for the spectacle but could never get into the strategy or statistics. Luckily, my son loves TV and movies like I do and we connect on that. Now I will be able to open up another world to him through Shakespeare.

And I was worried.

God, help me, it's official; I'm a GEEK!

I was just looking at my new cell phone; a Nokia 3120 and it somehow felt familiar. I had something in my hand this same size, shape and weight before.

It was from somewhere long before cell phones. What was it? Then it hit me.....

A Star Trek original series hand phaser.

There should really be a wing at Betty Ford for us.

The loss of a good friend always hurts. My friend, Gary, is moving to Tennessee this week. Johnny and I went to visit him one last time today before he left.

Gary was one of my first friends when I moved to Florida 11 years ago. We worked together at a print shop and quickly found our common interests in movies and TV. He can be opinioniated, elitist, arrogant and stubborn. He can also be witty, intelligent, caring and funny. He has been one of my best friends. He called my mother for me one time when I was in trouble; not something you can ask just any friend to do.

Yes, it is the 21st century and we will keep in touch. Somehow, it just won't be the same. We could have some of the best debates when we strongly disagreed about something. That's when, I think we had the most fun together.

I have seen some changes in him in the last year or so due to some personal problems and he has become a better person because of them.

Here's to you, Gary. I'll miss you, pal.

I'm caught in a bout of a moral dilemma. The recent bombings in London and yesterday's announcement of the IRA giving up on armed conflicts caused a bit of conflict in my own mind which I am having a tough time reconciling.

Of course, as an American, I am outraged and upset by the Al Queida bombings in London. They are as cowardly and barbaric as the 9/11 attack, Lisbon and all other terrorist activity tied in with this group. My blood boils and my heart goes out to the families of those affected.

I am pleased to finally see the possibility of a political rather than military end to the centuries old problems in Ireland. If they can finally lay down arms and come to a peaceful settlement and return Ireland to the Irish I would dance in the streets.

However, my issue comes in that I have never had a problem with the military actions of the IRA. Yes, they are unfortunate and it is regrettable that civilians have had to die on both sides but nothing else would ever seem to make a dent in the British resolve. Maybe it is because I see a moral right in the Republican movement while I view the war in Iraq and all fallout from it to be so wrong.

When I look at it closer though there is an odd similarity. The Irish were taking action against an occupying force. Isn't that, basically, what the terrorists are doing? Don't get me wrong, I am totally against the administrations handling of the "War on Terror". It's just when I stopped and thought about it in the past few days I had to wonder how I could separate the two.

I guess it's much like how a person can be for the death penalty but against abortion. They are both, at the root, the same thing; but one can feel so terribly wrong and the other so terribly right.

I am wearing my Sinn Fein t-shirt today in hopes that a peaceful solution in Ireland can finally be found. If there is a heaven, I am sure Michael Collins and Sean Downs are smiling at the thought.

Actor Ford Rainey passed away yesterday at 93. He worked for years as a very good character actor; you've probably seen his face all over the place if you're in my age range. For my TV generation he may best be remembered as Jamie Austin's father in "The Bionic Woman". I had the pleasure of seeing him play Willie Loman in a production of "Death of a Salesman" at Providence's Trinity Rep in the late 70's. And he ROCKED.

OK, so the material helped. In film everything begins and ends with "Citizen Kane". In theater it's "Death of a Salesman". I had seen stage productions before that high school English class trip. I had even been in a few and knew I had a budding talent. But when the life, decaying dreams and frustrations of Willie Loman's life exploded from that 2nd floor stage I felt as if I had never seen something different.

I was captivated by the raw emotion. As I watched all of Willie's delusions about his life be stripped away I was brought down with him. For a while I saw things through the same rose colored glasses he did and when that was taken away I was just as devastated.

And Rainey ruled that stage. He was mezmerizing. I had seen other actors perform before but this guy owned the stage. The anger and desperation of Loman jumped off the stage at you and dared you to keep up. He even looked the part. Dustin Hoffman's TV performance was pristine, yes. While I am sorry I was not born early enough to have seen Lee J Cobb originate the part on Broadway, I always felt his towering stature was too much for the part. Being in Florida kept me from seeing Brian Denehey's revival a few years ago. For me, Ford Rainey will always bee Willie Loman.

Again, it's that gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach that acting is something I am supposed to be doing instead of shilling geriatric medications. Watching Rainey was one of the first times I felt that gnaw. It's been over 25 years since then and I still feel than gnaw.

Thanks, Mr. Rainey. You still rock!

It is amazing how, after almost two years, my body still is reacting and recovering from gastric bypass surgery. Thursday I was downing some Spanish peanuts at work. This doesn't sound like much, and usually I have no problem eating nuts of any kind. Apparently, Spanish peanuts are not on that list. I had the most horrendous pains as the little bastards passed out of my stomach. I could barely walk and was sweating bullets. I ended up going home for about an hours as my body recovered.

Or, so I thought.

Later that night, as I was eating a hamburger, the pain returned. I'm hoping the hamburger helped clear out what ever was left of the peanuts. Damn, it hurt like hell. Even worse, it seemed to tap all of my strength. I was exhausted the next morning when it came time to go to work. That quickly turned into calling out sick to work. I slept almost all of Friday and most of yesterday. I started eating scrambled eggs and some baked beans. It seemed soft enough food to move through my sensitive stomach.

I have gained about twenty pounds back over the past year, which really pisses me off. Once the cooler weather comes around I plan on getting back into a regime of walking a lot. That seemed to certainly help the weight loss. The biggest difference, other than the oppressive Florida weather, is having the van. I simply don't walk as much.

Still, I take solace in the fact that I an still down over 200 pounds from when I laid down on that operating table. The next 60 or so pounds will be a little tougher to overcome, but I still know I will eventually.

I had the pleasure of spending some time with Jimmy Doohan. He was a sweetheart of a man. He was always fun to listen to as a guest at a convention. He was bashing Shatner before it was the thing to do.

My favorite memory was at I-Con back in the late 80's. This is a con run at SUNY, Stonybrook. At the time, I was President of the Boston Star Trek Association. Dave Ryan, Howard Cronson, Dawn Yasharis and myself were having one of our best weekends at this convention. We had tried a number of times during the weekend to get together privately with Jimmy, but his convention duties kept him pretty busy. He remembered us from his visits to Boston and really seemed to want to get together.

"Why don't you cone and get me at my hotel tomorrow morning at 7AM? We can go to breakfast." He smiled.

"Jim, are you sure? 7AM is kind of early."

"Sure, no problem. I'll be ready and waiting."

The next morning we were all loaded in our car on time and strode into the lobby of his hotel exactly at 7AM. Being the top dog, I was the one to call Jimmy and let him know we were there and ready to start the day.

The phone rang in his room.

Again.

And again.

When the receiver was picked up I had expected to hear the deep melodic Canadian voice on the other end, instead I was greeted with something which sounded like a belching monster from a Japanese monster movie.

"H-h-h-eeeeeeee-l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o." he groaned, deep and painful.

"Ah, Jimmy, It's Jack. We're here for breakfast."

"What? Breakfast? What time is it?"

"7AM. Just like you told us."

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry I got in really late from the party and......" he sort of trailed off from there.

As I looked for a rock under which I could fit, "That's OK, Jim, we'll see you at the convention a little later."

"Yeah, yeah...."....click.

The convention was held on campus and the main hall had a large gathering area. Two hours later is was filled with conventioneers. Then, in walked a wide awake Jimmy Doohan.

"THOSE PEOPLE", at the top of his lungs for all to hear and point ing directly at us; no questions asked, "are the people who woke me out of a sound sleep this morning!"

Just saw "Charley and the Chocolate Factory" and it's kinda like getting a piece of Hershey when you really wanted Godiva. It was nice but not nearly as good. Visually and in some of the directions he took the story Burton did create a different vision.

However, he seemed to suffer from the same problem George Lucas did with Episode II; just because something can be done with CGI doesn't mean it really should be. The transition of Violet into a big blueberry was neat at first but then turned into a laughable CGI blob on the screen. We also get to see what happened to Mike TeeVee after the Taffy Pulling Room with an effect that would have looked bad in "Space Jam".

The Ommpa Loompas were, at first, entertaining. This was the best use of CGI in the film as the entire populations of the ultra-mini people were all the same person duplicated over and over again. That all fell apart when ever they sang. The songs were over-produced and the lyrics were unintelligible. While the remainder of the movie was not necessarily a musical these attempts at song stuck out like a sore thumb.

I did my best not to compare this film to the original. That was easy to do because, simply on its own, this was a slow and tedious film which never took off. Satire needs a rhythm and this laid flat. Humor works best with surprise; a punchline is basically a twist to the story or reality which shocks and makes you laugh. Most times, the "jokes" in this film came and went leaving you laughing after the fact saying, "Oh, well....that was cute, but....."

One leftover from the trip to Shore Leave was seeing "Fantastic Four". This movie rocked. OK, so it was no "Spiderman", but it captured the flavor of the original material. The relationships between the four main characters were prefect. Well, yes, the "love triangle" was a bit contrived, but the interplay between Ben and Johnny was hilarious, Sue and Johnny bickered like real siblings and Reed was a geek.

Michael Chicklis was wonderful as The Thing. You really believed he was living rock and not just a rubber suit. Johnny Storm's transitions into the Human Torn were seamless. Sure, Reed Richard's stretching looked goofy at time but, admit it, they looked goofy in the original comic book as well.

My only grip with the picture was Dr. Doom. While the costume was cool his being a "Donald Trump on acid" was disappointing. I can see why they went that way with the story they told but to leave any mention of Latveria to the last few minutes of the film was disappointing. And, I'm sorry, but Doom should have an accent almost as deep as Schwarzenegger.

If you go in to this movie expecting to see a comic book brought to life, you won't be disappointed.

Sunday at Shore Leave is always the downer. You sleep late and end up saying goodbye to everyone and realize you eventually have to return to real life. But, it's still fun.

My son made me proud in an unexpected way. Joanie Winston is alongd standing guest at Shore Leave. If you're a Trek fan and don't know who Joan is, you should be ashamed. If you're not a Trek fan, it would take too long to explain. Suffice to say, I had met this woman when I was John's age and she still remembered me almost 30 years later. We ran into her in the hall and I introduced her to John. She is now 73 and after I told him how I met her she went off on a tangent. My son did the perfect "polite listening" thing. He looked directly at her as if he was really interesting in what she was saying while on the inside he was wishing he were a thousand miles away. You don't see that often in a 14 year old.

The play was a Harry Potter theme. This was a let down after last year's play written by Peter David. There were a few laughs but only slightly entertaining.

We hit the road out of Hunt Valley by 11AM and rode until we got to Beaufort, SC for an overnight stay. We have found this trip easier to take with these stops along the way. There is some talk about flying next year. That could make for a whole different set of experiences with this crew.

John and I went for a late night swim which I find always helps after being confined to a car for 9 hours. We were back home by 3PM Tuesday afternoon. Back to work the next day despite lingering exhaustion. Being there again cramped into a cubicle reminded of more of my desire to do voice over work. My friend, Lee Stringer, is going to be teaching at a computer animation school in Orlando for the next three months and I will be visiting. I hope to make an in with some students to do work on their student projects as a way of getting my foot in the door.

I got a few extra days with John which is always good. I gave him a cake for his birthday a week early. I really hated sending him back after having him with me for so long and all of the deep talks we had this time. Only a few weeks and he's here again for a whole week before he starts High School. He continues to amaze me. He is turning into a wonderful young man. Now that he's a little older we were all a little looser with our language and joke and he played right along with us. You could see in his eyes how he enjoyed being treated like one of the crowd and not a little kid.

So now we start making the plans and saving the pennies for next year. There is talk of Shore Leave being the location for the 20th Anniversary for the USS McAuliffe. I love the idea and really hope it happens. Hell, I'll be there anyway! I hope my little travel log gives you an glimpse of how much fun this weekend is and why it is a priority every year. I have been going since the 80's and have only missed a handful; and those were for severe health and financial reasons. I love the fact that Johnny looks forward to it as much as I do and hope we can continue these weekends long after he is on his own.

As promised here's more of my Shore Leave report.

After a full night of sleep in a comfy Marriott bed we headed out Friday morning for the Smithsonian annex at Dulles Airport. Inside they house the original space shuttle Enterprise, an SST, the Enola Gay and piles of other full size pieces of aerospace history.

The morning there was fun; getting back wasn't. One little turn onto the wrong highway had us lost and ending up in Chevy Chase, MD adding an hour onto our excursion. This also threw us off of my planned stop at John Eaton Elementary School in DC. We probably could have done it but once we hit the beltway we were stuck in a bumper to bumper traffic due to a sinkhole on the Baltimore Washington Parkway. Lucky me, knowing the area, gets to be the one to drive in that traffic. At least it was while driving the Hemi, so it wasn't all bad. My friends, of course, are never going to let me forget I was the one driving while we got lost.

When we returned to the hotel the convention had started up. We registered and went looking for Lisa Stuckey and her friends from upstate New York. We checked with con registration and they had picked up their memberships so we headed to the front desk to see if they were in their rooms. The desk clerk said to me, "I have her as a no-show for yesterday. She doesn't have a room here." After that, everything was a red-hot blur. The major problem, other than my friend had been shut out of a room, was that my debit card was going to be charged a full room night for what they considered a "no-show". The shocked look from my travel companions as I peppered the lobby with language which would make a sailor blush. Ah, the joy of having a tight budget! Oh, and did I mention the nice brass trash can near the elevator with the indentation of my foot as I tried to punt it across the hallway? My friend Jim calmed me down and we returned to play good cop/bad cop. Actually, it was mostly Jim doing all the reasoning and talking and me standing there looking like Charlie Manson ready to pounce. We did get them to reverse the charge but Lisa and her friends still ended up 20 minuets away from the hotel and spending more money than planned.

Across the street from the hotel in what used to be the Hunt Valley Mall is now an open air market place of about a dozen high scale stores and restaurants; perfect for dinner. The first one we tried was Noodles and Company. Superb and CHEAP! For $5 you get a heaping pile of pasta; John and I had a spicy oriental dish. Afterwards we went to see "Fantastic 4". I'll review it in another blog other than to say it was great; don't listen to the critics.

Saturday was when the bulk of the events happened. I started off by commissioning the chapter USS Top Gun at the Starfleet meeting. I had been corralled into playing a practical joke on the new CO. The night before I went into the Starfleet database and removed the majority of the crew to another chapter. Unless you’re in SFI, this doesn’t sound very funny, but trust me…it was great. There are regulations as to the number of members a chapter has to have to be commissioned and it can mean all kinds of headaches if a chapter falls beneath a minimum. Add to that a rocky history for this chapter and a CO who seems a perfect target for practical jokes and I’m right there.

There was really only one guest I wanted to meet this year and it turned out to be something of a disappointment. I had watched William Windom in “My World and Welcome To It” before I remember watching Star Trek. I can remember my father and I would watch it together and laughing at the veiled story about James Thurber. Now, he’s a very old 83 year old man with a mind which is slowly leaving. He had recently done a Trek fan film but doesn’t even remember doing it. It was nice to tell him how much the show had meant to me and to shake his hand. Meeting him like that made me value my friendship with George Takei all that much more.

As mentioned in an earlier post; there is the tradition at Shore Leave of calling someone who had to stay home from the hotel. The other is showing up unannounced when everyone expects that you couldn’t make it. This year, my friend Bill managed to do both. Saturday afternoon Jim tells me he had a message from Bismo saying he was “in a bar watching the Red Sox game and suggested I go to the Paddock and we could watch together”. Could he mean that he was actually downstairs waiting for me? I had to find out and sure enough, there he was. The bastard! It made the weekend complete.

I have to admit, I did the same kind of thing back in ’94, so I understand how much fun it can be to pull this on other people.

I have said before that one of the best perks of being a high muckey-muck in Starfleet is that people will buy me lots of alcohol and this was true again this weekend. Between settling a Superbowl bet with my friend Ann and other friends from the local area I didn’t spend a penny on drinks that night and did get myself very “relaxed”.

I surprised John with a beautiful ghost busters hockey jersey for his birthday. You would have thought I’d given him the keys to a Jaguar. He loved it! The past few years the trip itself was his “gift” so it was even better to be able to actually give him something that special to him.

I had the chance to meet up with author Peter David and fill him in on the fundraising we did for a teacher in Florida he had hooked us up with. Peter had posted on his blog about this teacher who was planning a course on comic books. Our chapter raised $100 for him thought a yard sale. Peter seemed grateful for not only being a regular reader of his blog but that what he had out there ended up helping someone.

The Masquerade is always a highlight to the weekend. Even though this years was slightly lame it was still better than we usually see at a Vulkon. The killers of the evening were “Spongborg Cubepants”; a Borg-ified Spongebob and “Sporkman”; a superhero with sporks for hands and a giant spork for a mask sporting a 2 foot tall handle sticking up over his head. It had to be seen to really appreciate. Peter David’s family won Best in Show with a collection of Johnny Depp characters singing “In the Navy”. Again, you really had to be there; but it was cool.

I’ll follow up tomorrow with Sunday’s activities and the ride home. I know there are no really rules for the length of a post, but I feel as if I’m running off at the mouth.

Home again, home again, jiggety, jig.

Another successful trip to Shore Leave. I'll post details after I've had a good night's sleep and a chance to gather my thoughts. Next year we are looking at flying as a way of saving time and our poor aging bodies. There is something, though, to the whole road trip that I would miss.

The best part of the whole thing is the time spent with my son. He and I took the after con "walk about" where we walk through the hotel after everything from the convention is packed away and the place returns to normal. Rooms which were packed with dealers are now stripped bare, hallways are empty of people and a hush falls over the entire building.

I think he got a kick out of my including him in that tradition. We talked about the weekend and sat and talked about personal things for a while. It was one of those moments with him about which I've always day dreamed. Talking with him and sharing thoughts and emotions on a one on one, grown person to grown person level.

That's a lot of what this trip to Hunt Valley is always about for me. Sure, there's a great convention going on but it is also a chance to reconnect with friends. I could almost certainly go to the hotel and not buy a membership for the con and come away with the same feeling. This is now a place where my friendships from New England can mesh with those from Florida. Where I hug friends I only see this one weekend in July with the same gusto I hug those I see all the time. Where my son and I can share time together and grow stronger bonds.

Well, my own bed is calling and I have to get back to work tomorrow, much as I'd rather still be in the Jacuzzi or a barstool in the Paddock Bar.

But there's always next year...........

We've made it to the Hunt Valley. And we've made it in style. We ended up renting a fantastic Dodge Magnum. WOW! With a Hemi engine. This things moves like a bat outta hell. It ride like a dream; even getting stuck in Beltway rush hour traffic was enjoyable. Well, relatively enjoyable.

We got out of St Lucie County by 2 PM and thanks to the Hemi engine were able to keep a brisk 90 MPH average. We got to South of the Border by almost 10 PM. After checking into the room John and I headed to the pool. It sits under a domed ceiling and has a bar, kiddie pool and jacuzzi. It is the perfect way to relax after a long ride.

The walls at SOB are not quite perfectly soundproofed and I had to have the help of a Tylenol PM to drown out the singing people in the room next to us. We were up bright and early again the next morning and off to a local Sonic for breakfast. The ride through the metro DC area was slowed because of a major chemical spill which has a 5 mile stretch of 95 closed down. Add to that we hit the beltway at 3:30, just at the start of rush hour. Somehow, the Magnum made it a nicer ride.

Now we are setteled in the comfort of the Marriott. I immediately called my friend Bill, who was unable to make it this year. It is a continuation of a tradition to call and bust the chops of those who stay behind. My friends and I are all having a wonderful time.

John, as well, seems to be having a good time. He and I slept in the same bed at SOB last night. At one point I just laid there listening to him breathe. I even got to the point of matching my breathing rhythm to his. It is amazing to me that I had a part in creating him. He is becoming a full blown grown person right before my eyes. He joins in on jokes and keeps up with the rest of us. He enjoys being included with the adults and treated as one. And I love watching him doing all of that. This weekend is another I hope to add to the list of memories he'll carry with him forever.

One quick story before I head out of town.

The closing ceremonies for the International Conference went on a little longer than expected so my plans on visiting the Alamo seemed to be disappearing. I couldn't give up though. At the last minuet I jumped in a van with some friends and headed downtown. The plan was to drive there, visit the Alamo, and then take a cab to the airport. It was still 3:15 and I should have enough time to get to the airport within an hour and 20 minutes. My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:35, so I had to allow the hour for security and boarding.

I seemed good at first.

The van was a passenger van which had no air conditioning or seats for the eight of us sprawled on the floor. We all know how it feels to be an illegal alien being smuggeled across the border.

Time was still on my side. Traffic was light and we made it downtown in perfect time. Everything was working perfectly. Until we tried parking our van in a garage. We were too tall. Then when we tried an open lot it seems we were also too wide for what they had to offer. We circled twice when I noticed it was now ten minutes before 4. I decided to have them drop me off a nearby street corner an go on my own to the Alamo while they continued the search for parking.

Of course sitting on a hard steel floor for 35 minutes will do one little wonderful thing; make you leg go to sleep. Picture, if you will, me limping my way down Commerce St, dragging my suitcase and sweating the scorching Texas sun. I love traveling!

I made it to the Alamo at exactly 4PM. Which was also perfect because I had arranged with my son to watch for me on a nearby live web cam which streamed live images 24 hours a day of the Alamo. I rushed up to the curb across from where I figured the camera to be. I was an interesting sight standing on the sidewalk waving to an empty building.

I turned from there and got closer to the Alamo and had a fellow tourist take my picture to prove I had been there. That done I rushed to the curb to find a cab. My other friends had shown up and yelled goodbyes to me from across the square. Not a single cab stopped so I walked two blocks over to a hotel to get a cab and made it to the airport in perfect time.

Not quite a Fodors recommended trip plan, but it worked!

What a weekend I just had. Next year I hope to have a laptop so I will be able to blog from the road.

There were no real problems in flying to and from San Antonio; although I did have a 2 hour delay on the way there. I don't know what the problem people have with Atlanta International Airport. Yes, it is big and there was a delay, but it is comfortable, easy to get around and plenty of places to eat and relax. I swear the voice announcing the tram is that of Robby the Robot. If you travel and go through that airport listen carefully the next time you're getting on the train.

International Conference was a wonderful experience. My first Executive Committee and Admiratly Board meeting went well. I asked around and my report was received well and there was actual discussion and progress made on something from my department. It was a different experience being at one of these now being one of the officers of Starfleet.

One of the most rewarding moments was when a woman approached me and thanked me for responding to a notice about her being in a car accident. It meant so much to her that someone from HQ had not only read the report and took note of something personal like that but that I had taken the time to respond privately and share my concern about her. Just a product of my raising, I guess. It seemed the natural thing to do.

It was good to finally put some faces to the names on the rest of HQ staff and the regional coordinators with whom I have only had an internet relationship. They all seem like a good bunch of nuts, just like me, who enjoy doing the jobs we have.

And DAMN......can they party!

There were two nights of outrageous partying which included my intake of this absolute vile Chinese alcohol. It was the nastiest thing going down but the after affect was most enjoyable. At one of the parties I decided to just lie on the bed in stead of fighting the inebriation. While I will save some of the stories from being shared on the net I will say the highlight was actor Vaughn Armstrong joined me in the bed. While I always say I am a devout heterosexual, the sight of him lying with me was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time!

The one moment I do regret from the weekend was upsetting a friend. Sauna's Dolan and I got into a contest getting each other in and out of the Klingon Jail. This is where the Klingon would arrest you based on a warrant someone would pay for. You could then either pay your bail, raise the money to be bailed out or do your time. Just when she was going to get herself bailed out I made a big deal of keeping her in longer. Her fragile 14 year old ego could only take so much and she proceeded to cry. In the end, it was a good lesson for her in giving and receiving a practical joke and, in the long run, I think she has learned from it. How our mutual "revenge" goes from here will tell.

I've got John here with me as we prepare to head to Shore Leave on Wednesday. We had our chapter cookout today and that was its usual success. John and I went to the top of the Roosevelt Bridge to watch fireworks. We had time to talk as we waited and was another moment I'll add a a great father son moment.

The next week will be sparse for blogging. If I have time and can think of other moments from the weekend worth sharing I will post tomorrow. Other than that, there will probably not be a blog for another week after we return from Maryland.

Damn, that Steven Spielberg known how to make a movie!

I just saw "War of the Worlds and I am fucking blown away! This is what moves are supposed to be. It's exciting. It's funny. It's scary. It's intriguing. It's touching. This is easily one of the best films he has EVER done.

God Bless George Pal, but these are what the martian machines are supposed to look like. They match descriptions from Wells' original story and will scare the living shit out you. The squat cyclops martian of the original film was almost cute; these little bastards are mean, nasty and ugly.

When I wasn't right on the edge of my seat I was either cowering in it or leaning back totally physically and emotionally exhausted.

It goes beyond being a science fiction film; it is a film about human relations. We see Cruise's character stripped down from everything and anything which is civilized and see how he does what ever it takes to survive and protect those he loves.

There is a strained relationship between Cruise and his children, in particular his son, which brought me to tears twice during the film. The last time I remember crying like this was "ET". The second time he does it, near the end of the film, is almost too far fetched. BUT YOU DON'T CARE. Disbelief was suspended long ago.

Spielberg, you manipulative bastard! He makes us laugh with a simple camera setup. He knots our stomachs as he brings us right beside the characters in the film hiding from the invaders causing us to stop breathing just like they are on the screen.

You give yourself over totally to this movie and go along for the ride. You come out sweating, shaking and nauseous and the end and want to thank him for doing this to you. This is what going to the movies is supposed to be.

Been very busy lately getting ready for my next few weeks of travel and vacation. Thursday I am off to my first Starfleet International Conference. This is also my first time reporting as a member of the Executive Committee so there is excitement and nervousness on both parts.

I am looking forward to visiting San Antonio again. Last time I was there I was a 13 year old in love. There was a girl I had met while visiting my sister in England. Her name was Anne. I don't know if she ever even knew how I felt about her and how, to this day, I still carry a small ember of that torch. She was the first girl who inspired poetry for me.

Met her on a Monday in an English home,
back then I was so all alone.
Watching her just standing there,
with no girl could she compare.
She filled my life so full of sunshine,
some day I'm going to make her mine.

Can you tell I grew up listening to 70's AM radio?

In my freshman year of high school a friend of mine put it to music for $75. I never sent it to her. She's married with kids somewhere in Pennsylvania but she'll be on my mind this weekend.

I miss my son something terrible. He went on a trip to visit his step father's family in Maine. This is his first trip on an airplane. Well, the first he can remember. When he was an infant we had taken a trip down here one Christmas. I had hope that I would be able to take him on his "first" plane ride and it bothers me a little that the ex beat me to it. I've chalked it up to another of the moments I'll never have with him thanks to the divorce.

We do have our trip to Maryland the following week to make up for it. I love the fact that he always looks forward to the trip as much as I do. It's nothing but time together for us for an extended period of time. Nothing could be better.

I'm so glad the US House of Representatives today addressed such a scourge upon this country. Ossama is still hiding in the hills of Afghanistan while every day more soldiers are being killed in Iraq. AIDS is killing people every day. Health care is unaffordable for a large number of Americans. But yet these congressmen were able to approve a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to prohibit the desecration of the American flag.

Thank God. I was wondering when all this flag burning was ever going to end!

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Yes, it's a strong statement to make by burning the flag. Yes, it's offensive to burn the flag. Yes, it's a mockery of the government to burn the flag. However, the Constitution gives anyone to right to make a strong, offensive or mocking statement as a form of protest.

Luckily, this still has a long way to go. The bill moves to the senate. It still could have a tough fight there. Each time it has gone to vote it has died there. Even with Republican gains recent surveys of senators shows not enough votes for passage.

And, yes the ghosts of 9/11 come into play and some on Capitol Hill are ready to use these martyrs as political tools. "Ask the men and women who stood on top of the Trade Center," said Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham. "Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment."

Give me a break, Randy. Touting the memories of those who died in the Trade Center attacks for a sound bite is a million time more offensive than burning a flag.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the site of the former World Trade Center, said it best, "If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol more than the freedoms that the flag represents."

Even if it were to pass the senate and move to the states for ratification there is comfort in poll released last week by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in Nashville which found 63% oppose a flag amendment, up from 53% last year.

This country is not a flag. It is what that flag represents. It's those who died at Lexington and Concord, at Little Big Horn, in the Arden, at Pearl Harbor and in the twin towers. We should fight strong to preserve the freedoms which make our country the envy of the rest of the world. It is those freedoms which Mohammad Atta hated so much. We should be more worried about defending those freedoms instead of a piece of cloth.

My father passed away when I was 15 years old. My memories of him are tinged with the passage of time. Don't get me wrong; I miss him terribly. Every day I'm with my son I wish he were here to see him. The thought of my father and Johnny getting together makes me laugh outloud. My twisted sense of humor comes from him and I have passed it on to my son.

My father taught me my first pun. Every time we passed by a local funeral home he would always point and say, "People are just dying to go there!" Hey, I was a kid. It was hilarious.

My father was the practical joker. And these weren't idiotic "bucket of water over the doorway" jokes. These were finely crafted twists of reality which sometimes sprung years later. He would often get the younger nieces, nephews and grandchildren to try pulling out their own teeth. For him it was easy as he had a full upper plate. He would simply reach into his mouth and slip out a mouthful of teeth. "Go ahead, you try". It was hilarious to see a circle of little kids yanking madly on their teeth while my father chided them, "What's the matter. See how easy it is. Everybody can do this!"

Even in death my father continued to spring jokes on me. The best had to have been when my grandfather died almost 10 years after my father. He lived to 102. We were all gathered together and talking about Grandpa Eaton when I mentioned something about how cool it must have been for him to have been a cowboy out west. Silence and odd stares covered the faces of everyone in the room.

"What the hell are you talking about?" one of my sisters asked.

"Well, when Grandpa was young he was a cowboy out west around the turn of the century."

"Who the hell told you that?"

"Daddy."

The laughter was deafening. Apparently my grandfather was born in nearby Massachusetts and the only other state he ever entered was Georgia.

I am sure one of those I could hear laughing was my father.

My father had a stroke when he was just around my age. Don't think that doesn't freak me out when I ponder on it. I can still vividly see him sliding himself down the stairs from hiss upstairs bedroom. His pride would not allow him to have the paramedics carry him from his own home even though his legs could barely work. Afterwards, his body was slightly affected but the major damage was done to his personality. He was harder to deal with and had a faster tempter. Again, I don't have much to compare. I envy my sisters having known my father as he was before his stroke.

The one memory of him before that which I do hold onto tightly is probably my very first memory. We would play "elevator". I was probably a toddler at the time. We would lie on his bed and he would lift me up and down above him saying, "Going up.....going down" and making pneumatic/elevator noises.

I did the exact same thing with my son when he was little.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

The back is feeling much better, thanks. I'm still enjoying the muscle relaxants though.

A few things to comment on that have gone on in the past week since I last posted.

Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson must be high-fiving each other. I expected him to at least get pegged for supplying alcohol to a minor. Proves just what celebrity and money can buy you.

"Batman Begins" is not your father's Batman. The fight scenes were shot too tight; you can't make out exactly what happens in the fights or who is hitting who. The story plods along. The Batmo-tank sucks. While Morgan Freeman delivers a good performance, as usual, his character doesn't even belong in this movie. Bruce Wayne is supposed to be a scientist who created all of the "Bat-a-whatevers" he doesn't have to go shopping in Wayne Industry's R&D department. Michael Cane was probably the best part of the movie. He presents a loving and caring Alfred like we have never seen before.

One thing this movie and "Garden State" prove; George Lucas sucks as an actor's director. All the time Liam Neeson was on the screen I kept thinking, "THIS is what Qui Gon was SUPPOSED to be." Add to that Natalie Portman's performance in "Garden State. They are both fantastic actors and if Lucas had allowed them to do their jobs it might have helped the prequel film to be a little better. Lucas is a good craftsman at the technical side of things but he works better with pixels than real human beings.

One last thought; why does iced tea mix froth as you add water and no other drink mix does?

Sometimes the human body can really piss you off!

Two days ago I pulled a muscle in my back and I'm in agony. I walking around looking like a question mark. Just one little turn the wrong way at the wrong time and BAM! Now I'm taking medication I sell to the elderly at work.

After two days of the medication I am moving a litle better but each move still has to be thought out ahead of time. One thing's for sure; if this is how it's going to be when I get old, I'm going to be one ornery sonovabitch.

It was 37 years ago today that America lost its last great dreamer of politics. No one could make a speech like Bobby Kennedy.

He spoke these words without preparation in Indianapolis after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

Let us dedicate to ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.
Or at Capetown, South Africa:

We must recognize the full human equality of all our people - before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this not because it is economically advantageous - although it is; not because the laws of God and man command it - although they do command it; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.

He spoke of love and equality. He quoted the Greeks and poetry. These days its soundbites and catch phrases. No single politician today has the balls to speak like he did. We lost a lot that day in 1968. I just thought you should have a taste.

These kids now-a-days!

Back when I was a young-n I couldn't walk into my local Wally World and choose a light saber from a rack of dozens. Just like the Jedi of Long Ago and Far Away, I had to make my own. My friends Jay was the genius who came up with this engineering breakthrough. We started with the flashlights that had the safety cones attached (like the ones they used to park airplanes) and added the plastic tubes from the inside of a golf bag. These tubes are the ones the clubs would slide into. They were white and semi-opaque. They would slide into the cones atop the flashlights and fit snugly. When they were lit, and it was just dark enough, they would look just as good as the ones for which they're shelling out $20 bucks.

I paid $75 for my first VHS copy of "Star Wars". That was back when it was JUST "Star Wars".

I made parts for my Vader costume from leftover aluminum siding, cardboard, plexiglass, Radio Shack wiring, hand carved wood and a toilet paper dispenser. Now, you can go on Ebay and find any number of full costumes tailor made. OK, so I bought a Don Post mask and my sister did the cape and jump suit but it was a labor of love.

I was actually excited when "The Star Wars Christmas Special" aired because it was the only exposure to something new before the next movie came out. There were no fan films and Flash animations.

So then next time you hear some snotty nosed kid whining about not having the latest Star Wars toy remind him of a time people made Wookiee costumes out of cheap fur rug material!

Meet Lilo!

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Today was "Wear Your Hawaiian Shirt Day" at work. I figured that since I always wore Tiki shirts at work it wouldn't be special. So, I went that one step further.

You have to be really secure in your masculinity to pull this off!

Happy birthday to me......happy birthday to me!

If I were Elvis I'd be dead now.

I had to be SUCH a parent this weekend.

We were having a wonderful weekend. Both Johnny and Jimmy were here. There were two friends with kids parties on Saturday which kept us busy and then my friend Bruce and his family were in town. As an adopted member of the family we ended up there for a spaghetti dinner which turned into swimming in his sister's pool until almost 11PM.

Sunday was a whole day spent back at his sister's for a cookout and hours marinating in chlorine. They even had a cake for my birthday. The boys were getting along, even though John had fought hard to make this trip solo. It was fantastic.

Until we got home. I was ready to fire up a movie and they complained that we were out of soda. I gave them some money and sent them off to the convenience store just down the street; a simple 15 minute walk back and forth.

After 20 minutes I began to get concerned.

Then at thirty minutes I was out at the end of the drive way peering into the 10:30PM darkness at the end of the street.

15 minuets later I was in the car and speeding off with adrenalin pumping.

The convenience store that were headed for was closed. I assumed they might have headed for another one just down the street. Off I sped.

Let me take this moment to describe myself at this point. I had jumped into he car clad only in shorts and a t-shirt. My hair was frazzled from a day in pool water and was pulled back in a single pony tail. Remebering, though, this was hair that had spent that day soaking in chlorinated water; so it was thin, brittle and created a wild "Manson" look as I stuck my wild-eyed head into the Cumberland Farms asking in anyone had seen my two wayward boys. I'm sure the fact my forehead was a sun-burned red only added to this lunatic-like image.

They, apparently had not been there, so I headed off in another direction towards the only two remaining convenience stores all the time rehearsing my call to the sheriff's office.

I did find them about four blocks away from the trailer on their return trip, soda bottles in hand. I would have loved to have been able to hear their conversation as I turned the van around but it was drowned out by the screeching tires.

As soon as the door opened, the excuses began to fly. "SHUT UP!" I yelled and the air was immediately sucked from the van.

We returned home and I ordered them inside while I tried to calm myself and put in some semblance of order what I wanted to say. While the adrenalin rush has wiped most of it from my memory I do believe I made very salient points about how difficult a divorce their mother and I had and how not so well received a phone call would be telling her I had somehow "misplaced" the both of them. They tried defending themselves but like every lecture I remembered from my youth I had an answer for everything they said that immediately shut them down to mute piles on the furniture.

I tired to spread the blame and vent the anger at the both of them evenly. One of the biggest issues I hit on was how we were working towards John being able to make the trip by rail by himself and that a screw-up like this certainly wouldn't help prove his point.

I didn't rant, I didn't rave and I don't think I really raised my voice more than once as I very clearly laid out just how pissed off I was. I did channel my mother as I said "Well, no, you didn't think". I was fair enough to them that, when it was over, I admitted exactly how much "like a parent" I sounded.

Before they went to sleep I told them both, separately and privately, that I realized that I might have overreacted a slight bit, but that the stakes are high and they did seem to see my point.

Of course, as I type this now I remember from my own youth, that I usually just let a lot of it go in one ear and right out the other. Time will tell just how deep genetics goes.

For what are the Sith getting REVENGE?

That was the first thought I had as the scroll started on my third viewing. Who gives a frak about trade federations when we're dying to know whether Palpetine was the apprentice of Darth Plagueis. Lucas teases us with that story. Imagine the sweeping story of power and greed, of the rise and fall of the Sith followed by Vader's ascension. Episode II cooked because it focused directly on that story. Ever since "Phantom" came out we all walked out of the movie scratching our heads wondering where Lucas was going will all that boring crap. Apparently, the answer was "NOWEHRE"!

Another tease from Lucas was the mention of Qui Gon. I am going to be royally pissed off if that's going to be one of his "Special Edition" added scenes for the future DVD release. Damn it, George we don't go to your movies to wait for extra releases we go to see the dang thing as a whole in the theater.

A major missed opportunity, which could have been handled with one or two simple lines of dialogue, was Anakin's lightsaber. In "A New Hope" Ben gives the weapon to Luke saying, "You father wanted you to have this when you were old enough..." Imagine the emotional impact of Anakin referencing that same line when he learns he's to be a father.

The defeat of Anakin (Sorry, I can't bring myself to calling him Vader until he's in the suit) was an emotional dud. We have been waiting 26 years for this moment. Ben is supposed to kick his ass and knock him into the lava not tease him with "I've got the high ground" and then slice off his legs. Since when were Vader's legs prosthetics anyway? Then he burns up simply be accident after the fight is over and Ben just skulks away? Wimp out. This is supposed to be Judas kissing Christ in the garden.....this is supposed to be a ropadope...instead we get "Hey, look, your shoe's untied"!!! Perfect set up and punch line would be (that missed opportunity again) Qui Gon coming to Ben and telling him what he must do to Anakin and then Ben throwing him to his fate.

"Wipe the protocol driod's memory".....LAME!

How many women out there would want an audience when they were giving birth like Padme had?

Where did Ben keep getting all those robes he kept taking off every time he had a fight and never retreived?

The job to have in thois galaxy is the owner of "Prosthetics R US".

One more Jedi dangles precariously from a ledge and I'll scream!

The Wookiees should have been subtiteled. althoug, that was a nice "Apocalypse Now" homage in the fly-over of the Wookee beach.

I wanted to see Anakin slay the younglings in a similar fashion to what he did to the Sand People in "Clones". Apparently, it is in the novelization it just would have made his turn to the Dark Side even more horrific and tie it in with the previous chapter showing that this turn had actually been happening for quite some time.

Just how long does it take women from Naboo to carry a child to term? I was confused by the scene after Ben leaves to chase Grevious. There was another one of Anakin's nightmares and then Anakin talks with Padme about having found a way to save her from his nightmares. She walks out looking like she's 5 months pregnant. Anakin talks with her about Ben having been there just that morning. The apparent pregnant stomach implies months had gone by. Stop shaking your head at me; other people said the same thing. One little line referencing how long until they're born would have saved that. Looking at one of the early scripts which made it online shows a scene with that visit from Ben. Look forward to seeing that on the DVD release, I'm sure.

What about the memories Leia had about her mother? "She always seemed so sad." I know it was dramatically correct for Padme to die but didn't Organa's wife look happy at the end of the movie finally getting to adopt a baby girl. Why did she have to make her sad?

I will say that Anakin's slide into the dark side worked better for me this time around. The seduction by Palpetine is fantastic. All the way through you can still see his inner turmoil which continues through to the end of his life in "Jedi".

The CGI work is a mixed bag. While Lucas still didn't seem to want to fill every square inch of the screen with it like he did in "Clones" he still seems hesitant to have his actors on the screen without something happening in the background. The animated Dooku and newborn babies were distracting. If anyone does the first fully CGI cast movie; I'd put my money on Lucasfilm.

The music was phenomenal; another Oscar for Williams. From the first notes of the film, when you see the Separatists ships looming over Couriscant and the timpany are pounding away you know it's going to be a dark film. Then as Anakin and Ben fly in you hear "Luke's theme". That got my adrenalin going.

It was nice to see humor return. You definitely got a feel for the interplay between Anakin and Ben which echoed back to their saber fight in "A New Hope". We finally get to see Anakin as "the best fighter pilot in the galaxy".

I do really like this movie; don't get me wrong. It is a flawed masterpiece. You might also say, "Who the hell are you to second guess the director". I've been addicted to this series since 1977; I'm a little emotionally invested in it. These pre-quels have never gotten anywhere near the originals until this one and it still missed the mark, if only by a fraction. There is a definite charm that has been lost since "Jedi". It's nice that Lucas has all these CGI wonders he can work with but to quote one of his own characters, "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed..." While he's got the vision the way he wants it he's still missing something about the heart of the story. While the coolest moment of the movie was Yoda knocking over those two guards with the flick of a wrist that still can't beat the simple performance of Frank Oz and a couple of pounds of latex. There was a sense of "being home" when we saw the interior of Organa's blockade runner for the first time on 26 years. You could tell it wasn't a CGI interior and it felt like a Star Wars movie again.

Definitely the best of these three. Where it ranks with the other might have to wait until I can watch them in storytelling order. I'll get back to you after Christmas.

The best part about going to see Episode III on Thursday with my son was the car I got to rent. I had requested a convertible anyway because of this being a special event. When I got there the woman at Avis just smiled and handed me the keys to a brand-spanking-new 50th Anniversary Thunderbird!

I had FUN with this car.

Of course they have a governor on the engine which would not allow me to go over 100 mph but the car certainly did sing when it was topped off. Why anyone with a convertible in Florida would put the top up if it isn't raining is a mystery to me. This car was sooooooo sweet.

When I got to Johnny's he was standing in the driveway with some friends; I think the car got me the "cool dad" title. First thing he and his brother did was to do the patented "Batman" jump into the car with out opening the door. When we left to head out for dinner and the movie I turned the car to take the longer highway route to get to the mall. John asked why.

"Look as the car we're in, I answered, "You want to just drive this at 35 mph?!"

As soon as we hit the on ramp I punched the accelerator and the engine smoothly whined its way through the gears bolting us to top speed zipping in between cars getting to the mall in moments.

"This never happened!" I screamed to him over the rushing air. He just smiled and enjoyed the ride.

When we got to the mall I found a large empty section of parking lot and brought the car to a complete stop.

"What are we doing here?" John asked.

"Hold on."

I was taking a chance here because I had never had a car that was able to do what I was trying to do. I grabbed the wheel, turned it hard and then slammed on the accelerator. The car spun around in a perfect donut; engine humming and tires screeching.

As the car settled to a stop at the end of its 360 degrees John said, "You've always wanted to do that, didn't you?"

"Not really something I could do with an Areosar!"

"Yeah, it would probably tip over."

We went to a restaurant called Cheeburger Cheeburger. They have this one pound hamburger challenge; if you finish the burger they take your photo with a large styrofoam burger and put it up on the wall with hundred of others. My son finished his and signed his photo "I'm still hungry!"

A proud moment for the Eaton family!

Three of his friends joined us at the theater for the movie. It was great hanging out with him and his friends; seeing him in his own environment. This one of the things I really miss in not being the "residential dad". I had always pictured our house as the one that all the friends hung out.

So much seems so familiar. There was the funny friend. The cool one who high fived me. And the hanger on who invited himself to everything the others went to probably because what he had at home was lacking. In some ways this was just as good as if he and I had gone to the midnight show ourselves.

Oh...the movie! He loved it. My final review will be tomorrow after I see it one more time.

So,so,so,so friggin close it hurt.

I just got back from the midnight show of Episode III. Let me first say that I did like it. I will save a detailed review until after I see it a few more times.

I think the biggest problem is that there has been almost 30 years of build up and expectation which makes a hard target to hit.

More after I see it again. Right now I'm going to bed!

Just like the series as a whole; the finale of "Star Trek: Enterprise" was unsatisfying and limp. The way they killed Trip was especially so. I was even somewhat let down that the story did not take the tact we had been led to believe; that the entire series had been a holograph novel Riker and Troi were going through. It would have been kinder to this whole abomination if it were nothing more than Bobby Ewing coming out of the shower.

Star Trek will be back. Hopefully without Rick Berman. If anything, he has been the abomination to Trek. Thank goodness there's still Ron Moore and "Battlestar Galactica".

It should have been "Star Trek: Excelsior" all along.

I had a moment of unbelievable stupidity this evening. I was picking up a cake for our "Enterprise Wake" party. It was a small white cake with "Star Trek; Enterprise RIP" printed on it. As I was going through the checkout there was this wonderfully beautiful young lady at the register. In my mind I went thought a delightful witty exchange where she asks if the cake says, "Star Trek?"

"Yes, it does," I answer "Don't tell me I'm lucky enough that you;re a fan."

"Why, yes, I am," she answers.

I get up to the register and push the cake forward. She glances inside the bag and sure enough says to me, "Does that cake say Star Trek on it?"

"Yes, it does," I answer.

And that was it.

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!

I mad a very interesting discovery in my storage room the other day; a journal of mine from the spring of 1980. What a trip down amnesia lane.

It was filled with teenage romance and angst as the 18 year old not yet known as Towaway approached the end of his high school career. There was one girl for whom I spent a third of the book professing undying love with talk of marriage. Then in the blinding flash of 5 pages was dumped and ready to profess undying love for yet another fair haired beauty who was the absolute end of all being.

Well.......four months, anyway!

I still know one of these people. She and I still talk occasionally. Reading back through the years makes me wonder how she looks back on those times. Groping sessions in the backs of cars, in parks, behind buildings and houses devoid of parents for even the slightest moments. We never went all to far but the activities of which I wrote seemed no less erotic than any 3 minute section of Dad's stolen 8MM film collection he had hidden in his cedar chest.

This journal did exactly what I intended; to be a time capsule for those times in my life. It sat, untouched, for decades. Now it lays itself open in my God-awful chicken scratch (you have no idea how fortunate YOU are this is typed!) as a true and honest documentation of what goes through a teenage kids mind.

Apparently, most of that is testosterone.

It will be interesting to see if this "journal" lasts as long. How will I react to it in 25 years? I'm still looking for the older journals I know are in there somewhere; ones I did around 1975 - 77. I am dying to share these with my son.

Well, maybe I'll wait till I find the ones from Junior High School. Not so much testosterone in those.

I miss my mom today.

I miss her laugh.

I miss calling her and make fun of the stupid old people I would have to call at work. I would tell her, "I just wanted to talk to someone in their 70's who knew what day it was".

I miss her hugs.

I miss her gossip.

I miss the twinkle in her eyes just before she would say or do something funny.

I miss her patience with me.

I miss her being angry with me.

I miss her being a phone call away.

I miss her being a few hours drive away.

Today is really no different from any other day, to tell you the truth.

A sure sign that I'm becoming a middle aged fart.

I got all excited about a new stretch of road that opened up a few days ago. They have been working on this three mile section of road for a while now and it was delayed for about a month. You'd have to know the area, but it is a bypass to the major artery through the county and something I saw as a "Why didn't they do this years ago?!" kind of thing.

It would save me a stressful ride to and from work. It might save me time as well. It looked to be a more direct route than what I was traveling. I was overjoyed when they announced its construction.

Finally you could see the progress from the main road. Trees were cleared, A foundation was laid. Pavement. I gladly put up with the inconvenience of narrowed lanes on our main thoroughfare as crews married the new and old roads. Landscaping was completed. Then, finally, the ultimate tease; the traffic light at the new intersection. To taunt me even further, in a gesture I'm sure the highway department saw as courteous but only served to heighten my anticipation, was a blinking warning sign for the past two weeks announcing that the traffic light would become operational on April 28th.

The the day came. As I drove by and saw the barricades had been removed I could hardly contain myself. With screeching tires I made my first turn onto this road to Nirvana. And it is a very pretty ride through the savannahs. Two lanes which wander almost aimlessly past miles of brush and trees. They even built in a "scenic overlook" parking area halfway through so drivers could stop and enjoy nature's beauty.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Wait a freakin' minute! I'm getting misty over a road?!

What's next? Amway?!

Reason #1,354,657,865 why Rick Berman never "got it" and why Ron Moore is a television God!

From Ron's Blog:

"What do you have to say to new fans, like myself, people who are unfamiliar with the mythos of BSG? You've been talking mainly to people who are intimately familiar with the original series."

I guess I say welcome aboard and you've got some homework to do. If my references to the original series drive you crazy, why not go out and get the DVD set of the original and see what all the hoopla's about? I try not to delve too deeply into the original show in my commentaries, but at the same time, this show does have a history and I think it's only fair to point out the connections between now and then, after all there would be no Galactica now were it not for Galactica then.


Tonight's episode of "Enterprise" proves that even more. If Manny Coto had been around when the show was first conceived and writing like "Into the Mirror Darkly" had been happening from day one we might still have Star Trek on TV. This took chances, this shook it up.......this was FANTASTIC. Ron and Manny have respect for the original material; I don't believe Berman ever did. Ron and Manny have respect for the fans; I don't believe Berman ever did. What Ron and Manny have done for the genre is laudable and deserves all the applause and awards that could be heaped upon them; what Berman has done to the genre is a crying fucking shame.

Seperated at birth?

My son....The Prince.

Another lazy weekend. Some friends went to a renaissance Faire. I bowed out because they bore me to tears. All of the stereotypical "geek" labels people put on Trek fans I put on people who are into these events. Yes, I am a geek and can walk around all day in a Starfleet costume. However, I do not walk about making believe it's 2265. You'd think the wannabe actor in me would appreciate what the performers are doing but it just is one big yawn fest for me.

I only left the house to go to work for a few hours Saturday and get the mail. Other than that it's been veg out and catch up on shows I have on TiVo.

"Blind Justice" is Stephen Bochko's latest and it has taken some getting used to, but I'm glad I stayed with it. The premise is a bit of a stretch; a NYPD detective is blinded in a shoot out and goes back on the job guide dog and all. The thing which has kept me there is the lead actor, Ron Eldard. He plays John Dunbar with a strength which grabs you and keeps you there. The real hook to the show is exactly how a blind person deals with every day life; that sometimes is more intriguing than the detective stories happening around him. And, OK, I live for the bedroom scenes with his wife, Rena Sofer.

It's been probably 30 years since I watched an episode of "Kojac" so I'm not sure exactly how close the USA Networks version with Vingh Raimes is to the original but I like it. I know they definitely do not have the character of Detective Crocker as well fleshed out as the original but Vingh hold the show together tightly. He plays the cop we all wish cops could really be, doing whatever is necessary to get the bad guy and bending or breaking the rules if it either gets the job done or helps out the good guys. He has got to be the best dressed cop on TV today.

"24" continues to be bad television done well. Last week's episode cranked up the suspense but continued to stretch believability. It cannot be that easy to take down Air Force One.

"Robot Chicken" is hilarious. Thanks to my friend Dave for hooking me up with it. They had a bit on the Star Wars Trilogy which almost had me peeing my pants.

I could not really enjoy "Gray's Anatomy" for the same reason I skip "ER". A little too real. Death and sickness is enough to deal with in the real world; when I sit to watch TV I'd like to have a little fun and escape. I tried though, I really tried but kept getting creeped out.

I usually don't try to say much derogatory about The Ex in public. Well, at least when my son is around. But I think it's time to state the obvious.

The Ex is a big poopie head!

Today I called and broached the idea of taking Johnny to the first midnight showing of "Revenge of the Sith". She laughed and said, "Honey, you're not serious". Her concern was his missing school. Mine was missing out on a fantastic father/son moment. While she may have a point this is something of an event.

OK, OK....I'm a geek. But so is my son! He hides it well, but he is a geek by genetics if nothing else. We have never gone to any of the Star Wars movies on opening day much less a midnight show. This would be something he'd remember forever.

I still vividly remember my father trying to share a passion of his with me when I was little. Stock car racing. It was too loud for my little ears and I walked around most of the time with my hands plastered to each side of my head. He tired bribing me with memorabilia and food. I would have no part of it. I can see him dragging me through the packed parking lot back to the car. As the dim of the engines faded behind us I was sure he was taking to my next spanking as I had put up quite a stink to leave early. But it was a moment between him and me that is still so vivid I can smell the fumes. I want him to have just as many with me when he gets older.

As what I was hoping would be ammunition on my side I asked her if she thought my friend Dave (The Hey, for those in the know) and his wife had these same kind of conversations when Opening Day approached. That much we did agree on.

The only good part to the conversation was that we were able to joke and talk to each other about it like we might have years ago. It's nice to have that much of my old friend back.

Even if she is a poopie head.

I just had the coolest conversation with my son today. I was sharing with him my opinion of "Sin City" (It sucked) when I was given the most unexpected gift; his respect.

I was telling him how, while I liked the visuals of the movie, it lacked a coherent plot. Basically, there was no story to really follow. He said, "Wow, it must have been bad; something like that coming from you" He values me opinion and seems to use it as a yardstick for comparison. OK, so he probably doesn't always agree, but he does seem to put value to it.

I don't think my feet have touched the ground. Each day with him gets better and better the older her gets. I know I've spouted off before about envisioning the two of us as adults together, but this hammered that home to me again. We have grown, not only as parent and child, but as friends. There were may times since the divorce when The Ex had said things to try to undermine my relationship with him but that all fades away with each moment like this. In spite of the mileage and situations my son and I have grown together. I do still regret not being part of the day to day of his life; but what he now have, and what it seems to be going, is a fantastic relationship I see getting stronger than if I had been there all along.

Speaking of opinions:

Battlestar Galactica has got to be the best thing to hit television in a long time. I yelled out when the twist ending hit last Friday night. I did not see it coming. The writing is as good as The West Wing as is the acting. It's a drama that just happens to be science fiction. If you missed it the first time around please find a DVD, download it from the net, watch the reruns....whatever you have to do to get into this show.

24 continues to be a bad show done well. Maybe it's because they have gone to the well one too many times and stretched believability too far. In this weeks episode I find it beyond belief that getting to Air Force One could be so easy and that, knowing of the imminent danger, that the President would just sit and wait.

The Pacifier bites. When it was over, I turned to my son and said, "You owe me $12." While it was aimed directly at 10 year olds it really should not have seemed as if it were written by a 10 year old. Yeech.

Post partum depression is not exclusively a new mother's problem; I suffer from it every two weeks. I put John on a bus to head back to his mother's. We had a great week together. Lots of time just hanging out together and simply living in the same space.

I did, however have to parental at one point this week. By accident I had found he was searching for nude celebrity sites on the net. A few years ago I had caught him trying to get into the Playboy website so the rule was if he was caught again there would be limits placed on his internet use. Since, as far as I could tell, he was only searching and hadn't actually gone to one of the sites he was cut off from the PC for two days. Usually when he's caught he cries; this time he knew he was busted and took it like a man.

He amazes me more and more each day. His sense of humor is being honed and he's growing into quite a person. I revel in each day just watching the changes. I often wonder what will happen when he is on his own; how will I deal with even more separation from him?

Speaking of changes, my congressional friend is staying in the House of Representatives so it seems my political coat tail grabbing is on hold for a while more. Jim Langevin announced over the weekend his intention to stay and build seniority in the House as opposed to taking a shot at a senate race this year. If he had, I had every intention of trying to get back on his staff and moving to DC. It would have meant a drastic change to things with John but would have out my life back on track to where it was before moving to Florida.

Being this close to my son, however, does make up the difference.

Whoo! What a weekend we had! Yes, I know this is delayed but with John here for the weekend we've been a little busy. OK, so we're sitting on our butts a lot watching movies or playing gamecube, but you get the idea.

We started off with a Vulkon weekend in Orlando. There were the usual band of suspects. Given my usual routine for these weekends has included consumption of copious amounts of alcohol, having my son there was an interesting addition.

Vulkon was it usual self. Brent Spiner was the main guest and although tempted, the only times I made it onto the main programming room was when I was looking for friends. I did my best to balance the time I had to spend with friend and on Fleet matters with the fact that most of a Vulkon bores my son into a coma. Or at least to retreating to the hotel room. It was when the drinking started things took on a different slant.

I had grown up in a house where there was drinking. In the corner on our dining room was a liquor cabinet. I have gone from living in a bottle when I first got to college to being dry for seven years to enjoying the hell out of drinking. I was anxious about having my son around. Actually, I was more nervous about hearing grief from the Ex over it. I did balance my drinking with spending time with him during the evenings festivities. At one point he became extremely bored by himself in the hotel room and came down to check out the dance. This was an educational experience to say the least.

For a change I was the more sober of the bunch and it was an education for myself as well. No one was way out of control or anything; simply all having a good time. I don't know enough about my ex's life and her friends, but I do know enough to say to my son, "I guess you could definitely say Dad's friends are lots different than your mother's." His eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously. He called the evening "interesting" when I asked him the next morning.

Since coming home we have been to the movies and rented a few video games. Nothing too strenuous or out of the ordinary for two lazy guys on vacation. Tomorrow, though, I do plan to hit a miniature golf place nearby he's had his eyes on for a while.

His older brother is in a pile of trouble. Jimmy visited with his brother last President's Day weekend. With him being 17 years old I thought nothing of him sitting up until 2 or 3 AM watching television. That was, until I got this month's satellite TV bill. He had racked up $50 worth of adult pay per view. I was livid. Luckily, DirecTV could see that I had never even used regular pay per view and that this was an unusual spike in its use. They wrote off the $50. I will not let him know that, of course, and make him pony up the money. I'll give it to his mother for something he needs but will put him through the torture of facing both me and his mother on this one.

The sound you are hearing is my parents laughing in vengeful retribution from the other side!

I haven't been blogging with any substance because I've been so busy in the last week. I'm working as much overtime as I can to make up for taking next week off entirely to spend with John on his school vacation. I'm at the office some nights until 7PM which leaves me precious little time to do what I have to around the house and get a decent amount of sleep before staring another 10 hours work day.

Last weekend was the annual Region 2 Summit. This year was in Tampa. While there were some organizational problems it was a fun weekend. I was able to finally talk someone else in my chapter to attend and she loved it. It is basically an excuse for us to get together and have fun. We do have some organizational meetings and an awards banquet but getting together with friends is the reason.

The hotel has a pirate ship in the middle of their kiddie wading pool. Even though this is Florida since the pool wasn't heated the water in it had chilled to that of a mountain stream. As I sat there looking at the water I remembered that I had been swimming in a mountain stream before, so I decided to take a plunge. The "pirate ship" had water cannons and a slide. I bounded up and slid right down into water which made that stream in Israel seem like bath water. I screamed like a little girl as my testicles retreated to somewhere around my throat for warmth. Not to miss out on the fun Mandi, our Fleet Admiral, and my pal Bruce ran for their suits. Hotel security handled it very nicely as she whispered, "You do know this is the kiddie pool, right?"

Saturday night was topped off my the usual drunken debauchery hosted by my friend Max and his crew from Tampa. It's always a sign of how drunk I'll get by whether or not my son is in attendance. Since he wasn't there.........

I am really looking forward to our week together. Since I'm still limping my van through its final days he'll be taking Greyhound to get up here. With luck I'll be buying something while he's here. I got a raise at work which it retroactive to September so I should have enough to get into something decent.

Some media notes. "24" has become a faint reminder of what it used to be. This season's story line continues to stretch things too far. With all of the moles who end up working there; if CTU were in charge of Homeland Security Bin Laden would be strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue. However, I still do watch every week. It's poorly written, but it's produced well. There are moments when they keep the suspense, however ridiculous, as tight as a watch spring. Thanks to TiVo I can zip through it in 35 minutes. I still manage to have to hit the bathroom somewhere during an episode and Jack Bauer seems to go all day without so much as looking into one!

I went to see "Robots" yesterday and it is everything "The Incredibles" wasn't. I laughed outloud like I expect to at one of these. There are jokes for the adults and a great fart joke scene for the kids. Meaningful story and magnificent CGI renderings which looked photo realistic.

The Star Wars trailer came out this week and looks fantastic. It seems to match the scripts I have read online and if this gets acted as well as it reads this should make up for the first two movies. While I don't hate them as much as some fans do, they are not quite the same as the original trilogy. There has been a spark missing form them which ran through all three of the originals. I am as excited about this one as I was then Episode One first opened.

I don't know if I'm amused by or pissed of at the rumored series ender for Enterprise. For the whole story check this out. You probably know I think Rick Berman is an asshole and is the reason Trek has seen a demise so I'm leaning towards being pissed off. It's as if he's saying, "Hey, all you geeks got so ticked off I screwed with your precious TV show well,, guess what......I never existed! Nyaaa-nyaaa!" Don't bite the hand that feeds ya!

Reason Number 5,324,954,345,234 why Ron Moore is THE MAN and Rick Berman is the Ani-Christ:

From Ron's blog this week.....

A question from a fan:

"If we go too far with this are you prepared to deliver Captain Kirk's 'Get A Life' speech?"

His answer:

I should be so lucky as to watch you guys get to that point.

Glory days well they'll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days

This past Saturday I got together with two of my oldest and best friends. It was the first time in a long time that Dave, Howard and myself were able to be in the same place at the same time. Howard was in Orlando with his son for school vacation; with both Dave and myself being a short car ride away we jumped at the opportunity.

I was fantastic. It was as if not a single day had passed since we were together last. While there are some friends who I do nothing but rehashing "old times" the three of us still have a strong active friendship and things in our lives while intermingle and keep us together.

First thing we did was recreate a moment from the past. Below are two images 19 years apart. The first was taken at a Halloween Party in 1986. We took the current version on the porch at the Orlando House of Blues. Amazing what the years will do. This photo recreation was my little project. Leave it to me to not be in just the right position. Of course, that gives us the excuse to get together again when Howard returns to Florida!!!




True to our unbelievable luck. The Ryans and I arrived before Howard. He had said he was going to get reservations through Disney. As I watched the line to the door getting longer and longer, I decided to double check. The cute blonde at the door looked through her list saying there was no Cronson, McAuliffe or Farkle. She looked up at me, smiled and said, "Well, when your friend gets her just come up and see me." Sure enough, when Ho arrived we walked up, she recognized me and led us to our table when other were being told of a 45 minute wait.

She wanted me!

Dinner was great. We talked over the old days. Where we are now. Starfleet. Old friends. Family. Kids. Howard got his biggest laugh of the evening as I had to pull out my bifocals to read the menu. "The good old Captain Kirk eyeglass trick, eh?" Funny guy!

Afterwards we walked through Downtown Disney. It was great but way too short. Plans are on the list for getting together with both sets of children at Disney the next time he comes down.

If you've read my blog with any regularity, you know how tight I try to hold on to friends. It's gratifying when I have friends like Dave and Howard I can call at a moment's notice or get together any time or any place and you'd never know a day had passed between us. The hair may be thinner. (Howard's has always been grey, so I won't go there!) The waists bay be wider. But the smiles in both photos are true. You're looking at the faces of loving friendship.