I have been traveling on airplanes since I was 6 years old so, to have one cancelled flight which screwed up my plans isn’t really something to bitch about.

I am writing this as I sit in the Philadelphia airport waiting for my final flight back to Florida. I should have been making this flight a day ago, but the weather in Syracuse had other plans for me. I had come to upstate New York for the Starfleet International Conference. This is our annual Board of Directors meeting and, since I am a member of that board, I am mandated to attend. My region of chapters pays for my flight and room so it makes for a very inexpensive trip. As I have said before, being in a position of responsibility in Fleet has afforded me the opportunity to see some places I might never have even thought of going and Ithica is one of them.

I flew out Friday morning in a rushed state. I slept about 30 minuets later than I should have and the whole trip seemed rushed because of it. I rolled into the West Palm Beach airport on fumes and made it to my gate just as they were boarding. When we got to my connection in Washington, DC we had to wait 15 minuets on the tarmac for a gate to clear. Luckily, all I had to do was take five steps across the concourse to my next gate, walked on the plane an right into my seat.

My good friend, Lisa along with her little girl, Jillian and friend Monique were there to meet me in Syracuse and were shuttling me to the conference. We used the hour long ride to catch up and gab. I had missed the first half, and apparently long, boring and drawn out, portion of the meeting arriving just after lunch.

These meetings, and the organization as a whole, are an interesting thing. At our heart, this is a fan club. We do good deeds for our communities and for charities but also are a very dysfunctional group. While intentions may sometimes, not all the times, be good, many of these folks don’t know how to positively criticize and, instead, jump down people’s throats, antagonize, insult and berate anyone’s else’s ideas and opinions contrary to their own.

It was with this in mind that I was amazed at how the EBAC meeting went shorter than I thought it would and was nothing like the blood bath I expected. The “opposition” to our current leadership had barely given this team anything of a “honeymoon period” and have not let up. Granted, this administration has made some glaring mistakes which makes even me question them at times. However, this meeting went smooth and easy; almost congenial at times. We did get things accomplished but I was waiting for more. I have spoke to people on both sides and whether evasion was intentional of one side’s part or the other either never saw or was given the opportunity to bring up the controversial issues those issues will continue to play out over the next few months. IC always tends to energize people and it has done so with me. There are two issues in front of the leadership of our group which I have some clear ideas on and hope I will be able to add to the debate.

One of the surprises of the weekend was meeting up with an old friend, Robin Curtis. She was there along with another Trek actor John “JG” Hertzler. I had not seen Robin in about 2 years and caught her and John in the restaurant. I have known Robin for almost 20 years and we have kept in contact and retained a friendship outside of the fandom. We caught up and she was pleased to hear of my inroads to get into acting professionally. Talking “the craft” with John was also fantastic. He has a passion for acting and to be talking with the both of them like a peer was invigorating. During the Q&A session they did together I was able to coax a Shakespearean performance out of him which was amazing.

Robin has a one woman play she has been working on over the past few years which is a phenomenial piece of work. While her career was relatively short and a lot of “fluff” TV like “MacGyver” and “Airwolf” this piece that she has written is what real acting is all about, being truthful. It is sort of a personal “Vagina Monologues”. I even talked with her about the possibility of bringing it to Florida if she ever wanted to test it out. She has a new career in real estate and is giving that her focus of energy. I could still see, behind her eyes, that spark of an actor’s passion whenever she talked about it and how the itch to perform is still there under the surface.

IC is also a chance to meet up with other friends I have made over the years with this group. This weekend, especially, afforded me the opportunity to spend time with my friends Dave and Leslie. While they only live three hours away we hardly see each other and when we do, at most other conventions, it is hit and run. This time we shared a few meals and talked and laughed like old friends do.

It all came to an end and Lisa showed up to play chaueffeur again. We had more than enough time so she brought me to her house to see where she lived and meet her “significant other”, Howard. He grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and these things called spiedies. These are a simple marinated pork, lamb or chicken grilled and served on a single slice of Italian bread. I usually search out local foods and regional favorites but this one really could have gone unnoticed. For some reason, the locals in and around Binghampton, NY make a big deal out of these; going as far as having A Spiedie Festival. The major reason for this I found by driving around the area; the ain’t much frakking else to do in that neck of the woods! Thanks for making them, Howie but, really, get a regional food with some pizzaz to it!

After dinner we drove back to Syracuse. While I was ready to fly back to Florida, the weather had other plans. There were delays going up to 9PM which meant I would miss connections and eventually, after sleeping in an airport for up to 8 hours, back home late in the afternoon. I called Lisa and she came back to get me. I opted to take a flight out first thing in the morning which would put me back to West Palm Beach around lunch time. The best part of this is hat it gave me more time with Lisa. OK, so most of it was spent driving back and forth from Syracuse to Binghampton, but we had plenty of time to talk.

And yes; one of those topics was Julie. Lisa has seen me through many of these situations and is always able to give me the female perspective. She’s not always able to explain the why’s of how a woman reacts and thinks but she does give me an insight into the thought process. And she wasn’t the only one who weighed in and offered to come back to Florida to “have a talk with Julie”; I had three other readers of my blog come up to me and mention the situation. I want to thank each of you for not only reading this blog on a regular basis but for caring as well. It is satisfying to know that this blog isn’t simply my outlet for venting through my life but a way of connection with other people.

My flight should be leaving soon and I’ll be glad to get out of the Philly airport; it really ain’t the best I’ve seen so far. I’ll have photos posted a day or two after I get home. Hope you weekend went better than mine.