Datalore

COACH Motherfucker!!!!!! LOL sorry for swearing y’all. I went out to lunch and shopping with a friend today and was persuaded into buying a coach wallet and it is fabulous looking. Now I will be the first to admit that it didn’t take a lot of persuading and the wallet was 60%off the purchase price. This wallet is the answer to my 1/3 life crisis Instead of couch I went for COACH!

Treadmill and Pilates today for the workout!

Datalore

The Enterprise is taking a detour to investigate the planet where Data was discovered only to find it has been ravaged by some unknown force. While investigating, Data and Riker discover a room containing a disassembled android that looks very similar to Data. The android is brought on board and reassembeled and we learn that its name is Lore and he was built before Data by a Dr. Soongh. Lore originally lies to the ship’s crew and says he was built second and is more perfect. Lore immediately starts to act in a sinister manor and is up to no good. Lore reveals that a gigantic Crystaline Entity destroyed the planet and that Lore himself is working with the Entity. Lore demobilizes Data and takes his place and no one seems to notice this except for Wesley Crusher. The problem is that no one believes Wes because he is a kid. Eventually Wes is kicked off the bridge and he convinces Dr. Crusher to examine the immobilized “Lore” who is of course Data. Now Wes, Crusher and Data work to interrupt Lore and deactivate him before the Crystaline Entity destroys the ship.

This show plays on the oldest of old soap opera tricks, The Evil Twin. One would think this would seem stupid and pathetic in the Star Trek world and guess what…. I kind of is lame. Lore comes back later as a villain but we don’t see or hear much of him for a while.  

The Big Goodbye

Is it Thursday? Is it Friday? Is it Wednesday? IDK, do you know why? Well the answer is because I have not been at work all week and have lost track of the days. Once again most of today was spent working on the yearbook and watching Harry Potter movies. I also got lunch with my mother which was fun to spend time with her and do a little shopping. I have come to the conclusion that I am going through some type of 1/3 life crisis. First I wanted a new car but opted not to get one, second I wanted to buy a couch and now I have opted not to buy that either. For the last few months I have been craving a change of some sort but I don’t know what that change would be? I guess I just need to be content with life as it is and quit wishing for some change in the future. IDK again.

Treadmill: 250 calories and 1.50 miles

The Big Goodbye

The Enterprise is set to make contact with a strange group of insect-like aliens and everyone is on edge most of all Picard. While he is stressing Troi suggests he try spending some quality time in the hollodeck. He of course takes her advice and has a wonderful five minute experience and then invites Crusher and a historian to join him. Crusher is obviously upset because she clearly has feelings for Picard and wanted to spend the alone time with him. Moments later Picard, the historian and Data enter the hollodeck and begin acting out the story of 1940’s detective Dixon Hill in a mystery thriller. Crusher later joins the group in the story. During this time the strange aliens probe the Enterprise and cause a malfunction to the hollodeck. Now all bets are off on the hollodeck and a fake bullet can kill as it does to the ship’s historian. The Enterprise crew works tirelessly to fix the transporter as Picard and crew try not to get killed by a bunch of gangster hoodlums. In the end it all comes out ok with the aliens and the hollodeck is repaired for future use. No one seems to care that a crew member has died but that is life in the world of Star Trek.

What a fun little episode from the first season, possibly the best of the lot. It is fun to see familiar faces in 1940’s get up and trying to assimilate into the culture of the time.

Haven

Today I honestly I have nothing to report as of yet as I write this blog post. I have to go to work today from 4-7 which isn’t too bad really but it is the pain in the butt of going to work for only three hours when I could just as well be at home and doing some work. The excitement of the day is that I am going to make Steak Fajitas for dinner when I get home J  yeah!!! The other excitement is that I’ve maintained a weight of 224 for the week.

Today’s Workout: Treadmill

Haven

The Enterprise is off to a planet called Haven to enjoy some well earned rest and relaxation. While in orbit a mysterious box is transported up which provides a message to Counselor Troi that her betrothed husband will be coming aboard to get married. Troi does not seem too happy about the arrangement but feels obligated to go along with the whole thing to honor her parents. Upon meeting her intended she senses that he is not truly committed to the arrangement either. We also meet Troi’s mother Lwaxanna who is a brassy middle-aged woman who is in Troi’s own words “eccentric”. Meanwhile a ship is discovered heading towards the planet Haven. The ship is filled with a group of aliens from a planet thought to be extinct. The aliens are suffering from a long standing illness which they created during a war centuries ago. It is clear the Troi’s intended husband Wyatt is fascinated with these aliens and wants to cure them. In a bold move he wishes everyone goodbye and secretly beams over to the alien ship. Now he has what he wants and Troi gets to stay aboard the Enterprise.

I feel truly sorry for Marina Sirtis. The costumes they had that poor woman wear during the first season are just horrible, not to mention her hair and make-up. YIKES.

Hide and Q

Today was devoted to making progress on the school yearbook, which takes a considerable amount of time to put together for a 76 page book. YIKES. The best part of the day though was going to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie with a friend. I love these movies because they are entertaining as hell but I also enjoy how they keep you guessing throughout the whole movie. The way the smallest of details are incorporated to make major changes in the plot line. I would have to say though that my favorite part of the movie is the witty banter between Watson and Holmes that always has just a little bit more than a gay undercurrent to it. Makes me laugh every time!

Today’s Workout- 275calories and 2.15miles

Hide and Q

While on its way to help out in a rescue mission on a mining colony the Enterprise is interrupted by a visit from Q. Q once again is being a meddlesome ass but this time he has turned his affections towards Commander Riker. He transports the entire bridge crew with the exception of Picard to some strange planet to “play a game”. The crew finds themselves about to do battle with an army of Q’s creation. In a moment of danger Q tells Riker that he has been given the gifts of the Q. Riker does not believe him at first but eventually decides to use the power and rescue the crew. Riker agrees not to use the new found powers but his mind changes after he decides not to save the life of a young girl on the mining colony. Riker begins to become more interested in his powers and at the same time becomes a big ole arrogant ass. In the end the crew helps to convince Riker that he does not need the powers and he of course does not accept them. Q is told he must hold is promise to leave mankind alone from now on but of course we know he won’t.

The Battle

Ladies and Gentlemen of the blog I have a massive decision to make in my life. Buy a new sofa that will look grownup and utterly cute in my new TV room or Option 2, Go on a vacation and keep my futon. The argument for the couch is that I want something new and the one I have found is pretty cute and really would complete the room transformation project. The arguments against the couch are that I want to go on a vacation really bad and two the futon is still functional and doesn’t really NEED to be replaced. UGH I hate making these decisions. The possible trip may be for a weekend to Disney.. so which is better a lifetime with a couch or a weekend in Disney World?

Treadmill: 275 calories and 2.0miles

The Battle

The Enterprise has rendezvoused with a Ferengi ship for an unknown purpose and the crew is starting to get just a little anxious about the whole situation. Picard is not feeling well and has a headache which apparently is rare in the 24^th century and everyone is concerned about the whole matter. The Ferengi inform Picard that they have a gift for him, his old abandoned ship the Stargazer which was abandoned and presumed destroyed 9 years ago. 9 years prior the Stargazer had encountered an unknown vessel and was forced to destroy it but in turn it was nearly destroyed itself. Picard continues to suffer from headaches and begins to see visions of his crew from the battle with the Ferengi aboard the Stargazer. The Ferengi Damon, we learn, is using some type of device to influence Picard’s thoughts and provide pain. Eventually the Ferengi Damon lures Picard onto the bridge of the Stargazer and forces him to reenact the battle but this time against the Enterprise. The Damon is seeking revenge for the death of his son who was on board the Ferengi ship that Picard destroyed. The Enterprise crew figure the situation out in the nick of time to get Picard of the Stargazer bridge and return things to normal.

Again the Ferengi are being used as a villain species at this point in the series and are intended to be a real threat. Starting in later seasons the Ferengi are used as nuisances and comic relief which is a much better role for these little orange guys with big ears.

Justice

Merry Christmas Y’all!!! Today was a fun filled day of Christmas and tons of food with my Dad’s side of the family. One house in St. Paul with over 20 people laughing, eating and opening presents. There really is nothing to report on the day, I am excited the holiday season has come to an end and that life can get back to a sense of normality for a little while.

Today’s Workout- Treadmill, but I forgot to write down the stats… whoops!

Justice

The Enterprise is exploring a newly charted planet that appears to be a veritable Eden that appears similar to Earth. The inhabitants are simple people who all appear to be Blond, Tan and Attractive, though slightly stupid. The residents are more interested in fun and sex and less interested in explaining the rules of their planet to the Enterprise crew attempting to use the planet for shore leave. While playing with other teenagers from the planet Wesley Crusher accidentally trips over a white fence and falls into a batch of seedling plants, this of course breaks a rule. The only catch is that the punishment for any violation of the rules is…Death. The Landing Party and Enterprise crew are now faced with how to save Wesley without totally breaking the Prime Directive. Meanwhile on the Enterprise a mysterious ships has appeared but it is not totally solid in this universe. The ship informs the Enterprise it is to leave and not interfere with its “Children” and threatens to exert its powers to protect the inhabitants of the planet. Picard decides to rescue Wesley and ignore the prime directive in this case. All appears to work out in the end and the planet is marked to be left alone for the time being.

Not a bad episode but I can’t believe they got away with the costumes of the alien planet’s inhabitants. I have seen more fabric on a thong for god’s sake. Another thing I am noticing is that they are using Wesley Crusher a lot in the first episodes for a plot device or to add drama. Thank god this changes eventually and he becomes more adult and is given a more equal share in the scripts.

Lonely Among Us

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!! ‘Tis the season to be jolly, rejoice, to be thankful for what you have, and spend time with your family. I get to be with my family the next two days and I can’t wait to see them and spend time with all of them and make some joyful noise. Most of all though Christmas is a season where we try not to shoot the good strangers who are also braving the stores but at the same time being total and complete Morons and Assholes. I’d like to coin a phrase for them.. AssRons. Yesterday while shopping at Wal-Mart I nearly made a stop by the gun section to pick up a cute little handgun so that I could navigate around the store without getting stuck behind people or cut off by a bunch of idiots. Not to mention it again but People don’t bring your fucking kids holiday shopping, I’m not above shooting them in addition to you. Today at Target I nearly again wanted to commit some form of murderous aggression. I was in my car and getting ready to leave parking lot when I got stuck behind a woman in a gigantic silver car who was waiting for a parking spot to open up. The only problem is that the person she was waiting on hadn’t even gotten to her fucking car yet! Now I would be fine if the woman had a Handicapped parking sticker because she wouldn’t be able to walk far but this Bitch from all observations had two good legs and just didn’t want to march her lazy ass from the back of the parking lot. I honked my horn… TWICE and gave the lady a good case of the shakedown!

Let me explain, The shakedown is a passive aggressive maneuver I have perfected over the past 14 years of driving. To perform the Shakedown you must first honk to get the attention of the asshole in the other car. Second, you begin to slowly shake your head “no” for the remainder of the time they are looking. It’s pretty simple and totally passive aggressive but fun. There are also some fun extras that can make this maneuver go over the top. 1- Lean your head out the window and shake your head. 2- Throw your hands up in the air while continuing to nod your head of course. 3- position your sunglasses below your eyes so you can give a sassy look to accompany the head shaking. 4- First of all this is my favorite one, look above the rim of your prescription glasses and give a really angry look all while shaking your head. For this to really work combine two or all of these and you have perfected the Shakedown.

Oh Well, Merry Christmas y’all!

Today’s Workout:

Treadmill- 200 calories and 1.5miles

Weekly Weigh-in: 224 SAY WHAT ? Yep down 32 pounds!!!!!!!

Lonely Among Us

The Enterprise is playing host to two races of aliens who are at war but on their way to a peace talk hosted by the Federation. The only interesting thing is that one group looks like humanoid Dogs and the other look like humanoid Snakes. These alien ambassadors are a true “B story” and don’t really advance the plot greatly. On its way to the Federation peace talks, The Enterprise encounters a strange energy formation in space and makes a stop to examine it more closely. A strange energy form comes aboard the Enterprise and proceeds to interrupt ships functions as it jumps from computer system to computer system. Along the process the energy form inhabits Worf, Crusher, a random engineer and in the end Captain Picard. Picard and the alien as a formed pair now return to the nebula and beam into outer space to be part of the nebula together. In the end Troi feels Picard’s presence and he is returned to the Enterprise through cunning use of the transporter device.

Where No One Has Gone Before

We so much has happened since the last pos that I can’t even begin to put it all into words so I’m not going to try. The short list of it is this. I had a great time at the staff party with my coworkers. I had a good time out on Saturday with friends and getting a few errands completed. Family Christmas was going well on Sunday until I got some type of cold/flu. I slept through most of family Christmas and then slept all night and stayed home from work today and I’m finally feeling a bit better. I HATE being sick and always find it odd that even as a grown man when I'm sick I still just want my Mommy to come over and make everything better.

So this workout happened Saturday but I haven’t had time to write it up since.

Where No One Has Gone Before

The Enterprise is set to pick up a Starfleet engineer and his assistant who will be reworking the ships engines to improve their output. The crew is not really excited for the visit because they don’t see it as necessary for their brand new ship. The engineer and his assistant don’t make the best first impression but eventually are allowed to perform their work on the engines. In the process the ship is accidentally transported over 200,000 lightyears away from the Federation. The problem now becomes getting back which of course the two engineers say won’t be a problem. In the return flight something goes wrong and the Enterprise finds itself in an uncharted part of space that looks incredibly odd. The assistant is revealed to be the cause of the engine increase and the sudden change in location. The Traveler has formed a bond with young Wesley Crusher and while on his near death bed reveals to Picard that Wesley is some kind of Engineering savant with the likes of geniuses such as Mozart. The Traveler returns the ship to Federation space and all is well, except for the fact that the Traveler has vanished. In the end Wesley is made an “acting ensign” aboard the ship and is given a duty schedule with the expectation of applying to Starfleet Academy in the near future.

The Last Outpost

It is official… I’m 29 y’all. I am now in a mad dash until Winter break which is 8 school days away from now. Between now and then there are multiple holiday parties, gatherings, IEP’s and Evals to attend to. YIKES

Today’s Workout: Treadmill 290 Calories and 2.1miles

The Last Outpost

The Enterprise is in pursuit of a Ferengi ship that has stolen a piece of federation technology. At this point in time the Federation knows very little about the Ferengi so there is a lot of excitement about the first contact with a new alien group. The two ships meet at a strange uninhabited planet and immediately the Ferengi attack the Enterprise. Picard and crew think they have been disabled and make contact with the Ferengi to remedy the situation and apparently the Ferengi think the Enterprise has sabotaged their ship. Both ships are powerless in orbit of the planet and agree to work together to solve their mutual problem. The Ferengi though take every opportunity to mess with the Enterprise crew and even capture the landing party at one point. While the crew is dealing with drama on the surface the crew on the Enterprise are dealing with the effects of a massive power loss, which has taken out the life support system. The ship is getting dangerously low on oxygen and heat. The landing party and the Ferengi encounter a force from an extinct empire that challenges them to a challenge, which Riker outsmarts. The Ferengi continue trying to undermine Riker and crew but the alien sees through it all and sides with the Federation members. The planet is apparently a last outpost from the empire that was destroyed 600,000 years earlier. Everyone parts in peace on the surface and the Enterprise is restored to power before everyone dies.

This is our first encounter with the Ferengi and they change quite after this episode. The are originally a shrewd race of warriors and traders but they eventually morph into a group of short, orange profit minded clowns. The Ferengi become more of a nuisance as opposed to a threat to intergalactic peace. 

Code of Honor

This week has been so busy I haven’t worked out since Monday… YIKES. Sometimes that happens I guess and I can’t freak out that. I am still doing ok with the weight loss so that is fine. Today I am going out with my friends to celebrate my birthday. My actual birthday is tomorrow but it is not proper for a person over the age of 21 to go out on a Sunday night. At least that is my opinion, perhaps I’m boring or a prude but that is that. Other than the big birthday festivities nothing exciting is happening in my world.

Treadmill: 260 calories and 2.1 miles

Weigh-in: 228lbs

Code of Honor

The Enterprise is making an emergency stop at a remote federation planet to pick up a much needed vaccine that is only found on this planet. The inhabitants of this planet are a people who are nearly obsessed with rules and specific rules of their family/personal honor. The Inhabitants are all dark skinned and dressed similarly to high class modern day African tribal people. They are immediately impressed with the ship and particularly Lt. Yar who they cannot believe is the security chief. Upon leaving the ship the leader, Lutan, kidnaps Yar and brings her to the planet. Troi and Riker inform Picard that this somehow is related to an ancient honor code tradition in which you steal something from a superior group and then give it back when they politely ask for it. Lutan is about to give Yar back but says he has grown fond of her and wants to keep her for his wife. This pisses of his current first wife who challenges Yar into a fight to the death for Lutan. Meanwhile Crusher and the Enterprise crew are getting more and more anxious about the plague planet that needs the vaccine. As the fight is about to happen Picard, Troi and Data formulate a plan to save Yar. During the fight Yar ends up winning but immediately beams up with the other woman to have Crusher save her life. The Enterprise gets the vaccine and Lutan is embarrassed because his wife lived thus giving her lands to another man and making Lutan her “second”.

The episode appears only slightly racist,, okay maybe slightly is an understatement. They reference Native American customs with the kidnapping and then the people are all Black and dressed in quite peculiar clothes and act maybe a little less than reasonable. No good 1987,, ,no good!

BTW: This set looks like it was from a bad Fonda workout tape!

The Naked Now

Today I learned something awesome and discovered a goal I need to work towards. I got to work this morning and decided to check my messages to see if I had any calls, and I did. Here comes the goal area… the message was over a week and a half old, woops. I guess I need to check my messages more frequently. In this email world it is hard to remember to check those archaic phones sitting around..LOL. The good news was that the message was from an SLP at another school in Minnesota and she was calling about a student I used to work with a few years ago. She had called just to tell me that the report I had written was one of the best she had ever seen and just wanted to call and inform me of that tidbit. It is wonderful to hear when other professionals approve of your work!

Treadmill: 280 calories and 2.10miles

The Naked Now

This episode is not a sequel but more of a reimagining of the Original Series episode Naked Time. The crew of the Enterprise is set to rendezvous with a Starfleet science ship observing a Super Nova but they begin to hear strange transmissions from the ship. By the time they get to the ship everyone on board is dead and the ship is floating paralyzed in space. While on board La Forge picks up something which he brings back with him to the Enterprise despite the decontamination processes that are in place. Slowly but surely the disease is spread through most of the Enterprise crew through touch. Yar gets the hots for everyone but eventually ends up seducing Data who we learn is “fully functional” if you know what I mean. Troi admits she still loves Riker but the passes out in sick bay. Wesley ends up taking over engineering and in turn the rest of the ship which proves problematic in the end. Data even ends up getting infected by the mysterious ailment. Riker remembers a detail from a story from long ago and the crew learns that the same thing happened nearly 100 years ago on the Enterprise under the command of James T. Kirk. Dr. Crusher begins to make the antidote but learns that it doesn’t work, she frantically begins working on a new cure but gets infected herself. Once infected she informs Picard that she has the hots for him and he in turn reveals the same for her. At this time the star goes nova and is about to blow up the ship if they can’t get away in time. Data, Riker and the chief engineer work rapidly to restore control of the ship and get out on time, which they do in the nick of time. The illness is cured and the Enterprise is off to the next adventure.

I find the casting of this crew to be odd. For the first season there is no set chief engineer of the ship, for a character that was so pivotal and key in the Original Series not to have one here seems stupid. Eventually LaForge will become the chief engineer. Also strange is that Worf doesn’t really seem to have a set job so far this season. He is on the bridge and sits at a variety of stations but doesn’t seem to belong anywhere. When Tasha Yar leaves later on during season one Worf fills the chief of security slot very well.

Encounter At Farpoint

Christmas shopping is well underway and I’m keeping the gifts for myself to a minimum. I have always been the type of person who can justify buying myself a gift or reward for something positive that has happened but no longer. (well mostly). The completion of my Star Trek collection was a gift to myself but it is nearly my birthday and I deserved that. Speaking of birthdays I am for some reason in the middle of the “pre-birthday blues”. Every year it happens the week before the big day. I guess birthdays are a time when we take a look at the past year and see what we have accomplished, what we haven’t accomplished, what we have and what we don’t have. This has been a big year for me and I must remind myself that each time I start feeling blue because a lot has happened this year. I’d like to share a some of the list with you all.

1-      I came out to my parents, something I had been putting off for far too long!

2-      I went to college and earned a certificate in Autism!

3-      I was in the play Nunsense and earned praise from friends and audience members for my performance

4-      I have widened my circle of friends over the past year and I can’t picture my life without some of those people

5-      I lost 30 pounds!

6-      I still have a job that I love and live in a house that I loe

Really it has been a pretty good year and I wouldn’t change a thing that has happened over the last 12 months.

So this is the first blog post for Star Trek: The Next Generation! I didn’t end up working out today because I’ve decided to start a new tradition that goes along with the remaining Star Trek series. TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise all started and ended with a 2 hour “movie” episode and since I don’t plan on walking for two straight hours I will simply watch the episodes as a break from the workout. I am very excited to get into The Next Generation shows and see where they started out. Since there are 7 full seasons, I’m estimating that I will be doing TNG posts until about September of 2012!

Encounter At Farpoint

With this episode we are introduced the new Enterprise-D and its crew of Starfleet offices out to explore the galaxy where “No ONE Has Gone Before”. The opening shots introduce Captain Jean-Luc Picard the commander of the Enterprise. The Enterprise is on its first mission and is en route to the newly built Farpoint Station to pick up the remaining officers and to investigate the station for Starfleet use. While on their way the crew encounters a strange energy field blocking their way and very peculiar life form who calls himself Q. Q informs Picard and the rest of the crew that they are to turn back because they have ventured to far out into the galaxy. Picard runs from the energy field and separates the ship into two its two sections to help keep the crew and passengers safe. While heading back to intercept the Q creature with the Stardrive portion of the ship. Once intercepted Q brings Picard, Data, Yar and Troi to a strange courtroom from hundreds of years in Earth’s past to hold them accountable for all of humanities crimes as a people. It is here we learn an insight into Tasha Yar’s past as a child who grew up on a failed Federation colony that declined into war and poverty. Q charges them guilty but Picard asks that humanity be allowed to be tested to see if they have changed in the past few hundred years. Q allows the Farpoint mission to serve as this test.

The Enterprise arrives at Farpoint station where we meet the remainder of the senior staff including Riker, Crusher, and LaForge. Riker and Crusher begin to notice strange occurrences of items materializing out of thin air but there always seems to be an excuse or justification. Riker wants to impress Picard and he starts trying to investigate the station and asks Dr. Crusher to help but she feels it to be a waste of time. We them meet her son Wesley Crusher and learn that his father used to serve as Captain Picard’s first officer until he died in service. There is obvious tension between Picard and Crusher which is used in various ways throughout the episode.  Upon beam up Riker and Picard have a bit of a cold welcoming and Picard orders Riker to dock the ship pieces together manually instead of with computer support. The entire crew, now in one piece, begins to investigate the station. While under the station Troi, who is an empath, starts to feel strong emotions like anger, pain, and loneliness but she can’t tell who it is coming from. About this time a mysterious ship appears and begins to attack the city located next to the station. Q shows up basically to piss everyone off and get the crew to perform poorly. A landing party beams aboard the mysterious ship and learns that it appears to be made of the same material as the station. Quickly Picard puts two and two together when the ships rematerializes as a gigantic space jelly fish. He quickly orders a power beam to provide the station with energy. The station ends up being another one of these creatures and was enslaved by the Bandi who inhabit the planet.

The two aliens are reunited in the end and Q is stubbornly satisfied with the performance of the Enterprise crew and he leaves. Before Q leaves though, he warns the crew that he will be back in the future to check in on them.

What an interesting first show! It was good but not great. I would love to go back in time and watch this episode for the first time and see what it was like through the eyes of a Trekkie who has been waiting for years for Trek to return to TV. I’m guess there was some joy and some WTF thoughts happening.  We get to meet a new cast and truly get a first glance at everyone along with some key back story elements. This is a major difference between this series and the original series. In the original series we truly didn’t learn much about the crew initially and were just thrown into a crew that was well established. The show tries to maintain elements of nostalgia from the original series. This time Picard says the famous “Space The Final Frontier…” speech to open the show and his take is much less dramatic than Shatner’s, which is a nice change. The shots of the Enterprise orbiting a planet are very similar to the ones used in the original series. The biggest piece of nostalgia that was attempted to be incorporated was the use of the female skirt uniform. In this show though, not all the women wore the skirts only some of them. The skirt was a bit longer than the original and it featured short sleeves. We didn’t really see this uniform much after the first episode which is a good thing. I can’t picture the skirt playing fondly into the 1980’s women’s liberation attitudes. The really funny thing though is that there were guys running around in those skirts,, granted the skirts were just a little longer for the guys. Another huge reflection on the decade this was made is the fact that there was a counselor on the ship and even more that she was put on the bridge and sat right next to the captain. In a time known as the “me” decade where everyone

How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth & The Counter-Clock Incident

The Minnesota DMV drives me bonkers folks and that is all I can say about it. They keep the most ridiculous hours that are impossible for people to get there during the week and of course they are closed on Saturdays. UGH. Oh well I will get there this week and all will be fine. I spent most of the day at my sister’s house helping her and my parents build a shed for the horses at her house. The day went well until it started to snow and then things got a little tricky and slippery but it went up for the most part. I also bought 2 new winter coats today… which sounds bad but they were on sale for 50% off so it is all good.

Today’s Workout: 175 calories and 1.5 miles

How Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth

The Enterprise encounters a mysterious ship that is shaped much like a dragon and attacks them for no apparent reason. The Native American helmsman, who shows up for this episode out of pure plot device need, recognizes the dragon as an ancient Aztec god. Several crew members are beamed aboard and are shown several scenes of the cultures that he has impacted over the centuries. The alien ‘god’ wants to take over the crew of the Enterprise but Kirk and crew outsmart him and get to go about their way again.

The Counter-Clock Incident

While transporting Commodore Robert April, The former commander of the Enterprise, to his home on Babel the Enterprise encounters a ship traveling into a Super Nova. The ship accidentally pulls Enterprise in and they find themselves into a strange backwards universe. The Enterprise crew find themselves to start regressing in age and soon are a ship full of teenagers and children except for Commodore April. The commodore works with the inhabitants of the backwards universe and eventually returns them to normal time and everyone returns to their correct age.

The animated series has ended and I’m happy and sad to see it over. The show was visually interesting and the stories were okay but the show definitely was a stretch to watch. The show is often considered to be not part of the true ‘canon’ of events and characters and I just don’t get why. It was produced by Roddenberry himself and starred most of the original cast. To me it is part of the cannon and you can’t tell me otherwise.

The Practical Joker & Albatross

Today I just wanted to take a nap and now that I’m home I haven’t taken the nap yet but I fully intend to go to bed soon after this blog is posted. I need my beauty sleep tonight because tomorrow I am getting my license photo and passport photo taken at the photographer or as I call it the DMV. Today the oddest thing happened and I honestly didn’t know how to react. I was working with a student today on the TH sound and the word MYTH came up and he said the word correctly and I just asked him if he knew the meaning of the word. He said he did and then said the following: “… Just like some people think Santa Claus is myth but he isn’t, Santa is real!” (at this point he jumped up and down for joy). How do you respond to that??? A typical 6^th grader has figured out the santa claus thing a long time ago but this young man is anything but typical,, but he is a joy to spend time with each week. I simply nodded and said OOH,, yep. This time of year always makes me a little more interested in different people’s traditions especially Christmas traditions. So be sure to keep in touch because there will be more to come.

Treadmill: 270calories and 2.10miles

Weigh-In: 230 (bad kid.. up 2 for the first time… I will be hitting the treadmill harder from now on out).

The Practical Joker

The Enterprise is surveying an asteroid field when they are suddenly attacked by three romulan ships. They are pursued and enter a mysterious space cloud, after making it out of the cloud alive strange things start happening. The computers begin to do things on their own and the crew falls victim to several practical jokes which become more and more serious as time progresses. The best one being when Kirk’s shirt has the phrase “Kirk is a Jerk” printed on the back. The crew outwits the computer and all is miraculously solved when they go back through the mysterious cloud.

Albatross

I have no clue why this episode is titled albatross! The Enterprise is completing a routine mission on a distant federation planet when the people of the planet announce that Dr. McCoy is under arrest. He has been charged with causing a massive plague that nearly took out an entire planet’s population. McCoy is put in jail and the Enterprise attempts to prove his innocence. The Enterprise travels to the plague planet and on the way passes through a mysterious cloud. On the plague world they find a survivor who can testify in favor of McCoy and they soon begin their journey back to save his life. The crew begins to come down with the plague and McCoy must be recovered to solve the situation. It turns out that the plague is caused by the mysterious cloud in space. The people are given a cure and McCoy is set free.  

Bem

So I have been wanting a new car for a while and today I decided to go and look at a car and get some pricing information. I have always been the type of person who needed and wanted a change every few years or months. This results in me frequently changing furniture arrangements and other stuff in my house. It also means that every few years I get the itch to get a new car. Today I test drove the Kia Soul and it was really fun and a really really cute car. In the end I decided not to get the car but I’m going to try and make some better financial decisions so that in the next few months I can get a car.

Today I also got to play a fun joke on my principal which was so funny. I discovered a piece of candy labeled “Mary Jane” in my principal’s “goody basket” in her office. I immediately busted a gut laughing and had to share it. Well it is not really a funny situation when you write it down but in the end we had my assistant principal worried about some type of serious situation happening and then revealed the “mary jane”. I can’t believe how many people don’t know that “mary jane” is code for pot but surprisingly fewer people know about that than I thought.

Today’s Workout: 110 calories in 1.2miles ( I ran after eating and nearly threw up,, yikes)

Bem

The Enterprise is playing host to a strange alien ambassador named Bem. Bem insists that he will accompany the landing party to survey a primitive and uncharted world. The crew allows him to join and they quickly regret their decision. Bem is pretty much a jackass and gets the crew into trouble left and right and eventually gets them captured by the native tribes of lizard-people who live on the planet. We learn that Bem is a “colony creature” which means that his head, torso and legs operate as separate entities but they work together as a single creature. As they are trying to escape Kirk, Spock and Bem are contacted by some strange alien entity that calls the aliens her children and wishes for the Enterprise crew to leave and quit interfering with their development. The landing party is reunited with the crew and Bem is returned to the Enterprise as well.

Sunday will be the first day of The Next Generation…. SHOOP!

The Pirates of Orion

Well it is Wednesday and I have been thinking it is Tuesday all day. Somehow this week has flown by which is a blessing and I’m loving that. There really isn’t anything that special going on which again is a really nice thing. I hooked up on the treadmill today for ½ hour because I had to watch my two favorite shows. Happy Endings and Hot in Cleveland, the damn shame is that Happy Endings was a rerun so I could have spent an extra episode on the treadmill. As it is today there are now only three days left before I start watching Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Pirates of Orion

The Enterprise is in route to a conference on Denab 5 when Spock comes down with a rare disease that is nearly always fatal to Vulcan’s. The Enterprise  contacts a nearby cargo ship that happens to be carrying the only known cure to Spock’s disease. The Cargo ship is then attacked by an Orion ship who steals the entire cargo including the medicine. The Enterprise tracks down the Orions and strike a deal with them to get the medicine back. The Orions attempt to destroy the Enterprise but they are outsmarted by Kirk and crew. In the end the Orions go their own way and Spock is healed. This show is the first time we see the male Orions, up until this time we have only seen the female Orion Green Slave Women.

The Eye Of The Beholder & The Jihad

Today marks a very special day in the life of this Trekkie. I would liken it to the day a young Jewish boy has his Bar Mitzvah and states that today I am a man. The Trekkie equivalent for most I suppose would be the day those nerds finally get laid but that is not what I am celebrating today. Today I ordered and got confirmation that Star Trek Enterprise Seasons 3 & 4 are on their way to my house. This means that I now own every season of Star Trek ever produced on TV and all 11 motion pictures. I know it is incredibly dorky but I am so happy that I feel like having a photo taken of me and my DVDs. I may have to take one someday to post on this blog. Other than that today was a great day.

Today’s Workout: Treadmill- 1.5 miles and 200calories

The Eye Of The Beholder

The Enterprise is investigating the disappearance of an entire Starship crew that happened several months ago. Upon beam down Kirk, Spock, and McCoy encounter some very strange life forms and ecosystems and are finally captured by a couple of large intelligent slugs. The three men are placed in a holding cell in a gigantic zoo and soon meet the remaining crew from the missing ship. The slugs are incredibly intelligent and wish to keep the humans as exhibits. Kirk and Spock find a way to communicate with the slugs and things get a little messed up when a baby slug is beamed up to the Enterprise. The baby slug reappears and has learned the truth about the humans and all is put right.

The Jihad

A group of specialists from across the galaxy are assembled to help the Skor, a race of bird-like aliens, recover a missing artifact. The team assembled leave for a mysterious planet and the adventure begins. The team of faces several challenges but finally make it to the artifact and attempt to capture it but are faced with a saboteur within the group. The saboteur ends up being Char, the Skor representative. He hopes to start an intergalactic jihad to return his people to glory. Of course this doesn’t happen and all is set right in the universe again.

The Ambergris Element & The Slaver Weapon

The holiday weekend is over and that is ok because I am ready to get myself back to work. This week is going to be excellent and that is all there is to that. Nothing really great to report today,,, sorry folks.

The Ambergris Element

The crew is exploring and surveying a planet that has been destroyed by earthquakes and is now entirely submerged under water. The crew lands in a shuttlecraft that is also a submarine and are immediately attacked by a gigantic sea creature. The ship is destroyed and Kirk and Spock disappear under the water. They are found five days later and have been mutated into water breathing creatures. They seek contact with the people who did this to them below the surface of the water. The people, who look like a population of aquamen, do not wish to help but some of the younger creatures break the rules and help. Kirk and Spock find a cure to their mutations and also end up saving the planet’s inhabitants from a deadly earthquake. In the end all is well and Kirk’s webbed hands are gone!

The Slaver Weapon

Spock, Sulu and Uhura are transporting an ancient box from the Slaver Empire and find another ancient Slaver box coincidentally. They are on an ice planet and are soon attacked by the Kzinti, a new race of cat-like aliens that are fiercely powerful and evil. They are however not supposed to have weapons but of course they do. In an attempt to steal the box they capture Uhura. Now Sulu and Spock must rescue her before the Kzinti get the weapon and eat Uhura. In the end the Kzinti don’t get the weapon and the shuttle crew  get out alive.

The Slaver weapon is unique because it only features Sulu, Uhura and Spock. None of the other Star Trek cast is even featured in the storytelling here. It is also unique because it is basically a completely different science fiction universe being incorporated into Star Trek. The story was written by Larry Niven and it uses his ‘Known Space’ setting and characters for the story. ODD

I have eight episodes of the Animated Series left and I will be happy when they are over. I love Star Trek and enjoy the episodes but not nearly as much as I enjoy the live episodes. The quality of these shows was quite low and the scripts were just a little to wack-a-doodle for me at times.

The Terratin Incident & The Time Trap

Thanksgiving Part Deux!!!!!! Today I volunteered to make the Green Bean Casserole,,, there is nothing more Minnesotan that a casserole or a hot dish. They are of course two separate things not that anyone not from the Midwest would understand that fact. I actually don’t like green bean casserole because it is semi-gross but I know several family members love it so it is all good.

Today’s workout: Treadmill 180 calories and 1.5 miles

Weekly  Weigh-In: 228 nothing gained nothing lost J

The Terratin Incident

The crew of the Enterprise is surveying a super nova when they intercept a distress call. Shortly after visiting the planet in distress they are scanned by a mysterious signal and shortly after begin shrinking. Throughout the episode the crew shrinks to about 1/6 of an inch tall and are transported to a TINY city on the planet. The inhabitants are in danger of being destroyed and the only way they could communicate is to shrink the Enterprise crew so they could communicate. The crew is restored and the entire city is transported aboard the Enterprise just in the nick of time.

The Time Trap

While investigating a mysterious “Bermuda triangle” in space the Enterprise is attacked by the Klingons and both the Enterprise and Klingon ship vanishes in the triangle. They reappear in a strange place where there are hundreds of ships from the past centuries, all of which have been trapped in the same fashion as the Enterprise. While there Kirk and crew encounter the now inhabitants of “Elysium” who are content to stay stranded and attempt to impose their laws on the two crews. The Klingons and the Enterprise crew agree to work together to escape the triangle and succeed but not without the Klingons first attempting to blow up the Enterprise. They don’t succeed of course and both crews are off in their own directions.

By The Way... Is it just me or does this random RED SHIRT look exactly like Barack Obama???????

Once Upon A Planet & Mudd's Passion

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! I will be completely honest that I have been fearing the holiday season because the thought of eating all of this food scared me because I don’t want to gain weight over the next few weeks of holiday joy. YIKES. The food was great as usual today at mom and dad’s house and I was fairly responsible about the amount I ate. Today was small because it was just mom, dad, my sister and my grandparents… apparently everyone else had something going on. I missed them but thankfully I get to see them all at Christmas. Tomorrow is the big day though because it is dad’s family which is about 25 people all having fun, drinking, and joking around. If I had to compare the Olson family to anything it would be an odd combination of the The Klumps from the Nutty Professor and the family from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, of course we are not black or greek.

Today’s Workout

24 minutes Treadmill and 24 minutes Elliptical

339 calories and 4 miles

Once Upon A Planet

The Enterprise is taking some needed shore leave on the “shore leave planet” from the original series episode Shore Leave. Things start off ok until once again the fictional characters start trying to kill everyone and Uhura is kidnapped. We find out that keeper of the planet has died and now the super computer that runs the planet no longer wants to be the controller of the planet. The computer intends to kidnap the crew of the Enterprise and transfer itself onto the ship so it can find other super computers to hang out with.. or something. In the end everything is sorted out and the computer becomes happy to do its job again.

Mudd’s Passion

The Enterprise once again picks up the loveable pimp Harry Mudd. They find him trying to sell love potion to some surly miners on a distant federation planet. Mudd wants no part of being put back into jail and attempts to get off the ship by slipping some people the love potion, namely Spock and Nurse Chapel, and he hijacks a shuttle craft. Kirk, Spock, Chapel, McCoy and Mudd end up on a planet and are being attacked by gigantic space monsters and thankfully get beamed up before anything bad can happen. The crew is all back to normal and off to the next adventure and Mudd is off to jail.

Two very fun sequel episodes from the live action series brought into the animated world.

The Magicks of Megas-tu

Two Lasagnas are in the fridge and ready to be cooked tomorrow afternoon! Traditional lasagna and an alfredo lasagna, they are like my children and I love them equally! Well ok that is a bold face lie, I love my alfredo lasagna so much more. I would even consider marrying it one of these days and changing my name to Paul Lasagna, which sounds so sexy I know. The lasagnas are for a small gathering I am throwing tomorrow at my house. I love entertaining but at times would love to hire someone to do all the grunt work before the party so I can just welcome people and be social with my friends. Oh well that is life when you are not Oprah, which means maybe I have to become the gay male Oprah and get a show… but damnit there already is one, blast that Ellen and her trickiness. Next plan I guess. Maybe this blog will make me famous enough??? I’d better get used to cleaning and cooking I guess.

Treadmill today for only one episode. I am starting to feel like such a lazy bastard for only doing 25 minutes a day. I suppose that is 25 minutes more in one day than I used to do in a month so it is all good now and then.

The Magicks of Megas-tu

This episode is to the animated series what Spock’s Brain is to the original series… what a clunker. The Enterprise is trying to explore the center of the galaxy and gets magically teleported to an alternate plane of existence. There they encounter a planet and are basically greeted by a character that looks like the devil who calls himself Lucien. He reveals himself to be of the planet and goes into a long bit of plot exposition that details the history of his planet and how they once traveled to Earth but left because of cruelty. The Enterprise crew is captured by the rest of the inhabitants of Megas-tu and is put on trial as a society. The aliens reveal themselves as puritans in Salem Massachusetts during the trial and Kirk and Spock are charged with defending all of humanity. They are set free and it is revealed that Lucien is really Lucifer (the devil).. who saw that one coming?? EVERYONE! Lucifer is portrayed sympathetically and Kirk saves his life. Edgy stuff for a Saturday morning cartoon.

The Infinite Vulcan

I officially feel out of the loop and really need to start listening to the radio more often. This was made so extremely clear to me today when I was shopping at Banana Republic. I heard a great song that I was really enjoying on the radio and so I pulled out my iphone and “shazamed” the song so I could listen to it again later. The song was called “Here’s Where The Story Ends” by The Sundays. I have never heard of the band before but that is not an atypical occurrence, so I downloaded the song. I decided to look up the artist and possibly load the CD onto my phone. Here comes the sad part… This really good song I thought was current came out in 1990! 1990! WTF! I was 8 when it came out and here I’m thinking it is current. In my defense it does sound like something one would hear currently Cities 97 or The Current here in Minnesota. I have gotten into a rut listening to my iPod and the music I already know and love. To all of my readers.. PLEASE LET ME KNOW ABOUT ANY COOL NEW MUSIC THAT I MAY ENJOY!!!!!!!

here is the link to the video if you are interested in listening to the song:

http://youtu.be/FHsip5xOenQ

Other than that sad occurrence I went shopping and bought some really cute clothes that I can’t wait to wear to work. I am often told that I am one of the more stylish guys on the staff which I take a bit of pride in! Also It snowed today and OMG everyone is driving like a dipshit,, ugh Minnesota.

So I only got to one episode today… I just was not feeling the work out but at least I got up and did 25 minutes right??

The Infinite Vulcan

The Enterprise is investigating a new planet that we find out is inhabited by intelligent plants! The plants called Phylosians seem very helpful until they help their leader capture Spock and attempt to kill the rest of the landing party with these really odd bird/plant creatures that fly and make a really annoying noise. The plant’s leader is a clone of a former earth man who lived in the 1990’s but escaped during the fictional “eugenics wars” of that time (the same war mentioned in the episode Space Seed). The mater’s intention is to clone Spock to use as a peace keeping force in a brutal and unloving galaxy. The only problem is that since he hasn’t been off Phylos for years he doesn’t know peace is already in place. WHOOPS. The clone of Spock and the mater stay on Phylos to help rebuild the Phylosian society and the Enterprise along with the regular Spock are off to the next planet.

What a bizarre episode! The only interesting fact is that it was written by Walter Koenig who is most famous for playing Chekov. For some reason it was decided that they would save money during the animated show and not Koenig to voice Chekov,, stupid I know.

More Tribbles, More Troubles & The Survivor

Friday is finally here..yeah. What an interesting day I must say. I went to do an observation at another school and witnessed something that I would really rather forget soon. I have never seen a teacher be so mean and ridiculing to a student in my life during this observation. It really took a lot of energy not to say something or just come right out and hit the woman. It is so frustrating when people who should retire  and have clearly lost the passion for working with kids continue to teach kids to negative results for all involved. Anyways enough about that and onto the fun stuff. I’m heading out to see a play that my friend directed in Elk River. I am very excited to see the show and wish her well!

Today’s Workout: Treadmill

More Tribbles, More Troubles

The Enterprise is escorting two robot ships to Sherman’s Planet  to help with a grain crisis. They stumble across a small ship being pursued by the Klingon’s. The Klingon’s have a new weapon that immobilizes their attacker. While the ship is immobilized the Klingon’s interrupt the beaming process but are soon over powered by their own power failure. The Enterprise beams aboard Cyrano Jones, who previously was seen with a boat load of tribbles on station K-7. The new tribbles are engineered not to reproduce but they eat and grow and grow and grow. The Klingon’s only want a small creature that Jones stole. The creature was designed to eat tribbles on the Klingon homeworld. In the end everyone gets what they want and move on, even though the creature cannot eat the enormous tribbles.

This episode is a fun sequel to The Trouble With Tribbles that was to be a live action episode but the powers that be did not think that Star Trek should be a comedy. Bummer it would have been fun to see a second live action Tribble episode.

The Survivor

The Enterprise picks up a living legend and intergalactic hero, Carter Winston. The man is somewhat strange and does not seem to be the man everyone thinks he is. Carter ends up being an alien spy who is a shapeshifter and he guides the Enterprise into the neutral zone by taking Kirk’s shape. Intergallactic war nearly breaks out but the spy is revealed and the Romulans suddenly don’t want to fight.

In this episode we meet Lt. M’ress the cat like humanoid who is the fill-in communications officer. She purrs and meows while talking.. too funny. M’ress paired with Lt. Arex, the three armed navigation officer, are part of the more odd that could be used in the animated format.

The Lorelei Signal

I took my cat to the vet today because she needed a booster shot and she has been pissing on stuff so I took her to get that checked out. Turns out she may have some idiopathic thing a ma bob. IDK what the hell it means but it sounded complicated and very odd. I got the vibe that it was going to be a problem for a while but could be managed so that I is good. I am also going to take and get her spade and declawed sometime in the near future. I have never ever ever ever been in a room with a vet who talked more than this guy. He is really nice so I just deal with it and the prices are pretty decent there so it is worth dealing with. In other news… there is no other news at the moment.

Again I was super busy so I couldn’t get through two episodes but still worked out and ran for about ten minutes of the 24 minute episode.

The Lorelei Signal

The Enterprise is trying to investigate a mysterious occurrence that has happened every 27 years in a specific portion of the galaxy. It seems that every 27 years a ship has disappeared at the exact coordinates the Enterprise is patrolling. The Enterprise picks up on a mysterious signal that affects only the male members of the crew and Uhura and Chapel pick up on it real quickly. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a random red shirt beam down and discover a planet inhabited by the “most beautiful women in the galaxy”. The women soon try to overthrow the guys and fit them with headbands that drain life energy. Uhura sees things going to hell in a hand basket and then takes command of the Enterprise in time to save the men and help the bizarre women of the planet.

Finally a woman gets to take command of the Enterprise and who better than Uhura. Nichelle Nichols herself has stated that this is one of her favorite episodes of the original Star Trek because she finally got to do something great. I wish this had been made into a live action show because it really could have been expanded and would have been awesome. 

By The Way Blooper Alert Below... LOL

That is Chapel in a red shirt... The animated series often made minor mistakes. Even the animated show's production value was limited at times.