Meridian

Well ladies and gents I am back to the blog after a very long absence. I stepped away from the blog back in March when I began running much more and training for two races, a ten mile and a half marathon. I am very pleased to report that I finished both of these events under my time goals! I am now training for my second half marathon, The Monster Dash. It is a Halloween themed event so I plan on putting together a Star Trek related costume to run in… I LOVE BEING A NERD!

The school year is back in full swing and I am so very happy to have the structure back in my life after a summer of fun and college classes. I am always amazed at how much we as educators actually get sick of summer and crave being back in the classroom. I know for me it is just as much about loving working with my students as it is about needing to have some degree of structure in my life. I know I shouldn’t complain about my summers off so I won’t, because even if I do get sick of it at the end of the summer I still love having the time to do whatever I want to do.

For a first post back I’m really sad to admit that I don’t have anything witty or even that earth shattering to report as of yet but eventually. There are some extremely good things happening in my life that I hope to share more about in good time!

 Workout Summary

        Today I ran 4 miles on the treadmill in 38 minutes :-)

Meridian

                Sisko, Dax, Bashir, and O’Brien are on the Defiant doing some research in the Gamma Quadrant, despite the threats and warnings from the Dominion. While exploring a star amazingly and out of nowhere a planet arrives. Once they have made contact with the residents of the planet the crew is informed that the planet appears in this sector once every 60 years… yes ladies and gays this is Star Trek’s take on the classic musical Brigadoon. Well the crew starts to work with the inhabitants of Meridian to solve their problem of fluxing between realities and they figure out how to do solve the problem. Well the new problem of course is that Dax has fallen in love with a native Meridian man and she decides to stay on the planet. In the end something goes wrong and she is not able to phase with the planet and she is returned to the Defiant and heartbroken.

                Meanwhile back on the station a traveling business associate of Quarks has developed a crush on Major Kira. He strikes a deal with Quark to create a holosuite program for him starring Kira in a compromising position. Quark spends the rest of the episode trying to get the program created but of course Kira and Odo outsmart him and turn the tables on him in the end. 

Second Skin

Second Skin

Kira receives a communication from Bajor looking for details of her time in a Cardassian labor camp. This is utterly confusing to her because she never spent time in any labor camps during the occupation. Upon further investigation it turns out that yes she did even though she can’t remember it at all. She plans a visit to Bajor to clear the issue up but never arrives. Next Kira finds herself awoken by a few Cardassians welcoming her home where she discovers that she now appears to be a Cardassian herself. She is told that she is the daughter of a high-ranking Cardassian and was part of a sleeper undercover agent program that failed. Her Father Ghemor is brought in to visit with her and she is given medication to help her memory return.  The memories have not returned and then she is put through torture and still nothing is returned. Ghemor decides to help her escape and reveals that he is a member of the dissident movement on Cardassia who wants to overthrow the military’s rule. Meanwhile on the station Sisko and Odo blackmail Garak into helping rescue Kira and he has not choice but to travel along. At the right time Garak and crew rescue Kira and Ghemor. The whole crew returns to the station where Ghemor and Kira have a wonderful parting scene. It is also revealed that Ghemor was set up so that he could be outed as a member of the underground and executed. 

Another crap post.... Sorry:(

Equilibrium

Well I have simply not had the time to blog the past few days though I have worked out each day with the exception of Friday. On Thursday I participated in a broomball tournament and my friends and I took third place!!!!! I never thought I would enjoy participating in a team sport but I did and I’m pretty excited to do it next year. During the game I banged my knee up pretty badly which made me worried about running but I have been fine the last few days. Today I ran 6 miles, which is the longest run I think I have ever done. Other than that I have been doing laundry, cooking, cleaning and not doing a whole lot.

Equilibrium
Dax appears to have some issues happening but she doesn’t want anyone to know what is wrong with her. Eventually she passes out and Bashir does a little research and finds that she is having some major medical issues between her brain and the symbiant’s brain.  Sisko and Bashir take her to Trill to be examined and they seem willing to work with her but only so far until the recommend that the slug be removed from her in order to save it.  Sisko does some investigating and determines that there was a host between her 5^th and 6^th hosts. When he confronts the Trill doctors they acknowledge a cover up but they don’t want it getting out that nearly 2/3 of all the population could be joined. In the end Dax goes to the underground caverns where the other slugs help her to integrate the new memories. 

Yes I know this summary sucks but It is hard to remember details a few days later. SORRY FOLKS

The House of Quark

Today was a snow day so I got to stay home and relax all day YEAH. The good thing about that is the fact that I got home from the Maroon 5 concert at 1:45 in the morning so I would have spent the day tired as hell. I spent a good chunk of my day on the couch I’m not going to lie and then I went and ran my three miles at the gym. Now I’m waiting for my iphone to finish updating before I head to bed.

The House of Quark
An angry Klingon is hanging out in Quark’s bar and he is the only one there much to Quark’s dismay. Apparently no one wants to have a good time there anymore what with the new Dominion threat. The Klingon refuses to pay his bill and attacks Quark but trips and falls on his own blade. Quark proceeds to tell everyone that he killed the man in self defense. Quark is soon paid a visit by the Klingon’s brother making sure that the death was honorable and Quark continues his lie. Next Quark is visited by Grilka, the man’s wife. Grilka kidnaps Quark and tricks him into marrying her. Quark is now the head of a great Klingon house but must find a way to keep the house in Grilka’s hands and not to be taken over by the brother. Quark proves that there has been financial fowl play but then must fight the brother to the death to claim his house. In the end there is no fight and Grilka is given her house to govern as she sees fit.

Meanwhile back on the station Keiko is down in the dumps because the school has been shut down. The school closing is because all the families are leaving due to the Dominion threat. At first O’Brien tries to create an arboretum to give her a project but everyone tells him this won’t last for very long. So O’Brien finds a botanist job for Keiko and gives her permission to leave the station and the two agree to the arrangement. 

The Search

What a weekend this has been! I’ve done some cleaning, work at school, a bit of grocery shopping, lunch with a friend, and some Dr. Who. I also ran a total of 8 miles over the two days. Today I ran 5 miles and it was a bit of a challenge especially for the last mile but I made it through. I have also decided that I 5 miles is my limit on the treadmill because well it is simply because of sheer boredom. Tomorrow I am taking my sister out for her birthday to go and see Maroon 5, one of her favorite bands. She is a bit more excited about it than I am but I’m still really pumped to see the show.

Day 1- 3 miles in 35 minutes
Day 2- 5 miles in 60 minutes

The Search, Parts I & II

Part I
Sisko has spent the last few months at Starfleet command to review to new potential threat of the Founders and the Jem’Hadar. He is now back with a prototype Starfleet warship, the Defiant but this ship has a few surprises in addition to its huge arsenal of weaponry. The ship has also been equipped with a cloaking device, which the Federation got from the Romulans in order to assist them with the mission at hand. Starfleet has put Sisko in charge of contacting the Founders and trying to relay a message of peace. He recruits everyone on the senior staff to take part in the mission, even Quark is asked to help with the mission. The only now part of the mission is Odo, who Starfleet has requested to be taken off senior Staff. Kira convinces Odo to go along as a representative of Bajoran interests. Once in the Gamma Quadrant Quark is charged with making contact with his business associates who then relay them onto a specific planetary relay station. Dax and O’Brien beam down to the relay station and are captured by the Jem’Hadar. Soon after the Defiant is under attack by several Jem’Hadar ships and they are easily over taken by the superior Dominion force. Odo and Kira escape the ship in a shuttle and make for the Omarion Nebula, a place that Odo has felt drawn to since he entered the Gamma Quadrant. Once there he and Kira are greeted by a shape shifter who welcomes him home.

Part II
Odo and Kira are greeted on the surface of the planet and the female shape shifter begins giving Odo a bit of a introduction to the lives and history of the shape shifters. Odo is delighted and seems to ignore Kira for a bit. Later she wants to send a transmission but the other shape shifters deny her request to keep their location secret. The shape shifters have a massive distrust of “the solids”, their name for anyone who is non shape shifter. Meanwhile Sisko and Bashir are in a shuttle on the verge of death when they are picked up by Dax and Sisko in a shuttle. They all return to the station and find that things are moving and a shaking politically. The top Starfleet command officers are there and so are the Founders. They are engaged in a series of peach talks to form an alliance but things are a bit off and so Sisko and company agree to make a run for the wormwhole and collapse it to keep the Dominion away. Meanwhile back in the Omarion Nebula kira continues to attempt a communication but finds a mysterious power signal underneath the surface. With Odo’s help the door is unlocked and all of the survivors from the Defiant are in some type of suspended animation. The female shape shifter enters and explains that they were testing them to see what would happen if a Dominion invasion were to happen. The shape shifters are revealed to be the Founders and seek to eventually take over the Alpha Quadrant. Odo decides to leave and the rest of the Defiant crew is allowed to leave as well.

Simply a great start to the third season of Deep Space Nine! Also once the Defiant showed up it allowed the series a little more freedom of movement and even just a bit more action as far as space battles go. From this moment on as well it is a slow and steady build up to the Dominion War which will take place in the last few seasons of the show. 

The Jem'Hadar

Season two of Star Trek Deep Space Nine has come to an end and now Dominion War story really kicks into gear. This week has been long but that is Ok, I am now looking forward to having a relaxing weekend.

The Jem’Hadar

Jake, Nog, Sisko and Quark are going on an adventure in the Gamma Quadrant to complete a science experiment for Mrs. O’Brien’s class. At first it was to be just the Sisko’s but the two Ferengi are invited along in the end even in Commander Sisko is hesitant. On the planet Quark is a pain in the ass and hates practically everything about nature while everyone else seems to love the whole experience. The trip is cut short when Sisko and Quark run into an alien and are then captured by a few Jem’Hadar soliders. The Jem’Hadar soldiers reveal themselves to be the soldier force behind the Dominion, which is the major source of power in the Gamma Quadrant. The other alien is named Eris, a woman whose planet was overtaken by the Dominion and now she is on the run. The three attempt an escape but at first it is no good so they go back to the drawing board. Meanwhile Jake and Nog have made it back to the runabout but are stuck in orbit and can’t get back to DS9. Around this time a Jem’Hadar ship comes through the wormhole and threatens the whole Alpha Quadrant with reprisals if they continue to violate Dominion space. They also promise to make an example of Commander Sisko. A Federation ship and the runabouts mount a rescue mission and they are successful until the Jem’Hadar attack. Everyone makes it out alive but the Jem’Hadar decide to do a suicide run on the galaxy class ship just to give an example of the type of warriors they truly are. Back on the station Sisko grows suspicious of Eris and she soon reveals that she is a member of the Dominion and that this whole thing has been an elaborate plot to learn more about the Federation. She also warns that “they are everywhere” implying that there are Dominion spies in the Alpha Quadrant. And that is how season 2 comes to a close.   

Tribunal

So to quote Pink “I’ve had a shit day, you’ve had a shit day, we’ve had a shit day”. The day at school went ok I guess and then well I just got into a funk that hasn’t gone away despite an excellent run and a good number on the scale. In talking to my good friend Laura she recommended that I list five positives from the last few days. So here goes:

I finished writing an extremely important and lengthy report for work and the feedback so far from my bosses/supervisors has been very positive

I had a wonderful 3 year observation meeting today with my principal that only reconfirms that I am in the right field and in the right place for me to make an impact in the lives of the amazing students I have the privilege of working with each day.

I submitted 2 pages of my yearbook that have taken a lot of planning and work time to create and they look FABULOUS.

I just got the coolest asymmetrical blazer in the mail that I intend to wear tomorrow in one of the coolest outfits of all time. I like to think of myself as one of the best dressed guys at my job which I find fun. This one sounds a little arrogant but I really don’t mean it to be.

I stepped on the scale this evening and the number was very nice, 197 which is great. I have been working towards getting back to 190-195 since the new year and I am getting close.

I killed my run today at the gym. 3 miles in 35 minutes. I  am working my way up to a ten minute mile pace, but will honestly settle for an 11 minute mile.

I learned that my grandfather had a stroke over the weekend which is a bummer but the positive is that he is still alive and is stable. I intend to visit him this week, most likely on Friday.

I got to spend the night on Sunday watching the Oscars with my sister and next Monday we are going to see Maroon 5 together for her birthday!

I am nearing the end of the second season of Deep Space Nine and season three is where the show started to take off and get really good.

I guess a tenth positive is that I have a really great group of friends who support me and love me and who are willing to tell me when I’m being an idiot. I have been kind of dealing with a big question lately and each of my close friends has given me wonderful advice on how to handle the situation but everyone has ended with this comment “Paul , I just want you to be happy because that is what you deserve”. I am blessed.

I guess an 11^th blessing has been the discovery of the SWEET BROWN clip on youtube which has brought endless joy to my life…. OH LORD JESUS IT’S A FAAAHRE!

Tribunal
The O’Briens are leaving on vacation for the first time in 5 years and the chief is running a little late. You see a good friend of his has stopped by the station and the two connect for a few minutes in the hallway. While on their way to  their destination the O’Briens are stopped by a Cardassian ship and the chief is brought to Cardassia Prime as a prisoner. Cardassian justice is a little different than the justice system on Federation planets. On Cardassia the verdict is discovered before the accused is brought to trial and the verdict is always guilty. No one is telling O’Brien the crime he has been charged for but eventually the Cardassian judge contacts the station to review the charges. O’Brien has been charged with selling arms to a terrorist group. Odo and Keiko leave for Cardassia where Odo will be O’Brien’s legal aid. Odo takes as much time to extend the trial as long as possible as to buy the crew of the station more time. Dax discovers that a voice print by O’Brien was altered and that his friend Boone is not who he says he was. The crew discovers that Boone is actually a Cardassian in disguise. Boone is brought before the judge and O’Brien is set free. 

Check out this crazy Cardassian bitch judge's hair... WOW

The Collaborator

Well the roof has stopped leaking and it appears that my roof needs some serious revamping this summer. This is the joy of an association though because they are going to cover the whole thing. I’m thoroughly looking forward to the Oscar ceremony tonight. I have not seen that many of the year’s nominated films to be honest but I love the spectacle of the night. I’m pulling for Skyfall to win in all of its categories tonight and at the very least best original song.

4 Miles on the treadmill today.

The Collaborator
The show opens with an orb dream featuring Vedek Bareil and in the end a dead man in a Vedek’s robes. Bareil is on a visit to the station to spend some time with Kira before the Vedek assembly votes for the next Kai; an honor which Bareil is the front runner. At the very same time a man comes on board the station and is immediately recognized as one of the Bajorans who was a Cardassian collaborator during the occupation. This man was an attaché between the Cardassians and the Bajoran government and he was responsible for assigning fellow Bajorans to the labor camps. The man is exhiled from Bajor and Kira intends to deny him the right to return home but her order is overthrown by Vedek Winn. Winn provides him with asylum and intends to return him to Bajor. Winn reveals that she has new information about a massacre that happened years ago during the occupation and she believes that Vedek Bareil is the collaborator who gave the location of the rebel base. Kira begins and investigation and soon after discovers that Bareil has indeed wiped several files that implicate him in the massacre. Kira is about to go public with her findings even though she doesn’t want to because she loves him, when he decides to withdraw from the election. The newly elected Kai Winn takes over as the spiritual leader of Bajor but Kira is not satisfied with the results of her investigation. She continues searching for answers and finds that he could not have been involved because Bareil was off the planet when the massacre happened. Bareil reveals that he was covering for Opaka who allowed the location of the base to be revealed in order to save thousands of other Bajoran lives. The show ends with Kira and Bareil reconciling and going off to congratulate the new Kai, even though they are both unsure of her plans for Bajor. 

Crossover

My roof is leaking and it is honestly the fault of my shitty ass town home association. I called last week complaining about the gigantic ice dam that has formed on my room and well they did nothing about the problem. Now due to their dumbassery I have a real problem, a leaky roof. The contractor is coming out tomorrow morning to fix the whole thing so that is at least a bit of comfort. I did spend a good chunk of my afternoon leaning out my window knocking over icicles and such to help support the ice dams getting destroyed.

Ran three miles today.

Crossover
Kira and Bashir are just coming through the wormhole and they have a rough ride but make it out alive. Once they make it out the station is missing and a couple Klingons beam onto the runabout and then escort the ship to the station which is in orbit around Bajor. The pair is confronted by Garak, in a military uniform, and Kira in some odd dominatrix style cat suit. Kira in this world is known as the Intendant, and she is the commander of the station which is part of The Alliance. The Alliance is an organization consisting of Klingon, Cardassian and Bajoran power and is the major force in the quadrant.  Bashir is put to work in the Oar processing plant on the station where he meets Odo, the chief of mining operations and O’Brien, a simpleton who tinkers with the gadgets on the station. The Intendant, who is infatuated with Kira, explains the whole sordid tale of Kirk’s original visit to the Mirror Universe and how it has impacted the development of their universe. The protocol now is that if anyone from the opposite side appears they are to be killed to prevent tampering. Kira and Bashir begin working on a way out, and first they want to use the transporter since it worked for Kirk. This option fails so they plan to steal back their runabout and go through the wormhole. It is about this time that Kira meets Sisko, who in this world is a scoundrel of a pirate looking out only for himself. The Intendant plans a big party that night  and on the way to the party Garak informs Kira of his plan. His plan involves killing the Intendant and having Kira take her place until she is able to be set free to find her way back home. Kira goes along with the plan for now though she knows she doesn’t want to do it. A distraction in the mining room allows Bashir to escape with O’Brien. They make their way to the runabout and pick up Kira along the way. Kira and Bashir fight their way to the ship with the help of Sisko who provides shelter to O’Brien in exchange for his help with the machines. Using the wormhole Kira and Bashir make it back to normal.

This episode features a fun look at the Mirror Universe, a place that we haven’t seen since the episode Mirror, Mirror from the original series. Before the series ends we will be taking at least one more trip into the Mirror Universe. 

The Wire

I am constantly dumbfounded by the arrogance and stupidity of some people in this world. Simply put I cannot say much more than this without going off on a huge rant and getting mad once again. I just don’t understand why people don’t want to work as a team and make things better. As many a smart people have said “If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.”

Ran 3 miles yesterday in 36 minutes!

The Wire
Bashir and Garak are meeting on the promenade for their weekly lunch date but today Garak seems to be upset and agitated about everything. Bashir is concerned about Garak and tries to get a few suggestions from Dax but that leads to little help other than Bashir figuring out that maybe he is actually Garak’s friend. Quark soon contacts Bashir with a medical emergency. Bashir finds Garak drunk off of his ass in the bar and he procedures to have a massive brain attack and faints. Upon further study in the infirmary Bashir finds a device implanted in Garak’s brain but he is not sure what it is and of course Garak is not providing any answers. Garak then attempts to get a new device secretly through Quark but that becomes a dead end. Garak is now put on bed rest and Bashir is his home nurse and Garak starts to give a little bit of information. Garak reveals that he was part of the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian intelligence agency. The device was a method to prevent him from feeling pain was he ever captured. The device though became activated by Garak as a drug and now he is fully addicted. While going through classic with drawl symptoms he provides three stories about his background.

1-      Garak and a friend named Elim were in charge of getting a ship detained but before it launched he ordered it destroyed. The ship contained a high ranking member of the central command so Garak was exiled

2-      Garak and Elim were nearly brothers who were in the obsidian order and Garak betrayed Elim so that he would be saved from exile

3-      Garak let a bunch of Bajoran kids go instead of killing them and blamed it on Elim.

Bashir keeps Garak comfortable and pays a visit to Garak’s former mentor Enabran Tain, the previous head of the Obsidian Order, who seems to still have an eye and ear open for what is happening in the universe.  This little fact is made evident by Tain knowing that Bashir is on his way. Tain states that if Bashir were his friend he would let Garak die. Bashir asks Tain for clarification of the story and he reveals that Garak’s first name is Elim. Garak and Bashir meet up in the end for their usual lunch where Garak says that all of his stories are true, especially the lies. 

The Maquis, Part 2

So yesterday I mentioned that the Star Trek posts would be fewer and far between, well how big of an idiot am I? I forgot that I can simply run at the gym and watch Star Trek on my iPad, so that is what I did today. I ran three miles today as my first day of training for the Goldy’s Run.

The Maquis, Part 2
Sisko, Kira and Bashir are on the surface of an M class asteroid and have been taken hostage by the Maquis, lead by Commander Hudson. Hudson and Sisko have a long conversation about how Starfleet and Federation have turned their back on the colonies and that they need to take matters into their own hands. The three are allowed to go back to the station where Sisko is immediately confronted by Admiral Nechayev. She demands that Sisko take care of the situation and get in touch with the Maquis and come to some type of peace agreement. He is then spoken to by Legate Parn, a high leader in the Cardassian government. Parn reveals that Gul Dukat is responsible for the arms deliveries to the Cardassians and that the central command is happy to see him dead either by the Maquis or by their own hands. Sisko mounts a rescue mission for Gul Dukat which succeeds and they also begin to track the arms deliveries. Sisko and Dukat indeed determine that the Cardassians are arming their colonists. Sisko learns of a plot from the Maquis to destroy a weapons bunker on a Cardassian colony. He and the rest of the core DS9 crew head out in runabouts to prevent the attack and are eventually successful in stopping the attack. In the end Sisko feels that he just delayed the inevitable and that  war in the demilitarized zone is still lurking in the future. 

The Maquis, Part 1

Happy President’s Day Everyone! A day to celebrate the men who have been the president of USA and most notably celebrate the birthdays of Lincoln and Washington which are right around this time. I spent my day celebrating by cleaning the house, working out, doing a few chores, working my part time job and going to the neurologist’s office. I was given a clean bill of brain health by the doctor so that is a good sign. I am now watching The Doctor on tv as I write this post. Tomorrow I am going to start training for my ten mile run in April so the number of Star Trek posts may be fewer and a little further between for the next two months as I prepare.

Elliptical Machine- Miles: 3.75, Calories: 605

The Maquis, Part 1

The Cardassian freighter Bok Nor is just leaving Deep Space Nine when it suddenly blows up. Sisko and his team are now responsible for determining what exactly happened to the ship. Soon Sisko is visited by an old friend Commander Hudson to discuss the situation in the now demilitarized zone. Hudson is the attaché between the Federation and the colonists in that area. Hudson is convinced that the Cardassians are arming their colonists in the zone but he of course has no proof of the idea just a deep distrust of the Cardassians. Soon after Sisko is visited by Gul Dukat who believes that somehow the Federation colonists are being armed as well. The minute Sisko and Dukat arrive at the colony the witness a battle between two Cardassian ships and two Federation ships in the demilitarized zone none of which should be happening. These ships are armed more heavily that they should be which is somewhat of a mystery to both men.  Tensions begin to rise in the demilitarized zone and eventually Dukat is kidnapped and a group called the Maquis takes credit for the abduction. When Sisko and crew locate the ship that took Dukat they are confronted by the Maquis, lead by Commander Hudson.

This episode sets up the group called the Maquis, the badlands, and the demilitarized zone, all of which factor in greatly to the kick off of Star Trek Voyager. The show also features a great appearance by Bernie Casey as Commander Cal Hudson. 

Blood Oath

So there has been a big ole health scare in my world this week. On Wednesday after lunch I had some trouble focusing my eyes, which then degraded into loosing peripheral vision in my left eye and even just total blurriness in my eyes. I went to the doctor’s office and then went to the opthomologists office and got cleared. Yesterday I had an MRI taken and got the word today that I am all clear. It looks like I just had a migraine and that is the end of the story there. I am hopeful that is all it was and that I can then just move on from there.

Elliptical Machine- Good Results Were had at a 4:30am when I woke up after sleeping for ten hours

Blood Oath

Deep Space Nine is visited by three Klingon legends, Kang, Koloth and Kor and soon after Dax is thick as thieves with these men. Apparently Kurzon was a close friend of all three of these Klingons so therefore by extension so is Jadzia. It turns out that these four shared a blood oath to avenge the death of Kang’s son who was Dax’s godson. The murder was an Albino who has alluded the group for at least 25 years. Jadzia is conflicted as to wether or not to attempt to join in the vengance and eventually she decides that she must participate. She then must convince the group that she can go along. The four make their way to the Albino’s layer but something is a miss with the whole situation and Dax calls Kang out on the situation. Apparently  Kang made a deal with the Albino for an honorable death. Dax and the guys change their plan and make a successful attack. Koloth, and Kang both die but Dax and Kor make a return to the station.

This is an absolute delight of an episode because we get to see these three characters from Star Trek the Original Series return and have a grand old time on screen. 

The Guys in the 60's

The Guys in the 90's 

Profit and Loss

Last night I had a nightmare that I was being chased by a strange man through some type of shopping mall. I ran through the mall being ignored by the various shoppers as I screamed for help until my voice couldn’t make a sound. I then ran into the bathroom to escape and then the man entered the bathroom and he killed me with a very large knife/sword object. At that point I woke up screaming in my bed at about 2:30 am. Oddly enough I woke up later on this morning and put on a red and blue striped sweater that somewhat resembles the one worn by Freddy Kruger. It is a good thing that I didn’t die in real life like how it happens when Freddy Kruger kills you in the movies.

Elliptical Machine: Calories: 555, Miles: 3.35

Profit and Loss
A Cardassian shuttle has been towed into the station as it has suffered some pretty severe damage. The three passengers are a Professor Lang and her two students Houge and Rekelen. On a quick tour of the promenade Natima Lang is intercepted by Quark and it is revealed that two used to be lovers. The episode now becomes a cat and mouse game of Quark trying to convince Natima to stay on the DS9 with him and Natima trying to get her students out safely. Natima and her students are part of the Cardassian underground trying to overthrow the military rule of the empire. The three plan to escape as soon as possible but things are complicated when Garak informs on the rebels to the Cardassian high command. A deal is struck between Bajor and Cardassia for a prisoner exchange but Quark appeals to Odo to let them go. In the end Quark and Odo manage to get the three to their shuttle but not before Garak is convinced to allow them to leave.

This is a really good episode of Deep Space Nine but it is really hard to explain all of the ins and outs of the story. 

Playing God

I have been liberated ladies and gentlemen! I no longer suffer from unsightly back hair which I have suffered from for as long as I can remember. Back hair is disgusting and nasty and worst of all it is on your back a place that most normal people cannot reach on their own, which is a shame. Why exactly are some of us men cursed with this infliction? I used to think it had to do with our ethnic background but I do have other friends of Scandanavian, German, and British descent who are practically hairless. BASTARDS! I then thought it had to do with being overweight and that if you are fat your body feeds the hair cells and therefore you are a furry mammal. This theory I think came into thought because of all the exercise commercials where you see a fat guy with hair and then the same guy thin and suddenly he is hairless. I will freely admit that I had never thought to myself “Oh yeah they must shave as they get thin!” So this has left only one hypothesis, those of us with back hair are simply less evolved than others. This all being said I have grown to love having a hairy chest and stomach as it looks good but the hair on the back is my enemy. I have done everything from having friends NAIR my back, to home waxing and once I even spent $90 to have it done at a spa. Those days are behind me, and so is my back hair. Yesterday in the mail a MANGROOMER deluxe arrived, which is an electric razor with an extension wand so that I can reach my entire back on my own. You all don’t know how happy this makes me because now I have control over something on my body that has bothered me for as long as I can remember. To a certain subculture of gay men this blog post is blasphemy I know but back hair is just nasty boys. I do love a good hairy chest but no back hair and I’m sure most everyone would agree.

Elliptical Machine: Calories: 550, Miles: 3.23

Playing God

Dax is playing host to a Trill initiate, a young man named Arjin who wants to become joined with a symbiant. The young man is very nervous, shy, prim and proper, and has clearly spent his whole life working towards a goal without truly experiencing life. He first meets Dax and is taken aback by her approach to life, gambling, wrestling, joking and making light of most everything. The two leave on an away mission into the Gama Quadrant  and snag something on their nacel so they head back to the station. Once back at the station Dax shows up on the bridge and assists O’Brien and Kira deal with a Cardassian Vole problem. Apparently the voles are eating different systems of the ship and causing problems all over the station. The snag from the runabout is transferred to a holding field in the lab but due to the voles the field is destroyed. The object in questions turns out to be a new universe that is showing signs of life. The universe that is growing will continue expanding and engulf the entire know universe when it grows. During this crisis somehow Dax finds time to tell Arjin that she is concerned that he is not ready to be a joined Trill and he flips out at her and things are awkward for a few moments. Meanwhile the universe continues to expand and Sisko decides not to destroy it but to return it to the Gama Quadrant where it belongs. Dax convinces Arjin to be her pilot and the two successfully navigate the wormwhole free from the computer and all is set right. In the end Dax changes her mind about Aarjin and the two part ways very amicably.

It is funny how sometimes you see a show and it relates to what is happening in your life. I have a student intern at school at the moment and it is going fairly well so I am glad that I don’t have the issues Dax and Aarjin are facing. 

Shadowplay

Mondays are possibly my least favorite day of the week simply because they are so long. I have been going nonstop since about six o’clock this morning and I’ll hopefully be in bed in the next hour or so. I often think I should quit the evening job but the money is just too good to pass up and worth the long hours.

Shadowplay

Dax and Odo are in the Gama Quadrant investigating a mysterious particle field surrounding a planet. Upon beam down the pair investigate a village but are apprehended by the town’s chief of police. They soon convince the chief that they are not there to cause any problems and begin to help him with a mystery that has been plaguing the village. Apparently 22 people have disappeared over the last few months and no one knows where they have gone. Dax and Odo begin to explore all the possibilities and but hey begin to find more questions than they have answers. Of note is that Odo discovers that none of the villagers have ever left the valley area. Also when Dax, Odo and a young girl attempt to leave the valley the girl begins to disappear in front of their eyes but reappears when she moves back. Odo and Dax reveal that everyone is a hologram in the village and they agree to restart the program. Once the program is shut down one man remains and he reveals that he started the program after the Dominion took over his home world. The program is restarted and the villagers continue on with their lives.

Meanwhile back on the station Kira interrupts yet another illegal business interaction of Quark’s. In the matter of a few hours Vedek Bareil is on the station to visit Kira and the two share a wonderful few days together playing ball and having romantic dinners for two. Quark is once again caught and Kira confronts him to thank him for having Bareil visit as it was very distracting.

The show features a wonderful guest turn from Kenneth Mars, most famous for playing the bumbling chief of police from Young Frankenstein. 

Paradise

Is there a game on today or something? I don’t know really but I’ve had a great day. I spent a good deal of it on the couch and then went to go see a movie with a friend. We saw Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, which only reminded me how much I adore good/bad movies. The film was so ridiculous and poorly written and broke my favorite rule. That rule being modern vernacular being used in older period movies, such as the phrase “keep cool” and “I fucking hate that shit” being used in 1700’s Bavaria. Once I got home from the movie I found I lost all of the contact information on my phone so now I have the joyful task of going through and reading text messages to add the numbers.

Paradise
Sisko and O’Brien are surveying uninhabited solar systems around the Bajoran system for possible Federation settlements. They locate a planet that already seems to have a settlement but there is a duonetic field in place that will disable all electronic devices. Upon beam down the two men find the extent to which the field operates and learn that they are now trapped until a rescue comes for them. Sisko and O’Brien are discovered and introduced to Alixus, the settlement’s leader. They are welcomed with open arms but asked to simply help out around the fields until the rescue comes. On the station Kira and Dax attempt to get in touch with the runabout but they are unable to so they leave the station to track down the missing crew members. On the planet Sisko and O’Brien are finding it difficult to adjust to their new temporary home which includes corporal punishment and even the sexual advances of the women folk. Sisko and O’Brien are becoming more nervous about Alixus and her near obsession with the colony and how it all seems to be a bit too perfect to be a coincidence. Kira and Dax find the runabout and track it back to the colony. O’Brien gets in trouble from Alixus but instead of punishing him she decides that Sisko must go into the punishment box which he decides to stay in to make a point. While Sisko is in the box O’Brien finds an artificial duonetic device and disables it. He reveals that everything was a plan on Alixus’ part to get these people stranded on the planet to live out her vision of the perfect human existence. In the end Kira and Dax show up and Alixus and her son are arrested for their part in the founding of the colony. The real pisser is that the dumb ass settlers decide to stay even after they have been lied to for the last ten years. WTF? 

Whispers

I feel like I am in the middle of a hazard zone at this very moment. Everyone and I mean everyone in my life is sick with some form of the flu or other ailment. At school there are numerous students out sick and so are several of my friends and colleagues. I’m starting to wonder if maybe I am the carrier, like a Typhoid Mary of the present day. I have been sanitizing my hands and the surfaces in my environment, eating healthy, getting plenty of sleep and fluids I have even considered prayer as a viable option.

Whispers
O’Brien is traveling alone in a runabout heading towards the Gama Quadrant and begins a personal log detailing how everything on the station has turned upside down. He is apparently on a mission to warn the Parada’s about something, though he is unsure what of. O’Brien has spent the last week with the Paradans learning about them and helping to prepare for a series of peace talks. O’Brien believes that things on the station were odd the moment he returned to the station with his wife and daughter acting bizarrely along with Sisko, Kira, Jake, and Bashir. Everyone seems to be keeping O’Brien away from the preparations for the Paradan negotiations and he is getting just a little mad about it and does some investigations. He discovers that he has been locked out of the security systems and so he decides it is time to head back to the Parada System to warn the government. While he is escaping the senior staff does their best to capture him but he gets away and once everyone gets to Parada IV a major secret is revealed. Apparently O’Brien was a clone of the real O’Brien who had been captured by the Paradan government. It turns out that they had intended to use him as a weapon against the peace negotiations. In the end the fake O’Brien is dead and the real O’Brien is returned to normal duty on the station. 

Armageddon Game

This weekend I realized that there are only about 4 months left until the new Star Trek film comes out and I couldn’t be more excited. I really love these new Star Trek movies but it really makes me long for a new Star Trek series to hit the airways. I think it would be cool to see a new series set in the 25^th century and leap forward where we can marvel in a new age of technology. This is just my hope and it probably won’t come true but there it is. Also I could not be more excited that J.J. Abrams will be directing the new Star Wars movie because he has done such a wonderful job with the new Star Trek movies.

Elliptical Machine: Calories- 570, Miles- 3.57

Armageddon Game
Bashir and O’Brien are assisting two alien races to dispose of their biological weapons of mass destruction known as “Harvesters”. The T’Lani and Kellerun have been engaged in a war for hundreds of years and have only recently settled a peace agreement. The two men have worked with a team of scientists from both races to destroy the Harvesters and they succeed. When the last devices are about to be destroyed a team of soldiers enter and start shooting everyone in the room. In the process Bashir and O’Brien escape to the surface of the planet but some of the hazardous material has hit O’Brien’s arm. The T’Lani and Kellerun visit Deep Space Nine to declare the two men dead and they bring a surveillance video that shows they died from a security laser pulse that was set off accidentally. The crew of the station takes it all very well all things considering and Mrs. O’Brien elects to watch the video tape of her husband’s death. Meanwhile on the surface of the planet Bashir and O’Brien hunker down and start trying to fix a communicator they have found and O’Brien’s health continues to deteriorate. On the station Mrs. O’Brien notices her husband drinking coffee in the afternoon which she is convinced he would never do, therefore the tape must have been tampered with. Dax and Sisko go to pick up the runabout in orbit around T’Lani III and they take a little time to do some investigating. They learn that the tape was indeed tampered with and they pull up Bashir and O’Brien just as they were about to be shot by a group of T’Lani and Kellerun. It turns out that to ensure peace these two races want to destroy the Harvesters and everyone who has any knowledge of them to be killed too. The Starfleet crew escapes narrowly and returns to the station. O’Brien who is now healthy asks for a cup of coffee to which Keiko replies that he doesn’t drink coffee in the afternoon but he says he does. Bashir and O’Brien now seem to have a deeper respect for each other now. 

The Alternate

The long week has come to an end and all I can say is that it has been the longest short week ever! I have had a busy work week, a night of broom ball, an eye exam, lots of yearbook work and a night at home with a friend. Also in the mix is has been a good week for working out but I continue to struggle with getting my weight back below 200 pounds. I am confident that I can get there again and am determined to make it happen.

Elliptical: Calories- 667, Miles- 4.10

The Alternate
Dr. Mora Pol has arrived on the station to pay Odo a quick visit and get the use of a runabout. Dr. Mora is the man who studied and looked after Odo when he was first discovered on Bajor years before. The two departed on very bad terms but Odo still feels an attachment to Dr. Mora and goes along with his request. Dr. Mora reveals that he may have found a metamorphic lifeform on a planet in the gamma quadrant. On the planet the team discovers a life form but are nearly killed when a mysterious gas starts leaking out of the surface. Once back to the station Dax , Dr. Mora and the other Bajoran scientist are out so O’Brien starts to analyze the new lifeform but soon afterwards the lifeform becomes larger and escapes from containment. It is later found apparently dead but strange incidents and attacks continue to happen. Through a great creative detective process Mora and Odo discover that it must be Odo responsible for the attacks and that the gas on the planet has impacted him somehow. When things get worse Odi is drawn out the alien lifeform that is really Odo attacks and is defeated just in time to save odo and then Odo and Mora decide to attempt to be in part of each other’s lives in some way or another. 

With the way certain shots are filmed and the nature of the story this is very similar in structure to Alien 3. Just watch the two and you will see some similarities. 

Rivals

Good god does it have to be this fucking cold outside? I only ask because this year more than other years I am freezing all the damn time, and honestly I’m sick of it. I have two friends who are planning on moving out of state this year to warmer destinations and I’m really jealous of them both until I realize that I do love it here in Minnesota. I guess what I am more jealous of is the fact that there lives seem to be moving on in fun and exciting ways and mine seems to be in a bit of a stand still mode right now. I know that I have a lot of good things going for me at the moment and I am quite happy with life most of the time but I feel as though I’m missing some of the adventure. Maybe this is just part of being 30 now but I’m not sure I’m ok with that feeling either. As for right now I am on the hunt for some type of change or interesting mix up to my life. If any of you have any ideas of what could change life you let me know OK?

Rivals

Odo puts an El-Aurian named Martus in the brig for trying to scam an old woman out of her money. In the jail Martus meets a strange alien with a gambling toy but he dies after explaining his string of bad luck with the device. Martus takes the device and gets out of jail soon after and takes up with a Bajoran woman to open a bar right across from Quark’s. The two become rivals for profit and employees, even Rom defects to Martus’ place for higher profit.

Meanwhile O’Brien has built a racquetball court and can’t wait to play until he finds out that Bashir wants to play as well. Of course Bashir is an excellent player and proceeds to Kick his ass on the court multiple times. In an attempt to boost his customer base Quark arranges a match between O’Brien and Bashir and even though both men are not interested they go ahead with the match.

While all of this is happening cases of good and bad luck are popping up all over the station and Sisko, Kira and Dax start taking notice of the strange occurrences. They eventually link everything to the large gambling devices in Martus’ bar, which mess with neutrino patterns, or something like that. In the end all is returned to normal and Martus is put in jail. 

Sanctuary

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!!!!!

Elliptical: 635 calories, 3.97miles

Sanctuary

A damaged vessel has come through the wormhole and the people on board have a very complicated language that the universal translator is not able to translate. Initially the crew must work together to help get them around the station and develop an understanding. The female is drawn to Kira and ignores the male staff members completely. Once the translator kicks in she reveals herself to be a woman named Haneek of the Skrreeaa a group of people who have been looking for their new promised land on the other side of the “eye of the galaxy”. Haneek tells Kira that there are at least 3 million more Skrreeaa due to arrive once they are notified of the new place. Sisko and Dax start to look for a place to settle these new inhabitants of the alpha quadrant. Haneek being the smart woman she is determines that the Skrreeaa should settle on Bajor to help them recover from the Cardassian occupation. The tensions on the station begin to rise as the Skrreeaan people cause more trouble amongst the station’s normal population. The Bajoran government meets to discuss the Skrreeaan situation but turn down their request to immigrate. Haneek is very mad at this decision and blames Kira. Meanwhile Haneek’s son, Tumak, steals a ship and heads to Bajor. His she ends up being destroyed on accident and this just cements the Skrreean’s ned to find a different home. There is a bitter departure between Haneek and Kira.

Second Sight

Second Sight

Essentially this story is a bit weak so I am not really going to dignify it with a wonderful write up.

Sisko keeps running into this mysterious woman named Fenna and he is really infatuated with her but she is a big mystery. At the same time the station is playing host to the galaxy’s most pompous scientist who plans on reactivating a dead star. We learn that his wife looks just like Fenna. Basically his wife Nidell is a telepath and projects Fenna from her mind when she is stressed. Seyetik, the scientist, says it is because she is stressed out being married to him but she only mates for life so she is stuck. To solve the problem he flies into the new star to release her. In the end she is just find and no one seems to sad that Seyetik is dead but everyone is worried about Sisko’s heartbreak.   

The show does feature a fun performance by Richard Kiley but in general it is a total downer. 

Necessary Evil

Today I encountered a product at Wal-Mart that made me incredibly proud to be a ‘Merican citizen. Ladies and gentlemen I saw a box of “Grapples”! What is a Grapple you ask? Well a grapple is a regular old apple that has been tampered with so that it “crunches like an apple but tastes like a grape” which is a direct quote from the packaging. Essentially it is an apple that has been coated with horrible artificial flavors to make it taste different than a normal apple. The reason this makes me proud to be an American is because there is no other place on Earth you would encounter such a product that makes a statement so ridiculous. Basically this product says “I’m not satisfied with the apple how can I better this perfect fruit”. In other parts of the world people are satisfied with an plain old apple, you know because they are starving, but not here in America. Being the schmuck that I am, I purchased the apples (4 for $3.98). Essentially these apples taste just like you would think, an apple that has been soaked in grape Shasta pop for about a week and a half.

I am behind in my write-ups so this will be the only blog post with a good idea behind it for the day the rest will be just story summaries.

Elliptical: 575 calories, 3.51 miles

Necessary Evil

Quark is attacked in his bar after retrieving a list of names from a wall in an old chemist shop on the station. The shop belonged to a woman named Vaatrick and her husband. The husband was murdered on the station a number of years earlier. The story is told in a series of flashbacks to the original investigation and the current investigation. In the past we learn that this was Odo’s first investigation on the station and how he met Kira. It turns out that the Vaatrick woman believed Kira was having an affair with her husband and then shot him but Kira denies this was the case. When pressured Kira confesses to being a member of the underground and was sent on the station to sabotage the oar processing plant. Odo is convinced of this and no one is convicted of the crime.  In the present the names on the list are being put together and they all appear to be paying the Vaatrick woman great sums of money for some reason. A few of them are even beginning to mysteriously die. Soon after an attempt is made on Quark’s life but the murder is caught the Vaatrick woman states that she is innocent and Odo believes her because he has already figured I out. It seems the list was a group of collaborators who worked with the Cardassians during the occupation and gained profit from the deal. Odo has also figured that Kira really was the murder from all those years ago and that she was sent to kill the collaborator. Odo and Kira must now confront the lie that has been between them for years. 

Rules of Acquisition

The Golden Globes are on as I am watching this and I am loving pretty much every minute of it! The hosts are incredible, the winners are being gracious and the show is moving along very nicely. Watching these shows it does make me think about what people in other countries think of the decadence of the American society. When you think of it there is a ton of money in that room from the gowns, to the jewels to the statues themselves.

A pleasant surprise was Jodie Foster’s acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMile award for lifetime achievement. A star who has been known to be gay finally came out publicly. The best part of the speech was that she acknowledged that it shouldn’t be anyone’s business and who really cares what someone does in their own private life. I could not agree more! It seems so often that we try to figure out people and we want to categorize them into different boxes and we are not happy until we have fully classified that person. Why? I don’t get this at all and I am sure that I do it though I try not to these days. I will say that I feel this pressure though. As a man who is single and in now in his 30’s people want to figure out why I am single and they seem to need to have me paired up with someone or at least know what the gender of that person may potentially be. Is it not just enough that we know a person and share friendship or do we have to compartmentalize people? This all being said though I think Jodie Foster is a bit crazy based up on her delivery of the speech! But You Go Girl!!

Elliptical Machine: Calories- 500, Miles- 2.85

Rules of Acquisition

The Nagus shows up once again to present a deal to Quark for an expansion into the Gamma quadrant. Quark is to make a connection to a race called the Dosi, who have Tulaberry Wine that the Ferengi want. The Ferengi wish to distribute the wine in the Gamma quadrant to make their business presence know. Meanwhile Quark has made quite a good partnership with a new bartender named Pel. The two work together to set up and negotiate the deal with the Dosi. During a Tongo game Dax figures out that Pel is in love with Quark but then Pel reveals that he is actually a she who has disguised herself as a man so that she can make something of her life. On the Ferengi homeworld women are not allowed outside of the house, to wear clothing or to gain profit. While on a mission in the Gamma quadrant she kisses Quark but the real truth is not told quite yet. Back on the station Rom is suspicious and does some sneaking around and finds out about Pel’s secret. Meanwhile Quark finds out that all the Nagus wants is more information on an organization known as the dominion. In the end Pel confronts Quark and the Nagus with the truth and she is told to go away quietly and she will not be taken into custody. The ending is bittersweet as it is evident that Quark really loves Pel.

This is essentially the movie Yentl but with Star Trek elements thrown into the mix and the result is a very touching episode dealing with gender roles in the 24^th century. This is also the first time we hear about the Dominion, a theme that will impact the rest of the show’s run.