Since the last time I wrote here, I attended a Star Trek convention (gallery link) with Nadia (which was a heck of a lot of fun), spent a load of time at work… Nadia leveled up, and achieved a full time job and is on the pass to a higher level visa…

We bought a hookah…

And… Um…

Hrm…

Yeah, that should just about catch you up.
This is the part where I say “I’ll blog more often”, but I think we both know that’s a load of dingos kidneys. More than likely I won’t.

But, if I do, I’ll let you know.

Today I made Captain, and shortly thereafter was awarded the helm of a new ship – the U.S.S. Miskatonic.
She’s a long range science vessel, of the Intrepid class. Well, mostly Intrepid class – the main hull is of the new Discovery class, but the rest of the ship is pure Intrepid.

Some of my colleagues have remarked upon my continuing to accept commissions on science vessels, since I do have a more tactical background and might feel more at home on the bridge of a faster, more powerful ship. While that may be true, to some extent, I prefer the feel of the science ships. They may not be as flashy, but they’ve got it where it counts.

And, really – isn’t exploration and the accumulation of knowledge the founding tenants of both Starfleet and the Federation of Planets? Aren’t we all supposed to be striving to make ourselves better, rather than blowing up everyone else in the sky?

Lately, I’ve been doing all too much of that – spending what seems like ages in Romulan space, sending the shattered fragments of the Romulant Star Empire – and the fledgling Reeman whatever they are – to their untimely deaths. Many of my crew see this as a necessary precaution, having grown up in a time of war. But I remember before – before the war, even before the Romulan Empire fell.

I shouldn’t remember that – I’m not much older than most of my crew. But here I am, sitting in The Big Chair, decades away from my home time. Not through anything Temporal Affairs would be interested in – I went the long way, via cryo-sleep. Damn the Borg, damn them for robbing me of my friend and family, of taking me from Copernicus Station that fateful day…

For turning me into something other than human, but less than normal.

But, no – today is a good day. A day of celebration – The Miskatonic is mine to command.
This should be a grand old voyage, indeed.

Spending my free time either playing Star Trek Online, or… Well, playing Star Trek Online. Nadia and I still go out and do things, like see Blue Man Group or watch movies, or maybe even just walk around Town Square, but mostly I’m playing STO. I’m trying not to get hooked, but I think I’m failing.

I want to get back into writing again, either short stories or maybe a more reliable comic. I’ve got my fancy tablet, and I think I might even have just enough talent to make it on the internets, but it’s the ideas I’m running low on.

I’m reading more, although there’s not been anything that’s grabbed my attention like the Percy Jackson series in a little while. I think I’m nearing time for my semi-annual Hitch-Hiker’s Guide re-read, and that’s always fun.

Summary:

Last week (sorry about the delay!) I spent four days at the Star Trek Las Vegas 2009 convention.

That’s four days of Star Trek, Star Trek stars and Star Trek fans. Four days of wandering the same halls, looking over some of the loot, and generally being surrounded by folks geekier than I am.

Four days of awesome.

This year was actually a bit mellower than previous conventions – they had fewer folks on stage on any given day, but made up for that by giving them a bit more time to do their thing. This time was greatly appreciated, as it gave the cast time to open up and really get into things. As always, I would have preferred just a bit more time for some of them (Frakes and Dorn, in particular), but I’m not going to be too picky. Any time is better than no time.

Full breakdown follows.

Pictures Taken: 331
Pictures Actually In Focus: 134

Mobile Me Gallery

Thursday:

• Rapping/Singing Ferengi
  Max “Rom” Grodenchick”
  Came out, told some interesting DS9 stories, some stories about the makeup and about being Rom, then did some songs and a bit of dance.
• Rapping/Singing/Dancing/Joking Klingons
  (Martok and Gowron)
  Pretty much what it says – two of the DS9 era actors, in full Klingon garb (only time I’ve seen a Trek actor actually in costume) and mostly in character, singing, dancing, fighting and generally being entertaining Klingons.
• Johnathan Frakes/Micheal Dorn
  (Cmdr. Riker, Lt. Cmdr. Worf)
  Not sure what else I need to say – Frakes was crazy as hell, and Dorn was barely saner. The two of them were just wild and entertaining, talking about everything from smashing eggs on “Ol’ Baldies” head, to flying planes and being old and fat.

Friday:

• DS9 Cast Panel
  A large group; Rosenberg enjoyed the hell out of it. I walked out, because it was kind of boring… Just like DS9.
• Robert Picardo / Ethan Philips “House Call”
  (The Doctor and Neelix, Star Trek Voyager)
  A two man play, written and performed by them. Very humorous – and filled with them bickering both in and out of character. I wish I could have recorded it – it was just awesome.

Saturday:

• George Takei
  (Mr. Sulu, TOS)
  It’s Sulu! What more do you need to know? Talked a bit about the new movie, and how he got into acting, his father, and then a bit about the gay marriage situation in California. Good times, great speaker.
• Christopher Llyod
  Doc Brown himself. Came out a bit dazed, and bit nervous but by the hours end he was rocking the joint. Told many great stories from his days of acting covering the entirety of his career. A great man, Mr. Lloyd.
• Voyager Cast Panel
  (Robert Picardo, Ethan Philips, Roxann Doawson, Tim Russ)
  As always, a highlight of the convention. Not sure why, but the Voyager crew are always my favorites to watch – always funny, always making each other – and us – laugh. They truly are a family, and it shows.
• Star Trek Online Developer Chat
  ZOMG! I cannot wait for this game to come out! I also got into the beta because my wonderful and amazing girlfriend was willing to sit in line for over an hour and half for me.
  The devs do have a handle on both the Trek universe and what it is that makes a game fun – I cannot stress just how awesome the game looks in motion, and how much I want to play it.

Sunday:

• Zachary Quinto (Harassed by Garrett “Harry Kim” Wang)
  (New Spock in the new Star Trek movie)
  Zach is hot. There’s no other way to put it – the man has such a strong stage presence that no less than THREE ladies (and possibly one man) nearly lost their shit when trying to ask him a question – and one girl was completely speechless in his presence.
  This, of course, did not stop Garrett from asking the nerdiest question of the entire convention, and also acting like the huge fanboy he must really be.
• William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy
  There are no words to describe this. Shatner was still bitter, if only for comedic effect, and Nimoy pretty much called him on it. It was a great way to end a good convention.

Loot Report:

STLV09 Loot

• Star Trek fleece pullover
• Red Shirt cologne (Because Tomorrow May Never Come)
• Intergalactic Bartender drink recipe book
• Gallifreyan Institute of Technology Tee
• United Federation of Planets Tee (thanks Nadia!)
• Mini- Prometheus, All Good Things Enterprise-D, Original Series Enterprise
• Star Trek Voyager two pack toy (Species 8472 and Harry Kim)
• Star Trek Voyager Voyager tree ornament
• 3D Trek new movie Enterprise 3D picture

As always, I expect it to be loads of fun. I’m also really excited to be able to spend some of it with Nadia – I just really enjoy taking her to nerdy and geeky things.

This year, Christopher Llyod – Doc Brown from BTTF – will be there. Yeah, he was a Klingon in the third film, but I pretty much think of him as Doc Brown, and he’s been one of my favorite actors for years. It’ll be pretty damn awesome to see him in person.

Also looking forward to buying more crap this year. I’ve actually set aside some spending money, so I’ll be sure to get some cool loot. Expect pictures and video galore as it happens – uploading to YouTube and MobileMe, and updates via Twitter.

Loads of fun, I tells ya.

As I said last week, I want to post at least one thing each day – I’m hoping this counts as my one thing for the day. It’s not an actual entry, I’ll admit that upfront. It’s more an appetizer, a menu of the entries that will be posted this week.

First up, tomorrow I’ll be posting my thoughts on the brand new Nintendo DSi. After giving one to Nadia for her birthday, I had to get one for myself. Was it worth it? Is it worth replacing a DS Phat/Lite with one of these? Find out my thoughts tomorrow!

Wednesday, a rant on the scourge of the English language- How “you know” has seemingly replaced “um” in most peoples spoken vocabulary.

Thursday, I’ll drop my thoughts on the Fallout 3 expansion “Broken Steel” – does the new “ending” fit the game better, and is the new content worth the ten bucks?

And, finally, Friday will be a nice review of the new Star Trek movie. I’ll be seeing the movie – along with Nadia, Rosenberg, Tabby and (maybe) Bighead and my Dad – so I’ll include a wide array of viewpoints on the movie. Everyone from the die-hard Trekkie to new-comers will be represented in this no-holds barred discussion on what is my most anticipated movie of the summer.

So, stick around this week – as you can see, there’s loads of stuff worth reading headed your way.

How can you NOT want to see this?

Computer Desk - Click for Big

Obviously, there’s a lot of Doctor Who going on here, what with the two voice-changing helmets, talking Dalek toy and the TARDIS USB hub. And, of course, there’s the required Star Trek items – I think there’s actually something Trek related in almost every room of the apartment, and that’s beginning to scare me.

The mini Gamera and Ghidorah figures were imported from Japan, along with matching Dreamcast memory cards. Remember those things? They had built in LCDs, so you could play little mini-games when not near the home console? Well, the two that game with these had little Gamera/Ghidorah virtual pet games. They were neat, but I think someone erased both of mine. Someone who wasn’t me.

You may also notice I have a lot of Mac stuff. For the record, that’s the same laptop from the living room; I don’t own two Macbooks. Yet.

The camera get’s almost no use – I had planned on doing some sort of video blog, but once I saw how awesome some of them are, and how horrible the rest are, I lost all interest. Maybe I’ll focus (heh) on documentaries instead.

Next to the Desk - Click for Big

First, The Shirt: It’s a neat little number from Threadless, with a kick ass backstory and some awesome art. As with most Threadless shirts, it was a limited run… and, being a gaming shirt centered around a gaming icon, it sold out fast. I was only able to get an XXL, but I liked the design so much I didn’t care. I think it looks pretty spiffy hanging on my wall.

Yes, I have a TOS uniform shirt. No, I don’t wear it… And, yes, I also have the phaser and communicator to go with it. Got them all at the Star Trek Experience. Eventually, I hope to get a tricorder to go with them.

Table - Click for Big

The mother lode of Doctor Who stuff – a TARDIS from the 80′s, the new series TARDIS playset (which I’ll probably have to replace once the 11th Doctor takes over, seeing as how they’ll be redesigning the interior sets…), a 9th and 10th Doctor and Rose. Not pictured is the Capt. Jack Nadia got for me to mark nine months of being together…

Yes, the Apple Newton still works. It works very well, actually – in fact, if it weren’t so damn bulky (I mean, really! It’s HUGE!) I might consider using it on a day-to-day basis at work… Mostly as a gag.

There you have it – My computer nook. The part of the apartment with the highest concentration of geekness. With luck I’ll get the rest of the pad sorted out this weekend, so I may have some shots of the Game Graveyard, where all my older systems reside.

Warp Core Breach : Best Drink in Existence

I’ve found it! I’ve finally found it!

After months of looking, I’ve found the fabled recipe for the Best Drink Ever: the Warp Core Breach, once proudly served in Quarks Bar and Grill at the Star Trek Experience.

I remember one night, a month and change before the place shut down, Rosenberg and I hit the place up for a visit… and we got to talking to the bartender, who promised that the recipe would find it’s way online.

Well, today I had a bit of slow time at work… I did a Google query, and found it nestled deep on a Trek BBS somewhere on the interwebs.

So, here it is, straight from someone purporting to be an actual STE Bartender:

Bacardi Select
Bacardi Dark
Bacardi 151
Bacardi Limon
Captain Morgan (Bacardi Spice)
passion fruit punch
raspberry razzmatazz
Lots of Ice
A Small amount of Dry ice

To make a full size of one of these drinks, evenly mix equal parts of the different rums to about a quarter of a pint and top up with raspberry, passion fruit (tropical type) punch, ice and dry ice (best to put that in first).

I’m torn between trying to make this myself – and failing epically, or giving the recipe to someone at PT’s and asking them very nicely to make one for me. They do make the Sonic Screwdriver (or just bluedriver), so I don’t see why they wouldn’t make this too.

According to “sources”, the Star Trek Experience could re-open as soon as May! Of course, the catch there is it’d just be the restaurant, bar and gift shop – the rides would come later.

Personally, I’m just excited that there’s more forward momentum on this thing… The STE was pretty much my favorite thing to hit in town, and I’m just excited as hell to see it again.

Also: WARP CORE!

Best. Drink. Ever.

Star Trek The Experience To Re-open in May? (Maybe) | TrekMovie.com.

Ladies and Gents, I give you: Your great-great-great-great-etc grandthing.

This is presumed to be what all other life on Earth evolved from. Something to do with DNA and Midiclorines, honestly I’m not too up on the science behind it.

So, I guess this is what those weird aliens used for seeding.

Source:io9