COMMANDER'S LOG

Stardate 200907.30

The summer has proceeded with almost every weekend featuring either a car show or a Star Trek event. In June the USS Abraham Lincoln had its first picnic, in Bear Mountain. Most notable was that the presence of all my tribbles uncovered a Klingon in our midst. For some reason, she took an IMMEDIATE disliking to these vibrating buzzing creatures, so we figured she must be at least part Klingon. She seemed to make some accomodation by the end of the day, but we had a lot of fun in the meantime.

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The next day was a large size car show in Big Indian. Not much happened there, and I did not win a trophy. The following weekend was Bill MacFarlane's annual July 4th party which we have been attending for many years. Its character has changed somewhat in recent years as all the kids have grown up, and it is just us old folks sitting around complaining about our health and telling stories of what used to be. Well, not quite that bad. And there are still fireworks.

We stayed overnight so I could go to the Stamford Classic Car Show, which was less than an hour from there. I had attended this show last year, mainly because I was getting addicted to car shows, and this was the only one I could find. It seemed a good one to take Liz to, since it featured many really antique cars: Dusenburgs, Packards, big touring cars with huge running boards and fenders with the spare tires set into them, and headlights the size of the BatSignal. Bill and Alex MacFarlane were interested in coming too, and they had a great time, since Bill grew up with these cars, many of which his father had serviced. They all had a good time, and I won 1st Place for the Special Interest category, my first real trophy for the year. Connie was impressed, because I beat an antique fire engine.

The next weekend was the science fiction convention Shore Leave, in Baltimore, MD.

    

I made a proposal and got put on the program to do a presentation called Car Wars: S/F inspired vehicles. I did a PowerPoint presentation of the many varieties of science fiction inspired cars, motorcycles, and whatnot that I had found on the web. This was followed by a tour of the Zhang Heng, which the convention staff and hotel people had arranged a featured parking space at the entrance for that afternoon.

This was the best exposure the Zhang Heng has gotten to a science fiction crowd, and interest was intense. A few showed up on the Flickr group set.

The following weekend there was a weekend pick-up shoot at Star Trek Phase II. I invited Irene to come, and picked her up at the bus station in Albany.

  

  

I think she had a pretty good time, and she got a part as an extra, actually a sleeping role. Look for her in "The Child" once it is released.

  

The weekend after that was a visit to Star Trek: The Exhibition at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, originally scheduled for the USS Abraham Lincoln the week before. When it got cancelled, Liz and I decided to visit it on our own, and take in some sights in Philadelphia. On Saturday, I spent the day at the Franklin, volunteering with some members of STARFLEET from other chapters. It was nice to be at an exhibit for several hours and get to see everything up close for as long as one wanted.

    

The rest of the time was spent on the recreation of the bridge of the Enterprise-D from the Next Generation, providing local color, serving as backdrops to people's photographs, and point out the details, like the in-jokes on the computer displays, to the visitors.

Liz spent that day visiting the African American Museum and taking the Underground Railroad tour.

On Sunday we went to Friend's Meeting for Worship at the Friend's Center on Cherry Street. The historic meeting house was closed because of renovations, but we got a look inside it. In the afternoon we visited the Rodin Museum and the Philadelphia Art Museum.

  

On Monday we took a tour of Independence Hall and the Liberty bell, and had a genuine Philly Cheese Steak sandwich at Rick's before heading home.

  

And of course, no visit by a grip is complete without a photo of the giant "C-47":

Somewhere in the course of this month, a bit of retirement ennui began to set in. Shore Leave was fun, but I was beginning to tire of Star Trek. I was definitely tiring of it during my hours in the Green Room of STP2 listening to certain unnamed persons drone on for hours. I can do anything I want, this stuff is all fun, but it feels - unsubstantial. I think the problem is that my service projects, such as the Red Cross, have not geared up yet, and that I spend much less time with people day-to-day than I did when I was working. I also have difficulty motivating myself to do some of the things I was looking forward to doing: bicycling, jazz guitar, reading, writing, yoga, meditation. I suspect this situation will correct itself, as I will not be able to tolerate it indefinitely.