It started at the University of Maryland's showing of the Star Trek "Blooper Reel", outtakes from the TV show and a special showing of the then-unseen Star Trek pilot. The pilot starred a cast who mostly did not make it to the series. However, cleberly the pilot was used within an episode so the actors did see the light of day.

Gene Roddenberry attended and it was fascinating to hear who he devised and researched the idea of people traveling through space. The series was essentually "Wagon Train to the Stars" and would feature new guests each week along with a recurring cast. Gene also involved some of the greatest scientific minds to ensure the series was plausible. He had lots of research and planning of life in space. Notable was the set of Star Trek blueprints which detailed the ship seen on TV each week. Each stateroom was shown, there was the exercise areas and yes, right off the main bridge, behind the viewing screen, was a bathroom! There was a hydroponics lab which grew food and of course, engineering areas. All of which were laid out in detail as though the ship could actually be built.

Also produced was a booklet of plans including phaser weapons and the communicator. Being a radio buff I did a bit of research myself. In the plans, the dummied down version of the radio looked like a cheap walkie talkie, yet used a part of the radio spectrum assigned for eart to space transmissions :-)

You didn't have to be a Science Fiction fan to enjoy the shows, if you would just accept the technology and look into the stories for what they were.

The shows involved many life-lessons, some more obvious than others. For example, should a race of people traveling to another planet make themselves known and if so, under what circumstances. An advanced race of "aliens" appearing to the public in any times before our present, would certainly cause a riot. Man yfeel we still are not ready to accept that there could be other living creatures in the universe.

Another show might delve into how we look for and what constitutes a diety.

Often a dilema arises much like that in real life. You are covered under a code of non-involvement yet must make a decision under what conditions you must ignore that code. A perfect example is a newsman who reports on a story and must try to remain a spectator, yet may have to ignore that directive to save a life.

An episode, very obvious in its message, involved two aliens whose main difference and reason for wwanting to kill each other, was their face. Each had a face with two colors, but they were reversed on the other alien. An obvious distinction was that they fwer from two races and that is why they hated each other.

In later years I attended conventions primarily because the cost was reasonable, my friends were going and I could meet some of the actors. I now have amny photos of myself with them and some day will post them online. I have a couple of favorites photos which will go up first.

I'm not sure if I ever met gene's wife Majel. I think she was at the U of M show and I know Gene talked about her. I seem to remember that gene had medical problems then and could not stay for the whole show. Majel Barrett Roddenberry became the widow of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry in 1991. She passed away yesterday at the age of 76 due to lukemia.

She played parts in almost every Star Trek television show and movie; from playing Nurse Chapel in the original series and them using her voice as the starship's computer in nearly every version of the show and movies.

Her last role will be the voice of the USS Enterprise computer in the 2009 release of the latest Star Trek movie.

A public memorial is expected as has been common with other stars from the series.

It is amazing that genes idea for a TV show, an idea that was shot down by all the networks at first and that barely survived the first year, would turn into probably the largest and most widely produced entertainment vehicle.

There were the TV shows (Star Trek, Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space 9, Enterprise, the movies, the animated series, the book and fan books; the conventions and yes even the thrill ride and memoribilia exhibit at the Hilton in Vegas!

We fans mourn each passing actor or actress because we lose a small part of Genes world. Majel was one of the biggest parts of that world and we will miss her dearly!

First, Hawaii will be the first state to transition to Digital TV. Because of an environmental issue, the state will switch to all digital TV signals a month before the rest of the states. Although other places have tested and one city may have already converted, we will be the firs tstate. It may not be as complicated here because many of us already rely upon cable and satellite because of mountains. In my case there are a few mountains between me and any place they would have placed a TV transmitter. I imagine the most critical location will be the island of Oahu where there are over a million people and many over the air transmitters.

Secondly, I moved here many years ago and did my best to try to fit in. I have begun to expand my eating habits to include more locally produced items, a bit of fish, diakon (pickled radish) and rice; lots of rice. Speaking of rice, I was on vacation on Kauai and went with my friend Lampy to a local bank. There I saw a sign that said if you opened an account, you got $50 bag of rice! That shows what rice means to islanders. A sign of transition to living in the islands has to be when you buy your first rice cooker. I did that a few weeks ago! I'm not the only one who will benefit from it. My dog eats cooked brown rice and it's too bad I'm not putting him out to stud, because I could write the cooker off as a business expense, since he will benefit from it more than I will.

In preparation for my new 5 acres of coffee, I have cleared the land but often I get weeds, grass and scrub brush growing. At the top of the farm I have been able to use a regular lawn mower, although it is hardly adequate for the job. That mower helped me save $1200 each time I had a guy come with his tractor and flail mower to cut things. Now I find that I need to buy my own tractor and in these times of financial woes, I am still deciding which model, but will be spending over $20,000. I want you to remember that it is not easy nor cheap to become a farmer!

Koa, along with many other dogs is subject to being overly scared at certain events. He seems a bit scared of noises and people he does not know; moreso than he should be. My vet agreed that I can put Koa on an anti-anxiety drug called Elivil. It is fairly safe as humans have been using it for decades. Since starting on the medicine, Koa has now ventured into the water at Place of Refuge. Up until now I could not get him to get his feet wet. Now he was almost completely wet in an area where the water ponds. I expect him to live up to his potential soon. Perhaps he will even like taking a bath... :-)

Finally, the islands have transitioned to Winter! Gone are the day temperatures of 85 and nighttime of 70. Now we are much colder, days of 80 and nights of 65. BRRRR!!!!! We have already had a few snowfalls up on Mauna Kea. That is why it gets its name "White Mountain".

If I don't get a chance before then, Happy Holidays from Koa and I.

You know, many schools now-a-days have metal detectors to check students for weapons. My high school never felt the need, neither back then nor today. In fact, every student is armed (well sort of). They all have non-functioning rifles which they march with. We were all taught how to shoot and I even qualified as a Pro-Marksman back there.

Many of my stories have convoluted links between events. This one is pretty simple.

I graduated from a military school named Fork Union. Years later, Plaxico Burress attended his post-graduate year at the same school.

From Wikipedia: FUMA is respected in the football arena, where two of its graduates have gone on to win Heisman Trophies and dozens have been draft picks by National Football League teams. Heisman Trophy winners from FUMA were Vinny Testaverde ('86) and Eddie George ('95). More than 70 current and former NFL players have attended FUMA.

I was never very athletic and have kicked myself many times since then that I never took advantage of all of the sports opportunities back them.

Instead, I joined the radio club (and helped build the new transmitter). years later I got a job as a disc jockey and eventually got a job with Hewlett Packard. That job allowed me to finally move to Hawaii, where I now reside. I guess I am not all that sorry. I might have ended up famous with a bullet in my leg...

And so it goes....