STAR TREK CONTENT!!

Did I say at one point that boring was good? Been anything but boring lately!! But it's all good!

Since I took over as "Commander" (CO) of our "ship" it's been busy!! I'm sure things will calm down a bit once I know wtf I'm doing!! Until then ... well, lots to do. Lots of questions, and thankfully lots of helpers to get me through it!

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My first week as Commander ...

My email inbox went from half a dozen emails a day to somewhere around 100 a day!!

To be the CO I had to be promoted to the rank of Captain. Don't worry, ya'll don't have to stand at attention and salute when you see me. I promise!!

Appointed my XO (Executive Officer ... think the Spock to my Kirk, LOL). I've just put through for a promotion for him to the rank of Commander.

I've already handed out another much needed promotion that our former CO ignored. More like on a power trip and withheld it from the member he didn't get along with.

Okayed the formation of TWO new departments; ROTC (for the kids in the group), and Ship's Counselor.

Revived plans for the newsletter that Gizmo used to print out a few years back. Gadget will take charge of that once she's officially a member of STARFLEET. Ha!! I love that she volunteered before her membership has even been processed!!

Gained two new members, and three who came back after the drama ended.

Filled all but one vacancy on our Senior Officer's List (last one filled after the member completes certain STARFLEET requirements). That's ten departments!! Twelve if you count the two new departments listed above. And I had more volunteers than I had positions to fill!

Determined that we need someone as "Ship Historian", a photographer who can be at all the functions and take pictures for us. May end up having a whole team of photogs, since not every member can make every function. Amy, too bad you're so far away ... I'd work on recruiting you and Bob. Your photog skills would definitely be a plus!! LOL! And of course, Bob's Trekkiness doesn't hurt either!!

Started looking for a new meeting place, and place to hold our annual Christmas Party. Thanks to my XO, I think we've found that place!!

Revived plans with my XO for a Poker fund-raiser event. Formed a committee of two to take charge of all details.

Requested and was approved for a demotion in rank for the former CO. I think I read somewhere that he's going to be leaving STARFLEET, so the demotion may be a moot point.

and more ... not gonna pull out my notebook to refresh my memory, just too lazy at the moment. But it's been a crazy week!! And it wouldn't have been so successful without all the help from a lot of people. Gawd, I love nerds!!

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I never knew that a fan based association could be so complicated!! Forms for "promotions", forms for demotions, forms to submit the chapter's monthly meeting minutes, forms! forms! forms!!

"STARFLEET Academy" (and a ton of emails every time a member completes an Academy course.

Forms for this ... forms for that... forms for every thing!!

STARFLEET Marine Corps has a totally different set of forms to get familiar with.

From what I've seen this week, this association could serve as an example for big business the world over - and probably government, too. From finances (non-profit status, every dollar spent is well thought out and well documented), to social programs (real life college tuition assistance, counseling for those in need, charity causes and more) and beyond. Not only does STARFLEET run smoothly, but the left hand seems to know what the right hand is doing! The more I get to know about STARFLEET, the prouder I am to be a member. And not just because we're a organization for SciFi nerds, but a group that really cares about the community.

And everyone, from the CS (Commander of STARFLEET) down to chapter COs all over the country have been so welcoming and helpful after all the drama of the last two weeks.

And of course, there's my awesome "crew". Stepping up to volunteer for positions the former CO couldn't twist their arms to do ... ideas and communications flowing freely. They really are awesome!

Just a bunch of helpful, caring, concerned nerds! I tell ya!!

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I deserve a day off. I'm even taking the day off from all things Star Trek.

Tonight, I'll chill while the kids are celebrating Father's Day at their dad's place by watching Star Wars!!

Uninterrupted.

(I really need to find some "spock hands" or other nerd icon ... this heart just ain't nerdy enough)

Little of this, little of that ...

I think I've blogged before that I threw out my scale. Years ago. Just after I booted Bubba to the curb. Figured I was a slave to the damned thing. Weighing myself almost daily was setting me up for disappointment. You gals know how that is, those monthly weight fluctuations and all. The only solution I felt was to throw the thing away!! And it works, too!!

I only weigh myself at the doctor's office or occasionally when at my parents place.

And I know I've blogged about the need to buy smaller clothes lately.

So ... put two and two together, and you've got a slimmer LCM!!

And yes, I'm tooting my own horn here.

I weighed myself at the folks the last time I was there ... 207 pounds. Now before you gasp and think "that's a lot of lady" ... I'm down from 286! Yes ... 286 pounds. Can we say heifer.

And last night at the store I bought the first pair of shorts I've had in years. Real shorts ... not an old pair of worn out jeans cut off! Shorts! Granted my legs aren't ready for public display yet, all the weight I've lost I need to tone 'em up!! But this is the first step. Second step will be loosing that jiggle jiggle. Then it'll be taking care of that ghostly pallor ... Casper the Ghost legs. That's me.

I just need to motivate myself to take walks!!

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I'm in the process of setting up my pledge page for the Suicide Prevention Walk in September. I'm going to be asking ya'll here and on facebook for a small donation of only five dollars each. My goal is $150 (their website is secure for online donations). Each and everyone of you who have been effected by suicide please consider a donation. I will be adding "sponsors" to the back of my event shirt in recognition of your donation - or in honor of the person(s) you've lost to suicide.

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STAR TREK CONTENT

So the crew have been busy little beavers. They've already contacted the IG's Office (Inspector General), the people that make sure we're behaving by STARFLEET rules and regulations. Seems thar be discourse amongst the ranks concerning our Captain's behavior. The Senior Officers of our Club (appointed by the Captain, not elected) held a vote to see if they thought a Vote of Confidence (VoC) was in order. It passed by a vote of 6 to 2.

As I was typing this, the Captain called me. "WTF is going on". Talk about being glad I wasn't in the loop on this one!! "I don't know, Captain. I saw the email from the IG's Office. That's all I know about anything. I'm as in the dark as you are". And now he wants me to spy on my own people to find out what the scuttlebutt is! Hell no!! I know enough but I'm not telling him ... besides, members quitting, being talked to numerous times by Gizmo about how he conducts himself, DT storming out of a meeting, and so many more things that I've previously blogged about should be his first clues.

Captain has already stated that if he wins this VoC everyone who voted against him will be fired. If he loses he and his wife will both be leaving STARFLEET. He even went so far as to say the Star Trek shirt his wife gave me will need to be returned if he loses the vote. Fine, feel that way the shirt goes back to him the next meeting we have regardless of the outcome of the votes! I don't need "fair weather" friends with conditions on their gifts.

I know ... you're thinking "this is silly. It's a fun club for nerds. Ya'll need to get over it". I'd love to! But I see the club my son started ten years ago falling to an ugly death ... there's no fun anymore. There's only stress and discourse. Long time members quitting because of it. And more members threatening to quit every day.

Time to make it fun again. Time to remove the stresses. See if we can repair the damages with the members who quit, and move forward. To bigger and better places.

You've Been Warned ...

STAR TREK BLOG ENTRY ...

XO's log ... stardate .... oh hell I haven't figured out how to calculate the stardate ...
Earth Date June 8, 2012 ...

Today's meeting went alright. If you could ignore the general Me, Me, Me noises coming from the Captain. Every darned thing was about him ... his "heroics" with getting recognition from STARFLEET ... or about how we can turn every event into a recruiting event. How he wants to spend money we don't have on a banner (think high school marching band banners in a parade), or an expensive display board for recruiting purposes, or even pooling our money for bidding on a shuttle prop that has come up on auction and was used in one of the series (and is in horrible condition). In other words, not a damned thing that benefits us as a chapter, but only acts as another few feathers in his cap (and on his journey - delusion - to eventually be the head of STARFLEET).

Yes, I brought up the Community Walk ... and yes, he still had his fit about how we could turn it into a recruiting event, if only "on the downlow" so "they" would never know about it. Or even boldly suggesting we openly walk with a banner to let people know we're proudly supporting the Suicide Prevention walk.

Okay!! Enough playing nice gal here. I pretty much blew up (or thought I was using a tone that would get my message across). I explained to him, once again, how it is their event, not ours ... and I will not tolerate someone breaking their rules or stealing center stage from their cause. PERIOD. That he sure wouldn't like it if someone "invaded" one of our events to distribute their message. And I will not tolerate it from anyone in our group.

And he still tried to argue the point with me!!

Just when I thought I was going to have to go postal on him (and something I didn't want to do with a one year old in the room) one of my "shipmates" speaks up ... "Look, we are a non-profit group. We are active in community and charity events. Why do you need to turn everything into STARFLEET? I love Star Trek and STARFLEET as much as the next guy, but there's a time and a place for it. This is neither. I for one will happily support this event in any way possible, including wearing one of their officially sanctioned event shirts or my every day street clothes. But I will not wear STARFLEET as this is NOT a STARFLEET event. And I recommend anyone who wishes to turn it from the charity and into their own little selfish gains needs to 1) grow the F up ... and 2) stay home the day of the walk (or something very close to these words).

Well said!! We think it actually may have sunk into the Captains gray matter, too!!

After the meeting was adjourned, every single person there (except for Captain and his wife) came up to me SUPPORTING not only the Community walk (and pledging at least a small donation) but volunteered to walk with TMACK and her team!! Six volunteers!!

The real action was after the meeting when Captain and his wife left ... as well as our two newest members who haven't yet seen the Captain at his finest (they had a good taste today, though) ... My buddy who chewed Captain out, as well as another member, Gizmo and I stayed to discuss the current situation and a growing discourse running through the ranks.

So bad we're talking mutiny here. A real mutiny. And I have to stay OUT of it (drats) ... wouldn't look good if Spock tried to oust Kirk (and I'm the same position as Spock as the XO, LOL) ... too politically charged ... but they did promise to keep me in the loop as far as how it's going. And it's going straight to STARFLEET (via Gizmo who has first hand knowledge of the situation) for a full investigation. And probable removal of office for Captain.

Which would make me the Captain ... OY!!! Not a job I really wanted ... but I have some grand ideas suggested by fellow shipmates that I've tried to suggest for a general vote several times, only to be shot down by Captain. Ideas that benefit ALL the members - like more family friendly activities, fun days, games and/or movie nights, etc. Not just official meetings and one event every four  months.

Gizmo estimates a good 85% of the members want Captain out of office today based on complaints he's received. Heck, we've had THREE great members quit because of him. There's no one that he hasn't pissed off at least twice in the first six months of his term.

It's supposed to be a FUN group. I hate that it's come to this, but hey, if it's causing this much stress on members it's time to look at making changes to make it fun again.

Beam me out of here Scotty ... Don't care where. Just beam me back when this drama is over!!

Really?

I'm surrounded by idiots!!

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Case in point ... I drink diet soda. Have for years. Gizmo and Gadget run up to the store last night, I asked them to bring home some pop (soda to most of you, LOL). Gizmo actually calls me from the store, "diet or regular, Mt. Dew or store brand?". Hello!?!? Where have you been for the last decade?

Just for giggles, I asked 7 y/o Grandson "what kind of pop does Gramma drink?" He looks at me sort of funny ... "Gramma, you drink Diet Mt Dew. Did you forget that?" Too funny.

It's sad when a 7 y/o knows and a cop (who should be paying attention to details) doesn't.

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Next example ... Alien finally had a child support hearing with the court. Seems the sperm donor feels he shouldn't have to pay if he isn't seeing his own kids Partly his fault, but mostly the restraining order that he has against him. Loser is over $10,000 in arrearage and refuses to pay a cent. He did however, ask to see the boys (finally). Supervised visitation is all he gets, an hour a month. Too much time if you ask me ... he's a flight risk with the boys so at least visitation is supervised. The IDIOT moment comes from the drama Alien created whilst looking for a sitter so she could go to the hearing. It was obvious, leave the hubby at home with the kids and go alone. But no ... she turned it into a three ring circus complete with the troop of clowns falling over each other. Ends up she did go alone, left hubby home with the boys. Damn, I could have saved a week of drama if she'd listened to me in the first place.

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*****STAR TREK CONTENT*****

And the icing on the IDIOT cake ...

I told you about the Community Walk that my cousin TMACK is organizing a team for, right? Well, I brought it up to Captain of our chapter as a great opportunity to give back to the community. He decides it's the perfect recruiting event for OUR chapter.

NO!! Absolutely not! There's a time to recruit geeks and nerds to our world and there's a time to support charity ... this is a charity event. One that happens to be very close to my heart.

Keep the uniforms, STARFLEET flags, and Star Trek accessories AT HOME. This is THEIR event ... you want to recruit for STARFLEET go to the mall ... the movie theatre ... a comic book store ... or elsewhere. 

Just frosts my arse that he thinks EVERY event is a fully uniformed, recruiting event. I mean ... come on!! He's almost 60 years old ... if he wants to run around town in his uniform, FINE. Just don't show up to an event that isn't about Star Trek or about him in uniform. And ... believe me Captain, there are non-Trekkie events out there. Really.

And after a previous "confidential" conversation we've had ... how his running for Captain of our ship is just a stepping stone, and when his term is up in 2015 he wants to run for Regional Coordinator (RC) and eventually Commander of STARFLEET (CS). That in the meantime he is going to build our membership from the 30+ members we have now into (an unrealistic goal of) 100+ members ... it seems his only intentions are politically motivated and NOT community-involved. After all, we are a non-profit organization that is heavily involved in helping our local communities (and many of those events are NOT uniformed events out of respect for the charities we volunteer for). Oy.

And no ... he'll never get my vote for RC ... or CS, or anything outside of Jefferies Tube Cleaner!

I mentioned this to Gizmo ... after all he is the Chief of Operations of STARFLEET ... and he only chuckled. "Welcome to my nightmare" he says. Thanks for nothing. Actually he did say he'd pull Captain off to the side and explain to him that we're to stay low-key for certain events, this being one that requires we not stand out in the crowd. That it's not always about us ... the event dictates how we act, what we wear, and WHO we support!

He's ticked off more people in his six months of being Captain than Gizmo ever did in his ten years as our Captain. To the point there's talk behind his back about having him removed not only as our Captain but from STARFLEET entirely.

And if he's going to be a spoiled little brat about it ... I'll just forget asking for the support of my ship and do this on my own.

Catch up ...

Time to play catch up ...

I'm finally feeling better. Six weeks total of acute bronchitis. Been a slow heal.

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Dad was in the hospital a few weeks ago. Another episode of congestive heart failure. He spent a week in the hospital. He's home and getting stronger every day.

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My BFF Loula Belle was in town the other day with her mother, Mom K. We had a short visit. Great to see Lou again, and her mom.

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Looks like I'm getting a vehicle sooner than we all thought. Married Son hired a new driver for the cargo van he just purchased ... and now that new driver is going to sell his private vehicle. Married Son asked him to wait so we could talk about the possibility of buying it for me. He wasn't sure if I would want to drive a full sized pick up truck. Hell yeah!!! I want it!! And we're talking about contracting through another brokerage so that I can do local deliveries (host of reasons for it, including more income for me). Stay tuned for further details, LOL.

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Since my cousin's suicide last fall her daughter has been active in suicide prevention. TMack has even gone so far as to help organize a local "Out of the Darkness Community Walk", a fund raising walk for suicide support for later this fall. I told TMack I'll walk in memory of her mother and my brother. Watch for "pledge" information either here or on facebook (or both). All pledge donations go to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. www.truthdispelsdarkness.org is TMacks website.

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The vacant house next door (previously Barky Dog's house) has sold!! Seven months vacant. I haven't met the new people yet, but DIL and Gadget have. Guess they're good ol' rednecks (yay) ... I can deal with rednecks!! A mom (my age) and daughter (DILs age). No pets, and probably no kids (since we've yet to see kids hanging around). They've been here for almost a week and I've yet to hear a sound from them. Quiet people. I like what I'm hearing (or not hearing) so far!!!!

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Believe it or not, not a lot else going on this past month. Same ol' stuff with the Wrecking Crew and with Gadget and Gizmo. And of course, Alien is nothing but drama.

Although, we've started a Wednesday at Gramma's with Alien and the boys. I told her I NEED time with her and the boys!! I miss the little turds.

And ... Grandson and I have been doing more fun things together lately. Nothing special ... but just time together every night, even if it's only for a half hour or so. He's enjoying the Gramma time, as so am I. That boy is a hoot ... and a budding space nerd.