Waiting with Delta

Not many pics today, as the early part of the day was spent in the domestic terminal at LAX, staring at a series of about 32 changing screens, desperately hoping to see my code "MCLE/I" appear (telling me that I had, indeed, secured a seat on my flight to Detroit). Then there was the flight itself, and an interminable wait for my bag to appear on the luggage carousel.

All of this panic and boredom - not helped by an understaffed terminal with no one to ask questions - was swept aside by the single snowflake that spattered against my wind as the plane landed in Detroit. By the time my bag had dared to show its straps, and the cab had arrived, there was a delightful dusting of snow everywhere. Arriving in Ann Arbor, at my penpal Olivia's house, the roads and footpaths were all white. Their first snowfall of the season, and it delivered me the White Christmas I'd come to see! It seemingly snowed for at least three days straight. Every view out every door and window was a northern-hemisphere Christmas card!

Day 2 photos:

Recreating the infamous first meeting of Ian and Olivia! — in Ann Arbor, MI.
We had not swapped notes about T-shirt themes, either! Serendipity!

Recreating the infamous first meeting of Ian and Olivia! — but this time outside... in the newly-fallen snow!

Ian and Olivia meeting in December 1983 (New Year's Eve, actually) - and on Christmas Eve, December 2012.

Olivia and I had "met" in the pages of the newsletter of ASTREX, the Star Trek Fan Club of New South Wales, and immediately bonded over penpal correspondence, Trek gossip, and articles about the Aussie TV soap opera, "Prisoner", which Olivia used to watch as both "Cell Block H" (in the USA) and "Caged Women" (via a Canadian channel whose signal strayed across the border into Michigan).

Archival pic: Ian (and his beard) encountering hamsters up close, for the first time, at Olivia's place in December 1991.

The delightful Dorothy Lenz (Olivia's mother-in-law) and Ian, 2012.

USA bound!

Off on a US adventure. The International Date Line played havoc with my attempts to file and upload them.

So here's Day 1:

"Please turn your electronic and mobile devices OFF!" — at Kingsford Smith-Sydney International Airport.

Ah, luxury! — at Crowne Plaza LAX Hotel. With my travel mascot, the Andorian sock monkey. The monkey being a Starfleet redshirt, I thought him a sensible addition to my Away Mission. It always worked for Kirk to take Ensign Ricky.

Okay, so it's an ad for Laxettes Land, but some of the letters fell down? — at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

I was walking right under the flight path to get to the phone shop, on the other side of those signs. They coulda warned me! — at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Yay! I'm connected at last and it's still yesterday! Time travel really is wonderful! — at Crowne Plaza LAX Hotel.

"I want to make it in Hollywood... as a tap dancer. (But I keep falling in the sink.)" — at Crowne Plaza LAX Hotel.

2D scans of old Nimslo 3D photos!

With Rhonda Williams, California. Christmas in USA, 1983.


"The Wizard of Oz" wax figures at Movieland Wax Museum, January 1984.
The museum used to be opposite Knott's Berry Farm in Los Angeles, USA.


Our award-winning costumes from the gala premiere night of "Ghostbusters", 1984.

The signs on our backs read "Rent-a-Ghost". I'm holding a red fly-swat, but included in our winners' goodie bag was... an official logo "Ghostbusters" ghost-swatter.


"Cometcon Blankety Blanks" (1986) with guest panelists, T'Pring, Spock and a Peoplebuster.

A tribble's travels

My friend and fellow Star Trek fan, Jörg Hillebrand, recently took his pet tribble on a tour of the future!

Check out Tall Tales of a Time-Traveling Tribble – A Tribble Travelogue on The Drex Files.


My tribble is sooooo jealous.

Missing Shore Leave

This weekend, the annual US "Star Trek" and SF media convention, "Shore Leave" - with its traditionally strong emphasis on the printed word - is taking place, and I'm feeling rather depressed that I'm not there. Last year, it fell towards the end of the school holidays. If I had have done some serious forward planning, I could have organised long service leave and gone - either then, or this year! Especially since this year it's fallen in the middle of my two-week vacation. I coulda been there!!!

Ah well, it's been fun sitting online at TrekBBS all day catching up on what's happening. Sigh...

My other reason for disappointment is that it's recently been announced that the big "Star Trek Experience" attraction, at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, is closing at the end of August. Drat, drat, drat. (I was so sure it would be renewed at least until they saw how well the new Star Trek movie worked - next May.)

It's been there for ten years, and I've never been able to get there... and I just can't contemplate racing around obtaining a new passport, getting a visa, applying for long-service leave, helping to find a trained teacher-librarian replacement who's able to do all of the days I'd be away, clamouring for decently-priced airfares and hotels, leaving plenty of work for my replacement to use, explaining the Premier's Reading Challenge to them (and demonstrating what needs to be done to enter all the students' details before September), and ensuring I was back in time for Book Week at school. Whew. I'm exhausted just contemplating it all. Double sigh...

Anyway, here's the current "Upcoming Star Trek Books" schedule, with some new stuff announced for the first time at the Pocket Books presentation at Shore Leave this weekend, presented by editors Marco Palmieri and Margaret Clark. (The list was originally posted by Keith R A DeCandido on TrekBBS, and he reminds us, "Please keep in mind that the schedule is tentative and subject to change, particularly as you get farther away from the present.")

I've added annotations from various other sources.

Key: hc = hardcover, ho = hardcover omnibus, tp = trade paperback, to = trade paperback omnibus, mm = mass-market paperback, mr = mass-market reprint, tba = to be announced

July 2008
"DS9: Fearful Symmetry" by Olivia Woods (mm)
(Already out!)

"Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism" by William Leisner, Christopher L Bennett, and James Swallow (tp)
(Three alternate universe stories)

August 2008
"TNG: Greater than the Sum" by Christopher L Bennett (mm)
(Continuing the TNG Relaunch)

"Myriad Universes: Echoes and Refractions" by Geoff Trowbridge, Keith R A DeCandido, and Chris Roberson (tp)
(Three more alternate universe stories)


Cover art by John Picacio

September 2008
"ENT: Kobayashi Maru" by Michael A Martin & Andy Mangels (mm)
(Continuing the "Enterprise" Relaunch)

"Star Trek 101" by Terry J Erdmann & Paula M Block (tp)
(Fact book)

"Star Trek" Calendar for 2009

"Ships of the Line" Calendar for 2009

October 2008
"Destiny, Book 1: Gods of Night" by David Mack (mm)
(Starting the crossover trilogy)

"Corps of Engineers: Wounds" by Ilsa J Bick, Keith R A DeCandido, John J Ordover, Terri Osborne, and Cory Rushton (to)
(Reprint omnibus of the eBooks)

November 2008
"Destiny, Book 2: Mere Mortals" by David Mack (mm)

"Academy: Collision Course" by William Shatner, with Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens (mr)


Cover art by James Wang

December 2008
"Destiny, Book 3: Lost Souls" by David Mack (mm)

January 2009
"TOS: Errand of Fury: Sacrifices of War" by Kevin Ryan (mm)
(Completing the second of Ryan's TOS trilogies)

"Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows", ed. by Margaret Clark & Marco Palmieri (tp)
Short stories by Christopher L Bennett, Margaret Wander Bonanno, Peter David, Keith R A DeCandido, Michael Jan Friedman, Jim Johnson, Rudy Josephs, David Mack, Dave Stern, James Swallow, Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, Susan Wright
(Third volume of series)


Cover art by Tom Hallman

February 2009
"A Singular Destiny" by Keith R A DeCandido (mm)
(A "Destiny" trilogy follow-up)

March 2009
"Titan: Over a Torrent Sea" by Christopher L Bennett (mm)
(A "Destiny" follow-up)

"TOS: Mere Anarchy" by Mike W Barr, Christopher L Bennett, Margaret Wander Bonanno, Dave Galanter, Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, and Howard Weinstein (to)
(Reprint omnibus of the original eBook mini-series)

April 2009
"VOY: Full Circle" by Kirsten Beyer (mm)
(Continuing the "Voyager" Relaunch - at last)

"New Frontier: Treason" by Peter David (tp)
(Usually a hardcover, this one's a trade pb instead; presumably takes up where the IDW comic mini-series left off)

May 2009
"Vanguard: Open Secrets" by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore (mm)

"TOS: Crucible" by David R George III (ho)
(Hardcover reprint omnibus of the mass market paperback trilogy, with newly added story material!)


Cover art (from MMPBs) by John Picacio


* Speculation: Presumably, this month with also see the publication of the novelisation of JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" movie! *

June 2009
"TOS: Troublesome Minds" by Dave Galanter (mm)
(Set during the five-year mission)

July 2009
"TNG: Losing the Peace" by William Leisner (mm)
(Continuing TNG Relaunch; a "Destiny" follow-up)

August 2009
"DS9: The Soul Key" by Olivia Woods (mm)
(Continuing DS9 Relaunch)

"Seven Deadly Sins", ed. by Marco Palmieri (tp)
(Seven stories, featuring: "Pride: the Romulans" by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, "Envy: the Cardassians" by James Swallow, "Wrath: the Klingons" by Keith R A DeCandido, "Sloth: the Pakleds" by Jimmy Diggs, "Greed: the Ferengi" by David A McIntee, "Gluttony: the Borg" by Marc Giller, "Lust: the Mirror Universe" by Britta Dennison)

September 2009
"DS9: The Never-Ending Sacrifice" by Una McCormack (mm)
(Focus on Cardassians)

October 2009
"VOY: (title TBA)" by Kirsten Beyer (mm)

"ENT: The Romulan War" by Michael A Martin (tp)

November 2009
"Titan: (title TBA)" by James Swallow (mm)

"Myriad Universes" (title and authors TBA) (tp)
(Third volume of stories)

December 2009
"Vanguard: (title TBA)" by David Mack (mm)

"Corps of Engineers: Out of the Cocoon" by Robert T Jeschonek, Kevin Killiany, William Leisner, and Phaedra M Weldon (to)
(Another omnibus eBook reprints; this one has newly added material - an updated "minipedia"!)

2010
The following titles don't have publication months yet, but are intended for 2010:

"TOS: The Millennium Bloom" by Mike W Barr (mm)
(An early Captain April story!)

"TOS: The Unspoken Truth" by Margaret Wander Bonanno (mm)
(A post-ST IV Saavik story!)

Over at TrekWeb, you'll find some great new cover artwork.

Looks like a busy couple of years, Trek-wise. I'm still halfway through a holiday and I feel like I need... a holiday. If only transporter technology already existed...

Darn it!

I'm glad no one was watching, with a video camera or mobile phone at the ready. They missed a spectacular trip and fall by yours truly today. A prize winner on "Australia's Funniest Home Videos" is ever there was one.

Just after lunch, to celebrate the first weekday of my present school vacation, I was going to take a long stroll to Nepean Square (mainly to check out the big K-Mart toy sale that's getting so much radio airplay, but I also needed milk for my first coffee of the day), but I stubbed my toe on the traffic roundabout at the end of my street and did a leap worthy of "Hancock", and ended up all palms-and-knees on the concrete. Ouch!

Once I'd recovered my bearings, I had no option but to trudge back home to apply some Dettol on the extremities, and later headed off in the opposite direction to get just the milk this time. I really needed that coffee now. My big toe (luckily, not the one I injured last April) is still throbbing, but is hopefully not broken, and I sense a rectangular bruise forming on my right thigh in the shape of my mobile phone. Thank goodness I wasn't walking Jack at the time...

I realised, as I arrived home, that the force of my toe-stubbing actually poked a hole through my sock. It's been many years since I've darned a sock and I'm not sure I want to spend these holidays doing so. I did get back to Nepean Square later this afternoon. There were no toys of interest, so I bought chocolate instead. Oh dear...

"Melting, melting, I'm melting..."

Okay, it's the age-old mystery:

"How did the Wicked Witch of the West ever take a bath?"

It was raining in Mittagong today, our last pitstop before arriving home from our Canberra vacation. I just couldn't resist snapping this witch's hat, which was sitting so forlornly on the pavement in the constant drizzle.

It was perfect weather for fish, chips, battered savs and potato scallops. But please don't tell anyone. (Sadly, every day of this holiday has been Junk Food Day. I just hope I did enough walking...)

Jack lives here

Well, Jack seems happy to live anywhere I happen to be; such is the loyalty of a Jack Russell terrier. He really is a wonderful little traveller. He seems to eagerly anticipate each leg of the journey and, even after wandering for hours on his lead and harness through various country town centres, or around the perimeter of Lake Burley Griffin on a warm afternoon, he always seems ready to do it all again, gleefully, at the next pitstop. (Even when those nasty swans keeping chasing one all around the lake and honking at one to make one want to bark... and get one into big trouble from the Master's housemate!)



Pet-friendly bed 'n' breakfast venues usually request that dogs not be left alone in the accommodation, and in summer it's impossible to leave an animal alone in a stationary car for even a few minutes, so having a dog on holiday can be a burden at times - ie. no trips to the cinema, and only brief sojourns into air-conditioned shopping arcades, while one human waits outside with the four-legged "child" - but mostly it's a joy to take Jack on vacation.

On nights when he's quite tired, we are usually able to leave him in the car outside a restaurant and have something more substantial than fast food, or sidewalk cafe fare. We left Jack outside a pizza restaurant last night, and he was still wrapped in his blanket when we got back. He hadn't even moved to peek out the window to see how far away we were going to be! It does take a lot to make a Jack Russell tired, but there have been a few times when we've achieved such a feat.

Marathon efforts

Yesterday, while waiting for the Old Bus Depot Sunday Markets to open, we wandered over to watch the runners finishing up the annual Canberra Marathon race.

While I did worry that the announcer might say something like, "Ladies and gentlemen, the new record has just been set by a Jack Russell chasing a seagull across the finish line", we were quite close to the action.

The most amusing action was happening a few bends away, where a group of local teens had armed themselves with binoculars and a thick printout of participants' names and registration numbers. As numerous very sweaty runners would approach this group, the teens would select someone to barrack for. To the (lucky) chosen runner's absolute bewilderment, the youths would then start yelling, "Come on Bruce, you can do it mate!" or "Go for it, Jennifer!", or "Yay, Davo, keep going, man!", and so on. I swear we saw these runners transform, and they'd pick up a little speed and/or confidence to appease their young (supposed) fans' efforts.

The kids' collective enthusiasm wilted just a little, though, when they picked out one particular runner and yelled, "Onya George! Good effort! Keep it up!"

The bemused runner called back, "You guys know me? That's great! You can take care of this for me. I'll get it back from you some time."

With that, the runner stripped off his sweat-saturated shirt and tossed it to the barrackers. Now they had the bewildered looks. Priceless.

A capital idea

There's something rather ironic about me calling this blog "Have Phaser, Will Travel" and the only time it goes dormant is when I'm travelling.

One reason is that I don't have a laptop (yet) and, when on vacation, the last thing I really want to do is race off to an Internet cafe, and do hilarious and/or witty blog entries on-the-spot, live from the scene. While the concept is exciting, I guess, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to announce to the world, "Hey, I'm on vacation, so's the housemate, the abode is unattended - and I even have the watchdog on holiday with me, not guarding the house, while I blog to you daily from this poky cafe!"


We are taking the
blankie, aren't we?"

A complete break from the Internet is not a bad idea, either. If I had a laptop, I just know I'd never get anything else - but a little blogging - done. I almost cherish time away from emails and web surfing so I can get some Star Trek novels read!

We departed on Saturday morning and were at our Downer (ACT), dog-friendly bed 'n' breakfast by the afternoon, having spent a brief time in beautiful Berrima on the way. We bought some pumpkin bread there, that will taste scrummy, and some sweets from the good ol' Lolly Swagman to keep us munching along the way.

On Friday night, before we left, I'd paid a few bills via the Internet. Then I realised during the car trip south - to my horror - that I'd forgotten to organise payment for some vintage Star Trek metal miniatures I'd won from a US seller on eBay earlier in the week. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet and public libraries, I effortlessly booked 30 mins Internet time at Dickson Public Library yesterday afternoon, just before closing. I even managed to check my emails online, change my PayPal password and send $$$$$ to my toy seller. Whew!

And no, despite the date and time on this entry, I didn't write it (or the next five entries) in the library, although i was tempted. I did it the old fashioned way - handwritten notes on a scrap of paper. Yay post-vacation "Post Options" hyperlinks!

Sunday's magic number: 91.0. Yeah, the French food and red wine did it, I think.

School is: OUT

Here I sit, with the school vacation finally here - two weeks, yay! - and I can't think of anything to post.

I even went through a whole stack of old photograph albums, hoping for inspiration, but every photo I thought of wasn't in the stack that happens to be on hand, or it features someone not easy to track down to ask about putting their photo on the Internet. It's been a long time since I saw some of these wonderful people, and I'd prefer that our first emails in yonks isn't an angry "Take down that pic!" demand. Just because one owns a photograph doesn't mean one took it oneself, owns the copyright or has permission from everyone in it to share it with the world in an electronic medium that wasn't even imagined when the photograph was taken.

Plus, I'm reminded about the terrible condition of my 70s and 80s era photograph albums are. No photo corners of the 60s, all of my albums were sticky-page and transparent plastic albums, and the years have either fused the photos permanently to the album pages, or the stickiness has all dried up the photos slide out onto the floor as the pages are turned. Some of the old Polaroids have turned dark, some of the regular pics have drastically altered colour - and the 3D photos from my old Nimslo 3D camera can't be scanned. (To show those, I'd have to find the negatives and order regular prints from them first, or scan the negatives on my scanner.) And I also get into a panic wondering where a few missing photo albums ended up during the big move of January 2000.

The thought of transferring all my photos to new albums is daunting beyond believe. There are also recent piles and piles of photos, all over the house, that have never been lovingly stuck in albums, or even dated and captioned.

In addition, another visit to my Sitemeter today shows me that each mention of my Andorian costume eBay purchase in the month of June brought in a record number of page views to the blog (for about a week or so), but these new visitors don't necessarily convert into regular viewers. Do I just talk about Star Trek stuff in an attempt to keep them? Furthermore, the 70s photo of Aussie actress Abigail (from her 70s autobiography) continues to be the main way people find this blog.


Sydney's Luna Park - a random, favourite photo

Missed me?

I'm back from a brief holiday down New South Wales' south coast: visiting Kangaroo Valley, Mogo and Nowra and staying at Sussex Inlet and Pambula/Merimubula, then back via Kiama.

Thank heavens for those "holiday with your dog" books and websites, which always direct me towards some unique holiday accommodations - and thank goodness for my Star Trek novels, which keep me entertained in those tinier towns where Internet cafes have not yet begun to spring up. I exaggerate. While I did see a few signs that the electronic age had arrived in these places, I also had second thoughts about announcing, on a daily basis, that I was on vacation for a week-and-a-bit... and, therefore, the house was unoccupied, even by its guard dog.