Long Days Journal Into Night

Well, if there had been no Star Trek, then the preeminent SF shows from the era would have been Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, and Time Tunnel; not exactly the most intellectual shows ever. And Lost in Space might well have been very different, since I'm pretty convinced that CBS sent a transcript of Roddenberry's pitch for Star Trek to Irwin Allen with instructions to follow some of the ideas in it while developing his show. As for what the world would have been like, I can only assume that either it would have been a darker, more somber place, or there would have been some other show or event that might have filled that void and given people everywhere something to hope for. I would think the latter, for while Roddenberry hit first with a show that crossed all sorts of lines and demographics, there were others out there trying to produce something along the same vein, though not necessarily SF. Perhaps the well-known show would have ended up being The Mod Squad, or some such.

For a change, I have something to write about, and it is something wonderful.
I started a new job today, the first full-time, permanent position I've gotten in over 10 years.
Now, it isn't as wonderful as it could be, since I'm trying to get over a cold, but it does look promising.
For those of you who I haven't spoken to since the good news arrived, I am now working for Tripp-Lite, a company that has been around for over 80 years, where I will be a product support rep. Now, that's just a fancy way to say customer service, but it will require some technical skill (which I either already have or can learn fairly quickly). The pay is decent, the hours are realistic (no late days, no weekends), and they even have a shuttle from the train station to their office that they pay for (for those who may not know, I live in the suburbs of Chicago, the far western suburb of Aurora, so the commuter train is the simplest way to get to this job, which is within sign of the White Sox ballpark).
Yes, I'm happy. This could be exactly what I've been looking for. More as things develop.

I found this link on another board I frequent, and had to share it.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2645652&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1
The link takes you to a board where the members call themselves goons, and one of their own, who was killed in a motorcycle accident 3 years ago, has been given a new tombstone by his parents (this is in Louisiana, but not so close to New Orleans as to need for the entire burial to be above ground, apparently).
It gives new meaning to the term austentatious, but I thought some of my friends here could relate to it (and likely cringe while doing so).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071002/ap_on_sc/takei_asteroid

Yes, they have actually named an asteroid for George Takei (there are already asteroids named for Gene Roddenberry and Nichelle Nichols).
I thought Trektone would like to know. ;)

I found this article linked on Buzzflash.com:
http://autos.msn.com/advice/article.aspx?contentid=4024974>1=10365

To say the least, it made me see red (though it didn't really surprise me). Cleaner cars are available, but aren't sold anywhere they aren't mandated by law.
I'll let you read the article for yourselves, but it does leave a sour taste about the car companies.

If you could travel back in time to spend a day with someone, who would it
be and why?

I would like to spend that day with Dwight Eisenhower, on the day he was choosing his vice-presidential running mate in 1952. I would try very hard to convince him that almost any other choice would be superior to Richard Nixon, in the hopes of changing the outcome of certain events from the 1960's that had their beginnings during his terms as President. I would also encourage him to pay close attention to Wernher von Braun's work, and to consider more seriously the implications of space travel and putting a permanent operation in orbit and on the moon, and to take very seriously the possibility of the Soviets beating us to at least one punch in space.

Yeah, this harkens back to several things that I've long thought about. If Nixon hadn't been Eisenhower's VP, he might never have been President (which would have saved all of the gnashing about impeachment, averted the Watergate breakin, and saved millions of dollars just by not prosecuting John Lennon). Another VP might have encouraged Eisenhower to be more pro-active on space activities, not necessarily militarizing space as some of the visionairies were thinking at the time but getting a presence there sooner (and maybe beating the Soviets to the punch with the first satellite; von Braun was ready to go with Explorer 1 months before Sputnik was launched, but because his was a military operation for the Army Balistic Missile Agency he was refused permission in favor of the civilian Vanguard probe with it's unproven [and embarrassingly flawed] booster that kept exploding at every launch attempt). I still think that things could have been different, given the right persuasion.

It's Monday, the day after FilkOntario, and I'm still wishing it had lasted longer.
Hearing the n'Early Music Consort (nMC) again was, of course, a treat (last time I'd heard them as a group was ConThirteena, the 13th British filk con in 2001, since they hadn't put in an appearance at InterAction in Glasgow). Imagine filk performed by a professional-quality mixed chorus (soprano/alto/tenor/bass-baritone), with very imaginative and interesting arrangements. It ain't your average church choir!
Tom Smith, Mark Bernstein, Urban Tapestry, and Joey Shoji were also there, and it was good to see all of them, as well as the usual cast of wonderful characters from Canada and elsewhere.
Saturday had to be the fullest day I've ever spent at a filk con, between one shots and mini-concerts (and seeing Julie from Columbus, OH, ASL signing Tom Smith's songs, including his 'Operation: Desert Storm' about a particular 'super-genius' pursuing his favorite beeping adversary), then hearing the nMC performing everything from 'Hope Eyrie' to a ditty about a 12-step program for megalomaniacs (replete with costumes)!
Saturday night, after the InterFilk auction, there was a memorial sing for Dave Alway. I hadn't been able to attend the memorial service for him in Michigan, so I was happy for this opportunity to be with others who've missed him since his sudden death right after GAFilk (was it really only 3 months ago?). I also made a discovery that surprised me - Phil Parker has a real gift for reading poetry! Many filk regulars have heard his musical performances, but he really does have a gift for spoken poetry that exceeds his musical abilities! Makes me think he missed his calling there.
That's about all the time I have for a brief recap right now. Perhaps I'll be able to add to it later.

While skimming Debbie Ohi's LJ I saw a comment by Teddy (hello, Teddy!), so I added him to my friends list. I hope he remembers me, we haven't communicated since the Glasgow Worldcon, and I still owe him a print of a photo of him in the masquerade from the Brighton Worldcon (no, I haven't forgotten, I just haven't been able to find the transparency so I can get it printed!).
And that is about as random as any nattering I've seen or posted.

While Kathy and I were at GAFilk in Atlanta, I was able to do a little web surfing, and revisited a site devoted to genealogy that I hadn't been to in many months. I was happily surprised to find other people finally coming up with new information on my mother's family (I hit a wall with that branch a while back, not having been able to find much past her grandparents with any reliability). I've since had some email correspondence with the person who posted the new info, and have also sent her scanned copies of some photos I have. She was jubilant when she saw one of them, since they had very little on the part of the family closest to me other than what could be found in public records.
Kathy is likely to roll her eyes at this one, since she has often accused me of simply pushing a button and finding 200 more relatives (I can't help it that others have been trodding the wilderness ahead of me; I'm not Daniel Boone in this case, I'm more like Pat Boone in the tour bus). Maybe one of these days we'll find the mother lode on her family.

Well, after so many others I know have gone this route, I've finally signed up for LJ (sadly, it was reacting to the untimely passing of a friend that caused me to do so).

For now, just take this as a brief announcement that I am finally here. More to come, time permitting.