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Battle of the Trek Geniuses

I have been a Trekkie, or a Trekker if you want to be politically correct, since adolescence. My teenage heartthrob was Mr. Data. Need I say more? My brother-in-law, Ryan, is perhaps an even more despicable fan. You know, the type whose basement is packed with impenetrable airtight/waterproof containers full of model ships, autographed plaques, and unopened communicator collectibles. So naturally when Star Trek Scene It? came out an epic battle between me and Ryan to determine Trek supremacy was imminent, as imminent as a warp core breach after an antimatter containment failure. That historic skirmish happened on stardate 65599.2 AKA last Saturday.

Ryan and I each prepped for our cosmic competition by watching a great deal of Trek. The Star Trek franchise is a galactic behemoth. Between all the various series there are over 600 episodes and 500 hours of television. Since we’re not Peggy Bundy, and don’t have unlimited vegging time, our “research” had to be selective. I have been slowly re-watching The Next Generation, my favorite Trek, since Jason bought me the box set a year ago and a few months back I started supplementally tackling a mix of Voyager, Enterprise, and The Original Series. Ryan decided to concentrate his efforts on The Next Generation and Enterprise before our big showdown. He completed viewing both in their entirety. Not that it did him any good. Wahaha!

Everyone wanted to try on Jason's Starfeet uniform. At least it wasn't a belly shirt on Benson like it is on Jason.

Finally, the chosen day came and our battle was afoot. The difficulty of the game’s questions varied considerably from super easy to nearly impossible. Although each of us had a couple teammates, teammates that proved more useful than those red-shirted security fellows, it was really Rachel vs. Ryan for the most part. With a little luck, and some super amazing memory recall skills, team Rachel warped ahead at first. Eventually Ryan got his dilithium crystals aligned properly and he sped up to nearly take the victory. But in the end he just couldn’t make her go any faster. He basically choked on his last couple questions. One involved some simple Enterprise trivia and the other an Original Series query about the Botany Bay. I guess some people just can’t handle the pressure of command. Fortunately, I was able to quickly identify the Botany Bay for the win before Ryan could regroup his forces.

Ryan was "stunned" by his defeat.

I know Ryan considers himself a venerable vault of Trekkie trivia so I’m sure this defeat will haunt him and fill him with the deepest shame for many years to come…or until we have a rematch. He made a good effort but you just can’t win them all, especially if your opponent is me or Q.

Rachel March 1, 2012 3 Comments

The Value of Valentine’s

No holiday is greeted with as much animosity as Valentine’s Day. Sure, there are those that resent the “commercialization” of Christmas or having to eat Aunt Sally’s grey mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving but Valentine’s Day gets the worst beating of all.

First, you have the ladies that reject this holiday on the grounds that it’s a bitter reminder of their current lack of a meaningful relationship. Then you’ve got the husbands that grumble about having to buy flowers for their wives. And don’t forget the women that protest the occasion because of the improper amount of pampering they receive from their significant other. Geez! Doesn’t anyone enjoy Cupid’s day? Oh yeah, I do!

I love spoiling Jason in general so it makes sense that I would enjoy a day that gives me an excuse to do so with excessive gusto.

I wore a new darling dress to Meditrina. Every girl needs an excuse now and then to put on a fancy frock.

This year I took several rounds of surprise treats to Jason’s work, including caramel apples and my favorite cookies from a local bakery, just to get the fuss started. Additionally, since it was my turn to plan our activities, I organized a group dinner at Meditrina, an enchanting tapas bar, with 5 other couples a few days before the big day. I would be lying if I said that arranging this outing was hassle-free. Too many people with differing opinions and way too much griping were involved so I don’t think I’ll be planning anything like that again with such a large group. Despite the pointless hang-ups, I did appreciate the company for the most part and my tummy definitely appreciated the tasty cuisine. So I guess the evening was mainly a success.

Our friend Jenny arranged these flowers. Great job! She recently opened her own floral design business.

Speaking of food, that wasn’t the end of the festive gourmet grub for us. Jason and I also had a romantic fondue dinner at home on Valentine’s Day made by yours truly. Cave aged Swiss cheese and velvety Irish cream spiked chocolate were the perfect ingredients for a charming evening, especially when paired with the company of a man I absolutely adore. I would happily do a repeat of that night anytime!

This may not look too impressive as far as meals go but it was just course one. Trust me, we were stuffed to the point of sickness by the time we finished our supper.

Our Valentine’s Day celebrations were again a delight and, as always, a little over the top. Like I said, I love to spoil Jason and, as far as I’m concerned, he deserves more pampering than I could ever bestow.

You can't have a romantic dinner without rose petals, candlelight, and Joshua Bell.

As a final note, in true obstinate fashion, I feel the need to once more complain about the rampant negativity directed towards Valentine’s Day. I know many of you think that all this romantic goo may be fine for those of us that are happily hooked up but that the holiday’s a waste for the single. To you I say, not so. Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love so why does that just have to mean romantic love? Love takes many forms: the bond between brothers, the adulation of a child, the concern of a friend. I think nearly all of us are surrounded by plenty of people that matter in our lives. Why not take the opportunity afforded by this holiday to remind them that they are important to us? A card for a friend telling them what a difference their friendship has made, an unexpected bouquet of flowers for a mother or grandmother, some quality time spent decorating cookies with a child: there are lots of ways to get caught up in the spirit of this holiday that don’t involve giving a 5 ft teddy bear to your girlfriend. I always enjoyed Valentine’s Day even before I had someone to bring me flowers or make dinner for. Celebrating love and expressing gratitude to those that are essential to us shouldn’t induce whining. It doesn’t hurt to have a significant other on Valentine’s Day but we all have people that matter significantly in our lives and isn’t that worth some rejoicing?

Rachel February 23, 2012 1 Comment

The Just Us League

Once you have jumped into a freezing lake your perspective on everything changes. The world suddenly seems warmer and you feel like you could do just about anything, almost as if you had superpowers.

Justice has a new face and it's an ugly one.

After double-dipping into ice sheathed waters last winter we decided to again support the Special Olympics by plunging into Utah Lake this year and we convinced an even bigger circle of family and friends to join us. Our nine man brigade opted to go all out, and all ridiculous, in the costume department. Since leaping into 33 degree water is a stunt only the super dumb or the superhero would attempt it seemed fitting for us to dress as both.

It took a bit of super strength to stare those frigid waters down and jump in.

We, or I rather, named our team the Just Us League like the Justice League only it’s just us. Don’t get the joke? Obviously you have no sense of Rachel humor.

Although last year we had to swim farther to get back to shore, the distance this time still seemed infinitely long.

We all picked a superhero to emulate. Jason selected Captain America and I chose to go as Supergirl. Supergirl’s blonde hair was the primary reason for that decision; a wig doesn’t work when you’re diving into a lake. I made me a cape and some arm bracers embellished with silly gold rickrack reminiscent of the tacky uniforms worn in the original Star Trek TV series. Though my costume looked rather absurd, I was definitely outgunned by some of the outrageous boys on our team. Jason, Jeremy, and Adam all wore Speedos. Need I say more? Icky! With their masks and accessories Jason and Jeremy looked like extremely low-budget adult film stars.

Jeremy was revolting in his mankini. Superheroes are supposed to save the world not repulse it.

Our team may have been flashy and flamboyant in our costuming but we were even flashier in our fundraising. We raised about $1200 for the Special Olympics. That placed us as one of the top three grossing teams…and gross we were.

Our massive group had to be split in two; we were too bulky to jump in at once. This, our second set of plungers, did us proud.

The largeness of our group and coolness of our costumes compounded to make for one fantastic plunge. Although our presently milder than normal winter didn’t help the temperature of the lake much, with our super attire and courageous entourage we were ready to face any frigid foe. We took on that chilly villain and we took it down! Just us was served!

Rachel February 15, 2012 2 Comments
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