Fun and Games Dept

The media and associated merchandising outlets have been going crazy over the release of the latest installment of “Star Wars”. I believe this chapter is called “The Force Awakens” or something like that. Even though I love science fiction, I’ve never been a huge fan of the Star Wars universe. I’ve seen all the movies but I’ve never waited in line to see them on opening day nor have I ever been one to see all the recuts and re-edits and such. I’m just not that much of a Star Wars fan. Though, quick side note, my first date ever as with a girl named Karen Black. We saw “The Empire Strikes Back” together. I think I was 12.

Just in time for Star Wars, a teaser-trailer has been released for the next Star Trek movie, “Star Trek Beyond”. I’m a big fan of the Star Trek universe so I was quite excited to see the trailer of this next movie.

I hated it. I watched it several times and confirmed that I hated the trailer.  Directed by “The Fast and The Furious” director Justin Lin, I saw motorcycles, over the top stunts and a lot of kickboxing/martial arts. Not really the Star Trek I fell in love with as a young kid.

Uninspired by the upcoming movie, I decided to go back to watching fan-made movies and episodes of Star Trek. For those not familiar, there are several series and movies taking place in the Star Trek universe made by fans of the show. Some of these productions include actors from commercial Star Trek ventures. Some are adaptations of scripts that were never made into full blown productions. These productions take place in many different eras of Star Trek, some boast a foundation of The Original Series, others are set in a future we haven’t seen yet. All of these are funded, created and produced by fans of Star Trek. And many of them are quite impressive.

Earlier this year, a movie entitled “Star Trek: Renegades” was released. It’s available on YouTube. A slick production, the visual quality of this movie is impressive, there are many cast members from other Star Trek and sci-if shows and, while the story is a little different than what one is used to from Star Trek, it still feels like it belongs in the Star Trek universe. Sure, there was some wooden acting (remember many of the actors are fans of the show) and a plot hole here and there, but for the most part I was very impressed with the production of “Star Trek: Renegades”. I look forward to watching it again on a bigger screen (I watched it on my iPad for my first viewing) and I’m really hoping to see further episodes along this series’ timeline.  

Here’s the trailer for “Star Trek: Renegades”. Astute observers will note that the lead female role is played by the same actress that played Xena’s daughter Livia/Eve in the latter part of that series. I am looking forward to being a supporter and backer of this and other Star Trek fan derived adventures.

And I have a goal of wearing a red shirt on screen someday. I might yet see the realization of my imaging of what I think a transporter beam should look like ¹.

¹ In 1987 I sent a storyboard, letter and documentation to Paramount in hopes of suggesting what the transporter should look like in “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”. I received a favorable response from the company, however, my suggestion never made it to the movie. A version of it, though most likely pure coincidence and not quite identical to what I suggested, made it to “Star Trek: Voyager”.

In my never ending quest to basically Supe Myself Up and to live my life as best and productively as I can, I have been reading about the importance of a consistent morning routine. Now, there are some that say you have to wake up long before the crack of dawn to be productive, working your schedule so that lunch is in the latter half of your day, while others have a little more respect for one’s natural rhythms and give tips to work with that approach. Almost all of the articles that I have read (asianefficiency.com is one of them) have suggested that a consistent morning routine with certain key elements will give you that extra boost to make every day a great day.

I decided to start this approach this morning.

I started with a new approach to my alarm clock.  Using an app called Sleep Cycle, I told my phone that I wanted to wake somewhere between 6:00 and 6:30 this morning. The app monitored my sleep all night and figured out at what time I would be the furthest away from deep sleep between 6:00 and 6:30 and sounded the alarm at the appropriate time. Humans tend to sleep in 90 minute cycles, and waking up when we’re in the midst of deep sleep is why we are sometimes groggy, so waking when you are in a lighter sleep is a key step in start the day right.

Upon awaking I immediately went the bathroom and then drank a glass of water. I never knew this, but drinking a glass of water upon waking helps wake your body up and gets things moving again. I felt better after the glass of water so I can see the logic in this.

Before going for my 45 minute morning walk (since the weather is a little wonky for bike rides at this time of year), I used an app called Headspace to do a 10 minute meditation. This helped me feel more grounded than I expected it to. During a recent physical my doctor suggested that I meditate more to help lower my blood pressure. I’m hoping that meditating will help calm my mind a little bit. I have a lot of stuff going on in my head at any given time.

I then proceeded with my morning walk and my usual morning routine of making the bed, showering, shaving, etc. Overall I felt like the day is off to a great start and I’m feeling pretty good for a Monday.

I was going to hold off on trying these changes in my routine and start a fresh with the New Year, but as they say, there’s no time like the present, so I’m going to try this approach and see how it works out in the long run. I know that these changes can’t hurt (even though some folks think that meditation lets the demons in, whatever that means) so it’s all for the best.

I can never stop learning.

I’m aboard Delta flight 1895 from Philadelphia to Atlanta, headed to Greenville for a short work trip.  I’m on an MD90 in seat 3D. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to what part of the cabin I’m sitting in. 

Earl and I were in the area visiting family for the holidays, so it was simple for him to just drop me off at the airport.  A bonus of this arrangement is that I will see his smiling face at Syracuse when I get home mid-week. Plus we save on parking fees. 

This flight is absolutely wonderful, the sky is clear and the air is smooth. I’m guessing we are in the high 20s as far as flight levels go. I could check but I’m just relaxing this flight. I did a bunch of work and made some great accomplishments before boarding earlier today; I’m going into the work week feeling good. 

The visit with family was enjoyable but a little too short for my tastes. Time seems fleeting again, a sign that life is good. Sometimes it’s even better to grab a moment and savor it without electronic enhancement. 

So I’ll end this entry with a snapshot of what I find to be beautiful. 

A couple of weeks ago, when Earl and I were at the Hollywood Casino in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi, I hit the jackpot on a slot machine. As I mentioned in that blog entry, I was quite happy about the whole ordeal and I instantly knew what I was going to do with my winnings.

I bought Earl a new computer. He’s been using the same MacBook Pro for a few years and it’s getting tired. It works but it’s slow. We’ve copied the data from previous computers over and over again to the point that his 2010 MacBook Pro still has settings for Sprint Dial-Up Internet service. This has made his fast computer very slow.

Talking it over, he decided that he’d like a desktop computer, since he doesn’t take his laptop with him anymore, he travels with his personal iPad. We went to the Apple Store and looked over the options and decided on a 21.5-inch iMac with Retina Display. It arrived today.

This thing is gorgeous.

One thing that we decided on was that we were not going to copy over the data from his old computer, but start from scratch. Apple still makes this quite easy; you sign in with your iCloud credentials and the stuff you have backed up to iCloud fills in the blanks on your new computer. It doesn’t carry over all the old sludge, just the pertinent information you need to get up and running: passwords, mail account information, web browser bookmarks, etc. In less than an hour Earl was up and running at full speed on his new computer.

Buying this computer was important to me. In 2002 I hit the jackpot on a slot machine at the local casino and promptly bought myself a computer, without even considering our financial needs at the time. Earl and I had a pretty good fight about it (it’s called the “That Time I Was A Dick in 2002 Incident”, not to be confused with “The Great American Incident of 1999” which involved flying potato chips) and that decision has haunted me every time I’ve walked into a casino for the past 13 years.

Earl would never buy himself a computer; he won’t admit that his laptop is hideously slow, but it is and I can see the frustration in his face when he’s using it. It meant a lot to him that we decided to buy this new computer together and he’s already enjoying it very much.

And now I’m ready for the next jackpot opportunity!

Earl and I are in Memphis for the weekend. He has been working here this week and I flew own on Thursday night to join him for a weekend together before heading back on Sunday evening. Yesterday I was a Digital Nomad in full effect, working from our hotel room, a Starbucks and a hotel lobby. I got a lot done yesterday. Travel is inspiring to me.

We’ve been steadily working on our “visit all the states” to do item for the past twenty years. We have a rule about this in that airport layovers don’t count, we have to drive at least 50 miles in the states and spend at least two hours there. Last night we added Mississippi to the list, as we drove from Memphis to Tunica Resorts to see what the casinos were like.

While there is no “strip”, the casinos have brightly colored, flashing lights, cheap buffets and plenty of opportunities to do some decent gambling. Earl learned a new card game (High Card Flush). I was going to play my usual roulette, but the energy around the roulette table didn’t seem to be inviting so I decided to play a slot machine.

Over the past few months I’ve settled into some personal rules for slot machines. Wheels have to actually spin (no CGI wheels). There needs to be a handle on the side. I stay away from the penny machines with their 40 lines and multiple bets per line; I’m most comfortable in front of a dollar machine with one line. Last night I settled on a dollar machine with a maximum bet of $2. I put in $60. I pulled the handle once, nothing. The second time I won $12. On the third pull, lights started flashing, bells started ringing and all eyes in the immediate area were on me.

Red White and Blue 7 single star, Double stars, Triple stars, all lined up on that single line. I had hit the $1,800 jackpot.

A woman promptly came over on her scooter and rubbed my shaved head for luck and wished me well. Another woman congratulated me.

“Call Attendant” was flashing on the panel so I pressed the Service button. A short, very pleasant woman dressed in a casino uniform came over and congratulated me and said “now we need to get to business.” She advised that Mississippi takes state taxes right off the top but I could wait until the end of the year to pay “the Feds” or have it taken out. I told her I’d deal with “the Feds” at the end of the year. She smiles. I provided my driver’s license and social security number. She punched a bunch of buttons to verify the win on the machine and said she’d be back shortly.

While she was gone I snuck this.

The casino attendant returned with a big smile, gave me back my credentials and a larger casino attendant. They counted my winnings back to me, congratulated me again and silenced the machine. Business in the area returned to normal. I had a huge smile.

I went over and visited Earl at his card game. He asked how I was doing and I went, “eh, I’m up.”. He asked how much and I told him. His eyes widened and he shared my big smile. It was a very enjoyable evening.

I am on Delta flight 696 from Syracuse to Atlanta.  I am on my way to Memphis to meet Earl who has been working down there all week. I will be working remotely tomorrow doing the Digital Nomad thing and I am very excited about it.

This flight has been uneventful thus far.  We are flying at 26000 feet due to strong head winds. Apparently coming into Syracuse they had to do two go-arounds due to wind; I thought it would be bumpy during take-off but it wasn’t bad at all.

The flight attendants are amusing me a little bit with their apathy. Delta flight attendants are usually a little more attentive than this crew seems to be; they’re starting the beverage service over 45 minutes into a two hour flight. Usually they jump up and start serving as soon as they can. The attendant doing the same briefing read the cue cards as quickly as possible and without any inflection or emotion.  I am happy that I already know the layout of an MD-90. I did note that she didn’t know what kind of airplane this was until she looked at her sheet. That was comforting.

Terminal B at Syracuse Airport was jammed packed with people. The flight to Detroit was delayed because the baggage door was jammed shut and no one could get it open.

There is a woman sitting in the aisle across from me who apparently just plopped down in any seat she wanted to because the guy that was suppose to be in 12C had a conversation with her and then just moved to what could presumably be her seat. She said she didn’t know how the row numbering worked. Perhaps she should have flown on Southwest where she could have battled her way to a seat after sitting on the floor of the terminal in her section of some sort of holding pen based on when she printed her boarding ticket. 

I really miss the luxury days of airline travel. I’m probably one of those snobby businessmen travelers, that I have yet to join the Mile High Club. 

I am enjoying my complimentary Sam Adams Boston Lager right now. The FA smiled as I asked for both peanuts and pretzels. I’m not usually high maintenance, just medium range.  I like to simmer. 

I don’t always listen to music while I’m working. Working at home alone, I usually need some sort of noise in my home office as too much silence bothers me because when it’s too quiet all I can hear is the ringing in my ears. My number one choice for sound is ambient music of some sort; words can distract me when I’m deep in a project.  But around mid-week I might change it up a bit and have a television show playing in the background or something. After being alone in the house for a couple of days, hearing any sort of conversation going on is a good thing.

Today I dialed up YouTube on my iPad and started looking around for something to play in the background when a familiar face caught my eye. The thing that was odd about the suggestion from YouTube was that the familiar face wasn’t paired with an appropriate name. I expected to see “Maude”, “The Golden Girls” or even “The Stars Wars Holiday Special” but next to a picture of Bea Arthur was a different title, “Amanda’s By The Sea”.

The suggestion was a playlist containing 13 episodes of this series, “Amanda’s By The Sea”, or as it was shortened to, “Amanda’s”.

 
What was this?

A brief search on the Internet filled me in.  In 1983, Bea Arthur starred in the aforementioned “Amanda’s” as Amanda Cartwright, widow and the owner of a small hotel in California appropriately named “Amanda’s By The Sea”. The show was loosely based on the UK’s “Fawlty Towers”. The series lasted just half a season on ABC before cancellation; 13 episodes were filmed by only 10 made it to the air. The other three were later shown in some obscure syndication run.

I decided to watch an episode at lunch time. While not awful by any means, I can see why the show didn’t make it. The cast is a little unbalanced. Watching “Amanda’s” made me realize that while Beatrice Arthur was a magnificent actor, she needed someone strong to play off and the supporting cast didn’t quite fit the bill. Fred McCarren plays her son (and the hotel manager) Marty, his wife is played the same actress that played Stan’s second wife Chrissy on “The Golden Girls”. The cook is played by the actor that played Boss Hogg’s nephew or something on “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Another character, I think his name is Alto, played much comic relief being short and speaking with very broken English. The show is a little more slapstick than “The Golden Girls”.

And here’s where it gets a little odd. MANY of the guest stars on “Amanda’s” later appear on “The Golden Girls”. Since the series was filmed in 1983, Bea Arthur looks a lot like Dorothy on “The Golden Girls”. Some of the sight gags used on “The Golden Girls” are seen here, for example, “would you hand me that loaf of bread. No, the other one” and then Amanda proceeds to slam it over the head of the person she is annoyed with, much like Dorothy hitting Rose over the head with a newspaper. In one scene, Amanda is arguing with a customer about a restaurant bill and she argues with the exact same customer, in practically the same set, during her guest appearance on “The Golden Palace” only there her name is Dorothy.

It’s a little like watching Pert Kelton play Alice in the original version of “The Honeymooners”.

Of course, Bea is Bea. While there are some similarities between mannerisms and the like between her portrayals of Maude and Dorothy, since there was eight years between the two series, there are obvious differences, whereas, since “Amanda’s” came only two years before the premiere of “The Golden Girls”, it’s easy to spot the much closer similarities between Amanda and Dorothy. Heck, Bea is even wearing the same type of wardrobe as what was found later on “The Golden Girls” complete with the boots and the long skirts. I can’t help but think that some of the storyline ideas also made it over to “The Golden Girls”.  It’s weird watching the show because it feels familiar but out of place at the same time. Kind of like when you walk into a Kmart in a different city, it’s a Kmart, it feels like Kmart but everything is in a different place.

As I wound up my workday I played a couple more episodes while I tidied up email and such. I definitely believe that Bea can be Bea when she plays off other strong actors. Both the casts of “Maude” and “The Golden Girls” balanced Bea out brilliantly, but like “The Golden Palace” after Bea left “The Golden Girls”, when an element is missing, it can be OK, even quite good, but it feels very out of balance. And that’s the way “Amanda’s” feels, out of balance.

I’ll probably finish watching the series over the next couple of days because I have always adored Bea and it’s fun seeing her in something else that feels comfortable yet I can’t recite line by line. It’s available on YouTube if you’re interested in checking it out.

Amanda’s By The Sea (Starring Beatrice Arthur)

Taken without zoom. Someone is used to the two legged type.