Fusion Reaction

Yes, yes, yes. I’m such a nerd. I just couldn’t resist when I heard about this.

From TrekMovie.com:

The boys in the Paramount interactive department have followed up last month’s update to the official Star Trek movie site with a brand new Star Trek widget which you can add to your website, homepage or social networking site. The widget allows you to get the latest content from the movie and can be customized, see below for more.

And from TrekToday.com:

The widget contains downloads, trailers and other items of interest to fans. It’s like having a mini official site on your blog or other type of social network.

Fans can play the trailer, download wallpapers and see various photos, ranging from the USS Kelvin, to Nero the Romulan, to Enterprise crewmembers by “grabbing” the widget. One can select one of six different black and white skins for the widget. [...] Once a skin is selected, then a click of a button leads to the social network of one’s choice and the Widget can be added to that network.

The Widget will be updated with new features and more content as the Star Trek XI movie release approaches and by having the Widget on a blog or social network such as Facebook, Myspace or Friendster, it will be easy and convenient to remember to check in often for updates on the official site or to see if new features have been added.

Nice use of social media for promotion. So anyway, fangirl that I am, here it ’tis.

Addendum: So I’m excited about the new Star Trek movie but my husband has been, um, less than enthusiastic. When I showed this post to him he finally fessed up that every time he sees the trailer for the new movie, he thinks of this bit from the episode “200″ of Stargate SG1:

Too funny! I just about died laughing. I’d forgotten about this.

Yo, dawg! Like, live long and prosper beeotches.

I haven’t posted a picture to the Photo Friday challenge in a long time. The topic was “Best of 2008″, and I chose to interpret that as “best photo” rather than best event. Our best photo? One that Jeff took when our giant hackberry tree had to be cut down.

To be sure, this was NOT the best event of the year. In fact it was a rather traumatic experience. I still cringe every time I pull into the driveway and see stump. It was a gorgeous shade tree and a big part of our front yard. Unfortunately the tree was long past the average lifespan for a hackberry and slowly splitting into three pieces. The last ice storm that moved through our area weighed it down enough to snap the steel cable holding the major split in check. After a lot of agonizing we realized that the tree had to be taken down, before it came down of its own accord on the roof or the car.

The photo really captures the effort it took to take it down. The guy we hired admitted that he’d underestimated the job – it took almost all day and he was exhausted when he left. Oddly, for days afterward the neighborhood deer decided to hang out around the stump, nibbling on the bark.

We plan to replace the tree this spring. We still haven’t decided whether we’ll plant a pecan, oak or maple yet. A couple of redbuds scattered around might be nice as well. Still, it’ll take a while before any of them will have the height and spread of the old hackberry.

I can’t believe it’s been over four years since I started blogging.

I started this blog with a specific goal in mind – to move my comfort zone from one of writing primarily in a listserv conversation style with friends to one that was geared towards a more diffuse, less quantifiable audience. It’s a goal that almost seems odd to me now, given that I’ve been doing exactly that for so long. Mission accomplished apparently.

After taking a look at my archived posts (almost 2000 of them), I’ve realized that it may be time for a “reboot”. My new goal? To start with, I think I’ll use this to improve my writing, and to entertain, inform and advocate.  We’ll see where I go from there.

“People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.” – Warren G. Bennis