Respect The Trek.

It is only logical that I begin this blog with a discussion about the splendor of Star Trek.

Gene Roddenberry, Awesome Genius, created the Star Trek vision in the 1960s both in hopes of inspiring humanity and offering a possible technological evolution.

Without Roddenberry, without Star Trek, you and I wouldn't be "here" right now.

Why, you ask?  Well, you poor, sheltered soul, because almost every convenience you use (although I wonder if you live in a cave...?) owes its creation to Star Trek.

Even blogging. That's right.

Blogging 

Began life as daily audio logs (i.e., "captain's logs").

Cell Phones

See "subspace communicators", circa 1966.

PDAs

This one's a no-brainer. Clearly.

Sliding Doors

The Trek made us lazy and snobby with the sliding door concept.  Until then, grocery stores, office buildings, hospitals...they used handled doors.

Robots? 

Lieutenant Commander Data. Duh.

Leadership

There's no greater example of true leadership than demonstrated by the captains of the Enterprise and Voyager. (This excludes Captain Sisko, since I refuse to acknowledge DS9 as a Star Trek series.)

Captain Jean Luc Picard (TNG) inspires confidence, equality, unity, vision and integrity.  Every TNG episode is a lesson in leading a unit, even under stressful circumstances.

Social Consciousness

It's no secret. The resolution to every ST plot is to acknowledge and better appreciate the other guy's culture.  Even episodes with heavy emphasis on the half computer drone Borg are resolved with ways to better understand (and/or stay the eff away from ) them.

Our desire to help one another is one of our basest instincts. Roddenberry injected this idea into every plot. Romulans trying to kill us? Let's find out what they want and help them get it.  Species 8472 (fluidic space creatures) tearing my ship apart?  Let's try to understand why, even if it means killing us.

Roddenberry patterned the original characters in the 1960s, just as race relations, feminism and nationalism where under a magnifying glass.  It's said that he created the various "races" in close alignment with social stereotypes of that time. (He never confirmed this.)

That two seemingly-opposite species could learn each other's languages, visit the other's planets, participate in their traditions and shake hands at the end of each episode meant that perhaps we could, too.

So show a little respect for Star Trek. Without it, you probably wouldn't have that computer on your desk, with the monitor you're looking at, reading my words and snickering.  You wouldn't be sitting right there today.

That's right. I said it.

How To Make a Hygiene Kit

Looking for a great, simple way to help your local homeless community?

Many people I speak with are often uncomfortable handing out cash to strangers. Does this person really need it? Will they use it on the right things?

One way to smother those thoughts is to create hygiene kits.  It's super simple. Here's how:

Visit your local dollar store. Buy hygiene-related stuff. Done! :)

Okay, it may be a teeny bit more complicated than that. But the two "must haves" are toilet tissue and ziplock bags.  After that, you're pretty much free to build the kits as you like.

And build as many as you like. You may be thinking that dollar store = tons of stuff, but reality will sit in when you're charging $100 worth of dollar store items to your card and your basket is half empty. The number of kits will never be as valuable as what's in them. Ten kits that contain the whole spectrum of personal hygiene items will always outweigh 100 kits with two items in them.

Think quality, not quantity. Imagine keeping the kits in the back seat of your car, and distributing them when you see persons in need. Is it better that you have 99 more like it, or that what you're giving them can really help them?

Here's a quick list of items I've used to build kits on the past. Remember - there is no standard for making them. A hygiene kit is exactly what you want it to be...

• Toilet Tissue (2)
• Bottled Water (3)
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush
• Toothbrush travel case
• Washcloth
• Shaving cream
• Disposable razor(s)
• Wet Wipes
• Maxi Pads
• Hand Sanitizer
• Travel napkins
• Deodorant
• Shampoo
• Comb or brush
• Personalized note of encouragement 
• Recyclable tote bag

I'm probably forgetting a million things, but I'll return to this post often to add things as I remember them.

Thanks for reading. Please contact me with any questions. I'm happy to help!