Author: TimClarkeJr

Good evening, one and all. I’ve been lurking, shame on me I know, and reading with great interest but not chiming in so much. But, to explain a little about what has been occupying my time: some of my coworkers and I have been doing some unofficial blogging about the Museum where I started working back in November. You might enjoy clicking through to A Repository for Bottled Monsters. If you are in DC and interested in a tour, let me know.

Wil Wheaton linked to this Think Geek offering. Bask in its awesomeness. So wish I was going to the big convention next month in Vegas (and yes, that’s my inner geek speaking now, the one my wife enjoys reminding that that I am almost 34 with two children and gallivanting off to the desert to hang out with the pasty-faced Trek crowd isn’t a good use of vacation days…)

It’s official – Star Trek XI gets greenlit. Release date: December 25, 2008. That’s just one year, nine months, 26 days and counting.

Here’s the release.

Discuss.

I am finding that I might need to augment my meager HTML skills in this new job – I want things to look and feel the way I want, and the staff in place to support the Web is competent but overwhelmed (to say the least). Does anyone have any tips on places (online or offline) to get a crash course? Thanks in advance.

And, is anyone else here using Twitter http://twitter.com/? I’m interested since I keep hearing about it in the PR blog community, but I am not sold on its utility.

I typed an eloquent post the other day about my recent job change. And just when it was good and done, ready to publish, down went IE on me and away went a few hundred words of carefully-crafted prose. Ahh, such is life, right?

So, here’s the short version – I left the association I had been with for going on three years, and have settled into a new communications position at Charles E Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville. I’m a member of a new Institutional Advancement office, and work primarily for the head of school and the department director, but the interesting side of the business will be getting involved with the students, and exploiting (I mean, carefully positioning) their activities and successes to advance the larger agenda.

I didn’t want to leave where I was – but things there had gone off the deep end in the last few months, and events since I’ve left have validated my decision. It was one of those things though – do you tough it out and hope that the association politics smooth themselves out? I didn’t see that happening. There are more gory details – aren’t there always gory details? – but its too convoluted to get into right now.

And the new job has a great hidden benefit – snow days! My very first day was a two-hour delay. Since then, another delay, an early dismissal, and three closings (including today). And this holiday weekend includes Friday and Monday. Score!

It’s interesting being in a school environment – my office is in the Lower School, so I see lots of little kids every day. We’re considering sending our oldest there next year for her first grade year.

Anyway, that’s the news I’ve been meaning to post about for a few weeks now. (That, and the wife’s car finally died, and the dealer took it in trade – suckers! – when she bought what I am thinking is the new chick car for the 21st century – the PT Cruiser (with only terse apologies to Cruiser owners.))

TEC

I am swamped here at work (breaking news: I’ve quit the association, leaving in a few weeks and am starting a new job with a school – not teaching – shortly after that, details to follow) but I ran across this link to a killer short film that’s worth two minutes of your time.

Follow the link.

Forgive me if this has already made the rounds.

I am here to staff our booth at the so-exciting Lamaze International annual meeting. It’s edge of your seat excitement, I can tell you.

I wasn’t at all sure if there were any folks hanging out here on the blog that lived in the Boston area, so I figured I would put that out there. And I’m also interested in recommendations on places to eat, and so on. I’ll have evenings free, but I am mercifully freed from this meeting on Saturday afternoon.

I was going to try a Red Sox game, but I figured my wife would mind me taking out a third mortgage to afford the tickets. Anyway, let me know any recommendations. Thanks everyone.

So, we’ve isolated on two locations for the Barnsonian Pre-QOHS Reunion event for July 7th. Rather than use the poll option, I figured I would go with just throwing the two options out there and see if there’s a consensus.

Lisa says that unfortunately Friendly’s at Quince Orchard Plaza is no more. That’s not one of the options. Shucks – think of how much fun we could have had waiting in line for a booth. Those were hours we won’t get back, right?

First choice: the classic Old Town Gaithersburg restaurant Roy’s Place. Check out http://www.roysplacerestaurant.com/ to see their menu (number 7 on the menu might give you a sense of the place if you’ve not been before.) This is one of my families’ favorite spots. There’s no separate room but we can pull tables together and enjoy ourselves. We do group events with out-of-town family there all the time. As I said to Matt via e-mail, it’s got character. Chime in if you are familiar with Roy’s.

Second choice: Chevy’s at Quince Orchard Plaza. It does have a separate room. The chain’s site is http://www.chevys.com/.

For the sake of not having the whole world join us, I thought I’d try to keep the particular start-time off the blog, and instead, I’ll take RSVPs at timclarkejr@gmail.com and be able to disseminate information to just the interested parties.

So, who’s in? What are everyone’s thoughts on the choices?

Tim

Who knows what comes of this, our hopes have been dashed a few too many times in recent years. But AICN is linking to a Daily Variety story that reports that JJ Abrams (you’ve heard of Lost, right?) will produce and direct a new Trek film that “will center on the early days of seminal “Trek” characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission.” Here’s the Daily Variety link.

Considering how many times the Superman reboot stopped and started and got tossed around from one bad idea to the other, we have to hope this is a legit story and that they aren’t toying with us. Because there are plenty of really great potential stories to tell about Kirk’s early days that would be great on the IMAX screen.

TBS, formerly known as the Superstation, is running a mini-marathon of LOTR movies this weekend – Fellowship and Two Towers. I caught a very funny commercial this morning promoting the weekend’s movies, featuring some cleverly edited together frames of Frodo and Sam, set to the song Secret Lovers. There was a killer shot of Gandalf with this bemused look on his face. I guess it was the kind of thing that’s funny at 6:30 in the morning.