Captain's Log: Stardate 9508.06

Last night I finished a book that had me deciphering the last clue using morse code.  It was really quite enjoyable and reminded me of a time when I was much younger when my extensive knowledge of morse code saved many of my friends lives as we traveled through the outer realms of space.   So last night I had to fess up to something to Sarah.  This little memory brought a great deal of laughter from Sarah and a great deal of questions.  So I bet you are wondering what I revealed to Sarah.  You will have to decipher it( ..   .-- . -. -   - ---   ... - .- .-.   - .-. . -.-   -.-. .- -- .--.   .- -. -..   .-.. --- ...- . -..   . ...- . .-. -.--   -- .. -. ..- - .   --- ..-.   .. - .-.-.- ).  Give up.  Okay, I will tell you.  I went to Space Camp and not just any Space Camp.  It was a Star Trek themed Space Camp.  It is probably the geekiest thing I have ever done but before you make any assumptions about me let me make it quite clear on how I stand about the experience.  First,  it was a scout trip so I had no say in whether I went or not.  Second,  I absolutely loved and love Star Trek.  I remember as a kid sneaking out of my bedroom to go watch episodes of TNG (The Next Generation) when they would come on after 10 every night.  I could not get enough and I have never been as devout to a show as I was to Star Trek.  I dreamed of being able to be apart of the Star Trek world and flying around in space aboard the Enterprise.  Matching wits with Data as we played Tri-Dimensional Chess with his cat Spot nuzzling up to my leg.  Hanging with Geordi and Guinan in Ten-Forward swigging on a warm glass of Rokassa juice.  Being trapped in the holodek with Picard and Worf because of some computer glitch is preventing us from leaving. Q must be up to his old tricks again.  And I still want a replicator in my house.  I would watch until I fell asleep and this is too part of the reason that I established a long habit of sleeping on the couch.   I received the Trekker merchandise magazine which I never bought anything from but secretly wished I could at that age.  I was a member of the official Star Trek Fan club and had the membership card to prove it.  I owned action figures, the USS Enterprise,  toys that a reminiscent of Polly Pockets for Star Trek, and the Ultimate Star Trek Encyclopedia.  I even put together models of the ships from Star Trek.  I was obsessed.  So now with that perspective you can call me a geek and not make any assumptions.  Needless to say, I was stoked to be going on this trip.  It was young trekkers dream come true to be experiencing this.  I still remember the my first experience of being teleported up to the ship.  The strange whirling motion as the molecules of my body were transformed to energy and back again and I arrived on the ship.  It was so awesome.   As we made our way to the bridge, we passed countless rooms.  Engineering, the Mess Hall, the Crew Quarters, the Infirmary, etc.  I was given the assignment of Communications Officer hence the morse code.  My primary duty was to relay and decipher incoming hails and inform the Captain of any developments.  It was not the ideal job in fact it w very boring for me but I was in space so I didn't care.  I had hoped that I would be in engineering because it was by far the coolest part of the ship I thought at the time.   I only remember a few things about the whole trip.   First, I took part in several away team experiences one of which we encountered resistance from Romulan forces to retrieve some sort of relay beacon that was in the Neutral Zone.  I had a minor encounter with a Klingon upon the ship who decided to eat a piece of paper that I was told to give to him by the captain.  The Klingon gave me the nickname Mop because he threaten me that if I ever gave him such bad food again he would clean the floors with my head.  And I remember having the worse night sleep because I had the top bunk in my quarters and no matter where I turned to get sleep that night I had a light in my eyes.  But all in all it was an awesome experience and I really did enjoy it.  I am also proud that I was able to experience a little bit of my dream to be a part of the Star trek world if but for a moment.  If anyone wants to join me in the ranks of being a geek, the camp is still in business in Pleasant Grove, Utah.  I hear you getting excited.  Here is the link.  And adults can participate as well.  http://www.spacecamputah.org/.   And just to give you a glimpse of it I have included a video.  Enjoy.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7WDJkaTyqw