Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: TNG is the answer I always give when asked to name my favorite television show of all time. When I was younger, I would stay up late and watch the episodes with my father (we also watched the movie The Beastmaster far too many times, but I'm not sure that's something I should readily admit). When I went to college, I proudly (and dorkily) displayed a Star Trek: TNG poster on my wall. It had the entire cast on it. As kids, my sister and I, being sci-fi dorks from a young age, had watched and enjoyed syndicated episodes of the original Star Trek, but something about TNG is even dearer to my heart. I love all the main characters, including Riker, Data, Beverly, Geordi, Worf, and Troi, but Picard is my favorite--wise, intellectual, compassionate, witty, a brilliant strategist, a scholar, and a born leader. The characters on this show are more than just crewmates--they are family--and sitting down with them for an hour is as comforting as spending time with close family or old friends.

Even today, the show retains its emotional impact for me. I still cry when Tasha gets killed by the tar monster in "Skin of Evil" and when Data's daughter Lal dies at the end of "The Offspring" (which as a bonus, is directed by Jonathan Frakes). Other favorite episodes include "Darmok", with the alien race that speaks entirely in metaphors (a joy for anyone who teaches the use of figurative language to literature students); "Cause and Effect" (also directed by Jonathan Frakes), where they get stuck in a causality loop and repeat the same fragment of time over and over (also done to hilarious effect in my favorite Stargate: SG1 episode, "Window of Opportunity", not to mention the movie Groundhog Day); and "The Next Phase", in which Ro Laren and Geordi are out of phase, leading everyone to think they are dead (written by the renowned Ron Moore of Battlestar Galactica fame).

But my very favorite episode is especially important to me because it helped guide me in making a crucial decision in my own life. Having finished a six-year stint as Managing Editor of a top-tier scientific journal, I was looking for a new position (the journal office having moved to Boston). Jobs in STM (scientific, technical, and medical) journal publishing are not always easy to find, and I had been looking for many months. Nothing seemed to be available. Sensitive to my growing concern, an attorney friend asked if I wanted a job at his law firm doing paralegal work. Since I had a mortgage to pay, I was seriously considering it. Then I caught a rerun of the TNG episode "Tapestry" (also written by Ron Moore). Seeing Picard struggle with the reality of altering the life decisions he had formerly regretted, only to wake up an unremarkable lieutenant junior grade, I realized that I too would never be satisfied with such a subordinate position, and that I needed to be willing to take risks for the captain position I truly wanted (being the Managing Editor of a journal is a little like being the captain of a ship, or at least the first officer). So I decided to take the risk of waiting and have faith that something would work out. Not too much later, I was offered a position as Managing Editor of another top-pier STM journal, and I have been there happily ever since. (Of course, this episode is also why it annoyed me so much that Picard's young clone in Star Trek: Nemesis doesn't have hair, but that's another story.)

The wisdom of "Tapestry" and many other episodes continues to resonate with me, no matter how many times I have seen them. Watching this show is like coming home and is guaranteed to make me feel happy and content even if it has been a particularly dreary day. Even better is to read one of Wil Wheaton's brilliantly funny episode guides for TV Squad and then to watch the episode itself. Pure joy.

Orange Tabby Cats

Whether you call it an orangie, ginger, or marmalade, the orange tabby cat is something special. For whatever reason, anecdotal evidence suggests that orange tabbies have big personalities and tend to be more communicative, gregarious, and affectionate than other cats. For example, of all the barn cats I have known, the orangies are the ones who will crawl into your lap if given half a chance, purr like mad when slung over your shoulder, or follow you around the property talking up a storm.

We are blessed with two of these characters, a female orange tabby named Diesel and our orange and white tabby male, Rodchenko. Our cat Diesel was found at a gas station by my twinkle. Diesel crawled right into her lap, clearly begging to be taken to a warm house where she could sleep under the blankets and eat something besides the bean dip that the gas station employees had been feeding her. She was pale and rather moth-eaten, with a long gash across her shoulder. When the vet saw her, she remarked that Diesel would have a beautiful coat when she got some good nutrition. We were skeptical, but the vet was right, and her coat came in a long, beautiful, soft orange. She has the softest coat of any of our cats, and she smells like warm sunshine. I suppose because of her time surviving on the streets, she developed a taste for all kinds of random human food, her favorites being milk, ice cream (really all dairy products), turkey bacon, and pizza. She loves to snuggle under the covers or sleep on my husband’s chest with her nose about ½ inch from his chin. She will also bite his chin if it has stubble on it. She sometimes hisses when people ring our doorbell, and once when I heard a noise downstairs, I carried her with me to investigate because for some reason it made me feel better (this was before we had a dog). I don’t know if I was going to use her as a weapon or what. Originally, we claimed that we were just going to foster her, but I had recently lost The Best Cat in the World, my boy Harley, and when Diesel started sitting next to me while I did jigsaw puzzles, I knew that I was not going to relinquish my new friend, even when she stuck her paw in the box of loose puzzle pieces, grabbed a pawful, and proceeded to shove them in her mouth. She will do the same thing with your ice cream if you give her half a chance.

Last night when we were watching Big Love, I told my husband that every household needs a Margene—someone to be enthusiastic and positive when the world seems to be falling apart. I realized soon after that Rodchenko, or Ro as he is called around these parts, is the Margene of our house. I adopted him as a kitten, the first kitten I have ever owned. His Petfinder description said, “Innocence best describes this little one,” and it was correct. His sunny, happy-go-lucky nature is irrepressible, but he is also completely naïve about the world. Once, at my husband’s insistence, we took him out on the porch so he could see the big outdoors. He started panting and hissing in panic. We never did that again. Every morning when my alarm goes off, he settles on my chest and stares at me until I get up. He is sleeping on my legs right now as I type. He is friends with everyone and even adores the dog. He licks her on the head and swats at her tail when it wags. His purr can be heard across the room, and when he is really content, he coos like a dove. He likes to suck on our chenille blanket and make biscuits with his paws. If you call his name, he will chirp at you, then jump up on the couch to say hello. He has far more fur than any cat could possibly need, but he also has a small head, which makes him look somewhat like he is wearing a fur coat with the hood down. He might not be the sharpest knife in the closet, as we say around here, but for pure positive energy and cuteness, he has no equal.Those who know me know that Alien is one of my three favorite movies, and I’m sure it’s no coincidence that it features an orange tabby. The lengths to which Ripley goes to rescue the wayward Jonesy will seem natural to anyone who has loved one of these cats. The hissing will probably seem familiar as well.