Nippy

When we last checked in with Latoya the Hoya, she had seven leaves and was moving in a Greco-Roman direction.  Now, she has more leaves than I am willing to count.

You're so vine.

Plus, she seems to be sprouting a second vine, which should make life, and particularly showers, interesting.

This is an old picture; the new vine now has three leaves, which you can kind of see in the first picture, taken today.

Every once in a while, Latoya will reach a tipping point while I'm in the shower, and the vine will fall and brush against me STARTLINGLY.

I decided to branch out (sorry) and bought a catnip plant.  Obviously its name is Nippy.  It does not live in the shower so obviously it will die soon, but until then it looks happy in its bright orange pot. It was looking a little sad when I watered it on Friday but since then its leaves have perked up.

There is also a tiny piece of Mabel in this picture.

Now you're up to date on the plants.

Ikea sighting in the 24th century

As I mentioned in my last post, part of the impetus for watching Star Trek: Voyager was to see the episode where a malfunctioning food replicator says, "Get it yourself."  Seven of Nine might say that watching the entire series was an inefficient method of achieving that goal (as an alternative, I could have just asked Lindsay), but in any case, mission accomplished.  Watching the episode clarified for me that the quote is actually "Make it yourself," and the replicator is not malfunctioning, but acting exactly as the Q who reprogrammed it intended.  I still maintain it is the funniest moment in a very funny series.

Other funny moments:

• The entire episode where the Doctor inhabits Seven of Nine's body.
• Janeway to Neelix: "Dismissed.  That's a Federation expression.  It means get out."
• Most of B'Elanna's bitchiness.
• Much, much more

I watched the entirety of Voyager in half the time it took me to watch all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and they are each the same length.  So we'll call it a win for Voyager.

And tell me that's not an Expedit in Tom and B'Elanna's quarters:

The Ikeas in the Delta Quadrant still sell Expedits!

The Sassy Replicator

If you are one of the five readers of my blog, you may be wondering what ever happened to my watching of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Well, I finished the series and immediately began watching Star Trek: Voyager, the favorite Star Trek series of my friend Lindsay.  More on Voyager in a moment, but first, my final thoughts on DS9.

I sum up my feelings on the characters pretty well in this post, but as for the series itself, I must say I really enjoyed it.  I didn't like it as much as TNG, and I'm really loving Voyager, so I can't say DS9 was my favorite, but it has a special place in my heart.  I mentioned in my first post in this blog that a common complaint about DS9 is, "The ship doesn't move!"  While I agree that the series' setting on a space station limits the scope a bit, there's plenty going on and we get to enjoy storylines with the Bajorans, Cardassians, Klingons, Ferengi, even the Romulans in later episodes, and finally, the pretty terrifying Dominion, not to mention all the new species the series introduces via the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant.  There's also plenty of history on the former Cardassian station that makes for good flashback fodder.  The religious infrastructure of Bajor offered lots of commentary on the separation of church and state and the evolution/intelligent design "debate."  I could have done without the mirror universe, though.

Having lived with Lindsay, I've seen snippets of Voyager here and there.  It was on so frequently in our apartment that our other roommate at the time, Courtney, dubbed the series "Not My Captain," noting that the show did not feature Jean-Luc Picard in the captain's chair.  The nickname caught on, even though Janeway is most definitely Lindsay's captain.

I rarely sat down and watched an entire episode, but two moments I vividly recall are these: (1) Neelix offering snacks to a Borg child and the child replying "Snacks are irrelevant," and (2) the food replicator malfunctioning when Janeway orders coffee and it replies, "Get it yourself!"  I just watched "The Haunting of Deck Twelve" in which the former occurs.  I must tell you, I've been waiting the entire series to hear the sassy replicator.  I'm up to the seventh and final season now, and I'm starting to worry that I may have imagined it.

Having watched six full seasons of Voyager since I last posted about Star Trek, naturally there's a lot to say.  Since this post has already gotten long.  I'll limit it to these observations:

• There are lots of mind melds on Voyager.
• Janeway lands the ship on planets a lot.  I didn't know you could do that.
• Hair grows back pretty quickly.
• For a Maquis captain, Chakotay (whom I used to call Commander Chipotle) is pretty amenable.
• I shed no tears when Kes left the series (although Jennifer Lien appears to have gotten a raw deal).  She returns in the sixth season for no apparent reason other than to be an asshole.

That list could go on forever.  More in another post, maybe.