In August 2010, I went to my first scifi convention in probably a decade or more. It was in Dallas and I went to see a man I greatly admire as both actor and activist, Edward James Olmos.

The following February, I found myself again in the Dallas area for the Women of Sci-Fi Expo to meet Battlestar Galactica's beautiful and gracious Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff.

With my inner geek rejuvenated by those cons, I attended another, Comicpalooza in Houston last May. I again met Mr. Olmos, who is, by the way, an incredibly generous and sincere person.

Now, after these three smaller cons, I'm poised to attend one of the largest in the nation, if not the world — the legendary Dragon*Con.

This is the 25th edition of the convention, which is expected to draw crowds in the tens of thousands into downtown Atlanta. Programming spans five hotels and hosts scores of stars, artists, dealers, and exhibitors.

I've never been to Dragon*Con and am both excited and a bit nervous about attending such a large event. Nevertheless, I'll be there with hopes of once again meeting Mr. Olmos, along with other Battlestar Galactica stars, including Mary McDonnell, Michael Hogan, Tricia Helfer, Aaron Douglas, and Tahmoh Penikett.

Those of you who've read my past posts know that BSG is the show that brought to life everything I'd ever hoped to see in a science fiction TV series, so you'll understand my excitement at having such a large contingent of its stars.

Adding to the excitement is the chance to catch up with friends, including my oldest pal whom I haven't seen since we watched the 1998 shuttle launch of John Glenn from a Florida beach, a once in a lifetime opportunity that she made it possible.

I've missed our friendship and hope to reconnect with her and indulge our inner geeks to the fullest. I think it's going to be a great trip and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Battlestar Galactica's Bodie "Hot Dog" Olmos, the son of Edward James Olmos, finished great in his first marathon amidst some pretty bad weather for the event. Rain, wind and cold assailed the more than 26,000 runners and walkers in the event. 

While Bodie was finishing the last leg of the race, donors heeded the call of the elder Mr. Olmos (BSG's Admiral Adama) to give to his son's fund-raiser benefitting the American Society. They pushed the total of donations to more than $10,000 in a matter of hours. The night before the total had been somewhere around $8,000, with the remainder trickling in at first then finally ringing up like a cash register in the final hour. It was amazing to watch and exciting to see how well Bodie was doing throughout the race.

If you want to know more, head on over to OlmosPerfect.com and check out the article there. 

Amazing race, Bodie!

Over the last several weeks a windfall of donations has netted nearly $8,000 for the American Cancer Society. The contributions are coming by way of Bodie Olmos' fund-raising efforts, held in conjunction with his running the Los Angeles Marathon.

At the time of this posting, Mr. Olmos was a mere $275 way from $8,000 — the total was nearing $4.5K just a little over two weeks ago! — and if the giving trend continues, it looks like he might reach and surpass that amount by Sunday, when the marathon is scheduled.

That said, there's still time to donate and you can do so by heading over to Mr. Olmos' donations page at Active.com.

Oh, and for those of you who do not know or have not read previous posts on this site, Bodie Olmos is the son of actor and activist Edward James Olmos. Bodie also was a part of the Battlestar Galactica cast, portraying viper pilot Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza.

More extensive coverage of Bodie's fund-raising campaign and about Edward James Olmos can be found at OlmosPerfect.com.