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.

Shepard, a Naval aviator known for his icy demeanor under pressure, was the second man to visit space — the first having been Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – and would later become the fifth man to walk on the moon, serving as commander of Apollo 14. He was the only member of the original seven Mercury Program astronauts to visit the moon. 

While on Earth's only natural satellite, Shepard took a few strokes at a golf ball with a makeshift club, becoming one of the indelible images of the Apollo program.

Shepard flew in space only the two times, having been sidelined after his first flight by an inner-ear problem until a medical procedure enabled him to return to flight status in time for him to earn command of an Apollo mission.

Shepard died in July 1998 at the age of 74.

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!

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.

Just visit Bodie's Active.com Donations page and make your contribution to fight this terrible disease! Every single cent counts!

And for those who need a reminder, the marathon is in L.A. and will be on March 20.

Well, I gave up on Universal setting things right in regards to the art for Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0 discs in the DVD complete series boxed set. I wrote them about what I felt was inferior art on that set of four discs (which included Razor) and here was their response:

Dear Dawn,

Thank you for contacting us. Our goal is to provide the highest standard in product quality and customer care, and we value input from our customers.

No plans have been announced for any other packaging design for "Battlestar Galactica (2004): Season 4.0."

Your comments will be forwarded to the appropriate department.

We appreciate your opinions and your patronage, and we hope you will enjoy future Universal releases.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Sounded "canned" to me, which annoyed me, not to mention that they didn't get that I was talking about the discs in the boxed set. 

*sigh*

That left me to set things aright for my collection and I did so by purchasing a used copy of the Season 4.0 standalone release which has the artwork that should be in the complete series boxed set. It was only $20 and in great shape. Obviously, I would have preferred not to have to drop the extra cash, but I'm satisfied that my collection now looks like it should.

If you don't remember what sparked my complaint, check out the pic below:

Bodie if you'll remember played Viper pilot Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza in Battlestar Galactica and is the son of Edward James Olmos.

At his Active.com donations page, Bodie indicates that this is his first marathon and I'm only too happy to spread the word to you, my fellow BSG fans, in hopes you'll support him by making a donation.

If you can't, I'm sure Bodie welcomes your positive thoughts and cheers.

But if you can… Make A Donation

I learned today through a petition at Change.org that Republicans in an anti-abortion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would "change" the definition of rape, which could potentially alter the health insurance coverage for certain instances of the crime. 

Now, folks, I have no idea how this one slipped my notice but this is just so wrong that I hardly have the words to express myself. I know this, though: Rape is rape. No matter how it occurs, no matter what the age, gender, religion or culture the victim might be, it is a violation of that person against their will. 

Against their will! And now politicians want to quantify the un-quantifiable and heap another violation on the people who need their protection, not persecution. 

Folks, if you don't see the wrong in this, then I don't know what to say, but I pray the constituents of the people backing this measure have something to say the next election and send them packing. There is no excuse for such a gross lack of compassion for our fellow human beings.

Addendum:

Shortly after making this post, I was informed that the Bill had been dropped, so I did some further investigation and believe the Bill itself (H.R. 3) may still be alive, but that the "incendiary language" will be dropped from the measure. (Click here for more info.)

That said, I reserve judgment for now and will be watching that these guys don't try to sneak this into another Bill. And, regardless of the language change, how something like this even makes it into an actual Bill is just beyond me. Our elected officials need to learn to think about what they're doing and exercise a little common, compassionate sense when drafting legislation. We're not talking political ideals or partisanship here, just forethought and simple human decency.