It was wonderful seeing everyone during the weekend. It was incredible watching Sonny Wright, Joe Horton and Michelle Podesta, Beryl, Janek, Larry Neigut and several others transform pieces of wood and fiberglass into a perfect replica of a colonial viper from Battlestar Galactica.

All I can say is WOW. Great job guys at it brought a lot of fun to this year's Farpoint.

Beryl Washington provided her own special effects touch to FP with her red dress that she wore especially for a certain BG guest at the con but others got to see her in it to…or was she only in the heads of a few of us??? Hmmmm? Again…WOW!

Jeff, Laura Emily and I thanked everyone who came out to our Milk Shake Party on Saturday night which also served as a celebration for our daughter ship, the USS Britannic, who noted their 1 year commissioning anniversary.

The SF Region 7 meeting at 9am on Saturday was also interesting as due to necessary sound checks and technical issues we got shuffled from one side of the Valley Room to another and had to compete with some singing. I'm glad we didn't try to sing back and drown out our competition as that would not have been easy on the ears.  Then we moved over towards the Viper. We still got a lot accomplished. RC Joe presented the annual MSR awards and each of our regional staff members spoke about our respective departments.

As sector chief of NJ I was very pleased to present the list of community service projects that our chapters had done during the past year. We also got to hear from Capt. Judy of the Avenger and Adm. Mark Hanford of the ISS Lexington  speak about the plans their chapters have later in the year.

I plugged the NJ Sector Polar Bear Plunge coming up this Saturday involving members of the USS Challenger and the USS Avenger. This year's theme is comical Super Heroes with the likes of Soup Man, Bunny Man, Capt. CornFusion and USS Challenger Asst. Security Chief Col. Patrick Comune's alter ego has yet to be determined but it should prove to be interesting as we plunge into icy water in Seaside Heights NJ at 1 pm to help the cause of Special Olympics. Avenger member Patrick Barnes has made the costumes again this year so they should be very interesting to see. For those who wish to join us either in the plunge or to watch Pat, Patrick, David Singleton and I boldly plunge into the cold surf, let me know. After the plunge we'll be going out for a group lunch and later in the day for those who wish to stick around, Challenger will be hosting a game night at my place.

It was great to see our new Fleet Admiral Sal Lizard on Sunday. He was knocking at my room at 7:20 a.m. to say hi having been found by R7 Chief of Staff Capt. Wayne Augustson who was having an early breakfast in the hotel. Sal spoke with a number of SF attendees during the morning into the early afternoon.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying this convention, its guests and panels, and mingling. By early Sunday afternoon it looked like everyone was ready to head out early this year and thus we closed down the recruiting table around 2:30-3 p.m. Conversations lasted longer and included the usual parking lot chats so for Emily and I our real departure didn't occur until around 3:30 or so.

Adm. Bob Vosseller
R7 Recruiting Officer
R7 NJ Sector Chief
CO USS Challenger NCC-1676-D

First was our 2008 Calendar. We really took a good look at our events. You should check out our calendar, which is now up to date, but some of the highlights include the Polar Bear Plunge in Seaside Heights, the re-launch of our Miniature Golf Tournament and of course, our 20th Anniversary Party at the Sheraton in Eatontown NJ. For full details, visit our Calendar of Events . We think we’ve got a really good year planned, and it includes our regular events like our meetings, conventions and parties.

We also discussed how we can stay relevant in these changing times. Star Trek is no longer on the air, the face of Sci-Fi is changing and we need to change with it. We’re going to make some changes to our flyers, word things a little differently on our Web site and think about the types of events we’d like to recruit from. We also approved a plan for two years for the price of one membership for new members. We hope it provides a great incentive for those who want to join.

Going hand in hand with recruiting, we decided we’d like to keep our community service events, aim at a large recruiting event such as Sci-Fi Saturday at the Ocean County Library, and speak to the folks at the community center about moving our meetings to Saturday. Since our membership is geographically spread, we hope that having Saturday meetings might bring more of our members from other areas into the fold.

We also discussed open staff positions. We have a number of assistant chief positions open and waiting to be filled. These jobs are a great opportunity for someone to get involved right away in being a part of how the club runs and take responsibility for their part of the ship. Anyone interested, be it a member or prospective member, in these positions should contact the XO at xo@usschallenger.org .

Anyway, it’s going to be a great year for the club, and we think it’s only fitting that our 20th year be our best.

• The Challenger has decided to run a special membership incentive.  We're now allowing NEW members who join now to get two years for the price of one.  Members can join either in person or online by visiting http://join.usschallenger.org.  This special will only run for a limited time, so don't wait…join now!
• Plans for our anniversary party are complete.  For more information, please visit http://20years.usschallenger.org.  Members are also encouraged to make hotel reservations early.  For any other questions, see Capt. Jeff.
• The Challenger is also hosting it's Holiday party on December 2nd at 1:00pm at the Seaside Heights Community Center.  For more information, please click here.  C-Staff members call is 11:30am for setup and a quick meeting.
• The C-Staff reviewed the current ship roster and Starfleet roster.  General members are strongly encouraged to join 'Fleet and C-Staff members are required to do so.  For more information on joining Starfleet, speak to Adm. Bob or visit http://www.sfi.org.
• The Ship's Calendar is updated but more events will be added once the C-Staff has had it's reorganization meeting in January.
• Farpoint is approaching fast.  If you are interested in going to Hunt Valley, hotel reservations are filling up fast, so make those reservations today.
• Challenger will attend a screening of the TOS episode "The Menagerie" on the big screen in Piscataway NJ.  Jeff and Laura are taking point on this event, so see them for advance tickets, etc.
• The meeting also had a 'Fleet update and we encouraged everyone to vote in the CS election.  Ballots need to be recieved by the 15th of November.

That's all for the update.  We hope to see you at the holiday party!