Captain Kirk Donates Kidney Stone...
William Shatner handed over his calcium specimen in January, 2006, after he accepted an offer from the CEO of GOLDEN PALACE casino, a Canadian-based online betting site, to buy his kidney stone.

Initially, Shatner was offered $15,000, but after a little negotiation a deal to sell the stone was made for $25,000. Taking things into perspective, Shatner had earlier received over $100,000 for his STAR TREK-related garment, so the price seemed to be in order for his celebrityhood.

The auction price included the surgical stint and string used to permit passage of the stone. The bizarre deal was brokered by Darren Julien, president of Los Angeles-based Julien's Auctions.

However, there were two conditions to the sale. First, all the proceeds (100 percent) were to benefit HABITAT FOR HUMANITY to build a house. And the second condition? Shatner retained visitation rights to his now famous body part.

After the purchase, Golden Palace, CEO Richard Rowe jokingly eluded to the opening lines of the STAR TREK series by saying "This is a 'bold' new addition to our fleet."

What a terrific example of homeland philanthropy! We've gone where no man has gone before and we get visitation rights to calcium deposits! I wonder how many times Shatner will visit his $25,000 stone?

In other "news" our company computer server went out for about four hours today! It was a freaky thing to think about how dependent we are on computers and how my buds in the art department were probably playing cards or shooting paper hoops! Joke, joke! They would never play cards at work or wear grass skirts or anything like that at work!

Anyhow, it was an interesting day of submission to technological blips on the radar screen of life. The IS guys did a bang up job getting us back online. Kuddos guys!!!

Well, the wife has been out shopping and dining with my mom tonight (yikes) so I need to tuck the kids in bed! I like it though when she gets some time away, even if it is for just one evening. She deserves it! Finally, I'm reading After Virtue by Alastair Macyntre. I'll keep you posted.

Until the next piece of breaking Treky news...