I woke up at 3:00 a.m., this despite the fact that my alarm clock was not set to go off for another five hours. I lay in bed, patiently waiting for sleep to overtake me, all the while thinking: “Okay, if I fall asleep now, I can still salvage another five hours.” And later: “Okay, fall asleep now and I still get those three hours.” And still later: “Fine. One hour is better than nothing.” Until, finally: “Aw fer crying out loud!” But when I least expect it, sweet sweet sleep overtakes me and as my body relaxes and I finally slumber off…ENH! ENH! ENH! My alarm goes off.

I jump out of bed, shower, drop Jelly off at the vets for her dental, squeeze in a cardio and tricep work-out, then grab a bowl of cold cereal and dial into the conference call with seconds to spare. As is often the case when we do these things, I’m the first one in. Eventually, Paul joins me and I figure I should suggest he take the lead since I’m running on only three hours sleep. But before I can make the suggestion, he informs me that his baby kept him up all night and since he only got three hours sleep would I mind taking the lead? Perfect. Eventually, the gang at SciFi join the conference call and, after the Hello’s are exchanged, they suddenly realize that something is amiss on their end and they’ll have to call back in. They hang up and, as I wait for them to reconnect, the automated operator informs me that the conference call has ended and that I’ll have to dial in once again. Ah, sonova-! I turn my laptop back on, retrieve the phone number and password, and try again. Finally, the conference call is underway.

And goes very well. We bid a fond farewell to Tony Optican who has shepherded Atlantis on SciFi’s end for the show’s three years of production (Tony continues his work on Eureka and moves onto some other show I no longer remember the name of), and bid a fond hello to Nora O’Brien who oversaw SG-1 prior to its untimely end on SciFi. We’ll certainly miss Tony who worked hard on behalf of Atlantis, but look forward to working with Nora who will no doubt work just as hard. We pitch out the first three episodes in detail, then give them a brief overview of what’s in store for the first half of the season and beyond. A nice mix of stories to get the ball rolling, and a spotlight episode for each of our characters in the first ten. Some major developments in the Pegasus galaxy coming off the events of the back-half of season 3, and the introduction of another new group of outsiders to stir things up. A big mystery consumes one character, while another reconnects with his past. I could go on, but I don’t want to bore you with the details.

Jelly’s dental went well and, despite the loss of one tooth, seems fairly upbeat.

Dinner tonight was at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Vancouver (well, Richmond technically): Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant. If you’re looking for quality shark fin soup, look no further. But tonight, I skipped the soup and went straight for the lobster (perfectly cooked with ginger and green onions), the house chicken (probably the best chicken dish in the city), and a veggie plate made up of lotus root, gingko nuts, water chestnut, black fungus, green beans, and celery (wonderful). I dove in as soon as the plates hit the table and it wasn’t until I was half-way through my meal that I realized I’d forgotten to snap pics. Well, better late than never. Here you go. Trust me. They looked even better before we got to them.