GalaxyCast #75

Well, it’s Tuesday and I can honestly say that although it was an extremely busy day again today, I got a lot done today.  I got up at my usual time and I actually didn’t snooze my alarm today which is a little bit of a miracle.  That means that I felt like I had gotten enough sleep last night.  I got into the shower and Heather said goodbye to me before she left to go to work.  I got my shower and got dressed and then watched “Fox Friends” on TV for a while as I ate my breakfast.  As always, the discussion today was the primary in Florida which is tonight.  Of course the big news was a big swing in the polls and that Romney may actually win tonight.  Honestly, unless it’s Rick Santorum at this point, I really don’t care!  They also covered the pile-up on the highway on I-75 in Florida over the weekend.  That whole accident was just a mess and to make matters worse, it was caused by limited visibility because of a fire that someone set.  I know people are concerned by those that died and were injured in the pile-up, but what about the person that set the fire?  Where’s he at?  Just my thought is all.  After some time, the kids were off to school and I was off to work.

I got to work and set things up for my day today.  Today, my students were all working on designing and developing their developmental workbooks.  Basically it’s a workbook where they keep all their work and it acts as almost a portfolio for my class.  I’ve always told my students that if they look through their developmental workbook, they should see a history of their educational experience in my class.  The goal with me having them design their own is to personalize the book, but to also give me a little bit of information on them as an individual.  My instructional day went fairly well.  It was a little chaotic keeping track of all the markers and colored pencils.  I’m always amazed at where they all end up by the end of my classes.  After school, I stayed behind to conduct SMASH.  Our rehearsal went well and I was happy with how well our stick routine is coming along.  We almost have enough routines put together for an entire set.  My hope is that SMASH will be able to put on their own concert in our brand new auditorium.  That would be a really cool thing to do next year for sure!  After some time, SMASH ended and I headed straight home.

I got home and had some Fiesta chicken with my family for dinner.  After dinner, I went downstairs and took care of some emails and then I played about an hour of COD: BO before Heather joined me and we then watched “Pawn Stars”, “Last Man Standing”, “Glee”, “Shipping Wars”, and “Storage Wars” before we decided to head to bed.

Okay, no reading again tonight.  The GalaxyCast staff has been very busy!  Instead, we want you to check out GalaxyCast #75 which is up on the GalaxyCast Website.  Don’t forget about our feedback contest!  We will be announcing a winner soon!  Also, we would like to thank Mike Wilkerson and the 2 Guys Talking Podcast for their support!

‘Star Wars: Jedi Trial’ – Chapter 21 (Part 2)

Monday.  It was a new day, a new work week, and for me a new quarter.  I knew it was going to be a busy day and I had prepared myself for the fact that it was going to be a busy day.  I got up and headed into the shower as Heather kissed me goodbye and headed out the door to work.  I got my shower and got changed and then headed into the kitchen and ate my breakfast as the kids watched “Fox and Friends” with me while they were in the living room.  Of course, the talk of the day was the Florida primary and how that was going to play out.  I am actually sick and tired of talking about Primaries.  I am really tired of Romney and Gingrich at this point as well.  How often can these guys poke and prod at each other and when will the personal attacks end?  It’s just getting ugly!  Anyway, after some time, I was off to work and the kids were off to school.

I got to school and started to close out my books from last quarter and started to get things started for this quarter, when my guest for the day showed up.  I had Steven Hine in my classroom today observing my classes to see how I run and operate my classroom music classroom.  I gave him copies of everything I do.  Everything from my workbooks to my lesson plans.  I had fun having another teacher in the room and when we had a chance to talk, we were able to share some concepts and techniques, which was nice.  I had a decent day with my students as well.  My students were much less energetic this quarter than the group I had last quarter.  Most teachers would find that a downer, but I find it a nice change of pace over the last ten weeks.  I was able to do the introduction to my class today and I was happy with how things went.  I even was able to finish some final exams from last quarter during lunch today.  After work, I headed straight home.

I got home and checked in with the kids and then headed into the basement and started to work on some things, including changing over some of the books from last quarter and finally changing things over.  After a working in the basement for a little bit (including working on a Mandaorian bucket), I then went upstairs and joined the family for a dinner.  We had some “cheesy” hamburger bake which was actually good, a Mr. Food recipe.  After that, I went back into the basement and played a game or two of COD:BO until Gary, Kerry, and David showed up and we had a cabinet meeting for the BFF.  We talked about a lot of things and I feel confident that we got a lot accomplished and are trying to work together to get the group moving in the same direction.  We had fun and got things done at the same time.

After the meeting, I worked on some things in the home theater room, including putting some mink oil on my holster for my new pistol for my Mando costume.  While I worked on that and some other mini-projects, we watched “Pawn Star” and “American Pickers” before heading to bed a little bit early because we were exhausted form our busy days.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 21 of “Star Wars:  Jedi Trial” by David Sherman and Dan Cragg……..

GalaxyCast #74

Sunday.  We had such high hopes for Sunday considering it was the start of a new work week and the start of a new week, so Heather and I saw today as a fresh start.  We got up this morning and I headed into the shower as Heather decided to simply listen to the radio and lay in bed a little bit.  I got dressed and threatened to get my trumpet as she finally got out of bed.  I headed into the family room and the kids and I watched a little bit of “Ray of Hope” on WBNG from the “First Assembly of God” downtown.  Little did I know that this would be the only church service I would experience today.  Anyway, I had a breakfast of a bowl of cereal.  After breakfast, Heather finished getting ready for church and we watched “Fox and Friends” for a little bit before we started to rush the kids along for church.  Heather sent Tara downstairs to get her fix of caffeine for the day and once she got down to the refrigerator, she screamed help for us from downstairs.

As soon as Tara screamed for help, Heather and I both immediately assumed the same thing was wrong – the hot water heater.  Our hot water heater had been leaking quite a bit over the last several weeks.  We took some advice from David Ramsay (of our podcast) and David’s advice had worked.  We drained the water out of the tank and put cold water in it and it seemed to solve the problem.  The ultimate problem (which we would eventually find out) was that the emergency pressure release valve had corroded right through.  Anyway, we got downstairs and I couldn’t find the water shut off on the heater, so Heather shut off the water to the house.  She called David for some help and we started to deal with the water that was now all over the floor and not draining rather well.  I finally found the water shut off on the hot water heater and shut it off and Heather was able to at least turn on the water to the house.

We then decided that we might as well drain the water out of the heater as David showed up.  He helped me out by helping to get off the external pipe and then the failed pressure release valve.  David and I went over to “Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse” and got a new pressure release valve.  We also got some glue and came home.  We then put in the new pressure release valve and then drained the rest of the tank because we figured now was a good time to drain it and try to get rid of some of the sediment at the bottom.  We then refilled the tank and I used the PVC All purpose glue to attach a new endcap to our banner holder.  After Heather made some omlettes (because David’s breakfast was interupted), we talked for a little bit and then David left to join his wife.  Heather and I then decided to leave the house as well.

Heather wanted to go to “Joann’s Fabrics”.  We then stopped at “Wal Mart” to grab some things and I talked her into stopping at “Toys R Us” and we managed to grab three Savage Oppress figures.  I’m hoping to get two of them signed and the other one I gave to Austin as a toy.  After all the galavanting around, I decided that I needed to get some things done.  So, I headed into the basement and watched some more of the “Parking Wars” marathon from yesterday while I worked on this blog.  After that, I played another game of “Madden 2011″ before I had to head over and pick up Ruth from Binghamton Youth Symphony Orchestra rehearsal.  I came home and we all sat down and ate dinner together.  After dinner, I worked on Gary’s Mando helmet some more as another idea hit me for an improvement.  After that, I worked on this blog while Heather and I watched “60 Minutes”, “Undercover Boss”, “The Simpsons”, “The Good Wife”, and “CSI: Miami” while I DVR’d “Napolean Dynamite”, “Family Guy” and “Cleveland Show”.  We then headed to bed.

Okay, no reading tonight.  Instead, head on over to the GalaxyCast Website and check out Episode #74 of our Podcast.  As always, we would like to thank Mike Wilkerson and the 2 Guys Talking Podcast Network for all their support.

‘Star Wars: Jedi Trial’ – Chapter 21 (Part 1)

Well, it’s Saturday and it’s a Saturday that Heather and I had nothing planned on.  I didn’t get up until about nine-thirty this morning and Heather was already up for about a half an hour.  I got up and headed straight downstairs and I finished watching “Kitchen Nightmares” and then “Fringe” while I worked on finishing grading papers and the final exams that my students took over the last week.  I also got Ruth to watch “Dog the Bounty Hunter” while I continued to work.  I was happy that by noon, I had most of the grades done and I had entered them into the gradebook for my school online.  That meant I could close out my books for this quarter and I started to open up the books for next quarter.  I got that all done by lunch time and I felt like I had already accomplished a lot.

I then went upstairs and got some leftovers for lunch and the kids and I talked a little bit.  Austin was gone to a trip today for sledding and skiing.  After lunch, I headed into the basement and played some COD: BO for about an hour and then Ruth came downstairs and watched “Storage Wars” and “Shipping Wars” to get those shows off my cue.  As she watched TV, I continued to work on fixing some Mandalorian helmets that needed some tweaking.  I also worked on organizing the podcast room even more and after Ruth got done watching TV, I’ll admit that I played more COD:BO and then watched a few episodes of “Parking Wars”.  Heather had left for an appointment she had made at “White Rose” and then went over to “Joann’s Fabrics”, “Wal Mart”, “Dick’s Sporting Goods” and then to the church to pick up Austin, but as she headed over there, she got told via Austin’s cell phone that they were running over an hour behind.  So, she brought home some “Wendy’s” for dinner.

I went upstairs and ate dinner with the girls and Heather left and picked  up Austin and brought him food.  She then left the house and went over to “Price Chopper” and got a salad there.  I watched some more episodes of “Parking Wars” and then played a game of “Madden 2011″ on my Playstation 3 Slim before we switched over to watch a little bit of “Saturday Night Live” that was a rerun and then headed to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 21 of “Star Wars:  Jedi Trial” by David Sherman and Dan Cragg……

‘Star Wars: Jedi Trial’ – Chapter 20 (Part 6)

Well, it’s Friday, it’s the end of the quarter and it’s also a payday.  It’s been quite the week this week and I think Heather and I both just want this week to just be over.  We’ve had too many problems and too many issues to count and I think we just want to get to Saturday and turn it over to next week already.  I got up this morning and was actually not tired for once.  I bounced into the shower as Heather talked to me about her day and what we wanted to try and get done today.  Not too long after that, I got into the shower and Heather was off to work.  I got done and got dressed and joined the kids to watch “Fox and Friends” on the TV and we talked a little bit about the weekend before the kids were soon off to school and I was off to work.

Today was a day where I think that “Larry the Cable Guy” would have said it’s time to “Git R Done”!  We had final exams to finish up and that’s exactly what I did with my students.  Some of my classes finished their finals with plenty of time left over.  Other classes barely finished their finals and yet other classes had to hurry up just to finish.  I was happy that we were able to complete finals today, but it was a little chaotic.  I was also working on putting out a couple of “fires” in both my work related life and my personal life. I’m glad to say that by the end of the day, I had felt like I had caught up on a whole bunch of information and had completed a lot of things.  However, I’ll admit I was a little frustrated as well.

Heather got home and she was all hot and bothered.  She met me in the basement as I was frantically grading final exams to try and get them done for the weekend.  She asked if we could go out for dinner because she just needed a night to be the adult in the house.  So, we went out for dinner and told the kids to get leftovers out of the fridge.  We went over to “Five Guys” and got some dinner and sat down and had a nice conversation as adults.  After that, we grabbed a quick dessert at “Cold Stone Creamery” and then stopped at “Price Chopper” on the way home and got some wine coolers.  We then went home and not too long after that, Gary showed up followed by Dan and David.  We sat around and talked and caught up on our weeks and then we sat down and watched “The Clone Wars”.  After that, we then recorded the next episode of “GalaxyCast”.  After that, we talked a little and then the guys took off.

Heather and I had another wine cooler as we watched “Dog the Bounty Hunter” (Heather hadn’t seen it yet) and then we started “Kitchen Nightmares”, but we ended up going to bed early because we were just exhausted from our day today and the week this week.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 6 of Chapter 20 of “Star Wars:  Jedi Trial” by David Sherman and Dan Cragg…….

‘Star Wars: Jedi Trial’ – Chapter 20 (Part 5)

Well, it’s Thursday and I have to say that I woke up this morning with energy for the first time in quite some time.  I got up this morning and felt reinvigorated and like I had a good night’s sleep for the first time in a while.  I got up and headed into the shower and Heather gave me a kiss and then headed off to work.  I got my shower and then got dressed and joined the kids in the living room and we watched “Fox and Friends” as I ate my breakfast and got ready for my day.  There were quite a few things they were talking about this morning, but I find it interesting that every Democrat that they talk to on Fox insists that they do not give the President lee-way in the media.  Why will no one admit that both “sides” of the press play things up so that they are skewed the way they want them to be skewed.  Now, we have free press and I’m cool with the idea of press that leans one way or another, but then just admit that is the case.  Now, with that in mind, it’s time for FoxNews to take their message to a major five network.  It’s time that ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, or PBS start to actually air conservative points of view on “non-cable” channels.  Anyway, after some time, I was off to work while the kids were off to school.

I got to work and set things up for my day today.  It was a busy day because I was doing my second day of final exams.  Today started the performance portion of the exams.  This is the point at which some of my students break down and actually out and out-right refuse to try to do their best.  I am not there to judge their attitude, but their performance.  For some reason, they don’t understand that even thought I try to make it clear with them.  After working with my students, I spent my prep periods grading finals and came close to being done with most of the grades of the students who finished their exams today.  After my instructional day, I headed straight home because the kids were home alone because Heather was out on a bus trip.

I got home and helped Ruth get dinner going a little bit and then they cleaned the kitchen and I went into the basement and recorded my next episode of “The Clone Wars in a Galactic Minute” for my podcast.  After that, I watched “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and worked on this blog.  After that, I went upstairs and the kids and I had a dinner of mashed potato soup and some pork steaks.  After that, I headed off into the basement and edited out the latest episode of CWGM and then I watched “Dr. Phil” with the kids before getting ready to go Binghamton Community Orchestra rehearsal at West Middle School.

Our orchestra rehearsal was okay.  We started out the later beginning rehearsal with Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dances” and I have to say it’s only my second time playing these pieces and they were fun to play both times.  After that we played a piece by Ernest Bloch and all I’ll say is that I’m not really a Bloch fan and after that we played the “Egmont Overture” by Beethoven.  After rehearsal, I came home and Heather and I watched “Big Bang Theory” followed by “Rob” and “Parks and Recreation” and then went to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 5 of Chapter 20 of “Star Wars:  Jedi Trial” by David Sherman and Dan Cragg……

‘Star Wars: Jedi Trial’ – Chapter 20 (Part 4)

Wednesday and it’s the middle of the week.  I just need to get by until it’s time for the weekend.  I got up this morning and was feeling a little better than I was last night.  I got into the shower as Heather kissed me goodbye and then headed off to work.  I took my shower and then got out and got dressed.  I joined the kids in the living room as we watched “Fox and Friends” as they covered the President’s “State of the Union” address last night.  I’ll be honest, it’s the first speech I’ve missed since I became of age to vote.  But, I missed it on purpose.  This is the only President I have known in my lifetime that truly believes the kool-aid that he’s dishing out to his constituents.  The address became a campaign speech.  I truly think this is the first President to do that, and I think he should be taken to town on the fact that he should not be campaigning while advising us on the “state of our union”.  I personally think we should just do away with this speech, print it out and put it online.  Better yet, put the speech on YouTube and be done with it.  Anyway, after watching for a while, I was off to work and the kids were off to school.

I got to work and set things up for my day today.  Today was the first day of final exams.  I usually am missing quite a few students on the first day, which means I’m playing catch up for the next several days.  But today I had most of my students there, which means we are off to a good start on the exams.  I was fairly happy with behavior today and most of my students put their best foot forward in the exam, which is all I can ask of them.  It was a straightforward day and when I got done with my instructional day, I headed home.

I got home and helped Tara and Ruth with their homework for a bit and then headed into the basement and started to watch “Dr. Phil”, but was interrupted by Heather freaking out about the fact that her “baby” (her sewing machine) not working anymore.  She quick raced the machine over to “Grandmother’s Thimble” for repairs.  She then came home and we all had dinner together.  After dinner, she got a call from the shop and it’s going to cost about $300 to fix the machine.  Let’s hope that is all it will cost!  After that, I headed into the basement and started a game of Madden 2011 on my PS3.  I won the game on Franchise mode, but then the game froze and I lost ALL my information!  I was so upset.  So, I cut my losses and got off the system.  I finished up “Dr. Phil” and then uploaded two new episodes of the GalaxyCast Podcast onto the server and then I started watching our usual Wednesday night shows with Heather, including “Whitney”, “Are You There Chelsea”, “Criminal Minds” and “CSI” before heading to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 4 of Chapter 20 of “Star Wars:  Jedi Trial” by David Sherman and Dan Cragg…….

‘Star Wars: Jedi Trial’ – Chapter 20 (Part 3)

How is it that it’s Tuesday and even though I went to bed early last night, I was still tired this morning?  I swear, the older my children get, the more energy they simply suck out of me.  Trust me, those of you with young children – you think you will get less tired as they get older, that’s a myth!  Instead, they suck the life out of you as they get older.  It’s exhausting being a parent!  Anyway, I got up after the third snooze today and as I headed into the shower, Heather was already on her way to work.  I got my shower and got dressed and joined the kids as we watched “Fox and Friends” on TV.  The usual things were being covered, but there was a story that was on for just a little bit today and I think they should have covered it more.  There is a school in Texas that had to make a tough decision to get students to achieve more.  They decided to cut all their sports in favor of trying to get off the SINI list.  Many have slammed the Superintendent for making the decision and others thought he should have cut the music and art budgets first.  But his logic is sound. He looked to cut programs that would not help his students achieve better academically.  It is a proven fact that music and art actually improve student achievement.  I say bravo for this decision!  Oh, and by the way, he’s not eliminating them permanently.  He’s informed the parents and students that if the students improve their performance and get themselves off the SINI list, then the sports will be reinstated.  That sounds like motivation to me!  Anyway, after some time, I was off to work while the kids were off to school

I got to work and set up for my day.  Today was a day to have a Music Jeopardy game with all of my students. I have had some great success with this type of review in the past. It gets students to think and use their notes to review before their final exams start tomorrow. It also helps to get a little bit of a competitive spirit going and I also make sure that all the students are participating in some way, which ensures that I’m grabbing everyone’s attention.  It was a very successful and got my students interested in reviewing for the exam that starts tomorrow.  I got done with my instructional day and prepped things for SMASH.  I finished grading papers and when the SMASH students arrived, we talked a little bit and then started to go over our stick routine.  That took all of our rehearsal, but we came close to having something that is finished by the time we were done.  After SMASH, I invited Jim over for a Superbowl party to our house and then we left and went home.

I got home and ate dinner with my family.  After dinner, I went into the basement and watched “Dr. Phil” and then I played COD:BO for about a half an hour while I dealt with another issue that popped up today.  After that, Heather and I sat down together and watched “Shipping Wars” and “Storage Wars” before we headed to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 3 of Chapter 20 of “Star Wars:  Jedi Trial” by David Sherman and Dan Cragg……

‘Star Wars: Jedi Trial’ – Chapter 20 (Part 2)

Monday and it’s a busy work week.  There’s a lot to get done this week and I am feeling better after getting a lot done this weekend.  I got up this morning and headed into the shower.  Heather and I talked about our week this week a little bit and then I headed into the shower as she headed off to work.  I got my shower, got dressed and joined the kids.

One thing I did not talk about yesterday was the death of Joe Paterno.  Yesterday Joe Paterno died and I have to say that my heart was broken, even if just a little bit.  Joe Paterno was the heart of the PSU Football organization.  He was more than just a coach to one of the most “winning-est” teams in football history.  He was a legend, an icon, and a saint in his own right.  I know many want to remember Joe Pa (as his fans referred to him) as the man that couldn’t stop child sex abuse in the PSU Locker Rooms at his facilities.  But unfortunately, with his passing, we will never know to what extent (if any) Joe Pa had in that particular scandal.  I will tell you what I do know of Joe Paterno.  He was more than just a coach to his players.  He was a friend and colleague.  He demanded excellence of them at all points in time.  Under Joe Pa’s time as a head coach at PSU, they instituted some of the most rigorous academic standards ever enforced by a University football team.  As he told many of his players, life demands them to be a success on and off the field.  Well, Joe Pa himself was exactly that, a success on and off the field.  He donated over $4 million to the Penn State library because he believed in academic success so much and eventually that library was named after him.  He had five children with his wife and has left behind an enormous legacy. But to me, the most important thing Joe Pa did for sports was emphasize the academics of sports and not the brutality of sports.  He has the most career wins in the NCAA Football Division I and the NFL considered Joe Pa’s players some of the best and brightest that they have ever received.  Joe Paterno died on January 22, 2012.  However, he will live in the hearts of Penn State fans and Americans for decades to come.  So, rest in peace Joe Paterno.  I know that you are still coaching games up in Heaven, but now God is on your team, so you can only win from now on!  Read more on Joe Paterno at Wikipedia.org.

Well, now that I’ve gotten sappy on all of you, the kids and I watched “Fox and Friends” and after some time, I was off to work while the kids were off to school.  I got to work and set things up for my day today.  Today was a day to catch up on work and give students time to prepare for their final exams which are going to start on Wednesday.  So, my sixth graders worked on any back work they owe and then grabbed keyboards to practice their scales for the final exam.  My seventh graders did the same thing and so did my eighth graders.  It wasn’t too bad of a work day and most of my students worked to try and get in their work that they owe me before the end of the quarter.  I was happy with my instructional day and then headed home right after work.

I got home and no one was there. That’s when I realized the kids were all off at their piano lessons.  So, I opened and envelope that came in the mail for me, and sure enough, it was my 501st badge.  I was a little over-excited and immediately posted pics of it on Facebook!  After that,  I headed into the basement and started working on rewiring parts of the podcast studio.  I had wired in a whole bunch of speakers into the studio, but to be honest, they speakers sounded awful and didn’t work half the time.  Normally, we were using a set of computer speakers at our events to play our podcast.  But now we have a hot “monitor” to do that with, so I am able to actually use the computer speakers for the computer.  So, I moved everything around, rewired the system and it looks and sounds much better now.  While working on this, I had to go upstairs for dinner.

After dinner, I headed downstairs and continued to work on the podcast room and then watched “Dr. Phil”.  I got done with the episode on drunk driving and then checked TV and found out that almost everything I normally watch was into reruns.  So, I played COD: BO for about an hour and then switched over to watching Pawn Stars and American Pickers before heading to bed a half an hour early with Heather.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 20 of “Star Wars:  Jedi Trial” by David Sherman and Dan Cragg…….

‘Star Wars: Jedi Trial’ – Chapter 20 (Part 1)

Well, it’s Sunday and I want to say that I got everything done this weekend.  I didn’t, but I came gosh darned close and I think that by tomorrow night going into Tuesday night, I will finally be caught up (well, mostly) on my work for the last month or so.  I’m still trying to figure out how I get so far behind in my work.  It was only a few weeks ago that I was looking around saying to myself that I oddly had nothing to do.  Well, you all know how life works, it never rains, but it pours!  We got up around seven-thirty this morning and Heather had to take Ruth over to “Applebee’s” for a fundraiser for her musical. It meant we couldn’t go to church as a family, but that’s okay, it gave me a chance to get some work done.

I headed into the basement and immediately watched “American Idol” Season 11.  I watched the first two episodes and put together the question sheets for my students to go along with it.  I worked on those sheets for about an hour and a half or so and was able to have that lesson plan ready to go.  While I worked, Heather had stopped at “Sip of Seattle” and gotten us some smoothies and then she stopped at Dunkin Donuts and we had some donuts for breakfast as well.  After that, I continued my work on my Mandalorian buckets while I continued to watch “Star Wars:  Episode 2 – Attack of the Clones”.  I have to admit that movie looks much more crisp in the Blu Ray look and sound.  It was actually quite nice.  After that, I ate some lunch with the kids and then started to watch some football as I continued to work.  I have several projects on my work bench that I worked on as well as trying to clean up the workshop so I can continue to use it.  My hope is to get a majority of my work off the bench by the end of February, because the month of March is looking like complete chaos!  Heck, My wife and I aren’t going to be able to celebrate our March 1st Anniversary until the third or fourth week of the month.  Insane!  Anyway, as we watched the games, I also left the house to drop Austin off to “God and Me” class, take Ruth to Binghamton Youth Symphony Orchestra rehearsal, and then picking up Austin from “God and Me” class.  I felt like I was a taxi driver for a little bit.

After I got home, I continued to work on the helmets and even started to work on one version of “The Clone Wars in a Galactic Minute” while I waited on Heather.  She went out and picked up Ruth and then stopped at Taco Bell to get dinner for the entire house.  We sat down and ate dinner while we watched the dramatic ending to the AFC Championship between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens.  All I can say is that I feel bad for the Ravens quarterback.  One mistake and Joe Flacco’s season is over.  It’s a shame that such a talented guy had to end the season on such a downer.  After dinner, I headed downstairs and started to watch the NFC Championship game.  I was rather irked though because the game was so choppy because of our reception.  Heather called DirecTV and said there wasn’t much they could do about it as it was a Fox affiliate problem.  However, not too long after that, the problem was fixed.  I watched the game as I finished out the next two “Clone Wars in a Galactic Minute” and started to finish up fixing up the shop.  It took almost all day, but the basement is looking almost normal again.  After watching the close game and seeing San Fransisco blow the game at the end of the day, Heather and I stayed up a little later and watched some of “American Idol” while I worked on this blog, but after some time, we went to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 20 of “Star Wars:  Jedi Trial” by David Sherman and Dan Cragg…….