GalaxyCast #80

Hey fans!  It’s been a rough week, but I have been hard at work and I am so proud of the fact that some of the next episodes of the GalaxyCast Podcast are going up.  So, today I will update you with what has been going on with me and my life and then I would encourage you to head over to our podcast site and check out the latest release of our episdoes, #80.  So, let me give you a brief update on me and my life.

Well, last week and last weekend were another busy, busy time in my life.  I had a lot of things happen to me and my family that were all a mixture of both good and bad.  We had an event last weekend for the Binghamton FanForce and we hit up Fat Cat Comics to help support them for Free Comic Book Day.  The event went over very well and I felt as though we showed the shop some love even though a group of my members were out of town.  Some of the members of the FanForce even hit up a rival shop on the other end of town to show them some support for Free Comic Book Day as well.  I am beginning to wonder how many more years Free Comic Book Day can continue to run.  It’s a fun event, but I can’t think it’s too cost effective for the industry itself.  I guess only time will tell.  That same night, we had the last Binghamton Community Orchestra Concert of the year and I have to say that this concert went off well too.  We had a great time playing pieces by Hailstork, Kalinikov, Wagner, and Mould.  Overall, I was very happy with the performance, even though I had a few mistakes, but hey, that’s what makes me human, right?

I was able to get some work done over the weekend as well, but it was so busy, I was lucky I didn’t just pass out from exhaustion of all the things we needed to complete.  On Sunday we had another Binghamton FanForce meeting and then we had to drop off Ruth for her Youth Symphony Orchestra rehearsal.  That is starting to wind down a little bit too and it looks like our chaotic year, that started off with a flood in the Fall is starting to bring itself back together.  The beginning of my work week as a little chaotic.  Some small things occurred that added some stress to my workplace environment, but I did manage to make it through.

However, my family faced quite a surprise on Monday night.  My wife would probably prefer that I not talk about this, but sometimes it’s therapeutic for me to write these things down and get them out of my head.  I got a frantic text from my wife on Monday night as I drove to Pennsylvania to try and get some gas and some Middlesworth potato chips.  She told me that our power got shut off. There are quite a few dastardly things that NYSEG has done to make my life a living hell.  First, they waited till there was no one at my house to come by and turn my power off.  And the only time that happens on a Monday is the 15 minutes just before my oldest teenage daughter gets home from school.  The only way that a NYSEG employee could pull that off is to watch my house and know when no one was at home.  Second, NYSEG did not follow proper protocol and give us a 24 hour advanced notice.  No notice on the door, no notice in the mail.  No warning, no nothing.  Third, we PAID the bill.  Ironically, the day that they shut off my power and claimed that we did not pay the bill, their money showed up BACK in my account.  So, when my wife called them up and paid the bill, she simply paid them with the money that they were holding onto up until Monday!  So, we ended up staying in a Hotel on Monday night and it was extremely inconvenient.  I just don’t understand why NYSEG can’t get their act together.  And I will say that they may be facing a lawsuit from me and my family.  If they that is the least that happens, they should be happy.  I am hoping to find others who have been having an issue with NYSEG and if all of us get together and share stories that have a common theme, then I think NYSEG should face a class-action lawsuit!  So, if you are out there and had your power shut-off, were harassed by NYSEG or even had issues with the company.  Write to me, comment here, let me know.  I want to know what other issues people have had with this company.

So, now you know how my Monday night went.  On top of being in a hotel room, it’s thrown the rest of my week off.  I had big plans for my secret project and another project I’m working on and both of those are now behind schedule.  Then I had an issue the night before the problems with a piece of the special project because a part that was working before broke, and I had to come up with a solution that is now going to take me some time to fix.  I hope to get it completed tonight, but I may not and it will be a bummer.

So, as you can see, it’s been a heck of a week!  But, I am trying to stay in high spirits.  I’m hoping to come back next week with some cool news and happier news at that.  I’ll keep you updated.  Now, today I’m going to ask you to check out Episode #80 of the GalaxyCast.  However, tomorrow, I will be back with a brief update and then a review of Chapter 5 of “Star Wars – Yoda:  Dark Rendezvous” so that we don’t get behind in our reading for this week.  So, until tomorrow……

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH THOSE WHO LISTEN!

GalaxyCast #78

Well, it’s Monday and it was a day to get back to work.  I wanted things to slow up this week as far as having to get things done, but that was just not the case and it looks like I won’t have complete chaos end until I get into the month of April and even then, things look to be pretty chaotic, just a controlled chaos.  I got up this morning and I’m still a little groggy from our busy weekend.  I got up and got my shower as Heather headed off on her way to work.  She was complaining about not feeling well and her throat is getting tight and her voice is actually starting to sound scratchy.  I have a feeling this is going to be a REALLY long week if my wife is down and out.  I got my shower and got dressed and joined the kids in watching “Fox and Friends” while we got ready for our days and got things together.  They were prepping for tomorrow’s big Super Tuesday primary day.  Quite a few states on the line and I get the feeling that Mitt Romney thinks he has them all in the bag, but to be honest, unless Romney starts changing rhetoric, he may be against the ropes, which means we could go into a brokered convention.  That would be interesting for the GOP.  Anyway, after some time, I was off to work and the kids were off to school.

I got to work and set things up for my day today.  It was another day of music theory and I have to say that I’m very happy with where my classes are at.  I got caught up from Friday and then started to teach my lessons for the day.  My sixth graders continued their lessons on intervals including half steps and whole steps.  My seventh graders started their lesson on key signatures that will introduce them to the Circle of Fifths tomorrow.  My eighth graders started their lesson on half steps, wholes steps, and octaves.  Overall, I think the performance of my students was great and I think things worked out well for my classes. It was a typical Monday with nothing out of the ordinary.  I got done with my instructional day and then headed home right away.

I got home and things were chaotic there.  Tara had decided she did not want to be a nice brother/sister, so she ended up being punished to her room for the night.  Our kids have their musical next weekend, and they are performing “The Sound of Music” at Chenango Valley High School.  It’s going to be a rough week for them because they have a rehearsal every night from 6 till 10 PM.  I understand that kids are resilient and all, but I never thought of it from the parents’ perspective.  That’s a LOT of running around to drop off and pick up kids and late at night too!  Anyway, we ate dinner together and after dinner, the kids were off to rehearsal and Heather and I headed into the basement.  She worked in her sewing room for a little bit and I worked on upstairs and downstairs.  Both areas were a wreck because I had left for the weekend and because I didn’t clean up from yesterday.  I had a few things that I need to repair from the weekend as well.

So, I finished up some projects.  I put away my new Umbrella Corps. costume that I made this weekend and I took out my beret and put a velcro segment on the front because I simply pinned in my UC patches on my beret and by the end of the night on Friday, I had a safety pin look ingrained into my forehead!  It hurt!  Anyway, after that I put things away and as I worked on all of that, I started to watch some of the shows I missed over the weekend.  I watched two episodes of “Parking Wars”, “Billy the Exterminator”, “The Good Wife” and “CSI Miami” before Heather and I went to bed.

Okay, so no reading tonight.  Instead, please head on over to the GalaxyCast Website and check out episode #78, our latest release.  We would like to again thank the Two Guys Talking Podcast Network and Mike Wilkerson for their continued support as we continue to podcast in our endeavours.

GalaxyCast #76

Well, it’s Monday and it felt like a Monday.  From the moment I got up till the moment I went to sleep today, I felt like I was working and constantly on the go.  I’m hoping that one of these days I won’t feel that way.  I got up this morning and headed into the shower as Heather was finishing getting ready for her day today.  I got my shower and got changed and joined the kids in the living room as we watched “Fox and Friends” for the morning.  Of course, their talk of the town this morning was the primaries that are occurring tomorrow in the states of Michigan and Arizona.  I find it interesting that they didn’t even mention that Newt Gingrich hasn’t even campaigned in these states and isn’t even on the ballot!  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 day of music theory and my classes all have a lot of work to do before the end of the quarter, but they are all well on their way and are on track to do well.  My sixth graders finished up their unit on key signatures and then we learned about the stem rules.  My seventh graders started to conclude their unit on compound meter and I suspect we will need to finish it for a little bit tomorrow.  My eighth graders worked with me on the intro to music composition and then worked on scope and sequence as well.  My classes all performed well.  I had a meeting during my prep period today as well as having Stage Band during lunch today as well.  I got a lot done, but I felt like I didn’t somehow.  I got done with my instructional day and headed right home.

I got home and the kids were at their piano lessons.  So, I got changed and walked the dog or the dog walked me, I’m not sure which is more accurate.  After some time, I came home and the kids showed up.  We went in the house and Heather cooked dinner and I finished my secret project from the weekend.  I then started to work on updating the podcast powerpoint for the weekend, and I decided I was better off just starting over.  After some time, I went upstairs and joined the kids for dinner.  After dinner, we dropped Tara off to the fire station for a Girl Scout meeting and then Heather and I went to Jackson Hewitt to finish our taxes.  We came home and I went into the basement and finished working on the powerpoint, which took me most of the night.  I also worked on this blog and got my secret project almost completed as well.  I worked hard and Heather worked hard on a cover for my new tablet PC.  I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was too big, I didn’t have the heart.  While I worked, I watched my usual CBS shows including “How I Met Your Mother”, “Two Broke Girls”, “Two and a Half Men”, “Mike and Molly” before I switched over to watching “Smash” on NBC before heading to bed.

Okay, no reading tonight.  Instead, we’re going to ask you to over to the GalaxyCast Website and check out Episode #76 of the GalaxyCast podcast.   As always, we would like to thank Mike Wilkerson and the 2 Guys Talking Podcast Network for all their support!  MAY THE FORCE BE WITH THOSE WHO LISTEN!

GalaxyCast #76

Well, it was Thursday and I was in no mood to be messed with today.  I was just irritable because of the mood I was in.  I got up and headed into the shower and Heather had already left for work and I think that set me off a little bit because I didn’t even get a chance to talk to her at all this morning.  I got my shower and got dressed and the kids and I watched “Fox and Friends” and I’ll admit, my own children avoided me like the plague.  After watching the news for some time, I was off to work while they were off to school.

I got to work and set things up for the day.  I reminded myself that I needed to keep in check and said a quick prayer to myself before starting work.  Overall, my work day went okay.  My students in all three grades they finished working on their developmental workbooks and personalizing them so that they knew which one was theirs.  After they finished with their workbooks, they would pass them by me and then had some time to play around on the keyboard today.  I give them some free time one day out of the quarter because I find that if I don’t, then they goof around on them the entire quarter.  I let them have some time, with the warning that next week we start with the real deal.  I had a decent day at work and kept my upset mood in check.  After my instructional day, I drove right home.

I got home and then I exploded.  I noticed a note on the door and it was from NYSEG.  The note basically said we have 72 hours to pay about $500 in “back bills” or our heat and electrical were going to be shut off.  I tried to go into the house and work on my bucket, but my anger had just boiled to a point that I couldn’t handle it anymore.  My wife wasn’t home, she wasn’t answering the phone and I just exploded.  I told Ruth I was going out and I took the car and “escaped”.  I think I scared the kids a little bit, but that was not my intention.  I was just that upset that I was afraid I would just explode if I did not walk away for a little bit.  So, I took an easy drive and headed over to Target to see what they had in their Star Wars section.  After that, I headed over to Best Buy and checked out their Playstation section along with their home theater items.  After that, I headed over to Staples and did some looking around.

During the whole ordeal, I was texting with Heather about my frustrations and why I was upset both yesterday and today.  I then decided to head home and got a little bit to eat for dinner.  I then worked on my helmet while I watched an episode of “Dr. Phil”.  I was not able to get the T-Visor to stick to the helmet.  I’m attempting to use some different glues because obviously hot glue is not such a good idea here in the Northeast because of our extreme cold temperatures.  After some time, I left the house again and this time I headed over to Binghamton Community Orchestra rehearsal.  Amazingly, playing my trumpet helped to chill me out and by the time I got home, I mellowed out significantly.  I got done with rehearsal and headed home.

Heather and I had a discussion about everything going on and she was trying to figure out why I was putting such pressure on myself to get my bucket done.  That’s when I revealed to her that I was honored to be asked by the Mercs to take some pro photos of my kit to be included in some promo materials.  I was honored I was picked, but that meant I really needed to get my kit back up to perfect looking status.  That was going to take some work!  After talking and trying to work on the helmet the whole night I was still frustrated.  We tried to glue the helmet with some “Goop” first and that didn’t seem to work with the T-Visor.  While we worked, we watched “Big Bang Theory”, “The Office” and a little bit of “Parks and Recreation”.  We tried to go to sleep around midnight, but I couldn’t sleep and at around twelve-thirty I was back downstairs working on my bucket again.  I worked most of the night and tried everything from 5 Minute epoxy to Mighty Putty to attach the T-Visor, but nothing was working!  I finally gave up and came to bed around four-thirty in the morning.

Okay, so no reading tonight.  Instead, I’m going to encourage you to head on over to the GalaxyCast Website and check out our latest episode of the podcast, #76.  We would like to once again thank Mike Wilkerson and the 2 Guys Talking Podcast Network for all their support!

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!

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.

GalaxyCast #73

Saturday and I had a lot of things planned for the day today and so did Heather.  We got up a little later this morning, but got up at nine o’clock anyway.  I headed out into the living room and Heather was watching “School of Rock” and then the TV switched over to “Top Chef” on Bravo.  I watched for a little bit and then worked on putting together some armor patterns for Gary’s kit.  The app team complained that his plates were too small and I needed to print out some XL armor templates.  But, as I went to do so, I noticed there were problems with the mouse and that the printer ink was almost out.  Heather had left to go shovel at Marsha’s and left money behind for me to get a new mouse.  But I didn’t have enough for ink.  So, I dipped into some personal funds.  I left and got those things at Staples and then came home.  I also stopped off at Lowes and got myself some Goop and Gorilla Glue for Heather so she could work on Gary’s girth belt at some point.

I got home and started to work on printing out the templates.  I then headed into the basement and watched yesterday’s “Dr. Phil” while I cut them out and started to prep the templates to be put together.  After some time, I got some lunch and the kids joined me.  We watched “Dog the Bounty Hunter” followed by an episode of “Shipping Wars” and then the two latest episodes of “Storage Wars”.  While they watched, I put the templates together, got them cut out of the sintra and worked on getting them filed down on the edges.  While I worked we watched “Hot in Cleveland”, “The Exes”, and I watched “Fringe” on my own.  After that, I started to work on a plain black helmet for the group that I intended to make for the Falco Clan with some plain black armor so that if someone wants to troop with us, they can get an idea what it’s like to get into a kit.  After working all afternoon, I decided to take a break and played COD: BO for about an hour before dinner.
Heather made a nice pork roast for dinner and we had pork, fries, and corn for dinner.  After that, I headed back downstairs and worked on Gary’s helmet as well as mine.  I sanded the helmet down and did the same with Gary’s and formulated a plan on how to fix both helmets to help them fit regulations.  I then played a little more of COD:BO and then hung up some posters around the basement and moved some things around to get the new posters up.  After that, I watched “Star Wars:  Episode 2 – Attack of the Clones” and worked on Gary’s helmet until it was time to go to bed and Heather and I headed to bed around midnight.

Okay, so no more reading again tonight.  Instead, head on over to the GalaxyCast Website and check out episode #73 of our show.  Also, thanks again to Mike Wilkerson and the 2 Guys Talking Podcast Network for all their support.  Don’t forget our feedback contest and MAY THE FORCE BE WITH THOSE WHO LISTEN!

GalaxyCast #72

Friday.  The end of a short work week that somehow seemed longer than it actually was.  I’m not sure how that happens, but this work week seemed to drag on even though my time outside work seemed to whip by.  I got up this morning and got myself ready for my busy day.  I headed into the shower as Heather headed off to work.  I got my shower and got dressed and the kids and I watched “Fox and Friends” while we got ready for our days and I finished breakfast.  Of course the big news of the day was the Primary that is going to take place tomorrow in South Carolina.  I’m actually getting sick of hearing about the Primary’s and I like politics.  I can see where someone, like my wife, that can’t stand politics begins to hate this time of the season.  It’s not making the people of this country want to join in the process.  Especially when we find out that states like Iowa STILL have a messed up system yet are leading the way with the Primary voting.  Doesn’t exactly instill confidence in this experimental government we have set up.  After some time, I was off to work while the kids were off to school.

It was a busy day at work.  My sixth graders finished up working on their music history units.  I was hard at work as well, because I was giving my students a chance to correct their grades.  So, if they turned in sheets, I tried to grade them in a five minute turnaround so they could then make any corrections they needed to make.  My seventh graders did their last bit of recording for their podcasts and then we did some audio intervals.  My eighth graders were split with their work.  One class worked hard and got in their last workbook pages as well as being able to watch the end of “West Side Story”.  My other class did not quite finish their work, so some of them even had some homework.  It was a hard working day and I got a lot done and I was excited to see that I’m starting to catch up on paperwork.  Even on emails.  I even had a moment today to organize the contacts in my cell phone which I have been waiting to do for some time now.  After work, I headed straight home.

I got home to a house with only my two youngest kids in it.  The sintra I ordered had shown up, which was good because I had some rather larger projects to get done tomorrow and they required sintra (well, some of them do).  I opened up the sintra and took it to the shop in the basement and then I sat down and watched last week’s episode of “Star Wars:  The Clone Wars” and then sat down and recorded two “Clone Wars in a Galactic Minute” episodes in hopes of getting those edited out tomorrow or Sunday at some point in time.  After getting some things put together and watching an episode of “Dr. Phil”, Ruth came home and we made dinner and set up the table for chili.  After dinner, Gary showed up and we sat around and talked a little bit and then David showed up as well.  After some time, Dan showed up and we went into the basement and talked about a few things.  We then sat down and watched tonight’s episode of “The Clone Wars”.

After watching the show, we then recorded our next episode of the GalaxyCast Podcast and then the guys headed out since the weather was rather bad tonight.  Heather and I talked a little bit as her brother and her sister-in-law had gone to the hospital this morning and they looked to have a baby within the next day or so.  After watching “Kitchen Nightmares”, we then went to bed.

Okay, so no reading tonight.  Instead, head on over to the GalaxyCast website and check out Episode #72.  Yet again we thank Mike Wilkerson and the 2 Guys Talking Podcast Network for all their support!  Also, don’t forget about our feedback contest to win a Slave One ornament from Hallmark.  Simply listen to the show and you’ll find out more!  MAY THE FORCE BE WITH THOSE WHO LISTEN!

GalaxyCast #71

Wednesday and it’s hard to believe that it’s the middle of the work week already.  On the other hand, the work week seems to be going by so slowly.  It’s hard to explain other than to say that I feel like I’m living in some sort of space and time continuum vortex.  Okay, enough of my Sci-Fi geeky talk.  I got up this morning and as I headed into the shower, my wife had already left for work.  I’m not so sure why she left so early, but for some reason she was already out the door.  So, I headed into the shower and got out and got changed for my day.  Ruth had asked me who had won the Iowa caucus last night and I told her that I honestly didn’t know and we would have to find out together.  We watched “Fox and Friends” on Fox News and we found out together that Mitt Romney had won Iowa.  I knew that would be the case, but the real news was the runner-ups.  In second, by only EIGHT VOTES was Rick Santorum. Wow!  I don’t think there was EVER such a close race during any election, caucus or not.  Doesn’t that just prove that EVERYONE’S votes count?  In many ways, I’m proud of that outcome.  Just behind Rick Santorum was Ron Paul.  I was so glad the Fox News focused on the real news here, it’s not that Mitt Romney won, it’s that Rick Santorum came from the back of the pack and is now in second!  Anyway, after some time I was off to work and the kids were off to school.

I got to work and set things up for a “flip flopped” day.  I normally do keyboards on Wednesdays, but this week, because of the SSR Schedule.  So, my sixth graders learned about the Renaissance and to teach the instruments of the Renaissance, I show them a segment of the movie “Black Knight” where they perform a modern song with Renaissance instruments.  My seventh graders learned about Back and the Brandenburg Concertos along with the Goldberg Variations.  My eighth graders started their last segment on “Jazz” by Ken Burns by watching a segment about the Swing Era and they learned about Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and even Frank Sinatra.  After my instructional day, I graded papers and then at the end of my work day, I headed straight home.

I got home and talked with the girls for a little bit and then helped them with some homework.  After that, I headed downstairs and got my dremmel and came back to our bedroom and continued to work on the door jam.  I was finally able to fix the door jam and put it back together.  After that, I got my hammer and put the trim back on the door and the project was completely fixed.  Shortly after, Heather showed up and we talked a little bit and then headed into the basement and continued our “Big Bang Theory” – athon.  We got through most of season 4 by the end of the night.  We then went upstairs and had a nice dinner of chili.  It really hit the spot considering it was all of ten degrees outside today! It’s so cold, it actually hurts to breath when you are outdoors.  After dinner, we went back downstairs and continued to watch “Big Bang” until we finally got to the end of Season 4.  After that, we switched over to live TV and watched “Sons of Guns” followed by “Hot in Cleveland” and “Dog the Bounty Hunter”.  After that, we went to bed.

Okay, no reading tonight.  Instead, head on over to the GalaxyCast Website and check out our latest episode, #71.  We would like to thank Mike Wilkerson and the Two Guys Talking Podcast Network for their support!

GalaxyCast #70

Well, it’s Monday and I have one more day off from work.  On one hand it will be nice to get back to a routine tomorrow, on the other hand I was liking having some time to myself for once and I am feeling rested and in a much better mental mood than I did almost all year last year.  I will be happy to go back to work and can hope that I can hope that I can remain in a good mental mood.  I got up around nine-thirty this morning and as I got up, my wife had already taken down the Christmas tree and was in a feverish pitch of cleaning up the house.  It scared me a little, but I think it was her way of saying that she wants to be back at work as well.  After a little while, Heather was off to Syracuse to meet up with her sister for a day of wedding dress shopping (my sister in law is getting married next year).  When Heather left, I had a quick breakfast and the kids and I quickly cleaned up the kitchen as much as we could.  I then started to work on my project for the day.  I needed to fix the door jam to our bedroom.  I grabbed some wood glue and took off the trim around the door.  I glued back into place a piece of wood that broke off a few days ago and then clamped it into place.  As I worked on that, the kids worked on putting away things that were misplaced all over the house.

We then went into the basement and finished cleaning up from New Year’s Eve.  We made sure all the food and drink made it back upstairs, we made sure that we vacuumed up all the sequins that were all over the floor from the party poppers we used.  That took a while to do.  After that, Ruth took off for her musical rehearsal today and we finished doing some cleaning, so Austin, Tara, and myself watched “Kung Fu Panda 2″ and it wasn’t too bad of a movie.  After that, we went upstairs to get some lunch.  While we were there, Ruth came home and was walked home by a boy that is a friend (even though she won’t admit she actually has a boyfriend).  We had some lunch and stayed upstairs till Ruth’s friend left and then we went back downstairs to watch “The Smurfs” on DVD.  After watching that movie (and I’ll admit I took a short nap during the movie) we watched “American Pickers” and “Hoarders” a little bit (I know, a contradiction in and of themselves).  After that, we went upstairs and I continued to work on the door jam.  I used some wood filler to fill in the missing gaps and then we came back downstairs and the kids were watching “Lingo”.  I couldn’t handle that anymore, so “Star Wars:  The Phantom Menace” on Blu Ray WITH commentary went in.

Not too long after that, Heather came home.  We then switched over to watching “The Big Bang Theory” and continued on in Season 3.  After some time, Heather and I left the house to get some dinner and Heather didn’t want to cook tonight, so we went and got some food from Taco Bell and brought it home.  A last moment of consolation before the school year gets back into full swing.  After we got home, we finished up Season 3 of “Big Bang Theory” and headed into Season 4 and got a few episodes in before the kids had to be in bed for school the next day.  Heather and I then switched over to watching the regular TV shows including “How I Met Your Mother”, “Two Broke Girls”, “Two and a Half Men”, “Mike and Molly” and “Hawaii Five-O” before heading to bed to get ready for work tomorrow.

No reading tonight.  Instead, head on over to the GalaxyCast Website and check out the latest episode of the GalaxyCast Podcast – #70.  Again, we would like to thank Mike Wilkerson and the Two Guys Talking Podcast Network for all their support….