‘Equipment’ – Overview

Well, it was NOT a good day for me!  I have to be honest, I was pretty furious about how my day started and even now I’m pretty upset at everything that happened to me over the course of the day.  I got up this morning and found out the kids and I both had an hour delay.  I figured I would wait a little bit to get the kids up and I would wait a little to get ready for school.  I found it odd that I did not get a call from the school, but I would find out later that a miscommunication in my school led to half the teachers not getting a phone call.   After about a half hour, I got the kids up and told them to head outside to shovel the driveway while I started to get ready for work.  I took a shower and updated Heather as to what was going on.  I then found out that the kids didn’t have school today.  They were excited and I was furious because my school along with one other school, were the ONLY schools in the county that refused to close school today!  I had to scramble to get Heather home in time to get myself off to work.  Not only did I have work, but they never changed from the one hour delay.  I then left the house as soon as Heather got home and had an interesting drive to work.  On my way to work I did a 360 degree slide because my district had decided to do a one hour delay and a second portion of the storm was hitting as I was on my way to work.  I got down the road a little further and just before the Brandywine, I got pulled over by a cop and told the roads were under a state of emergency for the next hour and I shouldn’t be on the road.  I told the cop I was on my way to work and he asked where I worked and I told him Binghamton.  The cop didn’t believe me and went back to his car to check and came back and waved me on and said he felt sorry that I still had to go to work and I said I was glad someone felt sorry for me.  I got to work and the kids and adults were ALL furious!  My walkers were mad because they had to walk in the snow, and many of the adults had similar experiences that I had and felt they had risked their lives to get to school.  In my humble opinion, it was a bad call to make and for the safety of the staff and students, we should have stayed home!  But, I got through my day, and on some positive news, I managed to get all of the equipment from the concert put away today.  I got through my school day and called Heather and came home.  We had a nice dinner of quesedillas and spanish rice and then Heather and I had a date tonight to go to a desert theater at our church called “Bethlehem Inn”.  It was fun and it was nice to go on a date with my wife!  We came back home in time to watch “Star Wars:  The Clone Wars”, and I really liked this episode with Kit Fisto, it was really cool!  Then we watched “Don’t Forget The Lyrics” and then “Dateline NBC” on the Casey/Kailey Ann Anthony case.  It was interesting.  We finished watching T.V. and went to bed.

Okay, so here’s the overview of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 6

Well, it’s Thursday and I thought I would have a delay this morning, but I woke up to not much being on the ground.  All well, such is life.  I got the kids up and we all reluctantly got up and ready for school.  The kids were even a little disappointed and I told Austin that they had spooked the snow day as they had a song last night called “Snow Day” and we poked some fun at him about it.  He thought it was funny.  Our babysitter showed up on time and I was off to work and the kids were off to school.  I got to school and found out the kids were going to be getting out of school at noon, so I quickly texted Heather at work and she said she would get out on time to get the kids at home.  At that point, my school was not getting out early.  At about nine o’clock this morning, the district had decided to head home early.  So, it was mass chaos from that point on.  The kids were misbehaving all over the place and I couldn’t blame them too much because our schedule was all messed up from that point on because we had to try to feed them before they went home.  I got out of school and got home by about ten after noon and the kids came home as well and Heather and I ate lunch while they did homework, since they ate lunch at school.  Heather and I then went downstairs and we watched a tape of shows from the week.  We watched “Big Bang Theory”, “How I Met Your Mother”, “Two and a Half Men”, “Worst Week”, and “Law and Order”.  We even decided to take a nap for a little bit only because we were so exhausted from the week.  We got up from our nap and continued to watch our tape and then it was time to eat dinner and we had a great dinner of Cheese Ravioli and sauce and had an honest discussion with my son about responsibility.  I won’t talk about what spawned the talk, but I think he’s starting to understand that he’s not being responsible in school and around the house.  At least I hope so.  We got done with dinner and Heather and I went downstairs and we watched “Jeopardy” and then watched “Survivor” and “C.S.I.” while I worked on grading papers.  It was a long night and I shoveled the sidewalk and driveway once.  It was getting ugly outside with ice and a mix of rain and snow.  I have a pretty strong suspicion that we will have a snow day tomorrow.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 6 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 5

Well, it’s now Wednesday and it’s the day after my concert and I have to say that I’m relieved that the concert is now over.  I’m not sure why I feel that way as I was not stressed over the concert to beging with, but I think it’s just nice to know that it’s one less thing I have to ultimately worry about.  I got up this morning and got the kids ready for the day.  It was an interesting morning as Ruth and Austin got all dressed up in a nice fancy dress and a shirt and tie for school so they could look nice for their daytime concert assembly.  They got ready for school and I got ready for work.  Tara and I went at it this morning because she refused to read her book to our babysitter, so I had to INSIST she do what she is told.  She did it on purpose as an act for her babysitter.  I’m getting tired of the act!  I finished my fight with her and I was off to work and the kids were off to school.  I got things set up for my work day.  The eighth and seventh graders were working on keyboards and my sixth graders were working on recorders.  I managed to make it through my day today with little frustrations.  I got done with my work day and I got home and continued to work on moving my videos over to DVDs.  That took up most of my free time before we ate dinner.  After eating dinner, we went to Ruth and Austin’s concert.  I also began to realize why I hate big crowds with ignorant people!  I had a lady that got mad at me because she had to crawl past me and told her husband that if I had managed to loose a pound or two and not be such a fat ass, maybe she could get by.  She continued to complain about me, and I had to move because I couldn’t listen to her anymore or I was going to say something I was going to regret.  We sat through a wonderful student by my kids and as usual, my son was a complete ham, including marching on stage and marking time and marching off.  I can’t imagine where he learned that from!!  LOL!  We got done with the concert and Heather and I came home and we watched “Criminal Minds” and “CSI:  NY” and then went to bed.  Tomorrow’s weather looks pretty “iffy” and there’s a strong possibility that we will have a snow day or a delay.  Here’s hoping.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 5 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 4

Well, it’s Tueday and it’s the day of the concert.  I got up this morning and got myself going for the day.  I have to say I was really tired getting up, but I knew I would get my second wind once the day got going.  The kids had a two hour delay, but NOT my schoo.  Luckily Heather was home from work and could stay with the kids.  We still havent’ worked out what’s going to happen if this happens to me and the kids and Heather doesn’t have the day off.  I got to school and got things set up for the day.  I have to say that for the first time since I’ve been at Binghamton, I was not worried about the concert whatsoever.  I got through my instructional day and then got to the lunch hour and we had practices involving all the groups.  It went fairly well and then we had an assembly for all the student body to see the concert.  It went very well and everything went smoothly, which is all that any school can ask for.  I got done with my day and came home.  I took a brief nap, ate some dinner with the family and then headed back to school for the evening concert.  That concert went just as well and the parents were happy with the concert.  I think it was a good day overall.  I got done with the concert and came home and watched “Fringe” and “Law and Order: SVU” and then went to bed.  Tomorrow will be an interesting day.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 4 of “Equpiment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 3

Well, it’s Monday, beginning of the work week and the beginning of what I consider to be a long week for me.  I have a concert this week, the kids have their concert this week, Heather and I have a date night Friday night, a FanForce party Saturday.  It’s just going to be a long week.  I got up this morning and have really never been that tired.  Then I realized that when I woke up, it was only five-thirty in the morning and I realized that the only reason I woke up so early was becasue my wife had gotten out of bed.  I tried to go back to sleep, but just after Heather left to go to work, the phone rang, but it was a wrong number.  At this point, I was up!  So, I got out of bed and got an early start to the day.  It was good as it gave me some extra time to get another video processed at the computer this morning.  I then got a shower and got the kids up and got them going for the day today.  The babysitter showed up on time and I was off to work and the kids were off to school.  When I got to school, I started to get things ready not only for my classroom, but for the school concert which is tomorrow.  Put up lights, taped down cords and that was just the beginning of the day.  I even did this during my ususal prep periods.  The lunch hour went fine.  I only had chorus on the stage, so it made it a little easier as far as running around to make sure everything was set up.  Tomorrow will be the real test as it is the concert.  I finished with school, and I’ll be honest, I left as soon as the bell rang.  I figured I’ll more than make up for the hours with the concert being tomorrow and tomorrow night.  I got home and found out from Tara that she got a 100 on her last reading test, but she forgot to bring it home.  We had some nice time with the kids and I got a chance to get some work done around the house as far as maintenance and what-not.  I went downstairs and took a small nap.  I got up, went upstairs and ate dinner with the family.  I came back downstairs and decided that I needed to now start networking.  So, I started a “Facebook” and a “Twitter” page based on this blog and podcast.  I was amazed at the people I found on Facebook.  Many of them were old friends from college I had not talked to in ions!  It was great to see many great and wonderful faces and I hope they start to check in on me, my life and this blog and show.  Who knows, maybe we’ll all reconnect.  I then went and picked Austin up from Boy Scouts as Heather had dropped him off and then I watched my usual Monday night shows “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Heroes” , and “C.S.I. Miami” and then went to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 3 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 2

Well, it’s Sunday and it’s supposed to be a day of rest and for those of us in the Crissman household, it really was.  We got up fairly early this morning to get ourselves going for the day.  As the kids got themselves ready for church, Heather and I got ourselves ready for church as well.  This morning was going to be the first morning that Heather was going to sing with the choir for church.  She also asked me if I would join them for the hymn for the first hymn this morning.  So, we got to church early this morning and got to practicing.  We practiced the hymn and I then set up my trumpet upstairs in the sanctuary and then I went into church with the kids.  They were very well behaved today and I enjoyed another wonderful service at this church.  We even made an announcement about last night and talked about how we fulfilled Robert Peaks’ dream yesterday by having a Christian Party with over 4000 people there that were bussed in from all over the county.  We got done with church and the kids had Youth Group this Sunday, so we went to Subway and got some subs and came home.  We ate lunch and I watched football and we both just relaxed.  At two o’clcok I went and picked up the kids and continued my quest to change all of my VCR tapes to digital.  I got home and we had a nice quiet afternoon and even I took a nap tonight.  I then decided to get online today and edit my “My Space” page and finished up with that just before dinner and can be found here:  http://www.jedicouncilspeaks.myspace.com.  I then went upstairs and joined the family for dinner and then went back downstairs and worked on some other things for my blog and podcast.  I then graded papers and continued moving toward my all digital future.  Heather and I watched the end of “Amazing Race” together and then went to bed a little early.  The beginning of this week is going to be busy with the school concert, so we needed the rest.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 2 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 1

Well, it was Saturday and I have to say it was a lazier day for us all.  But, it ended on such a positive note, it would be uplifing to all Christians everywhere what we witnessed tonight!  But, first let’s start with our day.  I woke up this morning to continuing to work on the small projects around the house.  I worked from about nine o’clock this morning until about three o’clock this afternoon doing all sorts of odds and ends around the house.  We cleaned my shop, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the dining room, put up Christmas decorations, made a new greeblie for my costume, worked on Austin’s helmet, painted portions of Austin’s helmet, continued to work towards making all the VCR tapes digital, cleaned out the basement, and Heather and I worked feverishly to steam clean the house.  I also managed to fix three CD Players and a wireless mic in the house today.  It was a LOT of work, but it was all worth while.  It was worth it to see this house clean and to see all the things I fixed today.  I am even creating space in my house, it’s just a matter of patience and time.  We got done with all of that and Heather and I took a shower and then we left to go to the “Andrew’s Good News” Party at Davis College tonight.  We tried to make the first run of the bus, but actually just missed it by about a minute.  So, we waited for the second bus and got registered in the meantime and met some very nice people from our church in the process.  We then got on a school bus and headed to Davis College.  When we got there, it was complete chaos, but in a good way!  They had expected 2000 people for the event, and over 4000 people showed up!  It was a HUGE success!  They had so many people they ran out of food and drinks of all sorts.  We ran into Jeff Coglin and he told us they ordered an extra pot of Chili from every Wendy’s in the area and we still ran out of food there.  The most important part of the evening is the witnessing that was going on!  It was wonderful!  We got done and came home tired and a little hungry.  So, we decided to retire to the basement, popped some popcorn, and watched “The Santa Clause 3″.  We then went to bed.  It was a late night, but well worth it!

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 1 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars:Republic Commando – Hard Contact’ – Overview

Well, one word could explain my work day today.  OWWW!!!!!  I have to say that I did not realize that I relied on my feet as much as I do until I had a wounded foot.  I got up this morning and looked at my foot that was sliced open and it was ugly.  I have to say that this morning is the first time that I have actually looked at it.  It looks a lot worse than I pictured.  I knew I sliced myself bad, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at the wound because I don’t do so well around blood.  The cut is deep and it goes pretty far into the padding of my foot.  Heather and I are doing everything we can to help the wound heal and everything we can to keep it from getting infected.  I am worried about my foot and I hope I can make it through the day today.  The pain is pretty bad and every once in a while I have a sharp pain in my foot.  At this point, I’m concerned about being able to troop in the parade next week Saturday for the Lilac Parade.  If my foot doesn’t heal well soon, I may have to bow out.

I managed to take a shower in severe pain this morning and hobbled my way to getting ready for school.  Heather did a great job wrapping up my foot this morning so that I can make it through the day today.  I hobbled all over school and for the first time in over a year, used the elevator.  My classes were well behaved and it seemed like my students notice my hobbling but no one had the guts to ask me what had happened.  It’s amazing, when it comes to a teachers mortality, students almost want to think that teachers are immortal and can’t be hurt and can’t be injured.  Man, I guess that would make me a Jedi in some way.  So I got through my day today and managed to be in as little pain as could be expected.

I came home tonight and Heather said she is concerned about me and my foot with her being at work tonight.  I told her I would be completely fine and that she needed not to worry.  Once I got home, I graded some papers and then headed downstairs and continued to work on my new gauntlet from my busted one.  I spent the entire night downstairs, other than coming upstairs for dinner, and worked and worked and brought that particular gauntlet almost back up to where the other one was.  I did run into a road block because Heather got me the wrong size hook up for my hoses, so I couldn’t “Bond-O” the edges of my gauntlet.  That’s okay, it got me to slow down a little for this evening.  As I worked, I watched my typical T.V. shows and especially American Idol.  I was totally blown away by Blake’s performance tonight.  I guess you could say that I’ve been a closet Blake fan and tonight, I think he turned the competition on it’s head.  That’s the Blake I know and the one that could totally win all the American Idol competition.  What a day.  I’m in pain and tired, so it’s time to go to bed.

Okay, it’s time to overview and rate this book.  Here’s what I have to say about “Star Wars:Republic Commando – Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

---

Overview:

 

This book was one of my favorite Star Wars books.  It did so many things for me as far as Star Wars characters and the Star Wars storyline.  This book was simple enough to understand the storyline yet had enough detail to keep me interested in the storyline.  I liked how Traviss used all of the characters to help support each other and the story arc.  Right up to the fact that a Mandalorian was forced to face clones that are clone from a Mandalorian.  I also liked how she humanized not only Etain, as a struggling Jedi Knight, but the Omega Squad as well.  By the time the book was done, I felt like I knew Fi, Darman, Niner, and Atin very well.  To the point that I could imagine them being like some of my friends and I could picture this unit existing today in modern military much less in fictional military.  I also like how Karen Traviss adressed the political issues in the Star Wars universe, again, without having to over explain what was going on in the universe.  Her descriptions of the battle scenes were to the point, but descriptive enough to explain what was happening so I could picture it in my mind.  On top of all of this, she created a believable situation with the creation of a virus that could supposedly wipe out clones.  That reminds me of America’s search for nuclear and weapons of mass destruction that are going on in the Middle East, even now.  There were many modern connections and many story points that were believable because Karen Traviss made connections to modern world problems, including discussions about IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices).  Overall, a GREAT book and it is the first book to make my list as a MUST READ.  So with all of that, I give the book a:

 

Overall:  10

‘Star Wars:Republic Commando – Hard Contact’ – Chapter 20 (Part 6)

What a Monday.  It started off like any Monday and ended in personal tragedy and personal injury.  All in a day’s work.  I woke up this morning and did my usual thing and got ready for school.  I am a little excited because for the first time in a long time, I’ll actually have a full week with my students and I’ll be able to catch my classes up on their video projects because the library will be free to do so.  Yeah, research!! The teachers pet and the students envy.  Anyway, I got to school today and got ready for a normal day as always.  My classes went as well as expected and some of my classes are doing really well with their workbook work.  After school, there was still work that needed to be done.

My tech crew met me after school and I was really proud of them because they all showed up.  That made me really proud of this crew.  Not only did they do a great job during the performance, but when it came to volunteering to take the set down, they all show up.  It made me a proud man.  Then we got out on stage.  They helped out here and there, but my students were too interested in goofing around.  It was a little upsetting, but I understood where they were coming from.  They were excited as they felt that we pulled off an amazing performance and they should be allowed to release some steam.  We got the entire set down and most of the backdrops put away.  Exactly as we wanted and things went well.  All things should be ready for the concert in two weeks.

While I was tearing the set down, I got a text message from Heather.  She let me know that I got my lightsaber from Lind Lightsabers and that I could open it when I got home.

So, this was motivation to get home quickly.  As soon as the set was down, I headed home.  Not only to open the package with my new lightsaber in it, but I had to hurry and get ready for our Franklin Graham Festival class that Heather and I were going to go to between 7 and 8:30 tonight.  I took out the lightsaber and looked at it briefly.  I forgot that it would use AAA batteries, so I couldn’t test it just yet.  But it looked pretty impressive, that’s for sure!  I decided that since I couldn’t play with my lightsaber I would go downstairs and work on my Mando costume, in particular the gauntlets.  Well, when I got down there, I was working in my messy shop and I managed to step on a screw and slice my foot open.

At first I thought it was no big deal.  I thought I could just “walk it off” as I’ve done in the past.  Then I got upstairs and took my sneaker off and realized my sock was full of blood.  We decided to clean it an see what we could do.  It was bad.  It was deep and in the worst part of the foot.  Right in the fatty part of the tissue just under my big toe.  We decided to go to the walk in clinic.  The doctor said there wasn’t much he could do.  He suggested some aspirin and that I cover it well with gauze.  He said that if he did put a stitch in that part of my foot, it would simply rip out because it would be between the muscle of my big toe and foot and would do me no good.  Heather brought me home and then did me a favor and got some materials at Wal Mart.  You see, the tragedy behind all of this is that I dropped my gauntlet in the process of getting hurt and it shattered into about twenty pieces.  Crap!!

So, while Heather was out,  I “hobbled” my way downstairs and set up my T.V.  See, it was delivered today as well from Rent Way.  It happened this afternoon while I was working on striking the set at school.  I can just say that it’s nice to have my old T.V. back.  Heather got back from running out and I started to work on a second version of the same gauntlet again.  I’m in extreme pain from my foot and now I have to deal with the concept of starting over on a gauntlet that was very close to completion.  What a day, what a night!! I’m exhausted!!  I gotta get myself to bed and try to rest up for what could be a really long day on my feet tomorrow.

Okay, last part of this book.  Let’s start talking about Part 6 of Chapter 20 of “Star Wars:Republic Commando – Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

---

Chapter 20 (Part 6):  Zey even told Etain that she may take one squad member if she wished, that’s when Etain realized she was being tested.  As she sat and decided, the ARC trooper insisted the gunship needed to leave.   As they unloaded, he gave Niner and Etain time to talk.  Niner asked if she would be joining them on their next mission and she said she would be staying on Qiilura with Zey.  Fi was upset saying that this was typical military to get a good unit together and then break them up.  Niner saluted his commander out of respect.  They left Darman behind and Etain explained to him that she was not their type of commander.  Etain told him that he could leave his team and join her.  He refused and they told each other to take care.  As the gunship lifted off, tears ran down Etain’s face.  She realized that these clones helped to shape her into the Jedi she had become.  She didn’t know if she’d see Omega Squad again, but she did know that every clone would be a human life to her, now and forever.  She walked into the field and watched the gunship lift off into the sky.

‘Star Wars:Republic Commando – Hard Contact’ – Chapter 20 (Part 5)

I woke up a little early this morning to finish some last minute spray painting before I went to church.  My armor is so close to being done.  I have a feeling that by next weekend I will be able to put the entire costume together and should be able to take pictures of my full costume.  That’s my hope, anyway.  We all got ready for church, ate some breakfast together and loaded up the car with girl scout cookies and some things we needed to take to the church for their rummage sale.  We got to church a little late, but it was my fault as I’m not used to trying to get the kids ready for church by myself.  Lesson learned, my wife does a lot behind the scenes to get the kids ready for church, including doing the girls’ hair.

I got stuck doing the sound yet again.  I just can’t ever seem to get out of doing that.  I took the kids up to the balcony with me and they helped me a little, but tended to be a little disruptive in the pews in the balcony just because every move they made seemed to echo throughout the church.  A little more than three quarters of a way through the service, Heather text messaged me and let me know that she was almost home.  I text her back and let her know that I was heading to PA after church to get gas and then Lowe’s to return an item and then would meet her at home.  I did all of those items and met Heather at home.  She took a brief nap while I worked on some more of my costume.  She then joined me downstairs and decided to help with the costume building.  She put the Velcro on my vest and helped me get all the chest pieces on and placed.  We also worked on other aspects of the costume and came up with ideas.

We worked well into the evening getting portions of my costume done and together.  It truly is amazing how far the costume has come in one weekend.  My gauntlets are close to completion and the costume itself may be done by the end of the week.  I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself!!  A good weekend and things are looking up.  To make my upcoming week even better, my new lightsaber from Lind Lightsabers should arrive tomorrow as well.  Can’t wait to test that lightsaber out either.

Okay, almost done with this book.  I’ll have two more posts on it and then I’ll review the book and give it a rating out of 10.  Then we’ll move on to Timothy Zahn’s “Star Wars:  Outbound Flight”.  Okay, until then, let’s talk about Part 5 of Chapter 20 of “Star Wars:Republic Commando – Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

---

Chapter 20 (Part 5):  As they walked back to the gunship, Etain was bothered by several things.  She couldn’t believe how realistic Niner mimicked a dying clone and figured he had seen that at least once.  She also realized why attachment was forbidden to Jedi now.  Etain got to the ship and handed Zey, Fulier’s lightsaber and told him that Omega Squad and recovered it.  Zey told Etain that he knew what she was going through and attachment would be rough as you will look troops in war.  Etain said there was no way to turn off the fact that clones are still sentient beings.  Zey said this was all part of being a commander.  Etain asked if she could follow Omega Squad on their next mission.  Zey said The Republic would not abandon the Gurlanin on the surface of this planet and implied that Etain join their fight.  Etain asked when support would arrive and Zey said they would need to dissappear from the planet.  This made Etain wary about helping Qiilura.  Zey then told her she had the choice to stay or go with Omega Squad……