The Jedi Council

What a fun day!  I had a blast with the choir students on the trip today and found a new favorite amusement park.  We went to Dorney Park today which is near Allentown, PA.  It’s not overly expensive and the food and gift shops aren’t robbing you either.  But that wasn’t the best part of the trip today.  They had some great roller coasters there.  Nothing as high as the Superman, but that’s okay because I didn’t need three people to jam me into any of thier coasters either.  So, I managed to ride “The Talon” (twice), “The Steel Force”, and “Hydra” (twice).  Overall it was a good day but a HOT day.  It got up to 105 degrees in the park.  It was simply steaming.  So, what do you do at a park when it’s that hot?  Simple, hang out in the water park all afternoon long.  And that’s what I did with a bunch of the kids and we had a blast there as well.   Great day and the kids were well behaved.  I came home exhausted and went to be fairly early tonight.  Worked a little on TJCS #5 to get it out on time.

So, onto what you’re all here for, chapter 32 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves…..

 Chapter 32:  We now follow Obi-Wan as he nears the crash site of Master Bondara’s skycar.  Obi-Wan senses death all around him.  As he nears the site he notices the local authorities are near by.  Obi-Wan crosses the police line and lands his speeder.  He talks to two investigators.  The officers inform him of two accidents and take him to the site of the second one.  This is where they find a PCBU.  The investigators inform Obi-Wan that two officers were killed as well.  The investigators are speculating that someone from the Black Sun was involved.  Obi-Wan decided that the “who” situation was bigger than he could imagine and involved more than Padawan Assant and Master Bondara.  He decides to head back to the Jedi Temple and report.  We then switch views to Darth Sidious.  He receives a message from Darth Maul informing him that his mission is complete.  Sidious sends him instructions as to where to take the Holocron he has confiscated.  Sidious told Maul to make sure the Jedi find no answers in the death of their two Jedi.  We then switch back to Obi-Wan who is going back to the Temple in his skycar.  On the way, he witnesses another explosion.  Kenobi lands his skycr near the burning building and goes in.  He feels the presence of Darsha and an ominous evil feeling he had all day long.  Kenobi looked around and found part of a unique section of Assant’s lightsaber.  This confirmed in his mind what he feared, Darshat Assant was dead.

Well, today was very much a lazy day off from work for me.  It was good news for all of my listeners of my podcast.  I got up at 9 a.m., since Heather had to be to work early this morning.  That was okay for me because it got my butt out of bed at a decent hour this morning.  I got up and headed downstairs and began to work on “The Jedi Council Speaks” Volume I, Episode #5.  You know, the one I wasn’t sure was going to get out on time.  Well, sure enough, I finished with my editing of the previous five sections of TJCS and got the notes done for the episode.  I got a chance to interview my kids for a section of the show and finally got a chance to finish the last two sections of the episode.  By two in the afternoon I was exporting the show in MP3 format.  So, it’s finnished!  I didn’t think I would get it done on time, but I used The Force and made it happen.  So, TJCS #5 WILL be on time this time around.  Along with that, I was able to start editing my interview with Nathan Bulter over his “Echoes” Podcast novel, and will highlight it in a new TJCS segment called “Springboard” which will highlight new and just released dramas and comedy/parodies.  That will be released on June 15th.  Lots to come on TJCS and my year just doesn’t seem to slow down.  But I guess that’s the way I like it.

Around one o’clock or so, my two youngest children came running inside (since my oldest daughter is being punished and has to stay in her room) screaming in fear.  When I went upstairs, even I was shocked to see what I saw.  There were bumble bees, wasps, and yellow jackets all over the front yard and porch.  Well, when I looked up on the porch, there were two yellow jacket nests, two mud wasp nests, and a bumble bee nest.  NOT GOOD!!  Man, they built those really fast!  Anyway, I use a hammer and mangaed to knock down four of them (the smaller ones) without getting stung.  The advantage was that they were close to the door way, so I could hit them with the hammer and then quick shut the door and use it as a shield.  I really only ticked off the mud wasps.  The yellow jackets just went somewhere else.  The bumble bee nest was in an interesting spot.  It was between the gutter and the roof line.  So, I called Heather at work and told her to get two cans of wasp/bee killer from Lowes on her way home.  When she got home, I removed the gutter and Heather covered my back (from attacks) as I sprayed the nest.  It worked and I didn’t get stung.  Heather did manage to kill about four or five bees that tried to attack me in the process, though.  Okay, so I hope that’s the last time I see that happen again.  Especially for my kids’ sake.  Heather also brought home dinner from Wendy’s and also brought home a sprinkler for the kids to play in.  They definetly enjoyed that.  Clifford (our dog) wasn’t so fond of the sprinkler, however.  We came downstairs tonight to watch our shows, and of course (because it’s officially summer) they’re all reruns.  So, I convinced Heather to watch “Miami Vice” with me and then we watched the History Channel special on George Washington.

Okay, onto our discussion of Chapter 31 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves…..

Chapter 31:  We start by following Maul.  He is no longer impressed with the Padawan and senses she is becoming weak.  Maul prepares himself for the final blow.  We switch to Darsha’s point of view.  She fights hard with the Sith.  Her thoughts wander to Pavan and I-Five.  She hopes they thought to use the carbon freezing unit.  Darsha sees a weakness in Maul’s defense.  She steps forward to exploit it, but Maul beats her into her step and stabs her with the blade of his lightsaber.  Darsha’s thoughts before she died were, “There is no death; there is the Force”.  We now switch to Maul’s point of view.  Maul realizes why she was using the Force attacks and sees a bunch of canisters about to explode.  He jumped to a platform and out a window.  Maul realized her cunning wit, she kept him from his primary target, Pavan.  Maul lept back into the room using The Force to contain the smoke and flames away from him.  He saw no signs of life.  He left the buidling satisfied his mission was complete.  It was time to tell his Master.

Well, today was a long and busy day as well.  Heather and I got up fairly early, 7:30 a.m., to go to church.  We met my in-laws at church and then came home.  My father in-law helped us immensley by finally helping to rip out what was left of our bushes on the front of the house.  So, for all of my friends that have seen my house, the bushes are no more!  On the opposite of that my front yard looks like D-Day happened out there.  There are tracks from the truck on my front lawn and there are impact craters where my bushes used to stand.  We also put up a tire swing in the back yard while the women took Ruth on her birthday gift trip.  They went to Walmart and picked out paint and wallpaper boarder for her room.  Evidently she is going pink for her room with a pretty feminine boarder.  Can’t say I’m surprised.  After they left, Heather and I went back and took a thirty minute nap.  We came out, had some left overs for dinner.  Then Austin and I went downstairs to watch the NASCAR race while Tara and Heather watched some T.V. upstairs.

Okay, onto Chapter 30 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves…..

Chapter 30:  maule entered the room and realized the three of them were trapped.  He used the skycar, scanned them just enough with The Force to not be noticed and waited to trap them at the top.  Maul stepped forward and activated both blades on his lightsaber.  Darsha was afraid, but tried to talk herself into the fight using the Jedi Code.  Assant let herself relax into The Force.  She Force-pushed I-Five and Lorn into a storage chamber and locked it for their protection.  Maul lept forward with dual blades spinning.  Lorn tried to bust the door opn, but nothing worked.  Lorn watcehd as Darsha battled the Sith.  He yelled at I-Five and then realized he was turning on the carbon-freezing unit.  Maul was impressed with the change in Assant’s power with The Force.  But he pressed the attack and toyed with her.  Both of them knew she was going to die.  The battle betweent the Sith and Jedi raged on.  The further out that Darsha reached with The Force, the harder Darth Maul battled her.  Then she found what she thought was her chance.  We then switch back to I-Five and Lorn Pavan that are still trapped.  I-Five continues to try and carbon-freeze the two of them.  In the meantime, Pavan aims the blaster at the door, till I-Five reminds hi that it’s magnetically sealed and that would kill them both.  I-Five reminds Pavan that Assant is sacrificing her life for them.  I-Five coaxes Pavan into the carbon freezing chamber and they being the process of going into a deep carbon-induced sleep.

Well, I woke up pretty late today.  I got up around 10 a.m.  Only because I was so exhausted from yesterday having run around with teenagers at a park all day long.  I’m also sore from all of the walking I did yesterday.  I guess that’s to be expected.  I got up and got some breakfast and Heather and I proceeded to head downstairs.  She found out yesterday that we had about two weeks worth of episodes from T.V. that we hadn’t watched yet.  We spent most of the afternoon catching up while I graded papers.  I guess I got behind on grading papers as well.  This took up most of the afternoon and then we got ready for dinner.  We all ate quesadilla’s and Ruth got herself into trouble for something pretty big that she has been doing lately.  It’s not the act of what she’s doing that has Heather and I upset, but the lying that she is doing to cover it up that is making us upset.  Well, Heather condemned her to her froom for the next week.  Of course, she forgot Ruth was supposed to celebrate her birthday with the in-laws tommorrow.  So, we agreed she could come out long enough to celebrate, but then had to go right back into her room.  Anyway, Heather left for work and I watched three movies this afternoon and tonight.  I watched “Saving Private Ryan” (I do every Memorial Day weekend), “The Great Raid” (really good movie), and “The Perfect Man” (which was okay, but a chick flick).  Went to bed at 1:30 a.m.  Pretty late because I couldn’t sleep withouth Heather.

Okay, time to talk about Chapter 29 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves……

Chapter 29:  We follow Lorn and Darsha as they lead Green Hair toward the upper levels.  We learn that Lorn is starting to grow fond of Darsha.  Darsha continued to probe for danger with The Force.  She couldn’t sense anything, but was tempted to use The Force to probe Lorn to see if he had feelings for her like she did for him.  Just then Green Hair threw himself on the floor and found a yellow DNA activated button.  Lorn stopped him before he could touch the button.  They uncover a covered tripod mounted blaster and realize that is what the button was for.  Then Lorn suggested that Darsha use her ability to manipulate minds.  Sbhe took over Green Hair’s mind and he led them upstairs.  Darsha let Lorn know that she deactivated the device where the gun was.  Green Hair led them on to a pipe in a winding alley.  I-Five opens the hatch to the pipe and finds a ladder that goes up at least ten levels.  Green Hair gave them the access code for the top of the tunnel and then was released from Darsha’s mind grip.  They get to the top, open the hatch, and enter a room that used to be a central power dispensing agency.  I-Five suggested against firing any blasters in the room as there were explosive tanks all over the room.  Darsha gave Lorn a hug as they saw the sun peak through a high window.  then she pulled out her lightsaber and spun around.  A door opened and in walked the Sith.

Well, I spent the entire day at Six Flags:Darien Lake.  It was a fun day overall and I had a blast with the students and rode a ton of rides.  It rained most of the day which was good and bad in it’s own way.  It was bed because we were all wet for most of the day which really was a bummer.  On the other hand, it was really warm, which made up for being so wet.  I rode every roller coaster in the park that was open except for “The Predator”.  I refuse to ride that roller coaster every again since I had shoulder and back problems form having ridden it a few years back.  So, what did I ride?  Well, let’s see:  “The Lasso”, “The Silver Bullet” (twice), “Bumper Cars”, “Pirate Ship”, “UFO” (twice), “The Mind Eraser” (twice), “The Viper” (twice), and “The Superman” (I’ll address that in a minute).  The band and orchestra did really well and everyone walked away with a Superior rating.  Couldn’t ask for anything better.  They got some great comments from judges and I think they did a great job performing.

I did have a rather embarassaing moment in the park, however.  I went to get on “The Superman” and had a hard time getting my belt to buckle.  Now, I don’t consider myself a thin American guy.  I know I’m overweight.  As a matter of fact, I go walking everyday and have been working on controlling my diet and controlling my weight.  I’m overweight, but not overly obese.  At least I don’t consider myself to be obese.  Anyway, it took three park officials to get my seatbelt in place.  We jammed it in, and fortunately I was able to ride the coaster.  However, one of the parents that tried to get on the ride before me was actually asked to get off the ride.  I found out later from a park official that “The Superman” has a weight limit now because some schmuck in New Jersey got killed on one because he didn’t buckle his safety belt properly.  However, the weight limit is not posted ANYWHERE in the park!  What an embarassing moment to have to go through.  All well, I’m a “man of steel”.  Well, steel when it comes to embarassaing me.  I walked away with my dignity and the ability to ride the ride.  Which, by the way, is the scariest roller coaster I have ever been on!  The first drop was amazing.  I went to say “Oh my God” and I got out “Oh my….” and God never really came out because I was in such shock.  Great ride, and it made both “The Mind Eraser” and “The Viper” look like babies now.  How are they ever going to top that coaster?

Anyway, onto Star Wars for tonight and Chapter 28 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves…..

Chapter 28:  We now follow Darth Maul as he retraces his steps back through the caverns and he is not in a good mood.  Maul reflects back to the day he made his lightsaber.  He thought about how the Sith use different techniques than the Jedi and how easy of a choice it was to make a double-bladed lightsaber.  Maul jumped out of the ventillation tube and back onto the streets of lower Coruscant.  Maul decided to locate them much the same way he did with Hath Monchar.  He used the network and found them on cameras heading for the Jedi Temple using the robot’s positioner.  As Maul continues to search using the computers in “The Infiltrator” he gets a messaged from Sidious.  Maul lets him know that he found the holocron but is sitll chasing the human.  Sidious tells him to do so quickly but cautiously as htey don’t want to be revealed yet.  Maul had to get a bike now.  he decided to lure the police by filing a fake report on the police net.  A PCBU (Police Cruiser Back-Up Unit) responded.  He dispatched the PCBU which caused two other officers with usable speederbikes to approach.  Maul dispatched both and had the ride he needed.  He then found Pavan on a security cam and sped toward the site.

Well, today was one of those days that I feel like I really accomplished something.  Somethings on many different levels.  I got a lot of school work done.  Why?  Well, we were told to give our students a survey in class today.  The survey was supposed to take a total of fifteen minutes, but considering the survey had seventy-five questions and required the students to bubble in their names, etc., the survey took up all forty-five minutes of the period.  So much for that instructional day!  So, while my students worked on the surveys, I managed to get a lot paperwork done and get things set up for my substitutes over the next few days.  I also got a chance ot finish my notes on “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter”.  I have that book reviewed and finished now and am now onto my next book.  I finally got ahead of the blog again.  YEAH!!  Anyway, I also managed to turn in my MYP unit and get all sorts of copying done that needed to be finished.  I feel very fulfilled.  I got my bandshirt today for tommorrow’s trip and it looks totally cool.  I can’t wait for the trip tommorrow.  I hope the kids perform well and get good marks.  I know they feel better about themselves when they do.  Besides, they’ve worked hard this year and deserve a good ending to the year.

I came home and Heather and I talked about the day.  We realized that for the first time in a LONG time, we had nothing going on outside the house.  Holy cow, we had time to ourselves!  We didn’t even know what to do with ourselves.  We decided to go out to eat dinner to celebrate Ruth’s birthday since we couldn’t do it on her real birthday.  We went to Applebees since Ruth got a free meal from them for her birthday and Heather and I had a gift certificate from the staff of our musical this year as a gift.  I think our meal cost us a total of $10 and that was with drinks and an appetizer.  Not bad!  Anyway, we came home and I tried to work on a students trumpet that has been having problems with his instrument tubes not moving.  I couldn’t figure out why.  I was using the torch to “expand” the tubing, but nothing was happening.  Then I took a flashlight and looked inside the tubing.  NOT GOOD!! Some idiot decided it would be smart to solder EVERY joint in place.  Including the tuning slides and valve caps!! CRAP!!  Nothing I could do.  There was no way to fix the instrument.  So, I think I’m going to let that student borrow my trumpet tommorrow.  That’s the only way to make sure he plays in tune.  Anyway, we went downstairs, I downloaded some music and shows onto my MP3 Player (indcluding “Always in Motion” and “Conquest of the Empire”).  I figure tommorrow’s trip will give me a chance to listen to them either on the way to the park or on the way back.  Anyway, we also took some time to watch “Numbers” and “So You Think You Can Dance”.  We got tired and decided to head to bed.  Tommorrow will be a long day and I will be gone the whole day.  With this in mind, I won’t be blogging tommorrow, but will catch up on Saturday with a blog for Friday and Saturday.  So, until then, let’s talk Star Wars

Let’s cover Chapter 27 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves…..

Chapter 27:  Lorn, Darsha, and I-Five have finally reached the surface.  Pavan figures that there at least a few government agencies are searching for him and I-Five by now.  Darsha suggested tjeu fomd a public comm so they could contact the Jedi at the Jedi Temple.  We then find out that back in the tunnels Pavan gave I-Five some directions without Darsha’s ears being around.  I-Five suggested they move up a couple of levels to find a working comm.  Pavan wanted to get ahold of Tuden Sal without the Jedi following.  They couldn’t figure out how they were going to get up a few levels when I-Five revealed they’re being watched.  Darsha suddenly felt several people watching them and none of them were the Sith.  That’s when they saw Green Hair and members of the Raptors Gang.  They are todl they have to pay the toll for being in thier territory.  Pavan interupted Green Hair and told the Raptors to give them their money and that Green Hair was going to be their guide to the upper levels.  The Raptors attack Pavan, Assant, and I-Five.  Or at least they attempt to attack them.  The scuffle lasted only a few minutes until Pavan started confiscating credits from the bodies on the ground that were stunned.  Then he instructed Green Hair to get up and lead them up to the upper levels.  Pavan thought to himself that if I-Five could get to a comm link, I-Five could set up a meeting with Suden Tal.  He also starts to admit to himself that he likes this female Jedi.  Then Pavan speaks to Assant about why she became a Jedi.  Assant reveals she was chosen by The Force.  Pavan asked Assant if she would be angry if she were to not become a Jedi.  Assant said no and referenced the Jedi Code.  Assant let him know that she achieved her goals, even if she didn’t complete her mission.

A busy and productive Wednesday.  I got into work a little late today.  I usually do on Wednesday’s because Heather gets home so late on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and I don’t sleep very well until she gets home that I lose sleep that night and get up a little later.  So, into work late, and I had to rush around to get stuff ready.  Not only did I have to scramble to get stuff together for the trip, but I realized this morning that I need to get things together for the subs on Friday and Tuesday.  This sent me into a little bit of a panic.  So, I had a ton of copies and plans to make to get things ready on that end.  Again, the feeling of just being overwhelmed just seems to continue.

Heather had a busy day at home as well.  She got most of the garden planted and was successful at getting most of our plants outside.  I’m so excited to be able to say that I can make my own garden and that I have my own piece of “Tarah” (you know, from “Gone With The Wind”).  Then the guy from Hoyle Audio came and made an estimate on the old T.V.  Sure enough, it’s going to cost $500 to fix the T.V.  So, we’re going to have it fixed sometime before the end of the summer and then try to sell the T.V. and get some money back and then some to put some of that money towards the other T.V.  We also had Time Warner show up today and tell me absolutely nothing about my HDMI problem.  First the guy tried to tell me  I had the wrong cable, then admitted he had no idea what I was talking about, then had them reset he computer at the main station in Vestal, and miraculously it worked!  Then Rent Way showed up with a new chair for the broken one we have been paying on.  Well, it wasn’t the chair we wanted, so they’re loaning us the current chair till they can get us the one we want.  Shortly after this point, I headed to SMASH rehearsal.  I came home and watched T.V. with my wife, including “American Idol”.

I want to be the first person to say congratulations to Taylor Hicks for having won “American Idol”.  The “Silver Fox” really was a great singer all the way through the competition.  I’m not sure if Idol will ever be the same ever again without the “Soul Patrol”.  Great job Taylor and congratulations.

Okay, onto why you’re all here.  Time to talk about Chapter 26 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves…..

Chapter 26:  Obi-Wan enters the Tusken Oasis and soon feels through The Force tat some disturbance occured here not too long ago.  He noticed he was being watched as he approached the bartender.  Obi-Wan sensed the bartender and two Rodians readying weapons trained on him.  Obi-Wan soon lept to the ground and activated his lightsaber.  He cut through the blaster under and bar and Force-pushed another blaster out of a Rodian’s hands while he deflected the other Rodian’s shot.  That’s when Dal Perhi stepped forward and stopped the fight.  Perhi informs Obi-Wan that they were making sure he wasn’t  an agent of the Black Sun.  Perhi took Obi-Wan to Yanth the Hutt’s dead body.  Obi-Wan noted the unique burn on Yanth’s body that only a lightsaber could make.  He tried to make a connection with Yanth through The Force, but couldn’t tell how he died.  Obi-Wan asked Perhi if there were any witnesses and he said no.  Obi-Wan decides to leave the Tusken Oasis.  As Obi-Wan walked down the street, he contemplated two theories about what has happened to Darsha.  He decided to head to the address of a block of cubicles he had been given.  Obi-Wan found out that Hath Monchar died in those cubicles, but he still had many questions that needed to be answered.

Today was another busy day.  My head is still spinning from all of the things I need to do at work and at home.  At work I needed to finish getting together materials for both field trips I have coming in the next week.  I’m really nervous knowing the choir trip is only a week away.  I don’t know why, I’ve gone all over the place with my marching band, but I think it’s because I don’t know these kids as well as I knew my marching band kids.  Our band director asked me to partake in a Bi-Centenial parade next Saturday and I decided that I would.  My marching band at Binghamton wants to put together an all-star marching band with all the previous staff and students they can find.  Josh, if you’re reading this, you’re more than welcome to come down and partake of this parade.  I’m sure the marching band kids would love it.  Just let me know via email or phone.  Today I feverishly worked on getting midterms done so that I could make the cutoff for those to be in.  I just feel like I have the world on my shoulders.  I have a substitute down the hall that needs my help (rightfully so), a MYP coordinator that needs a “unit” from me and asked me yesterday to get that to her and needs it by Friday, work at lunch hour, getting the choir ready for the trip, helping the band director with his trip, and getting my students ready for finals in my classes, plus SMASH is getting ready for our big spring concerts.  Whew, need I say more?  I have a lot on my plate and somewhere in there, I need ot remember to pee every now and again.

After some issues with the house again, Heather and I discovered that the septic tank for our house has not been emptied in over eight years (found some paperwork documenting it).  I thought we had plumbing problems when in reality, the septic probably just needs to be drained.  Well, there is yet another expense that we did not expect in the next month or so.  We’ll have to make a call tommorrow to find out how much it’s going to cost.

Tonight I worked frantically to try and get TJCS #5 back on track.  It is looking up.  I actually have the Intro, In The Bag, and Twileek Talk segments already recorded.  I hope to have Hovering Rocks, not to be Confused with Rolling Stones and Cantina News segments completed by tommorrow.  Which means I only have to record the bi-monthly question and the interviews with my cast for “Jedi Babies” and then the next episode will be ready.  Well, sort of.  I will still have a MASSIVE amount of editing to do after that.  That’s the part I’m worried about is the editing.

Okay, so onto our discussion of Chapter 25 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves…..

Chapter 25:  Assant, Pavan, and I-Five continue to run as fast as they can away from the Taozin.  Darsha stayed behind and started to tear apart the bridge at the behest of I-Five.  Darsha began to fight the Taozin so well that she felt at one with The Force.  We then switch to Maul who is watching his three prey with their back’s toward him and facing a giant creature in front of them.  Maul recognized the creature as a Taozin.  He tried to probe the Taozin with The Force, to no avail.  But it revealed his presence to the Taozin that tried to throw webbing at him.  We then switch back to Darsha, Lorn, and I-Five who are continuing to execute thier plan on the bridge.  Darsha joins Pavan and I-Five as they cut the last strand, hang on to it, and fall down the chasm, past the Taozin’s tail.  As they fall, Maul curses them.  Their arc takes them to the other side of the chasm and run into the wall.  Now all they had to do was climb the webbing.  We then switch to Maul who has decided to continue acrossed the weakened bridge.  The Taozin continued to attack and Maul had to cut the other bridge supports to sent the Taozin to the bottom of the chasm.  Maul had to climb back onto the side of the chasm from which he came.  This made Maul upset.  He know he would have to go back to to the surface and track his prey again.

Well, it was a busy Monday.  But it wasn’t a Monday before a big concert which made it an almost average Monday.  I worked on more information on our trip for next Tuesday when I arrived at work today.  Man, it’s making me panic that it’s a week away from tommorrow and considering I have a field trip on Friday and a three day weekend because of Memorial Day, I have three days to get my stuff together.  I still have to organize T-Shirts, contact parent/chaperones, and finnish collecting Emergency Contact forms from students.  In other words, there is a lot to do yet.  Classes went well today and things were normal for a school day.  I got home and the kids were excited as always to see me at the bus stop.  Heather and I went and took a half hour nap (still realing from this weekend and the lack of sleep we have had).  We then got up and helped Tara finnish cleaning her room and then got dinner together.  Heather showed me the cupcakes she picked up for her class tommorrow since her birthday is tommorrow.  Man, I can’t believe the girl is nine years old already.  It just blows my mind!  Anyway, we ate dinner and got interupted by the UPS man.  He showed up with a package for the previous owner.  Worse yet, he walked up, banged on the door, left the package and didn’t give us a chance to give it back to him and let us tell him it’s not ours.  Heather found the previous owners phone number on the box and called her and agreed to drop the box off to her trailer in the trailer park.  When Heather got there, she told Heather that this place they were living in was going to have to do until they could get a chance to get another money together to buy the house back.  That’s when I looked at Heather and said WHAT??!! (she narrated the story to me).  So, we have decided that we don’t want to see her anywhere near our house again!  After that, I had a great opportunity to have a conversation and interview with Nathan Butler tonight.  It was a really pleasurable experience and I think Nathan and I have a lot more in common than even we thought.  It was a good conversation and a great interview.  We even brainstormed a new title for the segment.  I have decided not to title the series “Spotlight” as Jeff Roney already has a “Spotlight” segment on Roney Zone Radio.  So, Nathan and I (more Nathan than me) brainstormed the name “Springboard”,  so I’m going to run with it.  So, the first highlight for the “Springboard” series will be “Echoes”, Nathan’s Podcast Novel.  That segment is slated to come out in mid-June (if editing goes well).  After we got done, Heather and I went downstairs and worked on class work/sewing and watched our evening shows.

Time to talk about “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” by Michael Reaves Chapter 24…..

Chapter 24:  Maul was now close to catching his prey.  He followed with cautious eagerness.  Maul was probed by the weaker Padawan, but he continued to follow his prey.  Maul probed ahead of them and found an emptiness in The Force that seemed odd.  At that point Pavan and Assant were running at him.  Maul was impressed with their bravery.  We then switch to Darsha, I-Five, and Pavan’s view.  They have run into a creature that is massive and seems partially transparent.  Darsha couldn’t sense the existence of the creature at all.  They attacked the creature but only made it upset and Darsha began to realize that the creature built the bridge they were on.  Pavan started to ponder the creature as he thought he recognized it, and that’s wehn he realized that it was a supposedly extinct creature called a “Taozin”.  Darsha tried attacking the creature with her lightsaber, but it had no effect on the creatures exterior skin.  They decided to retreat away from the Taozin and toward the Sith, deflecting the Taozin’s sticky spit-like fluid on the way.

Well, I’m exhausted today again!  It’s just so hard for me to go to bed at a normal time when my wife works so late.  Not to mention, last night she got up three or four times and went upstairs, and everytime she did, I woke up too.  We both took two naps today and I felt guilty that we took a nap while my parents were still here.  I hope Heather changes this schedule again sometime soon, because I don’t know if I could handle this schedule all summer long.

Ruth had a great birthday today.  She got some Barbies and then she got some play horses and a barn to go with them.  I found out with the catalog that came with them that we’re entering a whole new world with toy horses.  Who knew!  She also got some really cute clothes and books from Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Trish, and Cousin Katie.  I know Ruth was really appreciative of everything she got.

We had several flavored pork steaks for dinner.  We uses salad dressings (Italian, Honey Mustard, and Ranch). I used a different one.  I used a sample of Wendy’s Chipotle Ranch and man was that good!  I would use it as a flavoring for pork steaks again if I had the chance to do it!  Anyway, we had a homemade cake by my wife.  It was white with Peanut Butter frosting.  It was amazing!  It was cool and tasted amazing!  My parents left shortly after that and Heather and I took another short nap.  Then we spent some time with the kids, finnished mowing the lawn and popping weeds.  Then we went to Survivor Kid’s Club for a special Sunday night worship.  We came home, the kids went to bed and Heather and I watched our normal T.V. shows and went to bed.  I look forward to tommorrow as it should be a “back to normal” week.  I never thought I would say that I look forward to that.

Onto Chapter 23 of “Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter” Chapter 23…..

Chapter 23:  They cross the bridge and while doing so, speculate why it is here and why it isn’t built any better.  They begin talking about how I-Five and Pavan met each other.  We find out I-Five used to be a protocol droid for a family with rich children.  Lorn bought him from that family.  We also learn that something in Pavan’s past has caused him to hate the Jedi.  We find out that I-Five is independent because Pavan gave him an A.I. cognitive ship and created an independent conscience.  He needed a new partner to his previous employers let him down.  The previous employers were the Jedi.  Then Assant reflects on her childhood and remembers a boy who joined the Jedi Temple and his father, a Temple Employee, agreed to leave, although she doesn’t know why.  Assant believes that Pavan is that child.  Then Assant reaches out with The Force to look for Maul and lets Pavan and I-Five know he’s right behind them.  They found out why the C’Thons didn’t follow them!