‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 26 (Part 1)

Well, it’s Friday and it was good weather today.  All I needed to make it a perfect day was to make it a pay day, but not everything is perfect in the world.  I got up this morning and got things together while trying to get the kids ready for school.  What made it even better was the fact that it was such a nice day outside.  Not only did it look nice, but the weather felt warmer already and it’s supposed to get warmer.  I got myself together and the kids got ready for school with a good amount of ease this morning.  Our babysitter showed up this morning and I was off to work and they were off to school.

I got to work and things went pretty smooth today.  I was able to get the laptop cart and they worked fairly well today.  Things went well with my classes.  My sixth grade students started to watch Season 8 of American Idol today, my seventh graders finished their research for their podcast projects, and my eighth graders finished their research as well for their music video projects.  It went well and I was able to get a lot done today and I had a good day at work.

I got done with work and left and came home. I got home and talked with Heather for a little and then went downstairs and played “Call of Duty 4″ before dinner.  Heather called us upstairs for dinner and we all ate some dinner and I then went downstairs and played a few more games of “Call of Duty 4″ before Ian showed up and then we recorded for our podcast.  We got done and James showed up and we watched “The Clone Wars” together.

We got done and Ian and I did some more recording and then Heather came downstairs and told me there was a problem upstairs.  Apparently our problem with the electrical in the back half of the house has returned and there was no power.  Heather explained that she went to turn on the light in the bedroom and the hall light went out and everything went dead.  So, with some help from Ian, we took a look at everything and even pulled out my voltage meter.  We measured volts (nothing) and ohms (middle).  Then Ian had to go and I kept working.  I called my father in desperation around 11:30 tonight and he pointed out that I just blew up my meter by testing ohms with my breaker on.  Crap!  Well, I worked until about midnight and then did research online trying to find solutions till about two in the morning on Saturday morning.

It’s been a long weekend already and it’s only just begun!

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 26 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 25 (Part 5)

It’s Thursday and I have to say that it was a good day overall.  Things seemed to go well and I had a pretty smooth day.  I like it when my day is like that.  I got up this morning and got the kids going for the day today.  I got a shower and the kids got their breakfast and I joined them.  We watched the “Today” show and ate breakfast and got my things ready for the day and our babysitter got to the house on time and I was off to work and the kids were off to school.

I got to school and set things up for the day.  It was a good day.  My students were engaged and things went well in the classroom and I’m pleased to say that it was a successful day doing Music History.  It was a good day overall and I think even our PLG that I led this afternoon went well.  It was a good work day and I called Heather on my way home and talked to her on the cell phone on my way home from work.

When I got home, I was able to start working on some things around the house and get some of the things in the house organized. I then went downstairs and played some “Call of Duty 4″ until it was time for dinner.  I then went back downstairs and started working on the notes of the last episode of “The Jedi Council Speaks”:  Hovering Rocks #4.  My hope is to have that show out by this Saturday and wrap up the podcast for good.  I will also be wrapping up this blog on the same day.  There will be more information out about that on Friday and Saturday.  I then went upstairs and had a dinner of soft tacos and refried beans with the family and then came downstairs and started playing with a new program I have called Mixcraft by Acoustica.  It’s a really fun program to play around with and I hate to admit it, but it’s MUCH better than Fruity Loops and I’m looking forward to playing around with this program in the future.  If you haven’t ever looked at this program, check it out.  I got done playing around just in time to watch “Survivor”, “C.S.I.”, and a tape of “Hell’s Kitchen”.  I then wrote this blog and headed to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 5 of Chapter 25 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 25 (Part 4)

Wednesday and it’s officially hump day.  I had quite a bit to get through today and I was impressed that I got as much done today as I did.  I got up this morning and felt a little better because I felt like I was rested a little better than I was yesterday.  I got out of bed and Heather helped me get the kids ready for school.  It was nice having her here to help me get ready for school.  She made me some eggs for breakfast and I was happy to be on my way to work.

I got to work and got things set up for the day.  It was not a bad day at all.  My eighth graders all took their first tests on Jazz and then worked on the left hand for the keyboard in their first song.  My sixth graders were continuing to learn scales on recorder and now have three scales under their belt and my seventh graders started their first scale on keyboard this year.  I even had some positive interactions with my students today.  I had one student come to my room during one of my prep periods and told me that she was sorry about the way she has been acting in my class and is promising to do better.  At the end of the day, after getting asked some questions by a librarian, I ran into a kid I had years ago that was visiting the school from High School.  The student apologized to me for being a pain many years ago and said I was one of his favorite teachers from Middle School.  These interactions are the types of discussions that teachers live for.  They don’t happen very often, but when they do, they swell your soul up for a year’s worth of ego.  That’s good enough for me.

I got done with all of that and came home.  I got home and talked with Ruth about her NYSSMA solo and then Austin about his day and Tara about her day.  I then went downstairs and played “Call of Duty 4″ until it was dinner time.  After dinner, Heather took off with the kids.  She took the girls to Girl Scouts and dropped them off and then took Austin to the library to get some books for a research project and then brought the girls home.  While they were out, I got a lot done around the house including grading some papers, finishing editing some work on the new podcast and then playing a little of “Call of Duty 4″.  Heather came home and we watched “Knight Rider” together and then we watched a tape of “American Idol” and then I watched a tape of the comedies on CBS from Monday night.  We then headed to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 4 of Chapter 25 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 25 (Part 3)

It was Tuesday and a busy day at that.  I got up this morning and was a little perturbed because Heather forgot to make my breakfast and lunch last night.  Now, I know a lot of you out there think that I’m coddled because my wife doesn’t make my food for me.  Well, she takes care of me because I make sure that three kids have lunches and breakfasts in the morning and so there is a give and take there.  So, I had to deal with some mass chaos of getting the kids and myself ready.  So, we managed to work ourselves out of the mass chaos and not get too off-set for our morning this morning.  Our babysitter showed up on time and I was off to work while the kids were off to school.

My work day went pretty well today.  I was able to do some fair amount of teaching and I think my lesson plans went fairly well.  I was surprised just how much information my students were able to soak in and I think that they are starting to get used to my schedule and expectations for class.  I had my last band rehearsal at lunch today for the concert that was tonight.  I am always happy to get my lunches back because when I work the lunch hour, I have about four hours where I do nothing but work and have very little time to actually eat my lunch.  To make matters worse, there is a book club meeting tomorrow and I’m not going to be able to make it because I have catch-up work to do and I also have some students to try and work with.  I made it through my work day and headed home.

I got home and Heather asked me if I would got and pick the kids up from their piano lessons so she could get dinner on the table on time.  So, I got back in the car and went over to the church to pick up the kids, but Austin somehow got the piano teacher behind (a LONG story) and Ruth only had about a ten minute lesson before we had to go.  We got home and had a dinner of homemade meatball sandwiches with homemade bread.  It tasted awesome!  We also found out that Austin has not been at his last two band lessons and then lied to Heather and I about it.  Hmmm…   I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I told him that this is unacceptable.

Shortly after dinner we headed to the mall for our “Music In Our School’s Month” concert and I helped the band director set up for the concert.  I repaired three instruments just before the concert and then helped tear down the concert.  I think we did pretty well.  The kids performed great and they drew a little bit of a crowd, which was nice to see.  The kids were happy and so were Rob and I.  I checked out GameStop before leaving and coming home.  We got home and I took a short nap and then watched “American Idol” as I worked on a few things and then downloaded a program to help me with recording.  I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but I’ll let you know what I think once I get a chance to play around with it.  I also solved my problem between Flock and WordPress and I am glad to say that I’m using Flock as my default browser now.  I like it SO much better than Inernet Explorer!  I answered some emails and watched “Law and Order:SVU” and then headed to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 3 of Chapter 25 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 25 (Part 2)

Well, it’s Monday and it’s the beginning of the week.  I was able to get some rest for the morning this morning, but I’ll admit that I was not really bounding out of bed this morning.  I believe I snoozed the alarm at least twice this morning.  I got up and got the kids going for the day today.  They were in a better mood than I was, I will openly admit that.  I got them going for the day and they had breakfast as I took a shower and then joined them for breakfast.  We had some fun watching the “Today” show today as they talked about the idiot that went to propose to his girlfriend and put it in a Wendy’s Frosty and the girlfriend ate the proposal ring by accident.  Not exactly the smartest thing anyone has done.  The babysitter showed up on time and I was off to work while the kids were off to school.

I got to school and got things set up for my day.  It will be an interesting day today as I was hoping to get through information pretty quickly.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get through as much as I had wanted to.  But, that is often to be expected when I expect more of my students.  It generally happens that way.  I managed to get through my day with my students and I realized at lunch that I didn’t watch “Celebrity Apprentice” last night, so I watched it on Hulu during lunch today.  I love the site Hulu.com.  It’s so cool!  I got done with my day and left school after talking to Rob and Sherri before leaving.

I got home and talked with the kids a little bit and then went downstairs and played “Call of Duty 4″ until it was time for dinner.  I then went upstairs and joined the family for dinner eating and we had sloppy joes, boiled potatoes, and deviled eggs.  I went downstairs and watched T.V. until it was time to take Austin to Scouts and I dropped him off and came home.  I did some grading and worked on the newest podcast that will be released soon.  See, I will be stopping “The Jedi Council Speaks”, but I will be starting another podcast that Ian and I will run together with some help from some other individuals.  I’ll leak more information here as it becomes available, so stay tuned!  Heather went and picked up Austin from Scouts as I was completely embroiled in “24″ which was on tonight and was completely AWESOME!!  I’m totally addicted to the show now!  I then watched “C.S.I. Miami” and then went to bed with Heather.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 25 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes……

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 25 (Part 1)

Well, today was the first day of March, Sunday, and I am happy to say that it was the twelfth wedding anniversary for Heather and I.  I have to say that it’s hard to believe that it is twelve years already.  I think it is because I am in a marriage that is so comfortable.  It’s not that it’s a bad thing.  It’s an absolutely good thing that I am comfortable with my wife and she is comfortable with me.  Besides, she still laughs at my jokes.  I’m not sure if it’s to make me feel better or if she genuinely thinks I’m funny, but that doesn’t matter, because she humbles me.

We finished with church and the kids stayed behind to do Youth Group while Heather and I went out for a dinner at “Olive Garden” and had a very nice dinner/lunch together at the restaurant.  I’ve figured out what I like about the “Olive Garden” restaurant, it’s the fact that it has that old-time Italian feel that the whole restaurant has.  We came home and were exhausted and took a nap.  After our nap, Heather went and picked up the kids.  I got up from our nap and went downstairs and played a little bit of “Call of Duty 4″ for a while this afternoon.  After playing online for about an hour and a half or so, Tara begged me to fix her Barbie sets again.  So, I decided now was the time to permanently fixed them and I replaced all of her cardboard parts with parts made of thin sintra.  It was really easy to do and made them much more sturdy.

I got done with that and started grading papers and working on things online.  In particular, I’m trying to figure out why Java won’t work with Internet Explorer 7.  I’ve tried everything under the face of the earth, but none of it is helping, so I decided to update to Internet Explorer 8, and that didn’t solve the problem either.  So, out of desperation, I downloaded a program I know about called Flock and it seemed to solve the problem.  Of course, I can’t use Flock as my only browser because for whatever reason, it won’t allow me to log in to wordpress.  There’s always something.  Heather and I watched “Amazing Race” and “Big Love” which is getting overly dramatic now.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 25 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes……

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 24 (Part 2)

Well, it was Saturday and the day before my anniversary.  I got up after sleeping in this morning and had to inspect Tara’s room as soon as I got up.  I promised her she could watch “The Clone Wars” this morning since she wasn’t allowed to watch it last night because her room wasn’t clean.  Well, she passed inspection this morning and she watched the show with the family in the family room.  I went online and did some things around the net on the upstairs computer and then sat down and did some thinking.

It is with a little bit of sadness in my heart that I announce to all of you the end of an era.  THE JEDI COUNCIL SPEAKS WILL BE NO MORE AS OF MARCH 7TH.  That’s right, as of next Saturday, the podcast and this blog will be no more.  But, that is followed by good news.  There will be a new blog and a new podcast.  SO, I LOOK AT THIS AS NOT AN END, BUT A NEW BEGINNING, AND PAY ATTENTION HERE AS THERE WILL BE LINKS AND CHANGES SOON! 

Okay, with that said, I went downstairs and watched “Saw IV” and although it’s not as good as the first two “Saw” movies, I think it’s a step back in that direction and now I’m excited to try and see “Saw V” and see how that movie stacks up.  I got done with that and ate some lunch (because those movies amp up my appetite {sarcasm}).  After that I spent most of my afternoon playing “Call of Duty 4″ and I have to say that I’m having a ton of fun playing the game and getting my prestige back up.  I’m up to level 41 by the end of the night tonight and I’m excited at the fact that I may get to level 55 soon.  Later this afternoon I continued catching up on my blog and then went upstairs and ate dinner with the family.  I came back downstairs and played the game some more until Heather came downstairs and joined me.  We then watched the movie “Red Belt” and then “Definetly, Maybe” and then went to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 24 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 24 (Part 1)

Well, it’s Friday, it’s the end of the week and it’s payday.  I had vast and great plans for the day today and it started off bad, but ended on an up note.   I got up this morning and felt like today was going to be a good day.  Heather had left for work this morning and I didn’t even hear her get out of bed, which was nice because that meant I slept soundly for once.  I got the kids up and got them going for the day today.  I got myself going and ate some breakfast and was able to goof around with the kids a little before heading off to work.  Our babysitter showed up on time and I was on my way to work while the kids were off to school.

I had left early for work because of what I wanted to do at work today.  I got there early, or at least tried to, to try and get things going.  First, I had to deal with grandma on my way to work who decided to go ten miles an hour on the way to work on the only road between work and my house.  Then I got to work and found the WORST truck driver to drive a truck.  He tried to back into the school docks for about ten times before I got annoyed and simply parked as far away from the docks as I could because I couldn’t trust the guy anymore!  I got out of my car and raced into the school to set up my room.  Put everything down in my room and went up to the room with the Apple Laptops to get the laptop cart I had set aside.  Well, it wasn’t there.  So, I had to have a teacher paged and we finally found the cart.  But, then I found out the cart had a different lock than I was used to and required a key.  However, the secretary in the office that had the key wasn’t in this morning.  So, I had a cart and no way to get into it!  So, I asked the other secretary in the office if it was okay to use another cart and she okayed it.  I took another cart and moved it to my room.  This cart, however, had a different combo than was on the cart.  I had to call another teacher who helped me out and I got the cart unlocked about one minute before class was about to start!

I got through my classes today and handed out Two-Week Reports.  It wasn’t a bad day overall.  My eighth graders started their research for their classroom music video projects.  My sixth graders started to finish out Season Seven of “American Idol” and my seventh graders started their research for their podcast projects.  I got through my day and returned all the carts and got on my way home.  Once I got home, I started goofing around with the kids and we talked about our days a little bit.  Heather and I talked about what we had planned on doing over the weekend.  In particular, how we were celebrating our anniversary on Sunday by going out for a lunch by ourselves.  Then I went downstairs and started to play some “Call of Duty4″, and got invited by some kids at school again.  But, this time, they turned on the radar.  I equate this to cheating.  Anyone can hunt someone on a map that they know is there!  Yeah, then it just becomes what I refer to as an “ack-ack” game.  you know, one where all you’re doing is unloading bullets and nothing else.

I got annoyed and went back and played online for a while and then ate some dinner with the kids and Heather.  I went back downstairs and played the game a little more until Ian arrived.  We watched the first episode of  “The Clone Wars” and then recorded a little bit.  I will say this, the future of “The Jedi Council Speaks” is in high doubt.  To the point that I have decided to make a final decision about it tomorrow and make an announcement by the end of next week.  We had a ton of fun recording and then James showed up and we all watched the latest episode of “The Clone Wars” and I have to say that I liked this episode.  It wasn’t half bad!  I got done watching that and showed James “Call of Duty 4″ and then he left and we all went to bed to get ready for tomorrow.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 24 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 23 (Part 7)

Thursday.   The week is almost over and I am on my way to having a little time back to myself and to focus on this blog and my podcast.  I got up this morning and felt a little better rested than yesterday, but I will be happy when we finally get to the weekend.  For some reason this weekend seems like it’s forever and a day away!  I got up this morning and got the kids ready for the school day while I got ready for the work day.  The kids seemed to be excited about the prospect that tomorrow would be a new day and it would be Friday and they were looking forward to the weekend as well as a new episode of “The Clone Wars” which they were all asking me about.

The babysitter showed up on time, and I was off to work and the kids were on their way to school.  It was an interesting day, to say the least.  I went over the history of Jazz and then had the kids watch the second segment in the Ken Burns video series with my eighth grade students.  My sixth grade students went over the Middle Ages with me and the impact of music on the world during that timeframe.  Finally, we went over the beginning of the Baroque Period with my seventh grade students and they were fairly well behaved after Tuesday’s chaos class.  The best part is that they started to correct themselves.  We also had a great PLG today talking about motivation and students.  We talked about past events for us that motivated us to do something good or bad.  We all discovered that students will react negatively to teachers who have a negative attitude toward their students and students will excel in classrooms where the teacher tries to be positive with the students.  We also discovered that when the expectations are high, is when students achieve the most.

I got done with work and came home to get to spend some time with the kids.  Austin told me his trumpet lesson did better and actually admitted that I may have been right all along.  Ruth thanked me for the help with her Science homework because I was right in my answers.  Tara told me about the “Daddy/Daughter” dance and the cool thing is that it is about hollywood and you’re encouraged to dress like your favorite actor.  Well, Tara was excited because this could mean that we can dress as our Star Wars characters at the event.  I know, just another reason to put the costume on, right?!

I went downstairs and played some “Call of Duty4″, when one of my students invited me to play them in a one on one game online.  Well, I joined, but had warned them that I am pretty viscious when it comes to the game.  I pretty much beat the student two to one, for every one kill he had on me, I had two on him (sometimes more).  It was fun, but I know that tomorrow I’ll get some ribbing for it in class.  We all ate dinner together and I came downstairs and graded some papers and then did Two-Week Reports to hand out tomorrow.  I finished with those just in time to watch “Survivor”, “C.S.I” and then “Hell’s Kitchen” on tape and then Heather and I went to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 7 of Chapter 23 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..

‘Star Wars: The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 23 (Part 6)

Well, it’s Tuesday and the middle of the week.  It’s hard to believe that I’ve made it to the middle of the week this week with relative little ease.  I got up this morning and I will openly admit that I am a little groggy and a little grumpy even though I got some extra sleep last night.  Not sure why, just the mood I’m in.  I got up this morning and got the kids going for the day today and they seemed to be in a bit of a grumpy mood themselves.  I don’t know if it was because I was or if they were naturally on their own anyway.

I got the kids ready for school and had to argue with Tara a little bit about her ensemble she decided she was wearing to school, but that eventually got worked out and the kid was on her way.  The babysitter showed up on time and I was off to work while the kids were off to school.  Today I taught keyboard to my eighth graders, recorder to my sixth graders and my seventh grade class did their behavior modification sheets.  I think it did the trick because they complained, but by the end of the period they were united and they all agreed that they had misbehaved in class yesterday and agreed that it created a chaotic environment to learn in.  We’ll see if their attitude is adjusted tomorrow.

I got done with school today and found out our faculty meeting was cancelled, which was nice because then I got to go straight home for the day.  It’s not often I get to come straight home, so I was excited to be able to do that.  I was able to greet the kids at the door and tell them about my day and ask them about theirs.  I helped Austin with some problems he was having with trumpet (miraculously, the solution was using the metronome.  I wish more teachers taught their students to actually use the metronome).  I helped Ruth with some Science homework and then I went downstairs and went online for a while and caught up on some things.

Heather called me upstairs for dinner and we ate together as a family.  After dinner I went downstairs and played “Call of Duty 4″ for an hour or so and Heather left with the girls to go to Girl Scouts.  At about eight o’clock or so, I had to pick up the girls from Girl Scouts, which was okay with me as “Knight Rider” was on tonight.  I got home with the girls just in time for Heather to have joined me from the Ash Wednesday service (she want to the service because the choir was singing).  We then went downstairs and watched our usual Wednesday night shows “American Idol” and “Law and Order:Special Victims Unit”.  I have to say I was really dissapointed in “American Idol” tonight as I think all the contestants picked poor songs for their song choices this week and therefore we had a very bad week as far as performances.  After watching some T.V., we went to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 6 of Chapter 23 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..