Shatterpoint, An Overview

Okay, well, it was Thursday and I’m beginning to get ready for the end of the work week, but I’m starting to be surprised at just how busy I’m getting.  Of course, I’m bringing most of it on myself and most of it is stress that I put on myself.  But, what good is life if you don’t put some stress on yourself.  I got up this morning and got myself going for the day.  I was in a pretty good mood and was ready to tackle the day and all the things that were going to come at me.  I got myself going and got the kids going for the day and the babysitter showed up on time.  I was off to work and they were off to school.  It was a nice day and I was happy and even full of some Holiday Cheer this morning as I headed off to work listening to “Harry Connick Jr. – When My Heart Finds Christmas” CD.   I got to school and it was a typical start to the day, the only thing that made me a little nervous was the fact that students were brought inside into the auditorium to keep them out of the rain, which always makes me nervous becuase they end up being around a LOT of expensive audio equipment and I’m always afraid it will get broken.  I made it through my day.  My eighth graders did their next segment on “Jazz” and my seventh and sixth graders were doing their music history as well.  I got through my day and we had a PLG meeting.  It was very effective and I have to say that everything worked out fairly well in our meeting.  We even got observed by another PLG moderator that seemed very impressed with what we were doing (remember Jessica?  Her dogs were highlighted on this show, it was her).  I then went upstairs and got my room ready for the next day.  I then finished school and got out at a fairly decent hour and headed home.  I got home and decided that I needed to try and finish as much of Austin’s helmet tonight as possible as it seems as it may be a possibility that we will be visiting a local hospital to give out gifts soon and I want to make sure his helmet is at least ready for that event.  Heather got a phone call back from the hospital when I got home and it sounded like they were very interested in our costuming group coming in.  We also got a lot accomplished tonight including finishing up on some Ebay items we had going on and Heather and I watched “Survivor” and “C.S.I.” while I worked on some things and then we went to bed early.  Not a spectacular day, but a good one none the less.

Okay, so this is it, as far as “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint,  A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover.  I want to reiterate that I will give a review of the good points of this book, the bad points and then give it a 1 to 10 rating that will then stay on my blog.  Also, after reviewing this book, I will then be reviewing the E-Book “Equipment” which is also by Matthew Woodring Stover.  After “Equipment”, I’LL BE READING AND REVIEWING “THE CESTUS DECEPTION” BY STEVEN BARNES, and that review should happen starting next week sometime.  But, let’s move onto the overall perspective on “Shatterpoint”…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Afterword (Part 3)

Well, it was Wednesday and there was much to do today.  It was back to a full day of school.  I got up this morning and I will say it was dissapointing to not have Heather this morning.  I got up and went downstairs and took care of the computer as it had been busy last night processing some information for me.  I came back upstairs and woke the kids up and took a shower.  I came out of the shower to Tara and Austin fighting with each other over what they were going to eat, what they were going to take to school, and whether they should wear boots and snowpants.  I had to quickly quell the rebellion, but that led to little fights all morning long.  I was never so happy to go to school and teach kids.  I got out the door on time and the kids got off to school on time.  I got to school and set things up for keyboards and recorder today.  I managed to get through my teaching day today and I also managed to get the notes done for “The ConservaCast”.  I finished my day and then went to a department meeting at the High School.  That meeting seemed to go well and I left there and called Heather on my way home and found out that she wasn’t feeling so well.  I got home and found out that my “STAR Productions” bumper sticker had arrived from Cafe Press and I immediately put it on my laptop!  It looks really cool and I’m excited to have it on my laptop now.  I got done with that and we all ate dinner together and had a taco casserole.  We got done and I went downstairs and recorded for “The ConservaCast” and posted the latest episode here:  http://www.conservacast.mypodcast.com.  While the video was uploading and getting online, I put together Austin’s helmet and finished all the electrical on that.  While Heather and I watched “Secret Millionaire”, I graded papers for my classes.  I got done grading in time to watch “Law and Order” with Heather and we then went to bed together.  Tomorrow would be a little slower of a day as I only have to be at the church tomorrow night to work on the sound system for a little bit and that was my only commitment.

TOMORROW NIGHT I WILL BE DOING MY OVERALL ANALYSIS ON THE BOOK “SHATTERPOINT”!

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 3 of the Afterword of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Afterward (Part 2)

Well, it’s Tuesday and I hate to say it, but I am glad that it was a half day today.  Only because it gave me the opportunity to get a lot done both at school and at home.  I got up this morning and was a little better rested for the day.  The kids got up and we got ourselves going for the day with little to no problems.  Again, it’s really nice having my wife home on Tuesdays as she really feels like she can get things done in this time frame and I think she really is enjoying being home once a week and being able to get things done.  She helped the kids get off to school on time and I got off to work on time as well.  I got to work and set things up for my half day.  I taught this morning and it went fairly well, but my last period of the day got antsy because they simply wanted to go home.  I got through my instructional day and sat down in my room and ate some lunch.  I then got a jump on setting up the auditorium and started to move the sound equipment into the auditorium.  I moved everything into the auditorium and started to set up the sound equipment and ran into a problem with one of the wireless mics we had gotten from the High School from last year.  I took forty-five minutes out of my time, pulled the mic anc receiver apart and fixed them both and then put them both back together.  It took a long time, BUT, I managed to fix it and felt pretty confident about myself!  I got done with that and set up the rest of the system and was pretty proud of myself for having finished this all up.  I went into my room and did some research for my next ConservaCast and then got everything packed up and headed over to Roosevelt Elementary School for SMASH rehearsal.  Jim and I were a little upset because one of the members we wanted to work with didn’t show up.  It was a little bit more of a relaxed rehearsal, which I thought was okay because we can’t be intense with these kids all the time or they’ll just end up quitting.  I got done with SMASH and came home and had some Taco Bell for dinner with Heather.  We got done with dinner and I helped Ruth and Austin with their instruments for a little bit and then went downstairs and worked on notes for “The ConservaCast” while I watched T.V., including “Fringe” and “Law and Order:  S.V.U.”  We got done watching T.V. and Heather and I went to bed.  Tomorrow was another interesting day as I had a meeting after school, a podcast to record, papers to grade and I wanted to try and get Austin’s helmet finished.   At least the electrical work on it.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 2 of the Afterward of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Afterword (Part 1)

Well, it’s Sunday and it’s so many things today.  It’s the last day of my vacation.  It’s the last day of November.  It’s the first Sunday of Advent.  It’s the last chance to get the latest episode of “The Jedi Council Speaks” out.  So, as you can see, there were a lot of last minute decisions that had to be made!  We got up around eight o’clock this morning and started to get ready for a nine-thirty church service today.  The kids got excited this morning because Heather said they could wear their Christmas dresses and dress shirts for church today.  Heather and I got ready, but Heather was not feeling so well.  She has a little bit of a stomach bug and a stuffy nose and headaches.  For a while, I was concerned she was going to say to me that she wasn’t going to go to church and I would get stuck with just the kids and myself.  Luckily she came to church though.  It was a very nice service this morning, but they had some issues with the sound system again.  Major feedback this time and I knew I was going to get some questions at the end of the service.  Sure enough, Rodney asked me if there was a free day I had this week and I told him I had Thursday night free.  Not only did they have sound issues, but they had video issues as well.  For whatever reason, their screen for videos, etc. has stopped working and all they did was install a table in the back and replugged in all the cords.  We (a guy from Ed) and myself along with Rodney tried to get it working again, but to no avail.  We got done with church and went home a minute and then came back and picked up the kids.  Heather said she needed eggs and flour and I wanted to get some craft brushes, so we headed straight from church to Wal Mart.  We got what we needed and we got out simply because it was MASS chaos in Wal Mart today.  I would love to shop at this point in the season, but Heather sees it as pointless since we have no extra money to spend.  I’m not sure why we’re so strapped.  The only thing I can figure is that Heather is saving for the holiday season.  We got home and I hate to admit this, but I was exhausted.  I was still tired from all the work I was doing with the desktop computer and all the late nights I was spending on it.  So, I took an hour and a half nap and then it was back to work.  I spent the rest of my afternoon editing, editing, and more editing of the latest podcast.  I edited so much, that Heather brought dinner down to me and I ate while I continued to edit.  I got done editing around six o’clock or so and then I had to wait for Ian to show up around seven-thirty to finish recording.  Ian showed up around quarter till eight and we finished the last bit of the show in about an hour.  Ian left around nine o’clock and I spent from nine until ten-thirty editing.  I then spent from ten-thirty till twelve forty-five in the morning post processing the show.  It’s done now, but not on the ‘net yet.  That will happen tomorrow!  What a day.  There’s hope for a snow day tomorrow, but I’m not putting much promise in that.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 1 of the Afterword of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 23 (Part 12)

Well, it’s Saturday and my vacation is really starting to wind down.  Reality is really beginning to set in that my vacation is about to be over.  I got up fairly late this morning not waking up before nine o’clock this morning.  Heather was still at work.  She had to go to work today because she had Thanksgiving day off and they are trying to make sure that she still has enough hours for the week.  I watched “The Clone Wars” with the kids this morning and then tried to download more patches for my Pinnacle product and was frustrated when nothing worked, yet again!  I’m really starting to get frustrated with this product and I’m wondering if I’m ever going to get it to work again.  Who would have thought that upgrading towers would be such a pain?  During the course of the morning this morning, I got upset with the loose toilet paper holder and towel holder in the smaller bathroom, so I decided to fix them.  I got done with that and went downstairs and watched some T.V. and worked on finishing up paperwork for school.  Heather came home and we ate come lunch together and I went back downstairs and started the daunting task of editing for the upcoming release for TJCS.  I got a LOT done in that department!  So much so, that by tomorrow night, there’s no reason that I shouldn’t be able to have it completely edited out.  That is my hope anyway.  I worked all through the afternoon and watched some college football and then “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” (Jim Carey) with the kids.  After that, I continued to work on the podcast and ended up working until about eleven o’clock at night.  It will be worth it, I believe, when you hear the next podcast.

Okay, so enough about my podcast, let’s talk about Part 12 of Chapter 23 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 23 (Part 11)

Well, it’s Black Friday and I have to say that I’m a little depressed today.  This is the first Black Friday that I have not gone out and shopped in the 30 years of my life I can remember.  I’m not quite sure why it happened other than the fact that my wife works for J.C. Penney’s this year and she told me that we could not afford to shop on Black Friday this year.  I have made it a fun and adventurous day in years past.  But, I guess that didn’t matter to Heather.  I got up around nine o’clock this morning and started to watch “Dr. Phil” and in all honesty, I got bored with today’s show.  So, out of boredom and sheer curiosity I headed over to the Sci Fi channel and they were running a marathon of the “Mork and Mindy” show.  I have to say that I have really been enjoying those shows and kept switching back and forth to the show as the day went on.  While I did that, I caught up on my blog and did some editing for the next TJCS episode.  I also did some more grading for school and I just have to input them tomorrow and I’m done with it for a while.  Heather got home around noon and we watched “Mork and Mindy” upstairs and watched T.V. together for a little while.  Then Heather and I took a little nap togehter while the kids watched “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” on DVD.  When we got up, we all went downstairs and watched “Elf” and “The Santa Clause” to continue our Christmas spirited day going.  In amongst all that, I continued my fight with Pinnacle to try and install the software for my Dazzle hardware and still have yet to solve the actual problem.  We then ate dinner and then put up the Christmas tree while we all watched “The Polar Express” on T.V.  It ended at ten o’clock and I continued watching “Mork and Mindy” while I blogged for today.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 11 of Chapter 23 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 23 (Part 10)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!  I realize you’re all probably reading this a day late, but it’s not the end of the world, because I decided to take a day-off from blogging today.  But, I thought since it’s the day after Thanksgiving, then I should take a minute and update from yesterday anyway, so here’s the info on my Thanksgiving.  I got up this morning and decided to get to work on the desktop computer and try to fix it up so we can use it.  I spent HOURS this morning trying to get the home network, and especially the printer, working.  It took me almost two hours to get it all together and another hour to get the printer online so I could use it from my laptop!  All I can say is that I am REALLY beginning to hate Windows Vista.  I still haven’t solved the problem with PInnacle and my Dazzle.  It sucks!  I basically bought a product that I may never have the ability to use EVER again!!  So, what’s the point in someone selling said product then?  It’s just frustrating!  I got that done while we were all watching the “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” and helping Heather get the dinner together.  She got up around four-thirty this morning to put the turkey in and I helped her put a bunch of the other stuff together.  We got the table together and Heather spilled some gravy on it, so we scrambled to reset the table and Linda and Ian came over.  We had a wonderful dinner and had some great conversation.  We ate all sorts of food; including turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, three different pies, and a pumpkin cheesecake.  It was ALL good.  My wife did an AMAZING job cooking yet again and it was just a good day overall!  We got done eating and went downstairs and watched the rest of the Tenessee Titans handing the Detroit Lions handing them their hearts on a platter.  We then watched the Dallas Cowboys hand the Seattle Seahawks a loss.  I have to say the games today weren’t even games, they were slaughter-houses.  It’s kind of a shame.  We go done with that and watched a Peanuts Thanksgiving special and Ian and Linda decided to leave.  After they left, Heather and I maintained the tradition of watching “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and then went to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part10 of Chapter 23 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover……

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 23 (Part 9)

Wednesday, and it was my first day of vacation.  I had plans on being relaxed and getting a bunch of things done.  Of course, not many things go completely according to plan.  I got up this morning around nine o’clock and started my day off by watching “Dr. Phil” on T.V.  Then I did the worst thing I could do on a day off from school.  I put in “The Force Unleashed”.  I spent the rest of my morning trying to beat the game.  I sincerely got stuck on the level where I had to bring down the Star Destroyer and got stuck on it for over two hours.  It was frustrating and I paused the game around noon in order to go upstairs and ate some lunch with the family.  The gentleman from Rent A Center came and basically told me we needed to replace the computer, so he was going to come back with one.  In the meantime, Heather had gone to work and came home and I was able to spend some time with her.  We talked for a little while as she made pies and what-not for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Then I went back downstairs and continued playing “The Force Unleashed” and finally beat the game.  I took a little bit of a nap and then got up and started doing my research and show notes for the latest episode of “The Conservacast”.  While I did this, Heather left and picked up the new computer from Rent A Center and did some errands and came home.  I finished my notes in time for dinner and I went upstairs and joined the family for some dinner.  We ate and I went back downstairs and recorded the show.  I got it done and put it up on the website, and it can be found here:  http://www.conservacast.mypodcast.com.  I then watched some T.V. with Heather and we watched “The New Adventures of Old Christine”, “Garry Un-Married”, “Criminal Minds”, and “C.S.I.: NY” while we taped “Law and Order”.  I then went upstairs and started to work on the new computer tower.  I spent most of my night frustrated with “Pinnacle”, as I went to reinstall their software for the “Dazzle” I have upstairs, but my serial number no longer works.  Frustration!  So much so, I couldn’t solve the problem and I went to bed at midnight without a solution to the problem.  Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, let’s hope it will be just as relaxed.  We have Ian and Lynda coming over and I can’t wait to spend some time with the two of them.

Well, enough of all of that, it’s time for us to talk about Part 9 of Chapter 23 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 23 (Part 8)

Well, it was Tuesday and Heather’s day off from work for this week.  I got up this morning to their being snow and ice on the ground.  I turned on the T.V. and found out the kids had an hour delay today and I had to get to work on time.  Heather helped me out and made breakfast for me while I took a shower and got ready for my day.  I was a little upset that I didn’t even have a delay this morning and I have to admit that as I drove my car to school, the roads were not good.  I even got stuck behind a truck and got to work a little later than I wanted to.  I got things together for the day and worked with my classes this morning.  Some of my students were upset that we were actually doing work in my class.  But, as I explained to them, when I only have ten weeks for my class, I really don’t have the luxury of not doing work just before breaks, especially this quarter as I have less time this quarter than I do in other quarters.  At lunch I went out with the usually group of teachers to the pizza shop.  We got back from lunch and found out all the other bloc leaders had a meeting at lunch that I never got contacted about.  I have to say this was a bad turn to a day that turned out worse. I was pretty miffed about this the rest of the day and I was just ultimately NOT in a good mood.  I found out through the course of the day today that Heather let our Netflix membership lapse and got on her case about it.  She wasn’t happy with me because I was upset with her for driving out to her sisters on a day that had such bad weather.  I really thing she just doesn’t care that I worry about her, especially when she is on her own.  But, I was now officially having a bad day.  I called her on my way home and vented about my problems with Netflix and with school.  She then told me that she was trying to check on Netflix and the computer wasn’t working.  I got home and took a look at our desktop computer and learned that our desktop was pretty much dead.  She had called Rent A Center already telling them that we had a monitor problem, but I told her it was a problem with the computer as the computer was acting like there was no hard drive inside.  It literally wasn’t working anymore.  Now I wasn’t happy at all.  I went downstairs and checked on some things while Heather made some dinner upstairs.  We sat down and ate dinner together.  Not too long after dinner, Ian showed up and talked with Heather and I.  He and his wife asked Heather and I to be the godparents for their future baby.  I was honored that he asked and Heather and I said we would have to discuss it and would talk to him later about it.  We got done talking and Ian and I went downstairs and started recording for the latest episode of TJCS.   I taped “Fringe” while we did this and at ten o’clock I watched my tape.  Then Heather and I went to bed.  I’m looking forward to having the day off tomorrow.  That, and Rent A Center is supposed to show up and fix the computer and I plan on having a relaxed day.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 8 of Chapter 23 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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

Well, it’s Monday and it was time to get back to work.  I got up this morning and really began to wonder where my weekend went.  I did so much work on a weekend that had nothing going on, that I’m beginning to wonder if I’m better off having a busy planned weekend than a weekend that was not so busy.  Anyway, I also got up this morning with a bunch of Billy Joel songs in my head.  Maybe that’s because we went to see “Movin Out” last night and I got all the songs stuck in my head.  It’s not a totally bad thing I guess.  I got up and got the kids going for the day today.  We were all dragging a little bit today, but the kids sounded excited about knowing that this Thursday was going to be Thanksgiving.  We got breakfast and got ready for school and work and our babysitter showed up on time.  I was then off to work and the kids were off to school.  I got to work late this morning because I got caught behind a truck on the way to school.  I got to school and started my day.  I got through the day today and my one sixth grade class was better behaved.  Maybe my threat of throwing out students that are going to interupt me is now working and I think they are understanding that I mean business.   I got done with my day and came home.  The kids were working on homework and Heather was busy getting dinner together.  I went downstairs and set some things up for later tonight and came upstairs and visited with the kids a little bit.  I helped Ruth with her homework a little bit and then we all ate dinner together.  I then went downstairs and decided to play “The Force Unleashed” on the PS3 for a little bit.  Then I took Austin to Boy Scouts and came home and continued to play the game.  When I drove Austin to Scouts, the roads were terrible and I was beginning to hope that we would have a snow day tomorrow or at least a delay.  After some time, I stopped playing the game and Heather went and picked Austin up from Scouts and came downstairs and joined me.  We watched “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Heroes”, and “C.S.I.: Miami” while I tapped “Big Bang Theory”, “How I Met Your Mother”, “Two and a Half Men”, and “Worst Week”.  After that, we went to bed.  Tomorrow was going to be a big day as it was the last day of work before vacation.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 7 of Chapter 23 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..