I was seven years old. My family and I had just returned from being stationed in Okinawa, Japan for three years and we were visiting relatives in southern Ohio (Wheelersburg to be exact).

Dad decided to go see a movie and wanted me to go with him. He told me it was called "Star Wars" but I didn't know what to think about it as I'd not heard of it. I thought it was going to be a war movie of some sort. This was likely, being in a military family and such.

As the opening crawl came up, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away..." I began to read along to myself. Dad must not have thought that I could keep up and so he was leaning in my ear and reading to me as the words turned into sentences and the sentences into paragraphs. I was keeping up on my own, though just barely, and if I'd stopped long enough to tell Dad that I could do it on my own, I surely lose my place.

As the crawl disappeared and the starfield descended, he leaned back into his chair. A small spaceship appeared and the laser blasts ensued. A faint murmur of "Cooool..." went through the audience. However, that murmur heighteded in intensity immediately as the gigantic star destroyer began to scroll across the screen. Dad shifted in his seat and said aloud (speaking aloud in a movie theater was frowned upon in my household... remember those days?) "Alllll RIIIIIIIIGHT!"



I don't remember much more about the movie that night. Naturally I was blown away and probably talked about it non-stop on the way home. However, whenever I watch that scene, I always think about Dad's exclamation, thirty years ago.

Thanks Dad. I wonder if you knew just how big a part of my life that one evening's father & son outing to the movies would become...? I doubt I had any idea at the time either.

Happy Anniversary Star Wars!

I hate tack strips... I spent all day yesterday pulling up the carpet in the star wars cave and then removing the metric ass-load of staples that some bozo used to staple the padding to the hardwood floors. Then there are the tack strips - the stupid little angry strips of wood along the wall that they use to hold the carpet down. BOOOO! Ya gotta wedge something underneath them, then use a nail puller and prybar to pull them up. Why did I want to pull up carpet and get the hardwoods resurfaced? Was I on crack?

In other news today, the last of my recent slew of ebayed star wars items is going in the mail. This will be a day long remembered... It has seen the end of Kenobi and will soon see the end of the last of my crap that needs to be shipped.

That is all...

So yeah... looks like it has been a while.

Ummm... where to start. I went to Hawaii back in April with my girlfriend and her family. We stayed on the Big Island and had a really nice time. While we were there, Little (my girlfriend) and I took a trip up to the top of the Mauna Kea volcano at 14,000 feet. They have some of the world's best telescopes up there (like the Keck Observatory etc...) since the air is so clean and the area is free from light pollution. Going to the summit to watch sunset and then going back down a few thousand feet to do some stargazing was the plan. But I had a small suprise while we were watching the sunset. But let me back up a bit...

On one of our first dates, Little took me to one of her favorite spots on Pine Mountain (the area of Georgia that FDR was so fond of). While we were there, we had one of those close "first kiss" moments. So, I looked her in the eye and said, "If I asked you to kiss me now, would you?" She said yes and then I totally choked. I said, "Errr... okay, thats good to know for later I guess..." She was floored and I was totally humiliated. I recovered and we did later in the evening and now it makes for a funny story.

So, while we were at the summit, I mentioned that we were a bit higher up than Pine Mountain. She agreed. I looked her in the eye and said, "If I asked you to kiss me right now, would you?" She chuckled and said, "Yes." so we did. Then I said, "If I asked you to marry me right now, would you?" And she looked at me like that was not something I should joke about but said, "Yes." So, I got down on my knee, pulled out a ring and went through some previously rehearsed but horribly delivered proposal. There were lots of tears and hugs and such. The tour group that we were with had fun with it and clapped (they actually knew what I was going to do, though Little did not) for us.

So yeah, now I am going to get hitched! Couldn't be happier about it. Sure, I'm nervous but I am very excited too. Guess it's a "Hope I don't screw it up" anxiety thing. No worries though. We've set the date for December 1st and plans are in the works. I can't wait :)

Other stuff; I finished spring semester a few weeks ago with 2 more "A"s. Turns out I'm a pretty decent student. Nothing but "A"s since I started back last summer. I've got one full year down... four more to go! Wait... four more to go? Sheesh!

I'm sure there is more but I've hit the wall for the moment... I promise it won't be months before another update.