When did this become the Star Wars blog?  No clue.  I apologize.  I could talk about Obama and the new dawn and why I think we’re in dire need of a community organizer, but no, I’m going to post this thing I just made up:

“Hey baby, from back there, I thought these were just small moons, but damn girl!  These are space stations!”

I dump crap like that on Brandy all the time, just to make her cringe.  But of course, this being the internet, there are lots of other folks who have mined this territory.  Some of my favs…

• I may look like an Ewok, but I’m all Wookie where it counts, baby.
• Date, or date not — there is no ‘let’s just friends be’.
• Honey, you’ve been looking for love in Alderaan places!

I know you don’t feel like doing this right now, what with the fact that you’re delivering our second child tomorrow morning, but perhaps you want to purchase this now for later.

Just sayin’.

And yes, I am aware that this makes for back-to-back Leia slavish pervy fanboyism.  I’m stuck in a rut.  A hot, Alderaanian princess rut.  Just be glad I didn’t work “Organa” into a lame joke about my penis.

Have to hand it to ThinkGeek.  They know their audience.  What would make this perfect is if it were framed and double sided so you could just flip it over to a picture of Mt. Fuji or something.

I’ll be 36 by the time this ships.  That’s far too old to have a Millennium Falcon kiddie pool.  Of course, I will have two children by then.

No no, I can’t.  I won’t.  Damn it.

Yesterday, the Carida Garrison of the 501st gathered at the Franklin Institute to kick off the Star Wars exhibit that’s running there for the next couple of months.

I’d say more about that except that I’m insanely jealous and can barely contain my geek envy.

Oh blog, how I have neglected thee.  So here’s a roundup in order to save folks from seeing a ton of separate entries.

The family biked Tour du Port on 10/21.  We actually made an entire weekend out of it, doing the Baltimore inner harbor tourist thing for two days and then participating in the ride on Sunday.  We did the 10 mile route since Gareth was in attendance, but that was plenty.  Gareth was tired out by the end of it, Brandy was scared shitless by her first road ride, and I barely broke a sweat.  The scenery along the ride wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t anything special, either.  It just didn’t compare to Bike Philly.

Once the weather turns for the better again, I’m going to look into what it would take to bike from Pittsburgh to DC along the Great Allegheny Passage and C & O Canal Towpath.  I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it both ways, though.  I’m sure I can talk Brandy into meeting me in DC for a post-ride vacation.  I know my goal for next year was originally to ride the MS 150, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to maintain the average speed necessary to do that in a timely manner.  If I’m going to do the 316 mile ride from Pittsburgh to DC, I’m definitely going to need to train throughout the winter.

Of course, I can’t spend all winter on a bike, which is where video games come in.  There are too many games being released this season.  Of the 30 or so titles for Q4, a mere four are on my radar.  First up with Ace Combat 6 with the flight stick bundle.  I picked that up on day one.  Next up are Super Mario Galaxy and Rock Band.  And, while Guitar Hero III is already out, I have delayed my purchase of it due to hating the demo.  No, Halo 3 was never under consideration.  I tend to wait a year before playing Halo releases.

Pumpkins have been carved in anticipation for tonight’s trick-or-treat visitors.  For the first time ever, I have carved a pumpkin with a Star Wars theme.  A stormtrooper, to be exact.  It’s not the most technically accurate rendering in the world, but it gets the point across.  Photos coming soon.

Speaking of Halloween, I attended Gareth’s school Halloween parade.  He was having a blast in it, as were the 10 Darth Vaders, 2 Jango Fetts, 1 Clone Trooper, and 1 Storm Trooper.  Oh, and some kid was dressed up as a power droid!  Hell yeah!  GONK.

And, uh… I think that’s about it!

There are times when I feel I’ve hit the heights of nerdery, when I look at family, friends, and acquaintances wondering why it is I am so very far removed from sharing their priorities in life. My home and office are decorated with objects that would drive a 10 year old child into raving lust. I am better versed in videogames and cartoons than I am in literature and wine. There isn’t a single day that passes without a reminder that I am not the same adult as the other adults I know.

But then I see things like this and realize that I’m far more normal than some people. The “this” in this case is a Manhattan group of Jedi enthusiasts who gather for light saber training. And the sad part is that I wish I were freakish enough to join them. How cool would that be? Getting together with Star Wars geeks, spinning through choreography, slashing through the air with your saber replica…

If Alec Guinness could do it, so can I.

As I’m not known for being emotional, it may surprise you to know that emotional moments are not foreign to me. In particular are what I call the “Dad” moments - those times in fatherhood when you’re so happy you could (and nearly do) cry. Unfortunately, all of my dad moments are rather odd, but here goes:

Reading “The Hobbit” to Gareth in the hospital - This one almost doesn’t count since it was Gareth’s second day of life and he was largely unresponsive, having just the night before gone through his traumatic entry into this world. Still, it was something I really wanted to do, so I headed into a little bookstore in Danville, grabbed their last copy, and got back to the NICU to proceed with the narration. It was something I had always pictured doing as a dad, even if I didn’t picture having to do it in those circumstances.

Introducing Gareth to Quake 3 Arena - Holding him with one arm and gaming with the other, I sat Gareth in my lap so he could see what his dad did for fun. We’ve revisited Q3A a few times since then when I was adapting joysticks for his use as input devices. Since then we’ve moved onto other less bloody games.

Gareth’s first trip to a movie theater - For Shrek 2, of all things. Years have been spent honing the sharp edge of my movie snobbery. I am intolerant of chatter, children, phones, and comedians in my theater environment. As such, I was always very concerned about taking Gareth into a theater with his suction gear which consists of a small suction pump connected to a canister and tubing. When you kick it on, it makes quite a bit more noise than one would imagine, which does nothing for a normally quiet movie setting. After Shrek 2 had been in theaters over a month, I took Gareth to a show I thought would be largely empty. It sort of was, but there were enough other attendees that I started feeling self-conscious. But when the lights dimmed, the trailers played, and the opening of the movie started to run, I forgot about everybody and just marveled that I was sitting in a theater with my son. Seriously, I teared up. Then, about 10 minutes into it, Gareth lost all interest and started crying like crazy. We left shortly thereafter.

Gareth discovers that the soul still burns - Due to the various joysticks I have for console games, we eventually gave up on PC gaming and moved to the basement where Gareth discovered Donkey Konga, Taiko Drum Master, Dance Dance Revolution, and Soul Calibur. After just a little time with Soul Calibur, Gareth picked up on the fact that movement was handled with the joystick and attacks were handled by the buttons. He quickly learned to move his hand to the stick to position his fighter and then move that same hand to the buttons to kick, punch, and throw. How could I not be proud of that? He has now added Wii Sports Baseball to his list of regular games. He also has an insane love of video game theme songs - I have only to whistle the Donkey Konga theme or hum the intro to Taiko Drum Master to make him burst into instant laughter. No, he does not know the Mario theme.

Gareth faces down Darth Vader - I spent so much time worrying about taking Gareth away from his support staff (nurses, doctors, therapists) that I spent no time contemplating how great a vacation could be, so imagine the 180 I did when we arrived at DisneyWorld and almost instantly ended up on a stage with lightsaber on hand, swinging at Darth Vader. Holy shit. From that moment on, we all had a great vacation, and I had another dad moment. That one became a Gareth moment, too. He enjoyed telling everybody he knew that he fought Darth Vader and that daddy dropped the lightsaber.

Gareth gets his first bike - And probably his last.  About the time I decided to get back into bicycling, Gareth decided he loved nothing more than to pedal a trike around his preschool playground. From that moment, I planned for us to find a way to ride together. I got three dad moments out of this event: a first moment when he sat on his bike for his fitting; a second moment when we rode it for the very first time even though it was raining and in January; a third moment when we rode together in the RBR rally. Our ride in the Colyer 4th of July parade comes close, but that wasn’t emotional enough to qualify under my “Dad moment” rules.

Walking Gareth to school - This is the moment that inspired today’s entry. This morning, I walked Gareth to his second day of kindergarten, meeting one of his classmates on the way, hanging out while we waited for the crossing guard, and dropping him off in his classroom. On the way back, I just realized how great it felt to do that, to be an honest to goodness parent of a child old enough, smart enough, and lucky enough to be going to school like any other kid when his whole life has been stacked against him.

I’m bound to have plenty more dad moments in my lifetime, but these are a good start. Here’s a prediction, though - my next major dad moment will come when Gareth is able to express himself without the help of others. I’m going to be a blubbering mess when that happens.

And then I’m going to worry about all the stuff Brandy and I have said in front of him over the years. There are some words he definitely knows that shouldn’t be repeated in polite company.