"Execute Order 66."

When those words were spoken by Chancellor Palpatine we witnessed the fall of the Jedi and saw the birth of the Galactic Empire under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith. The Dark Times were at hand.

Now we see this moment played out from another perspective - The clone soldiers of the Republic.

With her 4th book in this stellar series, Karen Traviss ratchets up the intensity as the Clone Wars draw to an end and all the plans that had been set in motion during the previous novels come to fruition. For the most part.

As you know, I try to keep spoilers out of my reviews and again, that will prove difficult because this is one book I am going to love discussing with people.

Picking up were "True Colors" left off we reconnect with Kal Skirata and his adopted family of clones and rejects from other walks of life including two Jedi and a treasury agent. Still seeking a way to stop the clones premature aging process and figuring out how to build a refuge camp on Mandalore for clones who are prepared to desert the Grand Amy, Kal and his adopted family are in for the fight of their lives as all their plans run smack into the master manipulations of Darth Sidious. What you get from the story is one of the most intensely emotional Star Wars stories I've ever read - and I've read them all people. I'm not even kidding, I got misty eyed more than once.

Again, one of the strengths Ms. Traviss relies on is her deep understanding of each of her characters and their individual motives over the series. What she has done for Mandalorian culture alone makes the books worth investing your time, but it's more than that. You care about each one of these characters. And that makes what fate has in store for them all the more impactful on you as a reader.

Perhaps one of the more underrated aspects of this series and of utmost importance in this novel is the depth and complexity of the the entire prequel saga.

The prequels have been panned by most critics and fans for a variety of reasons. In my opinion it's because you can only show so much in a film, the true depth of what happening on screen has to be thought about to really be understood. And that is what Ms. Traviss has done better than any Star Wars author to date. She has peeled layer after layer of the prequels back to reveals to true depths and ugliness to which the Jedi have sunk and why they were going to lose this war before it even started. And she also sheds light on the motivations of a certain decapitated Mandalorian that would shake an ardent fan to their core if they were to examine it.

Whether these layers of complexity were really there when George Lucas made the films is certainly debatable, I would like to believe they were and that he was simply challenging his audience to see the subtly of the trap laid by Sidious over the course of the three prequels. Or perhaps it's is all the doing of one incredibly bright and insightful English novelist who has simply captured my imagination in ways that haven't been done in sometime.

This books is phenomenal, this series is phenomenal.

This forth book closes the Republic Commando series. I'm sad to see it go as it has become as favorite in a short amount of time. Good thing it was also just annouced the a new series from Karen Traviss would be out soon - IMPERIAL COMMANDO. The title of book one of the series will bring delight to Star Wars fas everywhere - 501st!

I will be first in line for that one.

KE NU'JURKADIR SHA MANDO'ADE!

"Experts" - I don't think so.

Going into a crucial week three game in my main fantasy league I was faced with a dilemma. This season my QB situation is still trying to work itself out. It's not an unusual spot for my team to be in. I believe the most QB position, while valuable isn't nearly as important as some rank it. And my success at Fantasy will usually support my claim, most season I'm a top three finisher at the very least. (I know what my struggles are but if you think I'm going to tell you that here, you are nuts.)

The dilemma - Drew Brees or Phillip Rivers.

I decided to see what many of the "experts" of fantasy football had to say. Most of them had Brees above Rivers for a variety of reasons.

But I couldn't do it. I just didn't like the match-up. Brees's best WR is out and his TE was playing with an injury. Who the hell was he going to throw the ball to?
Well, he managed to find a few folks as he tossed for 450 yards. But zero TD's.

Heading into Monday's game I was down, by 50 and I used a strategy that normally I'm loath to employ. I had six players from the Chargers going. Essentially putting all my eggs in one basket and with Rivers at the helm, if he dropped the ball my team was cooked.

When Rivers opened the game with a pick 6 I could see my season flash before my eyes.

Then he unleashes some picture perfect passes that hit their marks. Those marks also happen to be on my squad.

Call it luck or call it smart thinking. I really don't care. But it made me think about all the other fantasy players around the globe who buy the magazines, pay for online newsletters, scour websites in search of info from people who are really no different than you or I. The experts don't necessarily have something you don't.

Now also, don't misunderstand. I make my share of bad calls too, but I feel a lot better about them when I make them on my own and not because I followed the advice of some dude, who like me, is sitting in front of a computer and playing match-ups in his mind. Go with your gut. Sometimes it might be wrong, but your gut is usually better than anyone else's because really that's all these guys are doing. You cannot graduate from USC with a degree in Fantasy Sports knowledge. The experts are no smarter than you, they just guess better than most of us. But they are still wrong quite a bit too.

Incidentally, Brees wasn't that far behind Rivers in points, but watching him throw three TD's on Monday night sure made that a lot more exciting.

Yeah...opps.

I know, I know...

So six weeks later and heres the happy ending we were all waiting for.

Inching closer

Spent the day in Denver on Tuesday and had a blast! The rocky mountain region is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Lots of things about Denver I found very appealing, may have to visit again.


Spent Wednesday back on the road, we'll be spending Thursday in Vegas visiting some friends.

I'm willing to place bets for anyone :)

Report from the Heartland

Not much to say at the moment. We covered a lot of ground after leaving Ohio. We crossed Indiana, Southern Illinois and into Missouri.

We spent the evening in St. Louis around the Arch and the historic Riverfront area basically being tourists.




Here is a shot of the arch taken at the Hyatt across the street from the park.


Which one is the bear?














Dinner at some Brewery joint in an area called 'The Landing'

Let's see where we end up tomorrow.

Looking for Blinky, the Three eyed fish.

Well, got out from Baltimore a little later than planned but still managed to make to Springfield, Ohio. Not too bad a days travel.
So other than MD, we hit West Virginia, PA, West Virgina again and then into Ohio. Not too much excitement on this leg of the trip. We did stop to briefly in Columbus to check out the Historic German Village. Not too bad, but once we saw the Starbucks we knew it wasn't quite as historic as we thought it would be.
Here are a few of todays pics.


Chilling in West Virginia.
Von Schiller's Statue in Schiller park.









My moment of religious clarity.


The Church of Sinestro!

Exhaustion doesn't even cover it.

So I've already missed one day. Moving is some tiring work.

Well, the semi showed up and managed to wiggle his way into the apartment complex. That was an exciting way to start the day. Once he got set-up we were on the clock. The six hours went by crazy fast as Jeannine brought stuff down from her apartment and I unloaded the Penske I had brought up the night before.
Temper were short. Voices were loud, but no one was hurt, no one was killed, and more importantly no one is single.


Our 10x10 space filled up.Sadly, this is not Optimus Prime.



So next on the agenda after getting some food and a decent amount of sleep was cleaning the apartment and getting the car packed. In what could only be called a miscommunication, I was under the impression we didn't have much to go in the car. This next picture will show the error of that misunderstanding.



But, after some careful work, we managed to get loaded up and hit the road in the early evening. First stop is back to Baltimore to see Dad. Oh and to get some fresh Baltimore Crabs...the kind from the ocean smart guy!