Turns out this is a good opportunity to show off my favorite “day 1″ photo…

Those things may not seem related at first glance, though they will shortly. But only two of them actually are.

I vividly remember a dream I . . . → Read More: “This Child” isn’t who you think]]> Back in 2004 we were awaiting the birth of our first daughter. I was also beginning to teach myself how to write music around then. And I did a lot of sleeping.

Turns out this is a good opportunity to show off my favorite “day 1″ photo…

Those things may not seem related at first glance, though they will shortly. But only two of them actually are.

I vividly remember a dream I was having one night. I was walking in various places with a young child. They weren’t always nice places, and the child wasn’t always clean, but the tone was … well it was hard to describe. Kind of pleasantly tense, I guess. It was obvious there was some distress, but people seemed to be handling it well. It wasn’t bad per se, just a bit off-putting. But as the settings changed through the dream, there was one constant: the child was whistling a tune.

It wasn’t a bouncy, happy whistle that might spring to mind when you think of someone whistling a tune. This wasn’t a Disney dream. It was nice, but had a little bit of sad in it. Not haunting at all, but a little tinged with melancholy.  And it got to me. It pervaded me. It made me look around for the kid when I heard it.

There was very little dialogue in the dream.  I may have spoken, but it wasn’t much. Not for any particular reason, but I just knew when the child was whistling the tune she was looking for someone important to her and I would help. When I would hear the tune being whistled out of her presence I was looking for her.

So naturally, when I woke up I remembered the tune. I started writing it down in PrintMusic and developed it a bit, and ended up with a piece I named “This Child.”

When people saw the title, they understandably thought – as perhaps you just did – that it referred to the child whose birth was imminent. I wish I could say it did. It’d be cool to say I wrote a song about my unborn daughter. But it doesn’t. I didn’t.

Oh well.

This recording suffers from a lack of human playback. It should be much more legato – the notes should flow together more than they do. The downside of MIDI, I suppose. It also suffers from me being terrible at audio mastering – the balance of the instruments really isn’t right in a few places. But it’s close enough for now – I’m still pretty happy with how it turned out.

If you’re wondering, the whistle from the dream turned into the French Horn part that starts the song. It’s interesting for me to go back and listen to it. I think if I were writing it now it would be a completely different end product. But I like it the way it turned out.

Update: fixed a serious balance issue with the audio file. Sorry about that. If you heard it before, listen again. It’s better this way.

So I mentioned before that I’d been writing some music for the last several years and some of it may show up here from time to time. This is the first of those times.

Don’t get all excited. It’s very short – four measures. And it’s choral, not pop. And it’s church music. If you’ve got a problem with any of that, you’re on the wrong blog post.

Anyway… instead of just . . . → Read More: How I write music]]> Poorly!  *rim shot*

So I mentioned before that I’d been writing some music for the last several years and some of it may show up here from time to time. This is the first of those times.

Don’t get all excited. It’s very short – four measures. And it’s choral, not pop. And it’s church music. If you’ve got a problem with any of that, you’re on the wrong blog post.

Anyway… instead of just posting the end result, I figured I’d give you a quick overview of the different stages this particular “Amen” went through. The idea is kind of like when an artist shows the sketched and final versions of a picture. Not an exact analogy, but that’s the concept.

I wrote this one almost a decade ago – it was the first thing I wrote and completed. I don’t remember exactly how I developed it – whether it was a full chorus in my head I tried to transcribe, or if I had one part in my head and figured out the other parts around it – but I do know that I was deliberately trying to write an Amen with a “happy” tone to it. Whether I achieved that or not is subjective, I suppose, but I like how it turned out.

I use notation software called PrintMusic, which is part of the Finale line. (I actually wrote this one in the free Finale Notepad, but eventually needed something with more flexibility.) PrintMusic is very easy to use, which is important to me because I have a hard enough time just trying to figure out the music – if the software was difficult I’d have probably quit before I started. It’s very much just point-and-click (well, at least that’s how I use it) and if you’ve got a familiarity with sheet music I don’t think you’d have much trouble. This is what the Amen looks like in the software:

It’s very much a WYSIWYG view. What you see here is the “finished” product. I say “finished” but it’s not really. See, when I offered this to our choir director at church, it completely slipped my mind that I hadn’t written the piano part – it wasn’t meant to be a capella (as it currently appears). When they decided to use this one, the music director/organist had to condense these 4 staves into the two piano staves herself. Pat was very nice about it and didn’t say anything, but I felt bad for providing an unfinished product. In my defense, there were two reasons I hadn’t written out the piano part: 1 – I didn’t actually expect the director to use it, I was just trying to get some feedback, and 2 – PrintMusic uses MIDI for playback, and I had chosen the piano sound for all the voice parts, so to me it sounded like a piano already and I didn’t give it a second thought.

(Since then I’ve gotten better at using PrintMusic and learned how to assign different sounds to the parts, which makes it a little easier to remember to put in the piano part if I need a piano. MIDI has choir ooo and ah sounds, but unfortunately, MIDI voices are really horrible. They grate on my nerves after hours of listening to the same part over and over trying to get it right. I’ve since figured out some alternatives but for a long time it was pretty painful.)

When I was writing this Amen I didn’t put much thought into its tempo. I was just worried about getting the notes and rhythms right. And with the number of times I heard this, I was just as happy to have it play through relatively quickly for review.

So this is what I was hearing when I would play it back through PrintMusic: 

Not bad. A decent, if mechanical, representation of what I was after.

But my jaw dropped when Pat played it:

The slower pace, the added dynamics… I had no idea it could sound that sweet, even in my head. And when the choir sang it I got a little choked up. The performances far surpassed my own understanding of what I had written. That’s not hyperbole, either – I enjoyed and was interested in what I had done, but I was amazed by how much better it sounded “live.” It’s still this simple little Amen, but there’s a huge difference to my ears and heart between what I wrote and the interpreted performance of a professional. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a full song of mine performed.

The fact that Pat and Warren (the choir director) decided to use this – the first thing I’d written, though I don’t think they knew that – was a huge encouragement to me. I’ve written a lot more since then, and I’ll probably share some of it in the future. I know this Amen may not seem like much, but it’s the entry point to a huge journey for me.

I . . . → Read More: MovieWatch 2013]]> It’s time for my annual(ish) list of movies I want to catch this year. Strap in and let the trailers wash over you like pure adrenalin. (Not that I know what an adrenalin shower is like, ’cause I kind of think that would be a bit… icky. Though that’s not really the feeling I think you should take away from watching these trailers… so… look, just get excited, okay? Sheesh, you people are so literal.)

I kind of liked last year’s categorical approach as opposed to the standard calendar approach, so we’ll be doing that again.

Last year, my mother was on the verge of sale to the Russians. Luckily for her, I had enough cash to get through 6 of the 7 movies I had listed, and enough sense to hold off on the 7th. The Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, Amazing Spider-man, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Brave, and Skyfall were all very good (though the first half of the list easily outshines the second). Taken 2, the 7th on the must-see list, I still haven’t seen – and I’m not convinced that’s a bad thing.

From my Priority 2 list last year, I caught Snow White and the Huntsman (not bad), MIB3 (eh, liked it better than 2), and Looper (superb). I still want to catch the others at some point – and one of them was delayed for release all the way to this year, so we’ll get to that in a minute. The only other one I saw was at the bottom of the list, buried in Priority 4 – Expendables 2. That one was completely worth it, if only for Chuck Norris’ scenes.

This year I’ve discovered that the Russians have no interest in my mother. So I guess I’m on my own coming up with the funds for this year’s crop.

Priority 1 – Impede me at your own peril (seriously, you could get hurt)

Iron Man 3 (May 3) – This is the kick-off to Marvel’s Phase 2 and Caddick’s “insanely anticipated movies list” (aka, CIAML)

Star Trek Into Darkeness (May 17) – The battle for top spot on the CIAML between this and Iron Man would be EPIC.

Man of Steel (June 14) – I think we’ve been burned by Superman movies so many times that people are overly wary about this one. I think it’s gonna be great (and I hope I’m right).

Thor: The Dark World (November 8th) – I don’t think there’s any surprise at where this sits. No Trailer available yet.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 13) – Again, no surprise. No Trailer available yet.

Priority 2 – Impede me and I’ll be very cross with you (there may even be retaliation)

The Wolverine (July 26) – The only reason this isn’t in priority 1 is because of its predecessor. If this had come first, things would be different. They’ve abused my trust. But that trailer looks really good.

Pacific Rim (July 12) – This looks awesome, and squarely in my wheelhouse, but for some reason I’m not quite invested in it enough for priority 1.

Red 2 (July 19) – The first one was absolutely perfect. Helen Mirren as an action star is an idea whose time has come.

Oblivion (April 19) – This one’s teetering on the edge of priority 3 for me. It does look like something I’d like.

After Earth (June 7) – Kind of in the same boat as Oblivion.

Elysium (August 9) – By the guy who did District 9. Looks like a quality flick.

Ender’s Game (November 1) – I know nothing of this except the book’s reputation. Pretty sure I’ll love it. No trailer available yet.

Priority 3 – Impede me and we may end up going out to eat together, but I might try to sneak out to the 2nd run theater later, or maybe we can rent the DVD together

GI Joe: Retaliation (already out) – the only returning contender ever across these lists, I’m pretty sure this is 2nd run material.

Monsters University (June 21) – I don’t know enough about this to know where it fits in the list, really. Monsters Inc is one of my all-time favorite Pixar flix, but the idea of this one doesn’t really appeal to me. Still, I trust Pixar.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (August 6) – I enjoyed the first one.

Riddick (September 6) – Oh, come on… Vin’s in it, it’s sci-fi… when has that ever gone wrong…

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 22) – This is a DVD series for me, but I’ll go to the theater if someone wants some company. No trailer available yet.

Jack Ryan (December 25) – I don’t know enough about this one… it might move up on the list. I really like this character. No trailer available yet.

Priority 4 – Impede me, please – at least until DVD

The Lone Ranger (July 3) – This trailer isn’t horrible, but it reminds me too much of Wild, Wild West. Plus, the teaser trailer made such a hugely negative impression on me that I don’t know if I’ll be convinced to spend any money on this one.

Priority 5 – If you make me watch this, make no mistake – I will hurt you.

Smurfs 2 (July 31) – I’m not even going to find out if there’s a trailer.

Honestly, I’m surprised there aren’t more films on this list. The ones in the first category, though, look INCREDIBLY AWESOME.

What do you think of these? Any disagreements? Anything I missed that’s on your list?

It occurs to me, though, that some of you may wonder what I’m doing instead of writing blog posts. (Others of you, I’m sure, couldn’t care less. But that’s not going to stop me telling you.) So here I am, back again, to tell you what . . . → Read More: Where I’ve been]]> It’s possible that you’ve noticed that I don’t post a lot here anymore. This blog has admittedly fallen mostly into disuse. This should not be a surprise to anyone.

It occurs to me, though, that some of you may wonder what I’m doing instead of writing blog posts. (Others of you, I’m sure, couldn’t care less. But that’s not going to stop me telling you.) So here I am, back again, to tell you what I’ve been up to and why this blog has taken a bit of a hit since its heyday a few years ago.

I started this blog as a place to test the technology as we considered blogging as a training tool at work. Over the years it evolved from a place to pontificate about training industry and technology topics into a personal outlet for pop-culture. I tried to make it a place where I’d present a topic and have some kind of discussion about it. That worked from time to time, but rather infrequently. It’s hard to keep energy focused on writing things when you’re not getting any feedback, so over time I worked less on trying to generate conversation and tended more towards writing only when I found something I wanted to share or record for myself – and that became less frequent.

This is partially because Facebook came along, and now I tend to post my thoughts and links in short-form on either my personal page or the Caddickisms Facebook Page. A lot of times I feel bad about that since there are topics that I’d rather discuss in longer form here, but a lot of times it doesn’t seem worth the effort.

I’ve stated most of the above before in conversations elsewhere (notably on Lee’s recent posts on his own blogging changes), but something occurred to me tonight about where a lot of the time I used to spend blogging is going. Music.

I’ve mentioned it from time to time, but for those who don’t know, I sometimes write music. This is a bit of a tricky proposition, because I’ve never had formal instruction in music composition or theory, nor do I play any instruments. I do sing in our church choir (and have sung in choirs for decades). Predictably, choral music is the most common type of music I write, and generally it’s pretty simple stuff. I have written some instrumental stuff as well, and oddly I tend to like those better. I have noticed that my attempts are getting more complex lately. I’m still firmly in amateur-land, but it’s definitely a transition toward something more advanced.

The biggest problem is that it takes me forever to actually finish anything. I think this is primarily due to my aforementioned deficiencies in theory and playing. That, and my best ideas occur to me in the shower, which is usually right before I need to leave the house, so by the time I get to capture anything the fullness of it has long faded from memory. If I’m lucky I retain enough of it to get a main idea down and can sometimes rebuild what I had fully realized in my head at the outset. Usually, I get something kind of like what I was thinking and then it develops along a totally separate path – sometimes better, usually worse.

Anyway… my point was that a lot of my ex-blogging time goes into this. I really enjoy it, despite the fact that almost no-one has ever heard any of it (with the exception of one “Amen” I wrote in 2004, which we use in my church periodically) outside of a very few friends and family. I’ve considered sharing it here from time to time, but haven’t. I’ve been bothered by self-criticism, embarrassment, and the fact that I’m not really satisfied with how the MIDI rendering sounds. A few things are changing in at least 2 of those areas, though, so I may do a post here in the future that shares at least something of what I’ve written.

Which leads me to this: this blog is not dead, though you’d be forgiven for thinking it is. I’m not making any pledge to post more frequently. I’ll post if and when it suits me, and that may be very infrequently. But I will post. I still hope some of you comment – honestly it makes this whole endeavor more fun for me – but I’ll be posting because I have something to say that doesn’t really make sense to put in Facebook.

I’m also open to guest posters, so if you’re interested in writing here, let me know.

I will continue to post much more frequently on my Caddickisms Facebook page, so if you’re looking to get more from me, please “like” or follow me there (you can even use the button on the right of this page).

DO NOT DRINK THE WATER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. Customers are asked to not use the water for drinking, cooking, food preparation, oral hygiene or providing to pets until further notice. Throw away . . . → Read More: Fact checking the easy stuff]]> So our water company had a break in at one of their tanks recently and while they’re checking to make sure the water hasn’t been contaminated, they’ve issued a “Do Not Consume” warning. The meat of the official warning, as found on the water company web site, is this:

DO NOT DRINK THE WATER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. Customers are asked to not use the water for drinking, cooking, food preparation, oral hygiene or providing to pets until further notice. Throw away ice cubes if made with tap water after 3:30pm on March 13. The water can be used for sanitary purposes such as bathing and washing. If you have specific health concerns, you may wish to consult your doctor.

Locally, this is kind of a big deal, even if it is just precautionary. So I’m checking out the information about this stuff on two local news stations last night. Both of them screwed it up.

Were the screw-ups important? Depends how you look at it. But come on… this is a pretty easy one to get right.

On the one station, their mistake was on their web site. As these are usually transcriptions of what they say on air it’s possible they said it that way as well. The mistake was that they instructed people to throw away their ice if it was made before 3:30pm. That’s backwards, and if there actually is contamination and people are too stupid to think for themselves, it’s dangerous. Even so, I can see how someone typing this up might have switched the word accidentally – just bad proofreading. Still it should get fixed when people point it out (as I did in the comments section). And it would have been pretty easy, and more accurate, to just copy/paste the same paragraph I did above anyway.

On the other station, the anchors said on-air at 11pm (well after the warning, and plenty of time to research something this simple) that you can’t even use the water to bathe or wash clothes. They emphasized it, and it’s patently opposite what the warning states. During the show I posted a correction on their Facebook page and they acknowledged the mistake there. No on-air correction, but they’ve got a timed show to run, so whatever. What annoyed me was that they ran a brand new report this morning and re-stated the same mistake.

Now I get that they might want to be leaning on the more conservative side – it’s possible to accidentally ingest the water while showering, after all – so I wouldn’t be upset if they stated it more as commentary than as official news. But to repeatedly state something completely the opposite of something clearly stated in the official warning just seems wrong. Do it once, it’s a possibly innocent mistake. Keep doing it after you’ve been corrected? That’s either on purpose or poor journalism.

Either way, it bugs me. If they’re getting something this simple wrong, why should I trust they’re getting bigger stuff right?

It wasn’t my birthday, or Christmas, or any of the typical . . . → Read More: The gift of music]]> This is one of a series of articles I wrote for The Coalition of Awesomeness blog some time ago. The blog has since gone to an unfortunate (but very awesome) grave so I thought I’d share it here. This particular entry has a special meaning for me, and may shed some light on one of the entries on the list in a recent post.

It wasn’t my birthday, or Christmas, or any of the typical gift giving occasions. It was just a day. I was probably 7 or 8 years old, laying on my bedroom floor, playing with something or coloring. Maybe I was using our portable record player (yes, an actual record player… you know, vinyl, big circle, a needle… never mind… you kids and your technology…) to listen to some kids album or story.

Anyway… I was just there alone in the room and my Dad came in and said he had something for me. He didn’t make a big deal of it. He just said there was a song on this record that he thought I’d like. He put the record on and moved the needle to the right spot to play The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy). And we sat there on the floor and listened together. He was right; I liked it. We listened to it a few more times and sang along with the catchy, happy tune. After a while we listened to a few more of the songs and I got my first taste of “grown up” music. And I liked it. And then he said he was giving me the album.

Thus did Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme become the first album I ever owned. It would have a huge impact on my life. I still love it today.

I didn’t love it all at once. There were a few songs that I tended to skip. But I listened to the ones I liked a lot. And eventually I began to like the others as well. Over my teen years I began to understand more of the layers of the songs as I learned more about the climate in which they were written. And my appreciation of the craft that Paul Simon poured into his songs grew.

As we moved into the era of cassette tapes I got another copy of this album. I also got other Simon and Garfunkel albums, and as cassette players became standard in cars, those tapes became standards on our car trips. Any trip over a half-hour would inevitably find Dad and I singing along with these songs. We still talk about those times singing along with Homeward Bound and Scarborough Fair/Canticle on our way taking me to and from college.

That one understated day in the ’70s when my Dad handed me this album had a huge impact on my life. It was the first time I ever owned something “grown up” – and thus was a rite of passage of sorts; it provided many bonding moments for me and my Dad; it was my introduction to “serious” music; it shaped much of my musical tastes; and it spurred my interest in music as a performer/composer (though the latter wouldn’t really take shape for a few more decades, my analysis of the construction of these songs was undeniably a factor).

The day may have been understated, but it would be hard to overstate how much it ended up meaning to me.

Thanks, Dad.

At the beginning of December, I decided I was going to start setting up “Daddy-Daughter Dates” – times I would spend with each one of them individually. The intent was a quick lunch out or a trip to a store or maybe bowling. It wasn’t supposed to . . . → Read More: Daddy-Daughter Dates, and Bonding]]> I have two girls. They’re 6 (almost 7) and 8 years old now. They’re still at the ages when it’s cool to hang with Dad. I like that.

At the beginning of December, I decided I was going to start setting up “Daddy-Daughter Dates” – times I would spend with each one of them individually. The intent was a quick lunch out or a trip to a store or maybe bowling. It wasn’t supposed to be time intensive, though I didn’t want it to be rushed either. The goal is to spend some time bonding with the girls individually, and to cement in their minds that they can talk to me – to really make that connection now, so when they get older we’ll have that openness and trust established and hopefully habituated.

The problem is, it’s getting harder and harder to find time to do these dates. Not to mention it’s getting harder to find things to do other than eat out.

I started this during my vacation days leading up to Christmas. I had off each Friday in December and we went to lunch – and sometimes that turned into lunch plus running a bunch of errands or shopping for a few hours. As simple as that sounds, I think it ended up setting the bar pretty high. The kids really look forward to these – partially because they’re doing something with me, which is great, but partly because they love going out to eat. But if I take one out, the other is stranded with Mom (not that that’s a bad thing at all, but we can’t afford 2 simultaneous dates every week, so their time with Mom is usually lower keyed – which is ironically what I’m shooting for with these dates to begin with).

I can’t consistently take time off work for lunch on a schedule that matches their home schooling. Most days I don’t take lunch at all, really, so it actually doesn’t matter what their schedule is. Taking a kid out to dinner seems unfair to the other half of the family I’m leaving at home – plus it’s more expensive than lunch. And I can’t figure out what to do that isn’t taking them out to eat.

I have ideas, actually, but not ones that would appeal to them. I’m trying to reinforce the original definition of the date as “spending time together” and not just going out for fun stuff, but it’s hard to do. When we went out recently to recycle our Christmas tree and do some shopping at Lowes, my eldest stated flat-out “This does not count as our Daddy-Daughter Date” just in case I was considering it (which I was).

Simplify.

I’m trying to think of the things I did one-on-one with my Dad. It was always cool to eat lunch with him at the Naval Air center where he worked. I work at home. Not as exciting, nor does it lend itself to individual time. The best translation is going out to eat… but we just covered that above.

We played catch. I remember that as a time of bonding, and sincerely enjoyed it as a whole, but sports were never really my thing and I also remember having to be forced to do it more than once. Still, I don’t totally discount that as an option when the weather gets warmer. The kids definitely enjoy things like archery and whiffle-ball.

Oddly, the thing I remember the most fondly as bonding time with my Dad was the thing I had to be forced to do almost every time: help fix the car or otherwise work in the garage. Most of my friends now probably think of me as inept with machinery and tool-related tasks. I’m not, really. I’m actually pretty good at it when pressed (and given the time to refresh my rusty skills), and that is almost exclusively due to the time I spent in the garage with Dad. He was always fixing, or at least tinkering, with something out there. Heck, he built the garage itself. He had a real passion for that stuff, and he was very good at it. I have very little of that passion, unfortunately, which is probably why I appear to have no skills. But looking back on that time now, I miss it. A lot. I’d be very happy right now to sit in that garage in front of that insanely loud turbo-heater talking, learning, and fixing things with my Dad. Well, maybe not right in front of it… that thing would burn your skin off at 10 paces.

Anyway… fixing things. As I said, my passion for that is pretty low, and so is its frequency, but it does happen from time to time. And I do want to include the girls when I can. Kind of hard to bill that as a date, though.

But it wasn’t the activity so much as the passion he had for it. The closest parallel I have to that passion is computers. He spent almost as much time in that garage as I do with my computer. Come to think of it, he managed quite of bit of computer time too. Software and hardware (he was an electrical engineer and computer scientist, after all) – neither were safe from his tinkering. We spent a lot of time doing that together, too. I’m sure there are bonding opportunities there somewhere with my girls, but again… hard to bill as a date.

Maybe that’s part of the problem. Labeling. Maybe making it an event is a mistake. It should just be part of life. That’s what I was really intending for years, but to tell the truth it wasn’t really happening. The kids are so close in age and (usually) such good friends that they spend most of their time together. It’s hard to do something individually with them without planning it ahead of time.

I don’t know. Anybody have any ideas? I’ll take it from anyone, but Dads with girls, especially… what do you do to spend time with them? How do you separate them from their siblings without making it a big deal, and simply when do you find the time? Or ladies, what did you do with your dad?

My Dad would have thought that was hilarious. In fact, he’d probably have actually done it. But he couldn’t. In his case, the Mayans were right. Despite being in . . . → Read More: Life After the End of the World: My Dad, the Mayans, and Me]]> December 21st. For years that date had been discussed ad nauseum. The date the Mayan calendar ended. The end of the world. It became a joke. I thought it was pretty funny myself. I dropped a joke or two on Facebook about it.

My Dad would have thought that was hilarious. In fact, he’d probably have actually done it. But he couldn’t. In his case, the Mayans were right. Despite being in a building full of doctors, his time in this world ended on December 21st, 2012.

The joke isn’t nearly as funny to me anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I still see the humor in it, but it’s only a half-hearted chuckle now. Maybe it’ll be a full laugh again later. Dad wouldn’t have wanted me to lose my sense of humor.

In fact, I got a lot of my humor from him (at times, to my – and my family’s – chagrin). He asked me what the date was the night before he died. Maybe he held out to the morning as a final joke. I doubt it, but I have to admit that in a twisted way it does make me smile a bit to consider. In any event, I know he’d find that coincidence funny.

I know he’d be happy that as family and friends gathered in the days subsequent to his death, there was a lot of laughter amidst the crying. There’s not a lot of “somber” in our genes. This situation definitely brought it out, but it’s a recessive trait. Oddly, despite all the sadness of the days after his death, even now I look at back at some of that time with fondness because of the drawing close of family and friends in support and sympathy – and with my friends and family, that means humor.

At the funeral on Christmas Eve morning, many people spoke of his good humor and warm smile, even at times when he was experiencing pain or discomfort. Yes, he did have moments of depression, anger, and negativity, but the vast majority of the time that assessment is spot on. He really was generally happy, especially when spending time with others (even the nurses and doctors in the hospital noted his positive attitude and lack of complaint).

He loved life. I don’t think he wanted to go, but I think he knew it was time.

I’ve been writing this post for weeks now. I can’t make it say what I want it to. I’ve edited and considered completely deleting everything. I feel inept in communicating my feelings. So in lieu of something coherent and properly toned, here’s a very incomplete list of things I remember about Dad:

• Smiles
• Laughter
• Teaching me algebra to teach me subtraction and multiplication
• Laying on the living room floor reading the Sunday comics
• Working in the garage
• Playing catch
• Camping
• Bad jokes
• NADC open houses
• Loni Anderson t-shirt
• The augur that ripped off his overalls
• Siphoning the water out of the flooded basement
• Swimming in the creek
• Simon and Garfunkel
• Driving the bus
• Plowing the street
• Generosity
• Eating lunch at work
• Leaving work early to drive me and Cliff home from a too-long bike ride
• Building the ramps and steps at the cabin
• Climbing up the mountain behind the cabin
• Walking with him and Grandpop to the Molyneaux farm stand, and trying to throw sticks far enough to hit the creek
• Sadly, conversations I intended to have, but didn’t
• Love

On the day Dad died, his cousin Fred wrote this on Facebook: “Vic was my first hero. My big cousin. Sadly, too far away, and now vanished.”

He was my hero too.

Victor A. “Vic” Caddick, Jr. of Ambler, Pennsylvania passed away on Friday, December 21, 2012 at Abington Memorial Hospital after a long illness. He was 70 years old. Vic was born July 20, 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, son of the late Victor A. Caddick Sr. and the late Lois Caddick (nee – Dietrich).

Born, raised, and educated in Philadelphia, Vic was a graduate of Frankford High School. He joined the United States Navy in July of 1960 and served in Norfolk, Virginia until his honorable discharge in July of 1963. On April 4, 1964 Vic was introduced to Arlene by a mutual friend. They later went on a triple date to see the movie “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” The two started dating, fell in love, and were married May 21, 1966. Vic worked as a computer scientist for Johnsville Naval Air Development Center for many years, he received a bachelor’s degree from Arcadia University and later went to work for Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation.

Vic was a former member of Glading Memorial Presbyterian Church and a long time member of Supplee Memorial Presbyterian Church. He enjoyed computers, fixing cars and tractors. Vic started to loose his sight in 2004, but because he was always very handy and mechanical, he was able to continue to guide his family in any repairs and fixes.

Relatives and friends were invited to his viewing on Monday, December 24, 2012. Graveside services and military honors rendered by the United States Navy followed.

Donations may be made in his memory to Supplee Memorial Presbyterian Church, 855 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19025 www.suppleepc.org or American Diabetes Association, 150 Monument Road Suite 100, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 www.diabetes.org.

I had an idea for a short web comic. Unfortunately, I have ZERO skill at drawing. Luckily, I know someone who has that skill in spades, and I’d been wanting to find a way to collaborate with him on something. So I sent it to my friend Lee Sargent, who graciously accepted the challenge of interpreting my script. I present it to you now in all its glory:

Well, apparently one does.

I don’t know if anyone else saw this coming, but I was completely blindsided.

Disney just bought Lucasfilm, including the rights to all their films – and most importantly, Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Apparently, due to some rights issues with Paramount, Indy is just going to retire. That’s sad, but possibly for the best.

On the other hand, Disney has already announced that they are going to release Star . . . → Read More: Star Wars VII, VIII, IX… and beyond?!]]>

Well, apparently one does.

I don’t know if anyone else saw this coming, but I was completely blindsided.

Disney just bought Lucasfilm, including the rights to all their films – and most importantly, Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Apparently, due to some rights issues with Paramount, Indy is just going to retire. That’s sad, but possibly for the best.

On the other hand, Disney has already announced that they are going to release Star Wars: Episode VII (that’s 7, for the roman numeral impaired). That means a sequel to Return of the Jedi. In 2015!

They’ve also said they want to release another Star Wars movie every 2-3 years following that, and they don’t mean just a single new trilogy. This is where I begin to get conflicted.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the Star Wars universe, and I think there are a TON of stories left to tell. But I do worry that we’ll start to get the same problem with Star Wars that we had with Star Trek. Remember a few years back there was a Star Trek incarnation on TV or in the movies almost every day. The market became saturated, and viewers left as it all just started to look the same, rehashing the same ideas. I don’t want that to happen with Star Wars.

I’ve read a bunch of the books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU). Those are stories that are set after Return of the Jedi (RoTJ), starring (for the most part) the same characters we know and love from the movies, along with new exciting characters. The first of these published, the Thrawn trilogy, was hands-down excellent. There are quite a few good stories in the books that came after as well, but then, there is also a lot of tripe. That’s kind of what I want to avoid – the hit-or-miss quality of the books finding their way into the movies (yeah, I know, some will argue that already happened with the Prequel trilogy – moving on).

That said, lately the books have been pretty strong on long series with interesting plot arcs and real consequences. If that’s the direction the movies go, I’m on board. Especially if they throw in some of the cool stuff we’ve seen from Bioware. That’s the kind of tone I’d like to see in the films.

Which brings me to this: what stories should they pursue?

They have a few ready-made options:

• As mentioned, the Thrawn trilogy would be a good pick, and it introduces some very iconic and important characters. But the problem there is the recasting. Luke, Lando, Chewie, Han, and Leia are still the main characters in that book. There is a time gap between the story and RoTJ, but I’m not sure it’s enough to make it an easy transition to new actors playing such well-known roles. Still, it’s been done pretty well with Star Trek, so this does remain a possibility. I’ll remain skeptical for now.
• We could move even further into the EU and go into the lives of the Solo children – but that may take some explaining and feel a bit artificial for fans who only know the films. Plus the original characters are still around, so we still have the recasting issue.
• My pick for previously published story fodder would be the Legacy time period (assuming we are going chronologically after RoTJ). That takes place 1000 years after the Battle of Endor, I believe, and no current film characters survive to that time. The main character is Luke’s descendant and he has some issues with his legacy. The Jedi Order is around but has had a lot of trouble as the Sith have reasserted themselves, and there’s a whole new group of Force-wielders loyal to the much more sympathetic Imperial remnant. Lots of differences from the world we know in the films, but still familiar enough and very engaging. The galaxy is politically fractured and there’s a big threat to be dealt with – if Skywalker can step up and face his legacy and his destiny. Of everything I’ve read, I think this would be the best story for a movie.

That’s all assuming they adapt something that’s already been told. I’m not convinced they’ll do that. My thinking is that they’ll do something original. My hope is that they at least follow the lead of Legacy and go far future.

Now, if they keep making films beyond 7, 8, and 9, I assume they will at some point go backwards and visit the Old Republic time period. Lots of room for story in that 25,000 year span. And it could be epic.

Then of course there is the time between Episodes 3 and 4, as Darth Vader comes to power and the Emperor sweeps his reign of tyranny across the galaxy. But if they do that story, I think it will be on TV.

So it’s anyone’s guess whether it’ll be good or not. Or whether it’ll be Star Wars burnout. I’m hoping it breathes some new life and makes it interesting again.