Test 2

credit: Marvel

So, this is going to be one of those posts where I talk about being thankful. If you've had enough of that today, then I'll understand if you move along.

I woke up this morning and as I laid there in bed, trying to decide if I should roll over and go back to sleep, I realized that it was Thanksgiving morning. Now, you have to understand that there is little that I cherish more than the "weekend feel" of being able to go back to sleep. But, as I sat there looking at the ceiling, I thought about the year that has been.

Later on in the morning, once I had a couple of cups of coffee in me and the kids were both up, we were sitting at our kitchen table and discussing the things for which we are thankful. As The Girl was listing her items, it occurred to me that our family has done a LOT of cool stuff this year (e.g. our trip to NYC two weekends ago).

I'm not going to be so pretentious as to list all of the things for which I'm thankful. Because, there's a lot on that list. What I will say is I'm most grateful to be surrounded by love. Whether I'm at home, or whether I'm at work, I feel like the thing that always picks me up when I'm down is the realization that I am continually in the presence of awesome people. I absolutely recognize that not everyone can say that, and I appreciate the fact that there aren't too many a-holes in my day-to-day life.

So, here's to hoping that you don't have too many a-holes in your life, and that you don't have to deal with any of them today. Gobble, gobble!

Absolutely brilliant. A recounting of the entirety of the Star Wars saga (so far) in hip-hop form.

If you're curious, here are the lyrics:

Said a long time ago in a galaxy far far away a
Guy named Vader tried to kidnap a Rebel Princess Leia
So she employed a droid to record her a quick note, she said
"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope." Go!

Hyperspace zoom, sent off some battle plans in an R2
C-3PO’s saying they’re doomed, until they’re bought by a farmer named Luke
His Force is strong
Obi-Wan hasn’t heard that name in long
Solo shoots first, don’t say that I’m wrong
It took him twelve parsecs for his Kessel Run

Well, sure. Chewie was charting the course
Luke learned the way of the Force
Blew up the Death Star, he had no remorse
He got a medal, he’s ready for more

Strike back, Rebels on Hoth are attacked
Yoda shows up and talks backwards
Battled with Boba Fett, put up a fight but then Han got froze in carbonite, burr
Wasn’t the plan, suddenly Luke is in need of a hand
Lando Calrissian led them to slaughter
And Darth Vader said to Luke
I am your father

What?! Jabba the Hutt, gotta admit that bikini was hot
Yoda is dying, yes that’s why I’m crying
Take this any longer I simply cannot
Hey Sidious
You were quite hideous
Vader protected his kid, I’m not kidding, I’m serious
Blew up a Death Star, ‘cause it was a trap
Shout out to Ewoks, ‘cause they had our back

Back in the day
Little boy Anakin loved to pod race
Padmé escaped, Darth Maul went ape
The ending for Qui-Gon Jin wasn’t so great

Attack of the clones
Ten years pass, Anakin’s grown
He falls in love but his master is captured
His mother is killed and then that spells disaster
Ooh!
Mace Windu
Anakin loses an arm to Dooku
Secret marriage
Twins in the carriage
Palpatine’s savage
And Vader breaks through!

I’m trying to think… Who’d I forget? What’s his name?
Meesa called Jar Jar Binks!

Now to today
Jumping ahead to a scrapper named Rey (Hey!)
Teamed up with Poe and a Stormtrooper Finn
Who betrayed the First Order, so we let him in
BB-8!
Solo vs. Solo, Han met his fate
Rose got to work
Kylo won’t put on a shirt
Kylo is kind of a flirt
Tracked down Luke he was giving me hate
Until he saved the Resistance on Crait

Now Skywalker's gone
But faith in the Force remains strong
Skywalker always lives on
Wooh!

You can't stop me, I'm a Jedi from Jakku
Fight the Dark Side from Tatooine to Naboo
Let go of everything that you fear to lose
Be the spark the lights the fire and May The Force Be With You

So, a little while ago I posted the trailer and a short snippet about the upcoming premier or The Mandalorian on Disney Plus. Needless to say, I have been excited ever since I heard that all of the Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney universes/franchises would be in one place. Additionally, the prospect of original programming in the Star Wars universe has been bandied about for some time.

Then, seemingly forever ago, news broke that the first original Star Wars series on the fledgling streaming service would be The Mandalorian - and I flipped out! As a long-time fan of Boba Fett (as many Star Wars fanboys are), the opportunity to see the backstory and culture of the Mandalorians come to the screen was VERY exciting!

...and so far the show has NOT disappointed.

In fact, my expectations were extremely high and I felt that Dave Filoni (director) and Jon Favreau (writer/creator) exceeded them.

If you haven't watched yet, or don't want things to be spoiled, get out now.

The show opens on a bar that feels like the (in)famous Mos Eisley Cantina scene - sans the bouncy John Williams score. The camera pans around a hive of scum and villainy and centers on a blue alien being roughed up by a couple of bad dudes. Then, in walks our (anti)hero:


The Mandalorian proceeds to dispatch the baddies with little effort (read: badass), then take our blue fellow (ably played by SNL alum Horatio Sanz) into custody, after displaying his bounty token.

The story line continues to develop as Pascal's Mandalorian embarks on a quest to retrieve a bounty that is "over 50 years old" for a paltry down payment of a bar of Beskar steel.

For those uninformed, Polygon has a fantastic write-up about Beskar steel, Mandalorian armor, and the yet-to-be-revealed signet for the title character here. The money:

Mandalorian armor is famous in the Star Wars universe. The armor plates themselves can withstand blaster shots, as we see in The Mandalorian, and can even protect the wearer from the glancing blow of a lightsaber — which can be seen in the Legacy of Mandalore episode of Star Wars: Rebels when Gar Saxon is disarmed. Despite this impressive protection, the armor also remains surprisingly light, allowing the wearer to remain agile and maneuverable. In some cases, the strength of the metal could lead to sets of Mandalorian armor that lasted hundreds of years. In Star Wars: Rebels, Sabine Wren’s armor is 500 years old.

The unique properties of the armor are due in large part to the Beskar metal that it’s made with. Beskar, also known as Mandalorian iron, is one of the toughest and rarest metals in the galaxy. In The Mandalorian’s first episode, we get a brief glimpse of Beskar in the form of the metal bar that the Mandalorian hands the Armorer. The Armorer takes the bar and turns it into a new pauldron for the Mandalorian. With Beskar more rare, and many Mandalorians spread out across the galaxy, it seems that not even the Mandalorian’s armor is quite complete.

Beskar is extremely rare. While we don’t have the details in the official canon anymore, the pre-Disney “Legends” stories explained that it could only be mined on Mandalore, the home planet of the Mandalorians, or its moon, Concordia. According to the Armorer, the metal was likely taken during the Great Purge — also known as Order 66, Chancellor Palpatine’s directive to the clone army to kill all Jedi.

The mystery! The intrigue!

I told you that it was awesome!

And much like the doorway image above, much of the cinematography reminds me of old western films. The Mandalorian really feels like a gunslinger movie. Is he good? Is he bad? Is he ugly? By the end of the first episode, we're still not sure (though there are definite leanings toward good-ish).

Episodes two and three are equally fantabulous. I'm not going to go into any details on them, just know that the final five minutes of the third episode (titled, "The Sin") had me cheering on my couch.

Here's to a great start for Disney+, and the continued awesomeness that is The Mandalorian.

So, we've been thinking a lot about how it won't be long before our kids (now 16- and 13-years-old, respectively) are leaving the house for whatever post-secondary experiences await them. As such, we have been having conversations with them about the types of family adventures that they would be interested in having in the next couple of years.

Based on their feedback, last weekend we packed up the car and made a family getaway to New York City. This was the first time that either of my children had been to the Big Apple.

Hitting the road, with the 16-year-old driving! YIKES.

We got the kids just as they finished school on Friday afternoon and drove to Hoboken, New Jersey. We spend the night in a Holiday Inn Express (because, free breakfast), then took the NY Waterway ferry from Port Imperial/Weehawken into Manhattan on Saturday morning. The ferry was great, but even greater was the NY Waterway bus that drove us into mid-town (so that we didn't have to drop money on a taxi/Uber).

Our reservation was at the Crowne Plaza Times Square, but we couldn't check-in to our room until later in the afternoon. So we stowed our luggage with the reception desk and hit the city!


It was a chilly weekend in the city, as evidenced by our "bundled" appearance.


After walking through Times Square, [getting me some coffee: priorities] and seeing all of the sights, hearing all of the sounds, and smelling all of the smells, we made our way across 42nd Street to the New York Public Library. None of us had ever been there, but Melissa thought that it would be cool to see. AND. IT. WAS.


Honestly, the Library felt more like a museum than a library. But as we walked around and snapped pictures and marveled at the ornate nature of the building, sure enough there were people at tables and in alcoves absorbed in their reading. We saw one young woman wearing a Stuyvesant shirt studying at a table behind a political sticker-laden Macbook - as if this was just another library.

But does your everyday town library have the original Winnie The Pooh plush characters - on which the famous stories were built?

Tigger doesn't look very bouncy...

Yeah, probably not.

After we left the NYPL, we headed next door to Bryant Park. I don't know what it's like in the non-winter/non-holiday season, but this time of the year the park is a beautiful oasis filled with vendors, shoppers, and an ice-skating rink. The only picture that I got of the location was the whimsical sign at the entrance:


We grabbed some lunch, did some people watching, and The Boy made a friend:


After getting some grub we headed back down Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Center, where we found the Christmas tree behind scaffolding.


...and of course, more ice-skating:


As we walked around the Plaza, we stumbled into FAO Schwarz - the famous toy store. Given that the holiday shopping season is upon us, the place was simply packed.


But when in Rome, you do as Tom Hanks does in Big:


(For those uncivilized, you're hearing The Boy's attempt at "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes. Also a fight song that is heard often at Penn State home football games.)

While at Rockefeller Plaza, we did the NBC Studios tour. We saw the news studio (where Lester Holt does the Evening News each night), as well as studios each for Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. No cameras were allowed on the tour, so the only picture I got was of The Girl at a mock desk from The Office.


After 30 Rock, we went back to the hotel where we relaxed until it was time to head back out. For dinner, we went to the Times Square Diner and Grill (which, ironically isn't actually in Times Square). A great art deco spot on 8th Avenue at 49th Street.


After dinner, we walked over to the Gershwin Theatre for the focus of our trip: Wicked.




Perhaps unsurprisingly, the show was excellent. In particular, Ginna Mason's portrayal of Glinda stole the show. This was my first time seeing Wicked, and I was impressed. The story is quite unique, and the production was what you would expect from a real Broadway show. If you've never seen a show in New York, I would highly recommend it as an entree into that world. It's family-friendly, entertaining, and quite the spectacle - all with characters that are familiar.

After a busy day, we headed back to the hotel where we we able to get a pretty good night's sleep. This is remarkable because we had to share two double-beds between the four of us. Not the most ideal of sleeping arrangements. But, getting two rooms in a Times Square hotel was out of the question for fiscal reasons.

Sunday morning we woke up and I texted a friend of mine who lives a few subway stops away from Times Square. I mistakenly believed that he and his family lived in Brooklyn, so we got a metro card and hopped on the train to 36th Street. As we were crossing the bridge into Brooklyn, I got a text from him that read, "NO! 36th Avenue! In Queens! You're on the wrong train! Turn around!"

Yup.

So, after doing some mental gymnastics, we figured out which train we needed to get back through mid-town and out to Astoria/Queens. Eighty minutes later we were greeting my friend and his wife and daughter at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. There is a splendid Jim Henson installation there, which I highly recommend. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.

After walking through the museum for a bit, we decided to grab lunch at a local pizzeria called Sak's Place, and catch up. A couple of hours of great food and conversation later, we got back on the train into mid-town, picked up our luggage at the hotel, and caught a bus back to the NY Waterway ferry. Five-plus hours later, we were back home and simply exhausted.

The kids had school the next morning but the Wife and I were smart; we took the day off.

While seeing new sights & sounds and old friends was great, there was a much larger take-away for our family on this trip.

Living in a small town in central Pennsylvania can be something of a bubble. My kids have a relatively narrow world view. I don't say this to sound belittling of their experience, but outside of trips to Disney World in Orlando, they haven't traveled to places where they can experience a diversity of people.

As we were walking around the city we saw people from all backgrounds, cultures, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, and socio-economic situations. My kids' eyes were opened to how other people live outside of the bubble in which we live. They were also shown precisely how fortunate we are. This is a learning experience that no museum or library could ever display.

That makes a great trip, an excellent trip!

It's true. Comic Sans font gets me triggered, even though it has just celebrated a birthday:

If you think Comic Sans looks immature, child-like something a teacher would use, well, that's sort of the point. Back in 1994, Vincent Connare was working at Microsoft. And he was working on software that would teach people how to use a computer through cartoon characters who spoke in speech bubbles, including a yellow dog named Rover.

Okay, okay. So I didn't know the history of the font. So I have a little less of a distaste now.

But maybe the root cause of my disdain for Comic Sans stems not from the typeface itself, but rather the (in my opinion) improper usage of it. When reading a professional communication (email, memo, etc.) I have an expectation that the sender uses proper grammar and punctuation. Forgive me for sounding a bit fuddy-duddy, but with the advent of texting and the language that was invented to make texting more convenient (e.g. TTYL, LOL, etc.), people have become less professional in their communication.

So, when you couple that unprofessional communication with a font that looks like something that my middle schooler would put in a PowerPoint presentation, I lose my mind.

And geez, don't even get me started on Papyrus...

Perhaps not as surprising as you might think, Marvel honcho Kevin Feige says that the MCU will continue to be inter-connected by the offerings on Disney's new streaming service:

If you want to understand everything in future Marvel movies, he says, you’ll probably need a Disney+ subscription, because events from the new shows will factor into forthcoming films such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Scarlet Witch will be a key character in that movie, and Feige points out that the Loki series will tie in, too. “I’m not sure we’ve actually acknowledged that before,” he says. “But it does.”

I've mentioned it before, but I'm super excited for next Tuesday, when Disney+ debuts.

Disney+ will premier on Tuesday, at 9:00 a.m. EST, per /Film, by way of Marvel.

Scratch that. Let me SHOW YOU...
Each year we try to do a team "thing" for Halloween. For example, last year we went as a set of dominoes. So this year my good pal Wendy thought that superlatives would be a cool idea.

From left to right:

• Joanne was "Most Likely To Eat Your Chocolate"
• Sam was "Most Likely To Run A Marathon"
• Audrey was the "Class Nerd"
• Liz was "Most Artistic"
• Wendy was "Most Likely To Be Cold"
• I went with "Most Athletic" (which was done completely in irony)

While there were a couple of other folks that dressed up, I was somewhat disappointed with the overall turnout. Who wants to pass-up an opportunity to "dress down" at work?!

First of all, AWESOME.

Secondly, lots of folks are picking apart the trailer and looking at some serious nuance. But you don't have to dive too deeply for the good stuff:

The first live-action Star Wars series will take place a few years after Return of the Jedi. Whoever the Mandalorian is under his mask, he’s no friend of the Empire. The trailer shows the Mandalorian methodically making his way through former Imperial soldiers. He also has an on-board carbon freezing chamber to deal with his targets. That makes things a lot easier when turning them in for bounties.

All accounts are that the writers are keeping this series after Episode IV (Return of the Jedi) - when the Empire fell - but prior to the rise of the First Order.

I cannot WAIT for November 12th! How about you?

Last month at the 2019 National Conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (aka, "NACAC"), the body voted to amend its Code of Ethics and Principles of Practice (CEPP) in response to the Department of Justice's investigation (I previously teed'up the topic here).

So, what does it all mean?

Here's the background. The CEPP formerly stated:

• Colleges must not offer incentives exclusive to students applying or admitted under an early decision application plan. Examples of incentives include the promise of special housing, enhanced financial aid packages, and special scholarships for early decision admits. Colleges may, however, disclose how admission rates for early decision differ from those for other admission plans.
• College choices should be informed, well-considered, and free from coercion. Students require a reasonable amount of time to identify their college choices; complete applications for admission, financial aid, and scholarships; and decide which offer of admission to accept. Once students have committed themselves to a college, other colleges must respect that choice and cease recruiting them.
• Colleges will not knowingly recruit or offer enrollment incentives to students who are already enrolled, registered, have declared their intent, or submitted contractual deposits to other institutions. May 1 is the point at which commitments to enroll become final, and colleges must respect that. The recognized exceptions are when students are admitted from a wait list, students initiate inquiries themselves, or cooperation is sought by institutions that provide transfer programs.
• Colleges must not solicit transfer applications from a previous year’s applicant or prospect pool unless the students have themselves initiated a transfer inquiry or the college has verified prior to contacting the students that they are either enrolled at a college that allows transfer recruitment from other colleges or are not currently enrolled in a college.

My emphases.

So, all of that sounds reasonable, right? Well, not according to the United States Department of Justice. The DOJ went through the CEPP and picked it apart pretty good:

Colleges must not offer incentives exclusive to students applying or admitted under an early decision application plan.

The Department of Justice believes this prohibits colleges from offering incentives exclusive to students applying or admitted under an Early Decision application plan. Department of Justice staff claims that this prohibits competition among colleges for Early Decision applicants.

Once students have committed themselves to a college, other colleges must respect that choice and cease recruiting them.

The Department of Justice staff suggests that this prevents colleges from competing to continue to recruit students who may be able to lower their college costs if they remain subject to competition among colleges.

Colleges will not knowingly recruit or offer enrollment incentives to students who are already enrolled, registered, have declared their intent, or submitted contractual deposits to other institutions.

The Department of Justice staff believes that these provisions restrain competition among colleges for students and students may lower their college costs if schools remain free to solicit even students who have committed elsewhere.

Colleges must not solicit transfer applications from a previous year’s applicant or prospect pool.

According to the Department of Justice staff, this severely hampers the ability of colleges to compete for transfer students.

Okay, okay, DOJ. We get it. You want students to be able to get the best deal possible. And that certainly has the potential to be a good thing.

So why are institutions of higher education freaking out about these changes? Simple: the original language in the CEPP helped to level the proverbial playing field - from the institutional perspective.

Prior to the removal of the CEPP provisions, colleges and universities respected a student's decision to commit to another institution. Based on the data available to them (e.g. cost of the institution, the financial aid package that the institution offered the student, academic fit, social fit, etc.), the student was expected to make an informed decision about their plans for their own higher education.

Then, once College X became aware that Sally was going to attend College Y, College X would remove Sally from their mailing lists, email campaigns, and other recruitment activities. Sally had made an informed decision (again, based on the data available), and College X would back away. Students typically made their decision around May 1st each year (aka, "National Decision Day").

But in this New World without the aforementioned CEPP provisions, college and universities can continue to recruit - and incentivise - students beyond May 1st. That means that recruiting students could potentially continue right up until the start of the fall term in August or September, or beyond.

Now College X no longer has to respectfully bow-out when Sally has made and communicated her decision to attend College Y. Instead, College X is able to do a lot of, "Are you sure Sally?" and "Here's another five thousand dollars to sweeten the deal for you to attend College X Sally. What do you say to that?"

Yikes.

Recently, at an event where we invite high school counselors to come visit the University Park campus, I had a frank conversation with a counselor from eastern Pennsylvania. In it, the counselor questioned "How can this be a bad thing? These changes will only serve to benefit the student!" And that counselor is not wrong. Honestly, this is something that I do grapple with because in the end, many students can and will benefit from opportunities presented to them. But, the question that always reels me back in is (somewhat ironically), but at what cost? 

I worry that college and universities will be forced into operating like a used car dealership does. When a family says, "Well, Institution X is giving Little Johnny $5,000 more than you are - what can you do for Johnny?" the admissions representative will be forced to reply, "Well, let me go talk to my manager..."

Bottom line: I don't think that most institutions of higher education want to be likened to used car dealers.

And then there is the view from a different angle: those in the financial planning sector. This makes my skin crawl:

Now middle and upper-income investment clients who would usually pay full-price for college will think you’re a genius when you show them how to negotiate $5,000-$10,000 a year off their cost!

Or...

Every financial advisor can now capture new clients by merely showing families how to NEGOTIATE price reductions from colleges!

The bottom line is colleges can now “poach” good students from other colleges ANYTIME using “money incentives”. Financial advisors can clean house showing new investment clients how to get these money incentives from colleges.

This new change creates a free market for colleges to lure good students away from other colleges at any time by only offering more money. This will create tremendous price competition between colleges. In other words, college recruiting just got more competitive!

Or...

These new regulations create an opportunity of a lifetime for financial advisors!
Most state schools are priced at $35,000 and up. Private college prices range from $50,000 to almost $80,000. It’s not that high-income investment clients cannot afford to pay that full price, THEY JUST DON’T WANT TO!

As a Certified College Funding Specialists (CCFS®), you will be trained in appealing college financial award letters and showing families how to negotiate the price of college. The only difference is now high net-worth families are in the driver’s seat for these price incentives because they have the money to pay the balance of the tuition bill.

If you are not using “college” in your current investment practice, you should be. The result of this change by NACAC is an opportunity of a lifetime for financial advisors. I encourage you to learn more about becoming a Certified College Funding Specialist® and help these families take advantage of the changing landscape in college planning.

All quotes taken from the same industry blog post by a gent named Ron Them. And I think fear that this type of attitude will continue to invade the higher education landscape, much to the chagrin of almost everyone.

In the end, at least right now, it appears that NACAC is hoping that colleges and universities will take the proverbial high-road:

David Hawkins, executive director for educational content and policy at NACAC, said, "We are aware that colleges are taking advantage of the new space created by the elimination of the three ethical/professional practice standards at the heart of the Department of Justice investigation. We are also aware that there are institutions taking advantage of the moratorium on enforcement of our ethical principles. We encourage institutions to consider the best interests of students, and protect their ability to make informed enrollment decisions without being subjected to undue pressure. We also encourage colleges to consider the equity implications for their admission policies, given the significant gaps in college access for underserved populations."

We'll just have to wait and see. I think that we'll have a much clearer picture of how this plays out come May 2020...

So, I woke up with aches and a sore throat. I haven't taken a sick day from work in probably two years. Rarely do I get the opportunity to just kick it on the couch with nobody else except for the doggo. Today, that's just what I'm doing.

In addition to playing around on the Series of Tubes, I decided to play some Fortnite and, lo and behold!, I set some new personal records. Here's a grab of me at 16 kills:


Previously, my record was 10!

And on the 17th frag, I got the victory:


I'm telling you, the advent of skill-based matchmaking has really benefited my game! That, or I'm actually getting kind of good? Maybe I should become a streamer...