Star Wars.

What fun at the Star Wars premiere. Since it was probably our last chance to go to a Star Wars premiere on opening night (12:01 am) I wanted to do it. Maryruth was a good sport and came. Ryan & Melissa have gone opening night to both Episodes I & II, so they were in and I don't think Heather ever sleeps so, she figured, "why not?"

Even if there were to put out another Star Wars in the next few years we probably couldn't do this again. As we were leaving the house I was thinking "I'd really be ok just watching a little TV and going to bed." We're really too old for this sort of thing. Back in the day, 3:00am was nothing. We aren't as young as we used to be... (Maryruth could have told him that before we bought the tickets!)

We arrived early in order to secure good seats (tickets had been secured previously). We didn't actually have to wait that long. By the time we arrived at 10:00pm, they had already disbanded the line by letting people in the theatre and, while our seats weren't perfect (are they ever really?), they were good. We played Zigity, awed over the costumed fans, and ate snacks (including free breadsticks after a poor kid got all confused about what I wanted and ended up giving me my money back and the food to boot to attone for his confusion!). Heather left us to do the majority of the waiting arriving after us at 11:00pm. Since we had bought the tickets, we had to coordinate to get her her ticket. The plan was to have the cell phone on, which it was...

"Hey, there's Heather!"
"How did she get in with no ticket?"
walk, walk, walk
Heather: "So, it helps if you answer the phone."
"Did you call? It didn't ring."
"I called like 20 times!"
(getting out the phone) "5 missed calls... ok so much for 'vibe & ring'..."

No speculation on how she did get into the theatre without a ticket... She probably just batted her eyelashes at gate attendant. After all, Ryan wasn't there (different Ryan) .

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So, in other news, I passed my 5th exam for Microsoft. Yay! I'm an "MCSD .net". And, since I took the "Project Management" exam—it is far more relevant to my current job—I'm also an "MSF Certified Professional". I don't know how big a deal it is but there's only 22 (well, 23 now) of us in Canada (as of MS's latest stats: Aug 04. Also, 4 in Calgary & 7 in San Francisco). It's more my cup of tea than the other programming exams, so that's really what I wanted. And a magazine wants a review of the exam, so that's another bonus. Just gotta write it (the review) now.

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I've got some exam dates, so we're looking at heading to Vancouver to catch my final final the first week of August. That way I get to see the people from my program and we'll spend some time with everyone and see Sherri & Jason's new house (if we manage to catch them while they're in town).

The Stars Wars Episode III Premiere: a lot of waiting. Fortunately, we brought Zigity.
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And we watched people come in. Check the costumes (Vader x2).
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Hey RYaaann!
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Some knightly costumes.
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Darth (what a costume!) & the cinnamon-bun-haired Leia.
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Oh yeah, still waiting... movie hasn't started. That's ok, gives Ryan a chance to get in some geek time with his PDA.
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The battle pauses as both sides pose for a photo-op.
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Seriously, check out that costume on Darth. The Jedi have some great complete outfits too (you can't see the full tool belts, boots, etc.). Oddly, their outfits were better than their force abilities.
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Civilization!

I'm pretty sure that we've mentioned that we have Civilization in board game format. We've played it probably half a dozen times and it is quite fun, thought a little long (this game was a little quicker at 6 1/2 hours including a supper break [chili & buns, cupcakes & brownies for dessert]). It is based on the computer game, with some things removed to save on time—can you even imagine trying to calculate the output of 21 squares for each city you had, yikes!

We played at Anthony & Jana's (Olson) house. We'd never been over there before. It's a nice little four-plex somewhat close to downtown (maybe a 25 minute walk to AUC). Anthony works at AUC. He used to work with Ryan before Webstylers stole him away :) 4 weeks ago.

Ryan's wife Melissa didn't come because she was busy packing. They are just finalizing the details on a new condo. They have been waiting a long time to get it. It is just finished being built (well landscaping, etc. probably isn't finished yet) though they have been planning to buy it since last fall sometime. Right now they live in an apartment even a little closer to downtown than the Olsons (maybe 20 min.) but are going to be moving about 10 minutes further NW than we live. I don't envy their daily commute (she also works downtown - does childcare or something at the Eau Claire YMCA—she actually has looked after Michael's [my boss] son a few times there; such a small world).

Civilization is a lot of fun, we should see if we can't find the time when we come this summer. Have I mentioned that my courses (already posted my first bit tonight) finish up the first week of August? By the 6th I'll be all done. Oh yeah, I got all my grades (A- x2 & B for this past semester) and am currently sitting just above 3.5. I'm very happy with that. I'd like to aim just a bit higher for this semester and finish off this program strong.

Civilization! R to L: Ryan, Anthony, Jana, M.
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Planning her next move.
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Jeffrey is yellow, Maryruth is green (imagine that!). Blue is definately dominating already.
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Ahhh, half the fun of Civilization: strategizing, compromising, diplomizing, and tradizing with others.
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Not Civilization. It's a rough life for a cat.This is tia's favorite spot for napping (the monitor kicks off some good heat in the back and makes it warm).
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