29 December 08,
Guess you haven't heard from me in a few days, ok, a little more than a week, but as many of you are, it's been busy around here getting back to a normal state in Oklahoma. First, let me tell you how the trip home was.
Angela, flew from Oklahoma City to Tuscon with a plane change in Denver. She has come down with a case of "I hate flying and if anything goes wrong you'll never here the end of it" syndrome. So, she wanted the shortest flight possible. Normally, I would have sent her through Dallas and if I had paid more attention to the weather, I would have, but Denver was 20 minutes shorter. She tells of a medical emergency on the plane while flying from OKC to DEN where a lady was having a diabetic seizure and for some reason, the "flight attendants" where unable to deal with the situation in a calm manner, and opted for screaming, jumping over seats and passengers and leaving everyone with the "we're gonna die" feeling. She lands safely, de-boards, re boards her new plane and continues her flight to Tucson. When she lands in Arizona it is discovered that a plane crashed on the Denver tarmac just after she left. I'm getting the shaking finger in my face. I explain to her that if the plane in Denver was on the ground it's not a plane crash, it's a bus with flaps. Think of Greyhound with the under storage doors open.....
Ok, she's ok and after lunch with some guys from my class we headed home on the highway. Yes, she's wonderful for flying to me just to sit in a car for the next 900 miles. Well, we decided to take our time getting home and stopped several times along the way to see various sites. Sunday evening we were in Amarillo, Texas having dinner at 9:30 p.m. and finally decided to push on and get home that night instead of getting a hotel and finishing the journey the next morning. It's only 3 more hours.....right.........
We left Amarillo with a 1/2 a tank of gas, in the Ford Expedition and by the time I hit the Oklahoma border line, I don't look at anything except the signs telling me I'm getting closer. Only 14 miles left when we turn off of I-40, I notice the "low" fuel light come on, I say it "came" on because I just saw it, was it on longer without my notice.......? I tell Angela and she laughs and makes the statement, "Wouldn't it be funny if we ran out of gas so close to home" Now I figure if it just came on, I'm good for roughly 30 miles, and I only have 1/2 that to go, it's 1:15 a.m and 10 degrees outside not including any windchill factors, Angela's been complaining that the heat isn't getting on her feet and they are cold.
We start up this hill, chug, chug, she laughs and hits me on the arm, stop fooling around,
"I'm not" as I pull to the right shoulder to let 2 semi's pass,
I've got a median break and if I can get turned around, I'll be facing downhill, and will be able to backtrack to the gas station,
The SUV stalls and the engine dies, I'm forcing the turn but can't keep it on the road,
I'm know on the shoulder, tilting sideways and we come to a complete stop. "$#@^*!!"
Ok, all is not lost as we have Road Side Assistant with our phone company, yes, the same phone company with the worst customer service of them all, but complete coverage. I call, she gets our location and says she'll call back with more information. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, there she is.....
"I'm having problems getting someone, I'll call you back in a few minutes and keep you advised"
Angela is not in a good mood and is even colder now, "Why don't you call the police?"
Hmmm, why don't I call the police, the thought runs through my mind......Oh yeah, 1. I'm a guy, 2. I am the police. I give her the phone and tell her to call. She won't. Roadside assistance calls back almost 45 minutes later and tells me they can't find anyone. I hang up and dial the police, I'm transferred to El Reno PD and within 5 minutes I have a patrol car pull up behind me. I think it's the one I called and begin to get out, making sure my hands are in plain sight. "Get back in the vehicle!", I hear through the loud speaker. I get back in and not so mumble say something about the officer to Angela. He can't see my license plate so he creeps up to the back of the car and reads the tag to dispatch then comes up to my window. I explain the situation and I see the other patrol car pulling around, this is the one I was expecting. The first one, from another city walks back to the second one. I lean over and tell Angela, "I'm waiting for them to start laughing at me", "Why would they laugh?", "Because, I'm a cop". I watch them in the side mirror, "THERE IT IS!", as I see them both laughing. Ok, with that out of the way, they take Angela into town and she buys 2 gallons of gas, brings it back and we drive back into town to get some more then make it home by 3:30 a.m.
Had we spent the night in Texas, I would have gotten gas before leaving, well, it's me, what do you expect? Besides, I'm always good for an unforgettable trip.
It was great being home for Christmas and we are spending a lot of time together. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful New Year. Be safe and have a great day.

17 December 2008

Well, today we took our OPI test, this is a speaking test where we go through an interview over the phone. Amazingly I was able to converse for 20 minutes, talking about the weather, Sierra Vista, my family, baseball, the Seattle Super-Sonics coming to Oklahoma and becoming the Thunder, the OPEC was cutting production by 2 million barrels starting Jan 1, and I was able to ask him some questions too, all in Arabic. Now, please don't think I was fluent or sound anything like a native speaker, but the key is to be understood, I think I was. Now, on the last test we took I didn't feel that confident about my work and I received a 2, which is good, so I can just see me getting a 1 on this one, isn't that the ways it works?

Only 2 days and a wake up and Angela will be here in Arizona to have lunch with the group, see all the wonderful sights of Sierra Vista and then we are off on the road trip back to Oklahoma. Yes, she must really love me to "fly" here just to sit in a car for 15 hours. Yes, I'm so excited about this being over I could actually see the light...

Be safe and have a great day.

11 December 2008,
Angela, aka Mrs. Dub, told me she wanted to fly out here to Arizona to ride back to Oklahoma with me next week. Before she could change her mind I went on-line and bought her plane ticket. She will fly in on the 20th and we will have lunch with some of the folks from my class, I'll give her a quick tour of Sierra Vista and then we will be on the road for Oklahoma. I'm ready. We talked briefly about letting Shelby come out too, but apparently strapping her to the roof of the Expedition is considered illegal in the State of Arizona, and New Mexico, but I think it's ok in Texas.
During this time of year I try to shop at locations that have the Salvation Army outside their business or Toys for Tots inside, remember that this is the time of year to help others, even though helping others can be done anytime of the year. As some people may tend to look at this time as a time of stress, take a minute and reflect on what blessings you have received this year and give thanks.
Be safe and have a great day.

10 December 08,

Mammas, Don't let your babies grow to be cowboys.

This was a song from 1976 by Ed Bruce. Two years later it was recorded by Waylon and Willie. The song has been used in many movies and is one almost everyone has heard. The message is that moms should steer their boys to become lawyers and doctors instead of living alone as a cowboy.

I think it's time to change the message. The way I see it, the lack of cowboys and the increase of lawyers has been detrimental to this nation. I think it's time for mamma's to start raising their kids to be cowboys again. You see, cowboys know the difference between right and wrong, selfish and selfless and don't look for the almighty dollar sign over helping a neighbor, friend or stranger.

Be safe and have a great day.

09 December 08,
10 Days and a wake up.
Well, I'm not getting to keep up with much in the world of news. I check Yahoo for headlines and found it amusing that liberals are upset with President Elect Obama. Let's see, he still has more than 40 days before he even takes office and they are already complaining. Well, let me think about this for a minute. In Illinois as a State Senator his biggest accomplishment was voting that he was present 94% of the time, but didn't vote on many if any issues. As a U.S. Senator, he started running for President before he even took his oath, so really not a chance of nailing down any stances on important issues there. So why was he elected as the next President? Oh yeah, because this was a historic moment and we wanted to show the world we could elected an African American as President. Now... since he's still African American, what on Earth could make Liberals upset already? Well, the article was naming group after group who expected President Elect Obama to put nothing but liberals inside his cabinet and he's yet to bring on even one. It's a wait and see moment that will last for the next 4 years and just over 40 days.
What else is on my mind? Well, lately I've been thinking about the country song, "Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" Stay tuned for more.
Be safe and have a great day.

07 December 2008,
Well, I don't think I've seen anything today or leading up to today about Pearl Harbor. I think it's important to remember those events that have shaped this country. Angela had the opportunity in 2006 to go to Pearl Harbor and she said it was a moving experience. On post at Fort Huachuca tonight, Aaron Tippen will hold a free concert. He has always shown his patriotic side since making it in country music and I expect it will be a good concert.
Linda at Are We There Yet asked an interesting question, one I myself have asked. "Where is my financial bailout check?" Yes, I was seriously considering writing a letter to every member of Congress giving them my total debt amount and telling them where to send my check. I mean, it's a considerably smaller debt than bailing out the banking or auto industries. I'm sure everyone has seen the blogs, and emails referring to what each American tax payer could get back if that money was put back in our hands instead of those who have (a)proven to be unaccountable and (b)proven to be irresponsible. Simply send the money back to the people and I would pay off my home mortgage. Yes, this would solve the mortgage problem because that would be paid off and with my mortgage payment back in my pocket I could also put that money back into the economy.
What do you think? Be safe and have a great day.

4 December 2008,

Only 14 days and a wake up! Yee Haw!

Well, this rodeo is almost over and I'm ready to head back home. We are in the last days of class and starting to take more tests to determine how well we have done. I was hoping for something between the 2 and 3 range but will probably have to settle for the 1 to 1+ range, I hope. Our instructors told us today we wouldn't have any homework tonight, we just need to read 21 pages for tomorrow, hmmm, back in Oklahoma I would call that homework.
Thanksgiving was great and being back home was a lot of fun. We let Shelby aka Miss Dub drive some and I only got frustrated a couple of times. This spring we are sending her to driving school, I'll work with her till then. She's doing pretty good and I have no worries about her being on her own. Oh, Mrs. Dub told you about the GPS I'm going to have installed on the car. Well, of course, I'll have the same transmitter chips to put on any boys cars that might come to pick her up, plus an entire police force watching out for her. Yep, I don't have any worries about my daughter.
Well, be safe and have a great day.

26 November 2008,
24 days and a wake up. Even better, I'm waiting at the Tucson Airport right now for a flight back to Oklahoma. Yep, the family has to put up with me for 4 whole days. This will actually be an opportunity for them to realize how quiet the house has been without me around making messes and starting new projects. Yes, that's right, in 25 days, I'm demolishing the kitchen. Hope Angela is ready. She's been patient about the new stove being in the garage and I figure it's time to bring in the house. The lighting isn't real good in the garage and so it's hard to tell when the meal is done.
We took three tests over yesterday and today. Let's just say I can recognize what language they are using, but not much further than that. It seems like I'm going backwards with this training, partially my fault, and more partially the instructors, but there's no point in going there. I've got a long ways to go but I'm still further in Arabic now, than I have every been with Spanish, so it works, it just needs some modifications.
Well, I really wanted to get on here to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, whether you celebrate it or not. I'll try to post at least once while I'm home and maybe add some pictures of the family too.
Be safe and have a great day.

17 Nov 2008,

Well, I finally made it to Tombstone this weekend. I didn't stay long enough to watch the gunfight at the OK corral but I was able to watch 5 re-enactments at the Six Gun City Saloon. The actors were funny. I walked around and looked in most of the stores. I will have to go back and buy a CD I have been wanting for a while, Frankie Lane, Gunslinger Ballads. I first owned the album back when I was around 10. I remember most of the songs, Rawhide and Ghost Riders in the Sky being two of my favorites.

Here are some pictures to share with you.

Be safe and have a great day.

14 November 2008,
Yeah, it's Friday! Odat's doing her Happy Friday Dance, and I am too. Yes, I know, I only had 3 days of school this week, but seriously, it was two more longer than it should have been. Just think, my other option would have been a year and a half away from the family. I'm glad this ride is almost over.
Yes, Angela aka Mrs. Dub has a list for me, and I'm ready to get started. I keep looking around this apartment and thinking, I should paint, I should take out that wall, etc.
Wouldn't the landlord be surprised when it was time to check out.
Hey! Remodeling party at my house in OK when I get back! Yep, I'm hoping we can tackle the kitchen to some degree. For some reason, Mrs. Dub thinks the double oven should go in the kitchen and not the garage. I think she's probably right.
I got a text from my brother this week. He is on his first set of days on riding solo. Yeah! I'll have to remember to give him a call this week on his days off and see how things are going. He sent me an email a couple of weeks ago and it included a newspaper article mentioning a call he had gotten, it didn't mention him so he's in the clear. I hate getting mentioned in the news, it's never very good.
Well, time to start my day, be safe and have a great Friday!

November 12, 2008

Well, I 'm finally back to the normal routine of school back in Sierra Vista. I had some firsts this weekend. I headed up to Phoenix last Friday night to spend time with brother in law Billy and his wife Christine and many of their friends at the Phoenix International Raceway watching NASCAR. I got out to the camp site, they and some friends set up their RV's and stay the entire weekend. We watched the race on Saturday and and hung out at the SPEED Catina that night before heading back to the campsite. Sunday we made it in for the big race and I was ready for Earnhardt to win it all, as you know, he didn't, but he did come in 6th. Here's the bulk of the group on Saturday.

Before heading back to Sierra Vista I managed a wonderful detour by meeting Desert Ice and her kids. I had to call her three times to get my directions correct, and had to remind her once why they call me Wrong Way. We ate the the Chino Bandido Restaurant. Desert Ice and I have been working at finding the time to meet since I came up to AZ for my school, and I was happy to finally meet her.

There aren't too many ways to make this time better, unless you threw in my family. Well, gonna go for now, be safe and have a great day.

Nov 11, 2008

In remembrance of the veterans that have come before me, and for those that come after me, I can only write the words from Lee Greenwood's song:

If tomorrow all the things were gone, I'd worked for all my life,

And I had to start again, With just my children and my wife,

I'd thank my lucky stars, To be living here today.

From the lakes of MinnesotaTo the hills of Tennessee,

Across the plains of Texas, From sea to shining sea,

From Detroit down to Houston, And New York to L.A.,

Where there's pride in every American heart, And it's time we stand and say:

That I'm proud to be an American, Where at least I know I'm free,

And I won't forget the men who died, Who gave that right to me,

And I gladly stand up next to you, And defend her still today,

'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land, God Bless the U.S.A.

And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free

And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me

And I'd gladly stand up next to you, And defend her still today

'Cause there aint' no doubt I love this land (love this land), God Bless the U.S.A.

4 Nov 2008
Well, there is no doubt that today is a very important day. Yes, that's right, Shelby (aka Miss Dub) turned 15 today. Yikes! I woke up and my first thought was (I must be old). Yes, I managed to give her a call and wish her happy birthday in 3 different languages. I should have researched French before calling since she is learning that language in school. In 364 days, she will be driving unsupervised. Enjoy it while you can. I'm ready to get home and work with her on her driving skills.
In other news, I hear something is happening across the country, but I doubt it lives up to the hype of Miss Dub's birthday! Ok, so there's an election going on, remember this folks, if you don't vote, you can't complain. It's just like keeping the receipt to a purchase.
Not much else to report at the moment. Be safe and have a great day.

3 Nov 2008,
Twas the night before elections and all through the land,
Not a person knew what would happen, especially CNN,
With McCain and Obama heading the ticket,
And both of them claiming they know how to fix it,
But alas, there are many who don't have a clue,
why they are voting, is one of them you,
At least I can say that if you read from my website
That you are above average intelligence.

Hey, it was on the fly.
So Mrs. Dub wanted me to tell you what movie I saw yesterday, fine I can do that.

أنا شهبت السينيما اسما حيح مدريسا موسكل

There, I hope that makes her happy, because I'm here to make her happy. She thinks it sounds strange that I went to see High School Musical 3. Ok, first, I'm without a doubt, a guy, but I do like musicals, as long as it's not Barbara Streisand. We both love Grease, Moulin Rouge and the first High School Musical. Two of which Mrs. Dub and I sing together from the soundtrack. As we seem to be in full disclosure, I will tell you know that I plan on seeing Madagascar 2 also. To balance these type of shows, I have seen Body of Lies, Appaloosa, and will see the new James Bond movie. What can we derive from all this.....I like movies and being in my apartment 16 hours of every day is boring. I'm also going to NASCAR this weekend, soo.......

NOt much else to report, be safe and have a great day.

2 Nov 2008,
I have to say, I didn't mind Daylight Savings Time in Arizona at all, they don't follow the time change and I didn't loose any sleep. Ahhhh, and now I'm only an hour behind Oklahoma and my family.
We spent the day in Tucson yesterday visiting with Iraqi shop owners. We had intended to eat dinner at Ali-Baba's which is an Iranian restaurant but were invited to eat at the home of one of the people we met. He and his family came here from Iraq in 2004. THIS IS THE PART YOU NEED TO HEAR, because the media has taken its focus off of the war because it doesn't sit well with their agenda of taking our country. When you are sat down by an Iraqi man and he says, "I don't know what your political affiliation is, but President Bush was right to come into Iraq and remove Saddam." Maybe I have been affected by our own media to a degree, but I still seemed shocked when I see new American citizens coming from the Middle East saying they are registered Republicans, that President Bush was right, that terrorism is wrong and they can debate any American political point you want to talk about with them. We should love our country as much as they love it. I do, do you?
Well, I need to go for now, be safe and have a great day?

1 November 2008,

49 days and a wake up! But I try not to focus on that, right..........!

A relaxing Saturday, of sorts. I'm going to do some housework and then another guy from the class and I have made the decision to head to Tucson with one of our instructors. We will be going to several Arab owned shops and talking with the people there. I've done this once before with the entire class at the local mall here in SV. With just two of us, this could be overwhelming. Thursday and Friday were good days for me as I spent much of the class time learning on my own.

Mrs Dub went to her office Halloween party this week dressed as Gov. Sarah Palin, darn she looked good! Miss Dub went to school dressed as one of her cartoon characters she draws, which was a cross between goth and something else. Now, she'll probably correct me on that since I'm just an old fart.

Also today, I'm not sweating Oklahoma State's football game against Iowa State as much as I was last week's game against Texas. However, things are getting interesting in the Big 12 as Texas plays Texas Tech today and we play Texas Tech next week.

25 October 2008,
What a day! I picked up a couple of the guys from class and we went to watch the Oklahoma State - Texas game at one of the sports grills. I was nervous before the game and would have probably preferred playing golf and finding out the score later. However, I stuck it out and what a game. I can say I was certainly proud of the game OSU put up and the game was certainly close enough. Now, if only Texas would get impartial refs....... Alas, we came up just short of doing what needed to be done, but I feel they are still certainly capable of finishing up this session very strong.
After the game we went and saw the movie Max Payne. I needed a pick me up movie so I just pretended everyone Max killed was a Texas Longhorn, not really. Actually I root for most of the Texas teams on a regular basis. Having been born in the Great State of Texas, it's my God given right. I'm just a big O State Cowboys fan.
Miss Dub just sent me a text message. She's at a youth lock-in at the church. Her message was, "I love you and what's your blood type?" Yeah, gotta love those kinds of texts. Hmmm. should I call back home? I just got off the phone with Mrs. Dub and she didn't mention anything requiring blood type so I'll relax for now.
Yes, I do plan on meeting a certain blogger and hopefully her family around Nov 10 or 11 if they are in town. One day, when I when the big lottery, I'm gonna throw a big blogger party and invite all those who have looked in on me from time to time. So stay current, hehe.

Be safe and have a great day.

23 October 2008,
58 days and a wake up, or really close to that. I'm usually a more upbeat as you all know, so me moaning and complaining is really out of character, unless you really know me, and then I just do it to annoy people, hehe.
So let's look at some of the good things coming up, like November 4th. Ms. Dub will turn 15 years old, Yikes!
November 9th, NASCAR hits Phoenix, and my brother in law, his wife, and some of their friends have secured a spot on the infield and I was invited, Yeehaw!
I have my plane ticket for Thanksgiving to head back to Oklahoma. Yippee!
And finally, I get to be home before Christmas and spend some well deserved time with my family. Yeah!
So, what do you have to look forward too, today, tomorrow?
Be safe and have a great day!

21 October 2008
Well, I should be blogging more, but really, I'm being drained of all living substances. There are two of us that have taken 1 to 2 hours a day during class to work on areas we know we need to work on and avoiding some of the more unproductive time of class. The instructors are seeing the results but are also pressured to keeping us in class. They gave us our scores from the OPI test and I received a 0+. This is acceptable and I've already made huge improvements in both my listening and speaking skills.
There's not really much to report from Sierra Vista, not a lot happens here. I've got my ticket to fly home for Thanksgiving and I'm ready to see the family again. Just think, after Thanksgiving, I'll only have a month left, that's great news.

انا ايىد ان ادهب الى مدينة موستانغ

Welcome to my first sentence typed in Arabic. I have been working on my writing and it's a lot easier since I don't have to search for the letters. What did I say? "I want to go to Mustang City." Of course, that's where the family is. Be safe and have a great day.

12 October 2008
Sunday morning. I'm not doing much today. Last this last week it was decided that since the Active Duty personnel get Federal holidays off, that we should have them too. We have are speculation as to why, but hey, I'm a 14 hour drive from home so having Monday off really doesn't do anything for me other than let me spend an extra 8 hours sitting in my apartment, wheee. We did get Thanksgiving worked out and I'm ready to make plans to head back home for that time with my family.
Last night was the Benson Butterfield Stage Days Rodeo. I mentioned this to the class and had 5 people decide to head down there to watch, two of them had never seen a rodeo before and were amazed. Our two instructors were supposed to go with us but at the last moment backed out.
I enjoyed getting back and seeing a good rodeo, the beginning was an hour and half of kids events, including muttin bustin, dummy calf roping, boot scramble and more. A fellow classmate made the comment that fans of rodeos and Nascar seem to be more patriotic and God fearing than any other culture. This was solidified when the announcer mentioned that rodeo world would never allow God or our flag to be removed from the sport.
When I was asked what was so great about rodeo I had to explain. Anybody can go head to head with another person in a competition, I mean they are usually of equal size, but when you put a 180-200 lb man against a 1200 lb horse or a 2000 pound bull, that's a challenge.
Well, I better get back to doing nothing, be safe and have a great day.

02 October 2008,
Tonight was the Vice Presidential Debate, if I heard right, this was only the 7th one ever as the VP usually doesn't bring much to a Presidential ticket. However, this may be the most important VP running in our history. Regardless to who wins, we will have a historic election. I haven't been impressed with Obama since he announced he was running for President even before he took his oath as a Senator. At least the Governor from Alaska can say she has been working for the last two years.
We also have the baseball playoffs, and my team is in the running, having beat Chicago yesterday and leading them 9-1. Go Dodgers!!
We all took our tests this last Tuesday and it will be another week or so before we know how we did. I ended up taking it second to last so I got to sit, pace, practice and wait all day before my time came. I don't want to speculate at all about how I did, but there's no doubt I'm a 0+ and might have made it to 1. I'll let you know when I find out.
Well, be safe and have a great day!

28 September 08
This month and this weekend have gone by fast. We have class Saturday morning from 7 to 11. One of the instructors went to Tucson on Friday taking the car the instructors share so since I live close to them I said I could pick up the other one on Saturday morning at 6:40 am. I am awaken by my phone at 5:50 with the question, "Where are you, are you coming to get me?" I asked him what time he had, assuming it was possible my clock was wrong and I was sleeping so may not have read it right anyway. He comes back with, "Oh my goodness!, I could have slept another hour!" Yes, you could have. I went ahead and got dressed and picked him up as he was wanting to work with me for the upcoming test. Yes, I'm taking my first Oral Proficiency Interview on Tuesday and will have the results in a couple of weeks. The scale ranges from 0 to 5. From 3 to 5 you are able to converse on just about any topic with 4 and 5 speaking at almost near native dialect. The goal for the end of the school for me is a 3 across the board. So as I am half way through this now, I'm hoping for a solid 1.
Anyway, after class several of us decided to hang out together as we all go back to our individual apartments and sit by ourselves. We had a pretty good day just relaxing and talking about anything but Arabic.
I spent today mulling around the house getting housework done. Well, better go for now, be safe and have a great day.

23 September 08
Well, there just isn't much to report. I went to school, still can't listen but can talk, can write, can read, just can't listen. Don't 3 out of 4 count?
I'm attempting to work on my Arabic back at my apartment, but really, how much of this can you take in one day. I traveled up to Phoenix for the weekend and enjoyed a relaxing time. I wish I had more to report for today, but unfortunately, I don't. Be safe and have a great day.

17 September 08.

Arabic, Okie style. I'm working on my own rendition of what Arabic would sound like with a southern accent. Here's an example...

Kafa Halik? which translated is, "How are you?"

The same phrase down south would be, "Kafa Halik-yawl?" which is, "How are y'all?"

I finally put my finger on where I'm having my problem with syncing this language. Ask me a question in English and I can answer you in Arabic, ask me a question in Arabic and I have very little clue what you are talking about. Yeah, it's an issue. I'm getting better and trying to listen to various different media formats to develop my ear in order to understand what's being said, but it's all Greek to me....
Not really much else to say tonight, I'm hoping I sleep better than last night. I went to bed at 11, thought I would fall asleep to Jabra saying words in Arabic, an hour and a half later, I was still awake and Jabra was still talking on the Ipod. That didn't work. I tossed and turned for another half hour, figured I might as well get up. I did an hour of Rosetta Stone, again working on my Arabic, played some spider solitaire and finally by 3 a.m. I fell asleep. 630 comes awful early when that happens. I didn't have any problems staying awake during class, which was surprising, and now it's almost 11 tonight and I'm about to try and go to bed again. I think my problem was getting 9 hours of sleep the night before. I'm accustomed to getting an average of 6 hours a night, with a great day being when I can sleep in and get maybe 7-8, so 9 was probably too much. I liked it, but then again I like Mexican food too...
Well, be safe and have a great day.

14 Sept 08

It's Sunday afternoon, I finished my house work a little while ago and have been downloading Arabic news stories and shows. I'm watching and listening to them so I can work on my listening skills. Obviously, this is a skill Mrs. Dub might appreciate....me listening. We have started having 4 hours of class on Saturdays and will continue that process for the remainder of the school. I think they have worked one Saturday out of each month for us to just be off. I know, it's hard to say I have it hard at all. Certainly, this is better than any math class I have ever had to take, and it has less homework than my ethics class last spring. As one of my classmates said, I know we are learning stuff, but it's hard to consider it as work.

Mrs. Dub reported the weather in Oklahoma has finally turned nice and she's glad she's able to open the house up with the windows. At the rate that time is passing, I will be home before I know it and I'm ready. I just want to make sure I've gotten everything out of the school as I can.

10 Sept 08,
Ah, Wednesday, the week is half way done. I saw this picture at The Pioneer Woman's site and had to add it here. Have you ever had one of those days. Today wasn't it for me, but I couldn't wait with this one. Pioneer Woman has an amazing ability to capture remarkable shots with her cameras, as well as a great ability to tell stories. If you haven't seen her site before, go check it out.

Mrs. Dub said she's ready to have me back home and I couldn't agree more. I'm enjoying the training but I do miss my family and home. (I also have way too many chores at home that need attention).
About 90% of the time, Arabic has been fun, in fact, as an extra assignment, two of us went to the movies last night and saw Traitor. A good portion of it is in Arabic and picking up on what was being said was fun and new. I stopped at the store today and heard a woman tell her son to come to her in Arabic and I had to smile. I'm trying to use several different tools at home to help with my learning while at my apartment.
Miss Dub is enjoying school and despite her agony during the first two days of French, now loves it. She into reading stories in French and is 'wanting' to learn at this point. Like I said, I hope to pick back up on my French when I get home.
I know all this sounds boring, but there's not much else going on for me here. Be safe and have a great day.

02 Sept 08

Here are some pictures from home.

Celebrating with a dinner out.

The In-laws, Mr. and Mrs. C with Miss Dub.

Miss Dub getting to go to the range on my trip back home in July.

This is her target, be careful.

I hope to make the rounds soon and see what everyone is up to. Be safe and have a great day.

01 September 08

Well, it's been a good weekend and it's a shame it's over. I started with Friday night up in Phoenix with my brother in law Billy Joe and his wife Christine. BJ took me out to eat and then we stopped by a friend's house.

I meet Mark for the first time that night, but it's not the first interaction between us. Back when I was in Afghanistan this last tour, Mark helped Christine and BJ get the Greg Biffle #16 flag, autographed by the entire team including Rousch, the owner. Mark's front room is dedicated to NASCAR with pictures, memorbilia, car hoods, door skins, et al.

Come to find out, I was on that wall as well. After we got the flag in Afghanistan, we took a group picture and sent it back home. It got back to Mark and his family. Well, Friday night, they took that picture down and had me sign it, and then hung it on a better wall.

I was honored that they felt that strong about me and the military. Mark served 6 years active Army and we had a strong bond.

I got home Saturday, 'on time' curosity of American Airlines and had a wonderful time with my wife and daughter. We enjoyed good food and converstation, as well as spending money. We were awoken this morning at 4:30 a.m. by a phone call. THe Oklahoma City Police Emergency Response Team had been activiated, and they called me as they normally would. The only problem was that I am on active duty orders with the military. Darn it! Not sure if you remember, but back in March - April of this last year I helped write the emergency response plan in the event OKC had to take in evacuees from coastal storms. Well, as of this morning, OKC took in just about 2,000 of the folks from New Orleans ahead of Hurrican Gustav, and that plan that I helped write, was being put to the test today. I would love to have been there. I spoke with one of my sector partners who was also called in this morning. He said things were going well, he also said he leaves for Iraq next week with the Oklahoma Air National Guard. He will actually be back to work in OKC before I will, those Air Guard guys.....

I'm sitting in Dallas/Ft. Worth airport waiting on the final leg of this flight, luckily Gustav is moving slow and hasn't affected us here yet. It's amazing that two months are already down and only 4 months to go. I'm ready, but I still have more to learn back in Arizona, so I must keep moving forward and looking forward.

Be safe and have a great day.

31 August 08
Many years ago my mother in law, Mrs. C, gave birth to my beautiful wife, Mrs. Dub. How old is she today. Well, we have been together for 17 years now, and she had to be of age to get married, so that must make her about 29....right?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. DUB!!!

Well, American Airlines has been on time and no problems. I flew out of Phoenix's Sky Harbor. I haven't been a lot of places, but that's certainly a big airport. We went to a nice dinner last night, went by the furniture store and picked out a new mattress and box springs. Ours came unstitched and was still under warranty. The store sent some one by the house last week and looked at the bed, told Mrs. Dub they don't make that one anymore and we would have to come pick out a new one. The store gave us a credit for the entire purchase amount of our last one towards the new one. We opted to upgrade and are waiting for it to be delivered to the house now. Not bad.

We are about to fix dinner tonight having birthday cake and presents. It's been another huge task getting Mrs. Dub a birthday present without her knowing anything. Of course, I walked in the kitchen this morning and say the receipt for her present sitting on the counter top and am almost certain she knows now. Oh well, She still hasn't figured out how I bought it. That was some tricky stuff.

Well, I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend, be safe.

27 August 08
Only 4 days till Mrs. Dub's birthday, but she probably doesn't want me to keep bringing it up, so just pretend I didn't mention it.
Well, you've been reading about me not enjoying this last week in Arabic. Some how, today, I felt in the back of my head that something was about to explode and I was getting very close to getting this. I hope so. Of course, with a 3 day weekend coming up, I'm sure it'll all disappear. I felt more comfortable today than I have since we got here. Here's hoping.
It looks like we are going to get out of class around noon on Friday. I already purchased my airline ticket for Saturday morning and have no interest in trying to find a Friday flight.
I'm sitting here watching the Sci-Fi channel and watching Ghost Hunters. The early episode just happened to be filmed about 18 miles from here, yep, Tombstone, at the Bird Cage. I've been to Tombstone one other time back in April and we arrived late in the day and didn't get to experience very much. I'm definitely hoping to visit it again and get more. And of course, now I'm going to make sure I visit the Bird Cage to run into a ghost. Eerie.
Well, I'm going to get back to the television, I know I should be studying, and I will before I go to bed. Be safe and have a great day.

23 August 08,
Ah, the weekend. It was really nice NOT going to class today. Over all I'm still enjoying it, but we are definitely in the 'I hate this stuff' phase. It's only suppose to last a couple more weeks, then we'll love it again. We'll see.
On to politics. I try to stay under the radar on politics and don't sound off too much unless I feel it really is needed. I don't really have anything to say now about the upcoming Presidential race, except I'm wondering if anybody else has picked up on Senator Obama's announcement for his VP. At a time that the United States is involved on a war on terrorism did he make the right name selection? Who are we hunting? Osama bin Laden. Now we have the Democratic ticket of Obama and Biden? Really? Just a thought.
Labor Day weekend is coming up and so is Mrs. Dub's birthday. This time I have a planned trip back home, no surprises like two years ago when I came home from Afghanistan. I hope everybody enjoys this weekend. Be safe and have a great day.

19 August 08,
Our lead instructor, Jabra, told us last week, that the upcoming couple of weeks would test us, that we would hate Arabic for that time period. Boy, he wasn't kidding! AAAGH! We've started story time. We are given stories in Arabic to read and speak. This part of the school has been different from our hands-on methods we have been using up to this point. We are currently sitting on 800 to 1000 words in Arabic, that we have been given. Now, I can give you many of them, I will say with all certainty, it's not close to 800, but I can sit there and say, yes, I mean,
'na'am', I've heard that word used before. Most of our instructions come in Arabic now, which means I know about half of what's being said and can get the gist of what they are telling us. I would like to know all of what they are saying and have a clear understanding, but that will take time. We are supposed to take our first test this week which will gauge where we are at as individuals in our learning. Yeah?
I bought my plane ticket to head home for Labor Day weekend, back to American Airlines. My part of the City back in Oklahoma has been seeing a lot of rain in the last couple of days, I read one report that they are looking at some flooding now. Our place is up high but we still see water standing in the yard. (Just one more thing I need to work on when I get back to Oklahoma)
Over to the right side of my page you should see the link for Keni Thomas. He was one of the performers who came to Afghanistan during Christmas with the USO. If you don't remember, he also served in the Army and was in Somalia, which was later made into the movie, Black Hawk Down. Since leaving the Army, he has worked as a motivational speaker, song writer and performer. His first CD was Flags of our Fathers, A Soldier's Story. His new CD is Gunslinger, I've heard a couple of tracks from it and will be looking to buy it soon.
Well, I need to get back to the studying. Have a great day.

11 August 2008
Well, tomorrow makes 14 years in the Oklahoma National Guard. It's hard to believe. I have to say I'm pretty happy with where I'm at and what I'm doing. With two deployments, Katrina, and Arabic Language School, the military has given me a better quality of life than I could imagine having without it. Of course, I would rather be home with Mrs Dub and Miss Dub. But as any veteran or current military member will tell you, sacrifices have to be made to ensure we all have that better life.
This is a short post as it's time to head off to school now. Happy Monday, be safe and have a great day.

05 August 08,
Ok, enough about Continental Airlines, even though I got back to Arizona 4 hours late. Mrs. Dub let me buy a Garmin GPS and we used it on our way to Ft. Worth. It really helped going through that maze down there. My brother was able to break away for lunch and then he took us back to the training center for the ceremony. He made a good point in that Ft. Worth has the resources to have the graduation at any of their municipality buildings but instead they had it in the training center. They did state this was the largest class they had had in a long while so it's possible they weren't anticipating the crowd that showed up. During the ceremony they walked across the stage where the Chief of Police handed them their badge and then once everyone had theirs they lined up in front of the stage and that's when I got to go forward. I was proud to have been asked to pin his badge on him. He got Saturday off and started in his FTO (field training officer program). He will be with an FTO for the next 4 months, changing shifts and sectors and applying all he has learned. Here are some pictures.




















Be safe and have a great day!

03 August 08,
I'll share more about my trip in another post. I wanted to dedicate this post to the folks at Continental Airlines. Now, this was my first experience with this airline company. I originally chose Continental out of necessity as it was the closest flight to what my time line needed to be. The price was comparable to the others. I arrived at the Tucson International Airport on Thursday afternoon and the first leg of my flight was running about 10 minutes late. Really, no big deal, I was headed home. We board the plane and fly to Houston, where I have to change flights. When I landed in Houston I looked at my ticket and thought my arrival time here was my departure time for the next leg. I raced across the airport and made it to the gate to discover my flight was in an hour. Ok, good, I didn't miss anything. I waited at the gate and they announced our flight was going to be about 30 minutes late. Um, ok, I can handle that. I called Mrs. Dub and informed her, she wasn't thrilled as it meant she would have to stay up a little longer, but was excited to have me home. Well, the flight ended up being about an hour and 1/2 late pushing me from arriving in Oklahoma City at 10:35 pm to 12:15 am. What was funny at the time we finally boarded was watching the commercial provided by Continental Airlines about how wonderful they are and how they have a great satisfaction rate from their customers, mainly us. I got a chuckle out of this and continued with my trip. I always assume something can go wrong and now and then isn't a bad thing.
We enjoy our weekend and now it's time for me to head back to Arizona for school. I arrive at the airport in Oklahoma City an hour and 1/2 before my flight, get to the gate and am notified that the our flight to Houston will be an hour late. Really?! Is this every flight with Continental? Well, since I'm heading back to Tucson and have given myself leeway, it'll work out. We finally get on the plane, which just came from Houston. The pilot makes an announcement as soon as we are all seated, "Folks, don't blame us for the delay, we are the new crew and have been waiting for this flight just as long as you have". Ok, I can live with that. Now, we finally take off from OKC and head to Houston. I'm watching the time and wondering which gate we will land at and how far it will be from where I need to be. The gates of course change when you have such a tardy flight like ours. I arrive at Houston, grab my next ticket and see that I need to be at the next gate. I get inside the terminal and realize that I only need to walk 30 yards to the next gate but that I'm looking like I'm about 10 minutes late. I think to myself, " Well, Continental hasn't had an on-time flight yet in my experience, so I have a good shot at this." Well, I found Continentals' only "on-time" flight and it was the one that left without me. Good Grief! How hard could this be? Well, I walk up to the employee behind the desk where my flight was suppose to be and talk with Alisa. I tell her I just arrived from Oklahoma City and that our flight was late because the flight from Houston was late. She confirms this and reschedules me for the 6:15 pm flight. So, that's where I've been for the last 3 hours. We had a lightening storm roll through which delayed some more flights. I still have 45 minutes before I'll know about my flight. I don't see where I'll try this airline again. I'll let you know if I make it out of here, and if you find yourself in the Houston Airport, look me up.
Be safe and have a great day.

28 July 08,
Well, Wade called me on it, guess it's time to post. I really did have time this weekend as on Sunday all I did was watch the Eureka marathon on the SciFi channel. Talk about your do nothing weekend. I guess I'm saving it all up for this next weekend and I fly back to OKC on Thursday and drive down to Texas on Friday. It'll be a busy day but I wouldn't miss seeing my brother graduate the police academy and pinning his badge on him.
Class here is going pretty good. Well, I felt better today about it anyway. Come to find out we didn't have to learn the words as solid as we had been working the weeks before but just needed to be familiar with them and learn them over the course of the next 5 months. You could have told us that last week and I wouldn't have stressed about it so much.
Anyone else watching Nashville Star? We are down to the last two weeks. I still like Gabe and Melissa the best, it'll be interesting to see who gets kicked off tonight in the next 30 minutes. Who's your favorite?
Well, I'll post more later, be safe and have a great day!

23 July 08,
Good Wednesday to everyone! We made it to the half way mark in the week. Hang in there, the weekend is getting closer. We have covered almost 200 words this week, and will spend the next two days just working with them, good, I don't know how many new words I can take at a time.
Mrs Dub and Miss Dub went to see Mama Mia today and the report back was it was great. Now, there is no doubt, period, in my manliness, but I do love a good musical. Now, don't give me an option of a musical and a Steven Segal or a Bruce Willis movie... Batman, Hellboy or Hancock, because the musical would come in second, but I'd still go see it afterwards.
I called home and talked with Miss Dub. Usually on the phone we always greet each other in Spanish. She answered and I started off with, 'Como esta?' She replied back with, 'I don't speak Spanish, I speak Arabic.' So I came back with in Arabic, 'Elfy macos wa waraka al a arf, bil macos cus waraka maruba.' She came back with in Spanish, 'Bien, et tu?" Ok, so it was probably funnier if you were there.......
What did I say? Pick up the scissors and paper off the floor, with the scissors, cut a square in the paper.
Be safe and have a great day.

20 July 08,
Ah, the weekend is over. I know, who is ever happy to end a weekend? Well, the sooner the weekend is over, the sooner we start the next week, and the sooner I get home to Mrs. Dub and Miss Dub. Lt. M was popped into town on other business and we did get to have a couple of meals together, but mostly I just stayed in.
I have gone over my list of words a couple of times, and my numbers. Over all I'm feeling good about my recognition of most of the words, still fuzzy on the most recent ones. I'm not feeling good about my speaking them. Obviously, that's the main goal here. I'll get it, won't I?
Miss Dub had her wisdom teeth removed Friday and is doing better. Mrs. Dub has been taking care of her and then Nana and Papa came and got Miss Dub Sunday afternoon to let her spend the night with them. Poor Mrs. Dub is alone at the homestead, she never really likes that.
I talked with my brother this evening. He's down to two weeks left in the 7 month training at the police academy in Ft. Worth. He said last week was tough as they did scenario training and really put the stress on them before sending them off to their 'calls'. The good news is that he said he feels much more confident about himself and his training.
Well, that's enough for today, be safe and have a great day.

16 July 08,
Ah, half way through the week. Today we were introduced to over 30 words by just playing Monopoly. Yes, I can say I've never seen Army training like this before. The interesting thing is that I have learned more Arabic in a week than I retained from a semester of Spanish.
Mrs. Dub got their Glamour Shot pictures. I can't wait to get some. I was able to view the photo album on line and they look great. As soon as I can, I'll get some posted. Mrs. Dub says we can't, blah blah something about copyright, I'll let you know they came from Glamor Shots, and heck, I paid for them, I can do what I want.
Some of the guys are talking about going to see The Dark Knight this week. Mrs. Dub likes to say I'm just on vacation and I'm out partying every night. Well, I'll have you know, it's not true, I didn't go out at all last night...... I may not have the grueling schedule I'm used to keeping but it's still work. Our instructors tell us that they have to keep us stress free and enjoying the class for us to be able to learn like we are. And trust me, at the end of each hour there are several of us holding our heads wondering how we can keep any of the information from seeping out.
I wish there was more exciting things to talk about, but I go to class and I come back to my apartment. Of course, if anybody is in town this weekend, the party is over here!
Be safe and have a great day.

14 July 08,
Ok, it's Monday night, and that means Nashville Star. I have no idea who keeps voting for Coffey, but they apparently don't know what country music sounds like. Yes, he is a good singer as every one points out, but he belongs in a different arena. I definitely like Melissa and Gabe.
We had the weekend to rest our minds so I went up to Phoenix to visit with brother and sister in-laws. The brother in law had a birthday on Saturday and I finally got a chance to visit them and help him celebrate.
How's class? Well, the good news was even after two days off I retained at least 85% of what we learned last week and was able to follow the commands. Today we started our numbers from 11 to 10,000 and then learned another more words, mostly dealing with personal hygiene. I had about as much trouble today as I did our first day, but I feel confident that it will all come together as long as we keep working the way we are.
Well, that's about all for today, be safe and have a great day.

09 July 08
Well, it's Wednesday, that means only two more days of torture till the weekend. We were introduced to basic body parts today. All day I kept thinking about a Homer-ism I see on Sanni's site, about learning new things pushes old things out of the brain. The class itself is pretty good and they seem to think that I've retained at least 70% of the Arabic I have been introduced to so far. Of course, my other thought is that the only thing we are missing is scooby snacks. I think the training is similar to Pavlov's dogs.
Mrs. Dub and Miss Dub went to Glamor Shots today to get pictures made. It sounded like they had a lot of fun. Of course, I don't think Miss Dub needs to look any more grown up than what she already is, and the term I heard used for Mrs. Dub was "hot".
I haven't ventured at all outside of the class and my apartment yet, so there's not much to report yet, but it'll get better. For now, be safe and have a great day.

08 July 08
My head is going to explode with the worst headache I can remember and I can only assume it's the results of today's class. Of course, I can now point at a door with a fish when directed to in Arabic, can you?
Even with the headache I managed to do an hour of stretching using my P90X dvd. I plan on doing the stretching video for the next week and then start going through the rest of them. The two goals for this next six months is to learn Arabic and get back to exercising.
August 1st is an important day in my family. My brother spent the last 7 months in the Ft. Worth Police Academy and will graduate that day. He has invited me down to pin his badge on him. I am truly honored about this and will be in my Police uniform also that day.
Well, this thinking is really hurting so I'll stop for tonight. Be safe and have a great day.

07 July 2008
I arrived in Sierra Vista Arizona yesterday. We started our first day of Arabic school today. I'm both excited and terrified at the same time about this school.
After class I finally got moved into my new apartment. It's a two bedroom that came fully furnished, except for food. Mrs. Dub packed me some stuff, jiffy pop popcorn, ranch style beans, chili, oreos....you know good food. I told her I would start with a traditional Asian dish tonight, pasta with a nice peanut sauce, also know in the bachelor world as ramen noodles and crunchy peanut butter Of course, I'm much more mature these days and decided to run to the grocery store. Oh boy, frozen pizzas!
Ok, I'm just a guy.
Well, I'll go for now. Be safe and have a great day!

01 June 2008

Well, it's one week down and 7 days a wake-up to go. We started running the day time zero range here yesterday. The training had been broken up into 5 day cycles and yesterday was day 5 of the 2nd cycle. What that means is during our 12 hours out on the range, we had 9 soldiers come to shoot. Today was day one. By 1000 hrs (10 am) we had seen 18 soldiers. Then the storms came. We had to shut down the range due to lightening strikes near by and the heavy rains that came through. At one point I got on the public announcement system to recognize the sponsor of our weather, "Today's weather brought to you by the U.S. Army, where if it's ain't raining, it ain't training" That got a good laugh by those stuck out there. Then the 70 mph winds kicked up and the rain came in sideways. Two hours later....We finally have the chance to determine it's passing and begin working on getting the range ready for soldiers to come back out. First order of business was calling range control for a pump.

Look at the picture of me, LT M. and my soldiers as we try to recreate Washington crossing the Delaware. Now see the round holes to our right side. Out of 32 firing positions, we had 15 underwater. Each foxhole position is 4 feet deep so you can see, we got some rain. Of course, you know me and I try to make the most of whatever I'm given so we had some fun with it. Then 200 soldiers showed up and we had to work hard. We only managed to get about 80 run through, but they were shooting two different weapon platforms, using iron sights and then a Aimpoint CCO, (close combat optic). We left the range by 1930 hrs (7:30 pm) and grabbed a bite to eat. Well, somehow it's already 9:40 pm and I need to get ready for tomorrow.

Be safe and have a great day.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!
Yes, I've been back in the U.S. for a whole year now ( and a week or so) and it has felt good. To help me celebrate the Army has decided to send me on an all expensed paid vacation, don't worry it's still states-side. I'm currently at AT (annual training) and we arrived on Monday. We are supporting the Oklahoma Field Artillery BDE in training as they prepare to head to Iraq. The 45th BCT is in the home stretch of their deployment and will be home this fall. Now back to my trip.
It has come to the Army's attention that for the most part I only speak English. I know, I can arrest someone in Spanish, tell you you look pretty in French, but darn it, the Army expects more. So, they are sending me to Sierra Vista, Arizona to learn Arabic. I've heard all everyone exclaim, "Well, they'll just deploy you if you learn that language". They have been deploying me without the language wouldn't you agree? Anyway, I'll be leaving for Arizona around the middle of June and will be there until December. The Army at first wanted me to pack up Mrs. Dub, Miss Dub, the horses, the goats, the dogs and the cats and move them with me. I had to wonder what they were doing in the back rooms if they thought that was going to happen for six months. Someone managed to get them back on track. Well, as I'll be playing soldier more I should be able to update more again, gotta go for now.
Be safe and have a great day.

04 April 2008, Ah, it's Friday. I'm missing work to be a weekend warrior. We are headed back out to the ranges to run one range and get the rest of our soldier's qualified with their rifles.
I took my patrol car to the garage to get the fuel pump fixed. The garage decided they would dig around under the hood and then sent it out for estimates on repairs. I'm driving a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria with 106,000 miles and hopefully in the fall will get a brand new 2008, where I will swap them out. Well, the garage came back with $1400 worth of repairs my car "supposedly" needed and it got deadlined this last week. Deadline means I don't get it back and each and every day I work I have to try and find a patrol car not being driven by someone else to use. This becomes tiresome quickly. It also means that each day I have to check everything in the car to make sure it works and it set to my standards. This came in play yesterday as I was attempting to stop a car with 4 people in it, one of which was wanted on warrants for a shooting. Well, the siren wasn't set as I would normally operate and instead of a siren blasting, I had the horn honking, but just once. This confounded me, as I was busy with everything else, and the other car wasn't stopping. We didn't go far enough to call it a pursuit, and within a couple of blocks, all four suspects jumped out of the vehicle while it was still moving. Two of them had guns with them. Two detectives and myself nabbed the two with guns pretty quickly, but the other two made it through the back yards and were picked up within 10 minutes. All four went to jail including the one we were after. Certainly an exciting call, but I could do without all the paperwork, hehe. Well, I better get back to playing soldier.
Be safe and have a great weekend.

25 March 2008, It's Tuesday and back to school. I took today off from work for two reasons. One, I'm working tomorrow on my regular day off and so I've exchanged this one for that, and two, I need to get ready for school tonight. Uh, what a headache.

Over the last two weeks, the FFA Junior Livestock show occurred in our State Fairgrounds area, which has seen a major renovation over the last few years. It's looking pretty good. Well apparently, at the very beginning of the set up for the livestock show, there was an escape. A steer made it's way out and up onto the I-40 interstate highway. It decided to travel east in the west bound lanes before running across the three lanes of traffic and jumping the center concrete barrier and then crossing the east bound lanes. City officers managed to get it off the highway and down on the north bank of the Canadian River, which was also renovated. There we chased it up and down a one mile stretch until Animal Welfare showed up and managed to get a tranquilizer dart in it. We finally got it roped and tied down until a stock trailer could arrive. Now the steer didn't like us very much, and at one point it was me, him and a bunch of ropes. Eventually we got him in the stock trailer and away he went. During the escapades, we managed to stop for some photos, as another officer said this was as close as he has ever been to a real cow. Me, I grew up cleaning out cattle trailers at the stockyards in Woodward and actually love the smell of manure. I've only added the picture of me.

In other news, Miss Dub, after two years, finally got her braces off yesterday. It's a new smile.

Be safe and have a great day.

21 March 2008, Well, I got called back home to address a potential gas leak in the furnace, I guess crime fighting will have to be put on hold. Sorry for the long intermission between posts, it's crazy out there. I've decided that 12 hours of college was definitely too much, but I made it to spring break, or as I had to inform our professors, spring homework. The idea behind spring break was the word "break", referring to not having to worry and due school work for the entire week. This is especially important when every student in the class is also a full time worker. But our professors felt it was a good time to do outside projects and continue the theme of homework. Remind me to finish college at an early age next time around.

The family is doing great. We took the opportunity this last weekend to go on another short vacation and went to a state park in Southeastern Oklahoma. We spent Sunday hiking a little more than 4 miles up and down three separate mountains. Mrs. Dub was getting tired of me comparing this adventure to my climbing the Gar back in Afghanistan, but I'm the kind of guy if you tell me what bugs you I'll keep doing it for fun.

As you can see, the girls were worn out.

07 Feb 2008, America's Dumbest Criminals, did anyone ever watch that program. Even Jay Leno does it from time to time. There's nothing like relying on simple human nature to help make an arrest. Today, we had a call that a guy knew where his stolen truck and the suspect where located and wanted us to go get it and make the arrest. Well, we show up and find this is something of an apartment complex and we have no idea what apartment the suspect might be in. We locate the stolen truck. We decide that since the victim gave us a phone number for the suspect, we should give him a call.
phone rings
"Hello"
Hey, is **** there?
"Yes, just a minute.......
Hello?
Hey ****, I need you to come get me at the corner of 10th and Penn.
Hello?
Yeah, this is Tony, come meet me at the corner down here, and hurry.
We hang up and wait. One minute goes by and someone exits one of the apartments and gets into the stolen vehicle. We immediately pull him over, and it's our guy. Arrest made.
Mrs. Dub and Miss Dub are doing fine. We are staying busy. Hope all is well with you.
Be safe and have a great day.

31 January 2008, Well, the month will be over today. I possibly bit off more than I can chew with school. A full 12 hours seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm managing to get the assignments done, but it's taking a great deal of my time. I believe once I get back into the stride of school, things should not be too bad.
Our trip to Nashville was great. We visisted the Grand Ole Opry (downtown) and saw several great performers. Sunday we went to President Andrew Jackson's plantation and toured it. We hit the road headed back west, stopping at a couple of Civil War sites along the way. First was Parker's Crossing, which is smack dab in the middle of I-40. As I understand it, the battle got so fierce, traffic was stopped in both directions. From there we headed south just a bit and spent the night in Savannah, Tn. The next morning we went to Shiloh. We were on the road again by 11 am and had to head back home.
Mrs Dub attended the Oklahoma Quarter unveiling, have you gotten your's yet? She ended up buying a roll and then the boxed set which includes one each from Denver and Philidephia. Did I mention she was actually at the Denver Mint and was able to stamp her own quarter? It sounds like a good trip.
Miss Dub is doing well, attempting to stay out of trouble. She brought in straigt A's for the 2nd nine weeks, so that helps.
We are getting a little bit of snow this morning, but reports are less than 2" will fall, and it's all be gone by tomorrow. Be safe and have a great day.

19 January 2007, I'm coming to you live from Nashville TN tonight. We started our drive on Friday evening after I finished a part-time job. We stayed in Van Buren, Arkansas and finished our drive today. Tonight we are headed to the Grand Ole Opry for the show and to see Charlie Daniels be inducted tonight. Tomorrow we are headed to President Andrew Jackson's Hermitage to see his plantation.
We came up with this trip about two weeks ago when we watched a history channel program covering the life of Andrew Jackson and when Mrs. Dub checked into it, it appeared to be a good weekend vacation to check things out. Miss Dub and the in-laws came too.
I started back to college this last week. I'm taking classes in Emergency Responder Administration. It seems to be the direction I'm headed. After the first week of classes I finally purchased a new laptop and when we get back on Monday, I'll check into getting a wireless card for it. I'll have plenty of research to do for my classes and there is no way it can get done on that dial-up. The bonus to that is possible getting back to blogging more. I'm hooked up in the hotel room right now as we are waiting for Miss Dub to get cleaned up.
Be safe and have a great weekend.

07 Jan 07, Well, spending the holidays with my family was great. I've had the last 10 days off from work, with the exception of National Guard drill this last weekend. We have been just been enjoying our time. I head back to work tomorrow. The weather has been interesting with record highs over the weekend.
I got a call from one of my Afghanistan interpreters. It seems two of them and their families have made it to the United States on the Interpreter Visa. They are currently in Minnesota. It's an adjustment for them and they are currently looking for jobs. There are a couple of soldiers in that area that knew them so they are getting some support.
The family is doing good. I wish I had more to report but that's all for now. Be safe and have a great day.