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.