17 March 2009,

Fool Me Once, Shame on You

Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

Wall Street, now AIG. And you know what their not even the ones to blame. They are acting as is their nature, only thinking of themselves. What did you expect. I think Groucho Marx said it best, "If you looks like an idiot and talks like an idiot, don't be fooled, it's an idiot."

The problem isn't with these people, the problem is with Congress, they have proven they are incapable of making the right decisions for this country. They are running this country into the ground. They have no clue what goes on outside their own little world. America, I say it's time to start looking at replacing every single Congress person that has voted yes on giving money to people and companies who have proven irresponsible in managing it. The time is now.

09 March 09
Happy Monday to all! I spent the weekend "playing" Army again, at least that's what Mrs. Dub says. All is well, we are about to go get some chicken fried steak, taters and green beans for dinner.

Here's a great video we wanted to share. I hope you like it.



Be safe and have a great day.

02 March 2009,

I hate to admit it, but I was wrong and Al Gore was right. Yes, it seems global warming is real. Al Gore has been selling his Carbon Credits for a few years now, and as usual, the east coast and west coast led the way. I live in the Heartland of America, and we have not purchased our Carbon Credits from Al Gore's company and it shows. Today, the east coast and west coast are being pounded by heavy snow storms, enjoying all the benefits of winter, and the Midwest and Oklahoma are having to suffer from our obvious uncaring attitude towards the environment and will be expecting temperatures in the 60's, 70's and even one day in the 80's this week. I plan to make the call this week to these guys and get my carbon credits today. Al Gore has signed on Vince Offer with ShamWow to help sell his carbon credits. What are you waiting on?
The family had a good weekend and I spent part of it painting the kitchen in the house we used to live in. The realtor who sold us this house purchased our old one in order to make the transaction go through and a year later sold that house to.....my in-laws. yep, you can just imagine that every time a question arises about the old house, I get the call. It's a good thing I love my in-laws.
Besides putting two coats of paint on the walls, we put up the border around the top and I moved a couple of outlets. Of course, this leads to Angela and I wanting to get started on our house, and especially our kitchen. We are both anxious but don't want to jump too quickly. I need one of HGTV's or DIY's crews to come out and help with the project, especially with the cost. I think our next big purchase for the house will be a safe room. The tornadoes that hit Oklahoma in February missed us but we realize that we need something in place that gives us peace of mind and security for the family.
Be safe and have a great day.

16 Feb 2009,

BREAKING NEWS

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Sgt Dub Breaking News, I'm your blog-host, Sgt Dub. Our first story comes out of California where 7 time Tour de France bicyclist Lance Armstrong has had his bicycle stolen. This is the 2nd such incident in California where a celebrity has had their bike stolen and offered a reward for it's safe return. You may remember the first such incident in 1985 when this individual had the same problem.

Yes, offering a reward only promotes theft of property rather than deter it. Lance, you probably should have gotten on the news and made this statement instead, "Guess what, you just stole a one of kind, unmistakable bicycle and whoever gets caught with it will go to jail, you won't be able to pawn it, you won't be able to ride it, you won't be able to sell it unless that person likes hiding their treasures, here is a picture of it, take a good look America, if you get caught in possession of this bicycle you will be arrested, tried and sentenced to go to jail. Have a nice day."

(disclaimer: Mrs Dub actually made this observation and I felt it was funny enough to elaborate.)

DTV

Our 2nd story is a technological sensation we haven't seen since December 31, 1999. That's right not since our fear that computers would discover the rollover from 1999 to 2000 and think it was 1900, realize they hadn't been invented and would just shut themselves down; the switch from analog to digital has this nation in a frenzy. Yes, so much so that the President wanted to put off the change to allow people the chance to make sure they could survive. Why, just today I saw one of our stations scrolling the statement across the television, "if you have cable or satellite you should be ok" I should be ok? They aren't certain? Oklahoma City has of course, opted to make the change tomorrow as previously scheduled and will move on with their lives. If this is my last blog you will now it's because my computer must have been analog and I no longer have reception.

This concludes our breaking news and we bring you back to your normal broadcasting.

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day weekend. I took the girls to the PBR. Yes, nothing says I love you like watching someone ride a bull. Both Angela and Shelby went Saturday night and then Angela and I went back to watch the Sunday finals. Oklahoma's own Ryan Dirteater was 1.5 seconds from winning the whole thing, of course, on the back of a 2,000 lb bull, that's a long time. When I was 18, my dad offered to send me to a bull riding school, I respectfully declined. I have always loved the Rodeo and had hoped one day to participate in the Elks Rodeo in my hometown of Woodward, OK, but in something less dangerous. If I had my agility back I think I would make a good clown.

Be safe and have a great day.

05 Feb 09,
Well, I think the entire family is finely on the healing side of life. It seems a bug has gone through the entire family. Poor Angela, she got the worst of it being sick from Sunday afternoon through today. She still doesn't sound that great but she's finally better. Monday was my day off and I spent the entire day taking care of them and ended up taking off two more days this week to help them out.
For my birthday, Angela, on her own, decided I needed a Blu-Ray DVD player to go with our new TV. Of course, she needed me to go and pick it out since she knew she didn't have a clue about them. Her got me to the store by saying she wanted to buy a movie. Now my issue is running the audio from the Blu-Ray to my old Sony Dream System DVD surround sound system using a fiber optic cable. I was able to get the front speakers done but need to figure out the entire surround sound problem or I will be forced to buy a new theater system to support the Blu-Ray.
My Army ID card expired and I had to wait almost 2 hours before getting my new one. I then got to spend two hours tonight registering that card on my computer so I could use it to log into my army account. Good grief! This was painful.
Sorry if this sounds boring, I'll try to do better soon. Be safe and have a great day.

25 January 09,
Well, it's a cold cloudy day in OKC, and I'm at work. At least the wind isn't blowing. I'm half way through my work week and ready for days off. I can't tell if I'm trying to get sick or what, I've had two times this week where I have had the headache, achy joints, chills and fever but it has only lasted about 12 hours each time.
We are expecting ice and rain on Monday and Tuesday and I'm suppose to be at the gun range on Wednesday for ERT training. 2 days ago it was 73 degrees. Welcome to Oklahoma. I'm actually ready for some snow.
Not much else to report at the moment. Be safe and have a great day.

21 Jan 09,
Which bothers me most?
President Obama nominated Timothy Geithner for the Treasury Secretary. Now, it should be common sense that if you are nominated for such a job you will be checked out. I can't decide what bothers me most, that he chose to not pay his taxes for several years or that he told the Congressional Panel that it was because he uses Turbo Tax to file with. Is this the guy I want having control over our financial situation. The Dub's here are basically a middle class family, and I know enough to pay at $150 to have a CPA do my taxes.
We haven't started the kitchen renovation yet, it's just getting a good grip on what we want which takes a little more effort. But we are both ready to put the first hole in the wall, Angela love the demolition part of it.
Not much else to report at the moment, back to work this week and we had a busy day. Be safe and have a great day.

16 January 2008

Yes, I know, long gaps between posting again. This is normal once I get home, and work at getting everything back to normal. I completed one full set at work and am almost back in to full swing there. I got my 2008 Ford Crown Vic back and it only had 9,000 miles on it It will still take a little while to get everything I work with back into the car.

After almost a full year of talking about it, we finally bought a new TV. We picked up the Samsung 46" LCD. We have really enjoyed watching movies on it, but tv hasn't been as nice. So, this morning, I am waiting for the arrival of the Dish satellite man to come and upgrade our package to HD. The door bell just rang! It's him! It's the Dish man! Here with my new HD picture.

Anyway, he's working on the tv so now I can concentrate on this until it's up, then of course, even Angela will lose my attention for a bit. Just kidding dear......

Angela and Shelby are doing fine and both are back to work and school. We have a 3 day weekend coming up and are trying to come up with fun things to do as a family. However, what can you come up with that a 15 year old girl will think is fun while having to hang our with her parents. Well, we are wanting to go to the 39th International Finals Rodeo held right here in OKC on Saturday night. We have the Home and Garden Show this weekend which highlights everything HGTV-ish. There's the 'Ship-wrecked' display at the Omni Center which has artifacts and treasures recovered from lost or sunken ships over the last 150 years.]
Be safe and have a great weekend.

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.