Happy Birthday Michael!

Hope you have a great day!!

Hey Ron and Kathryn!

Good to hear about your progress in moving in. We stopped using cable 4 years ago when we moved into our new house (not so new anymore) and we've never looked back. We had Comcast and they TOTALLY sucked (sorry can't think of a better way to describe it). We started with DirectTV and I liked them just fine except at the time they did not have the Tennis Channel so when Dish Network called with an offer for a high def 200 hour DVR with our subscription and they DID have the Tennis Channel. We switched over. Now, of course DirectTV has Tennis Channel, but we've never had any problems using satellite, and DishNetwork just added the Tennis Channel in high def a few months ago so I'm thrilled. We had dinner with Mike Wednesday night. It was really good to see you, Mike. I've been so busy at work I was afraid I might not be able to find an evening when we could get together, but we worked it out. We went to P.F Changs which I have been craving for a few weeks and I had my absolute favorite Shrimp with Candied Walnuts--YUMMMMY! Mike was taking a health insurance certification class in Buckhead this week. I think he flew home yesterday afternoon. PJ's going camping this weekend so we are going see the Dark Knight (second time for me). Yeah it was good, but it was really long. I hate when you think a movie is over and then there ends up being another 30 minutes. Hope everyone has a good weekend! Donna B.

I'm in

Well, I have arrived at the Bertaut blog and I think it is a great idea. Thanks Donna for setting it up. Kathryn and I are moved in for the most part with everything unpacked and put away except for hanging our pictures. She's been traveling and it has all the makings of a fruitless excercise to hang them without her input so I am waiting on that one. Dallas has been great with a couple of exceptions...1) It is hot. I mean like wow, hot...sun hot, wishing for the days of Africa Hot to cool off hot. There should be a another word past hot that applies to weather but most of them only apply to cooking--boiling, broiling, searing. I think I will invent one--Let's go with "core of the earth hot". Ok, not great but it may catch on. Maybe as an acronym--COTEH. I'll work on it. 2) It seems like everyone I have been dealing with to set up my house, utilities, cable, furniture, etc is trying to screw me over or giving us bad service. Example: Call the cable company--Time Warner--Of course I expect to get screwed on cost but I am told that the first call will not allow me to choose my options of my cable it is just a set-up call...can you connect me to the "option specialist, miss time warner nightmare" no, you have to call this number. Strike one. Next they want to run my credit...why, I ask I have a time Warner account in CA for 5 years and I pay (on time I might add) $150+. Can't you look at my account? No, can't help you. Strike two. Finally get to the set up installation stage, "Oh, sorry sir the previous owners have not canceled their account so we can't set it up until they do". Strike Three. Hello Direct TV. This is one of several different stories regarding the issues I have had with service and cost issues from my bank, cleaning service, furniture delivery, appliance delivery and I am sure a couple more I am not thinking about right now. I'll post my cleaning service story next time...it is my favorite. I'll look through my pictures to see what I have but I am not making any promises...I only use people in my photos for scale. Ron

Stand By Hot-Lanta. I'm on the Way.

Just a little blurb to let you all know I'll be at the Westin Buckhead starting sometime Monday evening and leaving Thursday Afternoon. Snoozy (and I mean SNOOZY) certification classes are the order of the day, so much so that it was all Marla could do to talk me out of trusting my golf clubs to the TSA. Of course they'd immediately consider them some sort of weapon and arrest me (Crap! Did they hear that? It actually says on the TSA website that "We at the TSA do not appreciate loose talk and jokes about bombs, guns, weapons, or hijacking planes. Please be advised such talk could lead to your arrest." So be careful! Donna/Patrick I'll touch base once I'm settled. Have a nice evening! thanks...mrb

A Test

Are you a Democrat, a Republican, or a Redneck?

Here is a little test that will help you decide:

You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges at you.

You are carrying a Glock cal 40, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?

Democrat's Answer

Well, that's not enough information to answer the question!

Does the man look poor! Or oppressed?

Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?

Could we run away?

What does my wife think? What about the kids?

Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand?

What does the law say about this situation?

Does the Glock have appropriate safety built into it?

Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children?

Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me? Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me?

If I were to grab his knees and hold on , could my family get away while he was stabbing me?

Should I call 9-1-1 ?

Why is this street so deserted?

We need to raise taxes, have a paint and weed day and make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior.

This is all so confusing! I need to discuss with some friends over a latte and try to come to a consensus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Republican's Answer:

BANG!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Redneck's Answer:

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Click.... (sounds of reloading)

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click

Daughter: 'Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips or Hollow Points?'

Son: 'You got him, Pop! Can I shoot the next one?'

Wife: 'You are not taking what's left of that to the taxidermist!"

Welcome to the Schaubs!!

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Pine Mountain, Georgia over the July 4th Weekend:

Animals Attacking Poor, Helpless Car Emu Patrick and Zebra Thanks for posting a comment, Paul/Carol. If you click on the link at the bottom to "subscribe to: post comments (Atom)" you will get an e-mail everytime someone posts a comment. I'm still waiting to hear from Ron and Chris. I sent the invitation to join to Chris' old e-mail address so he said TWO DAYS AGO that he would check it and join. I left Ron a voice mail today because I think I may not have his current e-mail address either. Life's rough, ha.

If you want to sign Newt Gingrinch's petition to Congress "Drill Here, Drill Now, and Pay Less" just click on this link:

http://www.americansolutions.com/actioncenter/petitions/?Guid=54ec6e43-75a8-445b-aa7b-346a1e096659 --Donna B.

PJ Started French Horn Lessons Today

PJ starts middle school (6th grade) on August 11th and he was accepted into their band to play the French Horn. He had his first lesson today, and his teacher said that he did very well. He was so excited that he wanted us to video tape it to share with you guys. So here is a video of PJ playing the French horn for the first time.

Work in Progress with an incompetent worker

It must be the way I have it configured that does not allow comments to show up. I'll work on the layout and see if I can get it fixed (or I'll get Morgan to fix it--she has more time than me). I'd love to see your Disney pictures Mike and I'll definitely check out your website. Patrick has a page on Facebook. I've got nothing (ha).

Giving it another try...

I tried responding to your post, Donna, but it didn't show up. So I'll try again. I think this is a grand idea. Lord knows we are so split up and see each other so seldom this may be the best way to stay in touch as we go forward. I like it. Once I figure out how to do it, I've got zillions of pics from Disney I can share. My webpage is http://mbertaut.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0 if you REALLY get bored and want to read a lot of my musings and claptrap. Hopefully you're not that desperate, but you never know! I'll get the kids hooked up here soon, they are online all the time and have their own MySpace pages they can share. Take care....mrb

First Post

Here is my second attempt at a blog. My first is at http://www.positive-perspectives.blogspot.com/. I thought it would be kind of cool to have a family blog. If you have any pictures or anything you want to contribute, share, or save, please feel free. I don't have an e-mail address for Carol, Marla, Kathryn (did I spell that right? I'm really bad at remembering how to spell people's names), Melissa, Stephen, Josh, Abigail, or William, but if you guys could share that with me I would appreciate it so that I can invite them to join. Hope everyone is doing well. I spoke with Dad about his vacation this weekend and it sounded like they had a wonderful time. Maybe Chris could try to convince Dad to share some of his vacation stories in writing on here. I'll share tomorrow. It's late and I'm very green at this blogging thing (that's the only thing I'm green about, ha). Talk to you soon, Donna B.