Charmaine Yoest

Mother in the Middle

Wow this is my week. First I meet President Bush at Porkers and now I have won a, hopefully autographed, copy of Charmaine Yoest's book Mother in the Middle: Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars. Charmaine and Jack hit their 300,000 visitor mark last week and decided to give away a copy of Charmaine's book as a prize. They were doubtful they would actually find the 300,000 visitor so they also threw in that if the winning visitor could not be found that they would give the book to the person with the best comment. Well, evidently liked my comment.

The book should be pretty good, and I am sure it will lead to some interesting discussion between Leslie and me.

About Charmain Yost:
Charmaine is currently the Vice President of Communications at the Family Research Council. She has written several books and has been a guest and political analyst on tv shows such as NBC's Today Show, CBS's Evening News and CBS's This Morning; NBC; MSNBC; Hardball with Chris Matthews; Hannity and Colmes; The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; CNN's Crossfire, Headline News, The Jesse Jackson Show; McLaughlin's One on One; Technopolitics with Jim Glassman; C-SPAN's Washington Journal and she was a regular guest on ABC's Politically Incorrect.

I ate lunch with the leader of the free world.

President Bush came to Chattanooga today to promote his new policies aimed at making health care more affordable. Since we (David Blackburn and I) were not invited to hear him speak we decided to head down to see the Presidential motorcade as it went by the Chattanooga Trade and Convention center. The motorcade was really disappointing. It went by in about 8 seconds and I could not really get any pictures. By the time the motorcade made it to where I was standing Ben and Jason had also shown up and we headed over to Porkers BBQ for lunch.

President Bush as Porkers BBQ

We had been at Porkers about a half hour when our waitress came by and whispered to us that the secret service was there scoping the place out. After hearing that bit of news we started eating as slowly as possible hoping to be able to stick around. Within just a few minutes the Secret Service were walking around, and they began setting up tables. By that point we were done eating and the bill was sitting on our table, so in an effort to stick around Ben and I took one for the team and ordered dessert. We tried to eat as slowly as possible and we tried to make small talk. But by that point everyone left in the restaurant knew he was coming and were just trying to kill time.

President Bush Porkers BBQ

After a little more time had passed he and his entourage came in. There was a really great round of applause as he entered, and you could tell everyone there was genuinely excited about seeing him. It seemed to be a nice warm welcome. I was a bit nervous at first about taking picutures, but at some point one of the Secret Service Guys warned the President that they were getting ready to take pictures, he said okay, and before I new what was happening about 10 or so photographers rushed in and began taking pictures. It was at that point I stood up and tried to get a few shots. The lighting was bad so none of them really turned out, but I am posting them anyway.

President Bush in Chattanooga

They eventually sat down to eat and one of the Secret Service members told us to just sit tight and we could meet the President after he finished eating. He really never got a chance to eat much because every time someone would get up and start walking out the door he would jump up to greet them before they left. He was just a really nice guy.

Karl Rove in Chattanooga

After he was done eating he started to make his rounds. He walked up to our table and shook our hands. All I could think to say was "It is an honor to meet you Mr. President". I think he said something to the three of us at the table but I really can't remember what. At the point he started to walk off I asked if I could get a picture.

He said sure, and pulled Me, David, and Ben in close and Bush took my camera and handed it to his photographer. The photographer took the picture, or thought that he had, and the President gave me a little punch in the stomach and walked off. Remembering what happened when I got a picture with Ford when he visited Chattanooga, I decided to look real quick at the picture, but it had not taken. So I looked at his photographer and told him it had not taken. The photographer got Mr. Bush's attention and he came back and took two quick pictures with the Presidents photographer's camera. The photographer then gave me a card that I have to mail in and they are going to send me a copy of the picture. How cool. I will post it when I get it in. Until then you will have to make due with the lame pictures I took.

After the President walked out Karl Rove started to walked by and I took his picture. Once the picture was taken I stuck out my hand and he shook it and said "Karl Rove". I guess I should have said my name but my reply was "Oh, I know, great to meet you."

At that point there were only about 20 or 30 people left in the restaurant and the President was walking out to get in his limo. We really knew we were fortunate to be sitting just 12 feet from him for more than a half hour, but it was not until I looked out the window and noticed several hundred people standing outside trying to get a peek, until it really hit me. I can't tell you how fortunate we were. What a honor to meet all these people.

Zack Wamp outside of Porkers

Oh yeah, after the President had pulled away we paid our bill and left Porkers. As we got outside I noticed Zach Wamp standing outside, so I got a quick picture with him as well.

What a really great experience.

I don't know if most people who visit this site know that we have a store where we sell baby carriers like baby slings. A popular baby carrier for summer time is the solarveil sling. They are made to block some of the ultraviolet rays from the sun. Please feel free to follow a link or two to see what we have available in our shop.

ObamaBlog08.com

I own the url Obama Blog 08. I am willing to host and setup a wordpress blog for free if I can regain ownership of the blog once the 08 elections are over. I would also like to keep the content of the blog as well. You are welcome to move a copy of the content to any other blog after the elections, but I would like to have the site back once the elections are over. If you are a serious blogger or political junky and would like to take over this blog for the next 2~ years then let me know.

Note: I think a well written blog is a help to the political process as a whole. In spite of the fact that I am a conservative I would really want someone who is a Obama supporter to take this project.

Update Again: webdsb and I decided to take the project on ourselves. To be honest I tried to make it a pro Obama blog, but I just felt I could not do it right. So we decided to make it a funny blog. To date I think the Obama Smoking post is the funniest.

Ronny Littlefield: Our One Term Mayor

Chattanooga Recycling Program Goes Once a Month

So I have been thinking it might be a good idea to find out where Ron lives and let him store my recyclables for the next month. I'm thinking his front yard might be a good place. Does anyone know what the process would be to get a Mayoral recall going? Seriously, he should be recalled.

It would give me great pleasure to rename this post: Ronny Littlefield: Our 1/2 Term Mayor

My Three Sons

Elliot and Killian

Elliot and Killian

Killian's first morning

John David and Killian

A little sun for the jaundice

a little smile

Killian in a towel

Zero Birthday Party