Ballmer & Richard
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...as Written by Dallas James Ballmer


This is as good as it gets...


A fine family and a beautiful day...
to go with many wonderful memories...
Join us as we share some with you.

May they both rest in peace...


 

Vernelle Seger
 

Click on Nell to go to the Seger's Page

This is Dallas and Dawn Ballmer
Dallas 05-31-51
Dawn 10-13-54

Alton & Marie Richard
Alton 02-15-25
Marie 08-16-24

Dallas and Betty Ballmer
Betty LaVelle Cook Ballmer 12-15-29 to 06-23-04
Dallas Eldon Ballmer 02-05-27 to 03-21-06

Dr. Cameron Lind and Vernelle Olson Seger

May they both rest in peace...
 

11-05-09        We have been retired since February 2008 and it has been quite a ride.  We traveled for about 6 months and then each went back to work to enable us to help our son go to a school he had always wanted to attend in Orlando, FL.  Full Sail is a multimedia school and one of the top rated such schools in the business.  As I said, we (Dawn and I) retired 02-08 but we went back to part-time work around August of 08 to help our son go back to school.  He spent 7.5 years in the Army in Preventive Health and was deployed a lot. 

Miguel (Gil) was in the Army (actually only 7.5 years) and got out finally June 2008.  He spent a tours traveling abroad to Kosovo then a tour to Afghanistan and two tours to Iraq (the last one being 15 months long).  He felt that that was enough and since he had always wanted to study Media Arts and go to a school in Orlando (Full Sail) he would go back to Iraq as a contractor to make the money to attend the very expensive school.  Dawn and I made a deal with him to finance the school if he would stay here and begin right away.  Of course, it was his dream come true and took us up on the deal.  He just graduated in Recording Arts there at the end of October 2009.  His curriculum was intense in that he went six days a week and that is for 12 months (no breaks).  The classes go around the clock so it may be with a classes that is in session at midnight.  Usually the classes were during the daytime but historically were scattered from mornings to late evenings (depending on the class).  Full Sail has 150 acres of recording studios and about 50K students going at any given time (and growing).  They have a graduation class and a new group beginning each month.  Placement is very active and like any other school it depends on the grades as to the marketability and opportunities.  The school is very well affiliated with alumni blended around the world in various Hollywood, Nashville, Vegas, New York and points in between.  It could be with movie production, music production or just private recording art studios.  There is a constant demand for high tech recording arts graduates and some have been very well placed.  He is actually beginning with a friend to open their own business to work on computers, process video and mix sound.  There are many possibilities for him now and hopefully it will open the door to a rewarding career.

The oldest is married to a high school sweetheart.  Eric and Sarah just had our first granddaughter December 28, 2008.  Her name is Marlee Wren Ballmer and lives in Jacksonville, FL with her parents.  Eric finished school in Civil Engineering from UNF May 2009.  Sarah is also a Civil Engineer from Baton Rouge and she got her degree several years ago at LSU when Eric was also suppose to get his.  We found that us paying for five years at LSU was just not sufficient to get his degree and decided to finish when his wife expressed her desires (good for her).  Anyway, they should be set for a good life very soon and are living happily ever after.  Oh yea, they thought having our first grandchild was important enough to have her just before graduation…I think that is what they said.  They both seem to be doing fine and happy in the life they are sharing together.  That is the most important thing to us.  Eric graduated but was having problems getting a job in Florida (for several months) so he checked out Baton Rouge to find out LA DOTD wanted to hire him (and did several months ago).  Last month his wife and daughter moved home and they reunited in Kenner, LA to procured a very good job there.  So far so good and they should be in good shape from now on and we are happy for them.

This brings me to another segue…both of us have gone back to work partially to help us pay for the school and his place to live while going to school and to finance our expensive habits.  I drink/collect wine, and travel on a wine cruise (like the one in June ’09 out of Seattle to Alaska with our favorite vintners in Sonoma).  We do like to travel around to new places and go visit our kids in Florida (lately).  You can see some of our travels through slideshows and stories on our website at http://www.dballmer.net/trips.html .  You may notice we like to snow ski and take cruises around the country and Canada is one of our favorite places.  We have been lucky with our careers (but work hard for that luck) and with our health so traveling has been one of our indulgences and is great.  We both retired February 2008 and I went back to work at a calibration lab as a Metrology Engineer and Dawn a bit later in 08 went back at some temp jobs then taking an internal auditor job with the Attorney General’s office and we both are enjoying the jobs very much…and they pay us!  I am not sure how long we will continue to do this but it is fun and we both can take off for extended periods when we want to…no problem (that was part of the deal about when we accepted each job).  Soon I am going marsh fishing with a friend for a week in south Louisiana then off to Park City, UT to ski the slopes.  We will also be going to Vegas, Phoenix, 2010 we will be going on a cruise off the Florida Keys and Bahamas.  We are also planning a wine trip to Tuscany, Italy and possibly a two or three week European tour.

In my spare time I have some volunteer work around the community also.  I have been active in our Sherwood Forest Citizens’ Association the past several years and they have even made me the president this year.  I also wrote and maintain the website for the association http://www.sfcabr.org .  What began as acting as a representative of our association in the Federation of Greater Baton Rouge Civic Associations, turned into another position also.  I wrote and maintain their website as well http://www.fgbrca.org and was elected to the board as webmaster, public relations and now1st Vice-president.  It fills a void that was probably already filled… but what the heck!  I probably will not die on the couch of boredom anyway.  And I thought we might be bored in the later years.

 

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The "Plain Slideshow" is a process that takes less resources to view
(No sound and much easier to start-stop-reverse-copy)

Our Vacation Trips

Dallas' Resume

Lori & Grady's Home
Plain Slideshow

Matthew's Birthday
Plain Slideshow

Mom's Memorial

Holidays Our Morgan Spa
Plain Slideshow
Our Sunroom
Plain Slideshow
Brou Movie Dad's Memorial
Rhonda's Wedding and
Shower 2006
Calendars to Print Gatherings of Families
& Friends
Brou Family Information  TAXES
Read this...sad but true
The Brown Recluse Why schools require shirts to be tucked in... Innocence is Priceless Eric and Sarah's Wedding
Plain Slideshow
SFCA Gardens
2008
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