Happy Birthday George "Moke" McClain

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my nephew Moke a very Happy Birthday today.

It seems like it was only yesterday that Pam and George were having their first baby, a small and precious package of a young child that has grown into the Mountain of a man that he is today.

He is a pretty remarkable man, he's an Iraqi War Veteran, a great Husband and one of the best father in the world candidate's for Ryleigh's Daddy.

Not sure what Ang has planned for Moke today, but whatever it is it is going to be a special day for him.

If you happen to see him today, take a little bit of time out and wish him a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Moke.

Hump Day

Two in, two more ahead of us, now we're just trying to navigate ourselves up and over this noon time hump so we can see another fun filled weekend off in the Horizon.

Things are starting to wind down for me a little bit now. For RTI I had a listing that was two months old that I finished up and set out on Sunday, we have met our goal this quarter for the first time since I started working for them and by "we" I mean our group. Softball season is now over with as we ended up finishing in the playoffs where we ended up in the regular season and that was third place.

Fall and Football season is coming and my intense schedule is starting to wind down a little bit allowing me to concentrate on one thing for a few weeks and possibly have a few weekends off here in the very near future. I'm actually looking forward to a little bit of downtime.

Did everyone enjoy the eclipse Monday? I had my special glasses that I bought for $1.99 at Krogers (some coworkers bought some for $15 each off of amazon that were not as protective or clear as mine). Working with a number of Engineers, I saw all kinds of contraptions that were built to view the eclipse. Some rather complex and some were as simple as two plates. One on the ground and on being held up with a pinhole in it to catch the reflection. All were very effective.

Have yourselves a great day, change the world and make it a better place with each and every passing day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* The Solar Eclipse is now something we are talking about as it is now in the remembering stage rather than the preparation to view stage. Good reason as any to do a tidbits.

* It has been 19,630 days since I first set foot on this planet, I'm thankful for each and every one of them. Using my unique and rotating 933 day Calendar, that makes me 21 years old.

* It has been 4,846 days since I graduated from WVU. I loved my time at WVU and now we are watching a whole new batch begin their careers and am ready for them to leave again already...lol

* 3,447 days ago I asked this very special lady out on our very first date, we have been together ever since and still going strong.

* 2,671 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle, we're still going strong today.

* It was 2,208 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became Husband and Wife.

* I have 5,214 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass is only 1,853 days away, we need to kick a little Panther ass, it has been too long.

* There are 350 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Seventh Wedding Anniversary.

* We have 210 more days to go until Spring 2018, Spring is my favorite season of the year. Summer is not even over with and I'm counting down to Spring.

* 164 more days until Phil takes center stage again and pretends that a Groundhog is the worlds most listened to Weatherman. I have to remember to send him some booze this fall.

* 131 more days to go until my Goodbye 2017 Blog is posted where I recount 2017 based on what I have written in my blog. It has been a year of transition to say the least.

* There are 125 more shopping days left until Christmas. Target has beat Walmart to the punch in putting out their Christmas stuff.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 101 more days. If you use that antiquated 365 day calendar, this will be the 33rd Anniversary of it.

* We are 46 days away from Michelle and I going to the Springs Festival. There is a new Cheese factory that I want to check out up there.

* There are only 12 more days to go until the Mountaineers kick some VT cHokie ass as the start of the 2017 WVU Football season is close to starting. I'm ready to have the Black Diamond Trophy back in Morgantown.

* I have written 4,961 blogs in what will soon be my 13 full years of being a Blogger.

* Nothing new on the Brother Search that has been going on for a couple of years, but we've hit brick walls everywhere.

* Nothing new on the Hall Family Tree, even though there are some updates and additions that do need to be made.

* I hope everyone had some good experiences viewing the Eclipse yesterday, if you missed it there is another similar one coming in about another 70 years.

* Softball season is complete. We had a one night playoff yesterday finishing up the season. It was a good year and I'm thankful to have played with this wonderful group of guys once again.

* Working for RTI I did manage to have a decent weekend, but not as productive as I would have like it to be. Hoping to wind this quarter down in the very near future, it has been a challenging one.

* This is my 28th Consecutive Day of working one job or the other and I will be working into this weekend as well.

* Michelle is going home this weekend for her Grandmother's 96th Surprise Birthday party.  This is the Grandmother whose home we go to every December when we do Christmas in Ohio.

* Light Up Night and Butterfly Release is this weekend at Westover Park. All proceeds go to the Johnny Koon fund at WVU Hospitals.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Solar Eclipse Monday

Today is a very special day, our country is going to see the first coast to coast Solar Eclipse since 1979. It's going to be a very memorable phenomenon for anyone who has never had the opportunity to witness one before.

I can remember a couple of them in my youth, and can actually remember specifically what I was doing when the last eclipse of this magnitude hit Morgantown (we are going to have 83% coverage). I knew it was going to be the last eclipse of that century and we knew in 1979 that we would not see this again until 2017. When we experienced the last one I was just finishing my Freshman year up at Suncrest Junior High School.

Now for many of you first timers, let me point out that viewing an eclipse can be very dangerous and you can very easily permanently damage your eyes and your vision. Looking straight at the Sun is very dangerous and you will need special glasses to look at it. If you buy any glasses (Krogers has them for like $1.99), make sure, and this is very important that they are ISO 12312-2 compliant. Use NASA's website for other viewing options but please use extreme caution.

When wearing these special glasses that are designed to look directly at the Sun, everything else will be unviewable  while wearing them. This is above and beyond the equivalent of wearing a welders mask.

If you have animals, seriously consider leaving them inside until the eclipse has run its course and is complete. The Middle of the day is going to appear to be the middle of the dark night for a while, nocturnal animals may come out making an appearance and you never know what could happen.

Please enjoy this very rare phenomenon as we wont experience it again until 2092 I think and I'm not waiting around for that one..lol

Have youselves a great day, make it a memorable one and once again...

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a quiet household, nothing is on the TV because I streamed Frozen last night and fell asleep watching it and have not changed the TV's setting since. I'm up early collecting my thoughts for the day and talking to a few people on Facebook about Sterling Faucet and the plant when it was in Morgantown.

We went to the Black Bears game last night and they dropped a 2-1 decision to Mahoning Valley. Mahonings pitchers registered 15 strike outs against the Black Bears. We actually had a man on third with no one out in the fourth inning and three batters struck out either looking or chasing pitches that were hitting 3' in front of the plate. It wasn't our finest hour, but I loved being at the Ballpark and had a great time with Michelle, Ashley and Christopher. We did manage to avoid getting rained on as it seemed to have went around us.

Todays plans, I'm back out in the field once again for my 23rd straight day of working one job or the other. and that streak looks like it may stretch the whole way into September and Labor Day weekend. It is starting to be a little bit of a drain on me especially with so many of my lines are transient residents and they didn't move in until we were half way done with the quarter and close to clean up time. That and starting a new job seems to have given me very little down time lately. The Baseball game last night helped tremendously.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a semi-quiet household, Michelle is up having a coughing fit and I just got up and am collecting my thoughts for the day. Some old Bill Murray movie is playing in the background and I'm still trying to wake up.

I'll be going out this morning to do some field work for RTI, hopefully I can wind this quarter down in the next week or so and and get ready for a little break which I am more than ready for. It's been a productive quarter despite everything that was working against me in regard to the places that I had to go and the timing of the transient residents.

Black Bear Game this afternoon for Michelle and I, if she feels up to it. We have tickets and food vouchers for Hit Dogs and Soft Drinks. Now hopefully Michelle feels better AND the weather holds out so that we can attend our first game this season. It's been over a year since the last time I was in Monongalia County Ballpark, that's a little too much time between visits for my taste.

Have yourselves a great day today and make the very most of it.

Hi ho hi ho

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Well I have made it through two weeks at AECOM after today, now it's time to once again turn my attention towards RTI for this weekend as I will be out doing field work tomorrow and Sunday. This will be the 21st and 22nd consecutive day of working one job or the other or both. I've got at least 5 more to tack onto that running total and it may even go beyond that into next weekend and the week following. At the very least I plan on taking some time off around Memorial Day.

Michelle and I will be attending the West Virginia Black Bears vs Mahoning Valley tomorrow afternoon. This will actually be the first time that Michelle and I have made it out to see them this season and I have to say that I'm a little bit excited. They are in first place and are playing the second place team as they are trying to secure a playoff spot.

Have yourselves a great day today and live it to the fullest.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through some of the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet through the years and find one special picture that stands out. Little lost moments in time from yesterday caught with a Cameras lens and relived right here in my blog. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that one special picture and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it consistently is however is a whole lot of fun.

In figure since I did one of my older softball teams last week, that I would do my current team this week. This picture was taken last year of the Whitetail Crossing team. It's pretty much the same group of guys this year, we added a few and lost one or two and lost on to the season due to injury, but it's still the same core of guys as we had last year.

Both years I have played for them we have put together a great group of guys, after Monday's game most of us stood around in the parking lot BSing as we talked about a number of subjects, mostly softball related.

Playoffs begin Monday and I think we have just found our Niche and could be a team to be reckoned with.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho