'Twas the night before Pitt

*Twas the night before Pittsburgh, when all through my mind,**

Were visions of couch burnings - both your's and mine.

Firemen were resting and acting quite lazy,

But they knew that things were about to get crazy.

The players were nestled, Markell did his dreds,

While visions of **Bourbon Street** danced in their heads.**

There were Quinton's gold teeth, Larry's son in his lap,

While the quarterback made noises to sound like a cat.

When down in the end zone there arose such a noise,

They sprang from their homes and called all their boys.

To the field they flew, fast as Devine,

Making sure to pick up the offensive line.

The invaders had arrived at the stadium early,

These Panthers were looking noticeably surly.

There was a point to this late-night trip through the hills,

They were out on the field doing defensive drills.

With a dapper old coach who combed his mustache,

You knew in a moment it must be Wann stedt.

He'd made his name as a defensive master,

And he whistled and shouted for them to run faster!

"Watch Slaton! Watch Schmitt! Watch Reynaud and White!

Watch option! Watch bubble! Could be a rough night!

Let's stand at the goal line and build a big wall,

And keep them from their shot to play for it all!"

As they began to believe his bold rally cry,

There was a flash and a pop up high in the sky.

They reacted the same, with a quick double take,

What they saw made them stop in their cleats and quake.

On the top of the stadium a man made his stand,

As he calmly adjusted his Nike wristbands.

He said "My name's Rich, as you surely know,"

Then ran down the bleachers with Mountaineers in tow.

They were dressed all in gold, from their heads to their feet,

And they looked like they'd win a 12-team track meet.

A bundle of plays he had in his book,

And there was no mistaking that confident look.

Pitt's eyes - how they widened! Their hearts - how they pounded!

All for the biggest game since this Brawl was founded.

One side had momentum, the other desperation,

This battle wouldn't wait for the eyes of the nation!

Caridi was roused from a much-needed sleep,

So were Hickman and Hertzel, the last with a bleep.

They brought their pens, paper and elaborate prose,

To witness this battle of bitter old foes.

It was dark and cold, your breath you could see,

But that didn't stop the kickoff of Pat McAfee.

The tackle, of course, came from an old Hawk named Emery,

And so started this game that would soon be a memory.

They spoke so few words as they went to work,

But score after score drove the visitors berserk.

The Mountaineers rolled, as was expected,

While the Panthers backed off, clearly dejected.

There was a Gatorade shower that gave poor Rich shivers,

While no one seemed happier than Pitt native Vaughn Rivers.

They exclaimed after singing about Almost Heaven,

"We'll see you in **New Orleans** on January 7."**

It's a Big Ole Hairy Friday

Once again we are at the end of a weeks worth of work and at the dawn of yet another weekend of relaxation and football.

Tomorrow the #1 Ranked WVU Mountaineers will try to secure a spot in the MNC BCS game to win and a chance to win the 2007-8 NCAA Football National Championship. We will be playing Pitt in the 100th Backyard Brawl and if we win, we're in.

Gary and Renee are going on a nice little trip to Colonial Williamsburg tomorrow for the weekend. I was there some years ago on vacation, but that was when I was dating Barbie and we went to Busch Gardens and Water Country USA. Our Hotel was on the backside of Colonial Williamsburg, but I seem to recall all we did was drive down the main street once.

Have a good weekend.

Gotta Love it

Val's iPod

For her 24th birthday, my sister got Val a iPod shuffle. I've been up there the last couple of days trying to set it up for her. I had to reformat the iPod and she only has a regular USB connection, so it was time consuming to reformat it.

She took it up to Gary's last night and now has some music on it and is able to listen to it.

6'6" 240 song

A lil video

Happy Birthday Val

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my niece Val a very Happy 24th Birthday today. It seems like just yesterday that I was running to the old university hospital after hearing the news that Terri had given birth to a daughter.

I did get a chance to see Val Saturday night briefly as she and Bobby came to visit Terri at the bar.


Happy Birthday Val.

In the Coaches Poll....

We're #1

Nov. 25, 2007
Rank
Team (first-place votes)
Record
LINK



1.West Virginia (37) 10-1 1,467 3
2.Missouri (17) 11-1 1,454 4
3.Ohio State (6)11-1 1,383 5
4.Georgia 10-2 1,232 7
T5.Kansas 11-1 1,161 2
T5.Virginia Tech 10-2 1,161 8
7.LSU 10-2 1,134 1
8.Oklahoma 10-2 1,126 9
9.Southern California 9-2 1,073 12
10.Hawaii 11-0 958 13
11.Florida 9-3 898 14
12.Boston College 10-2 861 16
13.Arizona State 9-2 756 6
14.Illinois 9-3 674 18
15.Tennessee 9-3 654 19
16.Wisconsin 9-3 493 20
17.Clemson 9-3 469 22
18.Texas 9-3 417 11
19.Brigham Young 9-2 327 23
20.Oregon 8-3 316 10
T21.Auburn 8-4 271 25
T21.Virginia 9-3 271 15
23.Boise State 10-2 247 17
24.Cincinnati 9-3 146 NR
25.Arkansas 8-4 145 NR

Dropped out

No. 21 Connecticut (9-3, lost to then-No. 3 West Virginia 66-21), No. 24 Texas Tech (8-4, idle).
Others receiving votes
Texas Tech (8-4) 116; South Florida (9-3) 100; Connecticut (9-3) 54; Air Force (9-3) 41; Penn State (8-4) 19; Central Florida (9-3) 18; Michigan (8-4) 17; Wake Forest (8-4) 9; Oregon State (7-4) 7; Rutgers (7-4) 6; Mississippi State (7-5) 4; Oklahoma State (6-6) 4; Michigan State (7-5) 3; Troy (8-3) 3; Houston (8-4) 2; Tulsa (9-3) 2; Fresno State (7-4) 1.

...and the waiting game begins

This has been a great weekend for being a Mountaineer fan. Friday Night #1 LSU lost to Arkansas in triple overtime 50-48 to give West Virginia a very big early Christmas gift.

Yesterday the Mountaineers been UCONN 66-21 securing the Big East Championship and a spot in a BCS Bowl Game (Rose, Sugar, Orange or Fiesta) representing the Big East this year. This is the very least that will happen this year. Because of Friday Nights LSU loss, WVU will move up into the top 2 of the BCS rankings today (we were #3) and have opened up a spot for us to play in the BCS National Championship Game on January 7th against either Missouri if they win next week or Ohio State. All we have to do is beat Pitt next Saturday and we are in.

We have had two shots at previous National Championships. In 1988 we played against Notre Dame and lost and in 1993, we were #2 in the Coaches Poll and #3 in the AP. Florida State got the nod ahead of us to play against #1 Nebraska and has we beaten Florida in the 1993 Sugar Bowl, it would have probably been a split national Championship.

Today the waiting game begins, the wait isn't whether we will be in the top 2, the wait is to see if we may be #1 for the first time in school history. #1 LSU lost and #2 Kansas lost to #4 Missouri. Because Missouri beat the #2 team and we crushed the #20 team, there is a possibility that they may jump us in the polls. The worst that we will end up today is #2 in the Country. It's just a matter of waiting to see how the human polls come out.

Black Friday

Wow was that T-Totally ridiculous. I picked Up Jean at about 4:00 AM. She was wanting to buy a Big Screen TV and was going to try to take advantage of the Black Friday sales.

We started at Super Wal-Mart, but the sales didn't start till 5:00 and she didn't see anything sh3e really liked. Next we went to Best Buy who opened at 5:00. When we got there the line went out he door, around the side of the building, all the was down the side and u-turned back up into the parking lot. Guys who had camped out since last night didn't even get what they wanted.

Next, it was Target at a 6:00 opening there, there was a nice TV I saw in an ad and told her about so we were going to try to get it. They had 10 in stock. Notice how I said had, because by the time we got back there, they were gone. All 10 in a matter of minutes.

With a one last ditch effort, we made a track to Sam's club. She wanted a 37" HD TV. We lucked out and she walked out with a 42" Flat Screen HD TV. Yesterday afternoon we were setting up and watching her HDTV, we were watching the LSU-Arkansas game (which is another story WOO HOO).

We did get a little bit of an education from Best Buy and Comcast yesterday. One of the selling points when buying a TV is the number you will see. Either 720 or 1080. There is a 720p, a 720i a 1080i and a 1080p. Obviously the best one to get would be a 1080p. There is not much of a difference between 720p and 1080i. Actually Jean's TV does both and are very high quality. Most salesmen will try to push the 1080p because it is a better quality. Here's the kicker, Comcast does not support a 1080p signal. If you have a PS3 or a Blue Ray disk player, then a 1080p TV will give you the full ability to see it at what it is designed to do. However, Comcast does not broadcast in 1080p. (JFYI)

Happy Thanksgiving

Day off, Day on, Day off

What a morning. I woke up this morning and was having some connection problems at work, I then requested the days vacation to make it a long weekend. My Boss said we are in a crunch and asked if I could work once the problem was resolved and I agreed. An hour in, and the virus that attacked the network attacked again starting with the machine I was working on.

Sooooo, it's a five day weekend.

Thoughts for Christmas Eve

Just a few random thoughts and ideas for the Christmas Holidays.

* A Chinese gift exchange has been discussed and most people like the idea of it.

* Mom came up with an idea of everyone bringing a Christmas bulb or ornament for the tree. I like the idea, I would like to have one bulb, preferably personalized for each person that will be at Klaer Lodge. It doesn't have to be a commercial bulb, it could be Styrofoam personalized for that person. That way everyone could possibly be represented by the family tree.

* Photo's. I love my pictures and very rarely do we get the chance to get everyone together at one time and one place. Like Thanksgiving a couple years ago, I would like to take a lot of pictures including at least one of every family unit as well as others. I'll bring my tripod, so if anyone has a camera and wants pictures, bring your camera. I would like to do a Christmas video again this year, maybe even two of them, so I will need pictures to go on.

* Board games and a deck of cards are a few things we may need and if anyone would have a portable radio, that would be nice. Not sure what kind of electronic entertainment will be there, so it would be nice to have a few interactive toys for everyone to spend time together. I'm open to all ideas.

* I will try to go up once before the time we have it rented to just get a few ideas. If anyone else is interested in going (not sure when) let me know. Two heads are better than one, three are better than two and so on and so forth.

Good Luck Hunters

This is the most missed day of work in West Virginia, the week that many men in the state schedule a weeks vacation in pursuit of being able to bag a big buck with a rifle. It marks the first day of deer season in West Virginia.

I would like to wish all the hunters luck and have a safe and happy day of hunting. No accidental shootings.

Mountaineer weekend

Yesterday I went to my second Mountaineer basketball game (women's too) this weekend as the Mountaineers beat Prairie View A&M yesterday 106-41 in a game that was total domination from the start. It was part of the Stub Hub Classic, WVU will advance to the semi-finals this week to play Tennessee. Both the men's and Women's teams plat the Vol's this week. The Vol's women are ranked #1 and their men's team is ranked #7.

The BCS polls came out yesterday and WVU is in better shape than I thought. I thought we would end up being #4 in the BCS rankings, but we ended up #3 in the rankings. This week #2 plays #4, so if we win, we should stay the say no matter who wins. If #4 Missouri wins, they will leapfrog us to #2 while #2 Kansas would drop.

Keep your finger crossed.

WVU Wins again

Once again the West Virginia Mountaineers went on the road and came away with another victory. This was the last road game of the year (other than the bowl) and 6th ranked WVU went into 322 ranked Cincinnati and managed to hold on for a 28-23 victory running their record to 9-1 on the season with two games remaining.

Fortunately for WVU we are ranked 6th in the BCS going into this week, however #2 ranked Oregon lost 24-34 and #4 ranked Oklahoma lost 37-24 to help out the Mountaineers. This should move us to #4 in todays BCS rankings with the Kansas and Missouri having to play each other this coming weekend. These teams should be ranked #2 and #3 ahead of us, so one of them has to lose this coming week and if WVU wins this should bring us to a #3 ranking in the BCS.

Next week WVU plays UCONN at home and this will be for the Big East Championship and the right to represent the Big East in a BCS Bowl (Sugar, Rose, Orange or Fiesta). If we win next week, we should enter the final week of the season ranked 33 in the BCS.

In the final week of the season, LSU will have to compete against probably Georgia in the SEC title game. The last time these two teams played for the SEC Title, Georgia beat LSU and then had their butts handed to them by WVU in the Sugar Bowl. In the Big 12, the winner of the Kansas v Missouri Game will most likely face Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championship. Oklahoma has already beaten Missouri once this year and Kansas is still undefeated, but have yet to beat a decent team this year.

If Oklahoma wins the Big 12 OR Georgia wins and the SEC, WVU will be playing for the National Championship if we win the two remaining games at home against teams we are will be favored to beat.

Buckle up, this could get interesting over the next 13 days.

Huggins Era

The Bob Huggins era of coaching the West Virginia Mountaineers has now officially began with last nights 81-53(Mark's new site)victory last night against Arkansas-Monticello. With many thanks to Chris Ostein for a couple tickets to see the game, I went and picked up Brittany and took her to the game with me last night.

We did get to briefly see the inside of a mobile production studio as Chris was doing instant replay for the game. He and Scott are on their way to Cincinnati today to broadcast tonight's football game.

I think Brittany really enjoyed the game.

Most influentual Professor at WVU

Congratulations are in store for probably one of my most influential professors while at WVU. Dr Kenneth Martis welcomed me into the program my Freshman year, and was basically my mentor during my tenure at WVU. He was my adviser when Dr. Elmes was on sabbatical and always had an open door for me regardless of why I would come and see him.

He was also the one who nominated me for the personal interest story among WVU grads for the 2004 Commencement. It went to an 86 year old man, but I was a finalist and it was Dr. Martis who nominated me. Our disciplines are different, I am a GIS guy and he is a political geographer, but our paths crossed numerous times as my advisor, professor, nominator, man of influence and the man who called my name during graduation.

Yesterday, Dr. Martis was named the 2007 WVU Professor of the year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Congratulations on the honor Dr Martis. As any one of his former students could tell you, "Water Transportation, is the cheapest form of transportation, ESPECIALLY for large bulk products." This was something very simple that he drilled into our heads. It also was a very helpful piece of information to many other disciplines of geography.

Coming closer

It's getting closer and closer to that Big Old hairy Friday and the start of the weekend. However we are stuck at Thursday and will have to wait another day.

I went over last night and hooked up Danielle and Mom's wireless internet up. Danielle's Router wasn't properly working and she had to have them send her another one, this one works quite nice. Once I configured Danielle's, I went downstairs and configured Mom's.

I think they both now like being wireless and have the freedom of taking their laptops away from their traditional locations and being able to use them at multiple places around the house.

Mid week

It started out as a nice day, I had work to do and my machines at work were both running well. Until about 8:30 and the network virus once again proceeded to try to take down the network.

This can make for a long day, but the weather is nice and my front door is open so I don't mind all that much. At least I can still get the fresh air in and make it smell like summer time.

First Experiance with MC OSX Leopard

Yesterday I had my first chance to look at the Macintosh OS X Leopard operating system. I had advised Danielle in not getting a Windows Vista Machine and instead going the Macintosh route. I felt as though Microsoft had really fumbled the ball on their Window's Vista Operating System, and apparently so does about everyone else.

Danielle bought hers yesterday and I was given the chance to actually have a little first hand experience using it. I have used a series of Windows OS, Unix, Linux and knoppix, and I was really intrigued by what Macintosh was offering. They did not disappoint.

It is a very trouble free, user friendly, quick and efficient system. If I did not have to have a Windows system for the VPN, I would probably buy a MAC. I may still eventually end up getting one if it is a laptop and not something I need to work with everyday.

Kim who was going to get one, had decided yesterday that they were not going to get one, only to call me last night at about 10:30 after learning of Danielle's and informed me she had just ordered one. She has wanted one for some time and I can say it will fit her perfectly.

Strange

Anyone who knows me knows I speak an offbeat language that I picked up 25 years ago from Jane. It's called Gibberish it's an advanced deviation based on the English Language.

Outside of the friends I learned it from nor the people I have taught it to have I ever really heard or used it. It was sort of like an unspoken hidden language that only a few people identified with.

I'm sitting here this afternoon watching Slums of Beverly Hills and there is a scene where two girls are having a conversation in gibberish. I didn't think much of it when they first started putting up subtitles, but then it dawned on me, they are speaking gibberish.

Strange.

The Monday After

It was a nice, long event filled weekend for me and now it is back to work. WVU Football game, Women's basketball game, Gallagher Concert and watching a great Steelers comeback yesterday made for a fun event filled weekend. However all good things must come to an end and we start another week.

My voice is slowly coming back from Thursday night, but it's not at 100% just as of yet. It will get back to normal in a couple of days.

We're still having a problem with the VPN at work, at least as far as connecting to workstations, so that means so far today the day has been in limbo. Sitting around and waiting.

Gallagher Concert

Last night was the night, the night that I finally got a chance to see one of my favorite comedians.

Gallagher had been here twice before, but both occasions I was in High School and had a scheduled football game that night. So, I never had the opportunity to see him.

Last night he did not disappoint. He did a roughly three hour show, but it wasn't one of his typical shows. There was a lot of audience participation including many kids that had the opportunity to step on stage with him.

When we first walked in, everything was basically covered in plastic, that should have been an indication what was to come. The show started off with him using a tennis racket and hitting candy into the audience, then a few hours of stand up, then a very memorable sledge o matic final.

It was a great night and he did not disappoint.

A Sad Day

Reading todays paper I noticed that Henry "Yup Yup" Drosky passed away yesterday at the Sundale Nursing Home.

"Yup Yup" as the Mountaineer nation remembers him was named by WVU Hall of Fame football coach Don Nehlen as West Virginia's Number one fan. He was legenday, he had some kind of disability that caused his condition, the only words you would ever hear him say was "Yup Yup", which is where henry earned his name and reputation from Mountaineer fans. Any time I ever went to a WVU sporting event in my youth Henry was always there. Any time I had ever been to a mountaineer sport practice even much less a game, Henry was always there.

I always said he deserved to be honored as WVU's most loyal fan.

Uncle Junior (George Koon) will be officiating the Funeral Monday Morning at the McCulla Funeral Home.

I shot this portion of video years ago with dad's camera. RIP Henry, you will be missed, but never forgotten.

I officially don't like Go Mart

About a week or so ago McBee's Exxon up here obviously changed ownership and a few policies. They no longer carry Exxon Gasoline (My preference) and the store is half empty of products. (Not to mention the bad sandwich I got this past week).

This morning I pulled in to fill up my gas tank, it was on E and needed filled, so I pull in and put in my card and choose credit. I start filling up and the pump shuts off at $50.00.. My tank isn't full, unfortunately, so I proceed to walk into the store and tell them that the pump shut off at $50.00 for some reason on a credit card purchase. I was informed it was their company policy to limit gasoline purchase credit card transactions to $50.00 and debit card transactions to $35.00.

Maybe it's just me, and I could understand if they limited that dollar amount if you paid after the purchase, but this is the same as a prepay transaction. You're limiting me to $50.00 worth of gas per credit card and $35.00 per debit transaction?

Well my tank is I believe a 22 gallon tank, the light comes on around 18 gallons though, and at the current $3.19 a gallon it's not hard to purchase in excess of $50.00 of gasoline in a single transaction, especially for those of us who drive SUV's.

So Go Mart, this individual who used to have to fill up every other day and now spends roughly $30.00 a week now or $60.00 every two weeks, is now an unhappy customer and is probably not going to be doing any more business with you. That is roughly $1,600 a year I spent at this store JUST FOR GASOLINE PURCHASES. That doesn't include the bottles of diet coke, breakfast sandwiches, or any other item I may purchase when I stop in.

To the new owners who probably paid a premium price for that prime location, you're own idiotic policies and empty store have just officially cost you a long time customer. Don't know how many pennies your policy is going to save you, but it just cost you a couple thousand dollars a year in sales to this consumer.

Very Little Voice left

Wow what a game last night. I was standing and yelling the whole night long, to the point that I really don;t have much of a voice today. WVU won a hard fought 38-31 Victory over defending Orange Bowl Champions Louisville last night on ESPN. Pat White sealed the game last night with a 50 Yard Touchdown run late in the game to break the 31-31 tie that Louisville had fought back to get.

It was a Gold Rush night where all the fans were decked out in Gold, and the team were in Gold shirts and pants. The stands were jumping and the fans were into the entire game and actually were the 12th man last night.

great night.

Bring on the Cards

Tonight, Morgantown will be invaded by a bunch of red birds that think they can play football. Rich Rodriguez will lead the WVU Mountaineers onto the field at roughly 7:30 this evening to try to dispel the red birds theory that they can play football.

It should be a great environment and Nick and I will be there sitting in section 101, we'll be wearing Gold sweatshirts, look for us.

Midweek

the VPN is acting all screwy at work, so I can't log in right now. I guess that makes it as good as a time as any to do a blog post.

I think old man winter and Mother nature have teamed up and are planning to move into the neighborhood for the next few months. I'm trying to hook Phil up with a couple female groundhogs to take his mind off his shadow this February. Of course he didn't see it last year and we got the worst part of winter AFTER that. I guess it's still too early to start asking if it's softball yet.

Still planning on going to the game tomorrow night with Nick. It should be a pretty good game and hopefully we can make things turn out in our favor. WVU is currently a 15 point favorite, but that doesn't really mean anything.

Have a good Hump day.

Did you see the Steelers last night

Wow were they impressive. It was 35-0 at one point in the first half and the steelers managed to pull out a 38-7 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. It was a game when the Steelers brought back the all time teams and all the Steeler greats were there for the game.

I hope this is just the start of a good football week for me.

McBee's Exxon

My Local gas station, McBee's Exxon where I have done a lot of shopping since I moved up on Grafton Road has sold out to someone else. Different brand of gas, the store was half empty with it's normal products and I just bought a Wedgie that I would almost wager has sat there for about six hours. Worst thing I have ever eaten from there.

They changed ownership and went downhill quick. I hope this is just a transitional period, because as is, this place sucks.

EDIT, I just tossed the Wedgie, I'm hungry and it was that bad.

The BCS

The Mountaineers were idle this weekend, and two teams ranked ahead of us lost. That didn't prevent us from getting jumped in the BCS poll though. The Mountaineers were jumped by not only one, but TWO teams that were ranked behind us last week. We went into the week ranked #7, and after sitting idle we come out of the weeks ranked #7.

I would say any chance of the Mountaineers somehow making it to the National Championship game now are slim to none.

We have to concentrate on the tasks at hand, and that is the next four games one at a time. If they do they, everything else will take care of itself.

Weekends over

It was a relaxing weekend, didn't really get into too much. Ate Breakfast with Amy and Ralphie yesterday morning at Hardees. Stopped by the bar once and visited Terri, other than that a pretty uneventful weekend.

Next weekend will be quite busy for me.

Thursday Night I'll be going to the WVU Louisville game with Nick.

Friday Night Morgantown High and University High Start the playoffs here against each other and WVU will be hosting the Big East Soccer Championship this weekend at the soccer stadium.

Saturday I'll be going to see Gallagher with Pam and George.

And if WVU is playing for the Championship Sunday, I may go watch the Big East soccer Finals.

Needless to say that there will be plenty for me to do and get into this coming weekend.

Fall Back

Later tonight 2:00 AM on Sunday we will officially be turning the clocks back and going off Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. This means you can have an extra hour of sleep this weekend and the days are now getting much shorter.

It's Official

We now officially have Klaer Lodge for both Sunday Night the 23rd and Monday Night the 24th of December. I called and reserved it this morning after speaking with everyone the past few days. I remember I tried to do this last year and could manage to get it for one night after a last minute cancellation. No worries this year, it has been secured and it is now officially ours.

Come one come all, and make sure you have plenty of batteries for your camera, this will be one to remember.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes we are once again at time of the work week when the work ceases and the fun begins, we are on the dawn of yet another weekend.

The Mountaineers are off this weekend and will be playing next Thursday Night against Louisville. Thanks to a good friend, I now have two tickets to this game and Nick and I will be going to the game. I had an extra ticket and couldn't think of anyone else who would want to go more than Nick. I could be wrong, but I think this may be the first game he has attended since Recourse.

I think over the last couple days we have a game plan for Christmas and where we are going to have it. I am going to call today and try to reserve Klaer Lodge for Sunday night the 23rd and Monday night the 24th. It's been too long since everyone has been together. The place is spacious, private and plenty of parking with full facilities and sleeps I think 30 for anyone who may want to stay. We're talking about doing a Chinese Gift Exchange, I was involved with one last year with my softball team. I think it could be enjoyable to everyone. Klaer Lodge also has a couple fireplaces for hanging stockings.

I got a message from Moke this morning, He's in Ohio and has found a new job already and has applied to two colleges he said. We'll see.

Have a good Friday.

Halloweeen Night

It's that time of the year again when ghouls and goblins come down and visit us. They demand sweet sugary treats of enjoyment in exchange for not giving you a trick. Last night at Jean's was no different than any other year. Most of us got together and enjoyed a pre-meal of Sloppy Joe's, Pizza and French Fries.
After the feast that was provided by Jean, the kids got into their costumes and started out to seek their treats for the night. Trick or Treating ran from 6:00 till 8:00 in East Gate and to say this this year was any different than any other year would be an incorrect statement. At 6:00 Calvin and Joey were off, they wanted that sugar rush. Erica and Josh weren't far behind and Kayla, Kyle and Kayla's friend also setting out to garner the nights treats.
Pam was lucky enough to draw the "Candy Giver" role this year. I sat out there to keep her company as jean also made an occasional visit to be wowed by the number of trick or treaters that decided to pay a visit.

We started out with 200 Small Candy Bars and between Me and Val we provided another eight bags of Candy bars. Somehow Rich's stash of Candy bars managed to make it into the bowl to give out.
It would be hard for me to estimate how many Trick or Treaters we saw this year, 90% of the Trick or Treaters that stopped by stopped in the first hour of the event. I think a safe guess would have to be in the 350 range for number of visitors for the night. At 6:30 I really considered going down to Krogers and buying more Candy, wondering if we had enough. Eventually with a little help from Rich's stash, we managed to make it all the way through.

Pam and I turned the lights out and came back inside at about 7:50, it had been a good 20 minutes since we had seen our last treater.

It was a memorable night.