Start of the Stewart Era in Morgantown

yes, it was once again a great time to be a Mountaineer as the West Virginia University Mountaineers defeated Villanova 48-21 yesterday at Milan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field.

Patrick White started off his Senior Season with a personal best 5 TD passes in leading the Mountaineers to their first win of the season. The offense looked different than what we have seen in years past, it was more of a passing offense than a running offense yesterday.

Bill Stewart was quoted as saying that "I don't know how to run the ball with nine in the box", that is why we passed more. Unlike our previous coach, who did I mention lost 25-23 to a non BCS school yesterday, Bill Stewart wasn't stubborn and knew that he had a greater percentage of passing the ball with nine in the box.

Congrats coach, the Bill Stewart era continues next week....

Great Night.

Last night Michelle and I went to the University High-North Marion football game. As we were walking in the gate I saw an old teammate of mine, Tony Johnson standing there so I asked him if he had any kids playing. He said his son Brandon Tucker was playing and to keep an eye on him.

I asked Tony if the kid is better than he was and he put forth that big grin and said "he thinks he is". He did not disappoint, carrying the ball 9 times for 136 yards and 4 Touchdowns.

I have to say, and as much as this kills me, University High will win the 2008 State High School Football Championship. They are LOADED with talent all over the place. They have three backs that could be playing at the next level in Tucker, Dixon and Wilson. They have a "Golden" armed QB who really impressed me.

This was the last home game at Pony Lewis for the Hawks, they will move into their new stadium for the next game.

It's a Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes everyone it is once again that time of the week when our labors of the week cease and we take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors, it is once again the start of a VERY EXCITING weekend.

This isn't your typical weekend, it is a three day Labor Day weekend. There is a lot going on this weekend, so maybe I can touch on a few things.

The weekend pretty much started last night when the Steelers played the Carolina Panthers in the last pre-season game of the season. Of course the weekend started a little earlier as Michelle was already at my place and had a nice dinner made before going to visit Trish, Aaron and Layla yesterday evening.

Tonight, High School action kicks off as UHS play North Marion and Morgantown travels to Wheeling Park to open their seasons off.

Also tonight the Italian Heritage Festival kicks off in Clarksburg and runs thorough Sunday. I'm sure there will be a lot of very good Italian Food that will be served during the weekend.

Saturday the WVU Football kicks off it's season against Villanova. This game, as well as probably all others, is going to be televised. Tune in and watch Patrick White and the other Seniors kick off the 2008 season.

Have a great weekend, I'm going to.

A weekend of Football

Yes, it is getting closer and closer to that time of the year when the smell of sweat and the sound of cleats running up and down the gridiron can be heard. Times when people gather in large masses at the gridirons to watch teams do battle.

The action starts tonight as the Pittsburgh Steelers play their final pre-season game of the year and match up against the Carolina Panthers. College football will officially start tonight to with a Wake Forest game.

High Schools will kick it off officially Friday night for the first time of the year. University will be playing North Marion and Morgantown will be traveling to Wheeling to take on Wheeling Park for their first game of the season.

Saturday you might notice Morgantown will be a little larger when Villanova stops by to play the eighth ranked Mountaineers. This will be the first home game since the disaster on my birthday when we were ranked #1 and lost to Pitt 13-9. Bill Stewart will be making his Morgantown debut as the Mountaineers Head Coach. He was the interim coach for the Fiesta Bowl win in January.

Let the Championship seasons begin.

Back from Martinsburg

Had a great time at the ESRI users Conference yesterday, two of the five presentations were using base value added data that yours truly was the editor for. I was the one that prepared the final deliverable product to the client. The presentations were based on what the clients did AFTER we (Infotech) shipped them the product.

Overall it was a great time, the Hotel I stayed at was nice and I actually went swimming the night I stayed there. Woke up and ate some breakfast and then on to the conference.

It was actually quite educational even beyond the data that I did, ESRI did a real nice presentation on the new release of the software and what it is capable of doing. Also showed me a few things I may want to hone up my skills on and develop for personal marketability.

Some some very nice user friendly java based mapping scripts. I'll probably be implementing one or two on my website to try them out. Very user friendly and wide array of data sources to choose from.

I returned home yesterday evening and Michelle and I BBQ'd some pork chops and fish (I know what a combination). Have a great hump day.

Out of Town

I'm actually out of town in Martinsburg, West Virginia for a GIS users conference today. I left yesterday afternoon and arrived last night and wil return back to Morgantown this evening once the presentations are completed.

We talked about going to this as an entire office a few weeks ago, but NOAA did not approve it.

They did approve Chad to go, but we are having an open house today at the office and he asked me if I would like to go down for the meeting. I thought about it a few minutes and decided it would allow me to interact with a few other professionals in my trade and see what they are doing.

Call it a one day educational vacation. I'll be back this evening.

Weekend Wrapup.

Once again the weekend is over with creating sadness for me knowing I have to enter another week of work. Friday night started out with a cookout at my Bosses house. They were great hosts and the brats were awesome.

Saturday saw the Steelers kick the dog snot out of the Vikings before we appeared on the Steelers trivia show. Truth be told, I was sawing logs as the entire thing was taped earlier this summer.

Sunday was my normal routine and Michelle, Hayley and I managed to have a couple cookouts over the weekend. Michelle is a great cook.

back to work.....yuck.

WE MADE IT TO THE FINALS!!!!!!

We won our Semi-Final round of the 2008 KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia show. We have now advanced to the Finals that will air September 6. Next weeks round will be the other semi-final round plus the runner up with the higher point total in the semi-finals.

Will the Terrible Towel be poised to strike? Stay tuned.........

Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Show

Tonight is week seven of the KDKA McDonald's Pittsburgh Steelers trivia show. This is the first of two semi-final weeks and this is our Semi-Final.

It will be us against week one winner Steeler's Fury and week three winner Steely McNorton in the show's first semi-final round. The winner of this show will advance to the September 6 finals to play for all the marbles.

Will the Terrible Towel be Poised to Strike like it did in week two, or will Steeler's Fury or Steely McNorton show their trivia superiority? The Steelers play the (gay purple shirt wearing) Minnesota Vikings tonight in a pre-season game. I would imagine that after the post game show that our show will air. I can't determine a specific air time, but it will after the wrap up show sometime.

I'll post the video tomorrow when KDKA puts it online. If you're looking to get a little pumped, HERE is our first round match.

Tune in, and cheer us on.

Happy Birthday Moke

If you see Moke today, remind him that he's a little older today than he was yesterday. Make sure you wish him a Very Happy Birthday.


EDIT: I jumped the gun, his birthday is tomorrow.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward to. When we cease our labors for the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors, it is once again the dawn of another weekend with another Big Ole Hairy Friday!!!!

For me, this will be the first weekend I have had with the love of my life since the first of the month as she spent a week in Myrtle Beach.

This evening we are going to venture over to my Supervisor's house for a nice friendly little GIS Department cookout. Chad is going to be firing up the grill and Michelle has made some of her dip and we are going to make a vegetable tray to take over.

Last night Michelle and I had a great evening, we BBQ'd some Hot Sausage and steamed soem corn on the cob and steamed a few peppers on the grill and had a great evening finishing off with a nice little walk down on the rails to trails. It was a great time and a chance for us to talk. We're planning on moving in together around the first of the year when my lease expires here.

The summer movie series is over and the High School Football season hasn't started yet, but if you are looking for something to do the WVU Women's Soccer Team will be opening the home slate tonight at the soccer Stadium. Both WVU Men's and Women's teams made the sweet 16 and Elite Eight last year respectively.

Have a great weekend.

Steelers Trivia Show

Take note that this weekend will be the first semi-final of the Steelers Trivia ahow. We won our first round game in week 2 and advanced to the semi finals.

We will be going against the winners of week one and week three in our semi final match. Tune in this Saturday evening and see if Poised to Strike can advance to the Finals!!!!

Happy Birthday Jean

If you happen to run into jean today, make sure you wish her a very Happy Birthday!!

Another Update on Josh

I received the following message from Josh in my comments on my last update:

hey psych its josh..
i just recently got promoted to kinston our high a team affiliate..they are in a pennant race and i got the call to come aboard about 4 days ago. thanks for writing those blogs about me i greatly appreciate the time and friendship.
hope all is well back home..


It's still single A, but it's a promotion and a chance for him to light them up there for a while. he'll be playing in Kingston North Carolina.

Kick some tail Josh.

Jury Duty, ARRRGGGHHH

A few years ago I managed to avoid a year long commitment to me a member of the Federal Grand Jury. I blogged about it here and here again. I was fortunate to avoid the year long commitment.

I've been called again to serve on Jury Duty, only this time it is just a five week assignment here locally as a Petit Juror. I have to talk to Human Resources at where I work to see how this is covered as far as work. I used to get my full pay for Jury duty, I'll have to see how this works out.

Sucks to be me for about five weeks.

Sinful satisfaction

Have you ever eaten something that just makes your taste buds bow down and worship your brain because of a choice it made. When you take a mouthwatering bite of something that is just pure satisfaction?

yesterday Michelle Hayley and I took Michelle's Dad's car to washing ton PA to drop it off to her sister so she could return it for us. We stopped for dinner at Ponderosa Steakhouse in Washington to eat dinner. Right beside it was the slice of heaven.

Krispy Kreme has a store there, where you can see the donuts being made, through the rising of that yeast that makes them so good to the mouthwatering sugar waterfall that each donut gets a chance to bask in before it comes off the hot belt and is ready to be served.

I had my first chance yesterday to have one that was coming off the hot belt. Now I have had donuts before, but I have never had a Krispy Kreme donut right as it just came off of the hot belt. Once you bit in it was pure succulent pleasure, almost tasteful to a point where this should be a sin.

If you ever see a Krispy Kreme store, stop and get one of their donuts coming off the hot belt. Boxing them does not do these things justice.

Michelle is back

My sweetie arrived home from her nice week long vacation at Myrtle beach this past week. She stayed here with me last night as we had a little catching up to do and talking about how her vacation went.

They had one unfortunate night when the washing machine had broken earlier in the day and the repair man forgot to turn the water off. Michelle explained that the living room a floor below had this big bubble of water coming down the wall behind the wall paper before it burst.

Sometime today we're going to meet her Sister Danielle in Washington PA to take Michelle's Niece and her Dad's car back. Danielle is going to do us a favor and run it back to East Liverpool for us today.

I guess things return back to normal for her tomorrow as she returns to work after a nice relaxing break.

Michael Phelps

Congratulations to US swimmer Michael Phelps as he won his Seventh Gold Medal of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, tying him with 1972 Seven Time Gold medal Winner Mark Spitz for the most Gold medals by any Olympian in any single Olympic.

Phelps also had six Gold Medals from the 2004 games, plus these seven give him a total of Thirteen (13) Gold Medals in his Olympic history, shattering the previous mark of nine gold medals held by US Swimmer Mark Spitz, US Track and Field Star Carl Lewis, Finnish Track Star Paavo Nurmi and Russian Gymnast Larysa Latynina.

Phelps has one more chance to cash in for an unprecedented eighth Gold Medal when he tries to win Gold in the 4x100m medley relay, an event the US has never failed to win the Gold medal in.

Congrats Michael Phelps, you make us proud to be Americans.

2008 Fantasy Football Draft

last night we assembled one last time for the year, or at least until next softball season, and drafted our 2008-9 Fantasy Football Draft.

I ended up in first place last year, but faltered in the Championship game with my worst game of the season against Gunter, who had also beat me in NASCAR a month earlier.

This year however I'm ready to play, when Yahoo assigned waiver priority (based on strength of team) I was given last priority (based on the strongest draft). Last year my two running backs were the first two players selected in this seasons draft, however I was not able to retain either of them. Overall my team shows strength and should be pretty competitive. I even drafted two former Mountaineers late in the draft with Steve Slaton and Owen Schmidt.

It is the earliest we have drafted, but Scott Barr came in for the draft from out of town, that's why we did it.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

It's once again that time of the week when we cease the labors fro the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again the start of yet another weekend.

If you are looking for a little free entertainment tonight, this is the last in the 2008 Family Night Under the Stars series, they will be playing Mr. Beans Holiday.

I on the other hand will be drafting officially closing out the Summer Softball season as we get together one last time as a team and draft our Fantasy Football League Draft. We'll be drafting tonight at Chewy's, something tells me I won't have the team that I had last year as both of my running backs are ranked #1 and #2 this season.

You'll notice getting around town will be a little more difficult as the WVU students are coming back to town as classes start this coming Monday. WVU will have it's traditional Fall Fest 2008 with headliner and former American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry. What a way for the kids to kick off a school year.

Tomorrow is the Traditional Chicken Wing Cook off at the old Mountaineer Mall. Take a little time and go out and enjoy some the wing cook off competition of some of Morgantown's best restaurants. the best wings however will not be competing in this years competition as Nick and Terri's wont be in this years cook off.

Have a great weekend.

Update on Josh Judy

I think my old team mate may be ready to advance to the next level next season. As the minors start to wind down in A for the season, I decided to take a nice gander at Josh's stats for the season.

he's got a 3.54 ERA, which isn't that bad. he's averaging about 1.1 Strikeouts per inning which is pretty impressive. However his current record is 12 wins and 1 loss. That's 12-1 on the year and will draw some major attention from the upper clubs.

I'm crossing my fingers and waiting for him to make his Major League debut.

The season is now officially over

Wow, talk about a season that needed to just end, it was this years softball season. We just didn't play very well this season and really had a sub par year.

I did miss my sweetheart as she is at Myrtle Beach and this was the only game that she missed this season. However she didn't miss much as we lost 16-3 to close out the season.

I've brought in my equipment for the season, so maybe if I get a chance I'll go and watch a playoff game or two if I can, since we are not playing in them again this season.

Let's suit up one last time this year

Another softball season has come, and after tonight will have gone. It's been a less than stellar year for us, but I wouldn't trade the memories for anything. Win or lose, I play with the best group of guys you could ever want to associate with, we're just not that successful on the field this season.

After the game tonight I'll bring my bats in and put them in storage until next spring when I will once again dust them off and get ready for another season. We'll just regroup and do it again next year, hopefully it will be like teams of old again.

Anyone ready for some football?

Olympics

Once every four years, athletes are given a chance to become legends on what is a world stage. A true chance at being not only a World, but an Olympic Champion is a dream that many athletes dream of. It's probably a similar dream that anyone who has ever suited up in an Olympic event has probably dreamed about at one time or another.

The Medal Count constantly changes, you can keep up with it HERE. Just remember that Beijing China is like 12 hours ahead of us in time difference. I had an open invitation to attend them a few years ago from a friend of mine who lives in Beijing.

I have watched a good bit of the games this weekend, both live and tape delayed (when I wasn't napping). Yesterday morning I watched what was the largest watched sporting event ever in the History of television when China and the USA Men's basketball team met in China. The USA won 101-70, but you have to remember this was the most popular sport, against the worlds best players in the worlds largest Country. There was an estimate that 500 Million watched this game in China alone. If EVERYONE in the US watched the Super Bowl, that would still only be 300 Million viewers.

Take some time and enjoy this marvelous event or keep up with it HERE.

Weekend so far

My sweetheart is away, so yesterday I went and visited Trish for a nice cookout and bonfire at her place. Layla is walking around in her walker now, so watch out Trish, it's hell on wheels.

Got a nice little chance to BS with her dad Frank for a while and Bryan showed up later once we got the bonfire started.

I stayed around until roughly 10:00, I know that's late for someone like be to be out at night, and made it home and went to bed pretty early. Michelle on the other hand was in bed before I got home and she is on vacation at Myrtle Beach.

Today is Amy's baby shower. She registered at Target and it looks like there is a decent response so far. Hopefully everything goes good for this, I heard she invited 116 people for the baby shower.

Michelle almost there

I got a call from Michelle last night from Columbia, South Carolina. They were taking a nice relaxing dinner at Hooters, how ironic is it my girlfriend is at Hooters and I'm home, before they decided to stop for the night and rest before their last leg of the trip.

This morning they were up and ready to head to their place in Myrtle Beach for the week.

I hope they have a great time, I've tried to ask Michelle to write a BLOG on her MySpace page about her vacation.

I know that Her and Hayley are wanting to see sunrises and sunsets.

A nice Comcast offer

I heard about this this morning at work.

Free Wii with Triple Play

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time when we cease our labors for the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors, it is the start of yet another weekend!!!!

Last night I drove Michelle to her Dad's in East Liverpool Ohio to borrow his car so she and Hayley can go to Myrtle Beach for a weeks vacation with the rest of her family. Wish her a safe, relaxing and happy trip.

For you movie buffs, Water Horse is the movie showing at Hazel Ruby McQuain Park this evening in the next to the last movie under the stars evening of the year. The series will conclude for the season next week.

I'm going to be Michelleless for the next two weekends. =( First time since we started dating we won't be together on the weekend. I'll gladly sacrifice my time with her so she and Hayley can be at Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach Hmmmm. Sucks to be anyone but them....LOL

I did manage to take Michelle and Hayley to Primanti Brothers last night. One place I love to go and eat every time I go to Pittsburgh.

Have a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Randy Lee Hamrick Jr

If you happen to see Randy, aka Bubby, make sure you wish him a very Happy Birthday.

MIDWEEK!!!

Alright, we're getting closer to the weekend as we are now at hump day. How about a few random tidbits.

* This will be the first weekend I have been Michelleless in about 20-21 weeks. Don't feel bad for her, she'll be with her family on vacation for a little over a week. This is where she will be staying at Myrtle Beach. She'll be grabbing a tan as we're slaving away at work. She and Hayley will be having a blast I guess. Sucks to be anyone but them.

* We played softball again last night. I'll just say we have one game remaining this season before we put this miserable season to rest and start planning on 2009. Some of us are doing a Fantasy Football League again this year, so we'll all be in touch until the Holidays start rolling around and I get the itch for more softball.

* Michelle received some good news today, she just needs to finalize everything before I blog it. It's professionally related.

* Anyone who may want to play Paintball this weekend, MVP Park is running their second BOPARC special of the year.

* Have a great hump day.

And we go down again

Wow, what a softball season we have had this year. We managed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory and lost a 6-5 decision to a team of 9 players in a game that was originally ruled a forfeit but the final two guys showed up right as the Umps were calling it a forfeit.

They had enough, so we figured we would just go ahead and play.

For a team that used to be almost unbeatable just a few short years ago, we have went to not really being able to beat anyone with such a futile offense.

Two games left on the season, we're at least going to go out and have fun.

End of a Great Weekend

Wow what a weekend Michelle, Hayley and myself had. There was nothing planned, but we managed to have a ball just doing different things.

I'm getting pretty good with the Wii and Hayley and I pretty much rocked on Guitar Hero Saturday evening. I did well, but she was the one kicking it's butt big time.

Once again I had a very memorable weekend and now it is back to the grindstone, even thought I went in a few hours yesterday because I have a Dr's appointment later today that I will need to take off for. I went in and worked a couple hours, that way I don't have to burn any personal time and can let it build up.

Have a great day.

WEEEE, Wee One and Wii

I guess yesterday was kind of a WE day. As in Me, Michelle and Hayley going out and going three geocaches. One of which was actually quite tricky, there was a combination lock on the Geocache, that was in plain site for everyone to see, but you had to use your hints (and google (Thanks for an open connection at the cache)) to come up with the three digit combination. This is our second Mystery cache, the first one was one where we had to get the coordinates from two other caches where they were written on the inside lid of the cache. IOW, you had to go find the other two caches to find the third.

After our first of three caches, we were close to Trish's place so we stopped in the see Layla, aka We One, and say hello to Trish. We started walking around a little bit so Michelle could get some berries, but they were already going bad. Something tells me we will be going berry picking in the very near future somewhere.

After we finished the caches we all went out to eat at the Chinese Restaurant at the Old Mall. If you ever want to get on Hayley's good side, think Chinese Food.

After that we all came back here for a fun filled evening of Bowling, Tennis, Boxing and Guitar Hero on the Wii.

What a great day!!!!!




Once you choose hope, anything's possible.--Christopher Reeve

Bought a Wii

I finally broke down and decided to enter the 21st century in at home gaming. I have finally broke down and bought a Nintendo Wii last night. The game console comes with five games Bowling, Boxing, Baseball, golf and Tennis. Needless to say that I need a lot of practice in all of them, Michelle knocked me out in boxing after I was talking all kinds of trash. I did get the first knockdown, but she knocked me out in the first round.

I have to say, this game console is different than any other console I have had, you actually need a break from some of the games. We were both exhausted after boxing.

Bowling was a lot of fun and so was golf. Baseball felt like ...well baseball. The one time I did tee off on one it was the same motions I would use when really getting a solid base hit.

I think we are going to love this, I just have to learn to knock her ass out instead of getting knocked out. Practice, Practice, Practice.

You know this Blog's title for today.

Yes everyone, it is once again that time of the week when we cease our labors for the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It's the end of the workweek and yet another Big Ole Hairy Friday and the start of yet another weekend.

Tonight down at hazel Ruby McQuain Park the movie under the stars returns with the movie BeeMovie at dusk tonight. So if you are looking for a little cheap and free entertainment and something to do on a Friday evening, here is your opportunity to sit back and enjoy a free movie.

Is it August 1st already? Wow has this summer just seemed to fly by. It seemed like only yesterday that the school year was over with and we were starting softball. Football season officially starts practice tomorrow if I have my dates right for the local High School kids.

Has anyone thought about Christmas 2008 yet? I know it's a little early, but this is the time I started talking to everyone last year. Maybe everyone can get together one morning for breakfast or something someplace and start to plan this out. Do we want the same location, do we want it for one night or two, who's staying, etc. etc. etc. Yes it is five months away, but everyone together for a few minuted can give us some kind of a game plan and people plenty of time to prepare.

How about the Pirates, last week they traded Xavier Nady and yesterday they traded Jason Bay. What did they get? A bunch of no name prospects and they have cemented their record for most losing seasons in a row by any professional sports franchise. Good job Morons.

Have a great Friday.