Couldn't avoid it forever

2nd day of my fourth week and I have finally been called in to serve on a Jury. I have to report today at 9:00 for Jury Duty.

They are calling 28 of us in today for Jury Duty, hopefully I don't get picked for any trials that would extend my time anything further than what I was called to serve because of my job situation. I'm starting with SAIC once my Jury Duty has been fulfilled.

Back to the grindstone

Weekend is over and it was a great one. We stayed in and took lazy days on Friday and Sunday after a long day Saturday with some Mountaineer Football.

I managed to update my iPhone calender to try to incorporate everyone's birthday into it and set myself up reminders. I had them all on my old phone, but they were saved to the phone rather than the card. That phone didn't really have the sync options that the iPhone has, now I have everything backed up. I should be good to go as far as my calender.

Three weeks of Jury Duty down, two weeks to go and I have not had to report as of yet. There was a trial last week, but I managed to avoid being one of the fifteen jurors that were called in to serve during that trial.

IMC is going to start a company wide change in the work week, starting when I leave. They are going to do one week five eight hour shifts, one week four ten hour shifts and alternate them so you have every other Friday off. This starts at the end of my time with IMC.

Have a great day.

The Game Yesterday

Michelle and I had a great time at the game yesterday, I did have the pleasure of running into an old online friend that I have never met in person before, Frank Souk aka Mustang 64 from the Blue and Gold News. Ironically it is the largest WVU sports fan site with the largest number of readership. The site is very busy and the readers announce awards to certain posters based on poster votes, the most distinguished award is to be a member of the Hall of Fame. This honor was bestowed to me earlier this year when I became the sixth member (out of roughly 30,000 posters) to be inducted into the Blue and Gold News Hall of Fame. Frank was the man who presented me. This was the first time we had ever met.

Michelle and I were invited to a tailgate with a lot of her coworkers at BFS in the Blue Lot. Great group of people and I felt more than welcomed and enjoyed myself at the tailgate. They are in the Blue Lot close to the gate, so they were pulling people in walking to the game to invite them to the tailgate.

One of which was Mark Patton (the tall guy in the middle), who was the leading scorer and leading rebounder on the Marshall team that beat a highly ranked John Beilein led team. He also had a role in the movie
"We Are Marshall" . I forget the name of his character in the movie, but he was the basketball player who joined the team in the movie.

Michelle and Hayley, her bosses daughter wanted to get a picture of them and mark standing together, I of course had the iPhone in hand and was ready to oblige their request.

On to the game, we had GREAT seats on the 50 Yard Line, 11 rows back on the Press Box side. They were courtesy of Marshall, her boss and they were very much appreciated. There was a nice little surprise to see Owen Schmidt on the sidelines, I guess the Seattle Seahawks are off this week. The game, well we finally got back on track to our winning ways with a 27-3 win against the Thundering Herd.

What a great day.

It's a football Saturday

First off, I was in a car wreck yesterday on our way to work. I was in the back seat and we got into a wreck. Chad was not at fault and we are all fine.

Today my baby has gotten us a couple 50 yard line tickets to the Friends of Coal Bowl at Milan Puskar Stadium. This will be the first WVU football game that we have attended together, so this will be a special day.

Hopefully Bill Stewart and the guys will kick the living dog snot out of the Blundering Turds.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Last night as you can tell, Michelle and I (she says Hi to everyone) took a trip up to Preston County to enjoy the Buckwheat Festival and chow down on some good ole home made Preston County buckwheat cakes. This was the first time Michelle has ever had a chance to dine or the Preston County delicacy of Buckwheat, I think she liked them as we are planning on making this a yearly thing. This picture was taken with my iPhone, notice my sugar free syrup!!!

I think we are going to take it easy tonight, they are calling for rain and I was wanting to watch the first round of the Presidential Debates. I pretty much know who I am voting for, I just need to either confirm or reconsider it after watching the debates.

Big Day tomorrow, Marshall (owner of BFS) Bishop gave Michelle and me two lower press box side 50 yard line tickets for tomorrows Friends of Coal Bowl between WVU and Marshall. We plan on making a day of it with tailgating and cheering on the Mountaineers to victory. Thank you Marshall Bishop, the tickets are very much appreciated and we'll make sure to cheer on the Mountaineers to Victory.

Kaiden Joseph Dalton

I stopped up last night to get my first glance at Kaiden at the hospital. I could have sworn we were in Ruby last week, so I stopped by Ruby and.....

OK, once I realized I was in the wrong hospital I stopped in to say hello.

Amy had her baby

10:13 AM
4 LBS 9 OZS
17 INCHES LONG

How about a midweek tidbits

* OK, I confess I am suffering a little from writers block, so maybe it is time to do a little tidbits.

* Moke is (has been) back home from Louisiana from his National Guard Duty anticipating the Hurricanes.

* I got a chance to talk to Danielle Friday night, she is really enjoying her freshman year at Wheeling Jesuit. She said the classes are hard, but it's just a matter of eliminating the study practices you had in High School and learn to be a College Student. She'll do fine, I have all the faith in the world in her.

* Michelle has been working late this week. She has accepted and moved into her new job as a staff accountant for BFS and has been putting in a lot of extra time learning the ins and outs of the job. She was the Department Head for Accounts Payable, but she has been given a great career opportunity as a Staff Accountant.

* I talked to Jean yesterday about Amy. I guess she had an Ultra Sound on Monday and she was a little scared because they wanted her to come in on Tuesday and do it again. The baby is fine, just not ready to come out yet. They weighed the baby and it is currently 5 lbs, 2 oz however they figure that out.

* It is just one more day until the start of the Preston County Buckwheat Festival which kicks off tomorrow. It was just a year ago that I got to go up on the first night before I had to go to Sterling Virginia for a week. I know at least Michelle and I and maybe Hayley if she dares to be seen with us will take the trip to Kingwood sometime this weekend.

* The Third Annual Friends of Coal Bowl is this Saturday here in Morgantown. Screw Marshall, crush Moo tech.

Changing Jobs

It's been in the works for some time now, but it is now official as I have received and accepted the offer and informed my current employer of the situation.

I currently work for a company called Information Manufacturing Corporation that I started the day after my last day with Infotech, a company I had been with for three years.

I started with IMC in Morgantown and we eventually moved our office to Fairmont in the Mollohan Building. It was a company that I made quite a few friends at and will leave with a degree of sadness because I really do see some great things happening there.

On October 14th, I will have served my last day with IMC and will be moving to my new company and new position with my new company Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) here in Morgantown. I have been offered and accepted the position of Energy Assurance Analyst managing a project for the National Energy Technology Laboratory for the Department of Energy.

This is a big career opportunity for me and I am very excited about this opportunity. I will miss IMC, but am excited about the future.

What Happened to the Steelers

Did anyone watch the Pittsburgh Steelers play yesterday? Wow, that was a horrible game and they couldn't do anything against the Philadelphia Defense all day long. Big Ben spent most of the day on his back and the offense could not get on track until late in the game.

Next game next Monday Night against Baltimore.

A Geographical update.

For you geography geeks out there like myself, Google Earth has updated the extent of their orthophoto imagery in the Morgantown area. Placed that were not available before or were just Satellite imagery are now low resolution imagery.

Kim's, Pam's, Michelle's, My place and numerous other places are now available from google in Google Earth and Google Maps.

There were other online programs with more complete imagery such as Flashearth that feeds from all the map sources, but Google Earth is my favorite stand alone geography application.

Brittany's Homecoming

Yesterday evening was homecoming night for Clay Battelle High School. There was a football game against Hundred High School, but the evenings festivities started off with a homecoming parade down route 7 with the band, cheerleaders, fire engines and the Homecoming Queen Candidates each riding atop a vehicle.

Grandpa John arranged for a brand new Mercedes convertible for Brittany to ride on. Brittany had a large contingent of family members there at the parade cheering her on and showing our support.

Once we arrived at the game, of course we had to watch Clay Battelle's complete and total demolition of Hundred, which was 28-0 at Halftime and ended up 49-0 as a final, before it was on with the halftime festivities.

As they called the five homecoming candidates out, Brittany was first followed by the other four girls who should have been the runners ups in this writers opinion, however with much sadness from her family and us calling for a recount the title of homecoming queen went to another girl. I told Robert he should have taken $100 Bills and bribed all the kids, I personally think there should have been a recount because the best looking girl was standing there without a tiara. I do have to confess that I am a little (OK a lot but give me a break) biased.

After halftime and the fixed homecoming election that Brittany did not win (did I mention I am a little biased) it was offf to change into her dress for the dance that was to follow the game. Brittany and Derrick were both dressed very nicely and should easily have been the best looking couple at the dance.

This however is the time for the kids, so all of old geezers walked back to our cars and headed home.

PS Michelle is making me pancakes and sausage with Butter Pecan syrup as I write this. She ROCKS!!!!

It's a Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, 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 start of yet another weekend.

For me however, it's a three day weekend cause I'm off for the day for a few reasons. There are a few things I want and need to do today and it'll take the pinch for time off tonight.

I stayed up last night (arggghh) we lost 14-17 in what was a very badly coached and managed game. I sat their last night (quiet if you believe that) just shaking my head in disbelief the whole game.

Got to wait for an overnight FedEx package today, big announcement coming from me in the very near future. Some of you may already know, so I won't discuss it publicly yet.

Have to go to the courthouse and pay my taxes today so I can get my new tags for my car. I was waiting until I was called in for Jury Duty, but haven't been called in in two weeks so far.

Tonight Brittany is going to be in the Clay Battelle High School Homecoming tonight. It starts with a parade in Blacksville at 5:30 followed by the homecoming queen announcement at halftime.

Have a great day.

Happy Birthday Calvin

If you see or talk to calvin today, make sure that you wish him a very Happy Birthday. Pam and George had his Birthday party this past Saturday, but today is actually his Birthday.

Happy Birthday Calvin.

How to Make a Woman Happy

e-Mail from my sweetie:


It's not difficult to make a woman happy. A man only needs to be:
1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
44. compassionate

WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:

45. give her compliments regularly
46. love shopping
47. be honest
48. be very rich
49. not stress her out
50. not look at other girls

AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:

51. give her lots of
attention, but expect little yourself
52. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
53. give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:

54. Never to forget:
* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes






HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY

1. Show up naked
2. Bring food

Over the Hump Day

All right all you weekend lovers, it is the middle of the work week and we are getting ready to go over the hump and head on the downward slope that is the weekend.

I've heard no news on Amy so far, so I guess that she and Ralphie have not had the baby as of yet. I'll keep everyone informed as things develop.

I think everyone has been having fun with the MySpace application "Own your friends". I own my sweetie her duaghter and I think all my farting siblings. I am the master of Myspace....because Michelle said I could say so...LOL

No Jury Duty this week!!!!

I called into the Jury answering service last night and was told that there were no trials until September 22 and I needed to call in on Friday to check and see if I needed to report.

Rock on, that's two whole weeks now that I have managed to avoid serving on Jury Duty during the week. I was a little worried about Friday evening, with Brittany's homecoming being that night, it's not like you can tell the judge to hurry up and adjourn because you have someplace to go.

Two weeks down, three to go. Now if I can be lucky enough to have the next three weeks go like the prior two, I'll be a pretty lucky guy and will have served his community with little effort.

Steelers win again

Needless to say, I am a little tired this morning after staying up last night to watch all of the Steelers game last night. Pittsburgh made it 10 in a row against the Cleveland Browns with a 10-6 win in Cleveland.

The wind was blowing quite heavily last night and at gametime the winds were getting in the range of 40 MPH, the Pittsburgh News afterward mentioned winds were 52 MPH in Cleveland, but it did not slow the Pittsburgh Steelers down that much as they moved their record to 2-0 on the season.

Busy Day Saturday

After all the anticipated excitement of Friday evening with Amy having labor pains and everyone being at the hospital, yesterday was a welcomed change of pace.

It all started off with all of us going to Krepps Park, A place that has many memories for my family through the years, and helping Calvin celebrate his Birthday. Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and Little Ceasars Pizza were all on the menu. George grilled on this little disposable charcoal grill and it met our needs without having to drag out someones big grill and taking it to Krepps.

It was a nice pic nic and I hope he seemed to get gift cards and the universal gift that everyone loves, that would be cold hard untaxable and untraceable cash.

After spending some time with the family on a pic nic, it was off to help out my Sister Kim who was trying to get everything ready for this Friday night for Brittany.

It seems like she is on the 2008-9 Clay Battelle Homecoming and will be trying to capture that very illustrious and revered title that every girl dreams of, Homecoming Queen.

We went out and helped them them prepare the posters, pins, buttons and everything else that is involved with campaigning for the title. Robert was operating the Crickett and having all of the fun cutting perfect shapes and letters out.

It was a great evening that culminated with Michelle, Hayley and myself stopping for a late night snack at the Truck Stop in Mount Morris.

Yesterday

Yesterday afternoon, Amy was feeling a few labor pains so her, Ralph, Me, Michelle, Kim, Brittany, Terri, Pam, Val, Erica, Josh, Mom and a couple her friends were all (yeah that's fourteen people) in her room waiting on Aiden to pop his head out and say hello, but to no avail.

I think the hospital realized she was getting no rest with everyone there, so they have sent her home today so her and Ralphie can get a little rest and relaxation before she may go into delivery.

Being she is only 33 or 34 weeks, it could be a long wait until Aiden pops out and says who are all these weird people.

I had no luck with my e-Bay search last night or this morning. I guess I'm stuck.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Last night Michelle and I went over to Westwood Middle School to watch Cheat Lake take on South Middle. Arron was playing, but Cheat lake came up on the wrong end of a 30-0 game. They'll be OK, they just need to work on a few fundamentals.

Tonight, the Mohigans will be hosting Fairmont Senior at Pony Lewis Field. Weather permitting, Michelle and I will be there with our butt cushions cheering on my Alma Mater.

Mom called me last night, I guess Amy was having labor pains. I'll keep everyone updated as things may or may not develop.

Pam is having Calvin's birthday party Saturday at 2:00 at Krepps Park.

Is it quitting time yet?

Seven years ago today.

First Plane Coverage



Second Plane hitting




South Tower collapses.



Second Tower collapses




Pentagon

Rogue Spyware

Be careful of rogue spyware and malware that is circulating around right now. There is one floating around right now that looks and feels like it may be a Microsoft Software called "Antivirus 2009", I assure you it is not what it appears to be and will only cause you bigger problems down the road if you install this.

If you see any of these, DO NOT click any of the buttons other than the "X" in the corner that closes it out. Clicking anything else will prompt it to install itself and really give you serious headaches. This DOES NOT remove malware or spyware, it adds it to your system and then constantly prompts you on removing such programs when in fact IT is the problem.

Be careful and down download and install anything unless you either know what you are doing or you know you can trust what you are downloading (windows updates for example).

Monkey vs Dog

Midweek Mouth

I could do a tidbits, but I've decided to change it up a little bit with a new thread title, mainly because it does manage to give me a little bit of content to talk about when I am clearly trying to bluff my way through an meaningless blog with some bumbling text.

I have been having fun the past few days reorganizing my contacts from my computer. My iPhone updates based on my address book and my outlook calender, so now I have to go back and give it as much information about as many of my contacts as possible. On my other phone I just had one entry for each number, then if you had a cell phone I would call it your name and cell as a contact name. Worked pretty good on the old phone, but this phone's capabilities go way beyond that and I want to use them to the fullest that I can.

Michelle has been a little under the weather the past few days, but she seemed to be fine when I spoke with her last night. She is taking today off to possibly go back home for a funeral. A close friend of her's Aunt passed away a few days ago and she is contemplating going to East Liverpool for the funeral.

I may get a treat tonight though, she is going to be at my place making dinner when I get home. God I love her. =)

Tomorrow night Michelle and I will be going to watch Arron play football at Westwood middle school.

Going to go and try a few new applications that I've added to the iPhone. Have a great day.

Updates

Pam called me yesterday evening and told me Moke is being moved or has been moved to Baton Rouge Louisiana with the National Guards for Hurricane Ike. Hopefully it's just a precautionary measure and he'll have a chance to relax rather than fill sand bags.

Calvin's birthday party will be at 2:00 at Krepps Park. His birthday is the 18th, but she is wanting to have the party the weekend before to accommodate everyone.


View Larger Map

Have a good day, no jury duty for me yesterday or today, that's two days down and not having to report.

Fantasy Football

Looks like I had a good start in both my softball and work fantasy football leagues. My softball league is official and the work one isn't official, but I should win.

Not too bad of a start for the seasons.

In the real world, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Houston Texans 38-17. Willie Parker had 25 carries for 138 yards and 3 TD's.

We Won

The 4th Annual KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge is now over with, as the FINAL SHOW aired last night.

Yes, we are the Champions, at the end of nine weeks we are the only team left in a tournament full of trivia buffs. In case you missed any of it, here are our three shows.

Our Week 2 Show

Our Week 7 Semi-Final

The Championship

Steelers Trivia Finals tonight

Tonight at 11:30 on KDKA Channel 2, we will be trying to bring home the trophy for the 2008 KDKA McDonals Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge. This is it, this is for all the marbles, you worked the previous eight weeks to get here, for the bragging rights to be named trivia Champions.

Cheer for Poised to strike to bring home the title against Art's Spare parts, the 2007 runners up and Ground Chuck Knoll Hog and their assistance from my arch nemesis, Phil the Groundhog.

Will Poised to strike prevail? Will Phil attack me for getting him drunk on Ground Hogs Day? Or will Art's Spare Parts bring home the title. See if our Team captain Chris "Don't Answer" Ostein will allow Randy "I got this" Page to answer a question in the last round. Tune in tonight and see who won.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week when we cease the labors of the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors, it is once again the dawn of yet another weekend and it starts with a bog ole hairy Friday.

This weekend kicks off the firs t full weekend of football at all three levels. Michelle Hayley and I will be going to watch the Morgantown High Mohigans put it to the Elkins Tigers in their first home game of the season.

Saturday we are all, including Michelle's son Chad will be heading north to the Tanger Outlets that recently opened this past weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

Saturday afternoon or evening WVU will travel to NC to take on East Carolina who are coming off a huge upset last week of Virginia Tech. Hopefully the Hurricanes will not have any impact on the game. WVU needs to be able to exploit its speed, not get into a slow muddy game.

Saturday night, hey could it get any better than the finals of the Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge? We will be taking on two teams from the other semi-finals, Art's Spare Parts and Ground Chuck Knoll with my old arch nemesis Punxsutawney Phil stopped in from his months long hangover to try to prevent us from our destiny. Can Phil succeed? Can Art's Spare parts win it all or will Poised to Strike be once again Poised to Strike. Tune in and watch the finals Friday Night, I did slip Phil a few time release sleeping pills that will take effect Feb 2.

Sunday, hey it's the start of the 2008-9 Pittsburgh Steelers regular season. Tune in and watch them march to Super Bowl XLIII.

Have a great weekend, I will =)

Got to Love Jon Stewart

Bought an iPhone

I finally did it, I waited long enough and let everyone else try them out before I purchased one, but I have finally broken down and bought an iPhone. I was going to buy one last year, but Kim talked me into waiting until the next generation of iPhone came out, the 3G, and it's broadband capabilities.

My old phone was no longer being able to be charged (turned out to be the charger and not the phone), so I did a little research yesterday and to choose what my next phone was going to be. I was simnply joking with the sales associate and asked if they had the iPhone in stock (large demand), thinking it was a few week waiting period to get one. However, he had them in stock.

The rest is history, I love the iPhone.

News on Moke

With Hurricane Gustav hitting the states now, Hurricane Hanna, Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Josephine on the horizon, Moke has been called to duty and will be leaving for Alexandria, Louisiana for the next fifteen days. He will be going down with his National Guard troop to help with disaster relief and will probably be very busy over the next few weeks.

Thank You Michelle

Last night I asked Michelle what I should blog about and at that time her cat jumped on her. So, because she said cats, todays blog is about cats. Enjoy...




Of course we have to give a little love to the canines too. Enjoy....

Back to work

After a nice long relaxing football filled weekend, it is time to return to the grindstone and get back to work.

I should be pretty busy this week, I have some serious paperwork that needs filled out in the next couple of days, some of you may be hearing from me today and tommorrow in an effort to assist with this paperwork.

A geocache and a couple Movies

Yesterday Michelle and I rented two movies, PS I Love You and What Happens in Vegas. She watched PS I love you last night as my old bones fell asleep. This morning we watched What Happens in Vegas and we both loved it. I would recommend both movies, even though PS I love you is coming of Michelle's recommendation.

yesterday we went out and found a Geocache, it was the first one we had done in a while and then took a nice relaxing scenic drive to the Italian Heritage festival in Clarksburg for a Sausage Hoagie and a chance for her to see Clarksburg.

Laundry, shopping and normal routine for me today.

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day, I hope your BBQ grills are working and you get to spend a little time with the family and friends.

Happy Labor Day.