Tuesday's Tidbits

It's no longer Monday, so I can;t think of a better reason that that to do a Tidbits.

* 991 days and Counting since mine and Michelle's first date a few years ago. We've come a long from since seeing 10,000 BC.

* It has been 214 days since I got down on one knee and proposed and I heard the words yes. She hasn't booted me to the curb yet, so I must be doing something right.

* 25 more shopping days are left before Christmas. I'll probably go into full Christmas shopping mode in a couple of weeks.

* Hayley bought herself a bird last week. She named him Veritas, but I think my suggestion of "Here Kitty Kitty" was a much better name. =)It's a good bird though as far as aviary friends go.

* We'll be doing our weekly "Crock Pot Meal" tonight. We're going back to an old favorite and doing a good hearty and home made Beef Stew. We have a small number of meals that we do regularly with the crock pot, beef Stew is one we like. As well as home made Chilli, stuffed Peppers and Meat Loaf, Briscut, Meatballs, Hot Sausages and anything else we may find interesting, it makes it nice one night a week. We cooked one crock pot overnight (yes I can smell it) and we'll fire up the bigger one when we leave this morning.

* I think I have come to the realization that this years BLOG numbers are going to be less than last years total number of posts. It will be the first year since I became a Blogger in six years ago that my yearly total went down from the previous year. This is BLOG 386 for the year, I did 452 last year. I'll probably come in 25-30 less Blogs than last year on the year.

* For those of you keeping track this is my 2,225th Blog post. That is a lot of personal online journal entries.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back To Work

Well, the nice extended Holiday Weekend is over for me, it's time to stick my nose back to the grindstone and get back to work.

It'll be a nicer day as one of the guys I am working on the Atlas with is a Pitt grad and a HUGE Pitt fan. He has to travel all the way down to Morgantown to meet with us this week.Don;t worry, I'll remind him of the game and the result of the game.

We got back from Pittsburgh about 9:30 last night. Michelle went and paid her final respects to her Uncle and we spent a little time visiting with her family.

Hi ho hi ho

Ha ha ha ha

Just skip to about the 1:58 mark for your enjoyment.

Squirm you worthless weasel.

A Day of Travel

Today is going to be a day of travel, Michelle's Uncle passed away over Thanksgiving and we are going to be heading North for the Funeral/Memorial service this evening.

We will be leaving Morgantown early afternoon and heading towards the Pittsburgh Airport, the area that her family resides.

What a Great Day

Yesterday was an awesome day. I decided to make this a four day weekend and the Mountaineers hammered Pitt in Pittsburgh 35-10. It's always nice to win, but to beat the crap out of your rival on their home field and crush their BCS hopes is priceless.

Happy Birthday Valarie Nicholson

I would like to take this opportunity and a little bit of time out from everyone's Black Friday Shopping to wish my beautiful Niece Valarie a very happy Birthday birthday today.

I'm sure she is out shopping right now, but if you get the chance, remember to wish Miss val a very Happy Birthday today.

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.

Actually for me, I'm still about 50/50 today, I have nothing that needs done and no one else is going to be there, so I just may extend it to a four day weekend by taking today off.

Looking for a little bit of Football? No High School on tap, but it is once again that time of the year for the 103rd edition of theBackYard Brawl that will be played in Pittsburgh this year. Gloves can come off and I say bring on the Panthers.

Let the Madness Begin

Alright you deal seekers and those willing to stay up all night and fight crowds to save a couple bucks on your Christmas Shopping. It is Black Friday, the single busiest shopping day of the year. The day when most people and stores "Officially" start their Christmas Shopping season by offering and seeking specials to a few lucky shoppers.

I've done Black Friday once, it accomplished nothing but waiting around and not getting what we were seeking. People had camped out and lined up the night before to start the madness.

It seems like there is always one tragedy at some Wal-Mart somewhere every year, usually someone getting trampled by the horde of shoppers wanting to get the deals. So, with that being said, don't put yourself in a bad situation to say a couple dollars. Have fun, enjoy your day but please remain safe. I'm sure people would rather have you at Christmas time than some toy you tried to get or save $5.00 on that caused a tragedy.

Have fun and let the madness begin.

Happy Thanksgiving

It is always the fourth Thursday in every November, a day that our forefathers set aside to celebrate a bountiful harvest, it is Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a good time, Michelle and I will be celebrating it with her family today at the Cassville Firehall.

Michelle and I went over last night, she bought ten dozen rolls (turned out to be 20 dozen) from Texas Roadhouse. We initially had bought ten dozen, but as we were almost there they called and said that they gave us unbaked ones instead and that we could have those and they would supply us with ten dozen baked rolls. Michelle baked all ten dozen of the first batch and we ended up with twenty dozen rolls.

It should be a great day for us, her family has came into town and is staying for a couple of days to do a little bit of Black Friday Shopping tomorrow.

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. May it be filled with friends, family, football and an overstuffing of Turkey along with a few Parades.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Hump Day

Well I guess you can call this Hump day, it is Wednesday, but tomorrow is Thanksgiving and both Michelle and I will be off work. She has to work Friday, I'm still up in the air as to whether I am going to or not, I have a couple of weeks of vacation built up and am about 50/50 on whether or not I take off.

I got a Home Use license of Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Extended yesterday. First time I've actually seen it as I have office 2008 on all of my work computers. It is a bit of a change from 2008, and it is a welcome change as there are many nice new features.

I hope all the hunters have nailed themselves a buck or two this week. It's been a little warm for this time of the year and that might affect hunting a little bit. Not really a hunter so I can't really comment on anything other than that.

Michelle was starting to feel a little under the weather yesterday evening, so we popped her (and me) up on Vitamin C and made sure she got plenty of rest.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* It's Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* 32 days until Christmas if you are counting. Black Friday shopping starts this week if you are waiting for any of those special deals that lure people in.

* 984 Days since mine and Michelle's first date for those of you other than me that are keeping track of this. Wow, that means I'm heading towards 1,000 days.

* 207 Days since our engagement.

* I can make it easy by saying only two days until Turkey Day!!!

* Home made Chilli tonight for dinner, the crock pot is already set up and about ready to be turned on for the day. Make some home made corn bread tonight to go along with it. Yum.

* Hi ho hi ho

What Great Weekend

All good things have to come to an end, and that includes a marvelous weekend that we had. It's time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for the workweek, and it will even be a short one for me.

Mohigans Won, Mountaineers Won, Steelers Won, Josh got called to the Majors and I got an unexpected, but much appreciated bonus at work. It has just been a very good week for me to say the least.

I have to give a shout out to all the hunters in West Virginia who will be, if they are not already, out in the woods today for the first day of rifle deer season in West Virginia. Good luck to all the hunters, bag the big one and may all hunters return home safely.

Josh Judy Update

I have written a number of BLOGS on a young kid who used to play softball with us starting with the old Recourse Softball Teams that we used to have a few years back.

From my first post about him on this BLOG six and a half years ago to when the draft occurred when he told me prior to the draft that it was his dream to be selected by the Cleveland Indians to today's announcement.

Josh Judy is Officially not only a member of the Cleveland Indians organization, he is now officially a Major League Pitcher with the Cleveland Indians. He signed his Major league Contract a week ago, a couple days after I had spoke with him and it became official on Friday evening. I found out about it last night.

He spent last spring with the Major League team, but did not break spring training with the team. To be a part of the 40 man roster, you have to have broke spring training with the Major League team. This year, Josh reports Feb 13th and will break spring training with the Major League team.

It has been an honor and a pleasure to watch Josh develop.

Saturday Morning Blog

Ahhh, the weekend. Don't have to rush top get out of the house today, because neither Michelle or I have to work today.

The Mountaineer Football team takes on Louisville at noon on the TV, that might very well be part of our agenda for the day. Watch a little bit of TV and stay home because Michelle seems to be a little bit under the weather this morning as well as yesterday evening.

Might even be a popcorn kind of day =)

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.

Looking for a little High School Football? Well Morgantown will play host to Capital High School tonight in the second round of the High School Football playoffs. The Mohigans come in at 10-1 and will be playing at Home tonight to try to advance to next weeks semi-finals.

After yesterdays's 84-70 win against Davidson in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tournament. The Mountaineers will play at 11:30 once again today in the Tournament's Semi-Finals.

Men's College Football sees the West Virginia University Mountaineers traveling to Louisville to take on the Cardinals tomorrow at noon. Let's cheer on the Mountaineers to a second consecutive victory and have our sights set on a BCS Bowl.

Let's get this partty started, hi ho hi ho

For the Christmas Shopping Season

As we get closer to the Christmas Shopping Season, I just wanted to point a merchant out. This is a forwarded e-mail, but it is accurate. I already have my opinion of them, maybe just spreading a little unlove here.




BEST BUY

If you purchase something from Wal-Mart, Sears, etc. And you return the item with the receipt, they will give you your money back if you paid cash, or credit your account if paid by plastic.

Well, I purchased a GPS for my car:
a Tom Tom XL.S from
'Best Buy'.

They have a policy that it must

be returned within 14 days for a refund!

So after 4 days I returned it in the original box with all the items in the box, with paper work and cords all wrapped in the plastic. Just as I received it, including the receipt.

I explained to the lady at the return desk I did not like the way it couldn't find store names.

The lady at the refund desk said, there is a 15% restock fee, for items returned. I said no one told me that.
I asked how much would that be. She said it goes by the price of the item.
It will be $45 for you.
I said, all you're going to do is walk over and place it back on the shelf then charge me $45 of my money for restocking? She said that's the store policy.
I said if more people were aware of it they would not buy anything here! If I bought a $2000 computer or TV and returned it I would be charged $300 restock fee? She said yes. 15%.

I said OK, just give me my money minus the restock fee.

She said, since the item is over $200 dollars, she can't give me my money back!

Corporate has to and they will mail you a check in 7 to ten days.! I said 'WHAT?'

It's my money! I paid in cash!
I want to buy a different brand..
Now I have to wait 7 to 10 days.
She said well, our policy is on the back of your receipt.

I said, do you read the front or back of your receipt? She said well, the front! I said so do I. I want to talk to the Manager!

So the manager comes over, I explained everything to him, and he said, well, sir they should have told you about the policy when you got the item. I said, no one has ever told me about the check refund or restock fee when I bought items from computers to TVs from Best Buy. The only thing they ever discussed was the worthless extended warranty program.
He said, well, I can give you corporate phone number.

I called corporate. The guy said, well, I'm not supposed to do this but I can give you a 45 dollar gift card and you can use it at Best Buy.

I told him if I bought something and returned it, you would charge me a restock fee on the item and then send me a check for the remaining 3 dollars.

You can keep your gift card, I'm never shopping in Best Buy ever again, and if I'd been smart, I would have charged the whole thing on my credit card! Then I would have canceled the transaction.

I would have gotten all my money back including your stupid fees! He didn't say a word!

I informed him that I was going to e-mail my friends and give them a heads-up on the store's policy, as they don't tell you about all the little caveats.

So please pass this on. It may save your friends from having a bad experience of shopping at Best Buy


It's true! Read it for yourself!!

Best Buys return policy

Happy GIS Day

Today is November 17, 2010 and it is GIS Day for 2010. As many of my readers know I studied GIS in College and have worked as a GIS Analyst for a number of years now. I've worked for the WVU NRAC, VARGIS which later became Infotech, IMCWV which became NISC which became IBM after I left, I have worked for SAIC and finally I am at the best jobn that I ever had with Sextant Technical where ironically I celebrated my one year anniversary yesterday with them.

GIS is a science that was brought to its modern state by Jack Dangermond who founded ESRI a number of years ago. He has helped develop us from the old Arc Info to Arc View to the full blown ArcGIS Desktop that we use today. The man revolutionized the GIS Industry and we should all be thankful for him.

GIS has helped introduce things that maybe today we all take for granted like Google Earth or even your GPS unit you use to navigate your way around. You can thank a GIS Analyst for all of those abilities that I'm sure most people wouldn't know what do do without today.

Happy GIS Day!, Hug a Geographer.

Hi ho hi ho to do Geography I go

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is in the books and we are looking at Tuesday, can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 977 days since mine and Michelle's first date. How many people would count that far?

* Since it's 977 days since the first date, it's been 200 days since I proposed.

* You might want to get a start on the Christmas Shopping season if you haven't, only 39 more days until Jolly Old St. Nick shows up around these parts.

* Tonight is going to be mine and Michelle's crock pot meal night. Once a week for the past couple of months we've made a crock pot meal once during the week. On tonight's menu, stuffed peppers. slowly cooked all day.

* I had a good week in fantasy football, I managed to win in my money league are remain very much alive for a playoff spot and the financial rewards that go with it this season.

* In case no one knew, Calvin has decided to partake in a little bit of Grappling this season. A kid after my own heart, I wrestled for two seasons in High School and loved it. Now Calvin will be wrestling for Clay Battelle as his brother did before him.

Finally, Chris has put up the basketball entrance video from the first game of the season. Enjoy

Let's Do It Again

Yet another relaxing weekend is over with and it is time once again to stick our noses back to the grindstone and head back to work for yet another week.

this will be a full week for me at work as last week was a short week. Next week will once again be another short week with Thanksgiving being next Thursday, but alas this is a full week of sticking my nose to the grindstone.

We went to our first Women's Soccer game earlier this year when the Mountaineers lost 1-2 to Penn State in Overtime. Yesterday the Women were once again playing host to Penn State and we didn't want to jinx them like we did the last time these two teams met. We didn't and they won 2-1 against Penn State to advance to the Sweet 16 of NCAA Soccer.

Oh well, so much for the weekend, hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Blog

Typical Sunday Morning here in the household. I'm up early again watching TV and about to wake Michelle up so we can do our Sunday Morning Routine of Breakfast and some grocery shopping.

Had a good day yesterday, even though it was a lazy one. Watched the Mountaineers beat the Bearcats in football and had a relaxing day around the house.

Not too much to say this morning.

Game Days

Michelle, Arron and I went and watched the Mountaineers last night to start a weekend of Mountaineer Festivities off. To say the Coliseum was busy yesterday was an understatement.

We watched the WVU Women beat Loyola of Maryland pretty handily 80-49 to start the evenings festivities off. It was a solid performance by the ladies, you could see that they are ready to make a run this season already. They looked sharp and pretty much controlled the game from the opening tip.

The men took the court around 9:30 and played the Oakland (Michigan)Golden grizzlies. Usually you start the season with a throw away game or two at home, the Grizzlies however had a 7'0" Center named Keith Benson who I would say has a career after this year ahead of him in the NBA. The Grizzlies were 26-9 last season so the test was on and the Mountaineers lived up the test with a 95-71 opening game win at home. John Flowers was an absolute beast last night blocking 7 shots. It was a solid effort by the men as everyone contributed to this win.

Today the WVU Men's Football Team takes the field to try to halt a two game Big East skid and try to get their focus back on winning the Big East Championship this season. The game is at noon today.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

s 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.

Looking for some High School Football Playoffs? You know, it is that time of win and go on, lose and go home. The Morgantown Mohigans will be hosting RCB tonight at Pony Lewis Field. The University High Hawks travel to Bridgeport to take on the Indians tonight. Good luck to both teams, let's win and get ready for next week.

Basketball you ask? Well the WVU Womens team take on Loyola Maryland tonight at 7:00. The Women return everyone from last years squad and could make a very serious run for the National Title this season if they can get past conference foe and two time undefeated defending National Champions UCONN.

The Men play at 9:00 this evening against Oakland. This will be the first official game in the Coliseum since played in the Final 4 in Indianapolis last spring. Bob Huggins returns a solid club this season, it should be very interesting to watch.

The WVU Women's Soccer team will be taking on Morehead State in the NCAA tournament at 6:00, so the area will be crowded and we will have lots of Mountaineer Fans on hand.

The Men's Football team takes on Cincinnati at Noon on Saturday.

It's going to be a busy weekend in Morgantown, that's for sure.

Hi ho hi ho, it's back to work for a day after a day off.

A Day Off

I am a very lucky person today, I have a day off of work today and it is so we can honor all of the Veterans who have served this country and so we can say thank you on Veteran's Day.

I have a Nephew who served a year in Iraq and a few friends who are still serving their country and I would just like to say thank you to them.

Thank you to Moke and Dan Barnes who have served and continue to serve our country as members of the armed forces. It is because of people like you that allow people like me the freedoms that I enjoy. Do to Dan and Moke and anyone who has ever served this country, a big heart felt thank you from me.

Hump Day

Well we have made it past the first part of the week and we are going up and over the hump today and it's all down hill from here for most. Me on the other hand, I am off tomorrow for Veterans Day, but I have an important meeting Friday, so there will be no extended four day weekend.

Had a couple of nice long phone calls last night. Pam called and we BS's with her for a little over an hour and then Trish called and we BS'd with her for a while. I've got about 7,000 rollover minutes, so it's nice to actually use some of the minutes that I pay for rather than having them expire.

There will be a nice treat for dinner tonight. Once a week (sometimes twice) we do a crockpot meal one night during the workweek. That way we set it before we go to work and let it slow cook all day to arrive home to an awesome meal. Tonight, Hot Sausage Hoagies!!!!!!!!

If I want the hoagies and a day off tomorrow I have to get today in, so hi ho hi ho

Tuesdays Tidbits

* It's Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* 46 shopping days left until Christmas. I can honestly say that I have started shopping already for someone very special and got them something that they told me that they wanted. It's kind of an unusual gift, but one that can last a lifetime.

* 970 days since mine and Michelle's first date.

* 193 days since I proposed to the love of my life earlier this year.

* It's once again getting that time of the year when the Holidays are coming upon us. I'm not sure who this needs to be addressed to, but they will. Every year there seems to be some kind of drama in this family when the holidays come around. The holidays are a special time a year when memories are created and families are together. If you are the cause of the drama 2010 in this family, stop it. Life is too damn short, quit wasting it on insignificant petty things that only cause headache and heartache. Enjoy life and all that come with it and create memories for not only yourself, but the ones around you.

* Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow? Bring back the 90 degree days and shorts, sandals and T-Shirts. Driving down the road with your windows and the radio playing songs that we all love to sing along to.

* Update on Josh Judy, I spoke with him over the weekend and he's in the Dominican Republic pitching in the winter league. There were some roster moves made recently that may be good news for him. The Indians have until I think the 19th of this month to protect him and name him to the 40 man roster or he becomes a free agent and other teams can claim him. 96 MPH Fastball and two consecutive Championships in the Minors (AA last year and AAA this past season), he's ready for the big money.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday Again

I guess all good things must come to an end, and that includes weekends. It was strange that so far there was no High School, WVU or Pittsburgh Steeler football for me to watch all weekend. The Steelers play tonight, but nu guarantees I'll stay up to watch them. I like the Sunday afternoon games.

We'll all be adjusting out bodies to new sleeping patterns now that Daylight Savings time is over with for 2011. We'll go back to daylight savings time on March 11, 2012 and for me it could not get here any sooner. I guess we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and me begging Phil to not see his shadow before we see long days again.

Anyways it's back to work today for both me and Michelle. I wonder if it will be dark by the time that we will get home?

Hi ho hi ho, let;s get this party started.

Fall Back

Well, if you are running your normal schedule today and feel like you are early, it's probably because you missed the fact that daylight savings time has ended. Yes, we turned the clocks back last night, so we all gained an hours worth of sleep overnight and the weekend will just be a little bit longer than it was last week.

In todays modern age, I guess it is the non self setting and electronic clocks that we need to pay attention to to see if time did fall back. We have a battery powered clock in the kitchen and one on the stove, other than that all the clocks in the house are self setting and adjust themselves including our alarm clock and the atomic clock on the wall.

I hope everyone had a great day yesterday, it was a lazy day for us filled with home made chili and corn bread, movies and a nap. It feels good every once in a while to be able to do this.

The Steelers are off today and play tomorrow night, so this means no football Friday, Saturday as the Mountaineers were off and today. Maybe another nap will be in the works today.

Lazy Saturday

After a long week at work, I don't have too much planned out for today. Michelle went out last night with some of the wives from my softball team. Our left Fielder Justin Knapp and his wife Samantha and daughter Hayley all are moving to Charleston since Samantha found a new job down in the capital city. So a few of the wives, Girlfriends and ex-GF's got together last night at Applebees to say goodbye to Samantha.

I fell asleep before Michelle got home and briefly remember talking to her about 10 seconds before I fell back asleep yesterday evening.

I think it is going to be a lazy day today that may consist of popcorn and watching a few movies. We got the Karate Kid from Netflix and plan on watching it today. The movie Avatar is on at 8:00 this evening on HBO.

No WVU football today, they are off.

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.

You looking for some High School Football? Well you will not find any High School Football this weekend in Monongalia County. Morgantown High and University High have both completed their seasons and are waiting for the playoffs to begin next week. Clay Battelle does close out their season tomorrow at Madonna and are the only Mon County team to play this weekend.

WVU is off this week, trying to regroup from a two game slide and will play Cincinnati next Saturday here in Morgantown. Hopefully Coach Stewart can have a heart to heart with the Offensive Line Coach. This has to be the center point of all our troubles and is arguably the worst offensive line I can ever remember at West Virginia University. Something needs to be done to try to salvage the season, and some very serious changes need to happen in the offseason. I said last year that they were the worst offensive line I had ever seen here, and they all returned. I had hoped for some improvement, but they have regressed and have been the primary reason the offense has struggled this season. That and they can't seem to stop turning the ball over.

Oh well, life is like that in a small town without Bufford Pusser as your Sheriff.

Hi ho hi ho, let's get this day over with.

Thursday

We are getting closer and closer to the weekend, it's Thursday. Don't have too much to yap about, other than I got my new work computer hooked up yesterday. 12 GB of Ram and a quad core 64 bit Xeon processor, talk about a machine that needs to be water cooled. I think it runs on Diesel rather than electricity...LOL

I hate to admit it, but summer is fading farther and farther away in our memories. Leaves have fallen off the trees and we are starting to look at the holidays. I'm a spring and summer kind of guy, so to say that this makes me a little sad is an understatement.

Hi ho hi ho

Eye Exam

I had my what will be now yearly diabetic eye exam yesterday afternoon. Went to the eye clinic at WVU Hospital and had mine. Last time I did this earlier this year, it was a cataract that needed to be removed from my right eye. My left eye has a slight cataract (everyone pretty much does by certain ages) but everything is fine and my eyes are very healthy.

That's good news considering when this year started, I was basically blind in one eye.

So that was good news.

Tuesday

I was going to do a tidbits today, but I thought I would change it up a little bit. It's getting to the point where my blogs are becoming nothing short of predictable.

I did manage to get a new KVM switch hooked up in my office yesterday. I had my regular computer, an older computer I no longer use, my administration computer and just got a new decked out Z800 workstation all in my little office. I have everything running off my dual displays and one keyboard and one mouse.

I had a smaller switch that would change one monitor and two computers, but I just got a brand new one with my brand new computer (second new computer in a year). I love it when the people are trying to get money off their budget's I get all kinds of new toys.

Oh well, it is election day, make sure you get out to vote.

Bad Weekend

I guess not all of them can be good ones, I happened to have a bad one. yesterday was a total disaster from the very get go.

Fantasy Football? Wow, what can I say other than I had a very bad weekend. I basically lost in all four leagues that I play in. Lost a couple head to heads and in the other two I basically screwed the pooch with this weeks output.

I guess just like good weekends, bad weekends end also.

Hi ho hi ho