Leap Year Hump Day

Well that's two days down, and if you look just on the other side of lunch time today you can see another fun filled weekend off in the distance. Do you ever get the impression that I'm a weekend kind of a guy...LOL

Now that we have our cruise booked, I think the next order of business for Michelle and me to work on will be obtaining our passports. It can take a few weeks to obtain it, and we just want to get it taken care of and out of the way early so we don't have to worry about it this fall. It will be done and over with.

And in case none of you noticed, this is the one day that we add once every four years. It is February 29th and we will not experience another one until 2016, about the same time that the damn cicadas come back to North Central West Virginia for their once every 17 year visit. Enjoy the day and try to stay dry.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us and we are looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It has been 1,446 days since Michelle and I went on our first date together nearly four years ago.

* It's been 669 days since our 4:00 AM engagement in the back yard.

* It was 206 days ago Michelle and I entered into a life of matrimony this past August.

* 301 shopping days left until Christmas.

* 193 days until we head out on our much anticipated "Seven Day Exotic Carribean Cruise".

* Had some car problems yesterday morning. Went out to start the car and my battery was dead. Charged it on the charger and went into work a little later (no workout today due to this) and my battery was once again dead after work. Headed to Advance Auto and bought a new battery, problem solved.

* It's a cardio day for me today after missing yesterdays workout. 3.3 miles on a treadmill and 500 curls with each arm is on the days agenda, this will allow my shoulder a couple of more days rest before I lift again.

* Infinity is having a big challenge between college basketball coaches. It started with four regions of 16 coaches representing a charity of their choice to try to capture enough fan votes to make it the final four. Bob Huggins supporters with a late morning surge managed to win the east region and earning $5,000 for the Norma Mae Huggins Fund. It's a fund named after his mother for cancer research at WVU. Now it is one to the Final Four and a chance to win $100,000 for this charity. Please log into HERE daily and vote. Please log in once a day, every day and help coach Huggins win $100,000 to help fund local cancer research. The Mountaineer Nation needs your help now and every day until noon on March 8 at noon to help out our community.

* At the pro combines yesterday, Bruce Irvin turned in the fastest time ever for a Defensive End in the 40 yard dash. He ran a 4.43 which was 0.02 faster than Steve Slaton when he did it and Patrick White when he ran his. I hope they make Bruce a Steeler.

* Hi ho hi ho

Weekend is Over

Unfortunately it is once again that time of the week when we put our noses back on the grindstone for the next five days and get back to doing what it is that we do that allows us to enjoy our time off. It's back to work for yet another fun filled week.

I do have to admit, every once in a while you come to a point where you get a little bit of writers block. Times when the gears of creativity really aren't spinning and finding something to ramble about is about as hard as balancing a BB on top of the empire state buildings highest point. Might be an easy task for Superman, but Clark Kent I am not on this day.

With that I leave you wishing you a very good day.

Hi ho hi ho

Valentines Day Part II?

One of the things we were discussing on buying for Valentines Day before we decided on a great bread maker that we both love to death and is once again baking us another fresh loaf of bread for breakfast. I can't complain about that, especially as the aroma of fresh baking bread fill the household in this early morning.

The other thing that we were considering buying but did not turned out to be something we purchased yesterday. In doing our research for the bread maker, we knew were to go locally to look for our Cuisinart Food Processor that we purchased yesterday. It also had a mail in offer for a free hand stick blender with this purchase.

Michelle and Jean spent the day teaching Michelle how to make Farida's Spicy meat filled Somosas when Michelle realized what a real food processor can do. We had one from Hamilton Beach that was also part of the blender and we had the small attachment with the hand stick blender . Michelle also has a Magic Bullet, but all have their disadvantages of either being not powerful enough or too small of capacity to do any serious cooking.

I think today may include round two of making home made hummus.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Saturday Morning, breads a kneading, some stupid movie is playing in the background and everyone in the household is asleep. I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day.

Michelle is here this weekend and did not go back home to visit her mom and friend. Her friend Holly is finishing up her book and has some deadlines to meet, so turned out this was not the most strategic of weekends.

Today Michelle is going to go up to Jean's and get an education on how to make Samosas, it's a food she absolutely loves and wants to learn how to make. Jean learned it from the master and now Michelle is learning it from Jean.

What ever you get into today, have a great one.

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.

As of the time of me writing this blog, weekend plans are up in the air. I know Michelle had talked about going home for the weekend and had messaged her mom a couple of days ago, but no reply yet to my knowledge. I know she also wanted to go home and see her friend Holly, but wanted to lump it into a couple of nights. My plans are to stay here and do the shopping regardless of whether Michelle goes home or not, other than that the rest of the weekend is pretty much up in the air.

A congratulations goes out to a co-worker, he became a first time father yesterday morning as his wife delivered a beautiful 7 pound baby girl yesterday morning. It was a long night followed by an 8:00 AM birth, so it will probably be an extended weekend for him and I'll be holding down the fort today. Congratulations Scott and Amy.

It's a lifting and a cardio day for me today, so that means I'll be heading in a little early to allow my body enough recovery time in between sets. I do a number of upper body exercises that I move from one station to another on pretty quickly and then rest about 5 minutes after completing all the stations and then repeat this a couple of times. Then I usually 200 lbs on the bench press and go until my arms fall off from being tired and then I do 30 minutes of increasing cardio followed with a set of 100 curls with each arm every ten minutes followed by about 2-3 minutes of cool down. I usually finish with a fifth and final set of benches and increase the weight accordingly to do as many reps as I can with an additional 12.5-25 lbs. I've been doing this for about six months now, ever since we got married and I can really feel the difference in my chest, arms, shoulders and back.

Oh well, hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my thousands of pictures to find just one moment in time from days gone by to tell a little story about. Sometimes those pictures are easy to find, and sometimes you struggle to find the right one for that week.

This week's picture takes me way back, back to when I was first of all in college and second of all a little bit drunk. It was Christmas time at Terri's house and my guess is this was probably Christmas 1999. Terri had bought the kids a karaoke machine for Christmas and Mackey, Nick and myself were sing our rendition of "Kryptonite" by Three Doors Down. I really thought we nailed it, much better than the band, I'm surprised we were not offered a recording contract right on the spot that night. I thought we wounded great, but like I pointed out, I was a little bit drunk.

Oh what could have been, the magic of that night should have launched my musical career, but alas I had to settle on being a Geographer.

Speaking of, hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

I guess you can call this hump day, even thought my Monday was a day at home and relaxing. It's also Ash Wednesday meaning last night was Fat Tuesday and I'm sure Morgantown was getting all Mardi Gras at all the bars.

So much for yesterday, on to today and concentrating on getting up over this hump and working towards another weekend.

Michelle might be going home this weekend, but that all depends on how she feels and if her Mother is working or not. If she's working she will probably postpone it until another weekend if not then she will probably go and I'll hold down the fort here.

I know in the next few weeks we do need to start all the paperwork to get our passports for our trip. They are good for ten years, but neither of us have ever or currently have one so it's something we should have just to have for no other reason. We'll probably get the book and the Card, if you do it you might as well do it right.

It's a lifting and a half cardio day, hopefully my shoulder can hold out until I get my reps in. I haven't done any heavy lifting since Friday, so we'll test it out today.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well my long weekend is over with, the rest of you who had to work yesterday are done with your Monday, can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* 1,439 days ago Michelle and I went out on our first date together.

* 662 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* We were married 199 days ago.

* 308 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* And now for the important one, 200 more days until we set sail on a tropical cruise to Bermuda.

* Five guys finally opened in Morgantown, Michelle had to work late and I was going to surprise her with dinner from there, but the line was out the door and around the corner. We'll try them another day.

* Michelle got her new Kendle yesterday, the one I got her at Christmas time was worn out and called the mercy rule. Actually it just gave us an error message and said it was in need of repair. Amazon shipped a new one and it was supposed to be here today, but it showed up yesterday. Michelle is once again a happy camper and doesn't have to read from her iPhone.

* Well farmers Almanac called for us getting 12+" of snow between yesterday and tomorrow, this is one time I am glad it is incorrect.

* Hi ho hi ho

Presidents Day

I consider myself pretty lucky today, lucky that I am an American. I feel this is the greatest country on the planet and I am fortunate enough to be a citizen of it. Lucky enough to not only have a job, but a good job as a Federal Contractor and lucky enough to have to day as a Holiday.

Today is President's Day. It's a day when we celebrate the birthdays of two of our Greatest Presidents, the father of our Country George Washington and our sixteenth President Abraham Lincoln. If anyone needs a bit of a history lesson, the dude on the far left and the dud on the far right of my picture, but I would think all the US Citizen's would know this.

I have the day off, Michelle is not as fortunate as she has to work today.

Looks like it's going to be a guy type movie day.

Vacation 2012 Booked

We now officially have our Vacation 2012 booked for the year, now it's just a count down for the 202 days until we leave. We are officially booked for this September aboard the Carnival Pride and and will take a seven day cruise south to the Bahama's.

Our First stop will be Grand Turk Island after spending two days at seas to get there on Wednesday.

Our second port of call will come the next day and it will be Half Moon Cay where we will spend a day there on Thursday.

Friday we will be in Freeport Bahamas before heading back on Saturday and arriving back in Baltimore on early Sunday Morning.

Booking very early has its advantages, we were able to get a few discounts for early booking and upgraded to an exterior room with an not only a balcony , but an extended balcony with an unobstructed view on the top deck that balcony's are at. We'll be in the rear of the boat with a private unobstructed view of everything. If you click on the picture to the right it's a larger picture and I have actually went through and circled our room. (Edit: we are one room to the left, I circled the wrong room, so it is the balcony just to the left of what I circled.

When we went to Ocean City this past year the one thing both of us really enjoyed doing was getting up early and going to the beach to watch the sunrise. I looked back at all of the people who booked on the beach with an ocean view and balconies and noticed hardly anyone was out looking. I thought to myself what a waste to not be taking full advantage of this.

We're both excited and looking forward to this trip that is now officially booked.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household in the early AM collecting my thoughts. Everyone in the house is sleeping, I have a movie on in the background and the only real sound is the bread machine kneading a fresh loaf of bread that we intend on eating for breakfast.

Later it will be our normal routine of Sam's Club to do a little bit of shopping. Val has asked me to look there for any trampolines that they may have as she thinks this is what she wants to get the kids for their birthday this year.

If you are looking for something to do today, the WVU Women's basketball team that has beaten 3 ranked opponents in a row including #2 Notre Dame will be having a game at the coliseum this afternoon and tickets are free as part of their breast cancer awareness month, I'm all for saving the tata's.. They do this once a season and usually get a very good turnout, so if you're looking for a little cheap entertainment and want to see a very good basketball team, head on over the the coliseum this afternoon. Don't forget to wear your pink.

Have a great 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, a three day one for me, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Yes Monday is President's day and a Federal Holiday, which means I get to have the day off with pay and get to possibly relax a little bit. Once again it is another one of those holidays that I get and Michelle has to work, which to tell you the truth puts a little bit of a damper on it for me.

Once again we have nothing planned for this weekend as we're still waiting on spring time to come. WVU Baseball is right around the corner and I saw it today's paper that they are proposing building a baseball stadium beside Wal-Mart in Granville. With WVU entering Big 12 play, we'll have the worst baseball facilities in the conference and will need to improve them. They didn't mention anything about WVU, but why else would you build a baseball stadium right off the interstate with teams like Texas and a few other powerhouses visiting here in the next year.

Let's get this party started, it's a lifting then cardio day.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my pictures that I have stored on my computer. I like to select one photo and tell a little story about it. Some times it's easy to find something to talk about it, sometimes you rack your brains trying to find something to talk about.

This weeks picture takes us back a few years. If I remember correctly, Moke was coming home from basic training and had just flown into Pittsburgh. My sister Pam, his now wife Ang and myself drove to Pittsburgh to pick him up. I can't remember why I went, maybe it was just because Pam wasn't sure how to get to the Pittsburgh Airport and I had made a few trips up there at that time to pick up Farida and knew how to navigate in and out of the Airport.

Not long after this I remember taking them all out to dinner at Primanti Brother's in Pittsburgh. It was the first time any of them had ever eaten the legendary Primanti Brothers sandwich.

It was a good day. Take note that this happened five years ago yesterday, or today if you are me at the time I am writing this.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's two days down and if you look just over the noontime hump, you can see another weekend off in the distance and it's all downhill until we get there.

I hope everyone had a very happy Valentine's Day. Michelle and I did get to Puglioni's early and it was a good thing, that place filled up rather quickly and there was a line out the door and a 25 minute wait to even get a table. I would say we hit that just about perfect.

The big news fro yesterday was that WVU has cleared all hurdles and will officially leave the Big East June 30th and Join the Big 12 on July 1st after the University Officially announced that there has been a signed settlement in the lawsuit. The Big East also voted to terminate our membership because of accusations made by WVU in the lawsuit, in other words he didn't have a leg to stand on and we're gone much to the delight of the Mountaineer Nation.

The Conference started to fall apart years ago after the first round of defections, WVU held the conference's credibility with winning three BCS games in that span. The football members wanted to expand the conference last summer and the Big East played it as a joke presenting Villanova and there couple thousand seat soccer stadium as a football complex. Pitt and Syracuse jumped ship to the ACC, we're heading to the Big 12 with TCU this fall and Louisville isn't far behind us if everything works out from what I am hearing.

Enjoy your hump day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

*Monday is once again in our rear view mirrors and we are looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, can't think of a better reason than that to do a Valentines Day edition of a Tidbits.

* Michelle and I have plans this evening to go to Puglioni's for Valentine's Day. It's close and we can probably zip in and out with no problem. It's where we went last year and it's always a great place to go out and eat.

* I have a dozen roses hidden and I'm waking for Michelle to get up to surprise her with them if she hasn't found them by now. She's not expecting that, so I figured it's Tuesday, I don't really need any other reason to show the woman I love a little something special.

* Speaking of that woman that I love, we're still going strong after 1,432 days since our first date.

* It's been 655 days since our engagement.

* We are on day 192 of wedded bliss.

* There are also only 315 shopping days left until Christmas. Plan accordingly, you have about 7,530 hours to go until Santa Claus arrives.

* Word is Five Guys Burger and Fries will be opening this coming Monday the 20th, Columbus Day. It was supposed to be open well over a year ago if not two, but something delayed construction and the opening. I've never eaten there but the guys who work with me who used to live in DC love it.

* There was a nice follow up to the man who shot his daughters laptop last week and it went viral. 21 Million hits by Monday morning.

* Everyone in the family has decided my Niece Amy is going to have twins. She's denying it, but Michelle called it at Christmas time. Time will tell.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday Morning

Well yet another fun filled weekend has come and gone, it's now time for us to stick our noses back on the grindstone and get back to doing what it is that gives us the opportunity to actually enjoy the weekend. It's once again another dreadful Monday morning and the start of another week of work.


We finally got a little bit of that ugly white stuff that is usually associated with winter this past weekend. Hopefully it clears up a bit before we get the big snowfall that we are due to get next week.

My weekend was actually quite relaxing, made some home made bread, spent some time at home with my sweetie and just relaxed most of the weekend. Now I pay for it as I'm getting ready to head to the gym, lifting and a cardio day.

Hi ho hi ho

Weekend Wrapup

It's early Sunday morning and once again I sit in a household that is not making a peep. The movie Titanic is playing in the background and I'm up and at em early to write my blog.

There was a bit of shocking news last night, on the eve of the Grammy's one of the greatest voices of not only my generation but all time has passed away. Legendary singer Whitney Houston died at the way too young age of 48 yesterday afternoon in Los Angeles. An article that turned out to be the last photo's ever taken of her alive from a couple of days ago is kind of shocking to read after the fact. Her great voice has been silenced. I was fortunate enough to see her at the WVU Coliseum at the height of her success.

As discussed yesterday Michelle and I finally decided on what to buy each other for our Valentine's Day Present to each other. A few things were tossed around like a new TV for the bedroom, a new Food Processor, even a canopy swing for the back patio that we will probably buy when the weather breaks. This year we did our research and decided on a very nice convection oven Breadmaker from Cuisinart. We spent the day yesterday researching them and pricing what we wanted and finally decided on this model. We also bought the electric carving knife pictured at the bottom of the page to go with it to make cutting the bread a much smoother process.

When we got home yesterday we tried out the new bread maker and I was extremely impressed with it. We made a two pound loaf of white bread and it turned out absolutely perfect and just the way we set it up to do. I was looking through the recipe booklet and see a lot of recipes that sound very interesting and I would love to try. I think we are going to love this machine, it will allow us to set it up before we leave for work and arrive home to a freshly baked loaf of bread.

Have a great day and stay warm.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household where everyone else is sleeping, with the exception of the cat Cloe who is sitting behind me wanting to rough house like we do on a daily basis. HBO is on in the background and the Tracey Ullman show is playing in the background and the rest of the house is silent.

Michelle and I watched a cute little movie last night I bought from Amazon, Fiends with Benefits was a cute little romantic comedy that we both enjoyed. I have a Roku and can access my Amazon account, so for a few $$$ more I buy the digital copy and Amazon stores it on the cloud for me.

Nothing special today, probably a trip to Sam's Club this morning will in all likelihood be the highlight of the day for us. Michelle is slowly working her foot back into health after wearing the cast for a month and having it broken last October. She wears a bone simulator ten hours a day, so hopefully this will speed up the recovery process.

The Mountaineers play today at noon against Louisville in Basketball for anyone who is interested on ESPN and ESPN 3.

Have a great 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.

After a nice long week at work I am ready for another weekend. Once again we really have nothing on the agenda for this weekend, but with Valentines Day coming up very soon Michelle and I need to decide what we are going to do for each other this year. We usually go together and pay half for something around the house. Last year it was the food sealer, the year before was the surround system for the house and they year before that we bought our stainless steel grill. There are a coupe of things I have in mind, I just want to talk to Michelle and see which one is more practical.

Other than that, it looks to be a pretty boring weekend here at the Hall household. Routine things we do like shopping and laundry, maybe even catch a movie or two on the boob tube. Michelle's foot has been sore and we may just need to rest a little this weekend.

Interesting tidbit I found out yesterday from a co-worker, we will have an additional 51 minutes of daylight by the end of the month. Day's are starting to get longer now and spring should just be a few weeks away, provided we make it past the President's Day 12" of snow that the Farmer's Almanac is calling for us to get.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all my pictures, both the digital ones and the scanned ones and select just one picture to blog about. Sometimes it's easy to find a picture and sometimes it's not that easy.

This weeks picture is one that goes back quite a few years, back to a time of long ago in a place not so far away. I'm assuming that this is an old Christmas picture of me in Van Voorhis when I was a young lad.

I'm having trouble dating this picture, but my best guess is it's 1968 or 1969. I see what looks like my Grandmother's chair that she used to sit in all the time and a picture of my Dad off to the side. A picture that ironically is hanging in my hallway today and I am looking at it as I am writing this blog.

To tell you the truth, this is a picture of me that I honestly have no real recollection of. Yes it was me, but sadly there are no memories of me on this day from this picture. All I have is the memories of the objects and the stories around them.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

If you look just over the horizon that we refer to as lunch today, you can see the weekend just peering over in the distance. Down the hill we head towards that.

Well that flu bug has returned to Michelle, she made it all day yesterday at work but when she got home she was warm and running a bit of a fever. Hopefully she will be feeling better today. She laid down after dinner last night trying to get some rest.

There was a little bit of shock and sadness yesterday. Long time Morgantown DJ Loray Robinson passed away. She was the mid-day person on Magic 106. Seemed like every news source in Morgantown was talking about it, she will be missed as she has been a staple of Morgantown Radio for a long time.

Hi ho hi ho...

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again in our rear view mirrors and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It was 1,425 days ago that Michelle and I went on our first date together. We went out for Pizza at Pizza Hut (Like that's a big surprise) and went and saw an a god awful movie 10,000 BC.

* 648 days ago at 4:00 in the morning, I took Michelle into the back yard and sat her down on the bench and got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* 185 days ago we partied and celebrated that blissful union with a couple hundred of our closest friends and family here in Morgantown.

* There are 322 shopping days left until Christmas.

* I finally got back to the gym yesterday, I hadn't worked out since last Monday and my heart rate on my cardio was a little elevated, but strength wise I didn't miss a beat and have once again started to increase the weights.

* Talked a little briefly with Carnival Cruise Lines yesterday, we're trying to decide on what excursions we want to go on. We'll probably be finalizing everything here in a couple of weeks.

* Well I have decided which Super Bowl Commercial this year was my favorite, it was the M&M one. The Dorito's Man's best friend came in second and probably the TaxAct one with the kid in the pool or the Acura one with Jerry Seinfield coming in third place for me.

* I'll leave you with an internet documentary from 1969, they weren't too far off.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work

Well the Super Bowl and the weekend are now things in our memories and it's time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for a few days. I need to actually get back to the gym now that I am feeling better and it's just time to get this next week of work started.

Both Michelle and I are feeling a little better, me more so than her because I got sick first, maybe by this coming weekend we'll be back to 100%. It was a productive weekend and it was also a relaxing weekend as we got our taxes finished and filed.

We're starting to plan for a cruise that we want to take later this summer to the Caribbean. The cruise we are looking at has ports of call of Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport, Bahamas. We'll be meeting with our trip planner some time later this month to determine all the amenities we want. We want a room with our own balcony so we can watch the sun rise and or set every day.

If I want to pay for this I better get going, Hi ho hi ho

Super Bowl Sunday

It's Super Bowl Sunday, that time of the year when everyone has office pools, parties and game boards. They wager on about everything associated with the game and for advertisers this is their biggest day of the year too. Some of the highest watched Television Programs in history have been Super Bowls. If you look at the list of the top ten, most of them are Super Bowls.

Today the New England Patriots and the New York Giants once again line up for a rematch of the the game a few years ago when New England was undefeated and trying to go 19-0 before Eli Manning and the Giants put a stop to it.

If I have to pick a team I am cheering for tonight, I have to say I am cheering for the Giants to win. I think New England probably has the best chance to win and is probably favored, but the whole cheating incident with New England a few years ago and the fact that I just do not like Tom Brady lead me to cheer for the Giants today. The two teams met once this year with the Giants winning 24-20 the week after the Steelers manhandled them 25-17.

Enjoy the game, even though the Steelers aren't in it....LOL

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, everyone here is sleeping except the dog Sadie who is doing a her dog thing over on the pillow. I'm watching a great movie in the background about West Virginia, Matewan, but it is a movie that I have had the pleasure of seeing numerous times. I've always really liked that movie and it was the best thing on the boob tune at this time in the morning.

When I was a kid my Saturday Mornings used to be filled with all kinds of entertainment, like HR Puffinstuff, Buggs Bunny or the Wacky Racers. It was a time when all the channels showed cartoons and kids stuff. Somewhere along the way Looney Tunes was replaced by long Saturday morning news casts.

Anyways on to the present day. Michelle is feeling better, but I still have my chest cold lingering a bit. It's not going to be enough to inhibit either of us from doing anything today. Too bad the weather is not going to be as warm as it was this past week when I was home sick or working.

The good news is I am starting to see some plants coming out of the ground at work. Daffodils are starting to push up through the ground and my favorite time of the year is just right around the corner. I'm anticipating the day when I can pull out my butt cushions and head on over ton Hawley Field and watch the Mountaineer Baseball team take on somebody as the sun beats down on me. Come on sunburn...LOL

Have a great 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.

Well I actually did make it back to work yesterday after two days off fighting the flu bug, now I think Michelle might be coming down with it as she is not feeling at the top of her game and may need a little rest. I didn't go to the gym yesterday other than to see if I am still maxing out at the same weight or if I added any strength by adding 6.25 lbs. I couldn't quite get that weight up, but I am still bench pressing the entire stack on maxout even after being sick. I'll wait to see how I feel this morning before I give a thumbs up or a thumbs down as to todays workout.

I am probably guessing Michelle and I will get into nothing this weekend unless something comes up unexpectedly. It's sad especially with the weather being so nice this week and both of us battling a little bit of a cold.

So hi ho hi ho

Groundhog Stew

* Cut off the head, tail, and feet of the damn rat who saw his shadow this morning. Skin and remove the insides very pianfully. Make sure you remove the scent glands as he is screaming for mercy. You'll find them around the top of the groundhog's front legs and the lower back, in the small of it.


* Rinse the inside of the groundhog thoroughly with water and then the outside, and then cure groundhog three to four days or just nuke his ass alive.

* Cut the groundhog into sections. You decide how many, just keep remembering six more weeks with every chop.

* Fill a pot with enough cold water to cover the varmit, usually two quarts. Add ½ cup vinegar and 1 to 1½ tbs. salt. Add a slice of onion, if you'd like. Place the varmit in the vinegar and salt brine and cover. Leave it in the pot for 8 to 12 hours. Decide what recipe you'll use after the groundhog has soaked in the brine. I've decided for groundhog stew. Pour off brine, thoroughly rinse, and beat dry or until spring comes.

* Boil the groundhog in 2 quarts of water for 20 minutes. If foamy water rises to the top, skim it away. Afterwards slice into 1 to 1½ inch pieces.

* Chop 1 onion, 1 celery stalk, 2 garlic cloves, 6 to 8 carrots, and 4 to 6 potatoes. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until fork tender and don't forget to add lots and lots of garlic.

* Mix ½ cup of cool water with 1 tbs. flour. Mix until the flour blends without lumps. Add to stew to thicken the broth. Once it's done, salt and pepper to taste, if desired.

If anyone is looking for fresh groundhog...

Groundhogs Day

OK my little buddy from Punxsutawney, Phil I am talking to you once again this year and even though this has to be the mildest winter that I think I can ever remember on record, I'm hoping that all the partying you did last night has you blinded and no shadows shall be seen on this day. It's time for Punxsutawney Phil to step up to center stage and tell us what the next six weeks worth of weather will consist of.

You can keep track of all of the days events HERE. One of these years I am going to have to go up for this event, I hear it is an all night party on Gobblers Knob.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my thousands of pictures that are either digital or that I have scanned through the years and select just one to write a blog about and tell a little story about. Sometimes it's pretty easy, and sometimes you have to take a while to find that one picture you want to talk about.

This weeks picture has two very important people in it. First of all the bald Troy Polamalu jersey wearing fat guy is none other than yours truly a few years ago at Steelers trivia. If you norice the center team, they were from Punxsutawney and had a furry little buddy/rat (depending on whether he sees his shadow today) along with them for the ride as good luck.

In case anyone forgot, this was the finals of the KDKA Trivia Challenge and we kind of smoked everyone that year and won the whole thing. I didn't have to do much as I was a replacement for Chris's Dad and they should have won it the year before after setting the single round record for points.

If anyone needs any highlights of that tournament:

Signing Day

This is a big day in all of college football, no no games are being played unless you try to keep some kind of a mythical score. Today is Letter of Intent Day in College Football. This is the day when the High School players who have verbally committed to schools sign the binding Letter of Intent.

I will be keeping an eye on it through Blue and Gold News to see if there are any signing day flips or if any of our recruits have changed their mind at the last minute. We have a number of kids from this class who graduated High School a Semester early and have already enrolled at WVU this January. They are: Karl Joseph, Sean Walters, Jordan Thompson, Ford Childress and Imarjaye Albury. All five of these players have already enrolled at WVU and taking classes this semester meaning we will be seeing them in the Spring Game this year.

Some of the players expected to ink with the Mountaineers today include son of former WVU running back Eugene Napolean in Brandon Napolean. It is the day that the payoff of all of our recruiting efforts start to pay off and come to fruition.

Hump Day

Well part of yesterdays BLOG was inaccurate. When I rite my BLOG, because I am to do so on a daily basis I like to get it out early in the AM. That way it posts usually at about 5:00 AM our time. Yesterday however I was a bit under the weather and did NOT make it to work or the gym. I've had a bit of a chest cold for a few days and it had me down yesterday.

Hopefully this morning when I actually do get up I am feeling better. In all likelihood I will still have this in my chest (I am writing this Tuesday Evening) and will try going to work today, but may take the rest of the week off from working out to allow this to clear my chest. We'll have to see though.

Michelle finally got her cast off of her foot yesterday, the top of her foot is still a little tender and she is still taking caltrate plus the bone simulator she is wearing for ten hours a day. She is happy to have that inhibiting thing off of her leg and being able to start to fuction normally again.

Hopefully it's hi ho hi ho