Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us and in our rear view mirrors. We're looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday and I have been scratching my head wondering if there is a better reason than that to don a tidbits.

* 1,873 days ago Michelle and I went on our first date. Pizza Hut and 10,000 BC were on our agenda for that magical evening.

* 1,096 days ago, or exactly three years ago today, about the time this posts I took her out in the back yard and proposed marriage.

* 633 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, we entered into the world of marital bliss.

* There are only 239 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* In 131 more days we set sail on the high seas once again on our cruise.

* Jimmy Buffet started his 2013 tour this past weekend, in 79 more days he'll be entertaining us.

* 53 days to go until the Kenny Chesney concert.

* 52 days left until it is officially Summertime.

* 46 days until we see Peter Frampton in the first of our three concerts we'll see this summer.

* I have about 11 days to go using Linux until my new computer arrives. My monitor has already shipped, now I just have to wait till next Monday when the CPU ships out.

* I learned some very shocking and sad news yesterday morning. Frank Slavensky, a kid who grew up in East Gate, someone who I later played against in Softball until I recruited him  to join us on Judies Lounge, a friendly guy who used to run the Morgantown Giant Eagle and always had a smile on his face had a severe cardiac arrest Sunday evening and passed away at the age of 46. I would always see Frank at Giant Eagle when I used to shop there and we would always say hi and talk a few minutes. He has worked the past few years at Shop N Save in the Glenmark Center, where he suffered his cardiac arrest. RIP Frank, you were a good friend, a great team mate and it was my pleasure to know you.

* Michelle said she hates dentists. She has a filling refilled yesterday and that's all she would say last night, that she hates dentists.

* I got word that our friend Trish Rosiak will be getting married this Friday afternoon at 5:00. Short notice, but Michelle and I will try to be there although we have not seen too much of Trish over the last year.

* If you are looking for a little bit of cheap fun tonight, go to Hawley Field and cheer on the Mountaineers to beat Pitt. Admission and select concessions only $1.00.

* Last I heard, Abe Vigoda was still alive.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

It's once again that day of the week that we all dread, the time to stick our noses back on the grindstone and start another week of work. We do this so our weekends are much more enjoyable and it gives us many more options for enjoyment on those days off. It's time to go back to work.

For all of you baseball fans out there, the Mountaineers play their last home game of the season  tomorrow against Pitt at Hawley Field. Since it is the last home game in Morgantown and it's on a Tuesday tickets are just $1.00 to get in. The WVU Baseball team just came off a weekend sweep of Kansas this weekend and need to keep the momentum going to beat that team from up north. Randy Mazey is a very good coach and this has turned into a very good team. Go out and support the team, it's inexpensive and a whole lot of fun to cheer on the Mountaineers.

I got a notification that my monitor shipped already, considering my computer is a week away from even shipping I guess that is a good thing. I'm still running Ubuntu  and getting more and more used to it every day. I have to say since the first time I used Linux some ten years ago while I was in college, it has improved by leaps and bounds and Ubuntu is very user friendly. It's always a nice option that has a very small learning curve, I recommend it to anyone who wants to try something new. It does have it's limitations however and that is why I purchased a new computer.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again, early in the AM and being the first person here to recover from a losing battle with the sandman last night. I'm up watching the end of the movie the Change up and just sat down at the computer to collect my thoughts.

We stayed home yesterday and it was a very productive day around here. We have a couple of guests that are going to come and stay with us in the next couple of months, so we had to get Hayley's old bedroom cleaned up and organized and make it habitable once again. For the last year or son it has been nothing but a storage room for everyone and everything, Chad had probably a dozen fish tanks in there that he has moved to storage. After a few hours of busting her butt, Michelle got it cleaned, sanitized and organized while I burned cardboard boxes and a few other tasks around the house so I wouldn't get in her way.

One thing we did Friday night was took advantage of a 20% off promotion at Belk's and ended up buying  a new toaster oven. Our old one which I had since I lived in my old apartment just wasn't doing it anymore, so we bought a new one. We really like the Cuisinart brand and have been above satisfied with all of their products that we have purchased so we looked to Cuisinart for a taster oven.

The NFL Draft has now culminated and three West Virginia Mountaineers have heard their name called. Tavon Austin in the First Round and Stedman Bailey in the Third Round to the St. Louis Rams and Geno Smith slipped down to the Second Round to the New York Jets.

Should be a relaxing day today, all we have to do is our Sunday Morning shopping and I anticipate and afternoon nap today since it is calling for rain.

Have a great day.

New Computer

I like Linux, it is working in a pinch and allows me to do almost anything I want on a computer. Surf the net, set up and access a network from home, and just generally about anything I need to do. I've been using Linux for a number of years sporadically, and I have to say that it has gotten much better over the years. The latest version of Ubuntu really is almost like a modern version of Windows 8 minus the Metro.

That being said, I've also did a little bit of research the past few days looking for what I wanted in a new computer. I use Windows XP and Windows 7 at work (I run three computers on dual monitors with one heck of a KVM switch), I have a 7 Laptop here that I use when I'm not at my desktop and I have my PC that I bought in I think 2006 or so.

It was getting a little outdated and Microsoft is going to stop supporting XP on April 8, 2014, meaning no new patches or anything and you will not be able to get support for it. In my opinion it has been their longest running (since 2002) and most stable operating system, but its life cycle is coming to an end in less than a year.

So I had some choices to make, upgrade or get used to Linux as my day to day operating system or buy a new upgraded system with a newer operating system. I chose to buy a new system and went and ordered it yesterday from Dell.

I had to do a little research on whether I preferred Windows 7 or Windows 8. I'm familiar with Windows 7 and I have played around with Windows 8, but something tells me that Windows 8 will go the way of Vista and is not receiving a warm reception. I stopped by two computer stores in Morgantown to talk to a few salesmen and got pretty much the same response. One said they were selling 5 - 6 computers a day before Windows 8 came out, now they are lucky to sell 5 a week and he said some of those are even coming back. It's an OK operating system, but there is a bit of a learning curve, that's why people are hesitant with it. I think it will catch on eventually, but it's not for me right now and I chose a Windows 7 Operating System.

My new system should be here May 10 and I'm going to set it up to run dual monitors for here. It's what I run at work, and it's just a huge advantage to having two monitors running. It's a much better processor and 8 Gigs of Ram it's only a Terrabyte Hard drive, but I run everything off an external drive.

My old PC has already been promised to someone else who is really in need of it for business purposes, I discussed with them that there are probably bad sectors in the Hard Drive (hence why I can't load Windows) and a new Hard Drive for less than $100.00. It's still a solid system, but it was just time for me to upgrade my system.

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 the first round of the NFL draft is now in the books, now it's time to look towards round two and I think round three which takes place this evening.

Well I never did fix my computer problem the way I wanted to do. I tried for a third time with three different restore discs to get my Windows XP up and running again. I had two options, but a new PC or try installing another operating system on my PC. So I ended up installing a linux operating system on my computer and strangely enough that worked, so I installed it on the hard drive and installed all the updates. This could almost actually be a bi-operating system blog..lol

Have a great Day.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through of my pictures, this week I have to refer to my online pictures as I am reformatting my desktop computer and select one special picture to write about. A lost moment in time to relive in my blog and reflect upon. Some times it;s pretty easy, and sometimes it challenging since my PC is down, but it is always a lot of fun.

This weeks picture goes to the end of an era, unless I am mistaken, this is from my last at bat in my last game of my long softball career. A softball career that extended for 27 years, playing on some great teams, with some great team mates and also playing on teams that would do nothing but fight and argue with ourselves.

It was the one thing I always looked forward to every summer, meeting with my boys of summer and stepping foot on the playing field and battling an opponent to say we are better.

I met a lot of great people who turned out to be lifelong friends on the softball field. The worst injury I ever saw was in the next to last game I ever played and it was a team mate.

My career is over with today, my shoulders could not take throwing or hitting a ball, much less with the velocity I used to deliver it, I did have a very nice arm that was pretty accurate earlier in my career. It bothers me a little to no longer be playing, but I knew the last few years I played that my skills were diminishing and I wasn't who I used to be.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's two days that we have in so far this week, now if you look just over the noontime hump, just on the other side of a photo flashback  you can see the dawn of another weekend just off in the distance.

Tomorrow night is the First Round of the NFL Draft. Two West Virginia University players are expected to go in the First Round Thursday, meaning I will either watch it or DVR it to watch it later. This will be the first time that two players were taken in the first round and this will be three players over a course of two seasons. I know the Mountaineer Nation will be watching closely. My Brother in Law Nick is a Big Carolina Panthers fan, the Panthers are talking about selecting Tavon Austin with their first round pick if he is still available at that time in the draft.

Michelle went to the Dentist yesterday, she went to a place of co-worker of mine recommended in Howell & Everett DDS PLLC on Burroughs Street. She said she was very happy with them and wants to make them her regular dentist. She has another appointment scheduled for this summer to have some other work done. Turns out she just had a popcorn kernel stuck under her gum and it was irritating it. That and they cleaned her teeth for her, she was pretty happy and they accept my insurance.

You have to hand it to my wife, when we purchased our cruise this February we got the early savers plan with the price protection. That means if the price drops, they give you the difference in on board credit (it's how you spend money on the boat) to use on the boat for whatever you want. Between drinks (alcoholic and soda), jewelry, gifts, pictures, snorkeling equipment and everything else, we spent about $350.00 out of pocket just for what we were doing on the boat. With the early savers, all you have to do is check back, if the price drops from what you paid you will be credited that amount on your onboard card. Thanks to my wonderful wife and her staying on top of it (we didn't know about this last year) we now have $488.00 to spend on our sign and sail card due to price reductions. She keeps chipping away at that total, gotta love her.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreary Monday is once again behind us, it's in our trail of dust and we're looking straight forward at a Tuesday, the sun is still coming up today so I still can;t think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* 1,866 days ago I was fortunate to go out on a date that changed my life forever. It was dinner and a movie and my life changed for the better from that day on.

* 1089 days ago I got down on one knee (it was our 777th day since our first date) and proposed marriage to a very special lady.

* We all partied down at our wedding 626 days ago at the Marilla Center in front of our closest friends and family.

* There are only 246 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* In 138 days we set sail once again out of Baltimore and head way down south the to Caribbean. One of my most favorite places I have ever been to in my life.

* In 86 days we'll be partying down with Jimmy. The parrot heads will reunite for our yearly Pittsburgh excursion.

* In 60 days we'll be spending a little bit of Summertime with Kenny Chesney and about 50,000 other Pittsburgh area fans.

* In 59 more days it will be SUMMERTIME!!!!!!

* I'm 53 days away from seeing live for the first time the artist I have probably listened to more in my lifetime than any other when Michelle and I go and see Peter Frampton.

* Josh Judy has pitched in a couple of games so far in York, it looks like he's back to his old form of blowing batters away. He's got 3 strikeouts in 2 innings of work so far this season. The team is so so it looks like, but those runs aren't coming from Josh.

* Michelle has a toothache and has a Dentists appointment this morning. It was so bad last night I'm eating her dinner for lunch today and she was sucking down some soup. Fish and Pierogis will not go to waste while I'm around. =)

* Did you hear about the news anchor who is a WVU grad whose first words on air got him into a heap of trouble? LINK Way to represent....moron.

* Terri finally made it back to her first day of work since her surgery last month. She said she would have liked to have had another week off, but she made it through the first day.

*  Speaking of work

* Hi ho hi ho

The "I Hate Monday's" Blog

It's time to stop all the fun and time to put our noses back on the grindstone. Cease all the fun and relaxation and let;s get back to doing what it is that allows us to have that peace and relaxation time. It's the one day of the week that no one likes and everybody hates, it's Monday and time to get back to work.

As we enter into another fun filled week of work ( I actually do have a great job that I like) I'm looking at the weather and noticing it's not quite as warm as it was the past couple of weeks. I'm wondering if this is going to be a reversal of the recent trend of nice weather during the week and the worst weather on the weekends.

The NFL Draft is coming up this week will be starting this Thursday and running through the weekend. West Virginia has two players, Geno Smith and Tavon Austin  whom many people have both going in the first round of the draft on Thursday. This would be the first time WVU has ever had two players selected in the first year. Stedman Bailey a First Team All-American is a player I would like to see end up with the Pittsburgh Steelers as I believe he is a very under-rated player and could help the Steelers significantly.

Weather permitting I'll be on the trail this morning. I have not lifted a while now, I'm afraid I'm probably going to have to have both of my shoulders operated on. I have a diagnosed torn labrum on my right shoulder but my left shoulder is now much worse than that. I've just been doing cardio and now the weather has been nice I've been getting out on the trails at work. Those trails are much more difficult, the hills are very steep and long.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, being the first one who has recovered from a losing battle with the sandman from last night. I'm once again up early watching Here Comes the Book on Amazon and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Funny thing, Michelle and I have already done our weekly grocery shopping today, we were both wide awake at 2:00 AM and decided to go and get it done, that way she could sleep in this morning and we are in no way rushed today to do anything. So needless to say, it's going to be a relaxing day at home where we don't get into too much of anything.

Short one today, Have a good one.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again early in the AM, so far I am the only one who has recovered from a losing battle with the sandman from last night and am up watching Saturday Night Live on Netflix. I will have to be waking Michelle up here soon, she has to go in to her work today to help catch up on a few things. I'll grind her coffee beans here in a few minutes so she can have some fresh coffee before she heads out.

The good news from last night is that they captured the second bomber from the Boston Marathon. It was all over CNN and Fox last night as we sat and watched it unfold for a couple of hours.

The WVU Spring Football Scrimmage is this afternoon at Mylan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field this afternoon. I was planning on going but with Michelle working and me having a call that I have to take at 1:00, plus less than favorable weather this weekend, I will most likely sit and watch it from home this year. It will be broadcast locally, but since the entire ticket prices is no longer donated to Children's Hospital and Oliver Luck continually whores out this program, I'll probably not go to the Dodge Blue Lot, walk up the (insert commercial business here) walkway, go through the gates sponsored by (who ever Oliver can whore it out to) and go to the Wal-Mart Football Practice and sit in my Preparation H seat. As you can tell,  I do not like what is happening at my Alma Mater. John Raese puts it best in Oliver Luck's Dossier and as you can tell, I'm really wanting this man out of here. I think he is corrupt, has an agenda and is detrimental to West Virginia University as a whole.

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.

I'm actually off today, which means I'll be doing our Sam's Club shopping so Michelle can relax this evening after dinner. Weather permitting it would be nice to just be able to sit out on the back deck on the swing and just relax a little bit, wind down from a week of working.

One thing I would like to do this weekend is attend the Annual Blue Gold Scrimmage game for the WVU Football team. The scrimmage will be broadcast on television once again this year,  so of the weather is less than favorable we can sit and watch it from home. I would like to go however, so we'll just have to wait and see how the weather is tomorrow.

Just looked at the weather, why is it it has been nicer during the workweek than it is or going to be on the weekend? Don't they know that they are getting this backwards? I'm ready to start doing some BBQing on the weekends (already started in reality) and enjoying the nice warm springtime weather.

Have a great day.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all my pictures. It gives me time to reflect on moments of time gone by and give me a chance to relive them briefly through my blog. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, you just know the picture when you see it. Sometimes it's not so easy and you look and look and look. One thing that I will always say, it is always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture goes clear back to Christmas Day probably around 1970 or 1971 and yours truly front and center opening up some of my presents that I received. My Uncle Ralph is in the red shirt, that's my dad in the green, my cousins Lynn and Sharon and round out with my Grandpa Hall.

That was the year me and Lynn tried ton sneak downstairs and get a glimpse of Santa, but every time we poked our head around the corner we always came back disappointed as Santa hadn't showed up yet. You can't blame us for trying though, and we made sure that we left out some milk and cookies for him in case he got hungry.

It is one of my earliest Christmas memories, it was at a time when the scaryest thing in the whole wild world was that scary wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz. Funny thing though, she reminded me of Mrs Olsen, the Folgers lady. =)

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's two days down, now if you take a little bit of time out to look over that noontime hump, just on the other side of a photo flashback  you can see the dawn of yet another weekend off in the distance.

I have to say that this week is just moving right along, two days in and it seemed like nothing but a snap of the fingers and here we are.

I just realized yesterday that the WVU Spring Football game is this Saturday. Weather permitting we may be there, but nothing concrete on that because if it rains it's going to be hard to convince Michelle into sitting in that rain. We'll have to see I guess.

Josh Judy and the York Revolution kick off their 2013 season tomorrow, he's no longer playing in the Red's organization, which turned out to be purgatory for a young pitcher with a fastball like his. He went from winning four Consecutive Championships A, AA, AAA and AAA again when he was in the Majors to arguably the worst AAA team in all of baseball. What started out as promising did not turn out that way. Light em up Josh, you'll return to the Majors.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again in our rear view mirrors, I just can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* 1,859 days ago Michelle and I went out on our first date, Dinner at Pizza Hut and a movie were on our agenda.

* 1,082 days ago I proposed marriage.

* 619 days ago she said I Do and we became man and wife.

* There are only a mere 253 more shopping days left until Christmas, never too early to start.

* 145 days until we set sail once again to the Carribean. I'm more than ready to get on the boat for a week.

* 93 days until we join together with the rest of the Pittsburgh area Parrot Heads when Jimmy comes to the Burgh.

*  In 67 days we'll be partying down with Kenny Chesney at Heinz Field.

* In 66 more days, Summer will officially start.

* In 60 days I'll get to see an artist I have always wanted to see but never have when we go and see peter Frampton in Concert.

* At the Boston Marathon yesterday two bombs exploded at the finish line around the 4 hour mark. Two people died and scores more lost limbs in the explosions.

* The West Virginia Attorney General ruled that West Virginia University must rebid their Tier III Media rights for WVU Sports. It's been a real issue especially for local Businessman John Raese who has fought the University over the Tier III rights.

*  Looks like Michelle and I will be dog sitting once again on Saturday Night, my little buddy Little Rock of Love and Lilly will be staying with us once again.

* If you have not filed your taxes yet this year, you're now officially late as you missed yesterdays deadline.

* Anyone notice that the Mayans were still wrong and the world not only did not end, but it's still going five months later.

* Off to the trails.

* Hi ho hi ho

Another Workweek

It's time to put all of the fun known as the weekend on hold for a while and start getting back to doing what it is that we do that allows us to have the fun that we do. Buckle in, it's Monday and time to go back to work.

Michelle and I didn't get into too much of anything yesterday other than slow cooking some ribs on the grill. I think we were both hoping it was going to be a little warmer than it turned out to be. We did get a good start on the day yesterday so we were able to get a few things done around the house that needed it. yeah fun.

Now it's back to the grindstone for another week of work. I'm not thinking I have anything big coming up this week, everything is a little slow at the moment and getting ready to pick up. We have another Atlas that we will be starting if we haven't already started, those are always a whole lot of fun to do especially when you have the right crew working together.

Time to hit the trails.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Swing/Hammock

Here I sit once again in the early morning, I'm the only one in the household who has recovered from a losing battle with the sandman. I'm up early watching the movie the Candidate and collecting my thoughts.

Well yesterday went mostly as planned, we got our rings inspected, our propane tanks filled and the back patio cleaned up and set up, it was just that Lowes didn't have any starter plants so that was put on hold.

We did however buy another outdoor table that folds down so we can pack up and travel with it (three concerts this summer) and we broke down and bought something that we have both wanted for a few years. We bought a swing/hammock  that something tells me we will be getting a lot of use of this year. We've been wanting to get one the past few years, but most of what we saw wasn't really durable and pretty cheaply made. We saw this one and it was pretty well made, so we bought one and brought it home yesterday. Believe it or not, it fit in the Forester unassembled. We brought it home and put it together in no time.

We have a rack of ribs that we have had in the freezer since last year, it's time to break them out today and give our grill it's first good run of 2013, although Chad has used it all winter long it seems like.

Have a great day.

Weekend

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from a losing battle with the sandman last night. I'm up watching Fat Albert and surfing around the interwebs to get my daily dose of insignificant tidbits from yesterday (also known as sports scores).

Morgantown was given a real treat yesterday for AT&T iPhone 5 users. We now have 4G LTE internet service available to us. Phone internet speeds are very critical in allowing you to do things such as watch movies or video conference. There is EDGE Technology which is what you get in outlying areas. I equate it to the old dial up internet service with is only a few Kbs , slow and times out. Then a few years ago Morgantown got 3G which gave me speeds up to about 3Mbs. Then there is ATT's 4G network which is about the same as the 3G network for speed. Those on the data sharing network are on this network if they have the right phone. For comparisons sake there is my Hi Speed WiFi which gets me around 16 Mbs. I tested the 4G LTE this morning and I was getting  20 Mbs, faster than my High Speed Internet at home and I have the upgraded package. Usually we had to travel to Pittsburgh or DC like last weekend to get the 4G LTE, we now have it in Morgantown.

Got a few things were going to do today, mostly things around the house other a few simple things like having our jewelry inspected at JB Robinson's and getting the propane tank filled on the grill. The rest of the day will be cleaning up outside and setting up the patio for 2013.

Hey hey hey I'm going back to my movie.

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.

No running around for us this weekend, it's going to be a nice weather, but stay at home and get some things done outside kind of Friday. It's a good weekend to plant peppers, so we are going to try to take full advantage of the timing and weather. Now if I can just figure out a way to keep the deer away from my peppers I'll have it made. Last year they didn't cooperate with us and ate the pepper plants about the time they were starting to produce the peppers. This will be our third season for the raised back patio garden, the first two years worked out pretty well.

I came home from work a little early yesterday, I had an important phone call I was getting and I didn't want to be disturbed while I was on the phone. We'll see how it all went in a few weeks.

I've been considering taking some continuing education classes at WVU. They offer a number of courses and I may have one or two that I would like to take. Do I have have an ulterior motive, possibility but we'll do this one step at a time.

Speaking of, hi ho, oh no I'm off today/ =)

Have a great day.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of the pictures that I have on my computer, I like to select just one image, one lost moment in in time and relive it. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find one, and sometimes it's not so easy, then there's nights like tonight where I get home late because I was at a baseball game. It's still a lot of fun.

Yes I went to the WVU vs Youngstown State baseball game last night. I was sitting there thinking to myself, what photo will I use this week. I had no idea so I pulled out my phone and took this picture and said this is what I'm going to be using.

If you are looking for the results of last night's game (I came home in the 6th inning to write this and we were winning 2-1), look no further than right HERE.

WVU plays one more game in Morgantown this year, when on April 30th we play backyard brawl rival Pitt. Should be a good one to go to if you're looking for something to do that night.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's two days down once again, I have to say that went pretty quick. Now if you look up over that noon time hump, on the other side of a Photo Flashback you can start to see the dawn of yet another weekend off in the distance.

How do you like this weather that we have been having? Spring has finally arrived and in my opinion it's a little bit late this year.

I'm liking the warmer mornings, meaning I can get outside in the early morning and hit the trails at work to get my cardio in. Treadmills can be very useful in the Winter, but give me that fresh air and the sound of birds a singing and I'm the most happiest.

I still have not lifted in about a month now, shoulders are still torn up, but they are getting rested. Maybe I'll start back next week with my routine or even switch it up a little bit, I'm not sure just yet. I know I needed some time off to allow my body to heal a little bit and it has been slowly but surely.

The past few months, Michelle and I have been ordering stuff from Schwans, they offer a lot of great products and we have ordered anything from Orange Roughy to Ice Cream Cones from them and have yet to be disappointed. They'll deliver over here on Thursday, I placed our order last night.

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, Can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,852 days since Michelle and I went out on our first date together. A little over five years ago this wonderful woman came into my life to be with me.

* 1,075 days ago I bought her a diamond ring and got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* 612 days ago we entered into marital bliss.

* There are 260 days left until Christmas. It's never too early to get a good start on the holiday season, make it a little less financially stressful when the season actually does get here.

* 152 more days until our cruise, Michelle worked her magic and got us an additional $30.00 of on board credits. So far we now have $308 of on board credits we can spend. We're going to be much more prepared this year and do it at a much cheaper cost after learning a few tricks.

* 100 days until we party down with Jimmy Buffett and the rest of the Pittsburgh area Parrot heads.

* 74 Days until we go and see Kenny Chesney and sing a little Summertime.

* 73 days until it is Summertime.

* 67 days until we go and see Peter Frampton in concert.

* We're talking about possibly planting our patio garden this weekend. The temperatures are warmer and we saw the Burpee truck at Lowes last week.

* With us doing the garden this weekend and with the nice weather we're having now, I think we're going to clean up the back patio this weekend and get it ready for the Summer.

* Never underestimate the entertainment value of Silly Putty. =)

* Hi ho hi ho

Back at It

Abby and Michelle at Vietnam Wall Memorial in Washington, DC

It's time to stop all the fun and it's time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of work. The fun times are over with for a few days, it's time to get back to being serious.

I do have to say that Michelle and I had a nice weekend, the trip to Washington DC while very tiring was also a lot of fun and relaxing. I think I figured out that we walked about 5.5 miles not including what we did inside of the buildings. Michelle got her first taste of Washington DC rush hour Metro Traffic, not what I call a vacation but we both enjoyed ourselves with all of the excitement.

We did run into her niece Abby at the Vietnam Wall as you can see in the photo. Her school is down there performing for something and I don't think they left until last night.

I'm starting to love the fact that we are finally getting a little bit of the Spring Time weather around here. I woke up yesterday morning and saw that the daffodils were finally in full bloom here. We had the door open most of the day just letting that fresh Springtime air come into the house. It's calling for nicer weather all week.

Oh well, so much for the fun, back to the grindstone.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Terri Beth Rehmani

Happy Birthday Terri

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my very beautiful Sister Terri Beth a very Happy Birthday today.

I am fortunate to have a sister like Terri, one that has always been there for me no matter how low my life got, one that picked me up and fulfill your life's dreams at a time that my life was at a lowpoint.

I am fortunate to have a sister that is thought of very highly by about anyone who ever has come into contact with her, people seem to congregate to where she is to spend time with her.

Not sure what her plans are today, she is still quickly and amazingly recovering from her surgery a few weeks ago. If you see this amazing woman today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish her  a very Happy Birthday.

Tired

To say that both Michelle and I are tired and worn out from yesterday is a bit of an understatement. Both of our feet are worn and tired as we did everything on foot yesterday from Metro Central.

We started out by going to see the White House. We saw both the front and back and the parks on both sides. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial where we ran into Michelle's niece Abby as she was there on a school field trip. We saw the reflecting pool and the Korean War memorial, we tried to visit the Tidal Basin and see the Cherry Blossoms but they had not bloomed yet so we were out of luck.

We visited the World War II Memorial and walked by the Washington Monument, but it has been closed due to structural damage it suffered from the earth quake a few years ago.

We got tickets and attempted to go to the Holocaust Museum, but our tickets were for four hours later, so we decided to move on and try to return if we were near there around that time. It's something we would like to both see, but that will have to be the next trip here before we can do that.

We did make it to a couple of the Smithsonian's Museums. The Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural history. Both places were very fascinating, but by late afternoon we were both getting a little bit tired and decided to go back to Metro Central and ride the train back out to Shady Grove.

It was a full day, I told Michelle we will have to come down a few more times as there is just too much to see in one day. We could have taken a tour bus, but we wanted to be there and experience it rather than just drive by it.

We'll be heading back home later this morning and are talking about stopping by the outlets in Hagerstown first, but we'll have to see how she feels first.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

National Mall,  Washington DC

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. For us, we're already off and we are in Washington DC today.

We're taking an extended weekend, we drove down to Gaithersburg Maryland last night and are planning on spending today at the National Mall in Washington DC. The Cherry Blossom Festival is our main agenda for the day, but we'll be hitting the Smithsonian and a few sights around town before heading back to the hotel this evening.

We have our gnome with us today and we'll be taking a few pictures using it as a prop at a few places around DC. I'm kind of hoping Barrack will come out and pose with our gnome, but he's probably going to be a little bit busy. =)

Have a great day, we will.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Geocaching

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to look through all of the pictures that I have stored on my computer. Lost moments of time that were captured for a split send of time to be recalled and remembered forever, or as long as someone wants to look at them. I like to select just one of those lost moments in time and reflect upon it in my blog. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not so easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks photo takes us back a few years, back to when I was teaching Michelle how to geocache and we still didn't completely understand the ratings system. We chose one called Pedlars Glory that was out towards Cassville. It was up on top of the Mountain that overlooks my sister Pam's house, as a matter of a fact I called them from there and George guessed where I was somehow.

Anyways we had to work our butts off to get up that hill, especially with the route we chose (straight line up) and the rain from that day. Probably the most miserable conditions we have used to find a cache, but it was one that was a lot of fun. I figured if Michelle would stick by me after a date like that, she might be a keeper.

Have a great day.

Hump Day

Hump Day

Well we've made it through the first two days of the week, now if you look on the other side of that noon time hump, just on the other side of today for Michelle I, you can see the dawn of mine and Michelle's get away weekend.

I know we are both excited about actually getting away for a while and not just a day trip and back the same day. My guess is we'll pack tonight and then head out early Thursday afternoon heading to Gaithersburg, MD to stay for a few days. We can both use a get away weekend, it's been seven months since we came back from our cruise last year and this will be a nice little past midway break for both of us.

Now Michelle and I need to sit down and plot out a strategy of what we want to see in DC and plan on that, and then come up with plan B if it is raining, but we both know that plan B will be the Smithsonian Institute. I would call that a pretty good plan B for us, as both of us have talked about going there.

Have a Great day.

Hi ho hi ho

The Real Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well the real Monday now officially IS behind us and we really are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I still can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* All the numbers I used in yesterdays blog were just made up. None of them were real, due to it being April Fools Day.

* It's been 1,845 days since Michelle and I went out on our real first date.

*  It was 1,068 days ago that we became engaged.

* 605 days ago in front of our closest friends and family we exchanged our wedding vows.

* There are only 267 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* In 159 days we set sail once again to the Eastern Carribean. Summer will be winding down then, but we have a few things we're doing this summer.

* It's 107 days until we party down with the rest of the Pittsburgh area Parrot Heads.

* Kenny Chesney concert is 81 days away.

* Summer is a mere 80 days away.

* In 74 days we're going to go and see Peter Frampton, someone I have always wanted to see.

* WVU Baseball will be playing host to Marshall this evening at 6:00 at Hawley Field and it is Dollar Night meaning admission is just a single paper George Washington.

* Congratulations to Jedd Gyorko who got his first Major League hit yesterday. A double in the sixth inning.

* We're still dog sitting for a few more days, when Michael and Ashley get back we're going to be heading east.

* Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* It's been 1,388 days since Michelle and I had our first date a few years ago.

* It was 973 days ago that I proposed marriage to Michelle.

* It's been 499 days since Michelle and I exchanged our wedding vows.

* There are only 412 shopping days left until Christmas, it's never too early to start.

*  In 204 days we set sail on our cruise.

*  It's only 133 days until we see Jimmy Buffett.

*  102 days and we'll be partying down with Kenny Chesney

*  12 days until we go and see Peter Frampton.

* I heard on the radio last night that Jim Croce is going to make a second version of his secondary song Bad Bad Leroy Brown.

* Sonny and Cher are going to do a reunion tour later this summer, I may have to go see this.

* I saw on the news where they are talking about Opening the Hills Department Store back up in Morgantown, I really miss that place and enjoyed shopping there.

*  WVU Hospitals has been sold to Wal-Mart, prices will be reduced and so will all the salaries of all the employees. Doctors will now be making $11.00 and Nurses $9.00 an hour, everyone else will be on minimum wage. Wal-Mart will lower health care costs.

* Might want to check your date. =)