Goodbye 2013

January

* I attended some training at WVU for Python Geoprocessing for work.

* We all gathered together on a Sunday Morning to wish my Mother a Happy 70th Birthday.

* There was a waterline break up in our garage, the water worked its way downstairs into our hallway, fortunately there was minimal damage and it was caught early by Chad.

* I had my third and final meeting of my Career with Secretary Chu. He had moved on back to private industry and gave everyone a send off.

February

* My Old buddy Phil did not see his shadow, meaning that Spring was right around the corner. Looking back on the weather, I think he made that prediction based on my threats because that was one strange winter.

* For the first time in history, two Brothers coached against each other as head coaches in the Super Bowl.

* We first same "Sammy the Steeler Gnome"

* We booked our 2013 Cruise, we planned and booked our cruise for 2013, and we took the same cruise that we took in 2012.

* Pam and George McClain celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary.

* Jimmy Buffett Tickets went on sale for his 2013 Pittsburgh Concert. 

March

* It was March that my torn Labrums finally got the best of me and I stopped lifting weights on a daily basis.

* Spring did officially arrive on the Calender, but the weather was less than cooperative.

* We dog sat a couple of puppies from upstairs for the week of Spring Break.

* It was announced that Morgantown will be getting a minor league baseball team in 2015. 

April

* April saw both Michelle and I take an extended weekend to our Nations capital for the Cherry Blossom festival. We went at what was supposed to the peak weekend, but it didn't turn out that way. We did enjoy being there as this was Michelle's first trip to our Nations Capital.

* 4G LTE service became available to Morgantown residents. This increased the internet speed of us iPhone users and being that we have a friends and family share plan, we're able to do Facetime without a wifi connection.

* We purchased and assembled a nice swing/hammock for the spring and summer that never really arrived.

* A couple of morons bombed the Boston Marathon.

* The NFL Draft saw Tavon Austin go in the first round, Geno Smith.

* I retired my old computer and purchased a new desktop for me.

May

* We attended Trish and Joe Donaldson's wedding in Reedsville.

* I started using an ap that I use every day between multiple machines, and both mine and Michelle's iPhones. Evernote is my all time favorite ap.

* My niece Amy had a Thrity-One party.

* We upgraded Chads's iPhone for his birthday.

* We taped the Steelers Trivia Show, a show in which we finished third this time after winning it in 2008.

* Arron Hill Rosiak graduated from University High School and Michelle and I were in attendance. Trish had her airhorn and almost had it taken away (ROFLMAO)

* Shawn, a long time friend of Michelle's, came in from Iowa and visited us over the Memorial Day weekend. 

June

* We launched a new website for Michelle's business that she was going to get into, but that never really panned out. We still own the domain.

* We attended our first of four concerts that we would be attending in 2013. Peter Frampton at Stage AE in Pittsburgh.

* We attended our second of four concerts this year when we went and seen Kenny Chesney, Eric Church and the Eli Young band and Heinz Field.

* We attended the Rosiak Family 4th of July Pic Nic once again. I've went every year since 1997.

* Valarie held Erica and Josh's birthday party together at her home. 

July

* We had a really nice 4th of July Rib Cookout.

* On the Anniversary of Skylar Neeses death we went to the location that they found the body. Dave and Mary Neese pulled in right behind us and one of the girls whose name had been drug through the dirt was there. We did not want to intrude, we just were looking for the site.

* We had the Morgantown Hugh School 31st Year High School Reunion. The 30th went so well, we did a 31st.

* Twinkies returned to the shelves.

* Long time friend Linda Pinkney passed away.

* We attended our third of four concerts this year when we once again traveled to Burgettstown PA to see none other than Jimmy Buffett. Something tells me we'll be doing that one again this year. =)

* We traveled to Beaver PA for Michelle's Nephews wedding.

* Michelle welcomes the first of two new Nephews.

* I had my second Cataract Surgery. I had my firs tone in March of 2010. 

August

* Chad and Laiah moved out of our house and moved to Fairmont. He is currently attending Fairmont State University and doing very well. Hayley and Jared moved in as they moved out.

* Michelle welcomed the second of two new Nephews.

* We attended Steelers Training Camp as VIP's due to the KDKA Trivia Show.

* Bobby and Valarie Nicholson celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary.

* Hayley and Jared went to see Mumford and Sons. 

September

* The month started off with Michelle and I going over to my Sister Pam's for a Pic Nic.

* We took our vacation on the cruise line once again. Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport were the ports that we visited.

* We did eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Loved that place.

* Was snorkeling in Half Moon Cay and swimming with a school of Tuna and noticed a 4' Barracuda by my feet. Greatest time ever, highly recommend snorkeling on the Caribbean to everyone.

* We upgraded Hayley's iPhone. She had the 3GS so we upgraded her to the 5C, since she wanted a pink one.

* My Mother was admitted to the hospital with Chest Pains.

* Amy held Kaiden and Kynlea's birthday parties together at the Mountain Jamboree.

* WVU beat #11 Oklahoma State, our only high point in a disappointing season.

* A co-worker left for bigger and better things. 

October

* We had a Government Shutdown, I was fortunate enough that the shutdown never affected me ore anyone in my company since we are contractors.

* I purchased a ticket for the WV Grand Bash in October, but it was moved until January 18th.

* We attended our second Springs Festival this year with Smitty and Steph. It was amazing and it should be a yearly thing we do.

* Jean rolled her car on Summers School Road. She was fine, but her car obviously was not.

* Michelle had surgery on her foot.

* We took a mini trip to Moundsville, had some DiCarlo's Pizza and went atop of the Grave Creek Mound.

* We went to Jeans to pass out Halloween Candy. 

November

* Our dryer broke and we had to do laundry for a couple weekends in laundry mats until the repiar guy came with the part and fixed it.

* I renewed my Drivers License a little early, I decided to go with the National ID as opposed to the state ID.

* I converted my mom's old computer into a Linux Machine, I had a little trouble getting the wireless ton work but found a solution.

* Josh Judy sings with the Dodgers.

* We once again celebrated Thanksgiving with Michelle's family at the Cassville Fire hall.  They all went black Friday shopping, I stayed home and relaxed.

* We set up both our tree, and a tree for my Mom and Gerald this year. Everyone did a bulb and placed it on the tree for them. We'll do it again next year. 

December

* The month started off with a bang for me, actually it was the night before, but everyone surprised me and my wife fooled me by getting together and celebrating my 50th Birthday.

* Pam, Moke, Ang, Michelle and I traveled to Pittsburgh for mine and Michelle's fourth and final concert of 2013 when we went to see Jeff Dunham.

* We had two "Cookie Days" to bake our 2013 Christmas Cookies.

* We traveled to East Liverpool Ohio to spend our Ohio Christmas with Michelle's family.

* My little 6 lb buddy Little Rock of Love was hit by a car and broke his little Pelvis.

* Chad and Laiah bought a Subaru after their car had kind of went kaput.

* We spent Christmas Eve with my Family and Christmas Day with Michelle's. I made another video for our Christmas Eve.

* Bunky, Jeans long time tea cup poodle passed away on Christmas Day.

* I have written 417 Blog posts this year.

* See you on the other side of Midnight. 

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded Monday is once again behind us, the blue footed booby and the sloth are getting hammered already in anticipation for New Years, so I definitely can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* 2,117 days ago I had the opportunity to spend the evening with an exceptional young lady. Dinner and a movie were on our agenda.

* 1,341 days ago I proposed to that exceptional young lady.

* We entered into a state of  marital bliss 878 days ago in front of our closest friends and family.

* I have 6,544 more days to go until I retire.

* If you are looking to get an early start on Christmas Shopping 2014, you still have 359 more days until Christmas.

* In 218 days Michelle and I will celebrate our third wedding anniversary.

* Spring is a mere 79 days away, I hope they go quickly.

* Today is the last day of 2013.

* This is my 3,488th Blog post since I first started writing my blog going on ten years ago this September.

* We are planning being old and staying in tonight as we do every year. Too many drunks on  the road and neither one of us stays up that late.

* I need to check on my niece Val and her kids, she ate at Wings Ole yesterday. The last time I ate there I got deathly sick with food poisoning.

* Don't forget to check around 9:00 for my Goodbye 2013 Blog. This is my favorite blog post of the year to write.

* It's going to be a short day for me, so I'll see you on the other side.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back at It

All good things must come to an end, and that includes those fun filled things that we like to refer to as weekends. Now it's time put our noses back to the grindstone for another fun filled week at the office, this gives us the opportunity to enjoy ourselves on weekends.

It was a rather blah weekend for Michelle and me, she was a bit under the weather yesterday afternoon and I watched the Steeler game. I think she is coming down or battling the stomach flu that is going around. I seen a few people talk about having it on Facebook yesterday, so I just figure she's caught it.

It's going to be a workweek that consists of two days, off a day for New Years, and then work another two days followed by another weekend. So this week shouldn't be too unbearable.

A little heads up that I will be writing two blogs tomorrow. I'll do my normal Tuesday's Tidbits and it'll post at it's normal time just like it does every week. At 9:00 my "Goodbye 2013" blog posts, the blog where I reflect upon the entire year month by month according to my blog will post. I have been writing it overt the past week or so and it's about 99% complete, other than one final entry or two. It's my favorite blog post of the year to write and allows me to reflect upon my year. It's a must read, so don't miss it.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Once again I am the first in this household to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman yesterday evening. I've been up playing on the computer and realized, that I had forgotten to write my blog. Facebook had pulled me into that Zombieland of games and I forgot to write my blog.

For Christmas, my wonderful wife got me a SodaStream. That in home soda maker that gives you a soda how you like it and the flavor you like rather conveniently. I have to be honest, it was a little strange initially getting used to, it could have been that I was dispensing the CO2 incorrectly or the fact that the bottles still had some kind of a taste still associated with them that I didn't like, but now that I have learned to use it everything tastes awesome. I'm sitting here enjoying an awesome glass of cold diet orange pop and loving it. I have an awesome wife.

Once again not too much planned for today, although I did do a good bit of running around yesterday morning. We'll do our Sunday morning shopping and probably watch the Steelers and the Browns this afternoon. The Steelers have to win today AND get a whole lot of help from other teams to keep their season alive. Going into week 17 our playoff hopes are possible, I just don;t know how probable they are.

Have a great day

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the only one so far who has recovered from the losing battle with the Sandman last night. I'm up early watching Ted on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Hats off to Marshall University who beat Maryland 31-20 yesterday in the Military Bowl. I was actually cheering for Marshall over Maryland and Doc and company came through with the bowl win as we sit at home.

First time in a while that we have absolutely nothing planned this weekend. Might just be a relaxing weekend at home, I know Michelle has a big ham in the fridge and wanted to make soup beans and ham.

Now with Christmas behind us, it's time to start planning our 2014. The vacation, the mini trips and extended weekends, and what we are going to get as our joint gift for Valentines Day. I know I would like to do another cruise this year, we also want to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival again and maybe a trip to see her grandfather's gravestone in Ohio.

Update on the little rock of love, it's only been a week but it's hard to keep a good dog down even though he needs to be. He's wanting to get up and run around, but this tough little 6 lb dog was just run over by a car 8 days ago, so he still needs some recovery time.

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.

Actually I have been off the last three days, so this is kind of like my second one day week this week followed by at least a couple of days off.

I'll probably be the only one in my office today, but I'm going in just in case there are any fires that need to be put out. I doubt it due to everyone taking off for the Christmas break, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

For the first time in a while, there are really no plans this weekend for the Hall family. No Christmas Cookies to bake, no trips to make, no shopping to be done and it's a little early to take down our wonderful tree. It may just be a relaxing weekend, I know Michelle really deserves one as her she has been on her foot a little more than usual over the past week or so or few weeks for that matter.

I've started writing my year end blog, I do it a month or so at a time so that it does not become too tedious and allows me a little time to reflect upon my year.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas break.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and go through all of my lost moments in time that have been captured with a picture for all to remember. I have literally thousands of pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen from the internet through the years. I like to choose just one and recall that lost moment in time. Sometimes it's a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not so easy. It is however always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic comes with a heavy heart, Jean's long time best friend and teacup poodle passed away on Christmas Morning. He was at the vets and has been having some serious health problems as of late, but Yesterday morning he and Rich (also pictured) were re-united again.

I got the message yesterday morning as Jean asked if I had any pictures of Bunky, I did do a photoshoot with him and Gussy a few years back and it was just a matter of finding the album and putting the pictures up on Facebook. Looking for that album I found this little piece of gold.

Have a great day.

Merry Christmas

Here I sit, early in the Christmas morning up early talking with Santa Claus. We shared some cookies and milk and talked about his journey so far through the night.

I helped him out a little and reminded him who in our family was on the nice list and who was on the naughty list. I checked last night and Eric, Josh, Kaiden and Kynlea as well as Simba, my Mom and Abdul were all on the nice list. I checked them all with my phone ap and made sure Santa knew that.

Merry Christmas everyone, as you can already see I have my Christmas Eve 2013 video up and all the pictures up on Facebook. I got all of them up last night after we got home.

Our Christmas Eve started with a trip to Core and my sister Pam's. We visited with them for a while feasting on the foods that they had all prepared and shared a few memories together. I made sure Pam has her traditional Hot Sausage Hoagie for Breakfast this morning.

After leaving Pam's it was off towards Fairmont to visit my sister Terri and her family. We had a great time there as well and also participated in the Chinese Gift Exchange.

Today I'll watch Elf (on now) and a Christmas Story before we head over to Michelle's sister Chris's house to spend Christmas Day with her family.

Merry Christmas to All.

Christmas Eve 2013 Video

Christmas Eve 2013

Some of my family videos from Christmas Eve's past Enjoy.

2012

2008



I have the 2007 video on Vimeo

Not sure about 2006, I thought I did one.

2005 which is probably my favorite.




2004



1999 Which was my Dad's last Christmas




I would once again like to do another one for this year, time will tell though if I can get enough pictures and find that right song to tie them all together.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us and we are not only staring at a Tuesday, we are at Christmas Eve Day. The blue footed booby is on vacation this week, can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* 2,111 days ago I was blessed with having the first date with the love of my life. Lest we not forget though that 7 years ago today she stood me up on the first date. =)

* 1,334 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed to this wonderful woman.

* 865 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, we entered into the our marriage together at the Marilla Center.

* 6,551 days to go until I retire. Maybe I may work longer lol.

* 225 more days to go until mine and Michelle's third anniversary.

* 86 days to go until Spring. I'm not one for winter and I hate snow,  but an inch tonight wouldn't be all that bad.

* 7 days to go until my Goodbye 2013 Final Blog post of 2013. I have already set it up and started doing some of the formatting to write it. Now all I need to do is go back month by month and add the content of what I want to put in it. This is where the fun begins.

* If you need a count on how many shopping days left until Christmas, I would just simply like to point out it is not longer days and is now literally down to hours. It's Christmas Eve, if you haven;t started by now you're in trouble.

* Being that it is Christmas Eve, come back by around 9:00 as I will be posting my second blog of the day. I went back through all of the old Christmas Eve movies that I did and will be reposting them (they are all out there on the internet already and have been for years) at 9:00. Hopefully I can do another one this year, I need help with the music. Any suggestions?

* Tonight Michelle and I will start with a trip to Pam and George's house. This will be our first stop and then we will be heading to Terri and Nick's after we leave there to try to get some more pictures. Not sure what everyone else is doing, I know Val also talked about making appearances at both places. Hopefully I can gather some magical shots to use.

* Tomorrow we will be heading to Michelle's sister Chris's house to spend Christmas Day with them. It should be a fun filled couple of days between today and tomorrow.

* This is my 3,482nd blog post that I have written for George's Journal. I wonder if Google will give me a pat on the back or anything when I reach that 10th year as a blogger.

* Tomorrow Morning's blog will be a real time blog. In Other words, I'll post it when I get around to writing it unlike I do every work day when I pre-write them the previous day.

* For all you people wanting to track Santa Claus's travels today and tonight, NORAD has their Santa Tracker that you can use to track him.

* Ho Ho Ho Ho

Back to Work Again

All good things must come to an end, and that even includes the fun filled things that we refer to as weekends. It's time for some of us to stick our noses back on the grindstone while many others enjoy a nice relaxing Christmas vacation this week.

I'll be working today and probably off tomorrow with Michelle working both days before we both take off on HUMPDAY for Christmas. After that Michelle returns to work and I'm not sure what I am doing Thursday. I know I'll be back in the office on Friday however.

All of our pre-Christmas weekend schedule has now been completed (shampooing carpets, setting up tree, Concert, baking Christmas Cookies, Traveling back to Ohio and finally finishing up our shopping. I think in our immediate future it will result in taking down the Christmas tree and moving bedrooms to the larger one now that we are empty nesters.

Update on Rocky, he is taking all of his meds and starting to get around a little bit. Ashley is going to have to keep him in a pen during the day to keep him as immobile as possible, but Rocky is a firecracker of energy son that is going to be a challenge for a brief while. His underside has a great deal of road rash, but he is recovering. I guess a little road rash and a broken pelvis is a much better outcome than the alternative.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from last night's losing battle with that dreaded Sandman and I'm up watching something or another on HBO. Not sure of the name of the movie, but I'm not really paying attention either. I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day as I usually am at this time.

We did get the vast majority of our Christmas Shopping completed yesterday, a few more things today and we should be have our shopping completed for Christmas 2013. It started to get a little hectic yesterday at Wal-Mart so we finished up early and headed out.

Off to Big Kahuna's to visit my Sister Terri and for lunch. Believe it or not Michelle and I can split one of their small calzones and it more than makes a meal. If you have never eaten there, stop by you will not be disappointed.

I guess Chad and Laiah's car (from a couple of weeks ago) is toast. Many problems with the engine and they have decided to sell it which they already have. Someone bought it for parts and they have found a very nice Subaru (I love Subaru's) Outback in which they are purchasing Monday. Laiah travels from Fairmont where they live (by the college for school purposes) to Uniontown where her store is located. I think this Outback will make traveling much more efficient and safe. If they have any problems Slick (Chad's best friend) now owns the Sube Shop and Michelle's nephew Jeremy works there so they'll be covered with some Subaru specialists.

It's a chore day for us today, grocery shopping and laundry. I'm still trying to decide my workweek this week, I know I'll be working Monday and probably Friday, I'll most likely take Tuesday and Wed off, Thursday will be up in the air.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm the first to recover from that losing battle with that dreaded Sandman last night. I'm up early watching Identity Thief on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Had a huge scare yesterday morning when I was heading out for work. My little buddy Rocky (pictured here) had met me at the back door for treats with his sister Lilly as he does every morning and evening. As I was leaving for work he met me again at the front door (he is very affectionate and loving).

After I pet him again, he takes off around the house and I head to my car. Next thing I know he takes off straight towards the paperboy walking  down the road. I immediately start to call to him but to no avail, he runs right across the road and starts barking at the paperboy.

After a few barks and me calling for him the excitement is over with and he decides to return back home. We line on a very busy blind turn and not one but two cars were coming as he was trying to return back across the street.

He managed to dodge the first car coming down the hill as the two cars slowed to avoid him, the second car had almost passed and I heard that heart dropping yelp as the second cars rear tires managed to clip him. I doubt the second car even knew he hit him since he is such a small and petites dog.

The paperboy immediately grabs him off the street and I wake Ashley up while yelling for Michelle. Rocky was crying in pain and I was crushed. Michelle was off yesterday so she and Ashley took him to see Dr. Goff to see the extent of the injuries and if he had to be put down due to the extent of the injuries.

Rocky was VERY lucky and must have the nine lives of a cat. He does have a broken pelvis, some road rash and can only stand on one back leg. Diagnosis, he will make a full recovery, he just needs a lot of rest and about six weeks to recover.

Last night this poor paperboy (an adult) had went to woofs and bought rocky some treats (I buy him treats in bulk) and stopped by the check on him.

Rocky is back home, well on the road to recovery expected to make a full recovery, but it was a scare. That was my little buddy. All I had to do was sit down and extend my legs and he would immediately jump up and lay down on my upper chest.

I'm thankful that my little buddy will fully recover and it was not any worse than it was.

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.

That is for some of us, others like my wonderful wife are taking the day off so that she can do a little bit of Christmas Shopping today. Her and Hayley will be doing their running around today and doing the girls day out  thing. I know that Michelle is going to run up to Streets Store to pick up some Bacon, some whole hog sausage and maybe look around for a few other things. We'll vacuum seal it all up and put them in our freezer.

I will be finishing up my Christmas Shopping this weekend as well. It might just be an around Morgantown type thing rather than running to Tanger Outlets like we do every year. This will be the final weekend of Christmas shopping since Christmas is in the middle of next week.

We were supposed to have my Company Christmas Dinner this evening, however we tried booking a little late and every place was filled up and reserved, or at least all the places the owner of the company wanted to go as he put it. We did get our 2013 ornaments, it's what we get every year and Michelle and I love them, so we've added it to our tree. Our 2013 Christmas Tree is now complete.

Have a great day, my wife gets to sleep in and it's off to the office for me.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look through all the pictures that I either have saved, taken or stolen off the internet through the years. Little lost moments in time that I like to take a little bit of time to post up and reflect upon. I think it is good to step back and remember our pasts and where we came from, it's almost like a life therapy that helps us grow, and by sharing we allow the next generation to learn a little bit about themselves. Sometimes it's actually pretty difficult to find that one special picture and sometimes it comes to you naturally, one thing it always is however is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes back a little over three years (my how time does fly by) when Hayley was in her Senior year of High School. She did a play at the Metropolitan Theater with the group there for the play Sweeney Todd. I know she spent over a month rehearsing for the play and played the part of one of the town folks.

Michelle, Chad and I went to see the play during one of the nights it ran, as they actors were all running through the crowd in one scene Hayley ran right past us and stole Chad's hat without him having the first suspicion that it was going to happen. He's a hard one to pull something over on, but she managed to do it that night..LOL

She had a great time being a part of this cast, and I honestly expected her to have done another play or two, I know Michelle and I would have both been there to support her if she did. You never know, if she reads this she just might get inspired enough to put the time in and do another play. She never left character during the entire run, other than when she had the opportunity to steal her brothers hat.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

That's two days down now, now it's time to get up on your tippy toes and take a good long look. There, just past the photo flashback, can you see it? Look hard, it's the dawn of another weekend off in the distance, we're going up and over that workweek hump today. Woot Woot.

Well we are officially now one week away from Christmas Day. I know Michelle is going to be off this Friday and I'll probably take a few days off next week around the Holiday, to get an extended weekend or a very short work week. She wants to do a little Christmas Shopping and I think she is taking Hayley with her, so it'll just be a girls day.

This weekend when it does get here will be our final push for Christmas shopping before Christmas. Now that we have our carpets shampooed, the tree up, the baking done and now it's just the home stretch before Christmas. I already have the Hot Sausage in hand for Christmas Eve, so now it's just finishing up the rest of our tasks before Christmas.

I guess City Council met last night to enact a law that would prevent the Hot Dog Man from selling his products on High Street Late night. Why would you ask? These morons who own the Pita Pit (Pita Pitt or Putzes is what I would call them) downtown. They have seen my last nickel and I will now forever boycott them. I hope they lose their livelihoods like they are trying to do to this Morgantown mainstay. Boycott the Pita Pit(t).

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well I see the Blue Footed Booby and the Sloth are dancing around the house again laughing at me. That must mean that my Monday is over with and it's Tuesday. Can you think of a better reason to do a tidbits?

* 2,104 days ago Michelle went on our first date. Can anyone remember the name of the movie we saw? See if people have been paying attention..lol

* 1,327 days ago she obviously forgave me for that horrible movie, because when I asked her to Marry me in the middle of the night she said yes.

* 864 days ago in front of a small contingent of our closest friends and family, we made it legal.

* I've only got 6,558 more days to go until I retire, it's never too late to start the countdown.

* 232 more days until my third wedding Anniversary. I must be the only guy in the world that knows the number of days until their third wedding anniversary that you can't count the days on one hand.

* Only 93 more days of telling Michelle to stop doing her snow dance and we are blessed with my favorite time of the year, Spring.

* 14 days to go until my final blog of the year.

* 8 more days left to go Christmas Shopping, you still have plenty of time left.

* This is my 3,475th blog that I have written. My blog has come an awful long way since my First Blog post 9 1/4 years ago. If you would have told me then, that I would still be writing it today and my website would have faded away, I would never have believed you.

* Wondering if Mom was able to sneak in and get any more Christmas Cookies without Gerald seeing.

* Scales and Tails Reptile Store will officially be closing for business on January 15, 2014. I know Chad and John worked their butts off to get the store up and running after John purchased it from the previous owner. He's selling everything at 35% off of the marked price, so if you are in the market for a new pet, you still have time to get over there.

* Hi ho hi ho

Weekend Reflection

All good things must come to an end, and that includes the fun filled things that we call the weekends. The times when we get to go and do all the fun stuff. They do however end and we always seem to have to head back to the grindstone Monday morning to do what it is that we do that allows us to enjoy those weekends so much.

Mine was a good travel filled Saturday followed by a cookie delivering and nap filled Sunday afternoon. I took Mom, some cookies that we baked a couple of weeks ago and she chowed down on them from the get go. Yesterday afternoon was a lazy day with a fun filled nap before a wonderful dinner of surf and turf (Steak and Lobster) that we made for dinner.

Now it's back to work for another week. Michelle will be off Friday to do a little Christmas shopping with Hayley and we'll be doing the remainder of our shopping next weekend, the weekend just prior to Christmas. I know we're slackers, but what can I say, the bulk of it is done.

It's supposed to be real cold tonight, but don't despair as of now it's calling for the temps to be in the 50's this Friday. That and the fact that most of the students will be out of town probably by mid day Wednesday could make it a nice day.

Hi ho hi ho

Late Sunday Blog

It's a little later than normal for me to blog, I usually have already written my days blog by now, but we got in a little late last night and I over slept a little bit so here I am.

Had a great day yesterday, started the Christmas festivities in East Liverpool and yes there was plenty of snow in the area. The further north we traveled yesterday the more snow we saw and once we got there we got blanketed with some good, heavy wet snow. Of course Michelle was doing her snow dance on the way up, sheesh. Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow?

After visiting Michelle's cousin Julie for their Christmas, it was off to Calcutta to pay a visit to her Dad and spend a little time there. We were treated with meals at both place and our yearly Christmas Trek up North was once again memorable and once again now in the books.

Today we're back to doing our normal schedule, doing our Sunday Grocery shopping, doing laundry and the things that we do to get ready for the next week of working. A trip to Walmart and planning the rest of our weekly menu are what we will be doing once Michelle recovers from that battle with the Sandman that she is still currently recovering from.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover so far from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman last night. I'm up a little later than normal watching something or another on HBO. Some young comedians special from the 80's, but being these guys were taped so long ago, would they still be young comedians?

I did get an early Christmas Present from my wonderful wife last night. After doing months of research as to what camera I was going to buy, I decided against going with a DSLR camera and choosing one that was more fit to my needs. I was about to go with the Nikon D5300 but spoke to a Professional photographer at Thanksgiving and was told about all the hassle and expenses of a DSLR. So I decided on the P520 as it has almost everything I wanted in a camera.

The one thing that I wanted that the camera didn't have was wireless wifi access. Something that would allow me or someone else to view the photo's on a smart phone and the ability to instantly post them from my camera to the internet if need be. Enter the WU-1a, my early Christmas gift from my wonderful wife, a device that solves all those needs as well as allows me to remotely take pictures or zoom in or our when away from my camera and it is on a tripod or something. I did my research beforehand and found out that my camera is the only non-DSLR camera that was compatible. It was something that made my camera transition complete.

Other than that we are headed North today. East Liverpool Ohio here we come. I'm not sure what the situation with Chad and Laiah and Hayley and Jared are, Laiah's car is having some trouble so they may just play it safe and stay home this weekend. Engine is knocking and Michelle said Chad thinks it might be getting ready to throw a rod.

According to the WVU Calender, they are doing a strange finals week this week. Finals started Thursday and will run through Wed this week before breaking for Winter Break. So, my guess is by the end of this week that the students will be gone until Wed January 8th when the Spring (I love that word) Semester begins. I think Chad finished up finals this week at Fairmont State  so he may be done until January. Michelle said he had to hand in a finals paper this past week.

Have I ever mentioned I hate snow?

East Liverpool get ready, we're on our way 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.

Our agenda for this weekend is to do a little Christmas Shopping and head to East Liverpool, Ohio for Michelle's family Christmas. New location, new host and new day this year. We usually have this get together at Michelle's Grandmother Gigi's, but it's moving to her cousin Julies house and we're doing it on Saturday this year instead of Sunday afternoon. I sort of like that better since we stop at her Dad's after that before returning to Morgantown later that night. This year, we don't have to go to work the next day so we'll be a little less rushed to get back home.

I believe Chad and Laiah as well as Hayley and Jared will also be heading up as well, but I think everyone's going up in their own cars and going by their own schedule. I know the kids loved to go to the Hot Dog Shop, a place they all love to go to when they are in the area. It's a local thing, I guess for me it would be like going to Fairmont and not getting a Yann's Hot Dog.

Our plans for this evening, just going out to dinner and doing a little bit of Sam's Club Shopping.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all the pictures that I have either taken, stolen, or been given and that I have stored on my local computer and my external hard drive that I use. Little lost moments in time that were forever captured and in some times later shared with others. Sometimes this is an easy process and sometimes it's not so easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture comes courtesy of my Moundsville family. Renee Wolfe sent me this picture earlier this week and as soon as she sent it I knew right there and then that that was this weeks photo flashback.

The people you see in the picture are both now long deceased, but not forgotten. The man on the right was my Uncle Chuck and the woman on the right was my Dad's oldest sister Juanita or Booky (Boo Key) as I used to refer to her. This picture was taken from their home on First Street in Moundsville, and to be honest with you I can't put a date on it. My best guess would be sometime in the early 80's if not late 70's.

Juanita was the first one to introduce me to probably my one vice in life, soda pop, when I was a young kid. She would always drink a glass of soda (just one) every night. She was the one who turned me on to the carbonated sugary (I drink Sugar free diet now) addiction that I still have today.

Back in those days the family referred to me as Eddie, but Uncle Chuck always referred to me as Edderd. It was his little name for me. As strange as it sounds, it was Uncle Chuck who taught me me colors years ago. In a coloring book he took a red crayon and wrote red, a blue crayon to write blue, a yellow crayon to write yellow, a green crayon to write green and I think a black crayon and wrote black.

I miss them both dearly, and even took my wife Michelle to Moundsville a couple of months ago and showed her what I think was their house.

I would like to return there this spring to tour the Prison  and maybe even eat a little (or a lot) of DiCarlos Pizza if anyone might be interested in going.

Hi ho hi ho

Que the Camel

If you stand up on your tippy toes, looking just overt op that noon time hump, there on the other side of tomorrows flashback. Do you see it? Just over there you can see the dawn of another fun filled weekend off in the distance. Woot Woot.

My Lovely wife was in overdrive yesterday with that snow dance of hers. We didn't really get a whole lot of accumulation, but enough that her dad is throwing her out of his will due to all this white stuff she is causing. Come on Michelle, the man wants to go and play golf, let him play golf.

Erica and Josh were in a wreck yesterday morning on their way to school, but everyone appears to be OK. It was slippery out yesterday to say the very least.

Hopefully we have weathered the worst of this winter and it'll be warm and sunny for the rest of the winter. Have I ever mentioned that I Hate Snow. Is it Spring time yet?

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that awful dreaded Monday is once again in our rear view mirrors, other than the blue footed boobie and sloth teaming up and conspiring to learn how to cook bananas I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It was 2,097 days ago that my life changed forever, I had a date with this chic who took hours to get ready and we went to see a movie. The movie? 10,000 BC and it had to be one of the worst movies ever made, but the night was a life changer.

* 1,320 days ago in the wee early hours of the morning, out in the back yard after a sleepless night for Michelle, I proposed marriage to this wonderful life changer.

* 857 days ago, in front of a group of awesome people, we had a feast and exchanged our wedding vows. I have since had this piece of jewelry on my finger.

* 6,565 more days, that's all I need to get through so I can say I retire. Who knows though, I'll probably still do something, but that's 18 years away yet.

* 239 days to go until my third wedding anniversary.

* This is my 3,468th blog that I have written for George's Journal. I've written a few others around the web, but this was my first and my primary blog.

* Here is a monumental one for those of us who hate snow, cold and winter, there are only 100 more days to go until Springtime. I have to say, that is my favorite time of the year.

* 21 days to go until the final blog of 2013, and what a year it has been for both Michelle and I. Four Concerts, another cruise, and a trip to DC were all a part of our years highlights.

* You have 15 more shopping days left until Christmas. We are getting closer and closer to that magical time of the year, the only time when I do actually like about an inch of snow, but it needs to be gone in the next day or two after that.

*  I spoke to Pam through a couple of texts yesterday morning, they are wanting her to taker today off as well since her ankle hasn't healed yet. I tried to arrange for parking as close as I could, but we ended up with better spots from what I bought due to them just accepting our passes.

* I got some really nice deals from AARP yesterday. I got three $10.00 Gift Certificates for DP Dough  for $1.20 each and three $10.00 gift certificates to Daves Famous T&L Hot Dogs at the Morgantown mall for the same price each. So for $7.20 I got $60.00 worth of Gift Certificates around town. There were others available around town, and everywhere else, I just chose these to get started. Turning 50 has its advantages, those gift certificates and the cost of the membership just for this year I'm already bout $37.00 ahead and I'm JUST now getting started.

* There is a Winter Weather Advisory for the area today, calling for 2"-4" of snow in the Morgantown Area. Is it Groundhog Day yet? Phil, old buddy, where you at?

* If anyone likes ice cream, WVAQ still has a few 50% of 50% off Naticakes. That's 2, $25.00 gift certificates for $12.50.

* Have I ever mentioned before that I Hate Snow?

* Hi ho hi ho

Weekend Reflection

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately that includes great weekends. Now it's time to put our noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of work so that we can do the things that we enjoy doing.

The weekend started with a very good Jeff Dunham Concert, that included traveling in some less than favorable weather, but not to complain as we made it both there and back. Next time Jeff comes back to Pittsburgh, I would consider going to see him again, he puts on a great show.

Then came two days of making and baking Christmas Cookies, although most of the cookies we made the second day were for other people rather than for us. We made Arron and Layla's cookies as well as making a batch for Christopher upstairs, unless Michael gets to them first...LOL

Now it's back to another week of work and planning ahead to next weekend. We have something planned every weekend for the past month and it runs up until Christmas. Next weekend we are headed up North to East Liverpool Ohio to do Michelle's family Christmas's as we do every year. Fortunately this year will be on a Saturday and the burden has been removed from Gigi, Michelle's 92 year old Grandmother as her cousin Julie will be hosting Christmas up North this year.

Hi ho hi ho

Cookie Day Part II

Well we have one day of cookies completed, but we did get a little bit of a late start yesterday, so we did our grocery shopping last night and will do a second day of making cookies.

The dough that you see here is actually the dough to mine and Arron's favorite cookies, that is the famous butterscotch cookies that Michelle makes. We have a tray of them made, now we are going to do some for Arron and then move onto the spritz cookies.

We started yesterday by making Chocolate Chip cookies, and then went to the butterscotch ones before calling it a day.

It should be a nice relaxing day other than that, most of our weekend chores were completed yesterday, so now it's just time to enjoy a nice warm crackling fire and make the rest of the cookies.

One thing of note that I forget to mention in yesterdays blog. For those traveling north to Pittsburgh, the new exit/bridge going from I-79 North to the I-79/70 is now open and making the drive much easier. The old way was to go through that circle with all those rumblers and that big concrete wall that everyone used to hate, this make a much nicer transition and keeps traffic flowing much better.

Have a great day.

Cookie Day

Well here I sit doing a late blog, sitting in a quiet household just recovering from a ;ate night battle with the dreaded Sandman from last night. He got me a little late thanks to some 5 hour energies and laughing my butt off at the Jeff Dunham Concert last night. You were not allowed to take in any cameras, so there were no pictures. I think everyone had a great time, I know Michelle died laughing. It was a great show and he did not disappoint. We did get the chance to see the premier of a new puppet that he debuted last night. I don't think he even has a name for him and he was just starting to develop material for him yesterday. It's a puppet strung out on COFFEE.

On to today, as soon as Michelle gets up we'll probably head out for breakfast since it is a late morning and then do our Sam's Club shopping before coming home and setting up the real Michelle's Cookie Factory. Yes, it is the 2013 Christmas Cookie Day in the Hall Household. The day when Michelle makes all of her Christmas Cookies and I get to do the Quality Control work.

I see Jack Frost dropped a little bit of snow last night, but we hit the worst of it both heading North and coming South last night before and after the Concert. I have a fire in the fireplace all set up andf ready to go whenever we are ready for it.

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 today is the day, the day Pam, Moke, Ang, Michelle and I head north to Pittsburgh to see as Moke puts it, a guy sticking his hand up a puppets rear end. We'll be on the road this afternoon to the Consol Center in Pittsburgh to see famed Ventriloquist Peanut and his dummy "Little Ugly Jeff." WE also get to hear some of Walters infinite wisdom and we can not forget Achmed the famed Dead Terrorist.

This will be my first time seeing him live and my first trip to the Consol Center, and to be honest with everyone I never actually went into the Civic Arena in all those years it was there or was in existence. Hard to believe, but I never once stepped foot into that building.

I hope everyone has a great day, we plan on it.

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. Pictures I have storied on my computer or on Facebook that I like to look through through and recall the  where and when or what about that lost moment in time. I like to select one of those frozen moments of time and post it on my blog and tell a little story about it. Sometime it's real easy to find the right picture and sometimes it's not that easy. I do have to say though it is always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes back to the days of summers gone by, about 39 and soon to be 40 of them if you must know. A time when the Pittsburgh Pirates still had hope of me being their future second basemen and when Summers were much simpler.

It was the Summer of 1974 and our coach and a few of our players were making some trend setting fashion statements with their choices of lower half attire, since we all had to have similar shirts and hats.

This was a time BEFORE I had hair, back when I was originally bald all the time only this time it was by choice (but not mine) rather than being follicly challenged as I am presented today. Back when my bike had one gear and I had spent the previous winter laying around in a body cast due to a broken leg the previous fall.

This was the 1974 Citizens B team, the greatest Little League Baseball team ever assembled. Of course the numbers on the scoreboard behind us pretty much reflect our win total for that season but alas, we were headed up by the legendary coach Danny Murtaugh. Since he was busy with coaching that other team, we were stuck with Fred Powell of the infamous "Let Fred Smoke" Facebook page to lead us to an un-undefeated season where we wreaked havoc and actually threatened the other team with our comical shenanigans that we referred to as baseball. I did have a very rare unassisted triple play one game asd I was playing second base and caught a line drive up the middle (one out) stepped on second base to get the runner than was there (two outs) and turned around and instead of throwing it to our first baseman who couldn't catch, I ran the runner down coming from first to tag him for the third out. All by myself and all un-assisted triple play. The Pirates talked about calling me up to the Majors at that point, but I opted to stay fourth grade.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well if you stand on your tippy toes and look just over that noon time hump, just on the other side of a photo flashback, you can see the dawn of another fun filled weekend just off in the horizon.

We're a couple days away from going up north and seeing a man stick his hand up a puppets butt to make him talk, yes we will kick off this weekend with a trip to see Jeff Dunham in concert. I checked the ticket site and it it starting to get close to a sell out at the Consol Center.

I was playing with my new camera a couple of days ago and realized that this thing has a number of features that I was unaware of previously. It could take my picture taking to a whole new level and I didn't have to purchase a DSLR to get there. I'll have to really learn how to use this thing to optimize it. Something tells me I'm going to get some great pictures Friday night that I will share.

Have a great day and some on Friday.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded return to work Monday is now behind us and we're staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, other than a blue footed booby and a sloth playing wii bowling I can't think of a better reason than that do do a tidbits.

* 2,090 days ago I was blessed with the ability to go out on my first date with the woman who would forever change my life.

* 1,313 days ago in the early early morning, I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to a wonderful woman.

* 850 days ago at the Marilla Center, using a chiropractor as the master of ceremonies, we tied the knot in front of our closest friends and family.

* 6,572 days to go (give or take a few) until I enter the world of retirement.

* I have 246 more days until my third anniversary with my wonderful wife.

* In 107 more days, it will officially be Spring. The winter months will be over with, the birds will be singing, I will have cussed the groundhog out once or twice and it will be my favorite time of the year.

* We have 28 more days left to go until my final blog of 2013 and 29 to go until my first blog of 2014.

* We have 22 more shopping days left until Christmas, so if you haven't started yet you have plenty of time and if you're done you did it too quick.

* In the final appearance of my blog, we have three more days to go until we head north and see Jeff Dunham this Friday evening.

* My sister Pam informed me that she has a stress fracture to her ankle. It was originally thought to be just a high ankle sprain, but it turns out to be much worse than that.

* We are now officially empty nesters, actually it was as of Sunday night, as Hayley and Jared have moved to their apartment on the other side of town.

* Stage AE is starting to announce their 2014 concert series.

* It's been a few days, I still think that WVU should fire Oliver Luck and Dana Holgorsen for that disgusting debacle of a season we just had. I don't really care for either one of them and wish they would both just leave.

* This is my 3,461st blog post.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work

All good things must come to an end, and that includes awesome Holiday weekends where we get a whole lot done. Now it's time to take our noses and stick them back on to the grindstone for the next five days.

I have to say though, it was a busy and eventful four day break for both me and Michelle. A huge Thanksgiving dinner and the money raised to do it again next year and it is already in hand. A Special Christmas tree for my Mother, one with a bit of a personal touch from everyone. Putting up our tree and getting the surprise of my life for a surprise 50th birthday party. And last but not least reaching that milestone of 50 years of age and becoming a full fledged member of AARP.

Hayley and Jared have spent most of the weekend moving out, they are staying at their new apartment, they are still gathering their stuff together and moving it to Westover. Meaning we are now empty nesters and it's just Michelle and I, not counting the two cats and the dog.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. It was one to remember for me and it included me finally making my decision on the camera I wanted and getting it. I was going to go with a DSLR, but opted for an all in one one that had all the features that I wanted and then some. I ended up choosing the Nikon Cool Pix P520 as it had all the features I wanted and then some. 42x Optical Zoom and the ability to geo-tag photo's were two of the biggest selling points. The other one I was looking at was the Nikon D5300 , but I could do all that that one did and then some for about $700 less.

Hi ho hi ho

OK. You all got me

OK, I have to admit that I'm not an easy one to get things by on. I'm usually pretty observant about the things that go on around me whether I give any indication of it or not. I do have to say that my Wife Michelle and everyone in my family got me.

I had no idea why Michelle wanted to go out to dinner last night during the WVU game, but it was a lost season so I said why not. We'll take Hayley and Jared out to dinner at the Golden Coral, no big deal.

What my eyes saw when I got there was a total surprise. I had absolutely no idea that my wonderful wife with the help of social media was about to hand me the biggest surprise of my life and the best birthday anyone could have asked for.

I have to admit that sometimes you look for things to write about on my blog. Me doing the countdown to 50 was just a space filler (sort of like my countdown to retirement) that helped me fill up my tidbits.I had absolutely no idea no idea that it would lead to a gathering of all the special people in my life that I love to help me celebrate it.

It was my best birthday ever. I even told Michelle last night, I have a good job and can get any material thing that I would want, a gathering of my family is not something that you can buy. I walked away with the greatest gift anyone could ever want, one that touched my heart one that made me feel like I was on top of the world.

Thank you to everyone who made this my best birthday ever.