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 myself, I have my week in and am using today for a Colonoscopy Procedure that I will have done today. I had to miss trick or treating last night in preparation for this procedure. Hopefully everything goes well.

Looking for a little High School Football action? Look no further than right here, tonight Clay Battelle travels to Notre Dame to play. Tonight is also the MoHawk Bowl, the crosstown rivalry between Morgantown High and University High and it takes place at Pony Lewis Field at 7:30 this evening. University High is on a playoff run and the Mohigans have probably had their worst record in 20+ years at 4-5 right now. I'm cheering for my Alma Mater, but something tells me that this is University High's year.

If you are looking for College Football action this week, Morgantown is the place to be. On the Mountainlaire they have set up Tent City, these are people hoping to get the best locations when College Game Day broadcasts for the second time from Morgantown tomorrow for our game with TCU. This will be our fourth game against a top 10 team this season and we have another one looming in two weeks with Kansas State. Hopefully this will be an exciting weekend in Morgantown.

Have a great day, I'm not looking forward to mine...lol

Oh no oh no

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through some of the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet through the years and find one special picture that stands out. Little lost moments in time from yesterday caught with a Cameras lens and relived right here in my blog. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that one special picture and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it consistently is however is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture takes us back to 2011, it was Mine and Michelle's Honeymoon and we went to Ocean City, Maryland for a few days. Every morning I would make Michelle get up and go down to the beach with me so that we could watch the sun rise over the ocean. An almost majestic view a it is something that I love to do (I'm 0-21 on cruise ships watching the sun rise due to clouds).

I believe that this picture was taken there our last day, right before we started to head back home. We wanted to see the sun rise one final time and that is when this picture was taken. It was an eventful week of run, run and more run for us, but it was a memorable honeymoon.

Hi ho hi ho

Wisdom Wednesday

* -40 Celsius and -40 Fahrenheit are the same temperature.

* The Ottoman Empire still existed the last time the Chicago Cubs won a World Series.

* It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose.

* Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

* In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world's nuclear weapons combined.

* Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

* The "pound" key on your keyboard (#) is called an octotroph.

* The "dot" over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

* If you passed gas consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

* There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

* No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

* A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

* A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

* There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

* The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."

* Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

* Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages them. (The suits or the astronauts?)

* Money isn't made out of paper; it's made out of cotton.

* The US interstate highway system requires that one mile in every five be straight. These straight sections function as airstrips in times of war and other emergencies.

* A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

* A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

* 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

* A strawberry is not actually a berry, but a banana is.

* During his or her lifetime, the average human will grow 590 miles of hair.....well not all humans..lol

* There are three golf balls sitting on the moon.

* The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."

* All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill. (I lost a $5.00 bet on this once.)

* TYPEWRITER, is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.

* I Hate Snow

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that awful and dreaded day of the week that we refer to as Monday is now over with and behind us. We're now looking straight ahead towards a Tuesday and you know what that means.

* It was 18,594 days ago that I entered this world for the first time. I have and do live a blessed life and I am thankful for each and every one of those days, good and the bad.

* 3,817 days ago I fulfilled a lifetime dream of mine and graduated from West Virginia University. I graduated with a Degree in Geography and an emphasis of Geographic Informational Science and have been fortunate to work in that field not only while in college but ever since.

* 2,418 days ago I took this special lady out for a night on the town, we went to see a movie and had a Pizza from Pizza Hut.

* 1,642 days ago I wanted to make that date a little more permanent and proposed marriage to this wonderful woman.

* 1,179 days ago in front of our closest friends and family at the Marilla Center, Michelle and I exchanged our Marital vows and became Husband and Wife.

* I have around 6,243 days or so, give or take a few hundred here or there until I enter into the world of retirement.

* In 282 more days Michelle and I will be celebrating our fourth Wedding Anniversary.

* In a new entry and countdown, my Niece Brittany will be joining me as an Alumnus of West Virginia University in 201 more days. I plan my cruises further out that that, so the count down is on.

* We only have 143 more days to go until SPRINGTIME!!!!!!

* In 64 more days I will write one of my favorite blogs of the year, it will be my goodbye 2014 blog and the final blog of the year. I will recall the previous 365 days of the year based on what has been written on my blog.

* There are only 58 more shopping days to go until Christmas. Time is starting to run out, but you have plenty of time left to do start and finish your Christmas Shopping.

* Only 34 more days to go until my Birthday, that will be one year in in my second half century.

* As I have mentioned before, College Game Day will be in Morgantown this weekend to do their broadcast. The students are coming up with ideas for signs to get on TV and draw attention to themselves. Something tells me that they are going to be very creative. Morgantown is going to be the place to be for College Football this weekend, I just hope the administration and local authorities become proactive instead of reactive in dealing with partying students. Set up a bon fire is my suggestion, give them a place to congregate to and celebrate and keep it off the streets of downtown.

* My weight has been stable as of late, I guess eating DiCarlos Pizza a couple of time and a couple loaves of bread from New Day will do that to the waistline. I'll probably lose some this week as I have to prepare for roto-rooter (Colonoscopy) this Friday. Jello and broth here I come.

* I went out yesterday morning and had frost on my windshield of my car. FROST. Arggghhhh

* Have I ever mentioned that I kind of hate snow?

* Note to self, make sure you get an early start and send Punxatawney Phil what ever he wants for Christmas. I know it's early, but it's never too early to start hoping for the end of Winter.

* This Saturday we will be finishing up our Fall Cleaning. It will be shampooing carpets that we used to do about three to four times a year for the first time since Sadie had to be put down. Maybe the frequency of it can now stop a little, good thing we own our own rug scrubber.

* This is my 3,830th blog post that I have written in the 10+ years that I have been a blogger.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end, and that includes those awesome fun filled things we cal weekends. Now it's time to put our noses back on the grindstone for another fun week of work and get back to doing what it is we do.

A little late announcement, Sherri had her baby on Thursday Morning, they are going to name her Albany, but have yet to fill out the paper work as to the spelling yet. Michelle and I stopped by yesterday afternoon to visit our newest family member and say hello. Mother and Father are doing well and have been released, Albany though was a little early so they are keeping her at the hospital for observation. She 5 lb 3 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long born at 3:00 AM at Monongalia General Hospital.

Well I said it was a rumor that may happen yesterday and it was announced officially yesterday morning. Game Day will be returning and Broadcasting from Morgantown this weekend. ESPN will broadcast their coverage from the Mountainlair plaza all day and evening Saturday. We will be playing at 3:30 when we take on #10 TCU in our bid to try to win better position ourselves for the post season. We are now bowl eligible and will be playing in a Bowl this season.

It's going to be a week of long days for me this week, I have a procedure that all 50 year old men have to have on Friday, so it will be an extended weekend for me after the Colonoscopy Friday.

I have to say that we had a very productive weekend around the home front this weekend. We're planning on finishing up the scrubbing and cleaning this weekend as we shampoo carpets and re-organize everything in the kitchen.

Have a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit yet once again, in a quiet household after a great nights sleep and a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman. I'm up early watching Me, Myself and Irene on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

It hasn't been announced as of yet, but going into Yesterday if we beat Oklahoma State and we did 34-10, if TCU beat Texas Tech and they did 82-27 and IF LSU upset #3 Ole Miss and they did 10-7 that Morgantown might be the site of College Gameday next week. All three things happened yesterday and we went from being the #2 possible game to possibly hosting Game day here as we take on our 4th Top 10 Program of the season as TCU visits town.

I don't think I have ever seen a year when we played 4 Top 10 teams in once season (Alabama #2, Oklahoma #4, Baylor #4 and TCU was #10 in last weeks poll and should move up) much less a potential for a 5th one on November 20th when Kansas State who is currently ranked #11 in one season.

I'm sure all Mountaineer fans will be eagerly anticipating today's announcement of where Gameday will broadcast from. If they come, this will be the second time that they have broadcast from Morgantown.

Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that we hear some good news today.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit on a typical Saturday Morning, I'm the first one to recover from that losing battle with that dreaded Sandman and a nice and relaxing slumber from last night. I'm up early (as always) surfing the net and capturing my thoughts for the day. I'm up early watching the movie The Aviator on Encore.

We have no plans for the day, we're just going to stay home and clean up the back room and the outside to prepare it for Winter. We're going to bring in things that need to be brought in and cover up and tarp the things that can endure yet another winter outside like the frame to the swing.

This afternoon we are going to watch the Mountaineers take on Oklahoma State at 3:30. We're coming off of a big win, the question is can they maintain that momentum and keep it going or was last week a beautiful and wonderful fluke? We'll have to just wait and see how things turn out for us today, I do have a little bit of optimism going into the game, but this is the Big XII and you never know.

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.

Looking for a little bit of High School Football action? Well the University High Hawks play host to Preston this evening at their home field in Bakers Ridge Road. Clay Battelle travels to Van this evening and last but not least is my Alma Mater Morgantown High who will host John Marshall this evening at Pony Lewis Field.

Well once again there are no real plans for us this weekend. It has gotten to that time of the year between the summer running around and the Holiday time when we have something planned it seems like every weekend.

I know I have to set a weekend aside next month to figure out when we are going to put up my Mom's Christmas Tree. Putting the tree up doesn't take long at all, but I would like to to invite everyone to do the personalized bulb again this year for 2014 to give the tree new life. I'm thinking either the 8th of 15th would probably work best for us.

I did do a little reading yesterday morning on why I tend to crave Carbohydrates when the weather starts to get cold. WebMD actually addressed it and what they had to say made a whole lot of sense. They seem to attribute it to Seasonal Affective Disorder which seems to explain a lot. I always said when I graduated I was moving to Cuba for one reason. I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this before on my blog, but I Hate Snow.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet somewhere and share it in my blog. Little lost moments in time that are forever captured through the lens of a camera to share here with everyone. Sometimes it's pretty easy finding that one (or two) special picture(s), and sometimes it's not that easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun. 

This weeks pic(s) come from back in the summer of 1999. It was the summer before I started college and my Father's last pic nic. He wanted to have a big family event at Marilla Park and we did just that. He was in a coma just a week before and snapped out of it all to help celebrate with all of us. A couple of weeks later he slipped back into it and passed away. This pic nic was a very special one for all of us. 

This picture is of me taking a picture of me taking a picture of my sister Terri as she is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her. Kind of a double flashback for today with the view from both the camera lenses as the picture of her taking a picture is at the bottom of this blog.

A double Photo Flashback

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's two days that we have finished, now if we can just get over this noon time hump and look off in the distance, we can see the dawn of another weekend on the other side of the photo flashback.

We have some special visitors at work today, so I'm quite sure that the secret service will be all over the place. Could make for an interesting day there. We did finally meet our new director Monday, but that was in an all hands meeting and it was her first time addressing us. My guess is today's special visitors will be here to learn about CCUS, but that is just a wild guess on my part.

Apple has already issued out there second update to the IOS operating system. IOS was presented on the launch, then 8.02 came out a little while later and Monday they issued version 8.1.  It has a few new features that were not included in the release of 8.0 including Apple Pay. Not sure how many merchants are using that, but the technology is now there. Good thing I set up fingerprint identification on my phone.

Has anyone been keeping up on the progress of Morgantown's new Baseball Stadium that is due to open up next season? Michelle and I stop by every Sunday, but you can also keep track of the progress with the webcam that they have set up. I'm ready to start watching some short league baseball this coming summer.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* I have been blessed to be on this earth for my 18,587th day.

* It was 3,810 days ago that I fulfilled a dream and graduated from my hometown State University.

* 2,411 days ago Michelle and I went out on our first date together, 10,000 BC and a Pizza from Pizza Hut. My life has not been the same since.

* 1,635 days ago I felt I made Michelle wait long enough, so I proposed marriage,

* We were married in front of our closest friends and family 1,172 days ago at the Marilla Center here in Morgantown.

* If you are making your Christmas Shopping list, you have 65 more days to fill it and get ready for Christmas, the season is starting to creep up on us.

* 71 more days to go, and a lot of time for content, until my Goodbye 2014 Blog.

* There are only 150 more days to go until Springtime gets back here. It can't come quick enough for me.

* In 289 more days Michelle and I will celebrate our 4th Wedding Anniversary together. A lifetime of incompleteness was fulfilled when she said yes.

* I have about 6,250 more days or so to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there. I hope by the time I reach that age, it will be a decision I'll have to make rather than one that was made for me.

* This is my 3,823rd Blog post that I have written for George's Journal. That's what  staying with it for over ten years will get you.

* As far as my weight loss, I've finally hit that 100 lb mark since Christmas and officially 85 lbs since May 22nd. I am in the home stretch but I'll have to change my diet next week to a low fiber diet.

* Turning 50 has it's disadvantages, I'm scheduled for a Colonoscopy  late next week. I have to start adjusting my diet this coming Monday for Fridays procedure.

* Valley Mart, across the street from my and my Aunt's store, was robbed at gunpoint last Friday evening around 8:15 PM.

* My niece Val needs me to come and look at her Computer this week, she moved it and when she tried to hook it back up it wouldn't start up. My guess is it is the power supply from what she is saying.

* Have I ever mentioned that I Hate Snow? Not that it has snowed yet, but I'm just putting that out there in case I've never mentioned it before.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work Kind of Monday

All good things, including those occasional interesting weekends that we have in Morgantown, must unfortunately come to an end. It's time to stick the noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of working to give us a means to enjoy the weekends.

First of all and lost in all of the excitement over the weekend, congratulations to Tom Barbao an old softball team mate of mine with the recourse teams. The and his team mates from Donora, PA won the age 35+ World Championship in Softball this past weekend.

Looking at my week ahead, it looks like a pretty calm week for both Michelle and I as far as doing any running around for Doctors appointments or anything of that matter. No birthdays coming up this week and no running around or any appointments.

I have spent a lot of the weekend getting the new larger iPhones set up. These are much larger capacities than we had before, so I was organizing and putting music on both mine and Michelle's this weekend. It's a work in progress so to speak.

Hi ho hi ho

It was a Great Day to Be a Mountaineer

Yesterday was a Great Day to Be a Mountaineer as the Mountaineers did it. They played against the #4 Baylor Bears and the Nations top Offense and #10 Defense and didn't let that intimidate them at all.

After a slow start including fumbling and being down 7-0 in side the first minute of the game, they did not falter and regained their composure and pretty much shut down that high powered Offense and had little trouble moving the ball against that shut down Defense while pulling the huge upset 41-27.

With the notable exception of the Punt Return team yesterday who continues to have problem after problem this season, we pretty much won every aspect of the game which included Josh Lamberts 54 yard Field Goal at Halftime.

When WVU wins a big game just like this, you know the mayhem around Morgantown is going to start just by looking at the find harry picture that I posted. Needless to say it was a pretty accurate assessment.

The Video is one that my niece Brittany was kind enough to send to me earlier this morning saying I should use it in my Blog, thank you Brittany for pointing this video out.

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, other than my wife Michelle waking up to use the restroom, I'm the first one to recover from that butt kicking I took from that dreaded Sandman last night. I'm up early with the TV off in the background (which is rare foe me) and thinking about going back to bed until at least the roosters wake up.

It is game day here in Morgantown as the #4 ranked and the nations most potent offense visits Morgantown today for a noon kickoff. I don't have any great dreams of grandeur today, I'm just hoping we can keep it close as they just completely embarrassed us last season. We are a lot better this year, but I'm not sure we are quite there yet, I'll be watching it from the convenience of my living room, HD TV and surround system rather than sitting out in the rain. I'm crossing my fingers and hope we play respectable, because the game last year was downright ugly.

Other than that we have no plans this weekend. Michelle has been running herself ragged and we just need a weekend at home to relax a little bit. No travel plans in our immediate future to speak of, but that can always change as we have talked about heading out to Amish Country in Ohio for a day in the near future.

Have a great day and try to stay dry.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Looking for a little bit of High School Football action? Well the University High Hawks will play host to Lewis County this evening. Clay Battelle will host Cameron in Blacksville and my Alma Mater Morgantown High will try to get back on the winning track with their last road game of the year at Musselman.

The Mountaineers will play host to their third Top 4 Team in the Country of the season when they take on the High Powered Offense of the Baylor bears tomorrow at noon at Milan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field. The Mountaineers are 4-2 on the season with our only losses coming to #2 Alabama and then #4 Oklahoma. This will be a stretch of murderers row as they play 3 straight top 15 teams and 4 in 5 weeks as Texas is the only game in the next 5 weeks that is not ranked, but lets not forget they have a 100,000 seat stadium and are the richest program in the NCAA.

No plans really for Michelle and I this weekend, might be a good day to just stay home and relax a little bit and watch us play a little bit of football. Like I said, you never know though, we might find something to get into..lol

I didn't get to see Michelle much yesterday, she attended the Taste of Home Cooking show after work with Pam and Jean.

Two weeks and counting, that is when I am going to have that dreaded procedure that every 50 year old man has to have. I still have to pick up my prescription of stuff that cleans me out, I guess I should start reading up on it before it gets here.

Have a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or just simply stolen off of the internet through the years. It's a quite large collection of events surrounding my life and the lives of those around me. Little lost moments in time that were and forever captured for me to share later. Sometimes it's pretty easy finding a special picture and sometimes I tend to struggle, it's always been a very fun blog to write allowing me to do a little bit of reflection.

This weeks pic goes back about 20 or so years. I'm pretty sure that I am at my Brother's place during the Summertime and we were all sitting around having a good time. I'm wearing a Camel's T-Shirt as I made the mistake of being a smoker back in those days. One nice thing was that Cigarettes are much cheaper than they are today...lol

I see Linda Pinkney (RIP) sitting in the background. Linda was always camera shy and always tended to avoid getting her picture taken.

I'm not sure who took this picture, but I recall it as being one that I scanned my my Sisters big tub of pictures that she has/had laying around. 

One thing people may notice and it would put to rest the notion that I never had hair. Look at me, with the grown out crew cut and even sporting a stylish mustache. I had a mustache for years, probably up until the mid to late 90's when I shaved it off and kept shaving it. The hair on top of my head however, it just seemed to fall out on its own..LOL

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Brittany Dae Cummings

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my very beautiful niece Brittany a very Happy Birthday today.

Brittany is a Senior at West Virginia University and will be graduating this may with a Degree in Communications after completing her Internship this summer at Disney World.

I'm not sure what Brittany's plans are for the day, I would imagine it will include attending class and working towards finishing her degree.

If you happen to see or talk to Brittany today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out to wish her a very Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Brittany.

Hump Day

I guess we can call that two days down, I only worked one of them but I was fortunate enough to have the day off. Now for the rest of you 5 day a week people, if you look up over than noon time hump, just on the other side of a photo flashback, you can see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance.

This coming weekend may be the first of a few where Michelle and I will not be traveling (as far as we know) and doing something. That doesn't mean that we won't pack up and head somewhere however, it's just that photographic time of the year in this area.

I have to say I'm really liking this new iPhone 6. Forget the fact that I now have all kinds of room for pictures, music and other things, I'm liking this Health feature that was pushed out in IOS 8 but you needed the iPhone 6 to use it properly. I was thinking about buying a fitbit or a Nike Fuel, but no need now. Health works with my LoseIt Ap and keeps track of all my steps during the day like a fitbit would. I did break down and get the Premium service for Lose it, it has been such a helpful tool during my weight loss that it was the least that I could do.

Speaking of my Weight Loss Surgery (That I have chosen not to have), I haven't heard a word from the Hospital in relation to it. They have called Michelle and have scheduled hers, but I have yet to have the privilege of telling them thank you, but I'm accomplishing this without it and will opt out.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well my three day weekend is now over with and I have to return to work today, can't think of a better reason that that to do a tidbits.

* This is my 18,580th day on this earth. I wake up every morning and consider myself lucky that that number continues to grow and I'm still in good health.

* 3,803 days ago I fulfilled a lifelong dream when I graduated from West Virginia University. It was something that I always wanted to do, but never quite got around to starting until I was 35.

* 2,404 days ago my life changed forever. I had met this girl a number of years previously and was attracted to her, there was just something special about her, only problem was she was married and had two young kids and I'm not a home breaker. Scan ahead a number of years and our paths cross again and I ask her out, to be stood up. I did manage to get her out for a night on the town and my life changed from that point on.

* 1,628 days ago I had made her wait long enough, I bought our engagement ring and got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* 1,165 days ago in front of our closest family and friends, we exchanged our vows and became husband and wife.

* There are 72 more shopping days left until Christmas, if you haven't started, it's time to at least to start to think about it.

* In 78 more days My Goodbye 2014 Blog will post, my previous year according to my blog and relived in one final blog for the year.

* We are 157 days away from my favorite time of the year, SPRINGTIME!!!!!

* I'm 296 days away from mine and Michelle's fourth Wedding Anniversary.

* I've got about 6,257 more days to go give or take a few here or there until I enter into retirement.

* This is my 3,815th Bog post for George's Journal. I've been blogging my life away daily for over ten years now.

* This Thursday Michelle will be attending the Taste of Home Cooking School  at the Morgantown Events Center. Pam, Jean and Michelle have done this together a couple of times in the past and will once again be doing it this year.

* With my day off yesterday I went to do a little bit of shopping. On the clearance rack for $19.99 was a dress jacket I almost bought at full price a couple of months ago, but hesitated because it didn't fit then, but it does now and it was marked $100 cheaper than I was going to buy it then. Yeah Me!!!

* I did manage to get Fools Parade DVR'd a couple of nights ago. It was filmed at a facility we visited this past weekend and my Aunt Juanita was an extra in the movie at the Courthouse. I glanced through it and did find her as I knew she was dressed up as an older woman at the time. I managed to pick her out rather quickly. Yeah Me again!!!

* There was another movie filmed there a coupe of years ago called Out of the Furnace, it's available on Netflix for you subscribers. The Official Trailer.

* Weight Loss is good, down 83.7 lbs since May 22nd and 98.7 lbs since Christmas or New Years. I still have a ways to go, but progress has been made and people are puling me over and commenting on my weight loss. Makes you feel pretty good about yourself. Yeah Me once again!!!

* We tried our first attempt at making our own Hot Sausage this weekend, I think it went pretty well and the sausage while hot sausage, has a lot of lot calorie turkey, green peppers (from Springs) and Onions in it as filler. It's a different taste, but one that is a lower calorie option and spiced up how we like it. Yeah Michelle for your innovation.

* We got our new iPhones last night. We both decided to go with the regular iPhone 6 rather than  the 6 Plus, partially because they had the 6's in stock. We did upgrade in capacity, we both had 16 GB phones and all they had in stock was the 128 GB phones, so we chose those. I was running out of space on the 16 GB, we will be good to go now.

* Hi ho hi ho

Columbus Day

I'm one of those lucky people who get to stretch my weekend out for one more day as we celebrate the Federal Holiday Columbus Day today. Which means I get to stay home one more day and enjoy one extra day to my weekend.

Michelle on the other hand has to work today, as her company as does a number of even Federal Contractors don't recognize this day as a Holiday, so it shouldn't be knock against any company doing business.

Since Michelle is working, I'll be honest I have no real plans for the day. Maybe to head out and see what kind of sales I can find, since many of my clothes were purchased for a much larger version of me. It's time to begin downsizing my wardrobe a little bit (yeah me).

Yesterday we tried to use our Meat Grinder and Sausage stuffer for the first time. This is our first attempt and we made our own recipee that included ground turkey and a Pork Shoulder that we ground up. I had been reading that a common mistake people make is to not get enough fat that causes it to dry up, so Michelle used 50% Turkey and 50% Pork Shoulder and her secret recipe of spices to grind, Mix and finally make links. Our first link (middle piece, was a very bad trial and error that we later ended up fixing for dinner last night after we let the air out, the rest we portioned out, vacuum sealed and stuck them in the freezer for future meals.

I will admit we are beginners at this, and we learn by trial and error, but ultimately we have a high quality Hot Sausage that has many less calories that traditional hot sausage and we were able to season it the way we season it. The little bit we had for dinner was delicious, like I said this is going to be trial and error until we do get it right.

I hope everyone has a great day

Sunday Morning Rambling

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to awaken from that losing battle with that undefeated Sandman last night and am up early watching Semi-Tough on HBO looking at some of the last scores from yesterday in college football action.

Speaking of College Football, I did manage to catch the final 5 or so minutes of the WVU game against Texas Tech where we won on a last second 55 yard Field Goal 37-34. We were sitting at DiCarlos (I ate waaaaaaaaay too much) at the end of the game, so I got to see WVU score the final 17 points of the game.

Our tour of the Moundsville Penitentiary  went well. Our tour guide did a great job and told numerous stories of the prison and about a number of the inmates. I was kid of surprised to find out 998 inmates had died while at the prison, either by Capital Punishment, old age or they were just flat out murdered by other inmates for one reason or the other.

We did find the new Hobby Lobby and the new Field and Stream store in Washington PA. I really liked this Hobby Lobby, but the one up in Robinson Township was a little bit bigger, although I highly recommend this one if you are into crafts.

Today is going to be a typical Sunday for us, shopping for the week and Laundry as we prepare for another work week, although tomorrow is a Federal Holiday and I'll be able to extend mine one additional day. The Steelers play the Browns at 1:00 this afternoon (I love 1:00 games), so I'll probably watch that game this afternoon.

Have a great day.

Traveling Kind of Day

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman and I'm watching Reel Steel on FX and collecting my thoughts for the day.

We have decided to make this a travel day and we are heading to Moundsville, West Virginia to visit and tour the Penitentiary. We were there last year and decided that we were going to return this year, but it's not until today that we actually making it back. It's a facility that I have always wanted to tour, as I had an Aunt and Uncle who lived just a few blocks down the road.

There are a couple of other places we are talking about visiting today, one is going to be Cabelas where we are going to stop and see what kind of spices and casings they have for making sausage. I bought a meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for the Kitchen Aid last weekend we are looking for a few supplies and tips to be able to use it.

A trip to that area would never be complete without a stop by Dicarlo Pizza, but I think I'll limit it to a slice or two rather than half of a pizza. I'm doing good on my weight loss and don't want to get off track.

Speaking of my weight loss, since May 22nd I'm down 83.7 lbs and I'm down 98.7 lbs since Christmas. I've still got a way to go, but I'm still focused despite my intention to enjoy myself with a little bit of pizza this afternoon. Just for the record, my BMI when I went to my first diet class in May was 43.51 and today it is 31.84. What has this done for me? My A1C in June was 10.4 and I was on 92 units of insulin. My A1C earlier this week was 5.4 (5 whole points drop in a few months and eliminated insulin completely with no other meds). I'm getting there, I'm just not there as of yet, but I'm getting there. I think I can spare a slice or two of pizza today. =)

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 and a Three Day Holiday Weekend for me!!!!!!!

First off I would like to wish my Nephew Moke and his lovely wife Ang a very Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary today. It's hard to believe that that was four years ago. Definitely a couple of my favorite people.

Football? Well, not unless you want to travel this weekend because all three local High Schools are traveling and the Mountaineers are traveling as well tomorrow.

We do have some plans for tomorrow, Michelle and I will be traveling to Moundsville once again to visit and tour the old State Penitentiary. We were there last year and knew we wanted to make it back to tour the facility this year. It was something we talked about doing in the spring, but it looks like we'll be making the trip tomorrow instead. I have always wanted to tour that facility as my Aunt Juanita and Uncle Chuck lived right down the street from it when they were with us. I can remember visiting them a few times and visited the Mound, but the Pen was a Pen then.

Hi ho hi ho

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to reflect and look at the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or just stolen off of the internet through the years. Little lost moments in time that I like to relive here and share with everyone. Sometimes it is pretty easy to find that one special picture and sometimes it's not very easy at all. It is however always a whole lot of fun and very enjoyable for me.

This weeks picture does go back quite a few years, back to Christmas Eve 1977. My Grandfather had passed away earlier in the year and me and my Grandmother (shown here) went to my Dad's house for Christmas. This was our first Christmas eve without my grandfather and the first one that we had ever spent away from home.

Grandma Hall always hosted Christmas eve and I have some of my fondest Christmas memories with her and my Cousins Sharon and Lynne. However this year was different, and Grandma and I made our way to my Dad's.

For me this was my best Christmas ever as a child gift wide. I had wanted a mini-bike and my dad bought me a brand new 1978 Yamaha DT 100 Enduro that looked exactly like this one, although this is not the one that I had and I just happened to find this pic on a google internet search, but that is another story.

Going back to the picture though, I am pretty sure that this was the last Christmas Grandma Hall was "Healthy" and still functioning day to day, the next year may have been also, but she had had a few strokes and her health was slowly starting to diminish at this point.

She would be with us for two more Christmas's, but this was the first Christmas Eve that we had that was not our traditional Christmas eve. Life started to drastically change for me at this point as my innocence of youth was going away and the person who was my everything's health was starting to diminish.

We all have lost days in our lives that we would love to revisit, this is one of mine for many reasons.

Wednesday Wisdom

Wisdom comes in many forms, some times it's just little cute sayings that get our attention, sometimes it's a picture that makes us think and look at things a little differently. Sometimes it's the obvious that we just don't see and sometimes it's just a little look. Wisdom is all around us, we just have to be perceptive and pay attention to our environment so that we can grow as people.

This week I'm taking it in a different direction, a way that maybe will open some peoples eyes in this day of convenience. Enjoy

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded thing that we call Monday is once again behind us. Now we are looking ahead at a Tuesday and I still can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* 18,573 days ago about the time that this blog is actually posting, I entered the world and began my long journey that has gotten me to where I am today.

* 3,796 days ago I officially left he world of being a college student and became a West Virginia University Alumnus.

* 2,397 days ago I had the pleasure of taking a young woman who was widowed a couple of years earlier out on a date. It was Pizza and a horrible movie, but she must have forgave me for the horrible movie choice.

* 1,621 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to this special woman.

* 1,158 days ago because she said yes to the earlier bullet we tied the knot and became husband and wife.

* There are only 79 more shopping days left until Christmas, if you haven't started yet, you still have time.

* In 85 more days I will post my Goodbye 2014 Blog, the post that relives my previous 12 months according to my blog.

* We are a mere 164 days away from Spring. Yes, I am counting because in case I have never mentioned it before, I hate snow.

* I have 303 days to go until mine and Michelle's Fourth Wedding Anniversary.

* I have about 6,264 more days to go until I hit the world of retirement, give or take a few hundred here or there, unless I win the Powerball Jackpot, then that number will be drastically reduced. I guess I should play...lol

* This is my 3,808th blog that I have written for George's Journal in the over ten years that I have been a blogger and shared my life with everyone. I guess if you are going to leave a mark and create a history this is a good way to do it.

* If we can get enough interest, Michelle and I were talking this weekend about renting a passenger van and heading out to Amish Country in Ohio for a day. This is just a feeler to see who or how many may be interested in making a day trip out there with us. I figure if we get enough people and renting say a 15 passenger van, that it would make the day more enjoyable for everyone.

* Being that we are starting to start to get into the Holiday season, I'm planning on putting my Mom's Christmas Tree up again in November. I will be asking all who want to participate to make a 2014 personalized ornament to go with last years ornament to give this years tree a second year of life. It went pretty well last year and I know they both enjoyed it. I am once again extending an invitation for all who would like to participate to do so.

* I meet with my regular Doctor this morning, I'm sure he will wonder where the rest of me is as I have lost a great deal of weight since he has last seen me.

* I have to come up with some targets and goals for the next few months so I can have more count downs on my blog. I've done the concert, cruise, Steelers game and even the Springs Festival. It's time to get those creative juices a flowing.

* Speaking of nothing to do, this would be a real good time to start doing the Hall Family Tree again. The weather is going to start getting bad and the days are going to start getting shorter. Might be a good winter project to work on.

* Washington PA has opened their new Hobby Lobby, might be time to make a trip up that way.

* A disturbing fact that I learned over the weekend, this past weekend was the first weekend in my lifetime that there were no Saturday Morning Cartoons. I think back to my childhood and all the great shows that I grew up on, shows that I still remember today and ask myself. "Where did we go wrong to end up at this point?" Saturday Morning Cartoons are fond memories many of hold, this generation will never know that.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work

All good things must come to an end, and that even includes those fun filled things we refer to as weekends and love so much. It's time to put our noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of work.

I did buy our first attachment for the kitchen-aid mixer yesterday when I bought a Meat Grinder  and a Sausage Stuffer . I did my research over the past week and based on some very reliable advice, bought the one I purchased. I was going to buy the industrial one, but that would have been overkill and nothing we could have really used. I bought some sausage casings as well, so maybe we'll be making some of our own version of hot sausage this fall.

We cut up the head of cabbage we bought at the Springs festival into 3 different crock pot meals. The thing was huge and I should have weighed it before we cut it up and froze a good portion of it and threw the rest in the crock pot for dinner yesterday. It was probably almost the size of a basketball, and we even trimmed a good bit of it away. You have to love the produce you can get when there are a number of Amish prevalent in the area.

My week ahead has one Doctors appointment scheduled tomorrow. This is my 6 month follow up with my doctor and will be the first time he has seen me since I have dropped a great deal of weight. Since the last time I seen him in March, I have lost 90 lbs, so he may be in for a little bit of a surprise. =)

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I am once again, up in the early AM and the first one in the household to awaken, I just got up and don't even have the TV on yet as I'm contemplating going back to bed for a little while, but we'll just have to wait and see on that one.

Yesterday was a good day, we did go to the Springs Festival and met up with Smitty and Steph, we also got a good deal of vegetables and some of the infamous sauerkraut that keeps selling out each year. I've vacuum sealed what we bought and have stuck it into the freezer and will have it on News Years Day with a little pork. Sounds like a decent plan to me since I'm not a big sauerkraut person but I did try a little of what we bought yesterday and it was really good. I can see why they sell so much of it.

It was just a month again we were in the Caribbean and we got out of the car yesterday in sub 40° weather and the wind was just whipping. It was so strong that it made the wind chill quite uncomfortable. I'm glad I'm glad I wore a sweater and took a small jacket with my gloves in them, because it was downright uncomfortable.

Afterwards we went to the Whispering Pines store for a while, we absolutely love their furniture that they make or import form Amish Country in Ohio. Finished off our trip with lunch at Casselmans  before taking a drive up to Deep Creek to see the changing of the leaves up there. It's almost prime season, I would say give Western Maryland another week and West Virginia another week or better to reach that prime season.

We watched the Mountaineers beat Kansas 33-14 yesterday afternoon when we returned home. I was happy with the first half, but a little concerned on how the second half played out. I'm a little less optimistic for the season that I was before yesterdays game. I'm not sure if this coach or staff knows how to make in game adjustments.

Todays plans are just our normal Sunday routine. Shopping and Laundry and maybe watch the Steelers game on TV.

Have a Great Sunday.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Well here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman. I'm up early watching the replay of the Syracuse and Louisville game from last night and up collecting my thoughts for the day.

Our plans for today, weather permitting is to head up to Springs PA for the Springs Festival.  It's something we have done the last couple of years with my old buddy Smitty and his wife Steph as we are planning to meet up with them once again today. I can always get some great deals on all kinds of vegetables and home made products like apple butter and I'm going to try to get some of their Sauerkraut that they always seem to sell out of very early.

This will also be a very good day to take my camera with us, something tells me that the beauty that is this area at time of the year will start to displaying its vast arrays of eye candy as the trees start to change colors in preparing to lose all their leaves before winter.

In Morgantown today is a football game. Kansas who beat us last year will be visiting Morgantown and we will be trying to extract a little bit of revenge for the butt kicking we took last year. Hopefully we will be home in plenty of time to watch it.

Have a great day and I'm hoping for at least decent weather.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday!!!

Looking for a little bit of High School Football action. Well University High plays host to Greenbrier East this evening at their school. Morgantown High travels to Wayne and Clay Battelle travels to Valley (Wetzel) this evening for gridiron match ups around the area.

Looking for a little bit of college football? Look no further than right here as the WV Mountaineers are back in action tomorrow afternoon for a Homecoming game against Kansas. I team that beat us last year ans a team that we will be looking to extract a little bit of payback on since they just fired their Head Coach earlier this week.

Legendary College Football coach and former WVU Football Coach Bobby Bowden will be returning to Morgantown today to be the Grand Marshall of the Homecoming Parade this evening at 6:30.

Have a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out of my busy day and look through all of the pictures that I have stored on my hard drive. Little precious lost moments in time that were either captured, scanned or stolen off the internet for me to post and briefly relive here. Sometimes this task is very easy and sometimes you struggle to find that one picture. One thing it always is however is a whole lot of fun for me.

This weeks pic doesn't go back too far, it only goes back to the beginning of the week when Michelle and I with two Trivia Championship Trophies in hand (2008 and 2014) went up to Mount Washington after the game on Sunday and had our pictures taken. We all went up so we could get pictures of myself, Chris and Randy with the trophies and the signs from the tournament and wearing our Steelers Jersey's.

As we were waiting on Randy to drive up, we grabbed this picture of me and my beautiful wife Michelle. It was coming towards the end of a long day and we still had a drive home to prepare for work the next day, but it will always be a very memorable one for me even thought the Steelers lost.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's two days down, now if we can just get over the noon time hump, it will be all down hill after that working towards another fun filled weekend.

So far the week has went pretty smoothly, now if the rest of the week could just follow up like the first two days, I'll have this week with little headache.

I did call my sister Terri yesterday, she had mentioned previously that she would like to go the the Springs Festival with us, and it is coming up this weekend. Unfortunately it is Homecoming Weekend here in Morgantown for WVU and she'll be working a double on Saturday due to some co-workers being gone.

I haven't talked about my weight loss for a while, I gained weight on the cruise but lost it all again, however I'm now at a plateau and really haven't lost too much if any weight over the past three weeks. I'm still down significantly, 77 lbs since May and 92 since Christmas, but I seem to have hit that dreaded plateau. I'm sure I'll break out of it, but that is where we are at now. I'll get down to my goal, I'm determined.

I debated about doing a Wisdom Wednesday this week, but decided to do a normal blog. As you can tell I am in fact looking for content to write, Wednesdays are always the hardest day to write for some reason, probably because we are in the middle of the work week and really aren't interacting with people like we do on the weekend.

Has anyone stopped by to see the development of WVU's new Baseball Stadium? They have a webcam up now so that you can watch as the stadium grows and progresses during construction. It's supposed to be ready for the upcoming season, I'm actually pretty excited about going to games there, not only College but the new Minor League Pirates teams that will be playing there during the summer.

Hi ho hi ho