Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreadful thing we refer to as Monday is now once again behind us and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday. I still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It was a mere 18,748 days ago that my Mother went into the delivery room and gave birth to this blogger.

* It was 3,971 days ago that I actually fulfilled a lifetime dream and graduated from West Virginia University. I was much older than the average Freshman at age 35, but I've never regretted it.

* 2,572 days ago I took Michelle out on out first date,

* 1,796 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to this wonderful woman who would later become my wife.

* 1,333 days ago, in front of our closest family and friends, Michelle and I exchanged our wedding vows.

* I have about 6,089 more days to go, give or take a few hundred here or there until I enter into the world of retirement.

* In 275 more days my Goodbye 2015 Blog will post here.

* If you haven't started your Christmas Shopping yet, you still have 269 more shopping days left to go until it's too late.

* I've got 245 days to go until my birthday, or should I say the anniversary of my Birthday. =)

* In 166 more days Michelle and I will be setting sail yet once again on our cruise. I did get lucky enough to get a Faster to the Fun pass again yesterday, we had one last year and it was worth it.

* We have 128 days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Fourth Wedding Anniversary this Summer.

* The big family picnic is a mere 89 days away. I'm looking forward to celebrating this day once again this year, it was definitely a highlight of last year.

* Summer is only 82 days away. YES!!!!!!!!! (and I STILL Hate Snow)

* There are only 47 more days until Brittany's Graduation, I'm excited to see her do her walk and receive her Degree.

* There are only 16 more days left until Michelle and I leave for Niagara Falls. Neither one of us has ever been there and we are both really excited about this trip.

* This is my 4,006th Blog that I have written for George's Journal in the 10 1/2 years that I have been writing this. I've seen some milestones and life events come and go, that is for sure.

* With this coming weekend being Easter, Michelle and I will have to get our Sunday Chores doen of Saturday. We're planning on doing a small meal at home for the two of us. Her family will be meeting in Monaca, but we are staying home and will be puppy sitting a couple of cute and lovable doggies for the week.

* My niece Amy traveled to Amish Country in Ohio over the weekend, with the pictures that she put she looks like she had a really good time.

* The WVU Women's Basketball team will be playing in the NIT Semi-Finals tomorrow. The game will be held at the WVU Coliseum if you are looking for something to do and need someone to cheer one.

* Michelle will be off today, she has a Doctors Appointment this morning where they are going to check for problems from her surgery and see how everything is flowing. She does appear to be feeling much better, but she has her moments after a meal when she doesn't feel the best.

* Hayley started her new Job yesterday, it's an office job for her and a change of pace from what she was previously used to doing. Hopefully she likes it.

* No news on the Brother search yet, it's we're still waiting on someone to get back to us before we move any further forward.

* The Hall Family Tree sits idle yet once again this week, it's just that time of the year when nothing really gets done to it.

* Have a Great Day

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All those good times that we have on those fun filled things called weekends have to come to an end. We have reached that point and it is time to head back to our jobs for another fun filled week of working and doing what we do for a living. The Weekend is over.

Michelle is going back in to the hospital tomorrow, but it's not a surgical procedure and I don't need to be with her. They are going to basically do an Upper GI to see how things look and how they are working. Should be a simple in and back out kind of thing.

In case you have not noticed, the WVU students are back in town from their Spring Break. The school aged kids get their break next week, but everyone is back in the classrooms this week. We're not too far from the University students taking off for the Summer and Graduation. I think it will take that long to properly fix all of the potholes around town.

I did buy a nice portable speaker yesterday. I had my eye on a Bose Soundlink and after reading review after review on this speaker, I decided to invest in one. It has a great sound and hooks up through Blue Tooth, it holds a nice 8 hour charge, so that is big portable sound that we now have. It's going to be great to use in the backyard or on one of our picnics that we like to get away and do.

Not going to get this week completed until we get it started, so have a great day and

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I have just recovered from that losing battle with the dreaded Sandman last night and I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day and surfing the net. I don't even have the TV on yet so I am literally in total silence other than hearing my fingers tap the keys on my keyboard writing this blog.

We had an adventurous day yesterday, we headed out Route 7 to New Martinsville, West Virginia. The picture you see here is the Mason Dixon Line market indicating the point where it stops right before the Ohio River, just south of Marshall County and edge of Wetzel. It is at its Southwest corner.

Our road trip yesterday also included a stop at DiCarlos Pizza, as it is something Michelle has been craving and the most enjoyable thing she has eaten since her initial surgery this past November. I'm happy to report she did really well with it and no difficulties, we even brought one home,  separated it out and froze it so she can have it as lunches for work. Small manageable portions will make quite a few nice lunches for her.

No plans today other than our grocery shopping and laundry. We were not going to let yesterdays horrible weather keep us down as we were out and about. Michelle knows when I can get out on Saturdays that I am much less cranky than I am during the winter months when daylight is only something I read about as there are no windows in my office...lol

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Grumblings

"Hot" Rod Hundley

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman once again and I'm up early collecting my thoughts for the day and surfing the internet. I'm not sure what is playing on TV as I'm honestly not even paying attention.

The West Virginia University community lost one of our all time great legend athletes yesterday. Before there was Jerry West, there was "Hot" Rod Hundley. The basketball star that my father would tell endless stories about as being the clown prince of basketball. He was the first pick in the NBA draft when he was done with college if that tells you how highly he was regarded. but would do some of the craziest antics on the floor.

I remember my Dad telling me once they were playing a game and Hot Rod stole the ball and went in for a layup. Hot Rod immediately went to the concession stand and grabbed a hot dog and a soda and sat down beside the Athletic Director and asked him how he liked the game, all while he was in the game.

Dad would go on and on about this man, but he said when he was serious and wanted to play, he was the best player in the country, hence why his number along with Jerry Wests are the only two retired numbers from WVU Basketball.

I wish I could have seen him play, I know he gave my Dad numerous memories.

RIP "Hot" Rod.

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.

No plans for the weekend yet for us, of course that can always change at the drop of a hat. The past few weekends we've decided what to do at the last possible moment and just went and did it. More spontaneous than planned, so maybe Michelle and I will talk tonight and find something to do tomorrow. The weather looks to be less than cooperative, but that's never stopped us before. I guess it all depends on how Michelle feels tomorrow.

She did take in a couple of large totes of old clothes to her co-workers, there is another tote that should go in today and then she will have cleaned up all of her old clothes that are now way too big for her.

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 stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I have either captured with a camera, scanned from an image or just plain stolen off of the internet. I like to post one up and briefly relive it here and share my memories with everyone.  Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes you do struggle, one thing it always is is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture goes back almost nine years, back to when the Koon family reunion was held at Uncle Junior's Church. They hold this get together yearly, but I've only made it to this one.

This is a picture of my sister and brother in law, my Mom and my cousin Paul and his wife Vickie. It was taken at the church, but out in the playground area. I had stopped by for a while as this was the last picnic that they were going to have at the church while Junior was still the pastor.

I'm pretty sure that they have semi-permanently moved it closer to Morgantown at Dorsey's Knob and the facilities that they have there.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

4,000

I have hit a Blogging Milestone. I started to write this blog 10 1/2 years ago with a simple first post on September 11, 2004. It was something new that I heard about, this blogging this and wanted to try it and see how it worked out for me.

This blog has seen the Career of Josh Judy, it has seen my changer jobs a few times, the entire romance and marriage of my wife Michelle. International travel, birthdays, TV shows, WVU sports, 2 Steelers Super Bowl Championships, births, deaths, picnics, trips, gossip, news on family, Opinion, information about the area, and about every other significant event in my life over the last ten and one half years.

That takes one heck of a commitment believe it or not. I've developed themes for days of the week to help with content. The look and feel of the blog however, hasn't changed much other than a few small bells and whistles on the side for reference.

These last 4,000 posts have been a whole lot of fun, here is to the next 4,000 posts.

Thank you for reading.

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* 18,741 days ago I was born. That makes me about 21+ years old.

* 3.964 days ago I fulfilled a dream of mine and Graduated from West Virginia University.

* 2,565 days ago I took Michelle out on our first date, she forgave me for the bad movie and all BTW.

* 1,789 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle.

* 1,326 days ago at the Marilla Center in front of our closest family and friends we exchanged our wedding vows.

* I only have about 6,096 more days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* 282 more days until my Goodbye 2015 Blog post where I recall the previous year based on my Blog.

* 276 more shopping days left until Christmas. I did ask the question last week about a big family Christmas and only received two replies and they were both preferred other plans. So I'll let that idea die on the vine.

* In 252 more days it will once again be my 21st Birthday.

* There are only 173 more days to go until we set out on our 2015 Cruise. Michelle's sister Dani and her Husband Roy will be joining us this year on our cruise.

* 135 more days to go until mine and Michelle's fourth Wedding Anniversary.

* We only have 96 more days to go until the 2015 Picnic. I'm getting pretty excited about this.

* Only 89 more days to go until Summertime!!!

* In only 54 more days my niece Brittany will get her Degree and Graduate from West Virginia University.

* In only 23 more days, Michelle and I will leave for Niagara Falls.

* This is the 3,999th Blog post I have written for George's Journal in the 10 1/2 years I have been writing it. Tomorrow's blog will achieve a Milestone for me.

* The WVU Men's Basketball Team has once again advanced to the NCAA Basketball Tournament's Sweet 16. We play #1 ranked and the first and only NCAA Basketball team to go 36-0 in a season when we take on the University of Kentucky this Thursday at 9:45 PM on CBS.

* No work this week on the Family Tree, with Springtime upon us this may mean that this project will be shelved again until this fall when the days get shorter. I did make significant progress through the winter months, but unless I hear anything on the Brother Search which I am still actively pursuing there won't be any new content for a while.

* Still no word on if Jimmy Buffett is coming to Pittsburgh in 2015, I still have my fingers crossed but I'm starting to be a little bit doubtful.

* We are still waiting to hear from KDKA about the Steelers Trivia Tournament for this year. All of us on our team are in, now we are just waiting on the official OK from KDKA.

* The local Baseball Park is just about done, I'm ready to go see the Mountaineers and Black Bears play their 2015 Home Schedules here.

* The price of our cruise dropped yesterday and I was on top of it. WE now have $140.00 of onboard credit already.

* What's with all this White Stuff on the ground? It's Springtime so go away. I Hate Snow.

* Have a Great Day

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

It's time to stop all the fun that we are having and put our collective noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of working. We do this so we can afford to do the things we love to do when we are not in the office. Back at it, no complaining.

It was a pretty good weekend for us, productive to say the least as we got a few things done around the house and ran around a little on Saturday.

You might notice that there is not as much traffic around town this week, the students are on Spring Break and won't be back until next week, so enjoy the time when they are not here. It's only few more weeks until they are all gone for the Summer and we get a few months of them not being here. The bad news is this winter has been rough on the roads so we can probably expect a lot of road repair going on this summer.

Have a Great Day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Rambling

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from that losing battle with the Sandman last night and I'm up watching Sin City on one of the TV stations and collecting my thoughts for yet another day.

Well yesterday we ended up taking another road trip, but one not that far this week as we headed up North to Tanger Outlets and then to Sarris Candies to do a little bit of shopping. I did manage to find one of my childhood favorite candies there in a BB Bat. Inflation is killing us, they used to be 2 for 1¢ I was a kid and now they are 20¢ each. Oh the humanity and inflated prices. It's pretty sad when penny candy is now 20¢.

We did book and pay for our Niagara Falls trip yesterday. We're going up for a couple of days next month to see the falls. We have decided to stay in Canada and found a real nice deal on Groupon which really did save us a ton of money compared to what we did almost pay for the trip. About 1/3 of what we were going ton pay. We are doing it economically as we are just looking for a place to lay our heads a couple of nights. I got two nights cheaper than I got one night in DC plus a bunch of meal coupons, so I'm not complaining. Did get a bunch of advice from a few friends on Facebook, I guess Canada is the way to see the Falls and we did have our Passports since we do travel Internationally when we cruise.

Plans for the day are just to do our routine grocery shopping and finish up the laundry for the week. Michelle got most of it done last night, so there is not much more to do. The Mountaineer Basketball team plays the last game this evening when we take on the Maryland Terrapins to advance to the Sweet 16 to take on the Tournament Favorite Kentucky.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, I'm the first to recover from that knockout blow by that dreaded Sandman last night. I'm up watching Two for the Money on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Yesterday was a great day for WVU Sports. The Basketball survived the 5th seed jinx and were the last 5th seed standing and beat Buffalo 68-62 to move on to the NCAA Tournament's second round against the Maryland Terrapins on Sunday night at 8:40 PM. WVU Freshman Wrestler Zeke Moisey won his semi-final match at the NCAA Tournament by Pin in the 1st period to advance to the NCAA Finals this evening. WVU has not had an NCAA Wrestling Champion since Greg Jones graduated and this is our first All-American in Wrestling in quite a few years as well. I was watching the match on the computer and Michelle must have thought I was nuts when I kept slapping the table calling the pin before the referee did.

As for our plans, maybe a little geocaching, who knows since we really have nothing planned for the day yet. That doesn't mean anything however as we could easily get into something.

I know we are talking about booking our Niagara Falls trip today, we were exploring a few options about where to stay and what to do yesterday, I think we are going to finalize it all today and make our reservations. Groupon is always your friend when you are looking to head out to places like this.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy SPRINGTIME!!!!!!!!

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.

OK, It is now OFFICIAL, Winter is over and we have now moved into my favorite season of the year. SPRINGTIME!!!!! I'm ready to listen to the birds a chirping, the flowers and the trees a blooming and that relaxing smell of fresh springtime foliage.

Michelle's procedure went well yesterday, they were a little behind schedule and a little cramped for space, but thanks to Ang everything went well and smooth. Michelle may have to do this again, it's hard to say but she had made monstrous strides since the first time she had this done a couple of weeks ago. We were home a little after noon time and Michelle relaxed the remainder of the day.

No immediate plans for the weekend, something tells me that we are going to do a little bit of Geocaching. but that remains to be seen. It's supposed to be nice and we got our first one last week in Point Pleasant. All I know is winter is behind us, daylight savings time is here, our cruise is booked and I'm one happy camper.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Amy Dalton

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my very lovely and talented niece Amy a very Happy Birthday today.

I'm pretty sure that this is Amy's 21st Birthday (give or take or or two years or even eight) or at least that is how old I will tell everyone that she is.

Amy is a very talented photographer, she has that creative eye that you either have or you don't have. As much as I love photography, I don't have it but Amy sure as heck does. She has a world of creativity and it is an honor to see the images that she puts up.

I'm not sure what her husband Ralph has planned for the day, but if I know Ralphie it is going to be something special as they make a great couple together.

If you happen to see this lovely and talented young lady today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish her a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Amy.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet through the years. 30,000+ lost moments in time ti choose from, so sometimes this is a pretty hard task, sometimes it cones right to you, but it it a time to reflect and always a whole lot of fun for me.

This weeks picture goes back to the early 80's I'm guessing around the 1984 time frame. This is a picture of my niece Val and my Dad behind her. It's obviously sometime around Christmas, based on all of the decorations in the background. Jean had her nativity scene set up on top of that old television that used to sit in the living room.

I did notice that there are only three stockings hung over the fireplace and I don't have one, so I think I can safely say that I was probably living on Brockway Avenue about the time that this picture had been taken.

This picture is a scan from all the images Jean gave me this fall to archive. Lost magic was retrieved and shared here with everyone else.

Have a great day, Michelle has here surgery this morning so keep her in your thoughts.

Hump Day

Well we are there, the day of the week that we stop doing the uphill and start going over the crest and back downhill towards another fun filled weekend that is still off into the horizon. It's Hump Day!!!!

Not much excitement to report, kind of a boring week so far to tell you the truth. We did manage to have our third dinner on the grill for the season last night. I'm already declaring spring even though it is a couple of days away from being officially spring. Close enough for me though.

Michelle goes in tomorrow to have another same day surgery, same as the one a couple of weeks ago, they are just trying to open the bottom part of her stomach up a little bit more and relieve the pain she has been having. They said it may take two or three times going through this and this is the second time, so let's hope that this is it.

She is down over 80 lbs since last May and doing great. I've put a few pounds back on, but winter is over and I'm starting to hit the trails at lunch time, so it't time for me to start losing that weight again and move beyond where I got to previously. I'm hoping the ability to get out and around will prevent any more bouts of Seasonal Affective Disorder and be able to get back on track. It's that time of the year when it gets easy for me to shed a few extra pounds.

Have a Great Day

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded thing we all refer to as Monday is now once again behind us and we have a good start to the work week. I still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It was a mere 18,734 days ago that I was born. I swear the older I get, the quicker those numbers seem to add up.

* 3,957 days ago I fulfilled a dream of mine as I celebrated my College Graduation from West Virginia University.

* It was only 2,558 days ago that Michelle and I went out on our first date together. The movie was horrible, but I told her that was because she had stood me up a couple of months earlier and I was paying her back.

* 1,782 days ago Michelle and I became engaged. I got down on one knee in the back yard and proposed marriage.

* It was 1,319 days ago that we all partied down and celebrated Michelle and my wedding. It was a feast of food to say the very least.

* I have around 6,103 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* I have 298 more days of content to write before my Goodbye 2015 Blog post is published.

* If you are waiting on doing you Christmas Shopping, you still have 283 days left to complete it. Plenty of time.

* I only have 259 more days to go until I lie about having another Birthday.

* 180 days to go until we once again set sail on our Cruise. This will be our fourth cruise aboard the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore.

* In 142 more days we will be celebrating our Fourth Wedding Anniversary.

* The second annual family picnic is only 103 days away. I'm looking forward to this growing and being bigger than last years event.

* In 61 more days my niece Brittany will celebrate her graduation from WVU as well.

* There are only 3 days left until SPRINGTIME!!!!!!!!!!

* I have written 3,991 Blog posts for George's Journal in the 10 1/2 years I have been writing this Blog. Talk about living your life on the internet.

* No work done this week to the Family Tree, although we did update Michelle's Grandfathers information on Findagrave. I have some family who I need to get pictures for to update their information as well.

* Nothing to report on the brother search for this past week, I kind of slacked on it a little over the past few days. Time to pick up the pace again.

* No updates on the Jimmy Buffett Tour for 2015. This will be the first time he has missed playing Pittsburgh since 1990. Lot's of Parrot-Heads are saddened by this. Follow this thread for updates.

* The WVU Basketball team plays Buffalo on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

* Don't forget that today is St Patricks Day!!!!! Don't forget to wear your green.

* The West Virginia State Legislature wrapped up their 60 day session over the weekend, her is Hoppy's Commentary recapping it all.

* I'm putting this out early just to see what kind of a response it generates. Christmas Eve 2014 was a very sad one, we lost not one but two people in the family on that dreaded night. Christmas Eve 2015 I think has to be different in some way. It's time to put the hurt of 2014 behind us and start concentrating on 2015 and the future. Just wondering among the family if everyone might be interested in everyone getting together at one location this year (I suggest renting some place) and celebrating rather than mourning the events of the year prior. This could happen, but only if we act quick and decisively and not wait till the last minute. Thoughts?

* I got a text yesterday, we have been asked to defend our KDKA McDonald's Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Championship. Waiting to hear back from one team mate, but we may be in again. We are the only two time Champions, could we be the only three time Champions and the only team to ever repeat in back to back years?

* Have a great day

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

It's time to stop having all the fun we were having over the weekend and put our collective noses back on the grindstone for another week of doing what it is we do for a living. Monday is here and the weekend is now merely a product of our memories and dreams of another one.

Looks like Michelle will once again have another surgery this week to expand the lower portion of her stomach and open it up a little bit. She had the procedure a couple of weeks ago and is going to have it again this Thursday. Hopefully this time it will open it up sufficiently enough that she won't have any more problems. The first surgery was really effective, but not completely effective and they need to go in at least one more time, hopefully this is the last she has problems with it.

Well grilling season is off to a flying start this year, with the beautiful weather that we had yesterday, we once again grilled a couple of steaks on the charcoal grill as well as some delicious Lobster Claws that we steamed. Spring is not "Officially" here yet, but as far as I'm concerned it is and I am more than ready for it!!!!

Have a Great Day and lets start this work week off right.

Hi ho hi ho

Seven Years Ago Today

Yes here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from that losing battle with the Sandman but that's nothing new. I'm up early watching Neighbors on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Today is a very special day, it is the seventh anniversary of my first date with a woman who would later become my wife. Yes it was seven years ago today that I took Michelle out for pizza and a horrible movie, we've come a long way since that first night.

Yesterday we kind of had a change of plans due to the weather. We headed South to Letart Falls Ohio and a chance for Michelle to visit her Grandfathers Grave. She has not been there since she was a kid, so I said let's pack up and head out for the day. We did manage to get a quite a few photos of the site that was pretty easy to find.

Another thing Michelle had wanted to do was head to Point Pleasant West Virginia to see the Mothman statue. It was a nice little town and we stopped and had lunch before heading back to Morgantown.

We did stop off in Fairmont and have dinner at Muriales  for dinner, I figured it was about dinner time and we were passing through the area, so as soon as I mentioned it to Michelle (who was driving at that time) she quickly liked the idea and we were on our way.

The day was a long one, one where we did put 357 miles on Pearl as we ran out an entire tank of gas. It was well worth it as we were both feeling a little bit of that winter cabin fever. We did get our first Geocache of the year in Point Pleasant.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, I was the first one to get knocked out last night by that dreaded Sandman and I'm the first one to recover from that losing battle once again. I'm up early watching For Richer or Poorer on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day and by that I mean collecting my Facebook games bonuses for logging in.

It looks like our local Baseball park that is being built is getting closer and closer to completion. It was initially scheduled to open this coming Tuesday, but that has been pushed back a few weeks due to the recent in-climate weather and the inability to get anything done. We are getting closer though, so the opening is not that far away and I'm getting ready to watch some Mountaineer Baseball soon followed by some professional baseball when the West Virginia Black Bears begin their season.

Now for Michelle and I today, we're talking about running around and maybe heading to Ohiopyle for the day, just to have something to do and get out of the house for a few hours. It may be the best way to battle that terrible disease called Cabin Fever. We made no trips up there last year, so we are long overdue. I think Michelle wants to stop at the Christmas Shoppe up on Route 40 and maybe one or two other places along the way. Just something to do to get out of the house.

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 the 13th.

For those of you who are superstitious, it is Friday the 13th but to me it's just another date on the calender. It is Friday however, the day that we work all week to get to. Our favorite work day of the week.

Well Michelle and I finally finished House of Cards Season 3 last night. The 13th and final episode of the season the 39th episode of the series does not leave anyone disappointed. It does leave us once again on the edge of our seats wondering what will happen next, but I guess that is why there will most likely be a season 4. Now with House of Cards out of the Way, now it's time to wait for Orange is the New Black when it debuts its 3rd season sometime this late Spring or early Summer. These are two of our favorite dramas that we look forward to.

Weather looks like it might be pretty nice this weekend and there is significantly more daylight to do things in the evening, hopefully Michelle is feeling up to doing something this weekend. Cabin Fever is getting the best of me, especially during this time of the year so I would like to get out and around a little bit. If nothing else, it could be a good weekend to start our Geocaching for the year. That's always something to do that gets us out of the house, exploring new places and occupied.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursaday

Rocky

Once a week I like to taker a little bit of time out and look through the tens of thousands of pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet through the years. Little lost moments in time that were briefly captured with a camera and shared here for you all to see and hear about. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it is not that easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun and one of m,y favorite blogs of the week.

There are certain pet names that always seem to stick with you and certain pets that you never forget. This was my first dog, I wanted a dog for a number of years and my Grandmother finally agreed to allow me to have one. So I think it was my Uncle Ralph who drove me over to the Mon County Dog Pound to find a dog to adopt.

There was one dog who just had to have my attention over all dogs and that was this one. My Dog Rocky. My Buddy from the late 70's-early 80's that I had when I lived with Grandma Hall.

Rocky is not a unique name, there was also a dog that my sister Kim had that was named Roki (different spelling) and Michael and Ashley's dog who always comes to visit and is my little buddy Rocky. This Rocky was the first Rocky in my life. There is always a story of a boy and his dog, this was my dog.

Funny though that my Rocky, my Dad's dog who was named Brownie and my sister Terri's dog Tucker all were basically the same breed and same color, although none of them lived during the same time periods.

This was my Buddy.

Have a Great Day

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well once again we have reached that point of the week when the uphill battle of the work week meets it peak and we start going down hill and straight towards another weekend.

I was debating on making this a Wednesday Wisdom blog, but my I guess the only bit of Wisdom that I can come up with is represented my my Minions.

Monday night we officially declared screw you winter it's BBQ season as I fired up the grille after work. Did I fire up the big gas grill? Not a chance, I love our Weber Kettle Grill and that is what we fired up to cook a couple of steaks on. Fortunately Michelle was able to hold it down with no problem, so I feel as though she is now making a lot of progress with the problem she was having after surgery. She is an amazing woman to say the very least.

Michelle did resend out her paperwork again this week (used old form the first time even though it came from Secretary of State's Website) to become a Notary Public, it should just be a short period of time until she has her paperwork to order her stamp and be official. It is something she has been thinking about doing for a while, so she approached her employer about it to see if they would pay all of the expenses and they agreed. I'll let everyone know when it becomes official.

Have a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded thing that we refer to as Monday is now once again behind us. We're facing a Tuesday up next and I still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* 18,727 days ago I entered this world and sustained life on my own outside of my Mother's body for the first time. I am fortunate each and every day as that number can and does grow.

* 3,950 days ago I fulfilled a dream of mine that I had. It was a little bit of a late stat to get there, but I Graduated from West Virginia University.

* 2,551 days ago Michelle and I went out on our first date together. It will have been 7 years ago this coming Sunday.

* It was 1,775 days ago that I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle, I just count my lucky stars that she agreed.

* It has been 1,312 days since our wedding. Right in front of our closest friends and family we exchanged our Marital vows.

* I only have about 6,110 more days to go, give or take a few hundred here or there until I finally retire.

* There are only 296 days left in the year, which means 296 more days of content that I have to write before my Goodbye 2015 Blog is posted.

* There are 290 more shopping until Christmas, you still have plenty of time.

* In 266 more days it is once again the Anniversary of my 21st Birthday. This will be the 31st Anniversary of that magical day.

* In 187 more days Michelle and I, joined by her Sister Dani and Husband Roy will once again set sail on our cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Grand Turk and Half Moon Cary here we come.

* There are only 149 more days to go until our fourth Wedding Anniversary.

* The 2015 Family Picnic is in 110 more days. This will be the second year in a row for this event that we hope to make an annual occurrence.

* In a mere 68 more days, my niece Brittany will Graduate from West Virginia University.

* Only 10 more days until my favorite time of the year, Springtime!!!!!!!!!!

* This is the 3,984th Blog Post that I have written for George's Journal in the 10 1/2 years that I have been writing it. I guess you can say my life has been an open book lived out on the internet and this is that book.

* No work done to the Hall Family Tree this week, however my efforts have been concentrated on finding a lost sibling recently. I've still got a whole lot of work to do on this site, it's just in its infancy stages in my opinion. I want to eventually tie it into the Find a Grave Site with everyone who may have passed away. There are a number of smart matches that I can and need to follow up on.

* Now that our cruise is booked and paid for, I need to concentrate my efforts on the Niagara Falls trip coming up in about a month.

* Congratulations to Bob Huggins for being named the Big XII Coach of the Year.

* The Brother Search is going well. I'm quite happy with the progress that has been made and the number of people now assisting on this specific search. Not only on both sides, but a number really talented people who volunteer their time, expertise and resources to find answers to these kinds of questions. Search Squad is now involved and that is a huge resource. What an amazing group with over 11,000 members and volunteers.Highly recommended for anyone looking for lost family.

* With any luck, we could find the lost sibling and have them come to the Family Picnic this June, a picture of all six siblings would be a dream. An updated one of the five would be great, but I would like to add the sixth to make it special. Magic has happened before.

* My Sister and Brother in Law Jim and Chris are going to be hosting a free Spaghetti Dinner and Game Night this Friday at the Cassville Firehall.

* Friday will once again be Friday the 13th.

* It looks like most of the snow from last weeks terrible storm, has melted. Even Michelle is ready for winter to be over with. Start doing the Sunshine Dance. One last time for this season, I Hate Snow.

* With Daylight Savings Time now in effect, I'm going to change the time my blog posts. It usually posts at 4:00 AM (5:00 during DST), so I'll push it back an hour so it still posts at 4:00 AM in real time (3:00 server time).

* Have a great day

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

Well that fun filled thing that we refer to as the weekend has now have to be placed into our memories to only reside there as a time gone by. Now it's time to stick our collective noses back on the grindstone and get back to work so we can continue to live the way we do and do the things that we do on the weekends. Back to the office and forget the fun for a few days.

Now that Daylight Savings Time is here and the days are getting a little longer, and the fact that it looks like we are on the downhill working towards Springtime, I'm ready to see the flowers start to bloom and the buds come out on the trees. I'm done with winter and ready for the warm weather and that is what looks to appear to be ahead of us. I think that this last storm was the last blast of winter and it's all over with now. We have survived it.

We did make a stop at the new Baseball Park  that was officially due to open in 8 days when the Mountaineers take on Waynesburg, but the weather has seemed to delay the opening from happening and the official opening has been delayed until Friday April 10th. I'm just excited that we now have a ball park where I can not only watch the Mountaineers which I love to do, but also cheer on the home town West Virginia Blackbears. I'm also ready for the Pittsburgh Pirates to start their run this year, I predict a World Series Championship in Pittsburgh for 2015.

So much for daydreams about baseball, time to concentrate on going to work.

Hi ho hi ho

We are Doing It Again.

Carnival Pride

We waited long enough, I was waiting to hear something about our contract, but something tells me that there is going to be another extension and waiting so we went ahead with our Cruise 2015 booking.

We are now once again booked for our 2015 cruise which will be in 189 days (let the countdown begin) and we will be taking the same cruise once again for the fourth year in a row. We absolutely love this cruise and the ports of call, and the Carnival Pride was just updated to a Funship 2.0 this past fall, so we are once again setting sail to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport the Bahamas this September.

Dani and Roy Marsh

We are also taking a couple of first time cruisers with us as Michelle's Sister Dani and husband Roy will be joining us for this years cruise. We both booked and paid for our cruise last night and we are all set to go. We helped them through their booking  last night as we booked ours and we will be in side by side rooms, meaning we can have the partition on the deck between the two rooms opened up and we can have one big deck to all share. Because we booked this weekend and Carnival has a special going on, we already have $50.00 worth of on board credits to use.

Michelle and I are all set to go, agreed to everything and filled out all the information including our passport information and our online account. All we have to do is print out our boarding passes and luggage tags and get ready to go.

We will be assisting Dani and Roy as they prepare for their first cruise. Our dinner companions from two years ago Jim and Pam have also booked once again on this cruise and we are looking forward to meeting up with them once again.

This year the Carnival Pride has installed not one, but two deck cams for everyone to watch.

Cruise 2015 is set and ready to go and we could not be any more excited. Anyone else want to join us?

Brother Search Update

Five Siblings Long Ago

Well we had a great breakthrough on our Sibling Search yesterday. Earlier in the week I had written a letter to Carol Pava Casey trying to get confirmation on my research to date. Was I on the right track or did my search go off in the wrong direction. I just needed some kind of confirmation or denial before I perused anything any further.

Yesterday afternoon I got the call I was waiting for. Carol is alive and living in Nevada and that was confirmed directly from her herself.

We spoke for about an hour and she did confirm that she had Dad did have a child some years ago. It was a different time than we live in today and pregnancies were not looked at as we accept them today.

She did confirm that she loved Dad and wanted to get married, but Dad picked her one day with another Woman (that is going to have to be another search altogether) and Dad told her she was pregnant as well and he wanted to Marry her. This woman's name was Cindy Hollingsworth who my Mom knew, but has confirmed that she and her husband had passed away years ago.

After my Dad told this to Carol her family put her into the William Booth Memorial Hospital for Unwed Mothers that was run by the Salvation Army where she lived until she gave birth and she moved to live with an Aunt in California and finish High School.

The sibling was confirmed to be a lost Brother, and he was born on October 1, 1962 which is pretty much everything my Dad had initially told me but he just said a couple years older. 14 months older is what it turned out to be and his birth name given to him by Carol was Curt Douglas Pava, but we are all quite sure that that changed due to there being a closed adoption.

Now the good news, Carol is also searching for this lost child. Her and her Daughters have been searching but have hit a roadblock, I'm hoping with my resources that we can advance this search and find an answer for all.

I do have permission to call her again, so the good news is that there is an open line of communication which makes this whole thing a lot easier. I did make a promise to Carol and I will keep it. If I run across the lose siblings identity or location first, I will give her the honor of meeting and speaking with him first before us.  I feel it is the absolute least I could do since she has provided so much specific information that will hopefully allow us to complete this search. The two sides working together to achieve a common objective is more than appreciated and will strengthen everyone's resources and search and greatly increase the chances of us finding our answer.

I will update as needed.

Daylight Savings Time

Here I sit once again in a quiet household. I'm the first one to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman late last night. I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day and watching Popeye on the TV. I do have a lot to talk about this morning on a few important subjects, so this is probably going to be a multiple BLOG kind of day for me.

First off, if you have to manually move your clocks ahead and have not done so yet, you're probably an hour behind this morning. Daylight Savings Time starts today, meaning that it will get light later in the morning, but we will have daylight longer into the evening. I consider this the start of saying goodbye to winter and hello to Spring and Summer.

The WVU Men's Basketball team played Oklahoma State yesterday and won 81-72 here in Morgantown. We were playing once again without two of our top players and ironically on Senior Night where we say goodbye to our Seniors, none of the three were healthy enough to play. Kevin Noreen has been out all season, Gary Brown sprained his ankle a couple weeks ago and Juwan Staten is also fighting off knee problems. It was nice to see them go out with a win. Next up the Big XII Tournament and the NCAA Tournament which we are pretty much a lock for right now regardless of what happens after finishing the regular season 23-8 and currently ranked #20.

We're still dog sitting today, Rocky and Lilly are still here but will be heading home today as Ashley and Christopher return from their weekend trip.

Have a Great Day.

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a semi-quiet household, me and a couple of my K-9 House guests are up early collecting our thoughts (they are waiting on treats) and surfing around on the net. We are up bright and early watching Private Parts on HBO Go.

I think we are going to book our cruise today, we are just getting tired of waiting and something tells me that there is going to be another contract extension at work since they are running out of time to legally announce it. So we are just going to boon and plan it. This year however we will not be going alone. I've been trying to talk Michelle's Sisters into going, I've kept hitting up my Brother in Law Roy to take Danni and they want to take their first cruise with us this year. Today we book it.

Other than that not too much planned, we have Rocky and Lilly for the weekend as Ashley and Christopher are away for the Weekend, Michael is still home but he has been very busy between working and getting a few things set up at the store, so we are watching the spoiled little fur balls.

The WVU Men's Basketball Team plays their last home game of the season today when they take on Oklahoma State this afternoon at 2:00. This will be the final home game for our Seniors as we enter into the Big XII Tournament this week and the NCAA Tournament starts after that.

Don't forget that we all lose an hour of sleep tonight as it is the start of Daylight Savings Time!!! Days are going to be getting longer, spring is right around the corner, Oh yeah!!!

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.

Not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but I really and truly Hate Snow. Come on Mother Nature you teased us with a little early spring type weather and then dump Storm #Thor really sucks and I don't care to have this heavy stuff dumped on us in March.

The good news is, they shut down NETL  where I work at yesterday, the weather conditions were just too much and all non essential personnel were not to be allowed access. Only essential personnel (security, grounds crew) were allowed access to the site yesterday. I did have a feeling that it was going to be shut down, I called at 5:00 and it was still open and a co-worker messaged me at 5:30 and said it was closed for the day. I called the emergency number and sure enough, this site was shut down for the day so I got a day off. I think this was the last blast of this season, weather looks good from here on out.

No plans for the weekend, we are talking about booking our cruise this weekend however, I've been hesitant but I'm tired of waiting. Something tells me that there will be another contract extension as they are running out of time.

Hi ho hi Hate SNOW

 

Photo Flashback Thursday

Guangzheng Hu and Me. 

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all my pictures (by last count a little over 31,000 of them) and select just one magical moment to post and write about. One precious lost moment in time that was either captured with my camera or someone else's camera that I stole or scanned. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes this is not so easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun.

Today's picture takes me back abour ten years or so, back to a time when I was in college and working at the NRAC at WVU. This is a picture is of my and a friend of mine who was from and now lives in Beijing, Guangzheng Hu or JenJen as we called him. He was here doing his dissertation for his Doctorate and he worked with us at the end of the Hollowfill project that I worked on while I was getting my feet wet in GIS and learning the trade.

JenJen had one goal in life that was quite unique, he coming from China where food choices are much different than in the United States, he wanted to have eaten ever animal on earth before he died. Needless to say that is someones life goal that I never forgot.

When I was working in Frostburg, he would message me on MSN Messenger as he was getting off work in Beijing as I was getting ready to head to work since we have a 12 hour time difference between Morgantown and Beijing.

He invited me to come to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but that never came to fruition as I have never been to China.

Have a Great Day

Hi ho Hi I Hate Snow

Hump Day

Two days down (well one on and one off for me, now if we can just get up over this noon time hump, and look just on the other side of a photo flashback, you can see the dawn of yet another fun filled weekend off in the distance.

Let me start by saying Michelle's surgery went well, We were there for a few hours and then she cam home and rested. The entrance from her new stomach to her intestines had started to close us, hence the discomfort. They expanded it and now it is just a wait and see kind of thing, they may have to do this a couple of times before everything is back to normal as they say. She did fine and should be back to her normal routine today.

I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this before here or any other place. You see my favorite time of the year is the Spring time when longer days and warmer weather prevail. I like being able to get outside and enjoy myself. Have you seen what Mother Nature has in store for us? I Hate Snow!!!!! We are looking for as much as 8" of the crap by tomorrow night. Arggghhh!!!!

I'm loving the new Roku 3, my old Roku was so outdated that it was not even funny. I had no idea how far mine was behind until I bought a new one. One thing this one is able to do that my other one could not is stream movies, music and pictures off of my MyCloud, which I was hesitant in buying but it is the best NAS available out there for home use, this thing is amazing and the two work in perfect sync together.

Have a Great Day

Hi hp hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded Monday is now over with and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, Can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* First off Michelle is going to have Same Day Surgery this morning. The opening from her stomach to her intestines is closing off, so they have to take a balloon down there and expand the opening. Should just be a 5 minute procedure.

* 18,720 days ago I entered this world, hopefully I can continue to add to that total for a number of years to come.

* It was 3,943 days ago that I had the honor of Graduating from West Virginia University.

* It was only 2,544 days ago that I had the pleasure of taking Michelle out on our first date.

* 1,768 days ago I asked Michelle if she would like to get married, I also gave her a ring and even got down on one knee and asked the question.

*  It was 1,305 days ago that we had our wedding at the Marilla Center, after the ceremony we feasted with our closest family and friends.

* I have about 6,117 more days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.  It's still a long way off to say the least.

* I have 303 more days to write content for my blog before I post my favorite blog post of the year, the Goodbye 2015 Blog post that I pretty much post every year.

* There are 297 more shopping days left until Christmas this year, you still have plenty of time to make your lists and let Santa know something.

* In 273 more days, I will be having yet another one of those things that we refer to as Birthdays.

* Michelle and I are only 156 days away from our Fourth Wedding Anniversary

* Summer is coming up and the second annual picnic is only a mere 117 days away.

* In 75 short days, my niece Brittany will be graduating with her Bachelors Degree from West Virginia University.

* There are only a mere 17 days to go until Spring, my favorite time of the year.

* This is my 3,975th blog that I have written for George's Journal in the 10 1/2 years that I have been writing it. Looks to me like I am coming upon a 4,000th post milestone in the very near future.

* Like I said earlier, by the time most people will be reading this, Michelle will have already been in and out of surgery and probably home for the day resting. I may take the day off or I may go into the office, depending on what time we get done this morning.

* Our contract still has not been announced, it's a little nerve racking to say the least. I want to start planning our 2015 cruise and have been hesitant until I heard something regarding the contract.

* Still no confirmed your dates for Jimmy Buffett in Pittsburgh for this year, I'm thinking that when there is an announcement that it will be on June 25th. I'll keep everyone updated as the tour dates continue to fill up.

* Well the letter to Carol Pava was officially sent out yesterday for our sibling search. Now it is just a matter of waiting on confirmation of her receiving it and hopefully a reply from her or someone else. No one got back to me with any edits, so I sent it out as is.

* I haven't done any work on the Family Tree as of late, not sure how much work I will do to it this season with Springtime quickly approaching us. I would like to do a little more work on it before I take a break from it until next fall.

*  Have a Great Day

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end, or so they say. This includes a few of our favorite days of the week that make up weekends. Now it's time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for another week of working. Put the weekend in your memory and start looking ahead.

It was an uneventful weekend for Michelle and me, not too uncommon of a thing for us this time of the year. Unlike the Summer months when it seems like we are running some place or another every weekend. It's nice to have a break from the running around, but it'll be nice to start running around again in the very near future when the weather clears up. February is over with, now is when I start getting that Spring Fever and want to get out.

Don;t forget that this coming weekend is when we move clocks ahead one hour as Daylight Savings Time begins and we can start to notice the days getting longer and longer until we reach the years longest day in June. My cabin fever is probably the worst at this time of the year, as I know my favorite time of the year is just right around the bend.

Tomorrow is National Pancake Day, if you want some pancakes head on over to IHOP to get your free stack of pancakes, in exchange they ask for a donation to the Children's Miracle Network. It's been a big success in years past, they hope to raise $3.5 Million for the cause this year.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Sunday

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from that losing battle with the dreaded Sandman last night and I'm up early collecting my thoughts for the day once again.

Well we did not get into anything yesterday, we had thought about heading to Pittsburgh to one of the Carnegie Museums, but Michelle is having some pains so we stayed around the house and just relaxed. We did finally start with our first episode of House of Cards for season 3, of all three seasons it was the least spectacular opening to the season, but still a very good one.

Today's schedule is our typical one, grocery shopping this morning and finish up the rest of the laundry that we started yesterday afternoon. Nothing too exciting.

Michelle is going to have to have same day surgery on Tuesday, she is having some pain from her Gastric Bypass Surgery and the pocket is closing up, she has had trouble holding food down so they are going to do a quick procedure when they stick a balloon down in the opening of the stomach and open it back up a little. She is just one of the rare ones who had complications from the surgery and this is a 5 minute fix. She should be fine after that and no worries.

It's supposed to be nice and warm this afternoon, if you get a chance get out and enjoy yourselves a little bit.

Have a great day.