Steelers Kind of Sunday

Here I sit once again on a quiet Sunday Morning, I'm up early but something tells me I will lay back down after writing this and watch a little bit of stupid TV. Good Burger is on the TV now and I have to get a little rest for today.

Well we have finally reached that day, after winning the Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia game show earlier this year, it is now time to collect our Grand Prize, a Pittsburgh Steelers game against the Oakland Raiders.

We'll be leaving Morgantown early this morning and meeting up with the rest of the Pudgy Polamalus in Pittsburgh. We will once again have field passes for todays game, but I'm not sure how much time we will spend down on the field as that thrill is kind of gone after doing it a couple of times already.

The first year we were allowed to basically go anywhere, last year we were all bunched in like cattle in one small area.

It should be a great day today, I'll post a few pics from the field for everyone.

Have a great day and let's go Steelers.

Back to Back and Three Time Champions

We did it, we won the KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia show for the third time in our teams history and for the first time in the shows history it has its first back to back Champions. I have to say that honestly none of us studied this year, but something told me going into the tournament that it was ours to lose.

Our prizes for winning this tourny once again, $100.00 at the Steelers Store, 2 Field passes each and 2 tickets each for the Pittsburgh Steelers vs Oakland Raiders game later this year and I seem to remember a Grand total of like $80.00 in McDonalds Gift Certificates (that we gave to Hayley).

Thank you all for watching and cheering us on to yet another win. That is a grand total of three trophies that this team now possesses.

We will grab group pictures this November of the three of us and all three trophies. Those pictures will be posted at a later date.

Steelers Trivia Finals Tonight

Set your DVR's and stay up late night tonight and see if the Pudgy Polamalus, the defending KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Champions (and the only two time winner of the show as we previously did it as Poised to Strike in 2008) can defend their title and become the only team in show history to ever repeat as Champions.

We won in 2008 and decided to go out like Bettis, but a few years ago they wanted everyone to return for another round so we did. Last year we won it as the Pudgy Polamalus, being the first time that the same three players on the same team had ever won the tournament twice.

Tune it tonight and see if we can be the shows first ever back to back Champions and the only three time winners (the Pittsburgh Steelers of Steelers Trivia) of the show. I like our chances and I have two remarkable team mates.

11:30 on KDKA Channel 2.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look back and reflect upon all of the images that I have either taken with a camera, scanned or just simply stolen from the internet someplace. Little lost moments in time to post up and recall for everyone here. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture goes back one year. One year ago when the Pudgy Polamalus won the KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge. This was the second time that we had actually won the Trophy (see video below of first time as Poised to Strike). The year prior we had came out of retirement and finished third, but last year we won it all.

Now the question is how will we do on Saturday Night?

Have yourselves a Great Day

Hi ho hi ho





BTW Bob, we're not crowning a "NEW" Champion this year.

It's Game Day

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning before the big storm of Mountaineer Football takes the field later today watching a little bit of TV and collecting my thoughts for the day. It's a Football day for sure.

Last night I met up with my old Buddy Smitty and Steph at Genes before the MHS game last night. I did get to see Ron Blosser an old classmate who will be opening up a new bar called White Tails here in Morgantown Very soon. At the game I got to see a couple more old MHS classmates in Kim Terry who was watching her son Matthew play and Dawn Wells who was there to watch her nephew perform in the Red aand Blue Marching Band which made for a great night. Morgantown won 27-14 and made these Old alums quite happy. It had been quite a few years since I had actually attended a MHS game, so it was nice to get back to the old Alma Mater.

Today is the start of College Football here in Morgantown. The West Virginia University Mountaineers will start off their 2015 Campaign as they play host to Georgia Southern this evening at Milan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field. A lot of questions still need to be answered for this seasons team, today I think we will see if we have answers to those questions namely in the Quarterback position as Skyler Howard has had an off season to prepare with the team rather than being thrown into action late last season. It should be an interesting game.

Michelle and My agenda for the day is still pretty undetermined, my guess is we will be taking a trip to some mall and be doing a little bit of last minute shopping before we take off for our cruise next Saturday.

Don't forget to set your DVR's tonight as the Pudgy Polamalus try to defend their 2014 KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Championship this evening, This is the semi-final round and if we win tonight or if we are the highest scoring semi-final round runner up we will advance to next weeks Championship. Last year in the Semi-Finals we lost the round, but advanced to the finals were we won it all. Will history repeat itself this year, will we be the shows first back to back Champions (actually third Championship overall or will we be sent home. I think this picture of what I received in the Mail yesterday is a very good indication....lol

Have a Great Day and Let's Goooooooo Mountaineers.

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 Labor Day Weekend!!

Looking for a little football action? W have all kinds of action this weekend. Starting off Our Semi-Final Round of the KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia show will air tomorrow night. We won our first round game a few weeks ago, now we are at crunch time with last Weeks Semi-Final Round played, it's up to us to see if we can advance to next weeks Championship round for all the Goodies. Can the Pudgy Polamalus advance, or will our fate stop here. Tune in to see of the Defending Champions can advance back to the Finals for what would be our 4th time in 4 appearances on the show. We've won it twice before and came in third once, can we repeat and be the only team to defend their title as well as being the only 3 time Champions? Tune in and find out.

Looking for a little bit of High School Football action? Morgantown High tries to make it 2-0 on the season tonight when they host Brooke this evening at Pony Lewis Field. University High tries to get their first win of the young season as they play hosts to Parkersburg South and Clay Battelle looks to make it 2-0 as they travel to Midland Trail this evening. Good luck to all three area teams this evening.

Looking for College action, well it starts tomorrow with the first game of the season for the WVU Mountaineers as they take on Georgia Southern right here in Morgantown tomorrow night. This should be a fun filled couple of days of College Football action.

Have a Great day and a great start to an extended Holiday weekend.

Let's get this party started, hi ho hi ho

Steelers Trivia Tonight

Tonight is the night we make our debut for the 2015 KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia show for the season.

We are the defending Champions and are coming back this season to defend our title that we won last year (we also won in 2008 as Poised to Strike) tonight at 11:30 PM on KDKA Channel 2 in Pittsburgh this evening.

Can the Pudgy Polamalus defend their title or will one of the other worthy challengers prevent us from winning it all again. It all starts this evening with our first round game.

If we win tonight, we will appear in the second Semi-Final round on September 5th and if we advance from there the Championship will be on September 12th.

Tune in tonight and see if we can do it once again, it all starts tonight. Tune in and cheer us on.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that nightmare of a day called Monday is now once again behind us, now we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday. Unless the blue footed boobies and the sloth show up at my door selling dehydrated water, I can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It has been a very short 18,874 days since I was born, hopefully that number will continue to grow

* It has been 4,097 days since I Graduated from West Virginia University, something that I am very proud of especially considering how late it was in life that I even started.

* It has been 2,698 days since Michelle and my first date, 10,000 BC was the movie. Good thing I didn't take her to a good movie, she might not have ever went out with me again.

* It was 1,922 days ago that I proposed marriage to Michelle.

* 1,459 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, we had ourselves a little bit of  a wedding.

* I have about 5,963 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there of course.

* There are only 229 more days to go until Spring 2015, my favorite season of the year.

* I have 149 more days of content to go before I wrote my Goodbye 2015 that is my very last blog of the year. I recall my previous year based on what I put right here.

* There are only 143 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* There are also only 119 more days to go until my next anniversary of my 21st Birthday.

* There are only 60 more days to go until my wonderful wife and I once again attend the  Springs Festival in Springs Pennsylvania.

* The one thing we are really paying attention to is that there are now only 40 more days to go until we once again set sail on our Eastern Caribbean Cruise aboard the newly remodeled Carnival Pride.

* There are only 32 more days until WVU officially opens up their 2015 season for Football. Fall drills officially got under way yesterday, so Football season is upon us.

* There are only 9 more days to go until we party down with Jimmy Buffett.

* There are only 2 more days to go until mine and Michelle's Fourth Wedding Anniversary

* This is the 4,147th Blog that I have written for George's Journal in the over a decade that I have been writing it.

* No work this week on the Hall Family Tree, it's just that time of the year when I have other things that I would prefer to concentrate on.

* Nothing new in the Brother Search this week, don't know where we will go from here but it's going to be challenging.

* For you KDKA McDonald's Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge fans, this Saturday night at 11:30 is when our first round game will appear. If we win here we will appear in the Semi-Final round on September 5th. If we advance there we will make it to the Championship to be determined September 12th. Tune in and cheer, we will need the luck.

* It was 31 years ago yesterday that this happened, my how time flies by.

* Michelle and I will be going to the WV Blackbears game this Saturday Afternoon, Happy Anniversary to us.

* There is a Poker Run this weekend to honor Sgt Todd May who was killed in the line of duty a few years ago.

* Just a little reminder that if you have some spare time and you want to broaden yourself, Coursera is a great tool to brush up on just about anything. They are free online courses from from of the top Universities.

* Angela McClain is a Consultant with Tastefully Simple if you ever order from them.

* Have yourselves a fabtabulous day

* Hi ho hi ho

Pittsburgh Bound

It's another road trip for us this weekend, we're heading off to Pittsburgh to tape the McDonalds KDKA Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Show this weekend at KDKA studios.

This will be the fourth time we have competed in the tournament and have won it twice including being the defending Champions. We came in third two years ago, but Chris wanted to go to training camp and we stumbled out of the blocks that year.

Who knows what this year contains for us, but we will be taping our first round game this afternoon against only one other team so far and that will be Porter's Posse. If we advance then we will be taping again tomorrow morning but we are staying in Pittsburgh regardless this evening. We'll actually be staying in Greentree at our hotel, so that will be easy access on and off the parkway so to speak. It's a new hotel and we are getting a free room with my IHG annual rewards as I get one free night a year and they resets some time in early September before our cruise.

Have a great day.

We Did It

Well what do you know, we won this tournament in 2008. Finished third last year when none of us studied and had other distractions, preventing us from studying. This year we decided we were going to be the very first two time Champions of the KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge and we did just that.

After struggling through the Semi-Final round, but scoring the most points in the semi-final round as a runner up, we advanced to the Championship as a wild card to win it all....AGAIN!

I would like to thank my two team mates. Chris Ostien who is our team Captain and the one who organized all of this and lead the team to two titles and Randy "Walking Sports Encyclopedia" Page. I was the third member of the team, who had all the All-Stars on my team.

I think I'm going to celebrate today in Baltimore laughing at and making fun of all the Ravens fans as I am right across the street from Camden Yards (Orioles) and right down the road from MT Stadium (Ravens). I think I am going to celebrate this victory with a trip to the Caribbean which I am planning on just about.....NOW. =)

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Carnival Pride

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 a VACATION WEEK, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday!!!

Well this is my last day of work until September 16th as we prepare to go on vacation. We will be leaving tomorrow morning en route to Baltimore where we will board our cruise ship the Carnival Pride yet once again on Sunday Morning. This may be the last blog that I write prior to returning from vacation. I have a video blog set to post starting tomorrow and running each day until we return. Each video will coincide with our trip last year based on where we are each day. The dates may be a little off, but the locations and relative days of the week are not.

ALSO, we are in the finals once again of the McDonald's KDKA Steelers Trivia Challenge tomorrow night at 11:35 on KDKA. This is the Championship show for all the marbles, so be sure to tune in and see if we can be the first ever two time champions or if we win some other consolation prize. Don't forget to watch and see if we bring home any hardware (not that I am going to give away any hints).

If you are wanting to watch some football, well the High Schools are in action this evening. The Morgantown High Mohigans travel to Brooke to take on the Bruins after starting off 1-0 this season. University High is once again on the road for the second straight week to play Parkersburg South and Clay Battelle battles Midland Trail this evening in Blacksville.

Looking for a little college action? The West Virginia Mountaineers will try to recover from an opening week loss to Alabama as they take on Townson at Mylan Puskar Stadium 7:30 tomorrow night. I will be in Baltimore, but with any luck I am hoping to be able to watch the game.

Looking for the Big Boys? The Pittsburgh Steelers will open their 2014-5 season this Sunday afternoon at home against the Cleveland Browns. Baltimore will be hosting the Bengals Sunday, but I'll make sure to give them a Steelers salute as I dive by MT Stadium on my way to the terminal. =)

I got to get today in before my vacation starts, so I will see everyone on the flip side. Enjoy my videos, cheer for us to win the Steelers Trivia show Saturday night and make sure you cheer on the Mohigans, Hawks, Cee Bees, Mountaineers and Steelers this weekend.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramlings

Here I sit once again in the early AM, I'm the first one to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman last night and I'm up checking out some scores from yesterday and collecting my thoughts for the for the day. The TV isn't even on yet.

Well we didn't win last night on Steelers Trivia, but our score was high enough to advance us into the Championships next weekend. This is the third time we have been in the tournament and this will be the third time that we have advanced to the Championship round. In 8 shows show far we have won six of them, came in third in last years Championship earning us a trip to Steelers Training Camp and came in second last night. We were the highest scoring team in round 1 of the tournament and then had the highest scoring for a runner up last night giving us the wildcard nod. Will we be the first group of guys to ever win the Tournament a second time? Tune in next week and find out how we do.

I did not go to East Liverpool with Michelle yesterday and opted to stay home and watch the WVU game. My Brother in Law Nick called me and invited me down so I went to their place to watch the game and cheer on the Mountaineers. We did lose 33-23, that is to a very good Alabama team and I think we are vastly improved from last season. I think we are going to have a much better team than people, including myself, anticipated.

Normal schedule for us today, grocery shopping and laundry, typical Sunday for this week. Next week will be a whole different story as we will be embarking onto our boat for our cruise. However that is next week and this is this week.

Michelle took a number of pictures yesterday and we have posted them on Facebook.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning, I'm the first to recover from getting knocked out by the Sandman yesterday and I'm up collecting my thoughts and surfing the internet. I'm up watching The Heat on HBO and surfing the net.

Michelle is going to head home to East Liverpool today for her Grandmother's Birthday Party. I was going to go, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to stay here and get a few things done around the house while she goes home and visits.

The Mountaineers play their first game of the season this afternoon when they take on the Crimson Tide at 3:30, my primary reason for staying home since I probably wont be able to see them play until we get back after our cruise. We'll be traveling next weekend and miss it and will be returning from the Caribbean and out in the Ocean the next week.

Make sure you tune in to watch the KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge tonight. We'll be competing in the Semi-Finals for a chance to play in next weeks Championship round. Will the Pudgy's advance, or will they be sent home. You'll have to tune in to see how we do.

Have a Great Day, cheer on the Mountaineers and be sure to watch us tonight.

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again, up in the early AM after being the first to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman last night. I should say this morning, because it was after midnight before we actually got home from the Pirates Game yesterday. I'm up too early watching the movie Dodgeball on HBO and trying to stay awake from sleep deprivation and collecting my thoughts for the day.

We had a great time last night at the Pirates vs Padres game at PNC Park. The Pirates lost 2-1 and Morgantown native Jedd Gyroko singled in one of the Padres two runs. After the game we were treated to a nice fireworks display right outside of the stadium before getting back on the Gateway Clipper and heading back to our car. I told Michelle we need to do that more often, and it would be great if others would want to join us as we had a blast.Pictures are posted on Facebook.

Today is going to be a normal day of shopping, laundry and chores for us in the Hall household. They are having a baby shower for Sherri Toth this afternoon that Michelle has been invited to as well as bought a few things for, but that all depends on how the day shapes up. We did get home late last night and it all depends on when she gets up and we get out.

We won our first round game of Steelers trivia last night, now it is on to the semi-finals on August 30th. It's nice to see that we advanced past the first round, I wonder how we will do in the Semi-Finals and if we were good enough to advance to the Championship round. You'll have to tune in on August 30th to find out, but I will give you a small hint. =)

One thing I do need to do is start doing some video editing and put together our video blogs that I am going to publish each day to coincide with our cruise next month.

Have a great day.

It's a Pittsburgh Kind of Day

Here I am up early in the AM, the I have finally recovered from that dreaded loss to the Sandman last night and I'm up early watching Hoosiers on Cinemax.

This is the night that I think we are supposed to be on the Steelers Trivia show, it should be our first round game and it should be on KDKA after the 11:00 news. I've set my DVR up to record it but it's not showing up as the show. I hope I don;t have my dates messed up..lol

Tonight Michelle and I are traveling to Pittsburgh to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates play the San Diego Padres and their Second Baseman and Morgantown native Jedd Gyorko. This will be the first time I will have watched Jedd play professionally and I have watched him play in High School and a number of times in College. There will be fireworks after the game tonight, so it will be a late night for us before we return to Morgantown later tonight or early tomorrow morning.

The weather should be nice today, so I hope everyone has a great day.

Photo Flashback Thursday

2008 McDonalds KDKA Steelers Trivia Champions

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 through the years and reflect upon them a little. Little lost but permanently captured moments in time that I can post up and reflect upon for everyone. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's pretty difficult, it is however always my pleasure and a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes all the way back to 2008. We as "Poised to Strike" competed in and won the McDonalds KDKA Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge. One of our prizes was obviously two tickets for each team member to a Steelers game as well as sideline passes for us and our guests. This weeks picture is from the 2008 Colts Game that the Steelers unfortunately lost.

We were down on the field with the players for a couple of hours and got all kinds of pictures, it was a surreal experience for this lifetime Steelers fan.

Last year we reformed the old Poised to Strike team but went by the names the Pudgy Polamalus. We did win our first two round games last year, but stumbled out of the blocks in the Championship game and finishing third. Last years prize was a VIP Trip to Steelers Training Camp and we enjoyed that. A third place finish and all of us had events happening days leading up to the taping including Michelle being in the hospital.

However those are both in the past and the Pudgy Polamalus reassembled this year to once again compete. We are in week 5, which will air on August 9th on KDKA. If we win that week we will be on again in the Semi-Finals in week 8 on August 30th. If we get lucky there and manage to advance, we would appear in the Championship Show on September 6th to play for the prizes. I'll be in Baltimore getting ready to get on a boat that day, so everyone will have to tell me how we did when I get back if we advanced that far. =)

Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end, and that includes those fun filled and this weekend travel filled weekends. It's time to sit back and reflect upon the weekend a little as we prepare to look to the week ahead.

We did manage to tape all of the Steelers trivia show(s) this weekend. I can tell you our first show will be in week 5 of the challenge. There are six weeks of preliminary games and those six winners advance to the second day for the semifinals and possibly finals. The winner of our first round game moves on to the semi-finals in week 8 for a chance to earn a spot in the Super Bowl of Steelers Trivia, aha Week 9. You'll just have to tune in to see how we did. We won it all in 2008 as Poised to Strike and advanced to the Finals last year as the Pudgy Polamalus (even though no one studied) but finished third.

Now the week ahead I have a couple of Graduation Ceremonies to attend. Calvin is graduating from Vo-Tech on Wed at 7:00 at the WVU Creative Arts Center and at 7:00 on Friday at Clay Battelle High School. That should be a great way to start a 3 day (Unofficial Start of Summer) weekend.

Have a great day,

Back to the Burgh

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household (but not for long), I just woke up and am collecting my thought s for the day and watching something or another on TV.

I'll be getting Michelle up soon and we will be heading out early this morning and heading back to Pittsburgh and KDKA studios once again for day two of taping the Steelers trivia show. I'm not going to say how we did in our first round game, but we will probably be back there by people wake up again if that is any indication.

Yes this has or will be a weekend of running, but in between all the running we did manage to get our menu planned, our shopping done and the majority of the laundry done as well as well as my prescription pills sorted.

Hopefully we can return today with a little bit of hardware.

Have a great day.

Burgh Kind of Day

Here I sit in a quiet household, even though I slept in this morning (could be a long day) I'm still the first one to recover from a losing battle with the Sandman. I'm up watching Joe Dirt and catching my thoughts for the day before I resume studying.

We'll be traveling to Pittsburgh today and will be at the KDKA studios filming the first round of Steelers Trivia. This is our third try doing this, winning the 18 team tournament in 2008 and finishing third last year although no one studied due to other things going on in all of our lives. Hopefully we can bring home another Championship Trophy this year.

If we are successful today, we'll be heading back up tomorrow morning but have no idea what time yet if that happens. In 2008 we had to be at the studio at 6:30 AM and last year it was much later.

Last year Michelle couldn't make the trip due to a Hospital stay, this year she is and I will be traveling together. Didn't have our good luck charm last year, but we do this year.

Have a great day.

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I am once again up in the early AM, as I am the only one in the household who has recovered from a losing battle with the sandman from last night. I don't even know what is playing on the TV as I have to get ready and get out of the house early this morning. We did our grocery shopping last night, because of what happened yesterday.

I'm not supposed to say what happened in our trivia round, it's to keep the suspense going and out there. We were not ready missed a whole lot of questions and were way off of our game. There was a lot of things we didn't know unlike last time when we knew anything and everything. I can't say how the first round went, but my name tag and the teams banner are at KDKA studios where I have to be early this morning. We'll see how today goes, but I didn't expect to be there this morning.

Michelle didn't make the trip yesterday due to how she was feeling, she is not going to be with me once again today. I'll be flying solo once again this morning.

Did you guys see that storm yesterday? I didn't, we were taping as it was going on but it was sunny in Pittsburgh. Michelle called me and told me to be safe on my way home and I had no idea what she was even talking about. She took a few pictures on Facebook, but these pictures are from the Monongalia County Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency and some of the pictures they had taken. The first one is Van Voorhis Road and the second one is West Run, both of these close to our home, just depending on which way you turn out of the driveway. I guess you could say that we were right in the middle of the storm damage. The creek in our back yard got higher, but not to our yard. Patty's backyard got hammered. I'm not sure if it got inside the basement or not.

I hope everyone has a great day today, I should be back home in Morgantown by early afternoon at the very latest. Now I get to drive to the heart of Pittsburgh again. There was some kind of a festival going on yesterday at the point, maybe today I can find out what kind of a festival that was.

Have a great day.