A little entertainment

Since it has been really nice weather the last couple of days, I have decided to keep my front door open to let the fresh air in and enjoy the aesthetics's of a nice spring day and a little fresh air.

A few weeks ago I purchases a bag of squirrel food and had at times placed it around the apartment. Yesterday I watched what I thought was one very hungry squirrel eat for about four straight hours. I was thinking to myself that was an awful lot of food for one small squirrel. I mean, that little squirrel had what I thought was the bottomless pit stomach of all squirrels.

Today I needed a little something to brighten my day so I set out some more food and waited for my buddy to come along. Sure enough my little squirrel buddy stopped by and was enjoying a nice meal of corn, peanuts and sunflower seeds that I had set out for him. I paid a little closer attention today only to notice that it was more than one squirrel with a bottomless stomach, it was four different squirrels eating the feed. One would eat and the other three tended to stand guard so to alert the one eating if someone was walking by.

Thanks to my little squirrel buddies for brightening up my day.

I found my first geocache.

A couple of months ago I bought my first ever GPS unit. I bought it so that I could start doing something called geocaching as a way to get a little hands on knowledge of working with a GPS and to get a little exercise while doing so.

Yesterday Kelly suggested that we try walking on another portion of rails to trails to see if we could find a geocache. She recommended trying to find the Johnny Cash Cache. We started behind Food Lion and started walking towards the Interstate Bridge on I68 and the cache was just off the trail.

This was my first cache and I was quite excited about it. Tonight we are going to see if I can find my second cache.

Happy Birthday Gary

Today is Gary, the youngest of the five siblings, birthday. Not too sure what he is up to today, but I would like to wish him a very Happy Birthday.

National Map and National Atlas

One of the hardest things to do is explain to people what it is I do for a living. How do you explain something that many people haven't seen.

There were two interactive sites that I found over the weekend (I already knew about them) that may help others understand a little better.

The federal government is doing a National Map that actually uses an IMS server to let the viewer play with an interactive map.

There is also a National Atlas that has a user friendly Map Maker feature.

A day at Coopers Rock

Yesterday the girls and I did a little running around and made a trip to Coopers Rock. It was only the second time Amy was ever there and the first time the little one had ever been there. I managed to take my camera with me and grab one of those once in a lifetime type of photos for the girls.


As I was looking through the pictures from yesterday I found the one of Amy and Josie and it caused me to reminisce a little of my own childhood, many, many moons ago when me and grandpa Hall had our picture taken together on Coopers Rock.

That picture has always been a favorite of mine. This was a man who raised me and who we lost 27 years to the day that I accomplished his dream for me when I graduated from college.

I couldn't let this moment pass, so I have already taken the picture of the girls and had a framed 8 X 10 made that I will give them this afternoon.

You only have so many chances on making memories of a lifetime, you can't let the simple ones pass you by.

The day ahead

It's Saturday morning and I am trying to figure out something to get into today. Amy had mentioned that she has only been to Coopers Rock once in her lifetime and Josie had never been there yet. That is one of the things we're considering today, among a few other possibilities for us to do today. Amy had taken her grandparents grocery shopping Thursday opening today up for us. Tomorrow she'll be at her church most of the day in preparation to teach vacation bible school later this summer.

If we do go to Coopers Rock I have downloaded a few geocaches into my GPS, so maybe we'll grab one of them while we are out and around today.

TGIF

Wow was this a short week. Actually it was a three day work week so that is no surprise. However, it is once again Friday and the dawn of another weekend.

Not too sure what we are getting into this weekend, Amy and I talked about going out to dinner this evening. Other than that the plans are pretty much up in the air tonight. Last week we attended a movie when we went and watched Curious George. There is no movie being played tonight however, but it returns next friday when RV will be played at Marilla Park.

Have a good weekend.

I started another BLOG

I have watched Kim start a couple new BLOGS over the last couple days, so I decided to move foreward with something I wanted to do since last season and that was to start another BLOG, but with multiple authors.

It wasn't a hard choice to decide to dom one or the topic to choose. Finding other authors wasn't that hard either.

I have started a group blog for my Softball Team and already have four other authors signed up.

Google Maps / Earth moves to next level

Google has pushed the envelope a little further in internet mapping.

LINK

They are starting to ring in localized images of people.

I Graduated Diabetes Education

Woo Hoo, I finally finshed my Diabetes Education class yesterday. The class is a four part series that educates you on diabetes, designs a diet and works on getting your diabetes under control.

At the end yesterday we had to take a reading to see if we were within target. Once again <130 for a fasting reading and <160 two hours after a meal. I read mine like three hours after lunch and it read 109. A big change from the 350's numbers I was getting in February.

Amy is off today, she has to go and pick up a mouth piece from her dentist and then will do a little running around with her grandparents.

Last night we went shopping for dinner tonight, and we have salmon on the agenda for tonight, I'm thinking we are going to cook it on the grill. We purchased some cedar planks last night to cook it.

Moke has been wanting to play more paintball. He has a team put together and wants to start playing more. I sent an e-mail to Sean and Danny at MVP Paintball, maybe they can give him some advice or a hand forming a team.

...One more day!!!!!

Pirates Game

Yesterday, I went to my second Pirates Game that I had ever been to. The first and last game I had ever attended was way back in 1982 at Willie Stargell's (the statue) last game as a player.

I have had tickets and had plans to go to games numerous times, I've just never managed to be able to make it to a game until yesterday. It was a great day where Chris, Chewy, Phil and myself started the journey to Pittsburgh yesterday at about 4:00 and culminated with our return last night around 11:00.

It was a great game and the Pirates played a decent game and managed to walk away with a 4-1 victory over possible future Hall of Famer David Well's. Before the game started we all managed to find a Primanti Brothers at PNC park and enjoyed in my opinion the best sandwich in the world.

On a side note I have my final diabetes education class today, so I have just decided to take the whole day off rather than just a few hours.

Memorial Day

Yesterday was the observed holiday of memorial day (It's actually tomorrow). Early in the afternoon Amy, Josie and myself had a nice little relaxing walk on rails to trails.

We stopped by at riverfront park and had a few pieces of bread that we were going to share with the resident fowl population that inhabited the area (ie we fed the ducks).

I did manage to get one magical picture where Josie had a piece of bread taken out of her hand by a thieving goose. She loves feeding the birds, and they loved her as they surrounded her when they noticed that she had bread.

Yesterday evening we went stopped by and picked up her grandparents and took them to her parents for another family cookout. They have been experimenting with BBQing ribs and I was more than willing to help eat them.

Today, is going to be the first day since I started seeing Amy that I wont have the chance to see her. We have both returned to work for the week and I'm heading to Pittsburgh tonight to see the Pirates play San Diego Padres.

Barnes Family aka Softball team Cookout

Yesterday Amy and I went to Dan and Lisa Barnes's house for a cookout / softball team pic nic and had a great time. The majority of the team showed up so it gave Amy a chance to meet everyone one on one away from the softball field. I plan on keeping her around so I guess I should introduce her to the extended softball family. ;)

Sean also owns a karaoke company and set up his karaoke equipment so we could have a little fun under the stars. Everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves and Dan and Lisa were more than hospitable hosts to everyone.

I'm not sure what we are going to get into today, but it will be memorable no matter what it is.

Today

Todays agenda is to spend the day with the girls and have a little fun. We're going to go over to Amy's grandparents and do their grocery shopping for them. We have done this the past few Saturdays as it is something hat Amy does every Saturday.

We're talking about a trip to the mall this afternoon and a trip to Wal-Mart to get what we need for the covered dish for the Barnes backyard family pic nic that we will be attending tomorrow afternoon. It's a Family / Softball Team pic nic that Dan and Lisa have every year.

Later this evening we will have a cookout at Amy's parents place.

It looks like it will be another great day.

Memorial Day Weekend

It's Friday and the start of a much anticipated three day weekend for me and the girls. Last weekend was a little short for us so it will be nice to have an extended weekend where we can spend a little more time together.

With each passing day I am realizing more and more that I am one very lucky man. I definately feel that I have met someone very special.

Not much to say about what's planned for the weekend, I'll talk about it on a day by day basis as it happens so I can have something to blog about.

We are planning on going to see the movie Curious George tonight for Family Night Under the Stars at the Ampitheater on the riverfront.

Tuesday I will be in for a little treat. I've been a lifelong Pirates fan and have only been to one Pirates Game in my life. A few guys from my softball team will be making the trip to Pittsburgh Tuesday to see the Pirates play San Diego. Chris went to school with and is good friends with the guy who is ahead of in game promotions for the Pittsburgh Pirates and he has hooked us up with some free tickets.

Almost there

OK, it's lunch time on Thursday which means I only have a couple more hours till I am done for the day. That means tomorrow is F-R-I-D-A-Y-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AND a three day weekend!!!!! Woo Hoo

We're planning on attending a team softball pic nic on Sunday afternoon hosted by Dan and Lisa Barnes.

Friday night Amy and I are discussing about taking Josie to see a movie at the Riverfront Park. I believe the movie that is going to be shown is Curious George. BOPARC has really extended their movie and a blanket program that was started a few years ago.

There is nothing really planned for Saturday yet, however if the weather is nice I doubt if I will be sitting at home twiddling my thumbs.

Happy 40th Birthday George

Today is my brother in law George's 40th birthday. I I would like to take this chance to wish him a very happy 40th birthday.

Congratulations Renee

Renee is finishing up her Surgical Technician class at MTech and will be graduating tonight at 7:00 at the Colseum. I would like to take this post and congratulate her on a job well done. She went back to school and kicked some serious butt and got through a pretty tough program.

I'll be there tonight with Amy when she receives her diploma.

Big win

We pulled out a nice big win last night in softball. We managed to jump to a 13-1 lead and then the other teams bats woke up and we saw ourselves temporarily down 13-15. We woke our bats back up and managed a 21-19 win to run our record to 3-2 on the season and finally moving us above the .500 mark for the first time all year.

We're off until June 4th at 10:00 when we have a rematch with the team we lost in the Championships to two season ago. We didn't match up against the Cops last season, but both teams have the date circled and it should be a great game.

At least we walked away with two trophies two years ago rather than just one. =)

Happy Birthday Pam

Today is my youngest sister Pam's Birthday. I would like to take this chance and wish her a very Happy Birthday and may she have many more to follow.

A Visit to Sarris's

Last night the girls and I made a trip to Cannonsburg PA and a trip to the Sarris Chocolate factory. Amy's family has been there numerous times, but I had never taken a trip to the factory before. This was my first time in making the tract to the factory.

Amy really likes the chocolate covered espresso beans (yuck) and the main factory is the only place that you can get them. So, I thought it would be nice to take a nice little trip up to get her some.

Josie, well she was like a...yeah, a kid in a candy store. I think she really liked it even after she fell a sleep on the trip up. She was a little hard to wake up, until she realized where we were.

We made it an early night as I left to get some rest so that we can play paintball today.

Pictures uploaded

Last Night Amy, Josie and I stopped over at Mom's and Mom asked me a question about the pictures from the Pic Nic. So this morning I decided to update the newer album with pictures from this weekend plus a few pictures. I created a new album for my girls.

It was nice to see my Uncle Robert at my Mom's yesterday, he and his new girlfriend (sorry name slips me right now) were there enjoying pizza and a little conversation.

Last night, I took the girls to CiCi's Pizza, I don't know which one of the three of us enjoy it more. I told Amy that I would grab the tray of fresh cinnamon rolls and told her to grab the tray of fresh cheese bread sticks and we'll make a mad dash for the door. We didn't do it ;(

Not sure what today has in store, but I think I'll be in the company of a couple special girls.

You Know when you are a drunk when...

Enjoy



You have ten ice cube trays in your freezer and they’re all empty.

You have made cocktails with ice chiseled from the inner walls of your freezer.

When the guy at the door yelled, “Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms,” you assumed it was someone bringing more supplies.

You inform the arresting officer that gravity is the only law you feel compelled to obey.

You take pub crawls very literally.

Crying in your beer increases its alcohol content.

You’ve invented a Sesame Street drinking game so you can spend more time with your kids.

You start your morning by reaching to the night stand, picking up your phone, pressing re-dial, and apologizing to whoever answers.

Some bastard always manages to slip a Mickey Finn in your 30th drink.

You regularly shout constructive criticism to the winos holding cardboard signs on street corners, e.g.: “It’s too political! You’re alienating half your demographic!”

All your finest athletic feats were executed after six or more drinks.

Your golf bag contains more beer than clubs.

You complain to friends that you “got really sober last night.” ¸

—FKR, Barcillo, Chopper, Brian Normant, Mike White, F. Odin

Friday

Here we are again, at the start of yet another weekend and the end of the weeks work schedule. The weather today doesn't appear like it is going to be cooperative with any activities, it looks like it may be raining all day.

Amy Josie and I have a few things that we may get into tonight, Amy's Nephew Christopher has a T-Ball game tonight at 6:00 and WVU is playing Georgetown tonight at Hawley Field at a sceduled 7:05 start time. For anyone interested in going to the WVU game its $1.00 night, it's $1.00 to enter and certain consessions are also being sold for $1.00.

I don't know what we have scheduled tomorrow, I know Amy has something to do with the church tomorrow morning and we will probably go grocery shopping for her Grandparents after that.

Sunday is paintball day, so this is probably going to be a short weekend when our schedules will be occupied with a few activities. Next weekend however we will be enjoying a nice three day weekend.

Friday Night Under the Stars

BoParc does a Friday Night Under the Stars at the Ampitheatre downtown when they play a movie on a Friday Night. It's free admission, just bring a blanket and some snacks and enjoy a movie outside under the stars.

The 2007 Season has been announced.



Family Night Under the Stars Drive-in Movies

May 25 - Curious George
June 9 - RV at Marilla Park
June 22 - Over the Hedge
June 29 - Flushed Away
July 13 - Monster House
July 27 - Happy Feet
August 3 - Barnyard
August 10 - Charlotte's Web
August 24 - Open Season
August 31 - Cars


All movies begin at dusk at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater unless otherwise noted.

This week is flying along.

Do you believe it is Thursday already? It was a quick weekend and this week has also been going along pretty quick, almost too quick. I am starting to wonder if the older you get, that time tends to speed up and move faster. I remember when I was a kid the days were like 48 hours and now they seem like 12 hours. Maybe it's just me.

Last night I took the girls out to TCBY and then we stopped by Daily Kneads for a loaf of bread. I love their bread, but I took one small piece and told Amy to take the rest of it to her Dad and Brother, this way I won't eat it. I did check my sugar this morning after breakfast, and for the first time in some time it was slightly (couple points) above my target for a post meal. Nothing to worry about, the goal is to get 50% of my readings in target, and that is the first one in some time that was 2 points above target in some time.

Reminder to everyone, this Sunday is when we are playing Paintball. $25.00 pays for your field rental fee, air, equipment and 500 free paintballs. If you are planning on playing, plan on shooting around 1,500 paintballs on the day. Cases (2000) range between $55-$70 a case. For this special you must shoot field paint only, the Bring your own paint night is Friday night.

For any of you looking to do something pretty Cheap, the WVU Baseball team is having a $1.00 night for Friday Night's game. Tickets and all concessions are only $1.00 each.

We pulled out a win

Last night we took the field again hoping to pull our record to an even .500 for the season. The game didn't start out that way as we fell behind early and couldn't hit or field the ball. We were actually in danger of having the 10 run mercy rule implemented on us. Until about the fourth inning and we woke up both offensively and defensively for the first time all game. We won 23-16 and pulled our record to 2-2 on the year.

The picture was taken after last weeks game, and I managed to track it down so that I can add it to my blog.

Softball tonight

We will once again hit the field tonight in a softball game, attempting to pull our record back to the .500 level. It's been a few years since I have been on a team that was not only at or below that level so I'm wanting to come out and have a good solid game tonight.

There has already been a team picture been taken this year, but it wasn't by me and I'm trying to get a copy of it to post.

Reminder, this coming Sunday is the day we are playing paintball for anyone who wants to play.

Weekends are too short

I think I've recently used this title, however once again it's a very fitting statement. I had a busy, fun filled, and memorable weekend where I spent time with my baby and her daughter.

Yesterday we went to a pic nic that my Niece Amy was having at Marilla Park. It's been some time since we have had one down there like this, which of course we can't managed to do without someone bringing a water pistol or water balloons.

After we left Marilla we went and visited Amy's Mom and wished her a Happy Mother's Day. He family had had a backyard BBQ at her parents house. Her brothers were playing a little T-Ball out in the front yard.

The end of the weekend included me leaving my dome light on yesterday and to find a dead car battery when I was going to leave last night. Other than that, it was a great weekend, just a little too short.

Happy Mothers Day

I would like to take this chance and wish all the mothers a very Happy Mother's Day.

For those of you who do not know the history of Mother's Day, it started locally here in Grafton, West Virginia by Anna Jarvis.



No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.--Florida Scott-Maxwell

It's the weekend

What, you need an explanation? My weekend is now almost officially starting and I don't know what we are going to get into tonight. Amy and I were talking about taking Josie to Hovatters Zoo today. I think she would like that.

Time to grab my camera and go see the girls.

Have a good day.

Ok, We're getting there

It's Thursday and one day closer to the weekend. The weather looks like it should be nice all weekend, which will be a little bit of a change from last weekend when it rained Saturday.

Amy and I had a little cookout for dinner last night and we're planning on doing it again tonight.

Neice Amy is planning on having a cookout this Sunday at Marilla Park. She called me yesterday and said it's going to start around noon. Maybe it's time I break out my camera and put it to work.

Hump Day

Alright, we're on the back part of the work week now and heading into another fun filled weekend.

* Last night the girls and I went to Amy's Nephew T-Ball game and watched him start his tract to Cooperstown. I can now say I was when his future baseball Hall of Fame career was started.

* We purchased Josie a Beta last night and a beta tank. Her fish is now named Eugene and Eugene is the Attack Guard fish who oversees all that goes in in both the living room and the kitchen.

* I had a good day yesterday on rails to trails. The sun was shining and warm and my iPod was jamming and I walked about 3.7 miles yesterday. I went a little early so we could make the T-Ball game last night, plus Kelly was feeling a little under the weather.

* Just a reminder, this coming Sunday is Mother's Day.

* Thew next weekend is when we have one our scheduled paintball games. $25.00 will cover your rental equipment, field rental fees and 500 Free paintballs. Plan on shooting roughly 1,500 if you are planning on playing all day. If you want to play, team up with someone and split the cost of an additional case of paintballs and you should be set of for the day.

Directions to the field


Directions to the Field:

From Morgantown:

-Follow I-68 to exit 10 (Cheat Lake)
-Turn left off of the highway onto Rt. 857.
-Follow Rt. 857 approximately 5.5 miles into Pennsylvania.
-Turn left onto Gans Rd. towards Rt. 43 immediately after the Laural Aggregate Plant and Niosh.
-Cross over Rt. 43 and make an immediate left onto Bunker Hill Road.
-Follow 1.5 miles and turn left on Jordans Harbour Road.
-Follow it to the end, then proceed through the gate, and you will be at the park.

When you turn off Rt. 857, follow the signs.

Double Header split

Well, we didn't manage to pull off a sweep last night, but we did however split the double header.

We won the first game quite handidly and implemented the 10 run rule innthe fifth inning securing the firstr win of the season.

The second game however we should have won during regulation, but we managed to drop it in extra innings. I ended the game hitting into a Double play. I haven't managed to get my stroke and timing as of yet, but it's early and I haven't caught fire yet. I'll come when we need it.

Tonight the girls and I will be going to watch Amy's nephew play a T-Ball game.

Everything is fine

Just returned from the Dr's and everything appears to be fine other than the pain. We scheduled another appointment in two weeks if it is still aching. Her examination was went well and she couldn't find anything.

All is well. Now, had something been wrong I would have waited until the double header was over with tonight before I would have said anything.

Unplanned trip to DR's today

I finally did it. My leg has been quite bothersome for a little over a week now, so I'm taking a trip to the POC this afternoon to see my Doctor.

I called Jean this morning and asked her about it, giving her the symptoms and she mentioned possible blood clot. I was talking to Amy on her way to work and she never said it but that is what was running through her mind also.

It's minor, but it has lingered long enough that it needs a little medical attention.

I'll update eveveryone in the next BLOG.

Weekends are too short

Wow, it seems like yesterday was Friday evening and I was on rails to trails enjoying the start of the weekend. I think I must have blinked because it's Monday again. I can't complain, I had a great weekend despite some faulty weather forecasts.

Yesterday Amy, Josie and I started the day off with a visit to a friend of hers from college. They were in from Delawre and staying with some family. I think we may be planning a weekend trip to Delaware sometime in the future to return the visit.

Later we stopped at her Brother's and we all made it up to her parents house for a cookout. Her two brothers and their wives were there, however her sister who I met Saturday was home with a touch of the flu. It's not hard to see that they are a very loving close knit family.

I have a softball double header this evening, hopefully we can find our defense tonight and turn around a bad start to the season and come out with a pair of wins.

My hip has been feeling strange over the past week, I'm thinking about scheduling a Dr's appointment and have Dr. Feathers have a look at it. It's a muscular pain on my right hip, but it has lingered for the past week and at times is quite intense and painful, like a severe burning pain. Once I'm up and moving it's fine and doesn't inhibit my mobility, but after I have been sitting for a while it's quite painful.

As a reminder to anyone who is wanting to play paintball, we are playing two weeks from yesterday on the 20th. It's the Sunday between Mother's Day and Memorial day weekends.

Change of plans

Wow, did we ever have a change of plans yesterday. The weather was supposed to be nice, and we were going to spend the day in Star City. It was a very well planned out event that was almost a complete bust.

I don't know if the carnival ever really did make it there, and the weather was shall we say less than cooperative. Amy, Josie and I started the day off by going to her store, but the cold rain and lack of turnout in general made us change our plans.

We were going to go to the fireworks last night that were scheduled to begin at 9:30, but as we were leaving I saw the fireworks already going off in the distance at 9:00. We did manage to walk over from Amy's apartment and view them for a good five minutes before the finale ended.

I did manage to meet Amy's sister and her other set of grandparents yesterday, as she briefly met Val, Erica and Joshua. Amy has this recipe for Amish Friendship Bread that she had finished up Friday Night. It takes ten days to make the bread but oh is it worth it. Yummm.

It's almost the weekend.

It's finally Friday and the dawn of a new and adventurous weekend. Last night Amy, Josiie and I broke in the new grill and had a BBQ. I managed to be the grill master, but all I did was stand there and stir stuff, the real grill master is Amy. We were talking last night and we seem to like the same foods and the same prefer food the same way. She likes using spices and adding flavor to the food, I'm kind of the same way but being single and looking for something quick and easy I never really had the desire or need to do anything more than a quick microwave.

After dinner we all all decided to take a trip to Dairy Queeen. After Josie went to bed Amy and I talked a few hours, we are still of in that getting to know each other stage of the relationship. I like talking to her, we ask each other questions and learn more and more about each other as every day passes.

Tonight we are going to travel over to Mom's so Amy and Josie can meet Mom and Gerald.

Tomorrow there we will be running around all day with the events in Star City.

Yesterday

Yesterday Amy, Josie and myself decided to travel to the great Metropolitan area of Core , West Virginia to meet both Kim and Pam.

The evening started off with a nice little trip to Josie's favorite restaurant CiCi's Pizza for dinner before heading to Core to embark on some more introductions.

We started off by stopping off to meet Kim, Robert, Brittany and Roki. We had a nice little talk and sat on the back poarch for a while watching the ducks. Of course Kim had to tell a few stories about me where I had to plead the fifth so I didn't incriminate myself from acts of stupidty. If I plead the fifth I won't have to deny anything. Ironically there was another connection that we have, it seems Robert and Kim's best friend Ron is Amy's cousin. I brought in the new year with her Aunt and Uncle and didn't even know it at the time.

After that we left and stopped by so I could introduce my girls to Pam, George, Calvin and that HUGE puppy that they have named Spike. If you have never seen Spike, he is a very large and lovable Saint Bernard. Josie was a little timid initially with Roki, but it didn't exist with Spike. George came up with the conspiracy theory that I have been stalking Amy, even 11 years before she was born.

After leaving there we stopped by Amy's grandparents to pick up Josie's cheese sticks that she had left there. Then when returned to Amy's we went to her neighbor's (also named Amy) and I returned a favor when she helped me putting the grill together and helped her bring in a computer desk and hooked up her computer.

After this my girls walked me to my car and I went home for a good nights sleep.

Tonight we are thinking about putting the new grill to work.

Life is good.

Late night game

We started the season off last night on a sour note when we dropped a 32-22 game to start off the season. Ususally 22 runs will win you about 95% of your games, however our defense was absolutely horrible last night and we let up a whole lot of runs. We were having trouble doing the routine basics of the game, much less the bad plays.

We'll get them nest week when we have a double header scheduled Monday at 6:00 and 7:00. Hopefully we can forget the first game of the season and bounce back with a nice little double header sweep.





"To value his own good opinion, a child has to feel that he is a worthwhile person. He has to have confidence in himself as an individual."--Sidonie Gruenberg

Softball schedule

Monday, 04/30/07
10:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs John Howard Motors

Monday, 05/07/07, Liberatore Field
6:00pm S1 Judel Products vs MVP Paintball
7:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs Lazy Lizard

Tuesday, 05/15/07, Ogden Field
7:00pm S1 The Augusta / McCoy 6 vs MVP Paintball

Monday, 05/21/07, Liberatore Field
10:00pm S1 Misfits vs MVP Paintball

Monday, 06/04/07, Whiston Field
10:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs Morgantown Honda

Thursday, 06/07/07, Ogden Field
6:00pm S1 Mylan Express vs MVP Paintball

Monday, 06/11/07, Whiston Field
10:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs REM Men's

Monday, 06/18/07, Liberatore Field
8:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs Town Hill
9:00pm S1 Rugratz vs MVP Paintball

Tuesday, 06/26/07, Ogden Field
7:00pm S1 Triple S Harley & Koval Supply vs MVP Paintball

Monday, 07/02/07, Whiston Field
8:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs Valley HealthCare

Thursday, 07/05/07, Ogden Field
6:00pm S1 We Save vs MVP Paintball

Tuesday, 07/10/07, Ogden Field
7:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs Advantage Health & Wellness

Monday, 07/16/07, Whiston Field
9:00pm S1 Buck's vs MVP Paintball

Monday, 07/23/07, Liberatore Field
6:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs Chestnut Ridge Church II

Monday, 07/30/07, Liberatore Field
10:00pm S1 Classic's vs MVP Paintball

Monday, 08/06/07, Whiston Field
9:00pm S1 Finish Line Motors vs MVP Paintball
10:00pm S1 MVP Paintball vs Deaver's Electric / B&D Transp

Yesterday went pretty well

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I spent the day with Amy and we went out for a late lunch to Cheddars, it was the first time that I had actually ate at Cheddars. I was impressed with the place, the quality of food was good and the prices were very reasonable.

We sent most of yesterday afternoon basically running all over the county so that each of us had an opportunity to start to meet and greet each others family for the first time.

We started off by me meeting her parents, strange that this is the second set of parents I have had to meet in 23 years if you believe that one. It was a nice little time and they appeared to be some very nice people. Her Mom is a school teacher at Mountianview Elementary and her Dad owns a Buisness in Star City. Steve Dodrill from my softball team works with her mom, but I drew a complete blank when trying to remember his last name because we always were to him as Steve Staff.

I also had the opportunity to meet her Maternal Grandparents. He Grandfather and I both worked at Sterling Faucet, but at completely different time periods. He retired in 1970 and I started there in 1982.

I also had the chance to meet her brother, needless to say we were running all over the place for a few hours.

Today, I have another DR's appointment this afternoon and we have that dreaded 10:00 PM time slot tonight for our first game of the season. We beat John Howard Motors last year, but these two teams should be pretty easily matched and hopefully we can leave the field with a win tonight.

Have a great day.

Update on Goals for 2006.

About 14-15 Months ago I posted a series of goals that I had and wanted to accomplish for the year 2006. I updated them at the end of the year for 2006, now it needs one final update.

I guess the best way to update this is that it has extended into 2007 and probably needs a little of an update, some very obvious and some not so obvious or haven't been revealed as of yet.

Family Situation

This is the most obvious one, and was a very hard one to get through. Kim and Terri had ended their three year period of not speaking. My goal was to try to initiate a conversation and let it go from there, but after Thanksgiving Terri called Kim and Kim returned the call. Kim and I later went to visit Terri once at the bar.

Career

I couldn't be happier, I am still working from home and even received a larger percentage raise than last year even after I figured in all the transportation costs that I was saving when they offered me the opportunity to work form home. I still get random calls from companies seeking my availability.

Health

One I was dragging my feet on, I had to get my Diabetes under control before it did any more damage than it potentially could have. Over the past few months I have been going to my Doctor, had my diabetes education classes and not only learned how to control it, but how to help control it for a lifetime. I actually had an eye exam last week, and there is no damage to my eyes from diabetes, just a little from age. It's nice to hear my eyes have deteriorated to 20/20. I still need my reading glasses occasionally though, but they are the lowest level of strength you can buy.

Personal life

It's softball season once again, could it be a better time of the year? Mountaineer football should be in for a big year and this could very well be a special year in Morgantown and another one to remember.

Relationships

OK, here is the big news. At the end of 2006 I said I had accomplished three out of the four of my major goals for 2006. It Should have been five for I think I can now officially announce that those percentages just went from 80% accomplished, actually it was 60% because I hadn't addressed my diabetes and health yet, to 100% accomplished.

I had used dating services but to no avail, I just really never felt comfortable around anyone to a point where I wanted to be with them. The last person I really dated was in 1998 and that was Jackie. I'm not saying I had given up, but I had come to the conclusion that I may be alone the rest of my life and had accepted that. dating services were a joke and up until recently I never felt that comfortable being with someone.

I first met Amy (her name ironically) roughly ten years ago when we both lived in the Valley in Van Voorhis. At the time she was married (been divorced a few years) to the other afternoon shift cashier who I worked with. I had been invited to their place once for a Christmas Party, and because of bad weather I was the only one who was there.

I had seen her once or twice through the years, either on campus or at the mall. Recently we ran into each other a couple of times at Wal-Mart (hence my statement in yesterdays BLOG) and have spent a few evenings in each others company. She has a beautiful and spirited three year old daughter named Josie who is just full of life.

I can say I wasn't actively seeking to find someone, but I found someone that I really liked for the first time in a long time. As everyone knows I'm quite picky and there has to be something special for me to get involved in a relationship with someone. Maybe that is why I am still cordial and friends with just about everyone I have ever dated.

Have a little patience because we both have large families that we are going to have to get to know.



I had established these goals in February of 2006 and had it well documented through my BLOG. Presenting my life on the internet as an open book establishes a certain amount of credibility in anything I may say. This prevents me from off the hip emotionally charged statements on the internet and just exposing everything about me for the world to see and read. I have reported the good times and the bad times, happiness and sorrow, dreams and failures since I first started writing a BLOG going on three years ago.

It's nice to set some very serious and very real goals and to see them all through until completion. Whether it be me entering college in 1999 after I had basically lost everything or this most recent set of goals that I am happy to have completed.

These recent goals were five things that I felt I needed to accomplish before I could honestly set forth another set of goals for my life. I think I am ready to enter the next phase of my life and should set forth another set of goals sometime in 2007. I look forward in continuing to develop these five goals and to watch them grow and flourish. I have a feeling as these five things continue to grow and develop that other goals and dreams will be set and established. Things that will help my life become more complete and just to add a few more happy stories and memories to the time we are here on this earth.

..Next Chapter of my life is starting and coming up.

Rain Rain...

...go away, come back again on some weekday, not the weekend.

What is it with this weather, it's nice, then it snows. It's super and it starts to rain. Come on mother nature, hurry up and get these April showers over with, or at least let it warm up a little.

West Virginia University has a baseball game at 3:00 I might consider going to, if the weather holds up but it's not looking promising at all.

I was going to try to take a brief trip to rails to trails this morning, I grabbed my iPod and walked outside only to get rained on. So, I sacrificed and took a nice little trip to Wal-Mart. You got to love Wal-Mart, you just never know who you are going to see or run into.

Will the weather hold up?

They have been calling for thundershowers all day today, however we have been blessed so far and it has been a pretty decent day. My fron t door is open and the fresh air is eminating through the room with the smell of spring. Flowers are starting to bloom and the better late than never spring appears to be here.

Boparc finally has our softball schedule out and ready, we play our first game of the season this coming Monday and we have the dreaded 10:00 time slot for the start of the season. Somehow by the unluck of the draw we managed to get quite a few of the late games this year. I count a total of 6 (that's 1/3 of our games) will have a 10:00 start time. Yuck, but I'm not complaining.

Planning on hitting rails to trails this afternoon, I haven't been there since Monday because of other events that were planned or scheduled. I'm just hoping that the weather holds up.

Have a good day and we're almost at Friday (except for Amy is has already started her weekend.)

Had my eye exam today

I had my eye exam rescheduled for today and I received some very good news. 20/20 vision and no damage to the eyes at all, mainly from diabetes was the concern.

They dilated my pupils and they are still not back to 100%, but I can read this and type without my reading glasses.

I did see and get a chance to talk to Mary while I was waiting to go in for my appointment. She was there picking up some glasses.

Help save a life

Ok, first of all most of these things are hoaxes, however someone took the time to go to snopes and see if it is legitimate.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/charity/mammogram.asp

It is real.

Go to the Breast Cancer Awareness site and click on the Fund Free Mammograms. A free mammogram is given for every 45,000 clicks (from everyone), you can click it daily, but only once a day. Right now they are supposedly averaging 58,000 clicks a day.


Click it daily. Feel free to share this with everyone you know.

Kind of a tidbits

* I have no idea where all these companies are getting my name, but Boeing just called me to see what my availability was for a Job in Virginia.

It's nice to know that you're wanted, I'm really curious where everyone is getting my name and information. I haven't applied anywhere or updated any online resume's in well over a year.

I think I know how it's getting out there, and it was something I did to my resume when I added a keyword to it about a year and a half ago. I think once I used the word "Geo-Spatial" on my resume is where the majority of the activity started.


* Mom called me this morning and informed me that my great uncle Dana has passed away earlier this morning. He had been battling diabetes and had a few other medical problems. The last time I spoke with him was at the Koon family reunion last year.

* I have my eye appointment this afternoon for diabetes. I guess they will dialate my pupils and perform a few tests.

* What could be interesting is I have a softball scrimmage at 6:00 this evening. Could be real interesting if my eyes haven't returned to normal my then. You need your eyes especially catching a small spherical object coming at you in upwards of 80 MPH at times. Misjudging it can tend to hurt.

* Get out and enjoy the weather today, I guess they are calling for showers the next two days.

* I went out walking yesterday and this weekend took its toll on my legs. You could tell they were starting to get tired at 4 miles so that is where I stopped. I walked a slightly slower pace, but I still did the march.

* I went down and visited Terri yesterday, her and Nick are going to buy 4 acres of ground off of Gum Springs road. Nick pulled up the Platt map on the internet yesterday, and ironically it is the exact same spot as where I crashed the 4 wheeler in 2000 when I broke a portion of my shoulder blade.

* I think I have added a few pounds of the weight I have lost, but it's an up and down type of thing. I gained it when I was most active ironically.

* Have a good Tuesday.

Monday

Oh well, the great weather weekend is now over with and it is back to putting the nose to the grindstone. Weekends with nice weather are just way too short, and I wish I could have done more.

Yesterday we scrimmaged in softball for a couple of hours, only last years defending champs showed up fot the scrimmage so we had a good time. We started off red hot in the first inning and then cooled off later on. We didn't keep score or count innings, but there was a lot of hitting put on by both teams. I left bases juiced once by hitting a hard line drive up the first base line and their first baseman made a great play, but other than that I had a good scrimmage.

We're planning on having another practice tomorrow, which will probably be the last one before the start of the regular season next week.

We're still waiting on the status of a few players, we won;t know until this week if we have our shortstop and our pitcher from last year is going to start the season on the disabled list. Other than that, we should be solid this season.

Have a great Monday.

Who could ever have imagined

Check out a few of these ebay auctions.



Walther P22 standard 10 round magazines 2 pack

Ok so what? blazers5505 is Seung-Hui Cho the idiot who just killed 32 other people this past week at Virginia Tech.

A couple scrimmages today

Today our softball team gets a chance to get a little bit of competition when we play against last years regular season champions March Westin and a team that forfeited against us last season in Finish Line Motors.

Finish line has Rich's grandson Brandon playing on the team, or at least they have the past few years. He's a big time hitting third basemen who can give teams a lot of trouble.

Hopefully this will be the first time our entire team is assembled before the start of the regular season the following week. We have taken a good bit of infield, but our potential new shortstop has yet to be seen. Hopefully he'll be there this afternoon Huck will show up and we can get our timing, that is if he is playing with us this season.

The weather is perfect and is another beautiful day, a day that is just too nice for anyone to be sitting inside watching television. Maybe I'll take my camera today and get a few pictures.

How about a plug for our sponsor . May 20th is the day for Paintball, keep it on your calender for any of you braves souls who wan to play.

Great day for a walk.

Wow, is the weather nice today. It finally feels like springtime has arrived and my favorite time of the year is upon us. The time when you can get outside and be active.

Today, I took full advantage of the weather and grabbed my GPS unit and my Ipod and headed to rails to trails. How nice was the weathwer? Nice enough that I managed to go the longest distance today since I was running 9 miles every other night in 1987.

It started out as a typical walk, but I was feeling good and decided to keep going, to the point where I managed to walk 6.59 miles this afternoon. It's been a long time since I knowingly went that far for exercise, roughly 20 years. Today the weather was nice and I was feeling real good, so I managed to add the extra distance. I usually walk anywhere between 3 and 4 miles when I go to rails to trails, but like I said I was feeling good today and decided to add some distance.

I walked my normal route but even expanded it and when I got back to the car it was 4.2 miles, so I decided to try 5 then 6 miles, but once I got so far out I went to a specific point on the trail and returned. Todays total verified by my GPS unit, 6.59 miles when I returned to the car.

It's been a good day.

Friday ramblings

We are once again at Friday, the start of the weekend and the end of another week at work. The time when we can start enjoying thr fruits of our labor.

I had my diabetes education class yesterday and everything went pretty well. I am now going to start lowering the frequency of my blood glucose testing. I could have cut back previously, but I wanted to document what my numbers were doing after the change in medication.

Yesterday evening we had softball practice and things went real well. After practice BOPARC had thei annual managers meeting where we learn our teams fate for the following season. Two years ago we finished second in the regular season and were moved up to AA. Last year we had a duplicate record from the previous season, but finished in third place for the regular season. We were told we would be moved up to AAA to play this season so nwe started recruiting a few players to fit a few gaps from players who have moved away from last years team. We think we may have a guy come in to play shortstop who was with the Braves organization and I have played against for years. Last night we found out we are not being moved up and will be able to play AA again, the two teams who finished the regular season ahead of us were forced to move up. Could be an interesting year.

Sunday, we are going to go out and have kind of a double scrimmage with two teams where three teams are going to round robin scrimmage with each other. One is the team who finished first in our league and was one of the teams moved to AAA for this season, and I'm not sure who the other team is. So, during scrimmages we're going be challenged pretty intensly to prepare us for the season.

How do you like this weather? It's warming up and I will be able to get out and around this weekend. I'm over the flu and the weather is going to be nice.

MVP Paintball is doing a woods tournament tomorrow that I may go and play. It's going to be against a bunch of air force recruits.

Have a great Friday

I think I picked the right field

Got a call about a month ago from a company wanting to hire my services in Ohio, it was an out of the blue call and I didn't expect it. Over the last couple years I have had a half dozen or so inquiries for my services, some of them some very nice offers. Never solicited, just reading my resume on the internet.

Today I am sitting in my diabetes education class and I receive yet another call. I was very happy with the significant pay raise I had received this year from my company, however they better thank there lucky stars that they made the offer that they did.

I got a call from a company in Clarksburg today wanting my services and it was more than I was making just a few weeks ago. I referred them to a couple people who might find what they are looking for and am probably making some soon to be geography grads day by doing so.

It's nice to be sought after professionally, now I'm just waiting on someone presenting me an offer I can't refuse.

Found a nice historical picture site

I have found a really nice site that has many historical pictures of not only Morgantown, but West Virginia. There are 20,045 digital photographs on this site, so it could be time consuming, but entertaining and educational to look through.

I have my diabetes education class today.

Hump Day

It is Hump Day, that is when the work week hits its midway point and starts to coast towards another weekend.

The picture you may ask, that is the back side of the foundry at the Helmick Corporation, where I worked from 1991-97. It's coming on ten long years since the notice that plant was going to cease manufacturing operations. It was a time when my days and weeks were very long and so were my paychecks. It was also the place where once it ended my weight gain first began. I was 265 when I was laid off and my weight ballooned after that. I haven't seen my weight at 265 since, well a few minutes ago when it was 263 ( this coming from 314 18 months ago.)

Times have changed and I no longer have to work the 11 to 12 hour days in oxygen depleted closed environments. I now work remotely from home and enjoy working in the same field my degree and course of study is in. I've stayed the course and it's now starting to pay dividends on my investment in time, money and resources for an education.

I'm thankful that my hump day is from the comfort and convenience of my own home rather than a longer day that could lead to some serious health implications.

Once I get through with today, I have a diabetes education class and softball practice tomorrow. The next day is Friday, so we're inching closer and closer to another weekend.

Have a good hump day.

MySpace reveals a lot.

These two are supposedly the first two who were shot by the shooter yesterday at Virginia Tech.

The ex girlfriend of the shooter, Emily Hilscher

The other victim, Ryan "Stack" Clark

I don't know if this was her new boyfriend or the Resident Assistant who was also murdered.

The VT Timeline

Timeline of Events
7:15 a.m.

Virginia Tech Police Department (VT PD) receives a 911 call to respond to a dormitory room at West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall.

Within minutes, Virginia Tech Police and Virginia Tech Rescue Squad respond to find two gunshot victims, a male and a female, inside a dormitory room within the Hall. The residence hall was immediately secured by VT PD and students within the hall were notified and asked to remain in their rooms for their safety. VT PD immediately secured the room for evidence collection and began questioning dorm residents and identifying potential witnesses. In the preliminary stages of the investigation, it was believed the deaths were an isolated incident, domestic in nature.

Blacksburg Police Department were also on scene assisting VT PD with establishing a safety perimeter around the residence hall and securing Washington Street.
7:30 a.m.

Investigators were following up on leads concerning a person of interest in relation to the double homicide. Investigators from VT PD and Blacksburg PD were actively following up on various leads.
8:25 a.m.

Virginia Tech Leadership Team, which includes the university president, executive vice president, and provost, assembled to begin assessing the developing situation at the residence hall and determining a means of notifying students of the homicide.
9:00 a.m.

Leadership Team was briefed on the situation by VT PD Chief W.R. Flechum on the latest developments in the ongoing investigation at the residence hall.
9:26 a.m.

The Virginia Tech community – all faculty and students – were notified by e-mail of the homicide investigation and scene at West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall, and asked to report any suspicious activity to. The Virginia Tech Emergency/Weather Line recordings were also transmitted and a broadcast telephone message was made to campus phones. A press release was drafted and posted on the Virginia Tech Website.
9:45 a.m.

The VT PD received a 911 call of a shooting at Norris Hall, which contains faculty offices, classrooms and laboratories. VT PD and Blacksburg PD immediately responded to Norris Hall. Notice in leadership command center via our police rep of a shooting in Norris.

Upon arrival to Norris Hall, the officers found the front doors barricaded. Within a minute the officers breached the doors, which had been chained shut from the inside.

Once inside the building, the officers heard gunshots. They followed the succession of gunshots to the second floor. Just as the officers reached the second floor, the gunshots stopped.

The officers discovered the gunman, who had taken his own life. There was never any engagement between the responding officers and the gunman.
9:55 a.m.

By the same means as prior notice, Virginia Tech notified campus community of the second murder scene. Other notifications followed via other means


EDIT:

Faces of the victims

Typical Monday

I log on to work this morning and the server where I have all my data stored has either crashed or been shut down for the weekend.

What a way to start the week, but someone shoudl be coming in soon to assess the situation. I can't for the life of me understand why they would have shut down the server, I half wonder if it has crashed. It's a big rack server with 4 raids and none if them seem to be responding.

Sunday Morning Blaaahs

Can you believe this weather we have been having? OK Phil, it's the joke is over, bring on spring. For the last two weeks the weather has been less than acceptable with a snow fall, cold temperatures and a lot of rain. It's time for spring to be here. We are at ten and a half weeks since Ground Hog's day, I think the rat from the north is still made because I got him drunk on his big day.

Other than that it has been a typical Sunday morning for me so far, but the weather sucks and I'm stuck inside still recovering from a fight with the flu the past few days.

Today is April 15th, for those of you who haven;t done your taxes yet if you buy Tax Cut, both you and I can get a $10.00 rebate. The filing deadline has been moved back to April 17th this year because today is Sunday and tomorrow is some kind of a Holiday in DC, I think it is Emancipation Dayin DC. So, you have until the 17th this year.

I have another Diabetes Education Class this Thursday, and eye exam the following Tuesday and another appointment with my Doctor the following Monday. My numbers have been doing quite well as of late, they are almost all in the target range regardless of being before or after a meal. Some are a little higher, but the goal is < 130 before a meal and < 160 two hours after a meal. Thew main goal was to have 50% of my readings within target and just for the month of April I have 89% of my readings within target. I have had a touch of the flu the last few days, so that has helped elevate my fasting, early morning reading. Probably after this education class, I will then drop my readings from every day to every third day. I was told I could so it after my last meeting, but my meds changed and I wanted to track that briefly.

I'm eager to get back on rails trails, but the weather has been less than cooperative. I haven't been able to go since last Monday and I'm itching to get out. Just need Phil and Mother Nature to cooperate a little.

I'm thinking about buying season tickets this year for WVU football. I have a feeling demand will be high this year because expectations are once again high as I have seen us ranked as high as #3 in the early polls. I think this just may be that magical year we finally win the National Championship. Everyone will be healthy, will be back and we have added a big time playmaker or two. Should be an interesting year.

Under the weather

I have had a touch of a headcold the last few days. This weather has been ridiculous, they are actually calling for 1"-3" of snow on Sunday, in MID APRIL!!!!

This isn't even funny, this is the time when cute girls should be walking around in tight shorts and bikini tops, not parkas!

No Practice.

How about another BLOG past of a video from yesteryear




Preston Waters is an old softball team mate of mine.

ROFLMAO

PACMAN and Chris Henry live in Flash animation

Will we make it

We're supposed to have softball practice tonight at 6:00, but it's been cold and rainy all day so I wonder if we are going to be able to make it on to the field this evening.

I'm feeling kind of blah today so I really don't care if we practice or not, but I do need to get out there and do something. I didn't go walking yesterday even though the weather was more than permitting.

Takin Over

Back to work

The long weekend was nice, but today it is back to the grind and a lot of editing. It was a nice relaxing weekend for me, I didn't do much of anything yesterday except for power nap. Needless to say I was well rested by the time I woke up this morning and started work.

The weather continues to be a royal pain in the butt, it's spring time and we still seem to be in the middle of a late winter. The temps are due to go back up by the end of the week, hopefully this is the last snow that we see for the year.



Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.-- Albert Einstein

Terri's Birthday

Yesterday was Terri's 40th birthday and there was a nice little get together down at the bar. Val and Amy started the day off right by going down to the bar and decorating it before Terri woke up. They were nice enough to program a couple of songs into the Juke Box and turned the volume all the way up before sneaking out.

Tyler organized a little bring a covered plate get together later in the afternoon and evening. Terri was treated to a VERY fresh fish sandwich, she was a little disappointed that there was no tartar sauce to go with her fresh fish sandwich.

Personally, I would like to give her a fresh roasted groundhog sandwich, but Phil is hiding from me.

Happy 40th Birthday Terri

Happy Birthday Terri, where have the years all gone is what I have to ask. It seems like only yesterday I was 21 and you were like 18. Now, you're 40 and I'm still celebrating anniversaries of my 21st birthday.

I hope all your dreams come true today.

Beilein already replaced.

Wow, was that quick. Former WVU head basketball coach John Beilein bolts for Michigan and WVU hit's a game winning grand slam in bringing home probably one of the biggest nae coaches in College basketball in Bob Huggins. Here is another source confirming the story.

Bob Huggins had the town real excited five years ago when Gale Catlett retired and then broke everyone's hearts when he decided to stay at the University of Cincinnati. However, things have changed in the last five years and the nations best recruiter has been at Kansas State the last year, but is returning to Morgantown tonight and will be officially announced as our new head basketball coach at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. Yous truly will be there with his camera in hand.

It's softball

it is once again that time of the year that I love so much, it is the start of softball. This evening we are going to have our first practice of the year at White Park. It will be the first time that the entire team was together since last year, but we have all kept in touch and have all eagerly anticipated the season.

I had contemplated retirement the last couple of seasons, but this year the thoughts haven't even entered my mind and I'm like a school aged kid on Christmas eve waiting for Santa to show up.

The weather is currently 80 and sunshine, although me and my old groundhog buddy Phil are going to have a serious problem if we get any snow like they have been calling for. It's April, it's springtime, it's time for little cuties to run around in bikini tops and tight shorts showing off those golden tans, not time for snow.

Let the season begin

Getting back to 1997 weight.

I am within an pound and a half of once again reaching my maximum weight when I was working in a steel mill 12 hours a day and six days a week. This is not a bad thing, because after 1997 my weight ballooned to a top weight of 314 Pounds in November of 2005. It had went down to 280 a couple years earlier when I took it upon myself to address diabetes, but that was as low as it got.

Now, my numbers are consistently in target both before and after meals. Targets are between 90-130 before a meal and under 160 two hours (highest reading) after a meal. However, a large percentage of my numbers have been under 130 (both pre and post meals) on a consistent basis since the change in my medications.

The highest I ever weighed when I worked at Helmick, was a pretty much consistent 265, today seventeen months after reading 314, the scale read 266.5 pounds. I still want to take off a lot more weight, but I think I have reached a milestone on my weight loss.

Finally got back on the trails today

When I started out it was an absolutely perfect day, when I was 1.75 miles away from my car it started raining. I finally got a chance to take my GPS Unit out and play with it on foot, I drove around with it last night searching for Geocaches, and today I got a chance to pace myself to see how far I walked. 4.1 Miles was my final total before the downpour hit. I was back at my car about the time it started, so I wasn't out in it too long, but the drive back home was murder. My back yard was basically flooded, kind of funny when you remember I live at a pretty high point and there is about a 400'-500' drop off in elevation before you get to the river that is probably a mile away or so.

My back is still sore, but it felt good to get out and around for a little while.

Added new element to the blog.

I see that BLOGGER has added a few new features to BLOGGER, one of which being the video feeds. I'll test it out, but I don't want my blog to be too cluttered. I think if I do that I may lose the primary focus of doing a BLOG.

Edit: That didn't last too long, the primary objective of my blog is to inform and keep a we journal. I felt after looking at the new feature that it just cluttered it up. There is a simple rule in programming KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) and the excess clutter starts to violate that simple rule and takes away from my primary objective.

Other than that it is a cold and rainy Sunday Morning. I haven't made it to rails to trails over the weekend, I think I may have pulled a back Muscle Thursday and I'm trying to recover before we practice softball for the first time this week.

It IS a great day to be a Mountaineer.

Obviously the WVU Men's basketball team won the NIT Championship last night. They returned home today and as soon as I get motivated enough I will transfer some of the pictures of their arrival from my camera to my computer.

A couple months ago the best High School Running back in probably 20 years gave a verbal commitment to WVU and I posted it in my BLOG. He was confused and changed his mind a couple of days later and never signed with anyone. So, that left the nations top player unsigned......until today when he actually signed a letter of intent to play at WVU.

I would say hold on, because WVU athletics in both Football and basketball are about ready to move to the next level and actually win a National Championship. Noel Devine is a freak of nature with ungodly balance.

TGIF!!! How about a tidbits

* Woo Hoo, my day and week are over with. They are moving my office from Frostburg to Sterling and I'm off until they get it all set up, paid of course. Starting Monday I start my third year working for this company and my wage rate goes up significantly, so it's going to be a good weekend.

* I finally received my GPS unit I ordered this week, it's going to be fun playing with it and getting a good hands on understanding of it. I have played with it a few minutes, but nothing extensively as of yet.

* Many of the members of the WVU basketball team will be returning to Morgantown at 3:00 today. being that they are on spring break, some of the members will be leaving from New York city and going home. Coach John Beilein is heading to Atlanta for the NCAA Final Four. Rumor has it Michigan wants to interview him for their head coaching job and a lot of people on our message boards appear a little nervous, however Michigan's message boards are saying he has too big a price tag with the $2.5 Million buyout on his contract. I think he'll be here next year, but we'll have to wait and see I guess.

* Amy had her fourth interview with Cintas yesterday, she may know something by Monday. I think she is looking forward to the Monday through Thursday workweek that they use.

* Yesterday I was up at the mall and ate lunch with a couple guys I play softball with. I ate a couple Mountaineer Chiili Dogs and an order of fries, I was wondering where my sugar would go eating so many carbs, but it was fine.

* I decided to pay for unlimited internet usage on my phone. It's just an extra $15.00 a month and thought I would give it a try. It's not the greatest tool for surfing the internet, but you can surf the internet with it so there could be some convenience to it.

* We are going to have our first softball practice of the week next year. I called Michael Toth yesterday to see if he is putting his team back together. I told he we need someone to beat up on for a scrimmage.

* I was at Wal-Mart last night and ran into Renee. She is excited that she is getting near the end of her Surgical Technician class and should be graduating in the next couple of months.

* Have a good day, It's time for lunch.

NIT CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!


West Virginia wins the 2007 NIT Tournament for the first time since 1942. West Virginia Beat Clemson 78-73 to finish the season with a win. We are going to be only one of two teams in the Nation that will end their season with a win.

Congrats to Seniors Frank Young and Rob Summers.

Taking the day off

OK, I know I work from home why in the world would you take a day off? Mainly because I am going in to do some blood work this morning, but I haven't had a short week since the first week of the year. That's nearly four months, so I think I am due to relax a day if that's what you call it.

Went to see the Doctor yesterday and on the advice of my dietitian they are doubling my dosage of Metformin and are also going to start me on Lisinopril. Lisinopril is a blood pressure medicine, but my blood pressure is fine it's because my liver is putting out some protein and this will prevent any damage to the liver. It's just one pill a day in a very small dosage of 10mg.

Tonight at 7:00 make sure you watch the Mountaineer Basketball team, this will be the final game of the season win or lose. It will be for the NIT Championship and we are going to be whipping Clemson's butt.

Not too sure what I will get into today as of yet, but I am sure a trip to rails to trails in in the agenda sometime for today.

In case you missed it last night

With a Tony Caridi voice over.




Another view

What's this I see

OK, I know we are officially in spring from the calender and I have already attended a baseball game this year and went out in shorts and a T-Shirt on many days. My Front door is open on a consistent basis when I am home and now, we have the start of foliage.

Winter is officially over with and spring is upon us. The grass is getting greener and the days are getting longer.

Next week we are actually going to start softball practice for the year and tonight we will be drafting our fantasy baseball league. I love this time of the year, it is my favorite because it is the very dawn of summer.

Later today I have my second DR's appointment with Dr. Feathers, and I am feeling very well. The sugar levels are up and down a little, but they are still within the range goals of 90-130 before a meal and under 160 2 hours after a meal. I will soon start to lower my number of readings a day to three and the frequency I read to once every three days.

For a few years I have felt like a man getting old, recently since my Sugar, BP and Cholesterol (don't know numbers yet, but am addressing this anyways) under control I feel like an athlete again. My heart lungs and diaphragm feel strong and I am starting to feel like an athlete in a fat mans shell that he is ready to shed.

Hope you have a good day too.

WVU Advances to NIT Championship

WOW, what a game if you did not see it. WVU beat Mississippi State 63-62 with a classic ending. Darris Nichols hit a three pointer off an inbound pass as the clock expired to give us the win and play one last game Thursday Night for the NIT Championship.

WVU has previously won the tournament, but that was in 1942. We advanced to the Final Four in 1981 and this year.

212 Degrees, we're bringing this one home!!

It's been a Geography Day III

I no more than posted the last blog and my phone rings. It's my mentor of GIS JB Churchill. He lives in Frostburg, but I never really had much of a chance to talk to him while I was traveling to Frostburg. It was nice to hear from him, he is one of the main people for helping me get to where I am today.

It's been a geography day part II

Well, I guess I have finally done it. I signed up at the Geo-Caching site and have finally ordered my very first GPS unit. I did a little bit of research this afternoon and combined it with previous research and many discussions with people who have a GPS unit and have decided to purchase the eTrex Legend Cx GPS Navigator. I had really liked it by doing my internet research. Then this afternoon I went walking with Kelly, she is the one who told me about geocaching, and told her about the one I found. Ironically she had the exact same one and we took it on our walk this afternoon and it exceeds my expectations on what I wanted in a hand held GPS unit. She was going to let me borrow it, but no need I just ordered one when I got home.

It's been a Geography kind of day

Yep, the title pretty much says it all, it's been pretty much a Geography kind of day for me today. It's the start of another work week, so the Geography part should be obvious.

However I received an e-mail last week that I didn't respond to and a phone call today from the same company. I'm not applying or looking for any jobs, but here is another one that is coming to try and find me. Someone from Prithvi Solutions tried calling me today, however I didn't hear my cell phone ring, but I responded to her e-mail and gave her all the information she requested. They are looking for a GIS Analyst somewhere in Ohio, I think she misspelled the name of the city. I'm not really looking, but they seem to have a way of finding me. It's only a 6 Month Job and I have a permanent job, so I laid out some terms and a dollar amount, I'll wait and see what they have to say.

A friend of mine has introduced me into something I may be interested in. Geocaching is for people with mobile GPS devices (I should buy one just because of my profession) where people will place a box with an object in it and others try to find it and replace the item. It's going on all over the world and there are a few things in Morgantown, maybe I may just start getting into this. It sounds kind of fun.

Note to anyone who is interested in playing. My old softball sponsor Prime Thyme has came on some financial times and will not be sponsoring us this season. HOWEVER, being we are a high profile team that everyone knows about (four team mates are part of WVAQ in the morning as either regulars or hosts.) and we have a new sponsor this year in MVP Paintball who is also a team mate.

On May 20th, he is running a special for anyone who wants to play paint ball for anyone associated with the team (friends and family are fine, come one come all), $25.00 play all day, free air, free equipment and 500 paint balls. He'll run another one like this this September.

EDIT: Prithvi Solutions just called me again and sound really interested. I even jacked the price up well beyond what I initially told them and they said that would be fine, however it is only a six month job expendable to a year and I would have to relocate. Like I said, I went well beyond what I quoted them and that is even a significant jump from what my salary is going to next week. Even higher than the offer from Sterling. Never thought I would see the day when I turned down not one but two $50,000 a year plus jobs a few weeks a part. The offer is still up there if I am interested I have been told.

I hope your day has been as good as mine.

It's a great day to be a Mountaineer

What a day the sun was shining and the weather was warm and although it may not be softball just yet, it is baseball. I spent an ice sunny afternoon at Hawley Field watching WVU beat Seton Hall 4-3 with a strange ending. In the bottom of the 9th WVU had men on first and third and no one out. Tyler Kuhn was batting and had already homered in the first inning was at the bat. With no one out Seton Hall decided to do a strategical move and intentionally walk Kuhn to load the bases and ensure a force out at any base. On a pitch out the catcher holds his hand out and the pitcher throws it soft and wide to the catcher, it's just a routine play. However on the third pitch for ball three Seton Hall's pitcher for a routine pitch out over threw the catcher and allowing WVU to steal home on a wild pitch to win the game 4-3.

It was a great day, and one that can quickly make you forget about the white stuff that we probably won't see again for quite a few months. I did get a little bit of a suntan.

Spoke to Amy last night at Wal-Mart. She said she has been called for her third interview with Cintas up here on Scott Avenue. She thinks she may have the job, and being it is a third interview I think she may be right.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

I need to be a Window Washer

A nice healthy walk

Well the weather has changed from rainy to a nice sunny afternoon today, so I decided to make the most of it and hit the Rails to Trails for the first time since Wed. Thursday it rained, Friday it rained but today the weather was actually quite pleasant and worth a nice oxygen rejuvenating walk on the trail. I traveled the opposite direction I usually go when I walk alone and traveled the path that I go on when I am walking with someone.

As you can tell, I had decided to take my camera with me today, and even though the foliage hasn't presented itself yet it was still a nice day to take a walk.

On this portion of the trail I usually park at Aldi's and walk towards Fairmont. It has a lot of photogenic scenes and I decided that maybe today I would bring my camera. It has been sitting idle for sometime and has needed to be used a little bit. It has had to have felt abandoned and in the need to take a few photos, so today I obliged and took about 50-60 pictures and little movies.

I have always had a fascination with natural running water. It provides a very nice relaxing aesthetic to the stroll, the pure sounds are great stress relievers. Along the trail there are many places where you can witness some nice steady water runoffs, the best one is about a half an hour's walk from Aldi's.

When you get out there far enough, and it is very close to the waterfall is another nice scenic look of the Interstate 79 Bridge as it Crosses the Mon river right before the Interstate 68 junction.

It was a good day and I had a nice refreshing walk.

TGIF

Once again we end another week of work and enter into the weekend. It would be a lot nicer if Mother Nature were cooperating a little more and bring out the sunshine. However if we can drench the watershed maybe we will have some nice new foliage that radiates the pleasant spring smell that we all love so much.

Went to my diabetes education class yesterday and learned a few more interesting things. Most of the discussion was based around Cholesterol and HDL's and LDL's. My numbers are getting to within the target they we are shooting for and the consistency level we are striving for. I will still be doing daily readings until my next Doctors appointment this coming Wed to build a longer history for Dr Feathers to refer to, however after that I can cut my readings back to every third day since I am not on insulin or anything that would cause me to be hypoglycemic. There have been a few readings that have concerned me, but they are very minor and could be expected. The dietitian is recommending I up my dosage of my medication, but that is just to help regulate it a little better.

Since it's a friday and I am feeling a little nostalgic tonight, how about a picture from yesteryear. I have noticed that this house no longer is standing, but the memories live on.