Tuesdays Tidbits

* The kittens are really getting their legs now, the male cat (Psycho) is quite adventurous and king around the house. He is a real Geo CATcher.

* 585 days since mine and Michelle's first date, I really am one lucky guy.

* Congrats to both Amy and Val as they both started their new jobs yesterday. They are studying to be H&R Block Tax preparers.

* Layla is going to have a Doctor's appointment today, she is going to have an ultrasound as they think she may have developed a heart murmur. They are going to check it out and get a better diagnosis.

* I tried like heck, but my two game fantasy football league winning streak has come to a halt. The three time defending league champion took me to the woodshed this week, I'll get him the next time we go at it if I have the chance.

* The kittens will be four weeks old tomorrow. We are starting them on solid kitten chow and introducing them to a clay filled kitty litter box.

* Have I mentioned that I hate snow? Not that I just dislike it, but I hate it. Wonder where Phil is and if I can start bribing him this year early to not see any shadows. I already miss both Spring and Summer.

* Looks like a lot of kids were out sick yesterday from school, I guess there is a nasty flu bug going around and it's hitting the area pretty hard.

* Have a great day....

Back to the Grindstone

I swear that weekends are just a little too short, it seems like just yesterday it was Friday afternoon and I was picking Michelle up from work. Oh well, it's back to the grindstone today.

We watched the Steelers game at home yesterday, Michelle's niece Samantha and nephew Tommy both stopped by for a visit and to cheer the Steelers on to a 27-14 victory over the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field. Michelle made dinner and we all watched the Steelers put a whooping on the Brown's yet once again.

Not much to say to start a week other than Hi Ho Hi Ho....

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Michelle and I went to her Brother in law Jim's auction yesterday. Walked out with some nice things. We were looking into buying an electronic meat slicer (deli type) so that we could buy lunch meat in bulk and slice it up to save a few bucks on our weekly grocery bill. I managed to pick one up that has never been used pretty cheap.

My brother in law George went to the auction also and found some nice deals. There were some really nice items going pretty dirt cheap. I'll let everyone know the next time Jim has another auction.

We do have a nice day planned today, if you consider running around grocery shopping a nice day LOL. Steelers game at 1:00 and I think Michelle is going to make a few things, if anyone is interested in coming over let me know and come on over.

Mountaineer Madness Last Night

Last night was the start of the 2009-10 Mountaineer basketball season. Mountaineer madness as they call it was in full effect for the evening. Fans jammed into the Coliseum to watch this edition of the Mountaineers and try to help Huggins in landing one of the premier players in the country, Adreian Payne. The Mountaineer maniacs were out in full force to help coach Huggin's land this prospect, I hope we sign him, but that is all up to him to decide.

The evening started off with the introduction of both the entire Women's and Men's teams and giving them all a chance to walk down the carpet. Both coaches were given a few brief moments to say a few words and then it was time to move on.

Next up was the alumni 3 free throw shooting competition. Former players were split into two teams and the first team to make seven free throws won, the kicker was that they had to select one fan out of the stands and they had to make the final free throw. Kevin's Pittsnogle's team selected a fine young lady, a forestry major named Wanda. What a beauty she was. I wonder if she was related to 1968 team member and current color man Jay Jacobs, they looked a lot a like =)

After that there was a slam dunk competition, defending Champions Devin Ebanks and John Flowers were the finalists. John Flowers ended up winning the competition with the dunk at the end of this BLOG where he jumped over three students to win the competition.

The culminated with two ten minute scrimmages by both the Women's and Men's teams. The men are preseason ranked #5 and the Women are going to also be awesome. I recommend checking both teams out of you get a chance this season.

Jim Paugh Auction

Michelle's brother in law Jim will be holding the Fall Family Auction at the Cassville Volunteer Fire Department at 10:00. A few of the items that will be up for Auction are listed here.

Michelle and I will be going up to assist Jim and Chris with the Auction. Lot's of great deals available, come on over and see what you can find.

Happy Birthday Brittany Dae Cummings

Wow, has it been that many years since I first saw you wheeled out of the delivery room. Now you have grown up into a beautiful young lady and you are a college Freshman. Sitting in some of the same seats that I sat in just a few years ago.

Anyways, if you see this wonderful young lady today, make sure that you wish her a very Happy Birthday!!!!!

On a Personal note I would also like to wish her a very Happy Birthday!!!

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.

First and foremost, Gates open at 6:30 tonight for an autograph session and tonight is the start of Mountaineer Madness at the WVU Coliseum. There will be an autograph session from 6:30 till 8:00 and then the madness starts at 8:30. Me and Michelle will be there and will be eagerly anticipating the 2009-10 edition of the West Virginia Mountaineer Basketball team. Most pre-season polls have Huggins and the boys ranked in the top 10 already. This could be an interesting year in Morgantown. Come on out, it will be a lot of fun.

High school football is your concern? #12 Morgantown will travel to #1 Brooke this evening and try to extract some Mon County revenge on the Bruins for them beating University High last week. Watch the Mohigans pull the upset, I'm calling it here first. University High will be entertaining John Marshall at home, Clay Battelle will travel to Cameron and Trinity travels to Williamson.

This was a short week for me, and I am glad it is over. Made a lot of progress career wise (even got a call about another job that pushes me much higher in Cranberry if I would choose to go that route), I have signed my offer sheet and returned it to Sexton already, I'm happy with where I am at right now.

As I mentioned in a Tuesday's Tidits

As I mentioned Tuesday I have a career announcement to make. As I said SAIC my current employer has lost the contract at NETL where I work.

SAIC the prime on the existing five year contract, but when the contract came up for rebid it was broken down into a series of contracts. SAIC had bid on three of the contracts that cover GIS services and failed to win any of the three. I had already received my layoff notice effective November 14th as well as every other SAIC employee who were contracted to NETL.

Two of the three contracts were awarded ta couple of months ago and the third was just announced this past weekend. I had resume's in with the two primes who won the two announced contracts and have exchanged quite a bit of paperwork with one of them including my salary history. An office mate of mine got his paperwork in early and had his interview with them and has an offer letter in hand.

I have an offer in hand with a substantial pay raise from a company that is subbed to all three winning contract bidders. They are jumping with joy and so am I, I said three months ago what the best scenario for me was and it played out exactly that way.

I have an offer in hand and will sign and submit it tomorrow to Sextant Technical. A small company of four people (and adding two more so far) and a wealth of GIS resources. We will be developing and hosting the GIS Touch Table both here in Morgantown and in Pittsburgh. They are wanting to form a one stop GIS services company at NETL that can cross over any and all contracts. Sextant has a vision, a gameplan, are proven winners and get the job done.

I am very fortunate for this opportunity to be working with the people I am working with, Sextant is the innovators of pushing the envelope in GIS data, Analysis and presentations. Forget that it is the biggest and best offer of my professional career, this is my ideal job.

Fourth company in 18 months, layed off twice, voluntarily left for another job once and never missed a beat. As I look back at my decision to go to school, it just reconfirms it was the best decision I ever made.

WOO HOO!!!!!!

Hump Day

Hey, Happy Hump Day!!!!! We've made it, it's over the hump day and we are on the downside of the work week.

Last night Michelle and I went over and visited Trish and Layla. Arron was sleeping so we didn't get a chance to see him, but we did manage to help Trish place a bid on a Halloween Costume for Layla. She is going as a....I'm not going to tell you, Its be a surprise.

The kittens are doing fine, they are stating to get their legs and are walking around. The little boy kitty is and has been pretty adventurous around the house. The Momma has them in Hayley's room, but the world is just a little too big for the adventurous one.

Over the hump and down the hill we go!!!!!!!

Tuesdays Tidbits

* I love starting the week on Tuesday, Monday's really are not my favorite days of the week and I had yesterday off for Columbus Day.

* I'll have a career announcement coming up within the next month or so. SAIC is a contractor for NETL and they lost the new contract this time around. No fears, I'll let everyone know how everything played out once everything is done. I'll just be changing companies, not jobs or even where I sit on a day to day basis.

* I am thinking about stream lining my website, it's been 4-5 years since I last redid it and there are a lot of changes that need to be made. There have been a lot of headaches and problems as of late, I think I have the problem fixed though right now.

* You'll notice my picture site is gone, I had to wipe it out and re-install it on my host. I'm going to have Michelle help me repopulate it again with things we want. I have all the images on my local computer if anyone wants a specific file.

* Shitzngiggles.com is another site I am going to redevelop. The first time I bought a cheap gaming site and put it up and that's what it was, a cheap gaming site. Might be looking in another direction now that I have the php issues worked out and it displaying again.

* Oh well, it was a nice three day weekend, but it's back to work I go...Hi Ho Hi Ho...

Columbus Day

Ahhh yes, I have a three day Holiday weekend and as everyone else heads out today to stick their noses back on the grindstone, I an fortunate enough to have my weekend extended one more day.

I really don't have anything planned short of watching a few movies and relaxing for the day.

I had a great weekend, and am fortunate to have one more day!!!!

Our Day Yesterday

Yesterday was an awesome day, it started put with Michelle and myself going to MiHaley's with Jean to watch the Mountaineer Game. WVU pretty much handed Syracuse pretty easily in route to a 34-13 win.

After the game Michelle and I went to Coopers Rock in search of Geocaches as Haley and a few friends had come over to start getting ready for her home coming dance. We did finally get our Milestone 100th cache yesterday.

After we got that 100th cache we headed home to get a few pictures of Hayley before she left for the dance.

Less than cooperative weather.

The weather was a little less than cooperative yesterday. It started raining yesterday and the whole day was just one big blah. The balloon race was scheduled for yesterday afternoon was canceled and the weather has been less than cooperative.

Hopefully today will be a little more cooperative weather wise. We're currently at 98 Geocache finds and may possibly be planning on a trip to Cooper Rock today to see the changing of the leaves, weather permitting. Maybe we'll get another one or two today to push us to the ceremonial 100 find mark.

Rain, rain go away, come back again on a day I have to work.

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.

Last night was pretty fun, it started out with me and Michelle going to light up night. We ended up seeing Amy and Kaiden there, but light up night was a little less than spectacular.

After that we met Jane and her kids at Pizza Hut for a late dinner and some BSing. She is in transit to DC, her and Chris will be having dinner with President Obama Saturday night.

OK< on to tonight. High School Football on tap for this evening. University High hosts the number 2 ranked team in the state when Brooke comes to town. Hopefully the Hawks can end the Bruins undefeated season tonight. It's homecoming tonight for the Mohigans as they host the North Marion Huskies at Pony Lewis. Undefeated Clay Battelle puts their undefeated record on the line against Valley Wetzel and Trinity travels to Pendleton County.

I think we may try to head to Coopers Rocks this weekend to see if the view is prime for the trees changing colors.

Have a great Friday and a better weekend.

Light Up Night

Come one, come all to the 2009 edition (2008 was missed) of the Mountaineer Balloon Festival. The carnival portion of it all kicks off this afternoon at 3:00 with the fair gates opening and the carnival kicking it off. The night of festivities will start up with a photographic opportunity of Light up Night at 7:30.

After the sun goes down for the day and it starts to get a little bit dark, many of the balloonists will inflate their balloons and at every timed whistle blow will start inflating their balloons bringing a wonderful illumination to the night sky.

It's been a number of years since I have attended this event, I think the last time I went it was behind the State Police barracks about 20 years ago. Tonight however with my sweet heart in tow I will be returning to the event and grabbing a few pictures. Bring your camera and get ready for a chance at some beautiful photography.

Last night Michelle and I went and watched Arron and the UHS Hawks pummel BU 36-0 at the school. It was a dominating performance by the Hawks.

Hump Day

Let's see, Monday....Check. Tuesday....check. It's Wednesday and hump day. I have to say this this week is going by pretty quickly and starting tomorrow with Light Up night, my long weekend could get an early start.

Nothing planned for my boring life today, but like I said tomorrow is light up night and then it is Friday.

I do have to say as someone who started out with Myspace, and later switched to Facebook that I really like Facebook so much better. I think I have been able to conect with more people out of my past than I could have ever imagined. I think it is where I spend the majority of my internet time anymore.

I'm going to be making changes to my website in the near future. It's had some trouble recently and I'm not getting much support from GoDaddy that I am seriously considering moving my site to another host. I think GoDaddy just got so big, that they quit caring. I honestly haven't been too happy with them since they changed the back end a couple of years ago.

Oh well, I can't get to the weekend without completing today. Hi Ho Hi Ho.....

Big YELLOW Dance Cam - "Brick House"

People might remember this guy as the guy from our Steelers Triva Championship team as the guy who answered everything.

Go Page!!!

Tuesdays Tidbits

* Every once in a while you get writers block or you just have a few smaller things to say rather than building a larger story.

* Today is brought to you by the number 571. It has been 571 days since mine and Michell's first date and I have managed to trick her into keeping me this long, I must be doing something right.

* Hey a early warning, this Thursday Night will be Light Up Night at the 2009 Mountaineer Balloon Festival at Mylan (don't they name everything after him?) Park. Be cheering for Mountain Momma II at all of the balloon races. The Pilot is an old friend of mine and also works with me at SAIC, but this will be changing next month (More on that later). Bring your camera and get a good spot to watch this night time wonder.

* Would you believe that I have finally won a week in my Fantasy Football League. I started out 0-3, but finally got in the win column this week.

* Well for not having much to say, and Michelle running up and down the hallways with a Superwoman cape on (literally) to give me inspiration for this BLOG, it has come to a finish. I think Superwoman is out of breath....LOL

Is it Monday Again?

Would you believe that it has been a while since Michelle and I actually got the day to spend Geocaching yesterday. Well, the weather was nice today and we took the GPS, although we never used it, and spent the day grabbing a few Geocaches around Morgantown.

I kind of wanted to get out 100th one this year and with the four that we got yesterday that puts our total at 98 caches found and one hidden to date. I want to get at least two more finds to reach that magical milestone of 100 just so I can say I've done a hundred of them.

We got one at the Old Alumni Center, one at the Law School, failed to find one at the Core Arboretum, and found a couple in Woodburn to round out the day before we picked Hayley up and gave her a nice chance to drive around and practice a little bit yesterday.

It was a great day that I got to spend with a couple special ladies. Maybe today will even be better.

Weekends Go by To Fast

Wait, it was just Friday, are you telling me that it is Monday again already? If it were next Monday that may not be as bad because it will be Columbus Day and I'll be off, but this is not Columbus day and I have to get back to the grindstone. Arrrrggghhhhh

I have to say that I did have a good weekend though. A day of geocaching Saturday and yesterday Michelle made two of my favorites for dinner, haluski and pierogi casserole. I was in seventh heaven to say the least.

I did help Brittany with a little bit of Geology homework yesterday. I walked her around campus and showed her a few places that were relative to her homework. You know being a Professional Geographer and Geocacher one would think I know how to read maps. I can make them, and I can make some rather good ones, but the maps on her homework assignment had me a little confused and I headed the wrong direction initially. I think we got her taken care of though as we found what she was supposed to see.

Do I really have to go to work today? Is it really Monday again?

Weekend

As the thing we call a weekend is winding down, I took a picture that pretty much sums up my relaxing weekend so far.

This is one of our yet to be un-named kittens and I think this picture explains the weekend the best. Ahhhhhhhhhh, relaxed.

A day of Geocaching

Would you believe that it has been a while since Michelle and I actually got the day to spend Geocaching yesterday. Well, the weather was nice today and we took the GPS, although we never used it, and spent the day grabbing a few Geocaches around Morgantown.

I kind of wanted to get out 100th one this year and with the four that we got yesterday that puts our total at 98 caches found and one hidden to date. I want to get at least two more finds to reach that magical milestone of 100 just so I can say I've done a hundred of them.

We got one at the Old Alumni Center, one at the Law School, failed to find one at the Core Arboretum, and found a couple in Woodburn to round out the day before we picked Hayley up and gave her a nice chance to drive around and practice a little bit yesterday.

It was a great day that I got to spend with a couple special ladies. Maybe today will even be better.

Saturday Morning

Unlike mist of my blogs, I am actually writing this one real time instead of writing it the night before. I have to say that Blogger has been less than cooperative this morning as it is running pretty slowly. Actually Google in General, not the rest of the web, is a little less than its normal self this morning.

It is October in West Virginia, a time of the year when all of the most beautiful colors that your optical nerves could observe in nature will be presenting themselves here in the next few weeks as the trees start preparing to shed their leaves and prepare for winter.

It's a time for festivals like last weeks Buckwheat Festival and the upcoming Balloon Festival that we will have here in the next week after a one year hiatus last year.

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.

How about that Mountaineer Game last night. We weren't the sharpest team out there, but on 220 yards rushing from Noel Devine the Mountaineers pull out a 35-24 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes.

Into High School Football? Well the big game tonight is when the Undefeated University High Hawks at 5-0 travel to the Undefeated and 4-0 Fairmont Senior Polar Bears. This should be a good game, go Hawks. Preston High Knights travels to my Alma Mater Morgantown High tonight to take on the Mohigans. The Undefeated Clay Battelle CB's are idle this week and Trinity travels to Hancock Maryland to play.

A Happy Birthday/Condolences goes out to Chris Ostien. Chris celebrates his birthday today but with a heavy heart as he heard a couple of days ago that his grandfather has passed. Chris worked last night's game , runs the big scoreboard, and is off today for the funeral.

Have a great Friday and start of another weekend.

It's Gameday

It's gameday here in Morgantown. The Colorado make come to Morgantown this year as we traveled to Boulder last season. The 2-1 Mountaineers will be looking to rebound from last weeks loss to Auburn and get extract a little revenge for the overtime loss we suffered out there last season.

Jarret Brown should be ready to go tonight, he was injured in his last play last game. Hopefully he will be 100% and be able to play like he has shown us he can tonight. When he is on his game he is one of the best around, that's a strong statement but also a true statement.

Maybe Noel Devine can reel off a couple of hundred yards rushing tonight to help alleviate any stress from the passing game. Devine a very explosive playmaker is just one of a handful of 5'8" speedsters the Mountaineers carry on the roster.

Hump Day

Well we have made it, we have made it to hump day and the majority of the work week will be in our rear view mirror after today.

Tomorrow WVU and Colorado Play so it won't be a normal day and Friday everyone will be recovering from Thursday Nights game, so today better be productive if you want to get anything significant done this week.

I am still coughing from this lingering cold that I got last week, it's like it wants to settle into my chest but it doesn't have the opportunity to. I guess the recent drop in temperatures and all the rain we have had recently are playing a big factor in my difficulty in shaking this.

Hopefully I can shake this by this weekend, I need to take Brittany around campus and help her with a homework assignment.

Happy Birthday Bill Filcheck

You never know what you are going to see when you read my blog. I do have to say that O had a little bit of support in writing this blog for one of my daily readers. Michelle is guilty as charged in giving me the idea to write this.

Anyways Bill, from George's Journal a very heart felt Happy Birthday to you for being one of my most consistent readers.

May your day be filled with surprises and happiness.

Happy Birthday Danielle Mascioli

I would like to take this chance and wish someone very near and dear to me a very Happy Birthday. Danielle has been someone who will always have a special place in my heart as she attended my graduation from college and I intend on returning the favor here in a few more years.

I've spent numerous hours helping her with her computer and trying to keep it running correctly. Except she hasn't had too much trouble since she started using a MAC a couple years ago.

Happy Birthday Danielle.

Monday

Yep it is once again time to put our noses back to the grindstone and get back to work yet once again. The weekend is over and I have to say it was not a very good one. It was cold and rainy most of the weekend and for the second week in a row the Pittsburgh Steelers absolutely choked away a game to a team they were dominating.

Limas Sweed is someone I have not liked since last season, he dropped a couple sure Touchdowns last season and dropped one yesterday. Who cares if you can separate if you CAN'T CATCH THE BALL!!! I also think it is time to let Jeff Reed go. He's blown kicks the last two weeks that turned out to be the difference in the game. It's been a nice run with him, but this is the NFL.

Oh well, weekend is over and hi ho hi ho ....

Kaiden's Birthday Party

Yesterday was Kaiden's first birthday party. Unfortunately for him as well as half the family is that he was sick and not feeling very well. It was a cold and damp day, I had initial intentions of heading to the Buckwheat Festival after the party, but the cold and consistent rain mixed with a battle of the flu put a real damper to that plan.

Of course like so many birthday parties now days, Amt had a little smash cake set up just for him. He wasn't feeling good and was a little bit cranky until he got a chance to run his hands through the sugary icing topped cake and got his first real good chance at a sugar rush. He seemed a little less cranky when he realized the sugary treat was at his disposal.

After everyone had the chance to eat, the time had arrived to get to why Kaiden even showed up in the first place (other than the cake), it was time to open up the goodies. You know all the good stuff and presents people bring and bestow upon you on your birthday. I'm talking toys and money that all your closest friends and family bestow upon you.

There is a bit of a sad twist to this, Amy has seemed to have misplaced where she placed Kaiden's birthday money. Hopefully it turns up for them so they can get him a few more gifts.

National Geographic Picture of the Day

Birthday Party for Kaiden

Today is the day, the day that the family assembles and we all get to help Kaiden celebrate his first year of being a part of the family. I think it is at 1:00 today, at the place where this picture was taken, but I am not sure.

Anyways as I have stated before we may be taking up a collection to donate to the church for letting us use their facilities for the party. If you have a couple extra dollars in your pocket, a donation would be greatly appreciated. They were going to charge Amy $50.00 to use the facility, but they are letting her have it for free. She expressed she would still like to make a donation to the church for the gesture, so any donations would be appreciated no matter how large or small.

I'll have my camera with me today.

Watch Out Morgantown

Take fair warning city of Morgantown, Hayley passed her written drivers test on her first try and has been issued a learners permit. I told her about my story of me passing me written test when I took it. Back in 1979 you got 25 questions, you had to get 80% (miss 5) to pass it. I missed eight on my first attempt, seven on my second attempt, eight on my third attempt, eight on my fourth attempt, eight on my fifth attempt (only four versions of the test) and five on my sixth, yes sixth attempt to pass it which I finally did. Funny thing is I passed my skills test the first time, passed all my CDL tests the first time including Hazardous Material test (I was licensed to drive gas tankers)and had trouble with the written portion for my learners permit for my drivers license.

Anyways, Hayley drove a little bit yesterday. I got off work and both her and Michelle were there to pick me up and all I heard her say was "I Drive?", how could I say no.

I think she was a little nervous at first, but she did fine. I don't even want to talk about dad teaching me how to drive on a ice and snow covered Bakers Ridge Road nearly 30 years ago.

She did great and I was very proud of her, of course Michelle who was riding in the back seat jumped out of the car when we got home and had to puke because her nerves were shot, so I think maybe I'll do most of the teaching...LOL

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.

OK Football fans the Undefeated University High Hawks are at home tonight taking on a 1-3 Hedgesville team. Should be an easy victory for the hometown Hawks. The Morgantown Mohigans travel to Buck. Upshur to try to extend their winning streak to two games. Clay Battelle puts their undefeated record on the line tonight against Clear Springs Maryland and Trinity High School travels to Parkersburg tomorrow to play Parkersburg Catholic.

The Mouintaineers are off tomorrow but will try to extract revenge for last seasons loss Thursday Night against the Colorado Buffaloes.

Who Dey are the words the Bengals will be speaking after the Steelers smack them around and abuse them on Sunday afternoon. I'm 0-2 on the year in fantasy football, so I need to start to pick it up a notch and win this week.

The new kittens and the mother are doing good so far, there are only two from the litter. We were thinking that there could have been more, they said there may be a chance up to 24 hours, but that window of opportunity has passed and we have ended up with two kittens.

Have a good Friday and a great weekend.

Happy First Birthday Kaiden Dalton

It was just a year ago today when the world got its first glimpse of Kaiden Dalton. I do have to say that this is one photogenic kid and it has been an absolute pleasure watching him this first year.

So from your Great Uncle, Kaiden I am wishing you a very Happy First Birthday today.

Amy and Ralph are planning a celebration of this day on Saturday at the church that they were married in. We are going to try to take up a donation for the church for letting us use their facilities for the day.

Buckwheat Festival

It is once again that time in north central West Virginia that we all look forward to. It's a time when fresh sage sausage and is on the stove and the smell of Buckwheat Cakes tickle the nasal passages as we all forget our diets for a day or two.

The 2009 Buckwheat Festival kicks of this morning at 8:00 AM and will include the traditional Firemans's Parade this evening.

I'm sure we will be making our traditional track to Kingwood sometime before this weekend is over with for my once a year Buckwheat Cakes meal!!!!

Fat Cat to Skinny Cat

There was a pleasant surprise for us yesterday as we arrived home from work, Sophie our pregnant cat, had given birth to three kittens. Unfortunately one was not alive by the time we had gotten home from work and Hayley went out and buried the one who was still born.

AS I write this Thursday Blog on Wed night, the mother and her two kittens are doing fine but there still could be more on the way.

I would take a picture of her, but I don't want to disturb her as she is finally peaceful this evening.

Fat Cat

A couple of girls were curious how big Sophie, our pregnant cat was getting so I told her I would take a picture of her and put it up on the internet on my Blog.

I have one kitten from this litter claimed, do I hear two people who want one of these furry, fuzzy and adorable kittens once they are birthed and weened in about six weeks.

It was a nice relaxing evening at home for Michelle and I, both of us still battling a case of the flu bug over the past week. It was a relaxing evening of extreme home makeover and it was a trip early to bed for yours truly.

I do have to say that Michelle made me some more sugar free pistachio pudding last night. If you have never had it, you won't like it and you should avoid it like the plague (that just means more for me.) =)

Have a good Hump Day, obviously one of our cats did.

Tuesday Tidbits

* I missed my call on yesterdays BLOG as I was sick and ended up taking yesterday off from work die to an illness.

* I did hear an interesting story yesterday about University of Oregon Football coach Chip Kelly. A fan sent him an expense invoice as a joke for his expenses to traveling to a game that Oregon lost. Kelly reimbursed him out of his own pocket, what a classy move on the coaches part.

* I guess my brother Gary has fractured his foot while at work Sunday. Val too him to the emergency room and he had x-rays but the he didn't stay around to get the results. I called last night and he was sleeping.

* Coach Bob Huggins is hosting a Slam Dunk Cancer on October 2 at the Waterfront. The cost is $100.00 per ticket.

* Just a little side note, I love sugar free pistachio pudding.

* I managed to lose for a second straight week in Fantasy Football. I could be out of the money this year before it even begins.

* Thanks for the story Bill, what is this world coming to when the police have to gun down a 71 year old woman. She was planning on taking out her 58 year old boyfriend.

* Anyways, yesterday was the last official day of summer, we have entered the Autumnal Equinox and have officially entered the fall season as of 9:18 PM tonight. Good bye summer, I will miss you.

Monday

It's time to get back to earning that money and stop enjoying the fruits of your labors for a few days.

It has not been a very good sports weekend for me, both the Steelers and Mountaineers went from dominating early to losing the game late in the game to pulling the off the loss from the jaws of victory. Oh well, line up next week and do it again.

On top of the two losses, yours truly now may have what Michelle had last week. I think I am on the verge of bronchitis, it started Saturday Night with a very sore throat and then got into my sinuses. Same thing happened to Michelle last week, so I am pounding the Vitamin C and hoping for the best. Hopefully I can avoid the severity like she had late last week.

Calvin's Birthday Party

Yesterday Pam and George hosted Calvin's 14th Birthday party at their place. The family assembled and Calvin had a few friends over to help him celebrate his special day of the year.

He was as rambunctious as only Calvin can be soaking in all that is his birthday. I don't think he stopped for very long as he was entertaining some of his friends.

We have another Birthday to celebrate this coming weekend as Kaiden turns the ripe old age of one. They will be celebrating his first birthday party at the church where they were married a few weeks ago. Rental for the facility, it's tables and chairs is something is not free, if everyone could pitch in a couple extra dollars this should not be too much of a financial burden on Amy and Ralph.

Tough Loss

Last night was a tough one to watch as a Mountaineer fan. We went down to Auburn Alabama and in a heavyweight match up came out swinging hard and taking control of the game. We dominated in the statistics and controlled the game all except for a couple KEY statistics. Six turnover lead to 24 Auburn points and WVU's demise in the 30-41 score in the revenge game from last season.


Late in the game Jarrett Brown injured his arm, forcing us to blow a redshirt year from Geno Smith, a true Freshman, late in the game. The only report I have seen on Jarrett's status so far is that he injured his shoulder and should be fine for the next game.

I do have to say that stupid mistakes was our problem. We ran the shuffle pass four times, two times with a little success, the next two times it lead to interceptions by defensive linemen, one to put the icing on the cake as we were trying to win the game.

Recent Computer Infection and Repair.

I was doing a little hacking a few years ago and managed to get a very bad piece of malware. Not knowing how to stop my computer from acting strange I had no idea what to do so I searched the internet for possible help. I found it in the Tom Coyote Forums and we got my system back up and running.

Fast forward to now, and my computer had slowed down significantly and started acting strange, especially in google searches. If I would do a search, and select the search result about 50% of the time it would redirect me to some site that honestly had nothing to do with the search results. My browser (Firefox) had slowed to a crawl to a point where I installed a lite version Google Chrome Browser just to be able to surf.

I had considered setting my computer to an earlier time, but there were no restore points, something was preventing them. Time to lookup TomCoyote again.

However the site no longer exists but migrated into WhattheTech. I quickly re-registered and started the process of repairing my computer. I followed their directions and started my own thread and did what they asked me to do. After a couple rounds my computer is back to normal, no longer infected and running quickly.

I think it all started on facebook when I clicked a "Cartoonize Yourself" link. I think that is where it all started and the computer went downhill since then. Almost to a point where I was going to reformat and wipe my system out.

I'm back up and running, Thank you Whatthetech.com

Happy Birthday Calvin McClain

I would like to take this opportunity out to wish my youngest Nephew a very Happy Birthday. Today is Calvin Michael McClain's birthday, but Pam is planning on having a little bit of a party for him tomorrow afternoon at their place.

The family will all be getting together to join Pam and George in helping to celebrate Calvin's birthday.

Happy Birthday Calvin. I hope you get everything that you want and that you have the Happiest of Birthdays.

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.

It would not be a fall weekend without a little bit of football talk. It's High School Football Night and the Morgantown Mohigans will attempt to break their two game losing streak tonight when they host East Fairmont. They are inducting this years class into the Morgantown High Sports Hall of fame, my old Wrestling coach Bob DeAntonis is one of the inductees. Way to go Big Wood. The University High Hawks try to extend their undefeated season as they travel to Elkins to play the Tigers (is that still their nickname?) Clay Battelle travels to Hundred to play the Hornets and try to extend their undefeated season.

Looking for College, WVU travels to Auburn Saturday Night to have a showdown with the Tigers. We beat them last year here in Morgantown, but I am sure this SEC Powerhouse will be looking for a little revenge. This may be the best team we play all season. The game is Saturday Night and I would imagine a game between these two powerhouses will be televised.

Looking for the Big Boys? The Pittsburgh Steeler's continue the defense of their Super Bowl Championship by traveling to the Chicago bears for a 4:15 game Sunday.

Looking for something to do this weekend? The Mason Dixon Festival will be held this weekend at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater and if you are looking for a little bit of Wine and some nice Jazz, the West Virginia Wine and Jazz Festival is also this weekend st the 4H Camp, Camp Muffly.

Have a Great Weekend!!!

Michelle still under the weather

Michelle and I went to see Arron's game last night at University High School. She has been a little under the weather lately but I think last night tipped it over the edge and her sinus infection seems to have dropped into her chest and she appears to have developed bronchitis from sitting out there last night.

I prevent from getting punched by Trish, I won't reveal who won and by what score. There is no way I would tell anyone the Mohigans won 34-0 last night, just won't do that.

I think Michelle is going to stay home today, she had a rough night last night, she is one of those go to work even if you are half dead types and she wants to stay home today. I hate seeing her like this, it takes a lot to knock her down and she is down.

Getting Closer

Workweeks are traditionally long and drawn out, I do have to say that since I was out of town Monday and Michelle was sick Tuesday (she is feeling a little better) and we went to Aaron's game last night at University High School, that this week has pretty much flown by for me. Come on Friday and come on weekend.

Other than that it is a pretty uneventful day to write a blog. I can always start to gear up for a weekend of football if someone twists my arm.

Anyone wanting any kittens? We have a pregnant cat who hasn't delivered yet, but not to early to stake your claim for your choice little fuzzy and adorable kitten. The line is forming, make sure you have your place to take of of these future lovable, fuzzy and furry kittens to play with.

Michelle Sick

My sweetie had to leave work early yesterday and take a trip to the doctors. She has a very bad sinus infection and they gave her a prescription to try to help alleviate it. I actually left work a little early yesterday to take of a few things on the home front.

She went straight to bed, I let her sleep a while and she still felt horrible so she laid back down and went back to sleep.

No worries, I took care of everything yesterday evening and allowed her a chance to rest and relax for the evening. Hopefully this morning she will be feeling better and will be up and at em, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Tuesdays Tidbits

* I have survived my long day yesterday, long meetings and two 1 1/2 hour trips can make for a long day. I'm back and ready to head back to my office tomorrow.

* Well fantasy football week one is officially over for me and I lost my first game. I'll rebound and recover this week and make the playoffs this season.

* Calvins's Birthday party will be this Saturday at 2:00 at Pam and George's place.

* Kaiden's first birthday party will be the following weekend.

* Terri started a new job this past Saturday. More details to come as I find them out.

* Kanye West in case everyone missed it, is a complete moron for taking the microphone away from 19 year old Taylor Swift when she won her first eve Video Music Award. IF I have ever bought any of his music, I would boycott him now but I've never given the man a nickel of my money.

* It looks like the weather is going to break a little and become nicer, I could use it as I have been a little bit under the weather myself.

* As I am writing this blog (actually Monday night) we are actually watching the Movie October Sky. If you have never seen it or are looking for a good movie to watch, this is it.

* Have a Great Day

To the Burgh I go

It's going to be a long day for me today, when I usually report to the office I will be traveling an hour and a half through the back roads to get to the Pittsburgh Facility for a 5 hour meeting tomorrow morning at 8:00. I need to be there by about 7:30 to help prep for the five hour meeting.

This means I'll probably have to be out the door by 6:00 AM tomorrow. It's also a tie wearing kind of day as I have a presentation for the project I worked on most of the year, a new project to codify that project and a kickoff meeting for another project. Needless to say I will be a busy individual all day tomorrow.

I should be back early in the afternoon, I brought a Govt Vehicle home so I can get an early start tomorrow and don't have to go into my office (no one would be there anyways) and get the vehicle, I can leave straight from here.

Oh well, it's early and I gotta get to the Burgh.

The Mountaineers extracted a little bit of revenge for last years beating they took at the hands of the East Carolina Pirates. There were no surprises this year as the Mountaineers were ready and beat the Pirates 35-20 even with a couple of mishandled punts that lead to 10 Pirate Points.

Senior QB Jarrett Brown was nearly flawless as he commanded his offense down field with an aerial barrage that the Pirates had no answer for. Brown passed for 334 yards and 4 touchdowns and added another 73 yards on the ground with his feet as East Carolina's Defense just could not stop him.

The Mountaineers now 2-0 on the season travel to SEC Powerhouse Auburn, who will be trying to get revenge for the 34-17 loss that they were handed in Morgantown last season.

I was feeling a little under the weather for the game yesterday so Michelle and Hayley went and enjoyed the game.

Game today

West Virginia will be taking on the East Carolina Pirates today and trying to extract some revenge for last years beating that were handed. Last year the Mountaineers were two games removed from handily beating last years Heisman Trophy winner and a team that played for a share of the National Championship. Expectations were high last year, but we were handily beaten by the ECU Pirates 3-24.

The keys to winning today are going to be what we failed to do last year and are pretty simple. Offensively we just need to move the chains. Simply work for 10 yards and a fresh set of downs and keeping possession of the ball. Big plays are nice and we do have playmakers, but holding possession of the ball gives your play makers more chances to make those plays. If your offense goes out and runs three plays and has to punt, it's going to be a long day.

Defensively we need to be able to stop them on 3rd down. Last year Patrick Pinkney was a player who managed to keep making the plays for ECU, especially on third downs. We could have him set up in 4rd and longs and he was still making the plays somehow.

Keep the ball and keep your opponent off the field are the basics of the game, I think with all our big name play makers over the past few years we might have lost sight of that.

Let's Go Mountaineers

Eight Years Ago

It was eight years ago that at about this time that the blog is actually posting that this country changed forever. It was September 11, 2001 and I was watching Jerry Springer as I did not have to work that Tuesday morning and I had but one class that evening. The day was mine and a little after 9:00 they interrupted Jerry Springer to bring a Special Report.

My eyes were peeled to the television for the rest of that fateful day. America had came under attack, a terrorist group lead by Osama Bin Laden had decided to send two airplanes into the World Trade Centers, One into the Pentagon and planned to put one into the Capital Building, but brave souls aboard US Air Flight 93 would not allow this to happen.

It's been eight years, one President failed to get Bin Laden and to the current President I beg you, get this man.

Remember those who died on 9-11 and all of those who have died protecting us since then.

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.

How about the Pittsburgh Steelers last night. I stayed up and watched it all, from Hine's fumble to the overtime win. Great way to start a season from the defending Super Bowl Champions.

Hey High School Football fans, the Morgantown High School Mohigans will be traveling to Fairmont's East West Stadium tonight to take on the Fairmont Senior High School. The Mohigans are coming off of a win last week and will be looking to give the 2-0 Polar Bears their first loss of the season. Buchanan Upshur visits University High tonight as the Hawks look to extend their undefeated season against the winless Bucks. Undefeated Clay Battelle travels to Paden City knock them around and winless Trinity is idle this week.

Mountaineer Game tomorrow and both Michelle and I will be there. Her boss came around and handed her a couple tickets to Saturday's game. It's a good thing for me, because this game will not be broadcast on television but feat not Comcast subscribers the game will be broadcast on the internet on ESPN360. So if you have High Speed Internet, you can watch the game.

Steelers start the season tonight

Be wary NFL, the defending and six time Lombardi Trophy Winning Pittsburgh Steelers start tonight to defend their Championship. First up on the agenda, the Tennessee (Midgets) Titans who will be visiting Heinz Field this evening to accept the butt kicking that they so deserve.

Oh, and Lendale first of all thank you for the inspiration you gave the Steeler nation last season. When you stomped on the Towell last season I said then you just handed us the Super Bowl. I was right. We'll be waiting for you.

Midweek Tidbits

* I think it is time for a tidbits, I'm a little overdue for one and I need something to write about so here it goes.

* Kaiden Dalton will be celebrating his first birthday in a couple of weeks. Amy is going to have a birthday party for him at the church they were married in on September 26 starting at 1:00. Celebrate with her and Ralphie as Kaiden enjoys his first birthday.

* Anyone wanting any kittens? One of the cats went out whoring around and got knocked up a couple of months ago and is about ready to pop out some kittens. I'm sure they will go fast so if you are interested let me know early.

* Kaiden is suffering from his first ear infection and he is teething, poor Amy.

* Dinner was absolutely awesome last night, Michelle baked some Cod and it turned out very well. We've been adding a lot of fish to our diets as of late.

* Do you believe that it is already hump day? I guess these short work weeks tend to make the week go faster.

* Moke called me a couple of times over the weekend, both times I either had the ringer accidentally turned off or was napping. He'll be coming in for a two week leave in February.

* Anyone planning on buying satellite TV any time in the near future. Nick is representing Dish Network , so if you are considering Dish Network, give the man a chance to earn a little commission.

* Anyone considering taking a Zumba Class? A coworker's wife is going to be doing Zumba Classes at Mountain Valley Apartments in the very bear future. Classes will be $5.00 each or you can buy a punch card good for 10 visits for $40.00 if anyone is interested.

* Today is 9-9-09

* It's Midweek and this was my tidbits.

Back At It

I love long extended weekends, especially ones during the summer months but the last one of summer 2009 is now officially over and it's time to put the nose back to the dreaded grindstone and get to work refreshed from an extended weekend.

I don't appear to have too busy of a schedule this week at first glance, but you know that can easily change on nothing but a whim and a phone call. I will have to be in Pittsburgh NEXT Monday very early for a coding project we are doing. I'm taking a government car up so I will probably go and pick it up Sunday evening as I have to be in Pittsburgh at about the same time as I come into my Morgantown Office.

Due to the not too satisfactory weather yesterday, Michelle and I stayed home and rented the Will Smith movie Hancock. It delivered a little more than I expected, but then again it is Will Smith.

Oh well, Hi Ho Hi Ho......

Labor Day

For all of you hard working people out there, today is labor day, take the day off. For those of you who may have to work today, I'll be thinking about you as I am enjoying my time away from the grindstone.

It's the day that ceremonially marks the end of summer, although it will officially be the summer season for another two weeks, actually September 22 when the autumnal Equinox occurs and we officially end summer. However I looked at Michelle last night at about 8:00 and noticed that it was actually starting to get dark out.

I guess my days of summer for 2009 are slowly going by the wayside. Gone for the summer of 2009 are the days of Softball games and meeting with the guys, gone is the Summer of Phil and days filled with shorts and sandals. Gone are the times of movies under the stars and trips to the zoo.

Welcome football season and the changing of the leaves. A time when hunters start to practice and Friday nights are filled with the sounds of football pads smacking together and loud harmonious chants and jeers come from the throng of people supporting their team.

Enjoy one last day of summer, have a BBQ, spend it with family, make a memory with some special people that will last you a lifetime. You don't have to work today, the kids are off from school, how many Mondays will you have this opportunity again with in 2009?

A couple of surprises

Up an at em early this morning I was looking for some material to write for my Sunday Morning BLOG. I could have written about the game yesterday, but that's old news and I think everyone reading this BLOG probably knows WVU won yesterday.

I turned around this morning and what did I see on the other side of my patio door this morning? The half of my BLOG story this morning. Standing there eating was a doe close to the door. Michelle and I paid close attention to her for a awhile then we lost interest.
A little while later Michelle got really quite and said "Ed, We have a Buck" in our back yard. Sure enough under the cherry tree was a buck still with fuzz on his antlers (of course that is probably normal for this time of the year.

I once again grabbed the camera and attempted to grab a picture or two of him out in the yard. He was a little cautious of me as I slowly walked outside not knowing what to think of the overblown Mr. Clean walking out of the house.

Sometimes blog material is hard to come by, sometimes the story just presents itself right to you as if to say "hey here I am, you can write about me in exchange for me grazing a little in your back yard."

And thus, this morning's blog had life.

It's Gameday

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Oh yes it is now officially football season here in Morgantown. For a few hours today the city will house the states largest population as 60,000 fans make their way to Mylan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field to watch the West Virginia Mountaineers do battle with Liberty University.

The game will be on TV here locally starting at noon on channels 14 and 22 on Comcast. So if you are not going to the game for any reason, take the chance to watch it on Television in the comfort of your own home. Maybe it would be a nice day for a cookout =)

Looking ahead at our schedule, I don't see any game that we can't win, not saying that we will win them all, but this should be a very good year for the Mountaineers under head coach Bill Stewart.

Let's Go 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 a three day Labor Day weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

it's football season and the High schools are in action this evening. My beloved Morgantown High Mohigans travel to Elkins as both teams seek their first win of the 2009 season after they both suffered setbacks last weekend. The University High Hawks will look to make it two in a row as East Fairmont visits Mylan Pharmaceuticals Stadium this evening. Both teams won last week, so something has to give this week in the battle of the unbeatens. Bishop Donahue visits Clay Battelle and Trinity High School has its first ever home game, even thought the game will be played at Duvall-Rosier Field on the Fairmont State University campus.

Let us not forget the big game in Morgantown, West Virginia University will be going against Liberty University here in Morgantown with kickoff scheduled for noon. The game will be on TV locally on I think channel 4.

It's a holiday three day weekend, enjoy yourselves.

Getting Closer

Can you smell it in the air? We are just two days away now from the season opener for the 2009 WVU Football Team.

Gone is Patrick White, college football's all time leading rushing Quarterback. In his place in a player who could have started for a multitude of college football teams over the past three seasons, but awaited his turn behind Patrick.

Returning are names like Noel Devine, the little scat back that no one can catch. Don't be surprised to see a true Freshman push him for playing time and being a real big play maker. Tavon Austin is the one of one true incoming freshman that I would tell you to remember, but something tells me it won't be hard to remember his name.

The Mountaineers are not ranked in a pre-season poll this year, the first time that has happened in a few years. However I would not wager that will be the case come seasons end.

I was hacked

My website came under a vicious malware attack yesterday. Somehow they added a simple line of code to my index file a simple line of code that sent people from my site to some computer set up in Russia on a home computer and was picked up by Google. Google actually flagged my site as to having spyware and it was hard to go there unless you completely removed your internet security.

No fears though, me, Godaddy.com and a couple hours on the phone pinpointed the problem and completely wiped and restored my website out removing any other infected files. I saw the code, but was worried it may have infected other pages so I just wiped it out and put a safe archive version of it back up. It should be OK by the time anyone is reading this.

This has caused me a headache, now Google thinks my site is an infected site. They'll check it again, I submitted the site for review again and everything should be back to normal by the time this blog posts.

That was my evening yesterday, hope everyone else had a better one.

Erica Jean's First day of School.

I missed my opportunity on this BLOG, it was a couple of weeks ago and I completely missed mentioning this. September 1st was Erica Jean's first ever day of school.

Education is a very important and monumental and important thing. It has a lot to do with who we are and what we will become in life.

Erica has just started her education, hopefully this is just the start and she will be a graduate of West Virginia Universities class of 2027 and she will do it with honors.

Poor Rich Rod

Oh the humanity of anyone accusing Rich "The Product" Rodriguez of any wrong doing. We here in West Virginia know what an honorable and honest man that he is, you should be able to trust his word as absolute truth that he would never ever lie (Unless you are talking about him getting caught shop lifting at Krogers when he was in college).

Forget that he was misinterpreted when he said he was going to be at West Virginia the rest of his career, he only meant until he blew the Pitt game.

Now at Michigan, a storied program that has a reputation of running very clean, has a potential NCAA investigation that it may face because of the Product's antics.

Yesterday the teary eyed Product had a press conference and put on his tears for the media and made it look like they did absolutely nothing wrong, even though current and former players are saying they are breaking the NCAA rules.

Dear Michigan.....ROFLMFAO. Sucks to be you!!!!!!!




EDIT:

And the hits just keep on coming.



When you take out $26 Million in Loans

Someone might want the money back

Ha Ha ha ha