What will the reaction be tonight if Clemson's BOT says it is officially exploring other options outside of the ACC?

Stole this from HERE, but VERY funny considering all the rumors going around College Football.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of ACC fans who started this crap by invading the Big East origially.



Clemson Fans:

FSU Fans:

North Carolina Fans:

Duke Fans:

Wake Fans:

Miami Fans:

Boston College Fans:

Pitt & Syracuse Fans:

Texas A&M and Mizzou Fans:

Baylor, ISU, Kansas, Kansas St and Texas Tech Fans:

Louisville Fans:

BYU Fans:

Texas Fans:

DeLoss Dodds:

Bob Bowlsby:

Dan Beebe:

Chuck Neinas:

Jim Delany:

John Swofford:

Chadd Scott:

Addendum #1 To all of the people who have emailed me saying they are going to have the internet police chase me down for posting a picture of a real suicide, IT ISN'T REAL.

Addendum #2 By popular demand:

West Virginia Fans:

Georgia Tech Fans:

Big Ole Hairy Three Day Weekend!!!!

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

It looks like the weather is going to be cooperative with us this weekend in this region according to this map. It looks like we are going to have a heat wave here, which means this is definitely my time of the year. It's a time for shorts and sandals and good times with friends and family.

Tomorrow we have Morgantown High's Graduation to attend tomorrow morning and then Danielle's graduation party tomorrow afternoon. Other than that and our weekly shopping, we're free the whole weekend.

Not sure of any plans at this time, but rest assured there will be at least one nap this weekend. I would probably like to return to Ohiopyle once this weekend or something similar.

Tonight however it'll be dinner and probably just stay home to watch a movie or something along those lines. I know Michelle has had a long week, she was actually up yesterday morning at 2:00 AM and stayed up all day, so she had that Chinese disease yesterday. I think they call it Dragonass.

Lifting and cardio day

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my digital images that I have on my computer and select just one picture to tell a little story about. Sometimes it's an easy task to find that one moment in time that you want to reflect upon, and sometimes it's a little tricky.

This weeks picture takes us back to August 16, 2003. My neice Valarie was getting married that day to her husband Bobby. They managed to hold their reception at the same location that Michelle and I were married.

Terri hired a DJ to entertain everyone with Music and to Emcee the event. The guy who was the emcee did a couple of characters  as a stripper for both Bobby and Val. This was Bobby's 'Stripper" so to speak for the evening. If you pay real close attention you can see his beard...lol

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well we now have two days done for this week, and if you just look up over that noontime hump and on the other side of a photo flashback, you might see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance. This will be a special weekend as it will also be a three day holiday weekend.

Speaking of that three day weekend, I know that we will have a graduation and a graduation party to attend. The party will be Saturday afternoon as we help celebrate Danielle's graduation from Wheeling Jesuit.

We are also planning on going to the Morgantown High graduation on Saturday morning to see the Meg Delaurier , John and Stephs Smith's  daughter, graduate from Morgantown High School.

It's going to be a busy weekend one way or the other.

Happy Birthday George McClain

I would like to take this opportunity to with my brother from another mother George McClain a very Happy Birthday today.

George is the man I owe a billion and one favors too and they have accumulated through the years from a wide variety of requests.

If you happen to see George McClain today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out to wish him the happiest of birthdays today as he is more than deserving.

Happy Birthday George, I hope all your wishes, dreams and hopes come through today.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now in our rear view mirrors, and what a sad one it was, I still can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* I the Mountaineer nation weeps today with the sudden passing of former Head Coach Bill Stewart yesterday.  Our thoughts go out to his bride Karen and his son Blaine.

* It's been 1,530 days since mine and Michelle's first date a little over four years ago.

* It's been 753 days since I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* It's been 290 days since we exchanged or vows and became Husband and Wife.

* There are 217 more shopping days left until Christmas.

*  In 37 days We'll be heading to Burgettestown to party with Jimmy Buffett.

* In 110 days we'll be setting sail for the Bahamas on our cruise!!!!!

* We are at 122 Geocaches found....and counting.

* It's a cardio day

* Hi ho hi ho

RIP Head Coach Bill Stewart

 RIP Coach.

Great Day Yesterday

Before we let this weekend expire and return to our jobs to put in another week of work, I would like to take a little bit of time out and reflect upon yesterday. Mainly because I'm just not ready for the weekend to be over with yet.

Michelle and I packed up Pearl and headed north to Ohiopyle State Park  to start the day off with a little pic nic and a little bit of geocaching.

We started off by going to our favorite pic nic area and pulling the subaru down by the creek and just having a great time. It was very aesthetically pleasing, ear candy to put it in short. A running stream, no one around, birds chirping and you have the place basically all to yourselves.

After the pic nic we did a couple geocaches there, one on top of the overlook and the other down by the natural water slide. The people were out in full force at the water slide as the water was running good and hard and there were a lot of people laying out and enjoying the warm sun.

After Ohiopyle we decided to get lost and try to find our way to Coopers Rock without going any of the traditional ways. We had the GPS with us, but didn't use it for navigation, just a reference point. I had made the trip from there to Bruceton once before, but that was 25 years ago and I thought I knew the way. We did manage to make it to Bruceton, but not the traditional way through Markleysburg that I thought we were going to go.

We finished off the day with a return trip to Five Guys, since our first trip there when they opened was a disaster. I was impressed to say the least. Orange flavored Diet Coke, you have to love their machines....LOL

Lifting and cardio day so

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Pam McClain

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my youngest sister Pam a Very Happy Birthday today.

I have no idea how she and her husband George will celebrate this, I know his birthday is in two days, but I'm sure they will do something special.

If you get the opportunity to see my Sister Pam today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish my beautiful sister Pam a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Pam, I hope all your dreams come true today and that this day turns out just exactly how you want it to turn out. May you be surrounded by friends and family who love you and help you celebrate this day .

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Once again I am up early, much earlier than yesterday, writing an early morning blog. Everyone else in the house has lost a battle with the sandman after an exhausting week and I'm the only one up.

As my brother and sister in law are enjoying their 25th Anniversary Christmas present from their kids with a vacation in Hawaii, they have had the remodeled the store and had the grand opening of the P and P Family Auctions store, located across from Wings Ole on University Avenue. The suckered Michelle's nephew Devin to walk around town yesterday wearing a recliner suit (see pic) to advertise it.

This past week all of the Paugh's kids, grand kids, friends, family, and about anyone else you could imagine spent time at the store cleaning and remodeling and just getting everything ready for the surprise when Jim and Chris come home. We were down there late Friday night and Michelle was there early yesterday to get things ready.

As she was doing that I went and got the Taurus inspected and did our weekly shopping at Sams Club. We really got a whole lot accomplished yesterday including getting our patio Garden finally put in this year. It's a little later than last year, but not by too much. We're trying a different approach this year based on last years successes. We'll see how things turn out this year.

Have a great day.

Oh and if you want to see what Jim and Chris wake up to every morning looking from their balcony...

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm the only one up at 6:30, but I just woke up and this is probably the latest I have slept in in a while. Everyone else is sleeping after an exhausting week for everyone to say the least.

Today's schedule may be a little bit altered, I am going to try to get the car inspected this morning and Michelle is going to help out a few family members this morning down at the store. Her her sister Chris are in Hawaii this week and everyone is lending a hand with their new store.

A special shout out to day to our Friend Trish, it's her birthday today. If you see her today, make sure you take a little time out and 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.

I have to say that this was a rather quick week for me, even if I do have to say so myself. I went out yesterday and paid our taxes and got the license renewed on the Taurus, I tried to get it inspected yesterday but it was getting late and no one wanted to do it that late in the day.

In case anyone hasn't noticed, I have shut down my hosting account for George-hall.net. I have three domains there and two of them were pretty much undeveloped, for the time being I am going to use the free hosting account, they still give you 10 GB of space, but a whole lot less options. It just didn't seem worth $100.00 a year for domain space that I really was not utilizing at all. The only thing really lost is my pictures, but I'll start looking for another host to host them, one that is significantly less costly. It wasn't really the money, but I had a hard time justifying paying $100.00 a year for something I really wasn't using anymore. I still own the domain names, but I may only keep the one that I use.

West Virginia University got one heck of a gift recently. A gift to the tune of $425 Million donation to the University from Siemens Corporation. It is the largest single gift ever given to West Virginia University, and not by just a little bit. The next largest donation was $35 Million. It was a great day to be a Mountaineer.

Speaking of the Mountaineers, we will kick off the 2014 season in Atlanta against the current defending National Champions lead by Monongah native Nick Saban. I'm eagerly anticipating that game.

Lifting and cardio day.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to look through all of my old pictures that I have stored in digital format on my computer. I like to look and find one special picture from yesteryear to take a little time out and reflect on that precious captured moment in time. Sometimes it's very easy to find a picture and some times it's not that easy.

 This weeks picture I knew Tuesday that I wanted to use. Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of his passing in 1977, so it was probably the easiest choice for a photo flashback that I have ever made.

This is one of my favorite pictures, that's Grandpa Hall there on the left and that cute little bundle of joy that he is holding is the future author and creator of your favorite blog, George's Journal. That's none other than me, you might be able to recognize me by my hair...lol

I would imagine that this picture was taken sometime around 1964 while we were living down at our old house in Van Voorhis, he would have been about 70 or 71 in this picture. It was a time of yesteryear when all I had to do all day was lie around and create an occasional clean job for who ever was willing in my diaper.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well we have a couple of days now under our belts, now if you look over the noontime hump and on the other side of a Photo Flashback, you can start to see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance.

It was eight years ago today that I graduated from college and it's been 35 years today that my grandfather passed away in the early AM at the University Hospital.

This date for some reason has been entrenched into my life for a long time, for some reason I never seem to forget any May 16th or let one go by without taking a little bit of time out to reflect on my grandfather, his life and sometimes his music. At the end of my blog, you can click the location link and it will map you to where we were living when he passed away.

It's a lifting and a cardio day for me. I think I'm going to try to start cutting down a little on the ibuprofen and suck up the pain in my shoulder a little. My rotator cuff is messed up and has been for years, it's just really giving me trouble this spring. It hasn't slowed me down though...lol

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now in our rear view mirrors and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't for the life of me think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* My brother and sister in law Jim and Chris are probably heading to the Pittsburgh Airport as this posts, they will be flying out at 6:00 this morning and heading on their way to the Hawaiian Islands.

* It was 1,523 days ago that I was fortunate enough to go out on my first date with Michelle. She spent hours getting ready, it must have been a good evening.

* 746 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle.

* 283 days ago in front of our friends and family, we entered into a bond of marital bliss.

* There are only 224 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* In 117 more days we will be heading out into the Atlantic Ocean as we start our trip to the Bahamas.

* In 43 days we will be partying down at Margarittaville and joining all of the other parrot heads in Burgettstown.

* Chad is going to be working down at the Paugh family store this week helping set that place up as a surprise for when Jim and Chris return from Hawaii.

* I talked to Pam a couple of nights ago, she's been on Midnight shift lately and informed me that Calvin has twisted his ankle and sprained it pretty bad last week. George had to go and pick him up from school.

* I hope everyone had a very good Mother's Day Sunday, I know Michelle tried to send out a gazillion text messages. I tried to tell her to send a mass text, but she wanted to do it one by one to make them more personal.

* Josh Judy is pitching in AAA Louisville this season. The Red's picked him up but did not add him to the 40 man roster. He's went from winning the A Championship, the AA Championship and back to back AAA Championships, to being on the team with the worst record in AAA. He's pitching strong, but the team is struggling this season.

* Michelle's Dad got some good news recently. He owns a Golf Pro Shop in Ohio. He owns the building that it resides in, but a local Private Country Club made him an offer to move his shop to it's location and operate rent free because they have had a slight reduction in membership. He builds custom clubs and is himself a scratch golfer.

* It's a cardio day for me today

* Hi ho hi ho

Weekend Wrapup

Well before I start the week I just want to comment a little bit about yesterday. To say that I ran all over kingdom come is an understatement due to Mother's Day and Graduation an the Graduation party last night. My day started with me waking up at 3:00 AM and I knew would end sometime around 9:00 last night. I got lucky and everything was done by 8:30 last night.

Graduation was very nice, the school of Medicine did it right at the Morgantown events center. My brother in law Jim brought an air horn and as Amanda was called we all hollered and Jim let the air horn go. It was a great time..LOL

ANYWAYS, now that all the fun has been had for the weekend it's time to stick or noses back to the grindstone for the next five days to do our thing that allows us to enjoy the weekends like we do.

It's a lifting and a cardio day, so...

Hi ho hi ho

Regular Sunday Morning Blog

Yeah yeah yeah, you know the routine by now, I'm up and everyone else is sleeping yadda yadda yadda. This is my fourth blog of the day, and one that I use to close a few loose ends of my morning blogging. The other three blogs that I have written this morning, have all been events that warranted their own space.

 Got a call from Pam last night, she was a couple of days out from getting me this news but has informed me that Calvin had sprained his ankle. Not sure what he did, but I know ankle sprains can be very painful and in some cases it would have been better to break it. Here's to hoping Calvin has a speedy recovery.

 My High School reunion has finally set a couple of dates aside. August 17th and 18t this year with two events. Friday's events are yet to be determined, but Saturday we are going to meet at Coopers Rock for a pic nic and later than evening head to Archies for a little bit of Karaoke. This will actually be the first one that I have actually attended. This works out well for me, we will be in Cleveland the weekend before for her cousin Ronnie's wedding.

Have a great day, have all the graduates left yet???

Commencement

West Virginia University welcomes a number of students into the ranks of Alumnus today, one of those who will be included into those ranks will be Michelle's Niece Amanda Paugh will be not only be graduating today, but graduating with the honor of graduating Magna Cum Laude. It's a latin phrase meaning with great praise, and one heck of an academic achievement to say the very least.

This afternoon Michelle and I will have the honor of seeing Amanda receiving her degree from West Virginia University at the Morgantown Events Center followed by a party at the Paugh's this afternoon. Most of Michelle's family will be here, traveling from out of town and out of state to share in this moment with her.

Congratulations Amanda, and good luck as she is now entered into the Masters program for her field of study. It won't be too much longer and we'll be referring to her as Dr. Amanda Paugh.

I hope everyone has a great day and to all of the rest of those graduating today, hurry up and get the heck out of town, we want our summer of no traffic before the next crop arrives. =)

Happy Mother's Day

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the mothers of the world a very Happy Mothers Day. It's a day that we take out once a year to honor some very special people, special enough that if it were not for them, none of us would be here. It's about the Mothers.

I have been blessed in my life to have a very special mother and step mother whom I will try to make a visit to on this busy day that I have in front of me. It is these women and my grandmother who have shaped me into the man that I am today, they have taught me my values, how to work hard, how to get up in the early AM every morning of my life (grandmother) and how to best touch someone elses life.

I consider myself very fortunate, it's made me who I am and I am very thankful to all of them for assisting in my development.

Happy Mothers Day!!!!

Happy 67th Birthday George Edward Hall Sr

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Father, George Edward Hall Sr, a very happy 67th birthday today. It was 67 years ago that many of the people reading this blogs legacy was confirmed with the birth of a man we all loved and respected. He touched the hearts of all he came into contact with, he was definitely one person that always made you feel at home and made sure that you were more than fed when you left.

It'll be 13 years this summer that we lost a man that I knew as my father.

A lot has happened in those 13 years that we all would have loved him being around for. Val, Amy, Randy, Moke and Brittany all graduating High School with Moke and Brittany going on to the next level.

Kim, Val, Amy, Moke and yours truly have all gotten married since then, I can't speak for all but I'm sure everyone would have loved his presence at those special events. He was always a man about family and gathering.

The family has welcomed new additions of Erica, Josh, Kaiden and one more coming this summer. Four new souls that have entered into this world further continuing his legacy.

I have had the honor of graduating from college in the 13 years since he has left, I think he would have liked to have seen that and probably would have become very interested in what I do, especially since he was a coal miner.

There have been pic nics, Easter egg hunts, Christmas Eve's, and a lot of fun filled events in the past thirteen years. There has also been our share of tragedies since then, most notably the day we that he left us.

We miss you dad, Happy Birthday.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet house, everyone has lost a battle to the sandman but me and I'm up early watching some movie on HBO and writing this BLOG.

This is going to be a very busy weekend for both me and Michelle. We're going to try to get all of our weekend shopping done today so that we can have tomorrow free. Tomorrow being Mother's Day, which for those of you who did not know originated in Grafton, West Virginia, we are going to have a very busy day. West Virginia's Commencement is also tomorrow which we are attending for her niece Amanda.

This afternoon Michelle has a baby shower she needs to attend for another cousin, so to say this weekend will be busy and a lot of running around would be an understatement. We've acknowledge this already and are prepared for it, so it's not like it's something that has caught us off guard.

Have a great day, I'm pretty sure the weather is going to be cooperative.

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's graduation weekend here in Morgantown, a few thousand graduating students will change from student to alumnus over the weekend. We will be attending Amanda Paugh's, Michelle's niece, graduation on Sunday at the Morgantown events center. She was the valedictorian four years ago from University High and she is graduating Magna Cum Laude on Sunday which is one heck of an accomplishment to say the least. I know Michelle is very proud of her.

Not too sure what we will be getting into this evening, obviously dinner somewhere which we do every Friday night as our weekly ritual. Michelle gets to pick where we go, we change off every week.

It's a lifting and a cardio day, so hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to go through all of my pictures that I have on my computer, spend a little time and select just one special picture for that week to tell a little bit of a story about. Sometimes it's pretty easy, sometimes it's not that easy to find that one special moment in time that you want to relive. However, it is never dull or boring and it is always fun.

This weeks blog takes us back to a happier time of a few years ago, a day when two special people who are in need of a bright thought for the day today. A time when Ralph and Amy Dalton entered into marital bliss in front of all of their friends and family.

I love this picture, Amy had a picture of my Dad which made this just that much more special. The two beautiful women in this picture are my niece Amy and my Sister Terri with a couple of fine looking young men in Ralph and Kaiden.

I just want them to have a little bit of memory and joy today, they need it.

Hump Day

Went and visited my Niece Amy last night.  My heart really goes out to those two, they really need everyone's thoughts, prayers love and any help and support they can get right now in this time of need. I could never imagine going through what they have had to deal with, it would be beyond my worst nightmares. If you know my niece Amy or her Husband Ralph, please reach out to them.

On to your normally scheduled and routine Hump Day Blog where I start my spiel about looking on the other side of Thursday for the dawn of another weekend.

You know sometimes as a blogger you really have to stretch to find something to write. You tend to repeat yourself and make everything repetitive just to make sure you can still get your daily blog post out. I really enjoy doing it, it kind of takes my mind off of things sometimes and allows me to build my own little daily life history. I'll pass 3,000 blog posts sometime this year and that has allowed me to share a great deal of my life publicly.

There are days when I don't have much to say, and then there are days when you really don't know what to say because people around you are hurting so badly. Today is one of those days.

Make the most of this day as if it is your last.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now behind most of you, I spoke a little too early as I took yesterday off to try to get rid of this lingering big that I have been fighting for a while, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,516 days since mine and Michelle's first date a little over four years ago.

* It's been 739 days since I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* It's been 276 days since we all partied down at the Marilla Center as Michelle and I exchanged our vows of marriage.

*  There are only 231 more shopping days left until Christmas.

*  In 124 more short days we set sail on our cruise to the Bahamas.

* It's election day here in West Virginia, get out and vote today, I am pretty sure polls open at 6:30 this morning. This is the Primary before the big presidential election this November. Go and make sure you do your civil duty and vote today.

* Got a text from Amy yesterday morning, she said Ralph and Kaiden are going to need a lot of prayers to get through this tragedy, I would also like to add her into this as this is her family. I don't to go into too much detail for respect for those involved.

*  Hi ho hi ho

Monday morning

All good things must come to an end, and in many cases that includes the weekend as well. So it's time to stick to stick our noses back to the grindstone and get back to doing what it is we do to earn a living for a few more days.

 It is with a heavy heart that I have to write today's blog. Thoughts and prayers go out to My Neice Amy, her Husband Ralph and their son Kaiden. They are going through a very difficult time right now after a traumatic event Sunday. They need everyone's thoughts and prayers at this time. My heart goes out to all of them.

I have been feeling a little bit under the weather for the past few days, nothing to really keep me down but just enough that you know it and don't feel like you are at your best. Hopefully I can shake this thing before long as I have been running fevers for a while. Like I said though, it hasn't been anything that has or would keep me down.

Lifting and cardio today so...

Hi ho hi ho

We Had a Nice Day

Here I sit, early on a Sunday morning collecting my thoughts once again. This time I am the only one who is awake, as everyone else is fighting a losing battle with the sandman.

Chad is back from Cleveland, they finally finished up the contract that has been on again and off again for about six months. In the next few weeks he's going to go down and help his Cousin Amanda in the store as my Brother and Sister in Law head to will be heading to Hawaii.

Michelle and I took a nice trip to Wheeling Downs yesterday. I have to admit that this was the first time that I have been there in a number of years. Last time I was there the dog track was there and the poker machines were just being installed for the first time in a couple of smaller rooms. Wow I have to say that place has changed. It's a full blown hotel and Casino now and has grown by leaps and bounds since the last time I was there.

Michelle has never gambled on any kind of dog or horse racing, we watched the first couple of races and then she ventured on trying a wager on the third races. She bet a Quinella on her first attempt at wagering. Somebody had a little bit of luck yesterday as beginners luck struck with her on her first race when she hit. Maybe I should have been asking her how to gamble instead of teaching here since she is the only one of us who actually won money. I wanted to take her to the meadows, but they do not race horses on Saturday afternoons, hence our trip to Wheeling. Maybe some Friday evening in the future will consist of us taking an evening and enjoying a little bit of harness racing at it's finest.

Hayley has finally taken her GED yesterday, judging by her pre-tests she should have passed with flying colors. We're both glad she finally has this behind her. She really is a very bright young girl, she was just bored in High School and tended to skip a great deal. She had no problem with any classes that she wanted to do, she would just get bored and sidetracked a little bit, like I said she is very intelligent.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit early on a Saturday morning, I would say that it's a quiet household but Michelle is up drinking coffee already. We are going to take Hayley across town this morning, so Michelle is up at at em rather early. I think she's about halfway through her first cup of coffee and about 90% awake now.

She is in an office pool at work today for todays running of the Kentucky Derby. All I have to say is I hope the favorite Union Rags wins this and she will enjoy a little bit of a financial windfall from her office pool.

We tried a new Restaurant yesterday for dinner, Don Patron in the pierpont plaza was one that we thought we would try. I have to say it may be the best Mexican restaurant that I've even in in Morgantown.

Happy Cinco De Mayo

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.

To start this off I have to say that Blogger has finally fixed and repaired the schedule so your blog posts when you want it to post. Since they had switched the back end, it was a feature that was not only not working, but caused me a little bit of frustration in the process. It started working on May 1st, maybe they were just transitioning everything before the final commitment. I have to say that I am one happy camper that it's now working. Now I can start getting ready for blogs when we are on vacation in the Bahamas.

The weather appears to finally start looking like spring for once. Maybe it's time we start setting up the 2012 garden this weekend, since graduation is next weekend.

Speaking of Graduation, today is the last day of finals at WVU. I thought it was dead week, but that was last week. I think you will slowly see the population of Morgantown greatly diminish over the next few hours as many students will be packing up, if they haven't already, and heading back home for the summer. We should be able to drive around town, go to Restaurants and everything else without having to deal with a crowded city. !!!

Congratulations to all students who will be graduating this year, and for the underclassmen, breath a sigh of relief and relax a little bit. You have another semester of college under your belts and are just that much closer to your own commencement.

Lifting and Cardio day, hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

It's once again that time of the week when I take a little bit of time out to look back through all of my digital photos that I have collected through the years and select just one special image to write a little blog about. Sometimes it's very easy and sometimes it's a challenge to find something, but it is always both fun and enjoyable.

This weeks picture comes from a number of years ago, that is my Sister Terri's baby shower for her oldest daughter Val. Val was there but she was hidden under Terri's blouse, prior to us being blessed with her presence. Knowing how old Val is (21) and using a complex mathematical formula only know to me I estimate that this photo was taken around November of 1983.

They held the shower at the old A&H Tavern, a local watering whole owned by Val's grandmother and grandfather Clyde and Petie Hamrick. It was a location that was a pretty popular hangout among a lot of guys I played football with, as the drinking age back then was 18 in West Virginia and they were just starting to use picture ID's for drivers licenses.

I can even remember what I bought, I wanted to buy my niece her first pair of Nike Tennis Shoes, I wanted he to be styling and profiling when she first arrived.

As the ladies had a baby shower, me and the Sperm donor went out for Pizza to stay out of their hair.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's two days down once again this week, if you look just over on the other side of the Photo flashback, you can see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance.

Do you believe the weather we are having? I have to say that yesterday morning that the gym was humid as can be due to the rain and I only did a couple of miles instead of my normal routine. I was soaked from head to toe and dripping sweat, more so than normal so I decided to take it easy yesterday. It wasn't just me, everyone in the gym noticed it was just very humid in there for some reason.

We should be getting a visitor sometime today. Michelle's Mom is making the trek here from Alliquippa. She has a dog that she wants to find a home for and Michelle has actually found a couple homes for the puppy. No it's not coming here, but Michael and Ashley have expressed interest in it and one of Michelle's co-workers has also said she would like to get it for her son.

Did anyone remember that yesterday was the one year anniversary of when our military put a bullet or two in Osama Bin Laden's head and removed life from his useless body? =)

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now in our rear view mirrors and we are looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't for the life of me think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,509 magical days since mine and Michelle's first date a little over four years ago, and we're still going strong.

* 732 days ago I got down on one knee in our backyard and proposed marriage.

* 269 days ago in front of our friends and family, we tied the knot at the Marilla Center and enjoyed a wonderful feast afterwards.

* There are only 238 more shopping days until Christmas, start planning accordingly.

* In 131 more days, Michelle and I set sail from Baltimore and we are heading to the Bahama's. WOO HOO, It's getting closer!!!!!

* Blogger still does not have the feature when I schedule a blog to post working, I'm still having to go in manually and make it post.

* This could be a royal pain in the butt, especially during the week of our cruise when I wanted to pre-write a weeks worth of blogs and have them post corresponding to the date and place we will be visiting.

* Michelle's dad has finally moved into the 21st century, he eliminated his land line at the office and has finally bought not only a cell Phone, but an iPhone.

* I have to love this weather, now it's time to get outside a little bit as the weather is going to be nice this week.

 * It's a cardio day so

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately that includes those things we love so much referred to as weekends. So it's time to take our noses and stick them back on the grindstone for another 40 hour work week so we can bring home that stuff that allows us to do the things we love to do.

I have been battling a little bit of sickness all weekend, nothing that would keep me down or prevent me from doing anything, but I just haven't felt 100% all weekend. Hopefully as the day wears on I feel better and am back to my normal self.

It was all quiet here yesterday, Chad's in Cleveland, haven't seen Laiah since she and Chad headed north and Hayley worked and ran was running around with her boyfriend Manny who she has been staying with since about Christmas. To say the household was quiet was an understatement.

It's a lifting and cardio day, so...

Hi hi hi ho

Sunday Morning

Here I am once again in a quiet household collecting my thoughts. It's just me and Michelle as Chad left for Cleveland yesterday afternoon. I'm up and watching the movie Quiz Show and just passing the time until the Tom Hanks movie Larry Crowne starts again in a few minutes. I fell asleep trying to watch it last night as I was starting to feel a little bit under the weather.

Normal day planned for us, doing our grocery shopping early and that'll probably be the highlight of our day. Yesterday we went and bought Michelle a new dress so she can wear it to her Niece Amanda's graduation from WVU coming up on May 13th. I'm still waiting to hear about one other graduation a little bit West of here.

Afterwards we stopped down at my Brother in Law ans Sister in Law's new store they just recently opened up. It's right across the Westover bridge on the Morgantown side where Bob Clay Investigations used to be. There has been some remodeling going on where Jim holds his auctions, so he has opened up a store downtown.

Do you believe that it was actually spitting snow yesterday?

Have a great one today.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household with everyone fighting a losing battle with the sandman other than me. I'm sitting here watching Big Stan on the Boob Tube and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Michelle wants to head over to a couple friends of ours today, she bought a Fondue Pot from one of them and she wants to run over and pick it up early this morning. Something tells me that Fondue may just be on our agenda sometime today or this weekend.

Chad is scheduled to head back to Cleveland to work. This has been an on going and off going issue since right before Thanksgiving. I think he will be heading north sometime today, but I'm not 100% sure on that one. He's made multiple week long trips for this contract ans something always seems to get frustrating with it all the time.

Que the coffee pot, Michelle is up and going.

Have a great day.

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

I have to say this has been a pretty quick week for me, hopefully the weekend slows down a little bit and seems slow, but that will never happen. I fought off an early week illness and never missed a beat this week. So, I deserve a nice relaxing weekend and Michelle does too.

Speaking of Michelle, she has a follow up appointment today to visit her Doctor from when she broke her foot last fall. All seems well and she has been using the elliptical and working out, so I imagine she will get a two thumbs up this afternoon.

Did anyone watch the NFL Draft last night, it had a little bit of a Morgantown flavor with the first pick. Andrew Luck from Stanford was the first pick, he is the son of WVU Athletic Director and former WVU Quarterback Oliver Luck. The Luck's all live in Morgantown with the exception of Andrew who looks like he will now be making his home in Indianapolis.WVU Linebacker Bruce Irvin went to Seattle in the First Round at the 15th pick. He's the first first rounder WVU has had selected since Pac Man Jones. went as the #6 pick.

Lifting and cardio day, so hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look back through all of my older pictures and select just one and tell a little bit of a story about. Sometimes this is very easy, sometimes it's very hard, but it is always enjoyable.

This weeks photo actually comes from a few years ago. When I was getting ready to leave IMCWV and getting ready to start working for SAIC at NETL. I had to run to Uniontown and take my drug test, which I obviously passed, and on my way back I decided to drive through Masontown PA to see if a restaurant that I used to love to go to was still there.

Dolphi's was always a place I loved to eat. They used to have an all you can eat land and seafood buffet on Saturday nights and I traveled up there numerous times to feast on all the seafood I could possibly eat in as much time as my stomach would allow me to consume.

It was always fairly well priced and the food was always awesome. The owners later sold the restaurant and started Back Bay here in Morgantown, but the people who bought it still keep it open and running. I've heard the food is still good, but with the population explosion in Morgantown in the times since then, there are other options that we do instead of traveling to Masontown. At one time though, many people from Morgantown would make that trip on Friday night.

If you follow the link at the end of this post, it will bring you up to a map to Dolphi's location.

It's a cardio day, so hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's Monday that's completed, Tuesday is completed, that means if you just look up over the noon time hum and just on the other side of a Photo Flashback you can see the dawn of another weekend off in the horizon.

I came home from work yesterday afternoon and Michelle was feeling a little bit under the weather, she went home and rested. Hopefully she is feeling better today as I had it Monday and just slept it off on Monday night and was fine by yesterday morning.

My niece Valarie has set a date for Erica and Josh's birthday party later this summer. Looks like I am going to be having a busy week in late June with this party, a Buffet Concert and probably a Rosiak 4th of July party.

It's a cardio and a lifting day for me today, thee are my longer days that I spend in the gym.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again in our rear view mirrors and we are looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, can't for the life of me think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,502 marvelous days since Michelle and I had our first date a little over four years ago. A magical night of Pizza Hut, a horrible movie and the start of the rest of my life.

* It's been 725 days since I got down on one knee in the back yard and proposed marriage.

* 262 days ago we partied at the Marilla Center as we said our marital vows.

* There are 245 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* We set sail on our cruise in 138 days.

* We have 66 more days until we head up north for our annual treck to Margaritaville and see Jimmy Buffet.

* I have to say that Blogger has made some back end changes that is really messing me up. I like to write my blogs the night before and then have them post at 4:00 AM the next morning. Since they have switched to this new system, nothing I am setting up to post is posting when it needs to post. If you read my blog early morning and it hasn't posted, give me a yell and remind me to post the blog. It's not me it's Blogger.

* It's a cardio day for me, the whey protein really made a difference yesterday, today it's all cardio. My guess judging by the weather is it will be inside on a treadmill as opposed to outside on our trail.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday Morning

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately that includes weekends. So it's time to get up and stick our noses back on the grindstone once again so we can continue to enjoy the lifestyles we have become accustomed to.

They are calling for a big snow storm in the area that was supposed to start last night and is supposed to go into tomorrow morning. I think I have stated my opinion on more than one occasion for snow, but if you are going to get a snow storm this is the way to get it. Where the temperatures will be too high for it to be around too long.

Ironically this is the start of the BOPARC Softball Season. For the second year in a row I have decided to remain in the ranks of the retired. I did have some options this season, but the boys of summer that I became so accustomed to playing with have all moved on or away. I miss the guys, but my rotater cuff has been goner and has been giving me troubles for months. I attribute it to all the years of throwing a softball through the summer. My arm did increase velocity through the years and I guess that took a toll on it. I halfway miss playing, but the last couple of seasons I did play were a couple seasons too many. The heart, desire and drive had faded over the past few years, I became too complacent and maybe that was the first sign that it was just time. Still miss it however.

It's a lifting and a cardio day for me today. I ended up purchasing a good amount of whey protein this weekend. I had started eating protein bars recently and they were really helping, so I am now starting to use dietary supplements to assist in my training. I feel much better and have been spending 7 1/2 hours a week in the gym since we got back from our honeymoon last August. I've developed an exit strategy to get off most if not all of my diabetic meds and should be exiting the actos that I take by the next time I visit my Doctor in June. My A1C was in the normal range last time and I'm eating whatever I want, so I must be doing something right.

Hi ho hi ho

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, the sandman has attacked everyone but me and I'm up watching the Green Lantern on HBO and collecting my thoughts. For some reason I turned the AX on last night and I have to say that I'm a little bit chilli this morning writing this.

Lot's of things going on around Morgantown yesterday including a murder at Wal-Mart on the 4H camp road yesterday morning. It was a domestic dispute between the victim and her estranged husbands father and something to do with Child Protective services. It was a motivated killed with a specific target, after the shots were fired the gunman put his gun back in the car and complied with all who subdued him until the authorities arrived. We were at Sam's Club on the other side of town when the shooting took place.

The Mountaineers played their annual spring game yesterday. Cold and rainy weather kept most people including me away this year. I've heard estimates of 10,000 people showing up and read where someone said it was 9,045 people. Both numbers are well below half the attendance of last years game, I think this can easily be attributed to the bad weather. The Old timers game that was scheduled to be played was even canceled due to the weather.

Overall the Defense won this scrimmage. I have no worries about the offense considering the last time they officially hit the field they hung 70 points on a favorite Clemson team in the Orange Bowl. The concern was the defense after the staff left. I like what I saw, the defenders were aggressive, hitting hard and doing something that we haven't done in a number of years and that was swarm tackle. Sometimes it takes more than one guy to bring a player down and they can break the tackle. In the past we had players who wanted to blow a player up and were too worried about making the highlight reel, now it seems like they are more team focused. Don't get me wrong, Jeff Casteel was a great Defensive Coordinator, I just see a different demeanor out there among the players.

Would you believe that the NWS are calling for snow tomorrow morning? Seriously we had the mildest winter I can ever remember, I don't want to see a late April snow fall.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household where everyone else is sleeping soundly except me at this hour. I just got done watching the end of My Cousin Vinny on HBO.

Weather permitting today, I would love to go over to the Stadium and watch the Spring Game today. It'll be our first opportunity to get a look at the 2012 Mountaineer Football team after winning the Orange Bowl this January. There are a number of changes this Spring, most notably the change on the coaching staff where long time Defensive Coordinator and a couple assistants headed out west to Arizona to join Rich Rodriguez. Coach Holgorsen has brought in a new group of defensive coaches and we'll have to wait and see how this all turns out. I would imagine the 3-3-5 scheme that the Mountaineers have used for the last decade may be shelved for a more conventional defense.

My brother in law Jim will be holding an Auction Today at the Greer Building behind Big Lots in Westover this afternoon at 1:00. Chad will be helping out with the auction and spent all day yesterday helping Jim set up. He has a number of items that will be auctioned off, so if you are looking for something to do, this could be it.

Have a great day and try to stay dry today.

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 Good Friday.

If you are looking for a little bit of that gridiron action, this is that weekend you can see it. Tomorrow at 6:00 at Milan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field the Spring Game will be played. This is the annual Spring event where you work out tweaks in the offense and see who to watch for in the fall. We're planning on attending, weather permitting, but if not it is available on ESPN3.

We really have nothing planned for this evening, we do need to head out to JB Robinsons some time this weekend, we've been putting that off for a while and just haven't gotten around to it.

Lifting and cardio day, so hi ho hi ho

I Hate the New Blogger Backside

I know many of you will never see the back end of BLOGGER unless of course you are a BLOGGER. This is the place where those of us edit our posts and submit the content. I've been using BLOGGER since 2004 and have grown accustomed to how things worked over the past eight years.

Not too long ago they introduced a new back end. I tried it out for a little while but saw it as very user non-friendly and a hassle to use so I switched back to what I have grown accustomed to.

As many of you know I write my blogs the evening before with the exception of the weekend blogs and I schedule them to post at the same time the next morning during the week. Been doing this for years on my daily blogs. Over the last couple of days the feature has not been working and I have had to go in manually and post my posts.

This morning I logged in to force the post to an unpleasant surprise of a very user unfriendly and confusing back end to the BLOG. To say that I hate it would be an understatement.