And So It begins

Today is the day that we all stick out collective noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of work. For me however I'll be pulling double duty and won't have any real time to collect my breath until after I come back from North Carolina late next week.

This week I'll be putting in long days at NETL to get my billable hours in by Wednesday Evening and then I'll be flying out of Morgantown early Thursday Morning to head to North Carolina for 7 days of intense training with RTI / Headway to get certified, get my HSPD-12 Badge through them and pick up all of my equipment and supplies. First, I need to make my very last appearance for TNG this morning and then I am officially finished with them. So I am going to have a very busy stretch to say the least.

Starting Thursday and for the next week, my regularly scheduled blogs will not be posting and I have posted a series of blogs while I am away. I may live blog once or twice while I'm down there, but I'm making sure that something goes up each day.

Have yourselves a Great Day today and make the very most of it.

Hi ho hi ho

Spring Foreward

Well here I sit, I was up at 1:59 AM and the next thing I know is the clock said 3:00. I think we have even tricked the animals as they are not up yet.

Anyways, if you did not set your non automatic clocks ahead an hour last night before going to bed, you're probably realizing the time just jumped ahead and hour and we lost an hour of sleep.

It is the start of Daylight Savings time which means all of our internal clocks are going to be screwed up for a few days as we adjust to the time change. It also means it is going to start getting dark later and later in the evening and the sun will come up a little bit later in the morning as our days will continue to get longer for the next three months. IOW it's starting to turn into my favorite time of the year.

No big plans for Michelle and I today, grocery shopping, probably mix in a nap as our bodies adjust and probably watching the NCAA March Madness selection show and preparing to fill out our brackets for the office pools.

We are through 11 of the 13 episodes this season of House of Cards and will probably finish up the season with the final two of the year today.

Have yourselves a great day and take a nap today.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit yet once again, only me and Phin are up and we are watching Super Troopers on HBO and collecting our thoughts for the day. I haven't fed her yet, but she'll let me know when she is getting hungry.

Michelle, Laiah and Hayley are all heading to Monaca for the day for her Niece Laura's Baby Sprinkle. They were going to stop by the airport to pick up Jon, but he drove home from New Jersey a couple of nights ago so there is no need to do that.

My plans for the day are pretty much WVU Sports related. The WVU Baseball team will play Old Dominion at the Mountaineer Ballpark. I'm thinking about heading over and catching that game. Yesterday's game was pretty much won on a suicide squeeze play and was a very exciting game.

Last night the WVU Men's Basketball team won one of the most exciting games in a long time. The Mountaineers beat #6 Oklahoma 69-67 in one of the most exciting finishes ever to advance to this evening's Big XII Championship game against #1 Kansas.

Last night the Mountaineers held Buddy Hield, the NCAA Player of the year about 20 points below his average in beating the Sooners, but Hield made it exciting as he hit a half court 3 point shot at what appeared to be the end of the game. However referees reviewed the shot and determined that when the clock officially hit 0:00.0 the ball was still in his hand and the shot was too late and did not count. If the clock was started a fraction of a second an 1/10th of 1 second would have been more than ample time, the shot would have been good.

Have yourselves a great day, Phin is telling me something now...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.

Oh what to do what to do. Michelle is leaving early tomorrow morning to head back to Monaca for a Baby Sprinkle. She's taking Laiah and Hayley with her and even picking up Jon (her nephew) at the Airport on her way up. Hopefully she has a good day, as for me I will be staying around Morgantown for the day to get a few chores done and to start preparing for this upcoming weeks trip to North Carolina.

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, the Mountaineer Baseball team opens their home slate for the season against Old Dominion. ODU has some pretty good pitching, so we are going to have our hands full the entire weekend. I'm thinking about going to tomorrows game and cheering on the home town Mountaineers.

Today is my next to last day working for TNG, it's my last long day with them if I can make it up there as I have a couple meeting scheduled today at NETL and one this morning with RTI about next weeks training. I do have to go in one more time on Monday for TNG, but that will end my employment with them as I move on from that job. This could be a very long day for me, but it will be the last one like this.

I hope everyone has a great day today and makes the absolute most of it.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to look through my 30,000+ images that I have either taken with a camera, scanned or just stolen from someplace on the internet. Little lost moments of time that I like to post up and briefly relive here. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes you do in fact struggle, but it's always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture is going to be one that I am going to have a little bit of difficulty placing an actual time frame on, my guess is either the late 1970's or the early 1980's judging by everyone's age and the background. My brother Gary and sister Pam are sitting with our cousin Sherry who is on Pam's lap. I can see Gary is trying to be the comedian in the back by giving Sherry Bunny ears...lol

Not very sure of the background of this picture because it doesn't seem like I am around. I don't know if it was a special event or a holiday or just a visit from Mickey, Patty and Sherry.

This was an image that I had scanned a few years ago, when Jean gave me all of her pictures to convert into digital format.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well a couple of days behind us, a couple of days ahead of us, that means we are at the mid point of the traditional workweek and just need to get up and over this noon time hump to be heading downhill towards another fun filled weekend.

Looking ahead toward this weekend, Michelle, Laiah and Hayley are all headed up north this Saturday for a Baby Sprinkle as they call it now. They will be heading out early Saturday Morning and heading to Monaca, PA. I guess after the first child it is no longer a baby shower and they call it a sprinkle. Michelle's niece Laura is due to have her second child here in the very near future and this is her shower to prepare for the baby.

With Michelle gone, I'll be at the home front preparing for next weeks trip and training and probably writing a number of blogs to cover the time that I will be gone. Probably starting to pack and reviewing some of the material that we will be going over during the week of training that I will be in North Carolina.

One thing I think everyone needs to do right now is get out and enjoy this beautiful weather. They are calling for the temps to be in the 80's, that is awesome outdoor weather. I think it's about time for Michelle and I to head to Ohiopyle in the very near future...lol

Have yourselves a great day today and make the most of it.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* There have been 19,091 days since my birth, using my 909 calendar that makes me about 21 years old by my calculations.

* There have been 4,314 days since I graduated from West Virginia University, a lifelong dream of mine that I did complete after a late start in life.

* It was 2,915 days ago, or 8 years ago from next Tuesday, that Michelle and I had our very first date. 10,000 BC and Pizza Hut.

* It was 2,139 days ago that Michelle and I became engaged. The second best decision that I have ever made in my life.

* 1,676 days ago in front of our closest friends and family Michelle and I got hitched then we all feasted. THIS is the best decision that I have ever made in my life.

* I have around 5,746 days or so to go until retirement, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* There are 2,385 days until the Backyard Brawl of WVU vs Pitt in football is renewed, we're kicking some Panther ass too.

* Phil takes center stage once again in 331 more days when we once again celebrate Ground Hogs Day. I need to send him a bottle of wine or something so that he doesn't think I don't appreciate this years nice weather.

* I have 298 more days of content to write this year before my Goodbye 2016 blog will be posted.

* There are still 292 shopping days left to go until Christmas, if you haven't started you still have plenty of time. WalMart hasn't put their Christmas stuff out for display just yet.

* I have 268 more days to go until the next anniversary of my 21st Birthday

* The Springs Festival is where Michelle and I will be in 214 days from now.

* We will set sail on our 2016 cruise in just another 187 more days. We will once again be leaving out of Baltimore.

* The Parrot Heads will all be reuniting in Pittsburgh in 168  more days as we will all party in preparation of seeing Jimmy Buffett once again in concert.

* There are only 151 more days to go until mine and Michelle's Fifth Wedding Anniversary.

* There are only 117 more days to go until the Third Annual Friends and Family Picnic at Krepps Park. I'm very happy that we can once again make this event happen again, hopefully we will be blessed with better weather than last summer.

* There are only 12 more days to go until my favorite season of the year, Spring begins.

* I have written 4,390 blogs since I started writing George's Journal clear back in September of 2004.

* Nothing new on the Hall Family Tree this week, still 334 members in the database and with nice weather coming up it looks like I am done with this until the fall.

* Still a dead end on the brother search, nothing new to report. Something tells me that this is going to be a standing status unless some miracle happens.

* Wishes to my brother in law George as he recovers from gall bladder surgery yesterday. Hoping he has a speedy recovery.

* I really need to start writing blogs for when I travel next week. I'll be in the classroom or the lab all day long and won't have time to write anything.

* Just a clarification for everyone, I am NOT leaving my current position at the Department of Energy, this new job will be a supplemental income as I prepare to get my own business off the ground and running. I am still a GIS Analyst for Sextant and have no plans of leaving there unless something happens with the next site support contract and we are not teamed with the winning team. Then I would just most likely just switch companies. 

* As I just typed that I got a call from a head hunter about a job in Canonsburg, talk about irony. For the record, I get a lot of contact from Head Hunters about jobs in my field. This month alone that was my 9th contact from a Head Hunter about some geospatial job, I just thought it was funny that I was typing the above point as I got the call.

* This season of House of Cards is phenomenal, very captivating to say the very least.

* Have yourselves a great day and make the most of it.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to the Grindstone Monday

Well that thing we love to refer to as the weekend is now over with, now it;s time to stick our collective noses back on the Grindstone for another fun filled week of doing what it is we do for a living.

Our country lost a great former First Lady yesterday when it was announced that Nancy Reagan had passed away at the young age of 94. I was a big fan of her husbands Presidency and her efforts as First Lady of the United States. Historically speaking she will go down in my honest opinion as one of our nations greatest first ladies.

On to the week ahead, it's just going to be a normal week for both Michelle and I. Nothing really planned outside of our normal week of working. She will be traveling home this coming Saturday for a Baby Sprinkle as they call it after the first child. I'll have to find something to get myself into next weekend...lol

One thing I could do is start planning for my next trip coming up next week by pre-writing about 8 or 9 blogs to cover the time period I will be away. I'll basically either be in class or labs for the entire time, so there is not going to be much time to put much effort into writing blogs. It's going to be an intense week from the time I land until the time I get on a plane to come home.

Have yourselves a great day and week.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit in a much quieter household, Rocky and Lilly have returned home and Fin and Sophie are once again ruling the pet household. I'm the first one to recover from that losing battle with that dreaded Sandman last night and I'm up watching Superbad and collecting my thoughts for the day.

One thing that I have been thinking about this weekend is that we are not too far from being invaded by the Cicadas. They were here in during the summer of 1982 and then again in the summer of 1999, they have 17 year cycles and the eggs that were laid in 1999 are about to come up out of the ground, take wings and be a sheer annoyance to anyone and everyone for a month or two. I remember the last time they were here I was driving a potato chip route for Mister Bee, when I would drive around the area all I would here was ping, ping, PING, PING, ping, PING, PING, PING, ping, ping which was the constant sounds of the cicadas bouncing off my bulkhead as I drove down the road.

Normal routine today of grocery shopping and the household chores before returning to work for the week. Nothing too heavy on the schedule for the week other than a couple of meetings for 2 of my 3 jobs that I currently hold. That list will diminish next week as I complete my employment with TNG and move forward.

A couple of things I am throwing out there for family get togethers is getting pretty good receptions. One was a good old fashioned kick ball game and the other is a gun shoot. Where everyone brings their guns and we have a family shooting day where the more experienced firearm owners can assist others in understanding everything from safety, to properly handling of the firearm to cleaning and maintenance of the firearms. Cicadas would make nice targets...lol

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, I would say I'm the only one up but Rocky is running around here somewhere and I'm sure the Cats are conspiring to do a full frontal attack on the canines sometime today, I just don't trust those sneaky girls.

No plans for us today, I would like to get over to the Funeral Home briefly this morning to pay my final respects to Andy Tennant, who passed away earlier this week after a courageous 4 year battle with Cancer. I have many fond memories of the Ish-Man as those of us who knew him from an old online chat room, little did I know he and my dad were great friends and worked together. Your charm and wit will be missed Ish.

Other than that the Mountaineer Men's Basketball team finishes out the regular season this afternoon at Baylor. Baylor has had our number the past couple of years, but we managed to beat them earlier this year in Morgantown. We'll have to wait and see how it all turns out today.

If you are looking for something to do today, there is the WV Hunting, Fishing and Outdoor Sports show at Mylan Park. Admission is $7.00 for anyone wanting to attend.

Have yourselves a superfantabulous Saturday!!!

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.

No immediate plans for this weekend, we are still puppy sitting and Michelle is not quite yet 100% back to her old self, so we are probably going to take it easy this weekend around the house and not cause her to over exert herself. She has been carrying a big load at work the past few months and could use the extra rest.

House of Cards Season 4 stars today on Netflix so something tells me there will be a little binge watching over the next week or so. It's one of the few Netflix series that we both love and enjoy, Orange is the New Black is the other one that we binge watch and really enjoy.

I'll be heading out to my part time job today as all my billable hours are exhausted this week at my regular job. Next Friday will be my last week to work for TNG as a merchandiser and the following monday will be my last survey to fill out. I got all of my materials and passed the open book test for RTI/Headway and my flight is booked already for the middle of the month to go to training for that job.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look back through all the pictures that I have either captured with a lens, scanned or just stolen from some place on the internet. Little lost moments in time to post up and reflect upon right here. Sometimes this is a pretty trying task and sometimes the right picture just comes naturally, one thing it always is however is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture is quiet special to me, it was one of the earliest pictures (not the first) ever taken of my future wife and myself. Michelle and I had only been going out a little over a month at this point. Michelle, Hayley and I all decided to get into my Rodeo and head up to Ohiopyle, as this Michelle had never been there before.

This is a picture that Hayley actually took of Michelle and I on the top deck by the large waterfall at Ohiopyle. We were just about getting ready to go look for a Geocache way back in the woods, but first we took a little bit of time out to enjoy the scenery of the day and the beauty that is Ohiopyle. I showed them a number of places there including the natural water slide (see picture at end of blog). It was a great day, a very memorable one to say the least.

As we were leaving I remember treating them to dinner at Pizza Hut on rt 40.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Hi ho hi ho

RIP Ish-Man

I received some very sad news this afternoon, one of my Dad's best friends has passed away.

Andy Tennant, Ish-Man for those of us who know him online as well as in person, decided that he and my Dad needed to drink a few beers today so he has joined him on the other side.

Andy was an avid Mountaineer fan, I always used to see him at games and tailgates and I will never forget watching the 1998 Insight.com Bowl when we lost to Missouri. My dad was hilarious and to a point that I can't use the language he was using then here...lol

One thing Andy told me that I will never forget. It was at a tailgate when I was in college and working at Recourse. He told me "If I knew I would have lasted this long I would have taken better care of myself." Of course that was 15 years ago and no disrespect to him or anyone who may be reading this, it's just something I have repeated a number of times and always attributed that statement to Andy.

RIP Andy, have a few beers with my Dad.

Hump Day

Well that is two days down, now all we have to do is get up and over this noon time hump and it will be all downhill as we work towards another fun filled weekend coming up.

I just realized we are about a week and a half away from Daylight Savings time, when we will have more sunlight in the evenings and the days will be getting not only longer, but warmer as well. I think we really are on the back end of Winter and getting ready to enter my favorite time of the year.

The WVU Baseball team lost a 7-4 exhibition game against the Major League Arizona Diamondbacks this past weekend. I'm sure that they are not going to let that bother them as they are on their way for a 4 game series against the University of Hawaii this weekend. The Mountaineers are 5-1 on the season so far and actually open up their home slate next weekend against Old Dominion.

The WVU Men's Basketball teams have re-entered the top 10 in both the AP (10) and the Coaches Poll (9). They have spent more time in the top 10 this season than they have spent out of it. Being that we are now getting into March, it's about to get very exciting here in the next month or so as everyone will by vying for tournament position to try to advance to Houston to the Final 4. I've got a real good feeling about his years team.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well we made it through a Leap Day Monday and are either at February 30th or March 1st, depending on what calendar you like to pay attention to. It's Tuesday, that means a tidbits.

* It was just 19,084 days ago that I was born, using my 908 day calendar that puts me at officially 21 years old.

* 4,307 days ago I fulfilled a lifetime dream as I graduated from West Virginia University. My niece Brittany took the same walk last May, now the question is going to be who will be the next family member to take that walk.

* My life changed for the better forever 2,908 days ago as I took a wonderful woman out for a our first date.

* It was 2,132 days ago that I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle.

* She obviously said yes as 1,669 days ago in front of our closest friends and family we had our wedding at the Marilla Center.

* I have around 5,753 days or so to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* There are but a mere 2,391 more days until the Backyard Brawl is once again played and we get to kick Pitt's butt in Football yet once again.

* There are only 338 more days to go until Ground Hogs Day, when Phil will once again promise an early spring.

* There are only 305 more days to go until my Goodbye 2016 blog, reflecting my past year through what was written in my blog will appear.

* There are only 299 more shopping days left to go until Christmas, you still have plenty of time. Easter on the other hand is just right around the corner.

* There are just 275 more days to go until the next anniversary of my 21st Birthday.

* We missed it last year, but plan on going to the Springs Festival in just another 221 more days.

* There are 194 more days to go until we set sail on our 2016 Cruise.

* There are but 175 more days to go until we gather in Pittsburgh to once again see Jimmy Buffett in concert.

* There are only 158 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Fifth Wedding Anniversary together.

* 124 Third Annual Friends and Family Picnic.

* There are only 19 more days to go of my least favorite season of the year and only 19 days to go until my favorite season of the year, Spring!!!!!!!!

* This is my 4,382nd blog that I have written in the 11 1/2 years that I have been writing my daily journal. I wonder if I can convince Google to pay me a couple bucks for every keystroke...lol

* Nothing new on the brother search.

* The Hall Family Tree is still at 334 members in the database and I did not do any work on it this past week. Something tells me other than a few obvious finds and with Spring coming upn I am done with it until the fall.

* I think everyone had a great time bowling this weekend, it was nice to see so many people show up and have a great time. I know Amy wants to do an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids in March, some other ideas for get togethers are things like the 5K Run Walk, a kickball game, with so many firearm owners in the family, maybe a get together and day of shooting somewhere. Allow some of the experts to work with some of the novices and give everyone a chance to play with a wide array of hand guns.

* I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this here before, but I Hate Snow.

* I have officially given my two weeks notice to stop working for TNG. March 14th will be my last day as a representative for them. I will fly out for training for RTI/Headway so I can contract out on a Government contract through the NSDUH just after that date.

* Michelle was off work yesterday still recovering from her surgery, she is getting better day by day.

* Have yourselves a great day today, and make the very most of it.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work

Well all good things must come to an end, and that includes the fun filled things that we all call weekends. Now it's time to stick our collective noses back on the grindstone and start on another work week.

Yesterday however we did have a family bowling event that went pretty well. I think everyone had a great time and I think Calvin ended up with the highest game of anyone there with a 151 in his last game, but I could be wrong about that. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, it's a good thing we went when we did because the bowling alley got crowded. Hayley and Josh showed up layer, but had to wait until we left to get a lane.

Michelle is still having a rough go at it from her surgery, I advised her yesterday to take today off as she was still hurting, something tells me she just might do that as she was not feeling very well at all. She has been an absolute trooper though in going grocery shopping yesterday with me as well as sitting and watching me bowl. She was our photographer yesterday.

Oh well, now it's time to head back to the office after being out pretty much all last week for the Conference.

Hi ho hi ho

Let's Go Gowling

Here I sit in a quiet household this morning, we have a couple of house guests for a while as Rocky and Lilly are here visiting us for a while as Mommy enjoys a European vacation. I'm up early watching something or another on  HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

One of my new years resolutions and pretty much the theme for 2016 is spending more time with family. Family is a very important thing to both Michelle and I, so today we're going to have a little bit of a get together and fun as everyone is going to go and have a little old fashioned fun by going bowling this afternoon at Suburban Lanes.

I think we are going to have a pretty good turnout today and I will be bringing my camera along with me. It'll also be a good day to possibly discuss the Friends and Family Picnic coming up July 3rd this summer.

Bowling is an event that I think can be enjoyed by all, we will have all skill levels there including a few beginners all the way up to someone with multiple 300 game under his belt in my brother in law Robert. There can be friendly competitions or just taking a little bit of time to watch others and see how they are doing.

I was thinking something else we could do when the weather gets nicer and if we can get enough participants is maybe a family kickball game. Draft up a couple of teams and go find a field and have a little bit of fun.

Of course this summer we can all target possibly an event where running or walking is the objective and all participate. I think I would start with the 5K walk as would many members from my side of the family, I know Michelle's sister and that side of the family runs a number of events every year. I think it would be great for everyones health to train for one even us walkers, as well as support some of the people who want to compete on the running side. These are just a couple of ideas in the near future that we can all think about doing.

Have yourselves a great day, we intend to.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Well I sit again in a quiet household, Phin and I are up and everyone else is sleeping. I'm collecting my thoughts for the day and writing my first blog in a while as all of them this past week were written last weekend.

I can't say it wasn't an eventful week, I did have a few OMG moments. The first was seeing the technology that is now being done with drones and creating 3D Models. Professionally the last time I was this awestruck was when I saw Google Earth for the very first time.

Thursday I had a my all time professional high before the days festivities started, I saw Jack Dangermond getting out of a cab so I walked over and introduced myself and had a moment that will forever be embedded into my head to speak with the man who my profession. In the GIS world. this is God so to speak and I had the opportunity to meet him. I was ecstatic.

From that high I had to call Michelle and then I hit the low for the week. I could tell something was wrong, and came to find out that her partner in Crime at work as they call themselves had just lost her 42 year old husband to a long, very hard fought and very valiant battle with cancer. Lydia is 37 years old, the same age Michelle was when she became a widow, so this was a very hard thing for Michelle. Our plans for today is to be with Lydia and her family as they lay Joe to his final resting place.

Yesterday Michelle had to be at the hospital at 5:00 for a surgery. I left washing DC around midnight on a couple of hours of sleep to drive about 4 hours through the snow in the middle of the night to avoid the heavy DC traffic around the beltway and all roads leading into and out of DC to surprise her and be with her when she had her surgery. She has lost so much weight that there is no layer of fat around her diaphragm and a bone was catching and snagging that she had to have it filed down. I made it back to take her to the hospital at 5:00 AM and be with her, I kind of surprised her that I was here as she did not expect me till after the surgery. She is resting and doing fine, but she is still in a great deal of pain. She's a trooper and will recover quickly.

I can't say that the past 48 hours haven't been very eventful for me because my life was eventful on steroids for that period of time. By last night I was just exhausted and crashed and fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. I slept straight through until about the time I normally get up.

I'm up and rested and ready for the challenges of a new day.

Have yourselves a great day and enjoy yourselves.

Big Ole Hairy Take Me Home Country Roads 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 Take Me Home Country Roads kind of Friday.

I am going to try to be awake and well on the road by the time this blog posts. I've had a great time at the Conference and rather than trying to head back last night after a long day went and got a few hours of sleep and will be heading home in the wee early hours of the morning to avoid the rush hour around the DC beltway. Hopefully by the time this is posting I will be a good portion of the way home already and well past all that heavy traffic.

Hopefully I can get into town very early and return the federal car (Dodge Dart) and pick mine back up at work and get home. I still have to go in and work for TNG later this morning, so saying that this is going to be a very long day for me is going to be an understatement.

Have yourselves a great day today and thanks to Chad for being with Michelle when I couldn't, much appreciated.

I'm coming home!!!!!

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look through my 30,000+ lost moments in time that I have either captured with a lens, scanned or just stolen from some place on the internet. I like to post up one picture and relive it briefly for everyone. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task like todays and sometimes it is a struggle to find that special picture, one this it always is is a whole lot of fun for this writer.

This weeks picture goes back a couple of years, Michelle and I headed to Washington DC to see if we could catch the Cherry Blossoms take bloom. We went down in 2013 around the same time period, however we had no luck. In 2014 when this picture was taken we hit it just right at the peak period.

This is a picture of my standing by the Tidal Basin and getting my picture taken. Right now ironically as this picture posts, I am not too far from where this picture was taken. I chose this picture because it was a great day for Michelle and I, we spent the entire day at the National Mall and the Smithsonian. I may be at the Smithsonian this evening as my conference finishes up.

Have yourselves a fantastic day.

Hi ho hi ho

ESRI Federal Users Conference.

Well I'm here in Washington DC getting ready to attend my first National ESRI User's Conference. I have attended a couple of the smaller state and regional ones before, but this is my first multi day Conference on a National Level. This is not the biggest one, that occurs in San Diego, but this one is one of the bigger ones other than that one.

I have a full itinerary of sessions that I want to sit on and get up to date with the technology that I make a career out of. This is the opening day and the first half of the day will be filled with registration, the mass meeting where everyone attends as well as the expo where I can see so many new and exciting developments before they are released. The afternoon I have a few sessions penciled in that I want to see. As a Geographer I am going to be like a kid in a candy store both today and tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be the busy day, I have 7 sessions that I will be sitting in on, as well as a DOE Users Group Luncheon and the networking reception tomorrow evening at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Have yourselves a Great day, I'm going to.

Hi ho hi ho

Tueday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded thing that we all love so much called Monday is now once again behind us and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday. Time for a tidbits.

* There have been 19,077 days since my birth, that rounds out to 21 years if you count the same way that I do.

* It was 4,300 days ago that I Graduated from West Virginia University completing a goal that I had always had.

* 2,901 days ago I took this very special lady out for a date on the town, I must have impressed her.

* It was 2,125 days ago that I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to that very special lady.

* It was 1,662 days ago that I gave that special lady my last name as we decided to get hitched.

* I have about 2,760 days or so to go until I retire, give or take one or two hundred of course. You never know what could happen, I might get lucky and win a big lottery.

* In 2,398 more days WVU is going to kick the dog shit out of the University of Pittsburgh in football as the Backyard Brawl will be renewed.

* Phil the Groundhog will one again have his day in 345 more days.

* I still have 312 more days to write content for the Goodbye 2016 Blog that I will post at the end of the year.

* There are still 306 more shopping days left to go until Christmas, you still have plenty of time.

* The next anniversary of my 21st birthday will occur in 282 more days. I swear I am the worlds oldest 21 year old.

* The Springs Festival is in 228 more days.

* Our 2016 Cruise is scheduled in 201 More days, this is about the time we usually book our cruise for the year but it has been booked for some time now.

* Jimmy Buffett will be playing in Pittsburgh yet once again in 182 more days and we have our tickets and plan on being there.

* In 165 more days Michelle and I will be celebrating our Fifth Wedding Anniversary.

* There are only 131 more days to go until the Third Annual Friends and Family Picnic at Krepps Park. I'm getting excited and hopefully we have much better weather this year than we had last year.

* I have written a grand total of 4,375 blogs for George's Journal in the 11 1/2 years that I have been doing this.

* Nothing new on the Brother Search once again, like I have said it appears we have hit a brick wall and will need some kind of miracle for this to happen at this point.

* A little bit of work has been done to the Hall Family Tree, there are still 334 names in the database and more and more detail is being filled in.

* I will be heading East this morning, traveling to Washington DC for a Conference. I'm wanting to get an early start so I can avoid rush hour traffic on the DC Beltway.

*  I might try to stop over to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier tonight. I'm going to be busy the next two days and won't get much of a chance to see anything, so I might head over to do a little bit of site seeing this evening.

* On 9-11-01 our Country was attacked. Four years ago I went to Shanksville, PA to see the first site of three where we were attacked. This evening I am going to visit the Pentagon and that areas since it's all by the hotel to see my second site. That just leaves NYC as the only site I will not have been to.

* I am loving this near Springtime weather, I was actually wearing shorts as we got out and about this weekend. I'm ready for winter to be over with, give me the birds singing and the flowers a blooming.

* Have yourselves a Great day and hope that I can get to downtown DC in one piece...lol

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to It

Well all good things must come to an end, and that includes the fun filled things that we like to refer to as weekends. It's time to take our collective noses and stick them back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of work.

It's probably going to be a short day for me as I'm getting ready to leave on my trip tomorrow to Washington DC for the ESRI Federal Users Conference. I'm actually pretty excited about going to this and I will staying close to the Pentagon just across the Potomac in Virginia. I've got a full itinerary of sessions that I want to sit in on, it'll probably take all next weekend to transcribe my notes into evernote.

I have to remember to take a handful of my business cards with me tomorrow, we have the ones from our company but I have my own printed up from Vistaprint  that I ordered and like a little better and is a little better suited to what I do.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Rambling

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, Phin and I are up watching the Ladies Man on HBO and collecting our thoughts for the day and just starting to wake up.

Well yesterday Michelle and I went to Best Buy to buy a screen protector for Michelle's new Apple Watch and I debated and debated and decided to pick myself up one. I'm glad that I did because unknowing to me that special price if $100 off ended yesterday, they are back to full price today, so we saved $200 buying two watches. I'm glad I decided to do it yesterday, I would have been disappointed if I decided to buy it today.

Today's agenda include us doing a little bit of grocery shopping followed by us going to the Morgantown Mall. MSnap is giving away vouchers to have your dog or cat Payed or Neutered, Phin needs fixed before she gets too much older.

I'm probably going to write a weeks worth of blogs between today and tomorrow, I leave for DC on Tuesday and won't be back until Friday morning. Packing for that trip might also be on my agenda for today.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a semi-quiet household, Phin woke me up to let me know it was either time for her to eat to it was just time to get up as she wanted to play. I'm up with One Flew Over the Cockcoos Nest playing on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

I picked up Michelle's Apple Watch yesterday, she played around with it a little last night but was basically letting it charge to get its first full charge. It took a while to set it up and to learn where everything was and how to navigate around everything. I did find a pretty good tutorial on how to use it for her, so that will make it a lot easier.

There is a big basketball game here in Morgantown this afternoon with a battle of a couple of top 10 teams. #3 Oklahoma comes into the Coliseum to take on the #10 WV Mountaineers at 4:00 with the game being televised on ESPN. This will be the 5th and probably final regular season match up against a Top 10 team this year for the Mountaineers who are also in the Top 10. We still have 2 more top 25 match up's left, but neither appear that that will be on the top 10. Now Big XII Tournament and NCAA Tournament time we may once again start seeing top teams.

No plans on the agenda for Michelle and I today so far, probably finishing setting up her watch and some chores around the house. Traffic is going to be horrendous this afternoon.

Well with many new stores soon to be coming to Morgantown, it looks like Hobby Lobby will be coming to the Gateway Plaza in the near future. If you have never been to a Hobby lobby, you are really missing something. I call it Michaels on Steroids as there is just so much to choose from. It will definitely be a town favorite. There is also a Peace, Love and Little Donuts that will be opening in the University Towne Center in the very near future.

Have yourselves a great day and enjoy the day to the max.

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.

Well today is the day that I work the part time job exclusively (for a few more weeks) for TNG. I'll be up at the University Towne Center Servicing my store up at that location. I'll be giving them my two weeks notice next week as I start to prepare to work for Headway/RTI as a field interviewer part in March. So I have a few more times of working for TNG before I move on to greener pastures so to speak.

I do have my itinerary planned out for next weeks ESRI Federal User's Conference. There is so much to choose from and so many worthwhile sessions to attend that I finally come up with one that is suitable to me and my current career at NETL. It will allow me to brush up on a few things while exploring some new concepts coming out and introduce them to my job. I'm actually pretty excited about this.

I ordered Michelle an Apple Watch from Best Buy earlier this week. They have a great deal of $100.00 off so I took advantage of it and not only got her one, but got her the one that she specifically liked since it was out of stock in the store and we had to order it. It was shipped Wednesday Night and I should be able to pick it up for her today.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take just a little bit of time out, time to look through my 30,000+ images that I have either taken with a Camera, Scanned or just simply stolen from some place on the internet. Little lost moments of time forever remembered and relived briefly here for all to share. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes it's actually pretty challenging. One thing that it always has been though is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture goes back to the winter of 1993-4 when my Dad and Jean took a vacation to Florida. They never really went away on their own, but this is the one time I can recall that they actually did and went to Naples Florida to visit Jean's Cousins.

This is one of the pictures that they had taken and I had scanned into digital format 20 some years after it was captured. It's just a simple picture of a man who inspired so many and left us too early standing on a peaceful and serene beach in Florida and enjoying himself.

Have yourselves a Great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

OK we have made it, all we need to do is get up and over this noon time hump and it's going to be all downhill as we work towards another fun filled weekend.

I really have to start concentrating on next week at work, I'm going to have to write a few "absentee" blogs as I am going to be in Washington DC next week for a conference and don't know how much time I am going to have to be on the computer as I will be tied up at the conference or traveling for the most part of next week, so I may have to pre-write next weeks blogs this weekend to keep them going. I'll be staying in Arlington, VA, right across the Potomac and the Metro is right outside my hotel.

I will be traveling again, but I got my dates wrong as I will be flying out of Morgantown on the 17th and returning late night on the 24th. I will be staying at the Millennium Hotel in Durham, for a week training for the new part time job.

Other than that not too much going on in this mid-week. Michelle has been very busy at work being short handed, but she'll get through it I just need to make sure that she does not over do it.

Have yourselves a Great Day and enjoy it.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well my three day weekend is over with and today is Tuesday, tidbits time.

* There have been a total of 19,070 days since my birth, that's 21 years old if you trust my math or my calendar.

* It has been 4,293 days since I Graduated from West Virginia University.

* There have been 2,894 days that have gone by since I asked Michelle to go with me to see 10,000 BC

* There have been 2,118 days that have passed since I proposed marriage to Michelle.

* It was just 1,655 days ago that we celebrated our wedding in front of our closest friends and family.

* I have about 5,767 days or so to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* There are only 2,405 more days until WVU vs Pitt will play in Football once again and we can beat them to a pulp.

* Phil will once again take center state in 352 more days for Ground Hogs Day.

* I have 319 more days of content to write before I post my Goodbye 2016 blog.

* There are only 313 more shopping days left until Christmas, Walmart should be bringing their Christmas stuff back out about any time now..lol

* There are only 289 more days to go until the next anniversary of my 21st Birthday.

* With the actual count, there are 235 more days to go until we head over to the Springs Festival once again after missing last years festivities.

* There are only 208 more days to go until we leave on our next scheduled Cruise.

* We will be joining up with other Parrot Heads in 189 more days to see  Jimmy Buffett in concert once again.

* There are but a mere 172 days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Fifth Wedding Anniversary together.

* There are 138 days to go until our 2015 Picnic

* There are only 33 more days to go until my favorite season of the year, Springtime!!!

* I have written 4,368 blogs in the 11 1/2 years I have been writing George's Journal.

* Nothing new on the brother search, it's a dead end and we pretty much need a miracle to proceed any further.

* The Hall Family Tree still has 334 members in the database, not too much work to it this week other than filling in some missing information.

* We are going to try to do a family bowling day in a couple of weeks.

* Morgantown is getting a Fusion Steak House in the near future, it will be across from the Baseball Stadium.

* I'm going to have to pre-write a few blogs next week as I will be out of town on business travel at the ESRI Federal Users Conference in Washington DC.

* I Hate Snow

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

President's Day

It's President's Day, meaning it's a Federal Holiday and I'm off today from my job at NETL, but I still have to make a brief appearance for TNG this morning to fulfill a contract commitment. So it's pretty much going to be a brief day/extended weekend for this person.

Funny thing about the picture that I chose for President's Day, it's obviously Mount Rushmore and the bald guy in the middle of this picture is actually me at Mount Rushmore back in the summer of 2000.

Valentines Day went pretty well for Michelle and I, we went out to the restaurant of our first date (Pizza Hut) to have a little bit of Valentine's lunch yesterday. We weren't really doing anything major, so I thought I would do something to make it special and that was it.

I hope everyone has a great day today, those of you off today enjoy your day. For those working today..

Hi ho hi ho

To My Valentine

Today I would like to ask the most wonderful woman in the world to once again be my Valentine. I
m a very lucky man and am married to a beautiful, intelligent and inspiring woman whom I love from the very bottom of my heart.

This will actually be the eight year in a row that I have asked this wonderful woman to be my special valentine. We have been through a lot through the years, we've had our highs and lows, our good times and bad and we are still going strong.

I'm not sure if we have any plans today, the weather from what I am hearing is less than cooperative outside and I'm reading horror stories of traveling around town both last night and yesterday afternoon when we were pretty close once again to gridlock. I have a funny feeling my wonderful valentine has been doing her snow dance since Phil called an early spring..lol

Michelle I love you with all my heart, you are my drive and inspiration on everything I do. The greatest thing that has ever happened in my life was when our destiny's crossed paths once again after about a decade of going in different directions. This time however everything was right and we both needed each other. Thank you for coming into my life and making it complete. I Love You and have to ask, will you be my Valentine?

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a semi quiet household, Phin and I are up watching Tosh.O on Comedy Central and we're both collaborating on our thoughts for the day.

Yesterday was an eventful day to say the very least. First of all they pushed the time back to start buying Jimmy Buffett tickets back two hours really screwing with my availability time to be able to purchase them and still get done with my part time job in time to do what I needed to do and get home in time to feed the cats and go out to dinner with Michelle. Michelle stepped up and managed to secure all of our tickets for August. This will be my tenth and Michelle's ninth time of tailgating with fellow Parrot Heads. I was trying to do it from my phone, but it was limiting me in what I needed to do so I had to get Michelle to do it from a PC.

We put Pearl into the garage yesterday morning, it was making a strange sound Thursday, almost as if we were going to have to replace the entire exhaust system. We got lucky and this has been something that the Subaru garage has seen a lot of recently. I guess a lot of ice got up under the exhaust manifold and the axle and sits there and builds up. The mechanic said there has been a lot of this recently for some reason, I'm just thankful that was all it was. We also had a few minor repairs done as well as we had 4 bulbs go out that affected our front parking lights. Thinking it was either a fuse or a short I had no idea, but turns out they all just burned out at the same time.

Last night we went out to Dickies for dinner, Morgantown was becoming absolute gridlock again with the snowfall we were receiving. Strange though that it had nothing to do with any cars being stuck or hung up, just an excess amount of traffic for some reason.

Have yourselves a great Saturday, the WVU Men's Basketball team will take on TCU today at Noon at the WVU Coliseum and the Women travel to Oklahoma State to take on the 20th Ranked OSU Cowboys in a battle of two Top 25 Ranked teams at 6:00.

Have yourselves a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

It is that time of the year again, Jimmy Buffett tickets go on sale today for his August 23rd Concert at First Niagara Pavilion in Burgettestown PA. Buying tickets is a yearly event for me, but they have pushed back the on sale times a couple of hours and that really kind of screws me up a little bit. 10:00 was fine, noon is really interfering with other things that I have to do today and is going to make it a late starting and long day for me. I may just gamble and wait until this evening as he has not been selling out the past few years like he has in the past.

It's also a Holiday weekend for me so to speak, Monday is President's Day which is a Federal Holiday, but I will have to go and do a little work for TNG Monday morning which is no big deal. I will be leaving this job in the next month or so as I have accepted a part time position with Headway/RTI doing some field work for a Government research project in this area. That job won't start until late March when I will fly down to Raleigh North Carolina for a week of training over Easter.

Not many plans on mine and Michelle's agenda for this weekend, but that can always change pretty quickly. We haven't spent much time together the past couple of weeks due to work schedules and conflicting objectives of things we had to get done for the day. So I think I may take a little time out and spend with my wonderful wife doing something tomorrow.

Have yourselves a great day and a better weekend.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take just a little bit of time out, time to look through my 30,000+ images that I have either taken with a Camera, Scanned or just simply stolen from some place on the internet. Little lost moments of time forever remembered and relived briefly here for all to share. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes it's actually pretty challenging. One thing that it always has been though is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes back to last year when Chad was living with us. Chad is an avid fan of reptiles and has owned some pretty exotic animals through the years. This particular little fellow wrapped around my lovely wife's neck is his Python that he is growing and trying to break the World Record for longest privately owned snake in captivity. He's a little over 2/3 of the way there to reach that 17' goal.

At last report it is a little over 11 1/2 feet and still growing. No worries though, Chad has raised this thing since it was an egg and is very tame and very child friendly as he has take it to numerous local schools and to work at Petco with him a number of times when they have the bring your pet day in. Everyone seems to love this snake and it really is a very fun snake to hold and play with.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that is two days down, now all we have to do is get up and over this Noon time hump and it will be all downhill working towards another fun filled weekend.

Well I am now scheduled to go to Washington DC for a couple of days later this month. I will be attending the ESRI Federal Users Conference and will be staying in Rosslyn, Virginia which is just across the Potomac River and just a couple of blocks from the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery, right across from Georgetown. The Metro is right across the street and it's like a 12 minute trip to the Convention Center where I will be attending the conference. Everything is a go, room is booked, car is reserved and I'm all registered to go now. I'm quite excited to say the least. I'll go down on Tuesday and stay until early morning Friday and head out real early to try to avoid rush hour traffic on the DC Beltway.

I did have a third follow up interview yesterday for a part time job working for RTI International. This would just be a part time job to make up for some lost coverage until it can be recovered at my regular job, it's a lot of travel and field work on a large Government Contract for the NSDUH and this study has been going on for about 20 years or so. This job wouldn't start until late March and I would have to go to Raleigh, NC for a week. They'll fly me down and pick up the tab for the week.

I love traveling on other peoples money, I think it is the best way to travel...lol

Not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but I kind of and really hate that white stuff that they refer to as snow that has been hitting the ground the last couple of days. Phil promised us an early Spring, hopefully this is the last of it.

Have yourselves a fabulous day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well the Superbowl weekend and the Monday that follows is now in the books, time for a tidbits.

* It has been 19,063 wonderful and eventful days since my birth, I'm thankful for each and every one of them and I feel fortunate each day that I get to add to that total.

* It has been 4,286 days since my Graduation from West Virginia University.

* It was just a mere 2,887 days ago that both mine and Michelle's lives changes forever as we went out on our very first date together.

* It was 2,111 days ago that I had made Michelle wait long enough and I proposed marriage.

* It was 1,648 days ago that I became a very luck man as Michelle and my lives were forever joined together with our wedding.

* I have around 5,774 days or so to go, give or take a few hundred here or there until I retire.

* The Backyard Brawl will be renewed in 2,412 days as WVU vs Pitt takes place once again.

* There are 359 more days to go until Ground Hogs Day, Phil is taking a nice vacation from his one busy day of work a year.

* There are 326 more days until my Goodbye 2016 blog will be posted, reliving the past year according to my blog.

* You still have 320 shopping days to go until Christmas, you still have plenty of time to plan and prepare.

* There are only 296 more days to go until another anniversary of my 21st birthday comes to pass.

* There are only about 242 more days to go until the Springs Festival. I had been guessing previously, this one is much more accurate as the dates are set.

* There are only 215 days to go until we set sail on our next Cruise providing everything falls into place.

* There are 196 days until the Parrot Heads unite in Pittsburgh to see Jimmy Buffett. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10:00

* There are only 179 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Fifth Wedding Anniversary together.

* There are 145 days until the  Third Annual Friends and Family Picnic at Krepps park. I'm trying to make this a yearly thing and this is our third year doing it. Hopefully it continues to grow.

* There are but a mere 40 days to go until Spring 2016.

* I have written 4,361 blogs in the 11 1/2 years that I have written George's Journal.

* Nothing new once again on the Brother search, I think I could probably copy and paste this status every week but I'm not giving up hope.

* The Hall Family Tree has 334 names in it and it is still growing every day. I'm also filling in a lot of missed details as the information comes available to me.

* The Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl Sunday night 24-10 over the Carolina Panthers.

* The WVU Men's Basketball team travels to Kansas this evening to see if we can beat our third straight top 15 team this season. We beat Kansas earlier in the year when they were ranked #1, so we will have our hands full this evening.

* Did you vote for Bob Huggins last week, well keep doing it every day.

* I will be traveling on business in a couple of weeks. I'll be spending a couple of nights in Washington, DC for the ESRI Federal Users Conference. I just got approved a couple of days ago to go and I'm quite excited. I've never been to an ESRI Conference of this level and this will help in the needed portion of my GISP that I do not have completed. The two hardest parts are done, it's going to conferences like these that is the easy part of the certification and I'm doing it on the Governments dime.

* I tried working on Amy's laptop this weekend, I've never admitted defeat but this may be the first time I may have to. I can;t seem to figure this one out although I am sure there is a solution.

* Have I ever mentioned that I Hate Snow?

* Have yourselves a great day today.

* Hi ho hi ho

I Hate Mondays

Yes here we are yet once again, at the most hated day of the week. The day that we start to put our collective noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of doing what it is we do for a living. It's time to start another workweek.

Well today is my two job day, I have to make a quick stop for TNG to do a survey and then it's off to my office to start another fun filled week of work, although things are starting to look a little brighter there than it has over the past couple of months.

I would comment about the results of the Super Bowl or which were the most memorable commercials, but as everyone knows I pre-write my blogs the day before Monday- Friday and just do two live blogs during the week.

I think we are going to try to get a group bowling date set up for later in February. Maybe someone should contact Suburban Lanes and get some rates and see if they have any specials. It would be nice if we can get a large group including Michelle's family to have a fun night out. Keglers has the best wings in town and it's all a part of Suburban. If anyone else has any other ideas (other locations) just let me know.

Something else I was thinking about doing was having everyone have fun with one of my hobbies. As everyone knows I am a geocacher and think that maybe we can work as a group to solve a multi cache somewhere around town. It gets people out and looking and gets the brain to working. I think kids would have a whole lot of fun. Just throwing that out there as an activity to do later on for family activities in the future.

Other possible activities could be kite flying, a good kickball game at some field or even work as a group ton do a 5k run or walk around town or even a nice bike ride on the trails. Smaller picnics like we used to do is also a good possibility. Does anyone have any other ideas for group activities? I'm even thinking a family picture day at a location with everyone. We have a great photographer in the family.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Hi ho hi ho

Super Bowl Sunday

Here I sit in a quiet household on a very special Sunday Morning. I'm the first one to awaken from that battle with that dreaded Sandman last night and I'm up watching something on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Well Football fans today is the day, the day when the Vince Lombardi Trophy is handed out and we officially have and end to football season for the year. It's Super Bowl Sunday.

This years game features the Carolina Panthers taking on Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in what could be the last game of Peyton's future Hall of Fame career. Carolina is a 5 point favorite as of the time of this post, but the Denver Broncos only seem to win Super Bowl when Hall of Fame QB's are about to retire and are past their prime like this year. If you are asking me, I think Carolina is just a little too good this year and will win Super Bowl 50.

Our yesterday didn't turn out as planned, Michelle ended up taking Chad to the Apple Store in Pittsburgh and I stayed home trying to work on my niece Amy's computer which I am having very little to no success with as it does not want to seem to want to boot properly. A live pen drive nor re-installing software is working, I've never seen anything like this. It should boot with the pen drive to linux even when I changed the boot sequence, but seems to look at it initially and go back into that infinite loop that prevents it from booting.

On the local Sports scene, WVU Men's beat Baylor last night here in Morgantown 80-69 giving the Mountaineers sole possession of first place in the Big XII heading into a big match up Tuesday night against Kansas at Kansas.

Have yourselves a great day and enjoy the game and the Commercials.

Saturday

Well here I sit in a quiet household, everyone is asleep including the infamous Fin who never seems to sleep. I'm up early watching something with Morgan Freeman on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Well it looks like there is going to be a little road trip on our agenda for today. Chad's touch sensor on his iPhone has went bad and thankfully it is still under warranty for another month. What's that mean? Road trip to the Apple store at South Hills village is on our agenda for the day.

Unfortunately we do not have an Apple store here in Morgantown, but there is one just South of Pittsburgh and is accessible. Our appointment is for 12:10 this afternoon.

WVU Women's Basketball is playing Kansas State at 1:00 this afternoon. If you would like to go, just print off a free ticket and your price of admission is covered, The WVU Men's Basketball team is hosting Baylor this evening in a battle of two Top 15 teams at 8:00. If you don't have a ticket for this game you are out of luck unless you can find one from a third party as this one is sold out for this evening.

Have yourselves a great day, get out and enjoy yourselves and cheer on the Mountaineers.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

It is Friday which means I'll be working my part time job for TNG today. I'll be on my own for the first time, but I think I have a pretty good handle on everything. Now if others can deliver what I need in a timely manner, it should go pretty smooth otherwise it's going to run a little long today as I'm at the mercy of an inexperienced drivers time.

Mine and Michelle's plans for the weekend, probably not too much as it's just that time of the year, but you never know what we will end up doing. The weather looks like it is going to be pretty decent, so we might get out and about we'll have to wait and see what we end up doing.

There will be a big basketball game here Saturday night as the Mountaineers take on Baylor at the WVU Coliseum.The game is sold out so you might want to avoid the area in the late afternoon and early evening if you can, unless of course you are going to the game...lol

Have yourselves a great Friday, we're almost there.

Hi ho hi ho