Last week with Infotech

This is my last official week working for Infotech , I've been working for them for three years now, basically the last two from home as a remote employee. There is a little sadness in leaving, but there is a little more excitement in being able to move on and get back into an office on a day to day basis.

It's been nice working from home, but as the work log deteriorated I had less and less to do. It almost got to the point where there was no challenge and no excitement anymore. I think the best time I had in the past couple years was when I was needed in Sterling and had to go down there. Don't get me wrong, working from home exclusively was nice, but with no workload or no challenge it was like heading down a dead end.

As for the job search, I have two interviews this week after having one phone interview last week. I have a phone interview tomorrow and a personal interview with the company that I had a phone interview with last week. Nothing is official yet, but once I get the "i's" dotted and the "t's" crossed I will let everyone know one way or another. I'll be more specific later this week.

I have put out numerous Resumes over the past seven days, so I have been busy to say the least. My top choice is the company I am interviewing with Wed, as it is a company I wanted to work for a few years ago. I'm also working on some setting up some supplemental work in my field.

It's going to be an interesting week.

Gridiron Bash cancelled

The much ballyhooed Gridiron Bash , which was to have included West Virginia University with Dwight Yoakam appearing in Morgantown has been canceled. Not just at WVU, but all participating schools everywhere.

There was a conflict between NCAA Athletes and them being allowed to participate in a for profit venture.

Alabama was leading the voting in the $1 Million donation to their scholarship fund, but this will now no longer be.

Jack Flemming Tribute

Eventful week to say the least

I have to say this past week has been one event filled week in my life. It started the first thing Monday Morning when I got an e-mail from the COO from Infotech telling me I was going to be laid off April 4, to me putting out quite a few resumes and getting a few contacts.

I think I have found my next company I am going to work for, but nothing is official yet so I'll wait till the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed before I make any kind of announcement on that situation. If things go as hoped, I'll go from one place of employment to another and that was my initial plan as of me finding out my situation Monday. Right Place, right time to say the least.

The WVU men's basketball team fell to Xavier 75-79 in Overtime to Xavier ending the 2007-8 Basketball season.

We have started to get organized for the 2008 softball season, we're finalizing our initial roster, secured the sponsor and should be hitting the field here in a few weeks or so now that both WVU Men's and Women's Basketball are done for the season. A few of our team mates are associated with the Athletic Department, so it has been a busy week for them to say the least. We will once again be Mountain Valley Paintball once again. Sean and Danny will sponsor us once again.

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.--Demosthenes

Sadness last night

The WVU Men's basketball season came to a sad end last night with a 75-79 Overtime loss to Xavier. WVU fell behind 0-8 and 10-28 early in the game, but bravely fought back to eventually take the lead just past the halfway point in the second half.

The game was nip and tuck from that point on and ended up in a 64-64 tie at the end of regulation. Overtime saw the Mountaineers jump out to a six point lead, but saw it falter as Xavier started nailing deep, unguarded three point shots and that was the final difference in the game.

The Mountaineers finish the season 26-11 in Bob Huggin's first season in Morgantown. It was sad to see Darris Nichols and Jamie Smalligan end their WVU careers, it was a game I think we should have won. However this is March Madness and you have to bring your "A" game all night long.

2008-9 Season looks like it could be a very good one with the players we have coming back plus the players we have coming in.

Take a bow guys, great season.

Sweet 16

Tonight the WVU Men's Basketball team will be playing in the Sweet 16 against Xavier University for a shot at going to the Elite 8 on Saturday.

Michelle and I will be watching the Xavier game together since we won the Duke game watching it together tonight at Nick and Terri's and maybe the good karma will stay and we will advance to the Elite 8. IF and that is a big IF, we win tonight we will most likely be playing UCLA in the Elite 8, a team who we have beaten the last two years in a row.

Let's Gooooooooooooooooo Mountianeers

WVU Basketball team

At lunch yesterday I went over to the WVU Coliseum to see the WVU basketball team of on their trip. I did get a little video footage of Johnnie West (Jerry's sone) shooting baskets before they got on the bus.

New Job Search is under way

Well, I can't say I haven't been busy the past 24 hours. Since learning of my upcoming layoff on April 4, I have been quite busy both yesterday and early this morning sending out e-mails, applying for jobs and forwarding my resume to about anyone and everyone I know with any GIS connections. I would say I have made 15-18 solid contacts, now I have to be patient and hope someone calls in the near future. I don't want there to be any lapse in time between this job and the next, so I have been quite busy to say the least. I have filled out one application that was not GIS based, only because this company has stuck in my head since my recourse days.

Have a good day.

I just got some very bad news.

Over the past few months, the workload at work has been very slow, to the point where I was worrying about it and starting to wonder if I would have a job. Infotech has been growing at an exponential rate, but it has been getting away from GIS type work and leaning more towards the photogrammatry type of work. My area of expertise is in the GIS aspect of it all, not the photogrammetric.

This morning the news I did not want to hear came through. April 4, 2008 will be my last day with Infotech, I am being laid off. I even asked if my presence in Sterling would make a difference, but our backlog of work even for that office has diminished to the point that the only thing we are doing on shore is project management, and we have plenty of project managers. I even inquired about a reduction of pay, but it was not a performance issue, I was told I was probably the most diligent employee they have had and they would assist me in finding other employment.

What does this mean to me? Well first of all goodbye to working from home. I was given a unique opportunity and it may be next to impossible to find this situation again. So obviously I am going to have to start looking for work outside of my home. It could also very well mean a goodbye to Morgantown and a goodbye to West Virginia. I hate to imagine this, but this could be my reality in a very short period of time. This is a place that I have grown up in and loved, and the thought of me leaving is horrible, but life just tossed me a curveball and I have to accept it.

To say I am a little worried and not confident right now is an understatement.

Great Day to be a Mountaineer

Tony Caridi has never said any truer words. Yesterday was definitely a great day to be a Mountaineer no matter where you may be. Me and Michelle watched the game together yesterday at BW3 here in Morgantown as the Mountaineers won one of their biggest games in years with a 73-67 beating of 23 seed Duke. I have to say it was a game that I was a little worried about at the start, I said before the game we would win, but after the first five minutes or so I had my doubts. Duke was starting to blow us out early and took a 10 point lead 6:00 into the game and again at 8:00 into the game. However WVU played a great game and just took it to the Blue Devils and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years. the men moved their record to 26-10 on the year.

Next up for the Mountaineers is the Xavier Mountaineers (same name) who are a #3 seed. They have a little bit better record than us, but we have played a much tougher schedule this year than they have. If they can get past Xavier and into the Elite 8, there is a good chance we will play UCLA, who we have beaten the last two years. This season may be very memorable before it's over with.

The WVU Women's team opened it's NCAA tournament up last night against New Mexico on their home floor. This was a tough draw for the #5 seed Mountaineers, even though New Mexico was a #12 seed, they were at home and were 40-0 over the last two years when they scored 60 or more points. Well, that 40 game streak came to an end last night on their home court as the WVU Women won 61-60 last night. the women ran their record to 25-7 on the year and I think they play Vanderbilt tomorrow in the second round to try to advance to the Women's sweet 16.

It is a true testament to this University's Athletic Department when you consider the current combined record of the WVU Football, Men's and Women's Basketball and Baseball teams are currently a combined 78-23 on the school year. Not to mention both the Men's and Women's soccer teams both advanced to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 this year also.

It is a great year to be a Mountaineer.

Happy Easter

I would just like to take this time and wish everyone reading this a very Happy and Safe Easter. I hope the Easter Bunny treated everyone very well, I wonder if he has any no carb Peanut Butter Eggs?

Have a great day

Free Cinemax Weekend

Here in Morgantown, Comcast is giving everyone a free preview of skinemax this weekend, all you need is a digital cable box and you are set to go. Remember Cinemax on Demand is on channel 907.

Mountaineers in action today.

Both the WVU Mens and the WVU Women's basketball team will be in action today in their NCAA Tournaments. The WVU Women travel to Albuquerque to take on New Mexico tonight at 8:30 Eastern Time. It is a little strange that the 5th seeded Mountaineers have to travel to play on 12th Seeded New Mexico's home court, but this is the draw that we have, and I think the game will be on ESPN 2 this evening.

When it comes to the Men, they play Duke this afternoon at 2:10 on CBS in a second round game. Duke almost lost to some school I never heard of a couple nights ago, I'm hoping Huggs has these guys ready and brings home what could be a very memorable win in the schools history. This could be monumental if we beat Duke.

So sports fans, there you go a chance to see both the WVU men's and WVU women's teams in action today.

At 1:00 this afternoon, WVU will be looking to make it a three game sweep over Pitt in Baseball at Hawley Field if anyone is interested.

It's a Big Ole Good Friday

Yes, for most of us we have reached that time of the week when the work for the week ceases and we sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor, unless you have Good Friday off then it started yesterday, it is once again the weekend.

Where to start on what happened yesterday. Last night Me, Kim, Terri and Brittany started out the evening with a trip to and dinner at the Olive Garden for dinner. To tell you the truth, that was the first time I have ever eaten at the Olive Garden, it won't be the last. After dinner we headed on on over the Riverside Church to watch the play that they were putting on, Messiah and I have to say I was a bit surprised. I walked in and it was a large elaborate set with many actors and very realistic costumes. It was very well done and quite entertaining. A guy I used to work with at the NRAC for one summer, Chad Rowan, played the part of Jesus. He's also a GIS Analyst guy so he can't be all that bad!

The pictures from last night from my camera have been uploaded to my picture site, Kim and Terri both also took pictures last night, Kim is going to put hers up and I'll try to grab the pics off of Terri's camera and put them up sometime soon.


How Bout The EERS!!! They are off to the suffering Succotash 32 (so named by Eric Maguire) to play Duke after beating Arizona 75-65 last night in DC. The Mountaineers were lead by Alex Ruoff's 21 points and 5 of 7 from three point land. Duke, Saturday's opponent, almost made history last night in what would have been the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history by barely beating Belmont 71-70 in the earlier game. People are asking themselves this morning, who the heck is Belmont?

I got a little love on WVAQ this morning. They are running a NCAA Tournament Bracket Pick Em for two 2009 WVU Season Basketball tickets next year and there are I think 612 of us competing. I am tied for first place (after one half of the first round) after last night, but there is still a lot of basketball to be played. I think WVU will beat Duke Saturday, or at least I hope they do, because I have WVU going pretty far in both my brackets. Actually I have all Big East Final Four in both brackets that I have picked (another one on Yahoo). Come on Huggs, win it all!!

Everyone have a good, safe and happy Holiday Weekend.




The family is one of nature's masterpieces.--George Santayana

Amy's B-Day Party

Yesterday evening a few of us stopped up at Amy and Ralphie's place for a little birthday celebration with Amy. I have to say the place looks great, they have put in hardwood floors in the living room and the baby's bedroom. They still have their room to do and then Ralphie said he is going to start on the outside.

I promised Amy I would get her whatever music she wants to put on her new Mp3 player, but I forgot the list last night when we left, but Amy was still filling it out.

I took my camera last night and took a few pictures from last night. I have started and added them to an album on my picture site called general Pics of 2008.

This evening Me, Kim, Brittney, and Terri are going to watch Mom in her Easter play at Riverside Apostolic Church
. The play runs from last night until Saturday.

Happy Birthday Amy

I would like to take this chance to wish my niece Amy a very Happy 21st (you'll figure it out later) Birthday today. I tried calling her earlier, but I think she is at work today and has her cell Phone turned off.

Happy Birthday Amy

Eight Lucky Ladies

The women of the Mon County tax collection office made their trip to Charleston Yesterday to claim their winnings. Each woman was given a $1 Million check initially (waiting to collect all money from all states) to start off. They selected the cash option and each of these eight lucky ladies will end up with $12 Million each AFTER taxes.

I'm glad that not only was another big jackpot won in West Virginia, but won in Mon County. The only bad thing about this scenerio, it wasn't my ticket (I think Phil is trying to get back at me).

They killed our Karma.

I know, we all have big dreams of winning the lottery, this past weekend the $276 Million Powerball jackpot was not only won by someone from WV, but 8 women who work in Morgantown at the Mon County Sheriffs Department Tax Office will be taking the trip to the Charleston Lottery headquarters today to officially turn in the ticket and claim their winnings.

It's nice to have local people hit it, but it kills my karma of me ever winning because they are from the same city.

On top of that, a Blacksville woman ALSO won $150,000. It was a good day to be from Mon County, I just didn't have the right numbers. I wonder if I can get a refund and get the right numbers. =)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today is Monday, but it is also a time when you can walk into any local pub and find green beer and people decked out in the color green. It is St.Patrick's Day around the world. A time when the leprechauns are a plentiful and everyone is a little bit Irish for a day.

The big question you need to be asking yourself is if you are wearing green today? My iPod is green, so I guess that counts for me considering I'm the only one here. I'm not sure what anyones plans are for today, I'm sure Nick and Terri will have something going on at the bar in honor of the day.


St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic.--William Maginn

What a great weekend to be a Mountaineer.

Talk about a good weekend for being a Mountaineer. It started on a down note Friday Night when the Basketball team lost to Georgetown in the Semi-Finals of the Big East Tournament.

This afternoon the NCAA Tournament Field was announced. West Virginia is a 7 Seed and will play against Arizona in Washington DC. When they beat Arizona, it will be two coaching legends going against each other when Bob Huggins of WVU will most likely match up against Mike Krzyzewski of Duke in the second round for a Sweet 16 spot. The biggest match up I want to see is USC vs Kansas State. USC is lead by WV native Freshman OJ Mayo who was the nations top recruit last year. Everyone thought he was going to go to Kansas State and Bob Huggins, but chose to go to USC. Kansas State has a Freshman who like Mayo is one of the two players up for player of the year in Michael Beasley. Also on Kansas State was one of the top recruits from two years ago and another native West Virginian Bill Walker. This game will feature three of the Nations top recruits over the last two years, and all three with very close ties to Bob Huggins.

Now as if the basketball news wasn't good enough, how about the 2009 Football recruiting class beginning with a verbal from the biggest name Wide Receiver in the 2009 class and him also bringing his highly ranked QB with him. Logan Heastie gave WVU a verbal commitment for 2009 and his QB team mate Tajh Boyd has also verballed to WVU. Talk about a recruiting class starting out with a bang, WOW.

What a great weekend to be a Mountaineer.