Columbus Day

Today is a Federal Holiday, usually meaning that I would have the day off due to the fact that I'm a Federal Contractor. NETL where I work is closed today and everyone is enjoying the extended Holiday Weekend, providing their individual companies recognize the day which mine does.

However I will be at WVU both all day today and tomorrow at the Department of Geology and Geography getting a refresher course in the ESRI software that I use. I use the software every day and sometimes it just helps to hone skills that you may have forgotten about or been changed due to upgrades in the software. This training is in three phases as we did not need the first two phases, we're doing the final phase which is meant for seasoned users.

So I'll be down there today and Tomorrow and be back in the Office later on Wed for a meeting and Thursday, possibly taking Friday as my holiday just a little bit late.

Hi ho hi oh wait, I'm going to school today.

Sunday Morning Ramblings

here I sit early in the AM, this morning I am the only one that is not losing a battle with the sandman. I'm up and have been up for a little while.

Did you see the game last night? WOW. WVU in from of 101,851 fans at Darrell Royal Stadium, the largest crowd ever in Texas history, the Mountaineers managed to pull out a 48-45 win against the undefeated Texas Longhorns.

Geno Smith who many are considering the front runner for the Heisman trophy this season was 25 of 35 for 268 yards and 4 Touchdowns and no INT's. Andrew Buie however was the start of this show with a 207 yard rushing performance with a couple of TD's. he had 66 yards receiving to go along with it and would have had a receiving TD at the end of the first half as he caught a wide open pass and had nothing but paydirt in front of him and tripped over his feet. Tavon caught 10 passes for 102 yards and a score and Stedman Bailey caught 8 passes for 75 yards and 3 Touchdowns.

This win moves the Mountaineers and 5-0 on the season with quite possibly our biggest game on the road if not the season now behind us. It doesn't get any easier, but we play Kansas State in Morgantown in a couple of weeks and Oklahoma next month in Morgantown as well.

Excitement is an understatement this season. Hold on.

Springs Festival and Football

Well I can't say that I'm the first one up this morning, Michelle was already awake when I fighting the battle with the sandman, her and cloe the cat were both up and watching television.

This morning we'll be joining John and Steph and heading to Springs PA and the Springs Festival. I've never been to this, but enjoy when we go to Amish Country in Ohio. I've heard about the Festival and Steph loves to go up there to pick up her bulk foods and spices. John and I will probably be venturing off on our own to find some food and listen to some music.

Later this afternoon, or should I say 7:00 this evening I'll be watching the Mountaineers play the University of Texas. This will potentially be the largest live audience we will have ever played in front of as they have a 102,000 seat stadium.

If this weeks game is anything like last weeks (Texas has a better Defense) this should be a memorable one.

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!

If you are looking for a little bit of High School Football action you can travel to Bridgeport and see if the undefeated Hawks can extend their winning streak to seven games on the season. Morgantown High travels to Wheeling Park this evening, and Clay Battelle travels to Van meaning that absolutely no football team in Monongalia County will be playing at home tonight. Couple that with the fact that the Mountaineers are playing at Texas tomorrow night and there is not any live football in Morgantown this weekend. Bummer.

Tomorrow Michelle and I will be joining my old Buddy Smitty and his Wife Steph and traveling to Springs PA for the festival that they are having up there. We should be back mid to late afternoon, in plenty of time for me to watch the Mountaineers play Texas tomorrow night.

It's kind of an extended weekend for me, Monday is a Federal Holiday, but I will be at WVU taking a refresher course in ArcGIS Monday and Tuesday.

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 pictures that I have stored on an external drive to my computer. They are images I have taken or scanned through the years and have kept. I like to find one special picture to blog about and talk about. Sometimes this is pretty easy and sometimes it's not so easy to find that one special picture. It is however a lot of fun.

This weeks picture goes back a few years, back to the first time I took Michelle and Hayley to the Rosiak 4th of July Party a few years ago. I think this is the only one Hayley has been to if I am correct.

Every Rosiak party there is always a historic water battle that always seems to take place. This year was no different, we were getting ready to start the battle. As I recall, everyone got wet, actually at a Rosiak party that is pretty much a given, but as you can tell by this picture the battle has not started yet.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day Sports

 Take me home, Country Roads. I swear seeing this brings a tear to me eye, knowing that 60,000+ fans were still in the stands last Saturday, including the Baylor fans to sing the beloved John Denver Hit.

Something I pointed out last week was that there was going to be an amazing gigapixel picture taken at the game this past week. I said that I would share it on my blog when it became available. well, here it is. It's a 360° high definition image were you can zoom into about anyone who is in the stadium and see a close up of them, It's a remarkable picture. What's even more amazing is the video board behind where you start, will play the games intro video if you click it. What an amazing gift.

The Mountaineers travel this weekend to play in a match up of a couple of top 10 and undefeated teams Saturday night when the Mountaineers visit the Longhorn State and 102,000 screaming Longhorn fans. We'll show them there is only one Austin that matters, and it's not their city, it's Tavon.

Well the Pirates have officially extended the longest streak of sub .500 seasons in all professional athletics to I believe 20 years now. I thought they would break this streak earlier this year, but there is always hope and hanging on to yet another "next year". They were very exciting to watch this summer.

The Steelers fresh off of a bye week will host the Philadelphia Eagles at 1:00. This will be a battle to determine who the best team in the state of Pennsylvania is.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't think of any better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It was 1,663 days ago my life changed forever. Michelle and I went out on our first date.

* 886 Days ago in the early AM, I got down on one knee and proposed marriage. Fortunately for me she said yes.

* 423 days ago we tied the bounds of matrimony in front of our closest friends and family.

* The countdown continues, there are only a mere 84 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* 39 years ago today, on a flag football intramural field on Van Voorhis Road where a regional Rehabilitation Hospital hospital sits, I broke my leg playing football. It was a greentree fracture to my left thigh that needed surgery to have a pin drilled through my leg, a month in the hospital in traction, 6 weeks at hoke in a body cast, a month of recovery followed by another 2 weeks in traction because I never gained full range of motion followed by two more additional weeks in a straight leg cast to learn to walk again.

* On a happy note, Happy 40th Birthday to Chris Ostien. We celebrated it this summer when you weren't expecting it.

* Congrats to mark Devault. He's left Mantech and is now working at Mylan. He'll be in the IT department I would assume, since he is one heck of a programmer.

* Michelle has been hitting the elliptical pretty hard in the mornings and evening.

* I'm back to working out every morning before work like I was. I slacked off a little due to a broken toe, but we're back at it.

* Speaking of.....hi ho hi ho

Monday

If there is one day of the week that most people in American can agree on that they like least, it has to be Mondays. Yes it's once again that time when we stop having all the fun that we have been having the last couple of days and stick our noses back on the grindstone for another week of work. It's Monday.

Looking to the week ahead, Michelle and I are planning on heading to Springs PA this weekend to attend the Springs Festival this Saturday with Smitty and Stephanie. I've never been there other than stopping in at the Springs Store, Steph asked us a few weeks ago if we would like to go when we got back from Amish Country Ohio.

Nothing planned for me and Michelle during the week. Although I want to start hitting the gym hard again as I've been half-assing it since a couple of days before we went on Vacation. I've broke a toe on my right foot somehow, so my gimpy ass hasn't been doing my full cardio workout, that changes this week.

Have a good day and let's get through this one.

WOW

The West Virginia Mountaineers played their first Big XII game yesterday and WOW is all that I can say. I've spent a lifetime watching the Mountaineers and it would be hard to find a more exciting game than we witnessed yesterday.

Two high flying offenses and they did not disappoint in what turned out to be a 70-63 Mountaineer victory in a match up of two ranked teams and two offensive Juggernauts.

Geno Smith put up numbers tat you put up playing a video game, not a real football game and at the Division 1 level. He was 45-51 in passing for an unbelievable and a school record that will probably live forever 656 passing yards. Prior to yesterday the school record for overall team yards was 655 total yards that we put up against Marshall earlier this year which eclipsed the long standing record of 654 Total team yards set in 1993. Geno passed for 656 yards as the team put up a new school record of 807 yards of Total Offense. Throw in 8 Touchdown passes he threw and his boxscore looked like this. 56-51 8 TD's O INT's 656 yards.

Geno wasn't the only one that lit it up, Stedman Bailey caught 13 passes for a new School Record 303 Yards a another new school record 5 TD receptions. All-American Tavon Austin had a modest 14 receptions for 215 yards and 2 Touchdowns. JD Woods had 13 catches for 113 yards and 1 TD. Andrew Buie carried the ball 25 times for 82 yards and 2 Touchdowns.

I could go on and on about this game, it had to be one of the most exciting football games much less a Mountaineer Football game that I have ever seen in my lifetime.

No time to relax, a top 10 matchup in front of what may be the largest live crowd we will will have ever played against is up next week when we visit Texas and their 100,000 seat stadium next Saturday Night. Hopefully I can catch my breath by then.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, a household where everyone with the exception of me is in a land of somber and dreams. I'm up early once again with the movie Good Burger playing in the background collecting my thoughts.

We made it to the University High game last night but left at halftime, those metal bleachers were doing a number on a part of my body so without our ass cushions it was not very pleasant. The Hawks went down 13-0 but managed to pull out a big second half and win 32-13 for a Homecoming win. Arron was playing Defensive Tackle and was playing against someone just smaller than his some 6'6" 280 lb frame and was beating him on every play.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have assured the streak of non winning seasons will continue last night. They lost their 81st game of the season in less than honorable fashion. Throwing our ace he held the Reds to a 7 hit game and 1 run, however Red's pitcher Homer bailey threw a gem that we refer to as a No-Hitter against the Pirates. A no hitter is a rare piece of work, we had a couple of friends attend yesterdays game including a co-worker of Michelle's who is a big Red's fan. I think I would have only enjoyed this if Josh was up with the Reds but he's not.

Mountaineers will be playing today at noon against Baylor. There will be an added treat, during the first quarter they are going to take a Gigapixel photo of the game. This is a very high resolution picture that will basically let you zoom in to see about anyones face in the crowd. Should be quite the treat and WVU will have one. I'll share the amazing link after when it becomes available.

Let's Go Mountaineers!!!

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

If you are looking for some good food, the Preston County Buckwheat Festival is in full gear right now. Head on up to Kingwood and grab yourself some Preston County made Buckwheat Cakes. Last year we stopped at the United Methodist Church in Masontown and there was no big lines and no big crowds if you are looking for the cakes.

High School Football, undefeated and #2 University High will play host to 2-2 Fairmont Sr. Morgantown will travel to Preston County to take on Preston and undefeated Clay Battelle travels to Wetzel County to play Valley Wetzel in tonights High School football action.

The Mountaineers start the Big XII portion of their schedule tomorrow at noon when they play host to the Baylor Bears. Hopefully Geno and the boys can win what looks to be a heck of a shootout.

Not sure what Michelle and I will be getting into, Arron is playing tonight and we want to get our Sam's Club shopping done. I would like to be able to get our shopping done and get over to see him play some time this season.

Anyone want to order some popcorn for a good cause. I know a certain little boy (Christopher Toth) who is selling popcorn to earn a badge for the cub scouts. If you're interested in buying some popcorn and having the money go to good cause, let me know.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my pictures that I have stored on my computer and look for just one special picture to tell a story about. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not so easy, it is however always a lot of fun.

This weeks pic takes me back to right after I had graduated but was still working at the NRAC at WVU. I had just saved up and bought my new camera that I was pretty excited about and took it into work one day. One of my co-workers grabbed this picture of me ij the office.

I didn't make a lot of money at the NRAC, but the things I learned there gave me an advantage in getting a head start on my career. I worked with some very talented people and did some very challenging projects.

I spent about four years there as an undergrad and even after I graduated.

Hump Day Sports

I have to love this ESPN Gameday commercial. The Mountaineer standing in the bushes staring down Lee Corso and loading his gun. Maybe you would have to be old enough to remember the 1993 season when WVU was undefeated and ranked #2 and #3 in the polls. Florida State was 10-1 and was ranked #3 and #2 in the polls. Nebraska was the #1 team in the country and they were trying to decide who should play Nebraska for the National Championship. Lee Corso was the biggest and loudest voice campaigning for Nebraska to play Florida State. The Mountaineer should have popped a cap in his ass.

The Mountaineers will enter Big XII play this week when we host Baylor this saturday., Last year Baylor set the record for most points scored in a Bowl game when they beat Washington 67-56. That record didn't last very long, it didn't even make it until the end of Bowl season as the Mountaineers hung 70 on Clemson just a few days later. Gone from Baylor is 2011 Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III, but this is still a high scoring Baylor team. Should be a whole lot of points scored in this contest.

Hats off the the WVU Womens soccer team. Earlier this year they beat #1 Stanford and on Sunday they beat #7 Oklahoma State. They are 6-3-3 on the season thus far.

And as for the Pittsburgh Pirates? What the heck, you were 18 gales above .500 after the all star break and now you're either 2 or 4 games below .500 pending last nights results. Two years in a row the Pirates have played a 19 inning game and watched their season tank after that game. AAAARRRGGGHHHH

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us, and would you believe that yesterday was the only Monday I worked during the month of September, can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* Michelle and I enjoyed our first date 1,656 days ago.

* 879 days ago I got down on on knee and proposed marriage.

* 416 days ago in front of of our closest friends and family we exchanged our wedding vows.

* There are but 91 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* I was talking to Terri this weekend and told her if she wanted to do Christmas Eve again this year it was alright by me. It seems to be the place everyone likes to congregate to and have the most fun, and that's what it's all about.

* It's starting to feel like Summer is over with. I hit the trails yesterday morning and it was the first time that I thought to myself "I should have worn a light coat".

* BTW, yesterday was the first time since before we went on vacation that I actually made it to the gym. It was just difficult for me to get back into my routine last week, I'm back in it now though.

* Speaking of the gym, it's a cardio day so

* Hi ho hi ho

Happy Real Birthday Kaiden Dalton

Last week I had my dates mixed up when I wished Kaiden Dalton a Happy Birthday. I guess you can say that I had a bit of a brainfart and depended too much on a script that I entered the wrong date on.

TODAY, I would like to take this opportunity to wish Kaiden Dalton a very Happy Birthday. Unfortunately in an act of another brain fart, Chad had my camera in Pittsburgh for the day, so I had to take a few pics with Val and Amy's camera.

Amy and Ralph hosted a nice large gathering of family to wish Kaiden a very happy Birthday. Weather held up and we didn't have any rain and it turned out to be a nice day.

If you want to see the pictures, you may have to rely on Amy and Val's Facebook account, even though I was the photographer, it was their camera.

Happy Birthday Kaiden.

Sunday Morning Thoughts

Once again I sit here in the early AM, I'm the only one awake and everyone else is laying in the silent somber of dreamland and resting. I'm watching the Howard Stern movie Private Parts on NetFlix behind me and surfing around Facebook.

Today we will be heading up to Amy's for a birthday party for Kaiden. I think I got his birthday a little early in my blog as I wrote it for the same day as Calvin's (doesn't he look good in this picture), but I think Kaiden's is actually this Tuesday. I have it right in my calendar but wrong in one of my apps on Google.

The Mountaineers managed to beat the Maryland Terrapins 31-21 yesterday here in town. Watching the game on FX (They do a much better job than Jefferson Pilot) I was wondering if we were going to have a repeat of last years Marshall game at times with the storm clouds looming, but they never really hit. The Mountaineers moved to 3-0 on the season and get ready for our first Big XII game next week against Baylor.

The Steelers play this afternoon at 4:00. We missed last weeks game when we were coming back from vacation, so we'll try to catch as much of this one as possible.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Once again here I sit in a quiet household. I'm the only one up as everyone else is in dreamland sleeping the night away with the exception of me. I've always been an early riser so that's really nothing new.

It's game day once again here in Morgantown. The Maryland Terrapins will be here at noon today for an early kickoff for the days events. The Mountaineers are 3-0 and lead by the current Heisman Trophy favorite Geno Smith and the Air Raid passing offense. This will be the first home game in three weeks as we were off two weeks ago and played James Madison in DC last week. I'm sure the tailgaters are getting ready to line up and there will be people with "I need tickets" signs everywhere.

I did get a chance to work on Mom's computer this week. It was slowed down terribly and she loves to surf the net, so I had two options. One was to optimize it and clean it up, but that could have taken a few days and two just reformat it and make it like new again. I chose to just reformat it so I could get it back to her in the shortest amount of time. I took it back last night, I'm sure she was happy to get back on Facebook.

The new iPhone 5 released yesterday. I stopped by the local AT&T store for a co-worker to let him know how many people were in line. at 6:45 I counted 15 people at this one, David said by the time the store opened the line was around the store. He's having his shipped to him today from Chicago and he was there to get one for his brother. He asked me to get a status update of the line for him when I went to work so he knew what he was in for. He had talked about camping out at 3:00 to get one for his brother (he has a 64 GB coming in today from Chicago).

All three local High Schools won last night in High School football action.

Let's Go Mountaineers.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Looking for a little bit of High School Football action? The undefeated University High Hawks at 4-0 travel to Parkersburg to take on Parkersburg South this evening. Morgantown coming off a loss last week to Martinsburg hosts Anacosta from DC and undefeated Clay Battelle is at home to take on St. Johns Ohio.

I got my IOS 6 for my iPhone. I won't be getting the iPhone 5 until next month, that's when Michelle will be eligible for hers and I'll just wait until then to get the new phones. I have to say I was NOT impressed with IOS 6. I think they took a huge step backwards with the mapping program and AT&T blocked Facetime unless you change your plan. Lot's of disappointment I have to say. Steve Jobs would never have allowed that release to go out like this, the mapping is absolute junk.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to look back through all of my pictures that I have stored and find just one picture to write about. Sometimes it's easy to find one, and sometimes it's not so easy. It is however always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture is the end of an era. I have played softball at BOPARC for better than a quarter century. It was one thing that I always looked forward to and loved to play.

This weeks picture is actually from my last game that I ever played. I had singled in my last at bat and had made it to third base by the time this picture was taken. I don't remember if I scored or not, but this was the end for me. My last bat, my last game and the start of my retirement from softball.

I was lucky and was able to play on some very good teams through the years and I played on some not so good teams as well. I loved all the years, games and teams I played on and against. I was able to create a number of memories that will last me a lifetime playing a sport I loved.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well the first two days of this week are over with, at least for all of you who have worked all week. Now if you look over the lunchtime hump you can see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance.

Well we finally did make it back to work yesterday, and we both seemed to have survived the return from vacation. I did learn that I am signed up for some training on Columbus Day which is a Federal Holiday. It's part of the WVAGP training session that is going on at WVU and our boss paid for our training if we were members of the WVAGP.

We tried to make our favorite dessert from the cruise last night. Carnival makes a Warm Chocolate Melting Cake  that we both really fell in love with. When we got back into town we immediately went out and purchased a nice set of ramekins to make the cake with.

Weather permitting this morning, it;s going to be a cardio day and my first lift in two weeks.

Hi ho hi ho