Tuesday's Tidbits

* Three day weekend is over with, now it's back to my normal job and that grindstone after a weekend of working and traveling.

* It has been 20,037 days since my reported birth, by my calculation and using my patented 938 day calendar, that should make me 21 years old by my calculations or 54 by these old antiquated calendar's.

* It has been 5,252 days since I graduated from WVU, true story all these years later I still dream that I'm going to miss a final and not graduate. It's not like I barely got by, I was both Gamma Theta Upsilon and Gamma Beta Phi and just missed Cum Laude.

* 3,867 days ago Michelle and I went out on a date. You know every day is the first day of the rest of your life, never so much for me as that day when she came into my life.

* 3,084 days ago I proposed to Michelle.

* It was 2,614 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife.

* I have now lived 247 days longer than my Dad did, and I'm appreciating every minute of it.

* I have 4,802 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, or at least start doing something else with my life other than working. I'm sure I'll pick up a meaningful hobby by then, and I'm sure it will have a geospatial element to it.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 1,439 days away. I'm ready to whoop some Panther butt.

* There are 301 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Eighth Wedding Anniversary together. We've been together about 10 1/2 at this point.

* There are 176 days until the next start of my favorite season, Spring 2019. I like Summer as well, it's just that springtime is something special to me.

* 123 more days until Groundhog Day, I did see Phil last week when I was cutting grass. I think he's mad that all the apples from the apple tree have magically disappeared (or he ate them all).

* 83 more days to go until my Goodbye 2018 Blog is posted, the blog that is my last blog of the year and recaps the previous year.

* There are 76 more shopping days left until Christmas. It's time to start planning and start preparing, I was actually joking with a WalMart employee and wondered if they had their St Patricks days stuff out yet.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 53 more days. I think this will be the 34th anniversary of that birthday using the antiquated calendar that most people use.

* I have written 5,403 blogs in my 14 full years now of writing this little piece of my life on the internet.

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm slacking on that aspect of my flight time. I'm running out of season to fly. I'm such a slacker.

* I hate to mention this, but I do hate snow. sorry snowy weather is not my kind of weather.

* My presentation for next week is mostly done, now I just need to finalize it and prepare giving it. Any bets whether I see Elvis in Las Vegas?

* Michelle's old partner in crime at BFS, as she refers to her, is currently on her very first cruise. She is on the Carnival Prided and Michelle and I could not be more happier for her.

* WVU Football is ranked #6 in both the Coaches and the AP Poll this week for Football. Our best ranking since October 2, 2012 when we were #5.

* I'm STILL converting some old VHS tapes to Digital Format for Trish. I really need to get back on this as I am such a procrastinator.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Columbus Day

On a Monday that I would normally be heading to the office, we get a chance to sit back and relax a little bit and extend our weekend one more day as we celebrate Columbus Day.

I'm not sure if the schools are out today, but it is a Federal Holiday and I know that our contract calls for us to be paid anytime the Feds take off, so I get the day off from the office.

Working for RTI today may be a different story, if I were going into the office today, I would not be going out and working this evening, but I may take advantage of some daylight hours today and try to get some lines opened up and hopefully get a few interviews. I usually work the local section two days during the work week and then work other sections on weekends, but that may change this week and next week is almost a pass as I'll be in Las Vegas. I have to finalize my presentation this week. I'm not real good at public speaking, so going a few thousand miles away to do it might take some of the pressure off...lol

Have yourselves a great day today

hi ho?

Sunday

Here I sit yet once again in the early AM, I'm up early once again and just had the Proposal on the TV and now it is silent (I streamed it). I'm sitting here collecting my thoughts for the day and trying to wake up.

I'm out once again today doing field work, I had a pretty decent day yesterday considering that there was a home Football game for WVU. Being so many people attend the games or work the games, it's kind of hard to find people at home while the Mountaineers are playing. Heading out of town once again and working the same section that I worked yesterday. It's a nice rural setting and so far everyone I have met have been really super friendly.

Speaking of the Mountaineers, they ran their record to 5-0 on the season and three teams that were ranked ahead of us lost. The Mountaineers beat the Kansas Jayhawks 38-22. We were a little off yesterday, turned the ball over a lot and got to the Red Zone and couldn't capitalize numerous times. Hopefully they will be ready this coming Saturday when they travel to Iowa State to play. It was a win though, despite being a 28 point favorite.

The Steelers play the early time slot today, I might put them on in the car as I'm working. This has already started out as a lackluster year. Hopefully they can get it all turned around today.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning, I'm waking up and collecting my thoughts for the day as there is nothing on on the TV behind me. I'm just waking up and starting to plan my day out.

Looking for some football today, well the West Virginia Mountaineers will be hosting Kansas today for their homecoming football game. Kickoff this will be at noon today and hopefully Coach Dana has the boys ready to go and they have not been looking at the polls giving themselves big heads. I think we should be fine though, but you never know.

Me, I'll be heading out this morning and working all day for RTI. I will be working away from Morgantown, so there will be some travel involved with me getting to my other segment. This is going to be the busiest quarter that I have had in 2018 as my first quarter was cut short due to illness, my second quarter had a segment that I completed in almost no time and last quarter I had one segment assigned to me before they re-assigned my second segment to me after the FI it had originally gone to could not work it. Hopefully I get some interviews today and can start generating some numbers.

Have yourselves a great day today and Let's Go Mountaineers

Hi ho hi o

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 and the start of a three day Federal Holiday Weekend.

Are you ready for some High School Football? The Morgantown Mohigans travel to Wheeling to take on the Wheeling Park Minutemen. The University High Hawks are also on the road traveling to Mountain Ridge, MD and Clay Battelle hosts Paden City out in Blacksville this evening. Good luck to all the Monongalia County teams this evening, hopefully they will run the slate.

Monday is Columbus Day, so it's a three day weekend away from my normal job, I'm still preparing a presentation that I have to give in two weeks in Las Vegas. I'll be traveling to St Louis once again this year for certification with RTI in January, so still have a couple more trips planned for this year. This time however it's going to be on your dime as opposed to mine. Vagas and St Louis will both be Government travel.

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 and look through some of the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet through the years and find one special picture that stands out. Little lost moments in time from yesterday caught with a Cameras lens and relived right here in my blog. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that one special picture and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it consistently is however is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes back at least 21 years (Since I am 21 years old) to a time when  I was just a young one. Yes that little cutie was in fact the author of this blog and I was sitting up on my Grandpa Hall's knee.

This had to have been the old house down in Van Voorhis that we had, so I would put this picture sometime around the mid 1960's and pretty much prior to any of my known memories. I have no idea what I have in my hand, it almost looks as if it was a belt or something that I was playing with.

Just a random picture from yesteryear, one that has always been very dear to my heart.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

The Oops I forgot blog

As I was just jumping out of the shower this morning and trying to run down through my mind what day it is and my agenda for the day, I had realized that I had not pre-written a blog to post for today. Oopsie on my part is all I can say.

Today Michelle is going to be at the energy expo here in Morgantown pretty much all day. She was running around yesterday trying to set up for it, now today is the expo and representing Xtreme Labor Solutions on the day. To look at the jobs they have available, check here.

I was going to go out and work for RTI this evening, but my Morgantown section is primarily students and they are all in the middle of mid term examinations. I have a number of pending interviews, but no one has any availability so I'm waiting till next week to restart this section. I will be traveling this weekend to work my other section.

I managed to get the grass cut yesterday after work, it has rained a great deal plus we went on vacation, so it was a little high to say the least. I used Jim's Zero turn mower as opposed to my push mower and knocked it out in no time at all.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

*  The marathon of days working is off to a great start, can't think of any better reason than that other than it is Tuesday to do a tidbits.

* It has been 20,030 days since my reported birth, by my calculation and using my patented 938 day calendar, that should make me 21 years old by my calculations or 54 by these old antiquated calendar's.

* It has been 5,245 days since I graduated from WVU, one of the two smartest decisions I have made in my life. Seems like only yesterday.

* 3,860 days ago Michelle and I went out on a date, a date that changed both of our lives from that point on.

* 3,077 days ago I kind of asked Michelle if she wanted to get herself officially hitched up with me. She said yes and we started planning a wedding.

* It was 2,607 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife. Jean prepared a feast and we all ate like kings.

* I have now lived 240 days longer than my Dad did, and I'm appreciating every minute of it.

* I have 4,809 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, or at least start doing something else with my life other than working. A long time co-worker hung it all up this past Friday and retired.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 1,446 days away. I'm ready to whoop some Panther butt.

* There are 308 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Eighth Wedding Anniversary together. We've been together about 10 1/2 at this point.

* There are 183 days until the next start of my favorite season, Spring 2019. It has just always been my favorite season, it's like the earth is blossoming and awakening from a too long winters nap.

* 130 more days until Groundhog Day, I haven't seen my buddy Phil as of late. Maybe it's because he's eaten all of the apples.

* 90 more days to go until my Goodbye 2018 Blog is posted, the blog that is my last blog of the year and recaps the previous year.

* There are 83 more shopping days left until Christmas. It's time to start planning and start preparing, I'm seeing Merchants are getting ready.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 60 more days. I think this will be the 34th anniversary of that birthday using the antiquated calendar that most people use.

* I have written 5,396 blogs in my 14 full years now of writing this little piece of my life on the internet.

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm slacking on that aspect of my flight time. I'm running out of season to fly. I'm such a slacker.

* I hate to mention this, but I do hate snow. sorry snowy weather is not my kind of weather.

* Next trip I need to start preparing for my trip to Las Vegas in a few weeks. Gotta do a presentation on 3M Marker Balls that you place into the ground to track where utilities are located.

* Gary and Tonya both attended and worked the Trump rally in Wheeling this past weekend. Not sure if they got close to him, but I know she was working the VIP section.

* Michelle's Aunt has turned over the keys to GiGi's house to the new buyer, they spent this past weekend clearing the house out of all of its possessions and will auction off the remaining items in the very near future. She is 97 years old and still in good physical shape, she just needs a little daily assistance.

* I'm STILL converting some old VHS tapes to Digital Format for Trish. I really need to get back on this as I am such a procrastinator.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Ready Set Go

Well so much for the relaxation and fun, now starts a 30+ day period for me where I will be working every day at either one job or the other. It's time to stick our noses onto the grindstone and head out and start the 4th quarter with RTI and start another week of work at NETL.

I will be heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks to do a presentation on 3M Marker Balls and how we use them and more importantly how we have brought them into a Spatially enabled database. I get to get up in front of a bunch of people I don't know on the other side of this continent and do it in sin city. I've started my presentation, but I need to add content and prepare it as the presentation date draws closer.

I still have vacation pictures and videos that I need to take off my cameras and upload to Facebook. I'll try to get to that one day this week, hopefully a day where I am only working one job. I didn't take a lot of pictures or videos on the actual camera this year, took most of my pictures on the iPhone and uploaded them to Facebook as I was taking them.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit on a quiet Sunday Morning, not sure what is playing on the boob tube behind me as I'm still kind of waking up. I'm collecting my thoughts on the day and trying to plan out the week ahead. Michelle made it home safe last night and is in the bedroom snoozing away.

WVU managed to hang on to beat Texas Tech yesterday 42-34. We were unstoppable in the first quarter and kind of stuck it on cruise control at that point and especially in the second half. We did manage to hang on for the win running our record to 4-0 on the season. The Mountaineers are at home next week hosting the University of Kansas.

Our plans for the day are to do our grocery shopping this morning and then head over to Amanda and Joey's for a cookout this afternoon. As summer has left us and as we enter fall, this is probably one of the last cookouts that we will be going to this summer, but you never know.

This is also my last day off until probably November (no joke). A new quarter kicks off tomorrow with RTI meaning new doors to know on and new people to meet.

Have yourselves a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet  household, Michelle is back in East Liverpool for a yard sale of her Grandmother (Gigi's) home as they are trying to clear the house out since it has been sold. It's just me and the legendary Peanut who appear to be awake.

Would you believe that this is my first live blog in a few weeks. I pre-write my blogs to post during the work week and do live ones on weekends, however the past couple of weekends have been set aside for vacation travel. It feels pretty good to wake up and write one of these as it is being published. It has been a while.

Well my first whole week of work after returning from vacation is over with. It was a pretty busy week to say the least,  I did get my new GPS, this thing is absolutely amazing and has so many options. This is a computer that does it all with sub-centimeter accuracy, it is pretty amazing now I just have to learn how to use it. We have a trainer coming in the week after I get back from Las Vegas.

OK on to todays plans, the Mountaineers play Texas tech at Noon. This is probably my last Saturday off for a while, so I am going to enjoy this game as we're getting ready for our final quarter of the year doing field work with RTI. I plan on enjoying the game today as I get a few chores done around the house. No major excitement on this end.

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.

Looking for a little High School Football? Well the Morgantown Mohigans are home and play host to undefeated Musselman. University High is at home and will be taking on St. Albans at their home field. The Cee Bees of Clay Battelle are taking their show on the road when they travel to Calhoun County to play them. It is Homecoming for the Mohigans and Morgantown. Michelle is heading up north this evening, so I might just pop on over later on to see the Alma Mater play a game.

They are closing on Michelle's Grandmother's (GiGi) house very soon, so they are getting together tomorrow to clean the place out to prepare it for the new buyer. I know Michelle is going up for that, she talked about leaving this afternoon to head up, hence why I might make a trip to Pony Lewis this evening weather permitting.

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 and look through some of the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet through the years and find one special picture that stands out. Little lost moments in time from yesterday caught with a Cameras lens and relived right here in my blog. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that one special picture and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it consistently is however is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes all the way back to a time in the not so distant future, actually it was just last Friday and we were going to our second formal night on the Carnival Pride. We had taken a series of formal pictures, but I seemed to like this on the most out of all the ones that we had taken.

It was a great trip and a great vacation, this lovely lady and I had a great time. This picture was the first formal night that I did not wear a suite jacket and only the shirt and tie.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Two days down, two more ahead of us, now I guess we just have to get up and over this noon time hump as we are working towards another fun filled weekend.

OK I have to confess, this is the first real blog that I have written in a few weeks. I had pre-written all of my blogs from last week and the week before as we prepared to go on vacation as well as a few for this week. I knew that life would be a little hectic both at work and at home once we got back and I just prepared for it. I've got a new quarter starting for RTI on Monday so life is about to get very busy to say the least.

I have to say that we had a wonderful vacation, didn't have any weather issues at all until we hit a little bit of colder weather and rain when we returned to Baltimore. It was clear skies and smooth sailing the whole week for us and the rest of the crew on the Carnival Pride.

The highlight of our vacation was visiting Mark and being treated to an absolute feast of steamed Maryland Crabs the night before we left Baltimore on our cruise. I think we are all going to try to plan a group cruise sometime in the near future. Some of the best people we have ever met in my lifetime, it was an honor to have dinner with everyone.

OK, ranting about the cruise in the middle of the week. I'm allowed.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

*  Vacation is behind us, we've already spent a swamped day at work responding to the 50,000 emails that we got when we were away, good reason to do the first tidbits in three weeks.

* It has been 20,023 days since my reported birth, by my calculation and using my patented 938 day calendar, that should make me 21 years old by my calculations or 54 by these old antiquated calendar's. Woo Hoo I topped the 20,000 plateau

* It has been 5,238 days since I graduated from WVU, one of the two smartest decisions I have made in my life.

* 3,853 days ago Michelle and I went out for dinner and a movie, the night my changed for the better forever.

* 3,070 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed to Michelle, 4:00 in the morning right in the back yard.

* It was 2,600 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife.

* I have now lived 233 days longer than my Dad did, and I'm appreciating every minute of it.

* I have 4,816 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, or at least start doing something else with my life other than working.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 1,453 days away. The Mountaineers beat Tennessee's butt this past weekend.

* There are 315 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Eighth Wedding Anniversary together. We've been together about 10 1/2.

* There are 190 days until the next start of my favorite season, Spring 2019. Although I am happy that Football season is getting here.

* 137 more days until Groundhog Day, Phil has still been hanging around eating our Apples. I'm even tossing him some of my red delicious for him to eat.

* 97 more days to go until my Goodbye 2018 Blog is posted, the blog that is my last blog of the year and recaps the previous year. I'm down to double digit numbers.

* There are 90 more shopping days left until Christmas. It's time to start planning and start preparing.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 67 more days. I think this will be the 34th anniversary of that birthday using the antiquated calendar that most people use.

* I have written 5,389 blogs in what is now my 14 years of being a Blogger. Amazing I have stayed with it that long.

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm slacking on that aspect of my flight time. I'm running out of season to fly. I'm such a slacker.

* I hate to mention this, but I do hate snow. sorry snowy weather is not my kind of weather.

* Would you believe that since my tidbits blog is the most time consuming of the week, I am actually writing this blog on September 10th? I've got every blog written up to and including this one by that date.

* Next trip I need to start preparing for my trip to Las Vegas in a few weeks. Gotta do a presentation on 3M Marker Balls that you place into the ground to track where utilities are located.

* I'll be off this coming weekend, but starting Monday I start another quarter for RTI and my time will be consumed for a while.

* Stay tuned for tomorrows blog, it will be the first one written around the time of publication since the weekend before my cruise...LOL

* I'm STILL converting some old VHS tapes to Digital Format for Trish. I really need to get back on this as I am such a procrastinator.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work

All good things must come to an end, and that statement sucks just that much more when you are coming back from a week of being pampered and traveling to exotic places in the Caribbean. Now it's time for life to get busy once again as I prepare my post vacation work week.

I don't want to imagine how many emails I am going to have to go through today, I know probably a few hundred that are work related and probably a thousand of better in my personal e-mail account.

I have a kickoff meeting tomorrow with RTI for the next quarter and we've been running around since we got back yesterday getting everything done that needed to get done. I'm still in vacation mode for the time being. Let me enjoy it.

Have a great day.

Oh No Oh No

Happy Birthday Kaiden Dalton

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Great-Nephew Kaiden Dalton a very Happy Birthday today. He is a growing boy and is definitely starting to catch up to me in age, give it another 11+ more years and he'll pass me up in age.

Kaiden is a very good and well behaved young man and it is actually an honor to be around him. Amy and Ralph had a little birthday party at one of the local hotels yesterday, but Michelle and I were busy coming back into the country and doing everything around the house that wasn't done for the week.

Not sure what Kaiden is up to today, other than working towards his Doctorate in Theoretical Physics or something like that (yeah I know it's early), but if you happen to see Kaiden today, make sure you wish him the Happiest of Birthdays.

Happy Birthday Kaiden.

Debarkation Day

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

We will be debarking today, I might even have cell phone service by the time this posts. We should be pulling back into the port of Baltimore between 7:00 and 8:00 this morning and then debarking and going through customs before we jump back in the car and head towards Morgantown.

This is the culmination of our sixth cruise, we now have 42 days at sea each and well on our way to Platinum Status with all the real perks. We should be back in Morgantown this evening, and back in the office first thing tomorrow morning.

A Return Day at Sea

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

This is our third and final day at sea on the ship. We are moving up the Atlantic Coast and should be pulling into Baltimore tomorrow morning. Today is the day of big sales, when they dump all their excess cheap merchandise and people fight over the trinkets that you could easily buy on Ebay.

Sadly tonight will also be our send off dinner in the main dining room, this is the night I tip all of our waitstaff a $20 and thank them for the great service. It's also the night when you get back to your room and start packing your bags and preparing your own food. It's the saddest evening of any cruise, the last one.

Freeport Bahamas

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

Today we hit our third and final Port of Call as we visit Freeport in the Bahamas. This is the port of call when we usually get off the boat and do our shopping. Right at the Port is where all of the locals set up to sell their wares. One thing we always buy from this port is a Christmas Ornament made out of Sea Shells made by the same lady. Her name is Queenie and she does some fabulous work.

After we pull out of this port, we'll be starting our journey up the coastline and returning to Baltimore. Tonight also is the second formal night of the cruise in the main dining room. We will once again get dressed up and eat dinner, no lobster on the menu this evening though.