Sunday

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household. I'm up and watching Billy Madison, but am going to lay back down very shortly. My co-author is still observing her work stoppage and it looks as though we got the snowstorm that everyone was anticipating already. I can see snow on the ground and state road trucks driving by. 

Today is a little bittersweet for me, I finish up my contractual commitment through RTI to do contact tracing in the state of Massachusetts. I trained in mid-December to prepare them for the Holiday period surge that they were experiencing and we worked them through it and have it back to being manageable by their in-house staff. I can't say that I have not enjoyed it because I have and it did pay pretty well, so no complaints from me. It all comes to a close today. I'm still working for RTI and will be going back to preparing for the NSDUH study over the next few weeks. I'll recertify and have some online training that I will have to complete first. 

Michelle was kind enough to run out and do our grocery shopping last night, big snowstorm is due to hit us so she wisely got those chores done yesterday, leaving this morning pretty much open other than gathering up the trash and sorting my pills for the week. Sundays have been my roughest days as I have to get up early to get all the chores done before I have to report to do the contact tracing at 11:30. Michelle has done the shopping a couple of times for me on Sundays, I was a little under the weather once and yesterday because of the anticipated weather so to speak. 

Have yourselves a great day today, make it memorable. 

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ranmblings

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, I woke up early to drain the bladder and plan on laying back down. I've got the King of Staton Island playing in the background as I wait for my co-author to end her work stoppage and come and assist me once again. I thought negotiations were going pretty well. 

I start my final two days of doing contact tracing today and tomorrow. I thought they may extend us and even hoped so, but that was not to be and we have completed our contract with Partners in Health as of tomorrow. We worked through the Holiday surge and helped them get through the large influx of numbers. I will say I will kind of miss it, it was fun interacting with people and not worrying about someone slamming a door in your face. 

Other than that Michelle was a little under the weather yesterday. She wasn't feeling good from the moment that she woke up. I've got her coffee pot all set up and all she had to do was grind her beans yesterday and turn it on, but she must not have felt well enough last night to do that as there are no ground beans in the basket. 

No plans for the day other than working, so have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho                                       

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward 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.

You know all those years ago when my dad was alive and working in the Coal Mines, did you ever think he had the first inclination that when he had to empty his bladder that someone would take a camera down there and grab a picture of him relieving himself? On top of that, that years later his own son who owns a digital copy of that image would post it on on something called the internet and gets a worldwide audience to be potentially seen by millions. Personally, I think he was just happy to drain the bladder....lol

It is the second day of my weekend so to speak, my workweek concluded on Wednesday evening and will begin again tomorrow morning at around 11:30. Although with the end of the month of January it also sees the end of my time being contracted to PIH and the end of my time as a contact tracer during a surge. We could still be extended, but RTI has plans for me to be re-certified this month remotely to go back out and work for them on the NSDUH study for 2021. 

So what are my plans for my last day off? Not much, running to the laundromat to dry clothes, but other than that it's just going to be my typical boring day off. Maybe I'll hang out with Peanut and Kiwi. 

Have yourselves a great day, enjoy the start of your weekend. 

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned, or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes back well over 10 years, it was back to a time even before Michelle and I were married. We had went to the party store in Morgantown to buy some supplies for the upcoming Jimmy Buffett concert that we were planning on attending. 

I saw this milk carton and put it on my head, and Michelle grabbed this moment in time that if it had not been captured with a camera would have been forgotten about. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is now completed and we are staring at a Tuesday, time for another tidbits. 

* It has been 20,878 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new and improved 991 day Calender. I prefer my calendar.

* It has been 6,099 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. 

* 4,696 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, has it really been 12 3/4 years. 

* 3,925 days ago I proposed to Michelle, 4:00 in the morning in the back yard. Best decision I have ever made.

* It was 3,447 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife and then feasted with all of our guests. 

* I have now lived 1,087 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. 

* I have 4,019 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there.

* The next Backyard Brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 585 days away. I think I started this countdown with about 2,500 days. 

* 339 more days to go until my Goodbye 2021 Blog is posted, I have a whole year to make a better one that in 2020. 

* There are 333 more shopping days left until Christmas 2021. 

* The next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 309 more days. 

* There are 192 days until Michelle and I head to Pittsburgh to see Reba in concert. It was postponed this March to July and now they are pushing the tour until next year. It'll be my and Michelle's 10th wedding anniversary.

* There are 192 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Tenth  Wedding Anniversary together. =)

* There are only 56 days until the start of Spring 2021!!!!! My favorite season of the year. 

* 7 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day. I haven't seen my friend for a couple of weeks, I wonder if he moved. 

* I have written 6,290 blogs in the now 16+ years since I started blogging. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, hopefully, I can get a few flights in this spring. 

* Still doing my contact tracing, you know with such a strange schedule your days seem to run together. 11:30 is too early to really get into anything and 8:00 is kind of late to go and do anything. Not complaining though. 

*  The Super Bowl is set, the Tampa Bay Bucs are the first team to be the host team and play in the game. Tom Brady is set to play in his 10th Super Bowl against the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. 

* It looks like I will start training for fieldwork for RTI in mid-February, so my time as a contact tracer will be coming to an end after this weekend. 

* Not sure if I have ever mentioned it before on my blog, but I Hate Snow. Don't even like it a little bit.  

* Corona Virus, you can still track it as it is now starting to pick up steam and the numbers are increasing. 

* We're now Orange for COVID for Monongalia County, although most of the rest of the state is red you can track the state stats HERE. 

* 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.  

Monday

Once again that dreaded thing that many of you traditional workweek people call Monday is once again upon us. It's time to get up, get out and make a difference in this world we live in. Many of you are just putting your noses on the grindstone to begin your week, and some of us this is like a Wednesday as we are halfway through. 

My contact tracing work should be completed by this time next week unless of course, they extend us longer than they originally contracted RTI for. I should hear something within the next week if they decide to extend our contract or if we have fulfilled our obligation. RTI has its own contracts to worry about, so I would say that more than anything else will dictate whether we are extended or not. There is no St Louis trip this year and certifications will be done online for the first time, but I have no schedule for that at this time. I think everyone is waiting until the last possible moment to determine what happens, welcome to the world of Government Contracting...lol

Hopefully Michelle will be hearing something this week one way or another, we really thought she was going to hear something Thursday or Friday, but that's not how it played out. Keep your fingers crossed. This is a position she really wants. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit on a quiet Sunday morning, I'm up early and still in negotiations with my co-author Peanut to come back to work and help me write these weekend blogs. I'm out here watching Revenge of the Nerds and collecting my thoughts for the day

Our plans for the day are simple, we're running out to do our weekly grocery shopping this morning, then returning home and do our normal Sunday morning chores that we do pretty much every Sunday. Garbage, sorting pills, bills, etc. before I head out to work later this morning. 

The Mountaineer Men's Basketball team rebounded from their long COVID layoff by beating Kansas State at Kansas State 69-47. Surprisingly this team seems to be playing a little better since our McDonald's All-American decided he was going to transfer to Kentucky. Fairmont native Jalen Bridges has been a very pleasant surprise after losing Oscar and then Noah Cottrill to an injury a few weeks ago. We might be a better team that looks more fluid now, but we;ll see how that all plays out down the road. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho
 

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a quiet household once again, my co-author and I are still in negotiations over her contract so she is still on a work stoppage. I'm out here all alone trying to come up with some new snd original content for you the reader while still trying to temporarily wake up. One can safely wager I'm going back to sleep once this is written. 

I hope everyone enjoys the start of their weekend, mine is over with and it's time for me to get back at it for the next five days doing contact tracing. They just pushed out a new software upgrade on Wednesday evening, so today will be my first day working with the new interface. They only made two big changes, so this shouldn't be complexing to learn before I get started.

The WVU Men's Basketball team is on the road today after having last played January 9th and having to reschedule three games because of COVID and Contact Tracing (no I didn't do it). Hopefully they are no too rusty today as they travel to Manhatten Kansas to take on Kansas State today at 4:00. I of course will be busy working, so everyone will have to watch and yell at the TV screen for me. 

What did I do with my day off yesterday, Netflix released the second season of Blown Away on Netflix and I spent a few hours watching the entire season. I watched the first season over this past summer. It's when 10 glassblowers and artists compete each week to create something unique out of glass with one contestant being eliminated each week until there is only one standing. In Van Voorhis I lived across from a glass plant, my next-door neighbor growing up owned a glass plant and Morgantown used to be known for it's glass once upon a time, so the show was a bit of an interest to me. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward 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. 

For me it is the end of my weekend, my two day weekend is Thursday and Friday, but everyone else has that traditional workweek. 

We did get a lot of our old Friday shopping done yesterday, made a trip to Rural King to buy some more food for all of Michelle's outdoor friends. We still have a number of deer, Turkeys, Squirrels, and a slew of birds who stop here on a daily basis. Then it was Walmart and Sam's to pick up a few things then we ventured on home. 

We have a few more chores to do today, and we'll wrap that all up before I head back to work tomorrow morning. As of press time, I still have no big announcements to make, but that can quickly change.

There was an announcement this past week about some news stores that will be coming into Westridge. Menards is ready to open next month, Bass Pro Shops is planning on building if they haven't already started. This past week Homegoods, Ross Dress for Less, Burlington, Shoe Carnival, and Petsmart have all officially announced that they will be taking up space in Westridge. It'll be exciting to see so many of these news stores arrive in the area, with them being on the internet, I can see Westridge turning into a shopping mecca. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned, or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been is a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes back to the late 1970's here in Morgantown, it was a time when it appears the football stadium was still under construction, Ruby Memorial was years away and I still lived with my grandmother in our house where she lived until she passed away. That house is indicated with a small red circle on the picture. 

If you look closely at the bottom of the picture, just above the parking lot, you can see the last remaining remnants of the old Mountaineer Golf Course. That was where the 8th hole was located. I actually was caddying for former WVU Baseball Coach Steve Harrick back then and I saw him just miss a hole in one on that hole by just a couple of inches. 

Have yourselves a great day today, it is also the start of my weekend. 

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is now completed and we are staring at a Tuesday, time for a tidbits. 

* It has been 20,871 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new and improved 991 day Calender. I prefer my calendar.

* It has been 6,092 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. 

* 4,689 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, has it really been 12 3/4 years. 

* 3,918 days ago I proposed to Michelle, 4:00 in the morning in the back yard. Best decision I have ever made.

* It was 3,440 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife and then feasted with all of our guests. 

* I have now lived 1,080 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. Although we have lost the first sibling with Jonathan passing. 

* I have 4,026 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there.

* The next Backyard Brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 592 days away. I think I started this countdown with about 2,500 days. 

* 346 more days to go until my Goodbye 2021 Blog is posted, I have a whole year to make a better one that in 2020. 

* There are 340 more shopping days left until Christmas 2021. 

* The next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 316 more days. 

* There are 199 days until Michelle and I head to Pittsburgh to see Reba in concert. It was postponed this March to July and now they are pushing the tour until next year. It'll be my and Michelle's 10th wedding anniversary.

* There are 199 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Tenth  Wedding Anniversary together. =)

* There are only 63 days until the start of Spring 2021!!!!! My favorite season of the year. 

* 14 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day. I haven't seen my friend for a couple of weeks, I wonder if he moved. 

* I have written 6,283 blogs in the now 16+ years since I started blogging. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, hopefully, I can get a few flights in this spring. 

* Still doing my contact tracing, you know with such a strange schedule your days seem to run together. 11:30 is too early to really get into anything and 8:00 is kind of late to go and do anything. Not complaining though. 

*  Tomorrow is inauguration day, Joe Biden is officially the President of the United States at noon tomorrow.

* Happy 50th Birthday to my Brother in Law Nick. You made it brother, welcome to the AARP age. 

* Not sure if I have ever mentioned it before on my blog, but I Hate Snow. Don't even like it a little bit.  

* Corona Virus, you can still track it as it is now starting to pick up steam and the numbers are increasing. 

* We're now Orange for COVID for Monongalia County, although most of the rest of the state is red you can track the state stats HERE. 

* 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.  

Martin Luther King Jr Day

Today we as a nation take some time out to celebrate the short life of Martin Luther King Jr, the civil rights leader who was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. We as a Nation use his day to commemorate his life, it is a Federal Holiday and so Banks and Post Offices will be closed as well as any Federal Offices. 

For me, I'm back at it once again on what would be considered my hump day for the week doing contact tracing. We have been at this pretty hot and heavy for over a month and they are still bringing new Contact Tracers on, however I'm pretty sure our contract expires at the end of January and the contract says there could be work beyond that date. I think RTI was waiting to see about our field work and how the COVID situation is playing out as to whether it is safe to go back into the field or not. I honestly look to get extended doing the contact tracing, but that's just my humble opinion. 

Keeping my fingers crossed for Michelle the next couple of days, more will be revealed if it comes through. No intention of jinxing anything. 

I hope everyone has a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, I had to wake up to use the restroom and suck down an Alka-seltzer from last nights wings we had for dinner. I'm out here with the Changeover on the boob tube behind me ready to go back to bed. Both Peanut and Sophie are on the table inquiring about cat treats, but I'm holding firm on my contract negotiations with my co-author. 

I'm working once again today doing my contact tracing, had a little bit of a hiccup yesterday as our Queue of work could not load the data dump and it pretty much sat empty most of the afternoon. I was off to a great day until the bottom pretty much dropped out of our accessible caseload. 

Mine and Michelle's plans for the day, we'll be doing our Sunday grocery shopping and chores as we do every Sunday. I think we have the week's meals planned out, so that is always nice to know when you go to the store. Although we plan our meals out every week and have done so for a number of years now. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm out here flying solo once again as Peanut is still in negotiations for her contract to by my co-author, her Attorney's are playing hardball and are making negotiations pretty difficult. I'll try to do my best without her. Not sure what is playing on the TV as I'm laying back down as soon as I write this. 

My plans for the day will be to start another week of doing Contact Tracing, I think I'm starting to get pretty good at this although we are starting our last two weeks unless we are extended beyond January 30. We were brought in to work the surge and we're doing a pretty good job of it however, it is a State Funded project, and that short-term contract is probably going to be winding down here in 14 days for our staff. 

I think Danni and Roy are coming into town this weekend to help Michelle and Chris celebrate their birthdays yesterday. Michelle will have to fly solo on that one if there are any dinner plans as my work schedule is from 11:30 - 8:00 every day. Hayley did surprise Michelle with delivery from Edible Arrangements yesterday It caught her off guard and she wasn't expecting that. I personally thought she was getting suspicious as I knew it was coming and changed the batteries of both the doorbell down here and at the door. 

Have yourselves a great day today, enjoy your weekend as much as I just enjoyed mine. 

Hi ho hi ho

It's a Happy Birthday Michelle Dawn Hall Birthday

 This is not your typical Friday, it's a very special one to me and my wife. Today, my lovely wife along with her Sister Chris (they are not twins) celebrate their birthdays. Danni and Roy are planning on coming down some time this weekend so we will all probably take a trip out for dinner someplace. 

Michelle and Chris are both two very special ladies in my life, Michelle is the apple of my eye and my soulmate, it's hard to believe that we have been together what will be coming on 13 years in a couple of months. She has been my rock-solid foundation and I want to take this opportunity to not only tell her I love her with all my heart, but also a very Happy Birthday today. We have been trying the last couple of days to teach Kiwi to say Happy Birthday, but he has his own aviary agenda. 

Also celebrating a birthday today is Michelle's sister Chris, who is 5 years and 1 minute older. Chris is one amazing Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Teacher, Spiritual Guide, and just an all-around amazing person. I am a very lucky man to have such a sister in law. 

There may be some more good news, but as of presstime of me writing this blog it has not been finalized. This would be very good news for Michelle and her job search. She's been through two interviews and they emailed her their entire benefit package, so this could be some good birthday news coming very soon. 

Happy Birthday to both Michelle and Chris, two very special ladies in my life. 

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned, or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been is a whole lot of fun.

This week's pic goes back to last Summer, my weekend co-author negotiated into her contract that I need to show more pictures of her when Peanut was living large in the back yard. She loves her Meoutside time and I grabbed this pic one day when I was shooting pics of all of Michelle's backyard friends. 

Peanut really likes to go outside and during the winter when leaving the door open all day is not an option, she sits in the window or by the back door pretty much all day watching what is going on outside. 

Peanut is specially trained to thwart off any Rhinoceros attacks that we could suffer from. She is a kitty ninja and takes her job very seriously as we have yet to see the first Rhinoceros in the back yard.

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is not completed, my Steelers are out of the NFL Playoffs, let's still do a Tidbits

* It has been 20,864 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new and improved 991 day Calender. I prefer my calendar.

* It has been 6,085 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. 

* 4,682 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, has it really been 12 3/4 years. 

* 3,909 days ago I proposed to Michelle, 4:00 in the morning in the back yard. Best decision I have ever made.

* It was 3,433 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife and then feasted with all of our guests. 

* I have now lived 1,073 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. Although we have lost the first sibling with Jonathan passing. 

* I have 4,033 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there.

* The next Backyard Brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 599 days away. I think I started this countdown with about 2,500 days. 

* 353 more days to go until my Goodbye 2021 Blog is posted, I have a whole year to make a better one that in 2020. 

* There are 347 more shopping days left until Christmas 2021. 

* The next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 323 more days. 

* There are 206 days until Michelle and I head to Pittsburgh to see Reba in concert. It was postponed this March to July and now they are pushing the tour until next year. It'll be my and Michelle's 10th wedding anniversary.

* There are 206 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Tenth  Wedding Anniversary together. =)

* There are only 70 days until the start of Spring 2021!!!!! My favorite season of the year. 

* 21 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day. I haven't seen my friend for a couple of weeks, I wonder if he moved. 

* I have written 6,276 blogs in the now 16+ years since I started blogging. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, hopefully, I can get a few flights in this spring. 

* I guess Apple and Android removed the Parler App and now Amazon has eliminated it from their servers after the attack on the Capital last week. Even the companies that own most of the talk radio outlets are ordering the affiliates to stop the election fraud rhetoric. 

*  Am I addicted, we have an Amazon Echo in the living room and an amazon Dot in the bedroom and another one in the bathroom. It's nice to go in there to do your business and you just have to say, "Alexa what's the news for the day" and it starts playing NPR headlines. I guess that is a change from the days of taking a newspaper in with you. 

* The contract tracing has been going well still, it's a heck of a lot different that people not wanting to talk to you like on my Field Interviewing job. 

* Not sure if I have ever mentioned it before on my blog, but I Hate Snow. Don't even like it a little bit.  

* Corona Virus, you can still track it as it is now starting to pick up steam and the numbers are increasing. 

* We're now Orange for COVID for Monongalia County, although most of the rest of the state is red you can track the state stats HERE. 

* 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.