Update on Val and Joshua

They were both allowed to come home today around noon. I called val and talked to her a few minutes and she is happy to be home. Joshua is doing fine and so is his mother.

Some Monday Tidbits.

* I'm hearing rumors that they are going to let Val and Joshua come home today. I'll give everyone the information when it comes available.

* For you dreamers out there, the Powerball will be $178 Million for Wed's drawing. Might be worth a little pocket change to take a chance and dream a little. A little advice though, don't go overboard on buying tickets. The odds are very astronomical to actually manage to hit all five numbers and the powerball, so if you have a 100 spare pennies laying around, it may be worth a ticket.

* We're scheduled to play our fourth game in three days tonight at 6:00. Let's see if this team bother showing up.

* Today is the start of High School Football. Morgantown High is currently on a 28 game winning streak and already have three kids that officially have D1 offers and I'm sure at least one more is coming. They should walk through a third consecutive season undefeated and win a third straight State Championship.

* Gary and Renee made a trip to Pittsburgh, Gary was going to buy a truck this weekend and they planned on going to Kennywood.

* Mountaineer and Steeler Football will be also be defending Championships this season.

* I'll leave you with a nice little Brad Paisley Video, watch the football scores at the bottom of the page.

Prime Thyme

It was a busy weekend, after Joshua arriving early Saturday morning it was (Prime) Thyme to turn my attention to softball for the weekend. This was the second of two rain out weekends Boparc had planed, we had two games scheduled last Saturday, but they rescheduled it to today without telling any of us last week.

The weekend started out with a double header yesterday evening, the 3:00 game against Town Hill never took place, Town Hill couldn't get enough players there and we won by forfeit, officially breaking an uncharacteristic three game losing streak on the season (we lost three games all last year). The 4:00 game against Nutty C's was played as scheduled and we actually returned to for scoring 22 runs and putting up win number two on the weekend.

After the game, a group of us went to our sponsors, Prime Thyme, and sat out on the deck and ate dinner. This is a great group of guys and I really enjoy being around them. Not only do we play softball together, but we have a fantasy baseball and a fantasy football league that we all compete against each other in.

IN to today and game three, and out final make up game that was rescheduled from last Saturday. The Brandon Snyder led Finish Line Motors decided they didn't want any part of this great team and gave us our second forfeit of the weekend. It would have been easier if they just forfeited last Saturday and got it over with.

So, we were 3-0 on the rainout schedule for the weekend and advanced our record to 13-4 on the season with another game tomorrow night at 6:00 against Chippy's, who coincidently forfeited the game after us this morning.

It was a good weekend.

Joshua Robert Nicholson

Born 12:53 AM
4 Lbs 14 oz
18 1/2 " Long

Happy Birthday Daniel Bell

I would like to take a few minutes out today and wish my Nephew Daniel a very happy 22nd birthday. Daniel is living in Kentucky with his wife and from the sounds of things is starting to get things turned around.

Happy Birthday Daniel.

Long Day

It's been a long day today, I ventured back to my office in Frostburg to see another hot day. I was once told that Frostburg has two seasons, 4th of July and Winter. The good news is that there wasn't an ounce of snow on the ground and it was actually quite warm. I rode up with a guy named Josh, we used to work together at the NRAC and he currently works on the Frostburg State Campus for the Bureau of mines doing their GIS work.

What's uppinings

* I'll venture to Frostburg again tomorrow for the day. It is probably going to be a nice long day, I am going to carpool up tomorrow with a friend of mine.

* Pam and George ordered a new computer a few weeks ago and they bought a new Dell. I guess they were having some problems with the monitor and Dell is going to send them a new one.

* I was going to play another Texas Hold Em tournament this weekend, but it looks like it's the rainout weekend for softball and I have three games scheduled between Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Hopefull we can get our groove back and snap a three game losing streak.

* I was talking to Jean this past weekend and she told me Amy and Ralphie ventured to the beach so Amy could get her feet wet. I think they have already returned.

* Moke went to Pittsburgh for his National Guard weigh in last week, he had lost 23 pound and needs to lose another three. I'm thinking he will be returning this weekend.

Another video ideas

As most of you know, I've created a few vidoes using pictures and video clips and putting them to music. The last one I did was last Christmas and I'm thinking it may have been long enough since my last creation. I'm looking for new ideas or a new concept and music to another one. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?

Ouch

Yesterday seemed to be a day of setbacks all day long. The day started out with a softball game against the team we were competing for first place against. Wow, talk about a complete disaster, I can't even start to talk about how bad we were in every aspect of the game. I think the final score was something like 22-3, but the score was closer than the game. We couldn't field, couldn't hit and gave a demonstration on how not to run the bases.

The day culminated later that night with a series of Texas Hold Em Tournaments. In the Big game I ended up going out by going all in with poclet aces against a King Five. The Flop, turn nor river never showed another Ace, however it did show another King and a five. We had a losers tournament while the large tournament was still going on, started with two tables, and I managed to lose that one. One final tournament showed me with an early chip lead and going all in with pocket nines. I just wasn't catching any breaks all night long, One hand I lost big after a High Flush draw off the flop to lose to a full house in the Big Tournament.

I've had better days..LOL



Of course I believe in luck. How otherwise to explain the success of some people you detest?--Jean Cocteau

Seven Years ago yesterday

There is an old saying that time heals all wounds, I don't know if I completely agree with that, but time does seem to ease the pain. Seven years ago yesterday we lost my Dad, and to be honest I would never have known it if it were my for my niece Val pointing it out in her BLOG yesterday. Like everyone else I still miss him and wish he could have been around to see a large series of events that have taken place since his passing. He has had four Grandchildren graduate from High School; Val, Amy Randy and Moke. One son graduate from College. One daughter get married, Kim. One grand daughter getting married, Val. The birth of a Great grand daughter, Erica and soon to be a great grand son, soon to be born Josh. One son finally getting his contractors license. One daughter and son in law building their own monster addition to their home. One daughter realizing a dream and opening up their own business and let's not forget what WVU athletics have done over the last seven years.

This family has seen good times and bad times. We have celebrated together with large feasts and have even had a small feud here and there.

George Edward Hall SR has left a very large legacy. A legacy of a large family who love one another. One that might not have all members always getting along, but we're working on it.

Every time I go to a family reunion and just see mountains of food, I'll always remember Dad and his cookouts. The ones that you went to and were handed two plates, one for your steak and the other for half of everything else. You had to go back for seconds to get the other items.

I think if he were here today he would have been gleaming with pride in the accomplishments that everyone has made in the last seven years.

I still see people from outside the immediate family who still speak of the man with great admiration. He was a man who welcomed everyone and always left a very lasting impression on them.

I am honored to be one of his offspring. We miss you Dad.

An article about an old employer

Customers Pan 'Healthy' Potato Chips

POSTED: 7:09 pm EDT July 20, 2006
UPDATED: 7:09 pm EDT July 20, 2006

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia's lone potato chip maker is scrapping its low-fat recipe after consumer reaction to the healthier creations resulted in a 6 percent drop in sales.

Parkersburg-based Mister Bee, which hadn't changed its recipe since it opened in 1951, launched its new chips in March. The chips are made using all cottonseed oil, which is free of artery-clogging trans fat.

But the new chip drew immediate reactions from customers who said if they wanted healthy, they wouldn't be eating chips. Fans of the old chips said the new chip was darker in color, greasier and left an aftertaste.

Mister Bee President Alan Klein acknowledged there was a "noticeable difference" in the new chip's taste after being in the package for a couple of days. The company tried modifying its recipe by using different oils, but consumers still didn't like the new chip.

Since March, the company averaged 15 phone calls a day from consumers.

"Most people were cordial and tried to understand, but a few people were just very, very mad," Klein said.

To restore peace, the company will revert to frying up batches of its chips in soybean oil and all the trans fat that comes with it. The company will deplete it stocks of the healthier chips before switching back to the old recipe.

"We really thought we were doing the right thing, but if it's not what the customer wants you have to make the customer happy," Klein said. "Even when we tried to explain to people why we did it, it didn't help. They didn't care. They like the old chips."

A very hearty thank you

Over this past week, yours truly, the hacker with the extraordinary talent of being able to find a hack to almost anything had one thrown back in his face and and ended up getting a Malware virus that just basically hijacked Internet Explorer. ANOTHER good reason why I highly recommenf the Firefox browser. It had basically taken over my system and was opening up an IE window about every 15 minutes telling me that my computer was infected and to click here to fix it for $49.95. If anyone ever sees anythign like this NEVER fall for it because they are the one that have placed the Trojan on your computer and won't fix your problem. They will take your money enough if your gullible enough.

It's taken me nearly a week in using adaware, macafee, Hijack this and this elusive trojan kept wanting to hide itself, so I needed to do a little more research and found a the Tom Coyote forums. Needless to say he worked with me over a few days in tracking this elusive trojan down that totally screws Internet Explorer up and takes over your system. (Don't worry if I set your browser up you are not using IE, it's the default browser from Windows.

Had I not been looking for a hack to a piece of software I would never had obtained this trojan, however I always like to push the envelope and see what kind of trouble I can get into. It's one way to get an education.

Heat Wave

We have been in a small heat wave as of late. This has been the 4th straight day that the temperature has reached 90+ degrees and it's calling for another 90 degrees tomorrow. The temps look like they will be dropping slightly Friday and Saturday down to lower 80's and upper 70's. Do I need to remind anyone how much I hate snow?

We have two makeup softball games on Saturday afternoon, so the slight drop in temperature is welcomed. What we need though is a good day of solid rain, the water table seems to be down a little bit and our fresh oxygen producing vegetation needs a good ole drink of water.

Other than that not much is happening with me, I do have a small Texas Hold Em tournament to play in this weekend with some of my softball team mates. Some of these guys are really good and have actually played and won a few larger tournaments that have been run here in Morgantown, so it should be a nice little challenge.

HUGE Talent

Kim told me about this little girl from America's got talent.

Bianca Ryan

She will be on the July 26th or August 2nd Semi-Finals.


WOW, she's 11 years old.

Winning Streak comes to an end

My softball team had a nine game winning streak, we haven't lost since May 8th, suffered a setback last night with a loss. Our record dropped to 10-2 on the season with the loss.

It was a muggy day and we played OK, but we didn't play our top game. I was 1 for 2 with a nice play at the plate, but to be honest I got the call, I didn't make the play.

We'll regroup Saturday with only part of our team for a double header.

Another silence has been broken

Yet another small and insignificant obstacle has been kicked in and eliminated. It came in the form of a much appreciated favor and then taking it to the next level. Kim and her medical condition was preferring a particular medical supply that she was having trouble finding, so I called Pam and asked her if they carried it or if she could get it.

Not only did Pam step up to the plate, she hit a grand slam in being able to supply it and do it for Kim's insurance could recognize it.

Pam broke the ice by calling Kim to get the details on the insurance and products. I've heard from both of them today and I am very proud of them.


Another step closer

Weekend's over

Another weekend has come and gone, this one was a very nice one with the temps in the 90's today. I will have to say it was a very special day for me, I managed to visit all four of my siblings on the day at one point or another. It started out with a trip to Pam and George's and giving George a quick hand in installing some software. He was having some trouble with a software I gave him and I gave him a newer version of it that I had.

Next, it was off to see Kim, Robert and Brittany. I had a real nice visit with them, it was the first time I've seen Brittany in some time, so it was a very nice visit. Managed to have a pretty decent BS session with Kim that lasted a couple hours while Robert was out mowing that huge lawn of theirs. They mentioned taking the Jeep out for a run this evening, so I hope that had a chance to do that.

Then it was off to see Terri at her house and have a little time in the swimming pool on a very hot day. Gary was also there and I got a chance to round out the weekend by spending a little time with everyone. Tyler and Hippie were also up at Terri's, they were putting the roasting ears on the grill. All three of terri's kids were also visiting and enjoying some quality time around the pool before the next workweek starts.

All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.--Leo Tolstoy

Joey's birthday party

Yesterday was a Joey's birthday party. His birthday I come to find out was the week earlier, but they had held off the party until this week. Joey was under the impression that the party was tomorrow, but surprise it was a big shock to him that it was yesterday.

You talk about a birthday for the ages, he got remote control airplanes, snow cone machines and just about every conceivable thing a seven year old boy could want.

The party started off with a pizza party and the traditional cake and ice cream which then led to the opening of his traditional presents. After this was all over with Gary snuck out into the shed and closed the door to surprise him with his last present. Of course I made this once in a lifetime event a Kodak moment and actually got a little movie capturing the event.

I think I am going to ask Gary and Renee to adopt me.

Happy Birthday Joey

Today is Joey's birthday. Gary and Renee are going to have a small party for him tonight at 6:00. I can already see Gary and Renee are going to spoil this little boy, I have heard that he has gotten a little motor bike for his birthday. Of course I have to wonder if that present if more for Joey or for Gary.

I'll be sure to try and take a few pictures of tonights festivities and make them a Kodak moment.

Happy Birthday Joey.

Ribfest 2006

For anyone looking for something to do this weekend, this Saturday is the annual WV Ribfest at Mylan park. I've never been there, but it may be worth a drive to Mylan Park for a days activities and Ribs. Did I ever mention I hate snow?

It's amazing what you stumble across sometimes

I'm posting on an internet message board and a guy is looking for a file that I happene to have of the 1981 Peach Bowl. As the file is uploading I visit his site which I'm already a member of. WV Gameday.com

As the file is uploading I see a 15 questions list and see a Familiar face.

I guess I should plug Mountaineerstats once again.

Softball team does it again.

The Prime Thyme softball team once again hit the field tonight and managed to hold on for a victory in a very hard fought extra inning game against Summers. It was by far our lowest run total of the year as we managed to pull out a 8-7 victory and move into a first plave tie with a 10-1 record on the season.

I think Mark has already updated the Standings on the year. The game runs the winning streak to a very impressive nine games on the season.

Weekend's over

Another weekend has come and gone. This one was quite relaxing for me, I didn't do much of anything until today when Terri called me and told me to come up and swim, Nick was firing up the BBQ.

It was a pretty good day, as you can see Amy showed everyone that she has that unique ability to walk on water.

However when Terri tried to attempt the same fate she must have stepped in a hole in the water and fell trough. Actually that is the final culmination of Randy, Ralphie, Bobby and Amy throwing her butt into the pool. She did try to resist, but she didn't have too much success with her resistance.

Randy decided to show everyone that he could still manage to do a flip from the deck. It's one thing that I never really had too much success doing when I was younger, I always seemed to land flat on my back and after a half dozen or so attempts of doing this from the high dive it tends to smart a little bit. So I never really developed the talent to jump up and do a flip.

I did get a brief chance to talk to Kim this morning, her and Robert had just returned from a nice relaxing weekend from their campsite high atop the hill of Ron and Dreama's farm.

The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.--Allan K. Chalmers

A Lazy Day

Every once in a while you need a lazy day. That's just a day you really don't do a damn thing other than lay around and watch TV. For me, that is what today is and has been. I haven't anything and I'm even watching the Paintball Championships on ESPN.

I did manage to play a couple Texas Hold Em Tounaments on partypoker.net today, I came in second in one and went out early on a stupid move on the other one. I just wasn't getting any cards in that game and had to get aggressive before I got choked out of the tournament by the chip leaders.

Not too much planned for tonight either, maybe watch a movie or two. Tomorrow starts a typical Sunday for me.

Maybe I'll watch a couple episode of the Red Green Show that comes on in a couple minutes on PBS.

You have to love short workweeks

Workeeks that contain a couple holidays are great. Three days this week, one in Frostburg and two from home and the week is once again over with and we are facing yet another weekend.

Unlike last weekend, I don't have a long list of things lined up to do. I ran around all last weekend, so maybe we will slow it down a little bit this weekend. That's not always the case though, so you never know what will happen.

I think once I get off work today, I may go spend a little time down on the ole rails to trails and get a good walk in. Fire up the iPod and start moving along and it'll be a good day.

This evening BOPARC's Blanket and a Movie will be playing March of the Penguins tonight if anyone is looking for anything to do. It's free entertainment with another family style movie for anyone who is interested.

I hope everyone has had a good week.

Cherish forever what makes you unique, ‘cuz you're really a yawn if it goes.--Bette Midler

Softball Update

We finally got a chance to hit the field again today after the long layoff. We played Frank's, a team that Bobby Teets is the pitcher for. They jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on us in the top of the first, but when it was all over we pulled in a 21-4 victory to run our record to 9-1 on the season.

Mark Devault built a small SQL database for the Standings. It felt good to see the entire team back together again, no real superstars tonight just everyone played asa team and we scored a decent number of runs, but that is about par for the course for the team.

Prime Thyme was closed today, so no after game team dinner.

Do we get to play softball?

We are scheduled to play tonight, but we have been rained out for every game since June 15th when we played against my old team. I'm really wanting to play tonight because it has been a good while since we have all been together and played together.


Current Boparc AA Standings are as follows and recaps on our status with them:

March Westin 10-0
Prime Thyme 8-1
Webworks 8-1 ( lost to May 8)
John Howard 7-2 ( defeated on May 22 )
Summers/University Towing 7-3
Chestnut Ridge Blue 5-3
Advantage 6-4 ( defeated on June 5)
Frank's 5-4 ( play tonight)
Suncrest Gym 5-4 ( defeated on May 1)
Nutty C's 6-5
Panrell Construction 6-5 ( defeated on May 21)
Chippy's 5-5
Jackie's Place 4-5 ( do not play them )
Morgantown Honda 4-5 ( do not play them )
Wendy's 4-5
Colasante's 5-6
The Backdoor 5-6
Kountry Kreme Hillbillies 4-7 ( defeated on June 15, our last game)
Progressive Industries 4-7 ( defeated on June 12)
Finish Line Motors 3-7
Mylan Express 3-7 ( do not play them )
Sunnyside Suprette 3-7 ( defeated on May 22)
Town Hill 0-8
DP Dough 0-10 ( defeated on June 1st)

A day back in Frostburg III

The fourth of July Holiday is now behind us and it was back to work. Today was the last day for two co-workers, Mary and JES (both on the right) are leaving the company after today. Mary has accepted a job with the Girl Scouts of America as a coordinator. She is the third of the original five hired at the VARGIS facility to leave the company. One was terminated, one moved out of the area and Mary has left for a job more along her job skills.

JES just got married and he and his new wife are moving to Georgia while she starts work on her Doctorate in Philosophy. JES has been a big part of the companies success from the very day he started there.

Both JES and Mary will definately be missed. I wish both of them much success in any new ventures they may face in life. Both were huge assets, great people and people I considered very good friends.

Fourth and Final day

Today i the 4th of July and I hope everyone has had a safe and Happy 4th. My four day weekend is coming to a conclusion, and I will say I wasn't bored.

Today we went to the Mon Valley Paintball park and had a lot of fun playing Paintball. To say that I am physically exhausted is an understatement, I am completely worn out. They opened up a new field that is a woods field with all kinds of natural obstacles including high brush. Games last much longer on that field because you basically have to find your opponent and he could very well be crawling right beside you. I think that is my favorite field to play on because it adds additional challenges.

Tomorrow I will head back to work in Frostburg to say goodbye to a couple associates that tomorrow is their last day.

I will say me 4th of July weekend has been eventful and memorable. Let me recap:

4 Pic Nics
3 Texas Hold Em Tournaments
Karaoke
Fireworks
Family Reunion
Paintball
Wiffle Ball Game
105 Pictures Taken
A Large Water Battle
A chance to sit and talk with Trish and Jackie
A Day of swimming

Wow, did I have one busy four day weekend.

That's three days down so far.

Well, this makes four different pic nics in three days so far and we haven't reached the 4th of July yet. Today, was the Barnes family /Prime Thyme softball cookout. It was another great day filled with some good friends and lots of food again.

There was all sorts of entertainment, we started out with a 3 inning wiffle ball game that was announced play by play over the loudspeakers. This was followed up with many doing Karaoke, but that's not really my thing when I'm sober so we played three games of Texas Hold Em. I won money in the first game but tanked out in the last two games of the evening.

There is even something planned for tomorrow, but we will have to wait to see how the weather pans out first.

Day Two down

The second day of my four day weekend is done and over with. I spent the afternoon swimming at Nick and Terri's. Val also came up with Bobby and Erica Jean and we had a pretty good day. The day started out pretty hot and the pool made the heat more than bearable.

This evening everyone went to the fireworks in downtown Morgantown. They were scheduled to start at I think 9:00, but it was 10:37 before the first one went into the air because they were having a few small technical difficulties.

A few pics from today, enjoy.

One day down

First day of my four day weekend has been completed. I ended up having four things I planned on doing, but I only managed to get through with two today. If I had a chance I wanted to go and play paintball but that never materialized. I was also invited to Ron and Dreama's with Kim and Robert to watch fireworks. Unfortunately I couldn't make either event today and I offer my humblest appology to Ron and Dreama and thank them for the invitation.

The day started with me going to my very first Newbraugh/Koon family reunion. This will Junior's last year preaching at the church, and he will be retiring at the end of this month as the pastor.

Next came my traditional 4th of July weekend activity and that was to go to the Rosiak 4th of July party. I always look foreward to this, for it is the one day I get to bring out and use my Extra Large Super Soaker for the traditional water battle. Usually every few years I get to catch up with Jackie and see what is or has been going on in her life. She was there this tear and we managed to set an hour and a half or so to catch up with each other.

I also was able to sit down and spend some quality time with Trish, which was pretty nice because it seems that the 4th of July Pic Nic is the only time we manage to do this. Pat and Frank mentioned inviting me over for the next cookout, so maybe I'll get another chance to sit down and spend some quality time with her again.

Over all it was a great day. I wish there were 48 hours in it, but there aren't.



Family Reunion with Nick, terri, Vicki, Paul and Mom



Trish



Frank (Trish's dad)



Trish and Jackie



Me and Pat (Trish's Mom)



Me and Trish



Me and Jackie