Goodbye 2008

January

* West Virginia started the year off right with a win in the Fiesta Bowl against The Oklahoma Sooners. Bill Stewart was offered the Full Time head Coaching position for WVU hours after the Fiesta Bowl win.

* I managed to fry my computer after coming home from a WVU basketball and spilling water over and it bounced up and into the vent and onto the Hard Drive. I was online writing an e-mail as I got the Blue Screen of Death.

* Morgantown's airport started offering exclusive flights to Dulles Air Port. An airport that was as far away from my office as my home was to the Morgantown Airport.

* I ran into an old friend from about 20+ years earlier.

February

* Phil ruined my day by seeing his shadow. The damn rat.

* I found out that a few years earlier that my cousin Rusty had passed away. It was an accident that I found this out, needless to say it was a shocker also.

* I made my 1,000th BLOG post. This was one heck of an accomplishment, I am well on my way to 1,500 in 2009.

March

* WVU beat arch rivals Pitt in basketball.

* 8 Women from Morgantown killed our Karma and was the $276 Million Powerball jackpot.

* I started dating the love of my life, I even gave her a second date.

* I was informed by Infotech that I was going to be laid off. They were shipping everything that I did offshore as they were an Indian owned company. They were shipping all GIS work to India.

April

* My last Day with Infotech was on a Monday...

...My first day with Information Manufactoring Corporation was the next day. =)

* I had the opportunity to meet Michelle's family for the first time.

* Robert cheated and ended up rolling his first career 300 game. I counted, the ball did not rotate the appropriate number of times on numerous balls, his score should have been 0. (Congrats Robert)

* Michelle and I had our first (of many) picture taken together at her Neice Samantha's birthday party.

May

* I was invited by Chris Ostein to be a member of his Steelers Trivia Show team that would be taped in the first of June.

* Michelle and I did Pedlar's Glory, a very tough and hilly geocache that I challenge anyone who wants to get into shape to try.

* I purchased a Magic Jack.

* Michelle, Hayley, Wyatt and I did numerous Geocaches and took trips to Deep Creek Lake and Ohio Pyle.

* Michelle had her Gall Bladder removed. I tried to sell the thing on eBay, but no takers.

* I was honored as the 6th member ever inducted into the Blue and Gold New's Hall of Fame. This is the largest WVU sports forum community with as many as 25,000 members on at any time. Annually they nominate, vote for and elect one member to the Hall of Fame. This was my induction year.

June

* I participated in and helped win the 2008 KDKA McDonald's Pittsburgh Steelers trivia show. We were not allowed to tell anyone that we won until after the show aired.

* Michelle, Hayley and I went to Cheddars for Hayley's birthday and to Deep Creek Lake the next day. Wyatt was with us for the trip to Cheddars and a chance to see Kung Fu Panda.

* Moke attended his first day of college.

* We had our annual BOPARC paintball day at Mountain Valley Paintball Park. Ironically I ran into an old college mate that day that helped me get get the best job I've ever had a few months later.

* Joe Alexander was selected with the eighth pick of the NBA draft.

* Michelle and I celebrated 100 days.

* Went the annual Rosiak party.

July

* We took a trip to Idlewild Park, Michelle had won tickets on WVAQ and we chose our park.

* Rich Fraudrigeuz realized he was going to lose his court case and owe WVU the $4 Million. Nice settlement moron...ROFLMAO.

* Our first Round KDKA Steelers trivia show aired.

* Michelle, Hayley and I took a nice trip to Blackwater Falls to do a little bit of geocaching.

* Michelle and I went and saw Jimmy Buffett in concert at the Post Gazette Pavillion in Pittsburgh. I think Michelle was in a little bit of culture shock and officially became a Parrot Head.

August

* I bought a Nintendo Wii. I think in the coming year of 2009 it will be the source for a lot of fun as Michelle, Chad, Hayley, Laiah and myself will put it to good use in 2009.

* Michelle went on vacation to Myrtle Beach and left me to slave foe the week. Oh woah is me...LOL

* The 2008 Summer Olympics kicked off, Michael Phelps dominated the Olympics winning numerous Gold medals for the US.

* I received a notification that I would have to serve on Jury Duty for a period of time.

* The Steelers trivia show semi-finals aired.

* I traveled to Martinsburg WV on business for a GIS Users conference.

September

* I brokedown and finally gave in and decided to buy an iPhone. I waited until they were in stock rathet than getting caught up in the Rush. A move I am still enjoying as I love my iPhone.

* The Finals of the Steelers Trivia show aired. Like I had started earlier, we won the entire tournament, Thanks to Chris and Randy. The finals aired before the start of the first Steelers game of the year.

* Brittany made her entire family proud as she was nominated for the 2008 Clay battelle High School homecoming court.

* I was officially offered my current job with SAIC. I had to delay my start so I could finish up my service on Jury Duty. I was only called in one day in six weeks.

* Kaiden Joseph Dalton became part of the family as Amy and Ralphie had their first child together.

* I took Michelle to the Buckwheat festival, it was her first time in attending the festival and her first time of eating Buckwheat Cakes.

* Michelle and I attended the WVU- Marshall game and Michelle got a chance to have her picture taken with Mark Patton.

October

* I started the month of October off a little bit under the weather. I actually took a couple of days of vacation from IMC because I was feeling sick.

* I officially stated my current job with SAIC at the NETL at the DOE. To say that I was ready for a challenge at that time is an understatement. I have been challenged and very satisfied with this decision, best career move I have ever made.

* Went to Century III Mall and Primanti Brothers with Michelle on one Saturday. It was a lot of fun just to get out of town for the day.

* Learned how to Write KML's for work. Something that would cause a piece of my work to draw the attention of someone in a very high office in this country (yes his name is Bush).

* Halloween at Jeans. Michelle volunteered to give out the candy this year, as she has never had any trick or treaters before where she lived. The turnout was a little lower this year than years past, but there were still a lot.

November

* We sought our last geocaches of the year.

* Michelle and I showed Chad and Hayley where we will be living in about a month. I think they were pleasantly surprised.

* Michelle and I took a nice day trip to enjoy the scenery of Valley Falls in Marion County.

* We elected a new President. For the first time in a long time, I was very happy with the results of the elections. Going by what I have seen so far, we are in very good and capable hands.

* As a prize for winning the 2008 Steelers Trivia Challenge, we were given three pairs of game tickets and field passes for the Steelers v Indianapolis game. Can I just say it was a little bit cold that day. Brrrr. Also, Michelle road the incline for the first time.

* I was out of town once again and I invited for the first time ever a guest author to write a few BLOG entries for George's Journal. Michelle did a great job, hopefully we can get her to continue to contribute to this BLOG.

* We gobbled till we wobbled on Thanksgiving with Michelle's family here in Morgantown.

December

* I was pleasantly surprised as Michelle and Trish teamed up to throw me a surprise Birthday party. I am one lucky guy.

* Michelle and I went to watch Hayley the songbird sing in the 2008 Morgantown High Choir Christmas concert.

* Spent a day with Trish, Arron and Michelle in Pittsburgh as we visited Tanger Outlets and Robinson Mall Christmas shopping. There was even a little side trip to Sarris's candy.

* We all traveled to Ohio to Michelle's Grandmothers for her family Christmas, followed by a trip to her Dad's. I really enjoyed myself and am looking forward to going in 2009.

* Michelle got into a little fender bender on a night when Morgantown was covered in ice and the city was in complete gridlock.

* Daniel came in for a visit with Kim and to see everyone.

* Christmas 2008 was created with another little movie file. This was one of the best Christmas's I have ever had, so this is what it's like to be with someone you love during the holidays. I can get used to this.

* WVU Football won the Meineke Carcare Bowl and the Basketball team blew out Ohio State. It surely was a great day to be a Mountaineer.

* 448 Blog Posts for the year. A new record.



A Very special Thank you to all my readers who make writing this BLOG worthwhile. 2008 was arguably the best year of my life, lets see if we can top it in 2009.


Stay Safe tonight and thanks once again for reading. I have enjoyed writing.

Last Regular BLOG of the year

This will be my last regular BLOG of 2008, tomorrow I will do my end of year 2009 BLOG that I do as the last BLOG of the year.

It's been a very good 2008 for me, arguably one of my best. I went from obtaining having my highest paying job ever, to seeing my largest offer ever to accepting another job that is my highest paying job ever.

I have met and found the love of my life and we are planning on moving in together in about a month.

I've done a lot of Geocaches and enjoyed my first Christmas in a solid relationship with someone in a very long time.

For me, it has been a great Year.

Ending the last weekend of 2008

I have to say I will be very sorry to see 2008 go, it has been a very good and bad year for me. Yesterday we finished up the last weekend of the 2008 calender year and are working the last few remaining hours of 2008 before we bring in the New Year.

Once again this year, my final BLOG of 2008 will be a month by month reflection of the year 2008, and all of that information will be gathered exclusively from BLOG posts from the 2008 year.

I've done this for the last few years now and I think of all the BLOGS I post during the year, that final BLOG of the year has to be my favorite. It gives me time to look back and reflect upon my year, and it is probably the only time of the year that I actually take time out and sit back and reflect on what I may have said during the season.

I did one for 2007, 2006 and 2005. I started blogging in 2004, but only had a few months to BLOG and didn't have that full year, so I did not do a reflection for 2004 even though I blogged almost half of the year.

Have a great Monday.


PS. Hey Phil, party it up until you get blind and stupid. I need you to come through for me in a few weeks.

It was a great Day to be a Mountaineer

Yesterday was a great day to be a Mountaineer, no matter where you were or what sport you were watching.

Pat White made a remarkable impression as his last game as a Mountaineer with a 31-30 win against North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in North Carolina (basically a home game for North Carolina Tar Heels). Pat finished his career off by being the first QB to ever start and win four bowl games during his career. Thank You Patrick, we will definitely miss you in Morgantown.

After that the Men's Basketball team took a trip to Columbus Ohio to play the undefeated and 13th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in Basketball. You know when you are a good team you don;t get beat by 28 points, 76-48 on your own home court. I guess the Buckeyes were a good bit shall we say OVER RATED.

After the games me and Michelle went out to dinner and then to the Theater to see Marely and Me. Great flick, I'll give it a two thumbs up for anyone who may want to see it.

Steelers against the Browns today.

Game Day

Today is a big day for WVU Sports fans. We will be playing North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl today at 1:00 on ESPN.

At 4:00 the WVU Men's basketball team travels to Columbus Ohio to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on CBS.

Let's cheer the Mountaineers to a couple meaningful victories today!!

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we look forward to, when we cease the labors for the week and take some time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again a Big Ole Hairy Friday and the dawn of another weekend.

Actually for me I'm on a four day weekend as I am off today barring any major unforeseen event happening like a Hurricane or an Ice Storm that shuts down a large power grid.

Michelle is going back to work today, but she is only going in for a few hours this morning and making it a short day.

I hope everyone had a great Holiday, I know I did. It was the first one that I was actually with someone in my life in a very long time. I am very appreciative that I have Michelle and hers as part of my life.

Not too sure what we are going to be getting into this weekend. My guess is a couple of movies that we are wanting to see.

Gran Torino




and Marley and Me.

Christmas 2008

I'll upload all the photo's to my server once I get a few technical issues worked out. Stay tuned.

Christmas Eve

Ho Ho Ho, it is that wondrous and stress filled time of the year, it is Christmas Eve.

No big plans like 2008, but I'll try to do a video somehow this year.

Previous years videos.





Holly Jolly Christmas

Only two more shopping days

Yes last minute shoppers, it is now time to go to the stores and get your shopping done. Today and tomorrow are the last two shopping days before Christmas.

Not too sure what I will be doing this Christmas Eve, I think Michelle and I will be traveling and saying hello to members of my family before spending Christmas Day with her family.

I have today and tomorrow to work, but Michelle has three more days this week.

How about that cold front that came through? Damn, it was a little too cold even for my taste. Phil, get drunk over the holidays, I'm planning on you not seeing that shadow this year.

Back to work

Back to the grindstone that is what we know work. Back to the meetings and deadlines and that thing that makes us who we are and allows us the freedom ti enjoy weekends.

I'll be in the office Monday, Tuesday and Wed this week as the DOE closes the facility on both Thursday and Friday. I think as far as my office goes, today everyone will be there but that will be the only day where we have this. Everyone else is gone either the rest of the week or Wed.

I was checking out my MySpace and Facebook this morning and seen that a few friends were doing what I used to do (and enjoy). Go Christmas shopping in the middle of the night when no one else is around and the store shelves are being re-stocked. That was always one of my favorite times to go shopping.

Back to work.

Winter Solstice

OK, we are OFFICIALLY at the shortest day of the year and at the change of the seasons. As of 7:04 AM this morning we have entered the Winter Solstice, meaning we are officially in the season of Winter. This is also the shortest day of the year.

Unfortunately we are at the dawn of a few months that I like the very least, BUT now the days will start getting longer as opposed to getting shorter. I know that we are now looking ahead to spring, being outside, geocaching and softball.

Hey Phil, you listening my fine rodent friend?

Saturday Morning Ramblings

As Michelle is making breakfast (god I love that woman) of Turkey bacon, Egg Whites and Hi Fiber English Muffin, I am sitting down on this early Saturday Morning writing a blog.

Not sure what our agenda for the day will be as of yet, still need to finish up my Christmas shopping (I need advice on what to get Michelle) and wrap a few final gifts on the day.

I know that later this evening we will be going to the Morgantown Mall to watch the finals of the Santa Baby competition even though neither Kaiden or Layla made it this year (Damn semi-blind judges). We'll be there cheering Owen Paulus Young onto victory now that the two cutest babies are no longer in the competition (yeah I am biased).

Have a great day.

It's a Big Ole Hairy (and Fat) Friday

Yes it is once again that favorite time of the week, a time when we cease the labors for teh week and just take a little tile out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is the dawn of yet another fun filled weekend.

Not sure what is on my and Michelle's agenda for the weekend after running around all last weekend. It may just be a time to rest and relax a little bit since Christmas will be upon us later this coming week.

Let's get this Friday Started so we can move on to the weekend.

Daniel is in for a visit.

It has been one year to the day, Daniel has made it back to Morgantown from Kentucky for a Visit.

Me, Michelle and Moke stopped by Robert and Kim's to see him on his trip in, he's staying overnight from my understanding and returning to Kentucky tomorrow sometime.

It was nice to see him, I can tell Kim was very happy to see him.

Bad weather driving

Wow was yesterday a total cluster....

They let us out of work at 4:00 because of bad conditions. A little after 5:00 I pull onto Scott Avenue and Michelle Calls. She has been in an accident and needs me to come and get her. First of all other than a sore chest from hitting something, she seems to be doing OK. Her car was hit in the drivers side front quarter panel and is sitting at the shop as we speak. She'll know more today and I'll try to give everyone an update on her today. She was pulling out of work and some lady trying to beat the traffic was speeding in the middle turn lane and hit her.

I managed to make it up on the mileground at about 6:00 and by 6:30 we were sitting at Wings Ole in Suncrest, 2 1/2 hours sitting in slow inching traffic and I needed a break. I managed to get her home around 7:30 and I got home around 8:00.

Talk about a long day, sheesh.

I'll pick Michelle up this morning and take Hayley to school and her to work.

I think Michelle and I both need a Trunk Monkey in our cars to deal with the traffic and accidents.

Have I ever mentioned...

... that I hate snow? I mean it's not that I dislike this cold white powdery stuff that falls from the skies, I plain out hate snow with a passion. Give me warm spring weather when the birds are singing, I can wear a pair of shorts and a T-Shirt and a nice pair of sandals and I am Happy.


Dear Punxatawny Phil,

How are you doing old buddy, sorry for us putting the hammer down on you in the Steelers Trivia Show earlier this summer. Hope it's been a great summer and the Steelers are doing great.

With that being said, I'm already sick of this snow. Is there any way we can get you to move Groundhogs Day up a month? You know it would be perfect right after New Years, that way you can be verschnickered to the point where you wouldn't want to see your shadow even if you could.

Your everloving BLOGGER,

George's Journal




Dear Mother Nature,

Is it at all possible to stop winter and bring on spring? I have written a correspondence to Phil about possibly moving his day closer to a celebratory time where his better judgment may be impaired or that he wouldn't care if he did see his shadow.

If it is at all possible to bring Spring, I will start a cult of geocachers to praise your name. Think about it, turn off the snow and you become a deity, not that you are not now, but you will have your own following.

On the other hand I heard that this guy thinks that you are getting a little heavy around the mid-section and and that he could run things much better than you could. I have heard through the grapevine that he is thinking about over throwing you and taking over.

This would cause total anarchy, I think you need to send this man a message and eliminate him early this season.

A little under the weather

Michelle, Hayley and I were all a little bit under the weather yesterday. I had gotten a little of a fever Sunday night and then was sweating profusely yesterday morning before I headed to work.

I came home yesterday after work and ate dinner, took a hot shower and soaked my pillow during the course of trying to take a nap.

I'll be the only one in the office today, so I'll be holding down the fort.

Traveling kind of weekend.

Yesterday was another traveling kind of day. We ventured to Moon PA, East Liverpool Ohio and Calcutta Ohio to visit Michelle's Mother, Grandmother and Father.

I managed to catch Michelle's son Chad with some reindeer ears on at Michelle's grandmother's house.

We did manage to cash in some Giant Eagle Gas rewards and bought Gas last night for $0.99 a gallon. Talk about a bit of excitement for me.

It's back to the grindstone today, hopefully I'll feel better today as I was a little under the weather when I came home last night.

Yesterday and Today

yesterday Michelle, Trish and some kid who scwatched my CD (inside joke) spent the day in Pittsburgh. The day started off with a trip to Tanger and a little bit of holiday shopping. Stores were running some very nice specials. The girls spent more than $25 each at Old Navy Yesterday and they had a deal where they get four free movie passes (as much as $12 each) that are good until the end of January. I found a really nice deal at the Columbia Store, which happens to be my favorite store at Tanger.

After that we ventured to Sarris's to look at all the chocolate on display and browse all the goodies they had there.

From there is was onto a lter lunch at my favorite Pittsburgh Restaurant, Primanti Brothers. This was the first time either Trish or Arron had ever had a chance to try the best sandwich in Pittsburgh.

After that it was off to Robinson Mall. Let me say, this is one of the nicest Malls that I have been in. Spread out, two layers and plenty of merchants. This was my first trip to that Mall, I would wager it will not be my last.

Today is a new day, we're off to East Liverpool Ohio for Michelle's family Christmas get together.

It's a Shopping Day.

Michelle and I are both up and have just drug Trish's stinky butt our of bed (she was up) and told her to get ready for the day of shopping.

We're going to Pittsburgh to Tanger Outlets in Washington PA. She has never been to Tanger and Michelle and I really liked the place so we're taking Trish and Arron there for their first visit.



After that we will be heading north to Robinson Mall to do a little additional shopping and I'm sure there will be a Primanti Brothers on the agenda sometime today.

Michelle is in the shower, I'm getting ready to jump in and we'll be off to pick up Trish for a fun filled day of shopping and food in the Burgh.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week when we cease the labors for the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again a Big Ole Hairy Friday and the dawn of yet another weekend.

Just a reminder, you have twelve shopping days left until Jolly Ole Saint Nicholas takes his Merry Journey. That is roughly 288 hours left to shop, give or take when you are reading this.

I will have a busy weekend. Tomorrow Michelle, Trish and myself will be venturing north to Tanger Outlets to do a little Christmas shopping. Should be a lot of fun.

Then Sunday Michelle and I will wake up and venture to her Grandmother's in East Liverpool, Ohio (I hope I got that right) for her family's Christmas get together.

We'll be doing a few errands tonight because of the busy weekend before us.

Last night I did buy The Dark Knight, I feel it is a must own movie even though we went to the theater to see it this summer.

Have a great day.

A magical evening

Yesterday was a magical evening, it was if an angel from heaven came down and overtook the body of Michelle's Daughter Hayley as she filled the auditorium with the very aesthetic audibles of a soprano that gives you the pleasant feeling as if you had just had a nice warm piece of your grandmothers warm home made apple pie.

I have seen a diva before she gets discovered, and that diva is in the MHS choir that had their Christmas Concert last evening at the Metropolitan Theater. Pleasant yule tide audibles filled the auditorium with the spirit of Jolly Ole Saint Nicholas. I had a great time and really enjoyed listening last night.

A Thank You first to Hayley for allowing me to share the moment and for the love of my life for inviting me.

The Song Bird Sings Tonight

Come one, come all, Hayley will be in concert tonight with the MHS choir at 7:00 at the Metropolitan Theater.

I'm actually quite excited as I have never heard her sing before, so this will be a first for me. Michelle tells me she is very talented and sits in the First Soprano chair.

If you are looking for something to do tonight, come see Hayley tonight, that way you can claim you heard her before she won her first Grammy.

Puglioni's

Last night I took Michelle and Hayley to Puglioni's for dinner. It started out with us meeting up at Wal-Mart and ended up with the three of us going out to dinner.

Other than that, I think I need to learn to hang up my iPhone and not accidentally call someone else again. I can think of at least three occasions now where people have called me back after listening to me talk in my office after hanging up the phone with someone else.

Have a good day.

Another Weekend come and gone

Yet another weekend has come and gone, it just seems like a couple minutes has went by since Michelle and I were at Milano's Pizza eating Friday Night and here I am getting ready to stick my nose back on the grindstone for the week.

This weeks highlights will include me and Michelle (and anyone who would like to go and support her) will be going to see Hayley sing at the Metropolitan Theater on Wed evening at 7:00 for the MHS Show choir's Christmas concert.

Also Wed night Arron will be playing basketball at Cheat Lake when they host WI at 7:15 at the Cheat Lake School I would think.

To the Dallas Cowboys fans out there.....suck it! You lost and you blew a 10 point lead to choke to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are horrible on offense this season, yet they are sitting at 10-3 right now on the year.

WVU Men's Basketballl won, WVU Football team won, The Pittsburgh Steelers won and the WVU Women's basketball team won. It was a pretty good weekend.

WVU to Meineke Car Care Bowl

After the win against South Florida last night, WVU was extended a bid to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 27.

Last Night Patrick White lead the Mountaineers to victory in what was his last game ever at Mountaineer Field. He has been arguably the schools most exciting player in school history and will be sadly missed.

One thing I did find out about Patrick last night (Pay attention Mike Tomlin), is that he is a lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers fan.


Retire #5.

Tidbits

* I know some of you love to read the tidbits, so I decided to do another one to touch on a few smaller points.

* Mom is heading to Amish Country today in Ohio. Not real sure who she is going with, but I know she takes a few trips with her friends and the church to places.

* Kim is also heading to Amish Country today, but in the opposite direction towards Springs PA. I tried to tell her last night there are cams on I-68 at Keyser's Ridge and Savage Mountain for her to check out to make sure it is safe to go.

* Next weekend will be a busy one for me and Michelle. We will be going to Tanger Outlets with Trish and going to Ohio the next day to visit Michelle's Grandmother and family in Ohio.


* Amy had a cute Christmas picture taken of Kaiden. Amy put it up on her MySpace, but Kim also posted the picture on her blog so I couldn't be out done. =)

* is there only 19 days left until Christmas? Wow is it starting to creep up on us slowly.

* This Wed at 7:00 at the Metropolitan Theater, Hayley will be singing with the MHS Choir if anyone would like to go and listen to Michelle's little Diva put out some magical vocals on the evening. She sings from the First Soprano Chair, so I am really looking forward to hearing her.

* In the next couple of weeks, I am going to gather some excess non-perishable food from my shelves and will be donating it to the Scott's Run Settlement House. Ifd anyone has anything they would like to donate, contact me and I can deliver it with what I take over.

* Watched a funny movie last night, we watched Step Brothers. It was hilarious. I posted the link for anyone who would like to watch it, it's screen is too large for the blog.

Big Ole Hairy Black Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week when we cease the labors of the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again the start of another week Big Ole Hairy Friday and the start of another weekend.

Michelle said to tell everyone (in her best Mrs. Doubtfire voice) Hellloooooooooooooooo.

Big weekend in Morgantown, Patrick White will sadly be playing his last game at Mountaineer Field Saturday night. Patrick, it has been an honor watching you these last four years. I hope you go on and have a wonderful NFL career (as a Steeler) with the best team in the NFL.

Tonight Michelle and I are going to watch Step Brothers and eat a Milano's Pizza for dinner, not planning on getting too much into anything other than relaxing. (Is it softball yet?)

Work went pretty well this week, even though I was off Monday, I started to re-learn Visual Basic so that I can customize my interfaces and interfaces for projects to work a little smoother. ArcGIS has a built in Visual basic editor built into it, but I may be looking into the Visual Studio Suite to re-learn with. It's a powerful tool that I learned in college, but haven't had to use it in any of the work environments I have been in.

Talking about work on a Big Ole Hairy Friday? I should be beaten. Have a good weekend.

Happy Birthday Kim

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my little sister Kim a very wonderful Birthday.

She is just a few days more than a year younger than me, but Brittany (who just re-added me as a myspace friend) seems to think I am 47.

Happy Birthday Kim.

Hump Day

We are once again at the middle part of the week, for some of you since I was off Monday, and at hump day and working towards the weekend again.

Last night Jean made me some haluski, one of my favorite things to eat, and a chocolate birthday cake with a really good icing. I think it was cream chesse icing, meaning it wasn't too sweet and just right.

Michelle and I enjoyed dinner of haluski and cake for dinner as we watched a little VH1 Classic talking about Heavy Metal Music of the 80's. There were some hilarious moments hearing people talk about their careers and their legacy (some not so good) they left behind.

It was a good evening and on her way home Michelle said something was going on downtown, she saw numerous police cars with their light son racing somewhere. I called Kim to see if she could pick anything up on her scanner. I did hear there was something happening at the High Life Lounge on Brockway Avenue when it was all said and done. Not sure what it was at this time.


Have a g00d hump day. =)

Back to work.

It was a nice three day weekend, and four days out of five for me to be off, but it's now time to return to the grindstone this morning.

I'm relaxed and rested and ready to get back at it. yesterday I did manage to get my wiper assembly replaced (it basically snapped last Thursday evening) by taking it to Sam's Auto. They were quick and replaced the whole thing and we're good to go today. Never hear of the linkage of a windshield wiper breaking, but it happened to me.

Michelle, the sweetheart she is, helped me drop the car off and picked me up hen it was ready. I'm very lucky to have someone like her.

Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's back to work I go.

Happy Birthday Ed

Hello everyone, if you see or talk to Ed today make sure you wish him a Happy Birthday, or as he says, this is the 24th Anniversary of his 21st Birthday. I hope you enjoy your day and I wish you a very Happy Birthday

A pleasant surprise

Michelle and Trish arranged for a nice little surprise dinner for me yesterday, which was very nice and I was really touched. I want to thank both of them from the bottom of my heart for the effort to make me feel special.

You have to know me, I have a slinky that I play with on my desk all the time, Haley got me some Silly Putty earlier this year and yesterday I got an Etch a Sketch. I admit it, I am a little kid at heart and I love it!

Peaceful Sunday Morning

Well, this just has not been my weekend for my teams athletically.

WVU lost to Pitt in the 101'st backyard Crawl on Friday. Morgantown and University High both lose Semi-final games this weekend and the WVU basketball team lost to Kentucky last night.

Couldn't be as bad as last year at this time when #1 ranked WVU lost to Pitt and it took away our chance to play for the National Championship.

The Steelers play New England this afternoon, maybe I can have a small chance at redemption for at least one of my teams. Hopefully the injury plagued Steelers can pull off a victory today.

Late Morning Ramblings

I know, I have been behind today on my BLOG, but I am still trying to mend my broken heart from yesterdays tragic loss to the evil University of Shittsburgh Panthers yesterday.

Oh woah is me, this is two years in a row we have lost to these ungodly, unholy, bad guys.

Last night Michelle and I went out and watched Four Christmas's. It was a pretty good movie even though Reese Witherspoon didn't get naked for me in the movie.

Big Ole Hairy Black Friday

It's once again that time of the week when we cease the labors for the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors, it is once again a big ole hairy (and black Friday too) Friday!!!!

Be careful out there, it is a shopping madhouse, beware of the deal hunters. Protect yourselves at all times. Do not get in the middle of a stampede of people trying to buy the hot item for this year....whatever it may be.

I'll be working today, but I have a big screen TV in my office so I'll be able to watch the Mountaineers crush the Pitt Panthers today at noon.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day to everyone. I will be with Michelle and her family today as they will be having a big Thanksgiving Dinner, and plan out their Black Friday Shopping Spree for tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving filled with plenty of Turkey and great memories for all.

Happy Birthday Val

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Niece Val a very Happy 25th Birthday. Wow where have the years gone, it seems like just yesterday that Morgantown High was playing in the State Semi-Finals at Mountaineer Field and I was sitting there watching them. A few hours later, you blessed us with your presence as your Mom gave birth to you early that next morning.

It has been a pleasure watching you first grow up, then become a Mommy yourself twice.

Happy Birthday Val.

Bowling on Turkey Day Night

Terri suggested to me a couple days ago by MySpace that we gather the clan up and go bowling on Thanksgiving Night.

I know it is the eve of the biggest shopping day of the year (and I will be going to work), but would anyone be interested?

A trip to Washington PA last night

Yesterday Michelle and I drove Hayley to meet her cousin in Washington Pa so she can stay for a few days this holiday week since school is out for the week.

It was rainy and dark, but the trip was a lot of fun. Michelle bought dinner at the Ponderosa Steak House and some Krispy Kreme Donuts. It was worth the trip just for the company, the meals were just icing on the cake.

Back to the grindstone

That was a nice little break, having travels the majority of last week for work and making it back just in time for another weekend. However it's time to get back to work even though this will be a shortened holiday week for me.

Thursday is a day off for me and Friday I do have to work. Although I'm not going to tell anyone that it bothers me to be working on Black Friday. I will attempt to stay as far as possible away from any and all shopping venues until at least that afternoon.

A Lazy Saturday

It was a lazy Saturday yesterday, we didn't get into too much other than a little napping and a trip over to see Michelle's Sister to plan Thanksgiving Dinner.

We did get a chance to watch the WVU Football team beat the Loserville Crybabies 35-21 in the game.

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful and relaxing day. We did manage to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks movie though.

It will be a typical sunday for me today, Shopping and Laundry, even though the Steelers have already played this weekend.

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!!!

Despite traveling through a blizzard yesterday, we made it home safe and sound.

I did find out upon my return that Michelle was in the emergency room. She had a cat scan performed and when I arrived she was waiting for the Dr's analysis. It could have been her appendix or a kidney stone, turned out to be an inflammation of the kidney's that was causing her so much discomfort.

Anyways, there is no place like home and home is where I have returned to.

T.G.I.F.

After staying up late last night to watch my Steelers I know that I am ready to relax and have a great weekend. Ed will be home sometime this afternoon, I have talked to him several times and he seems to be having a great time. Not sure what is in store for us this weekend yet, but we always find something to do. Ed did tell me that he got a text message from Trish saying that Layla finally cut her first tooth, watch out Ed will have her eating a Milano's pizza before the end of the year. Hope everyone has a great weekend and stay warm.....

It's a Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yep, I'm writing this on Tuesday evening but I'll just have this post and pretend that it is that favorite time of the week again. The time when we cease the labors for the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again yet another Big Ole Hairy Friday and the start of yet another weekend.

Morgantown will be playing at home tonight in the second round of the State High School Football tournament. University will be hitting the road and Keyser will once again use University High's home field as their own field.

The Steelers would have played last night and hopefully they won, so they will be off this weekend.

The Mountaineers travel to Louisville for a game tomorrow in college football.

Have a great weekend, I'm waiting to see my sweetie later today.

Happy Thursday

Well Ed asked my if I wanted to do a Blog entry for him while he was out of town. I told him that he would lose readers if I did so, but here is goes. He left yesterday morning to go out of town on a Business trip and when they finally got him checked into his room at the hotel he realized that he was going to be sharing it with someone else, I think he was OK with that until he saw a woman's purse sitting there, so he went back to the front desk and that brat got a private suite that he said is bigger then his apartment. Does not suck to be him I say. My Steelers are playing tonight so I will be watching it by myself, I hope Ed took his terrible towel with him so he can help cheer them on to victory with me. Well I hope this was an OK entry, I guess I will find out when Ed reads it. Have a great day...

Christmas 2009

One question I'm sure people will be starting to ask is about Christmas 2009. Here is my video to 2008 that YouTube has removed that's another blog).

I won't be able to do this Christmas what I did last Christmas for a few reasons. I lost a significant amount of income over the past six months and although I have made it all back and then some, the damage needs time to recover from. Additionally Michelle and I will be moving in together after the first of the year (end of January) and there will be expenses associated with that, so my resources will be limited this year compared to last year.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do this year? I'll do my best to make it up to everyone in 2009.

Away at the function

Hey everyone, I just wanted to say that we made it in safely and I am at the ISER Team Building retreat and having a good time.

We're being treated like royalty and it's a blast.

Funny story when I checked in however, they assigned me to a room and I went in. The room had double queen sized beds and one was taken. I saw some clothes sitting on the bed and grabbed the other bed. I looked back and saw a purse sitting on the the nightstand....Yeah, they double assigned that room and the other person (who I never met) was a female. They correted it and I have a huge deluxe suite with a double king sized bed and all the amenities one could wish or ask for.

Day two is tomorrow, I'll try to do another blog tomorrow evening.

Out of Town

I'm going to be out of town on Business starting today through Friday. I'll be in Shepherdstown for a little team building with a bunch of other Federal Employees and contractors until Friday afternoon. I'll be back Friday afternoon.

I have arranged for something that has never happened with George's Journal. I have invited a surprise guest author to write a George's Journal Blog entry or two while I am going to be out of town. I've also did a couple blog entries for the next few days that will appear in a timely manner.

I'll try to Blog from out of town, I should be able to, but it'll be hard to say if I will have the time allotted to do so.

Have a great Hump Day.

Life's Simple Pleasures.

OK, I get amused by the simplest of things sometimes. At home I had a cheap little Emerson AM/FM Weather band radio sitting on top of my computer that I used to listen to while I was working for infotech.

I would spend my mornings listening to Eric and Kevin and then Hoppy at 10:00. Life was good, but the weather band on that radio never worked. I tried tuning it several times but to no avail.

Well last night I bought another one to take to work with me and listen to at my desk. So I can have a little live entertainment to keep me busy. I bought a newer version of that old Emerson I had on my computer.

When I got home I simply tested it out to make sure it worked and what do you know, the weather band was working. WOW was I excited, I switched radios and keeping the one with the weather band working at home and will be taking my old one to work with me. =)

I am amused by the simplest of things.

Come and Gone

Yet another fun filled weekend has came and went by before we knew what happened. I swear it was just five minutes ago that I was picking Michelle up from work on Friday afternoon and here we are back at the start of yet another week of labor.

Michelle made a great pot roast yesterday and we stayed here and made sure that all was right in the universe as we cheered the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 11-10 win over the San Diego Chargers yesterday. This was the first time in NFL history that a game ended with an 11-10 score. Pittsburgh should have had another TD on the last play of the game by the defense, but the refs must have bet on San Diego and needed to cover the spot is all I can say, because it was a bad call and should have been a TD for the Steelers.

For former WVU standout Steve Slaton it was a very good day. Steve rushed for 156 yards on 14 carries and a 71 yard TD run, the longest in Houston Texans history.

Hi Ho Hi Ho.......

What the??????

Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely hate snow. Looking out today and seeing the frozen sunshine fall from the heavens makes me a sad person.

Gameplan: I need to start real early and bribe Phil to not see his shadow in a couple months. ...arggh. I hope he's not still mad at us for winning Steelers trivia. Anyone know the phone numbers of a few cheap slutty female groundhogs I could send to him?

Mountaineer Basketball Game

Yesterday evening Michelle and I ventured over to the WVU Men's Basketball game at the Coliseum. I was quite surprised to hear that the crown had exceeded the 10,000 mark at 10,250 in attendance. I nice number for a non conference game against a school most people had never heard of called Elon University.

It was good close game at first, but WVU pulled away and dominated as their depth wore Elon down early for a 92-47 win to open the season. Da'Sean Butler and Alex Ruoff lead the Mountaineers in scoring with 19 points a piece.

The Mountaineers will be back in action this coming Thursday night against Longwood.

The YMCA dance from last night. Ryan Boyd rocks!!!

What a blaaah kind of day.

This is the weekend, the sun is supposed to be out and we are supposed to be out having fun and what do we get? A rainy day.

Michelle and I will be going to the Basketball game tonight. Chris gave me his tickets and we'll be going tonight. Nick called me yesterday afternoon and said he had also gotten some tickets and both he and Terri would also be attending tonight's game. This will be the first regular season game for the Men's team of the year. I'm kind of excited in seeing the new scoreboard operate with all its functionality tonight.

Not sure what is on the agenda for me and Michelle for the rest of the day before the game. Last night I took her to Panera's for dinner. Note to self, that is more of a lunch thing not a dinner thing. I think she still enjoyed herself though.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

yes it is once again that time of the week when we cease our labors for the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors, it is once again another Big Ole Hairy Friday and the start of yet another weekend!!!


No plans are set in stone for us this weekend, but there are numerous sporting events around the city of Morgantown over the weekend. High school football and WVU Basketball are obviously the bigger stories of the days.

Is it softball season yet? We're not even out of the fall and I am dreading the winter months ahead and already looking forward to the spring. I was looking through my pictures this morning and realized we could be watching WVU play baseball at home in only four months.

Anyone else notice that they are pushing the Christmas shopping season at us a little early this year?

Have a great weekend.

Thursday Tidbits

I stopped over and visited my Mom last night, and she reminded me that it had been a fair amount of time since I had done a tidbits, so I guess I am a little long overdue in doing one.

* Last night after work, Michelle and I went to Colosantes for dinner. We both broke away from our normal Hot Sausage Hoagies we usually order and had a couple nice penne pasta dinners with Sausage and Chicken in them. Dinner was awesome.

* After dinner we stopped by Mom's for a brief visit and a chance to just sit down and say hello.

* I did find out third or fourth hand that Kaiden is tongue tied and may require surgery in a few months. I'll update everyone on his situation as soon as I can find out.

* Rich's mom has moved up to Morgantown from Florida since her Husband, Rich's Dad, passed away a few weeks back. I'm sure Jean and Rich will make her feel very welcome and at home.

* I think Michael has Next Week..er I mean Mahaley's bar and Grill Open. It's been slowly delayed for a while now, but I think they have had an unofficial opening with an official opening in the near future. He's done a great job remodeling and empty warehouse into arguably one of Morgantown's nicest bars.

* Work has been going pretty good for me, I go to Shepherdstown next week for a few days. A little team building retreat, should be a lot of fun and be a great chance to meet people.

* No WVU Football game this weekend, but there will be plenty of High School action if you want to see a little football. Morgantown will be hosting Nicholas County at 7:30 Friday night. UHS will be hosting Spring Valley on Saturday at 1:30. Friday night will also see #1 ranked AA team Keyser play Wyoming East at Mylan Pharmaceuticals Field (UHS's Home Field) and Clay Battelle will travel to play St. Mary's.

* If you are in the mood for a little basketball action, WVU will be taking on Elon at 7:30 Saturday at the WVU Coliseum in the first regular season game of the year (these count).

* Trish called me a couple of nights ago and said that Layla was running a big fever of 103.3, hopefully she is feeling much better.

* Michelle and I both saw a Wii Game that looks pretty interesting Wii Music may be a game that we may be getting. I'll need to get a fourth controller so I can kick both Hayley and Chad's butt at the Wii.

* Speaking of Hayley, she dyed her hair back to brown even though I have not seen it yet. Michelle has such a beautiful daughter, she should just go with her natural look.

* Not sure what the weekend has in store for us yet, we have talked about going to Tanger Outlets, but nothing is set in stone yet.

* How sad is it my Mother has known we are getting Hooters for about two weeks. What is wrong with this picture? LOL

Have a great day....

Hump Day

I enjoyed my day off yesterday, got a whole lot accomplished if you consider watching movies and napping as a measuring stick for things accomplished. =)

It's midweek, and hump day already and I'm pretty excited about that. It's nice to know that this week is just flying by and I hope the back end of the week goes as fats as the first part. I should enjoy it, because I will be out of town for three days next week for a team building thing at work. We're traveling to Shepherdstown for this. I've done one before, but nothing this extensive or to this level. Should be a lot of fun.

I found out last night that Morgantown may be getting a Hooters, but I also found out from this article that we are in negotiations for not one, but two Sonic's. Nothing has been finalized, but one will go on the Pierpont Road that is being developed by I-68 and the other in the new Suncrest Towne Centre near Krogers.

Have a great Hump Day.

Happy Veteran's Day

Today is Veterans Day around the US. Some lucky people such as myself have this as a paid holiday and have the day off.

Take time out and thank a Veteran for their service to this country, for without them we would not have the freedom and liberties that we enjoy.

The Championship Payoff

yesterday was our game that we got to go to when we won the 2008 KDKA McDonald's Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge earlier this summer.

The day started with a nice trip to Pittsburgh on a day Chris was on an adrenaline rush. He runs the entertainment scoreboards at both the Coliseum an Mylan Puskar Stadium. They also admitted his mom to the hospital that night also. Needless to say that we left at 10:00 AM and Chris had only had a couple hours of sleep.

We took a ride on the Duquesne Incline for Michelle's first ride on an incline and my first on that one. I had been on the one by Station Square previously.

Next it was on to Station Square for a little pre-game lunch and a chance to do a little bit of shopping. We went to Bar Louie for lunch, wow what a view and what a big bar.

After lunch, it was on to the Gateway Clipper and it took us across the river to arrive right in front of Heinze Field. It was the first time I had ever been on the water in front of Point State Park, so the ride was very enjoyable for me, despite the cold weather and us sitting on the top observation deck on the trip over.

We got to the game and were allowed to be down on the field for almost a couple of hours. Both me and Michelle had the camera's going hot and heavy and I uploaded everything to its own album located HERE.

We watched the game from one of the terrace's, and let me just say how freaking cold it was up there. I spilled a hot chocolate and the thing froze over before it hit the ground. It was briefly snowing and the weather report said for low 40's. That Geographer lied..LOL

The game? we lost 24-20 to the Indianapolis Colts, but I still had a great day.

Steelers Game Today

Today is the payoff day, the day we reap the benefits of winning the 2008 KDKA McDonald's Pittsburgh Steelers trivia Challenge.

Our round one challenge

Our Semi-Final Round

CHAMPIONS!!!!


Today, we're on the field pre-game and enjoying the game. I'm taking my Camera, my Terrible Towel, my Ben Roethlisberger AJersy and My sweetheart in her Willie Parker Jersy and heading to Heinze Field with Chris and Jenny.

Plenty to do Around Morgantown Today

This is definitely a Mountaineer sports kind of day, although Michelle and I will be running around getting things done so we can go to the Steelers game tomorrow.

At 1:00 the WVU Basketball Team will be Taking on Mountain State University in basketball. This will only be an exhibition game, it should be a good time for all.

At 7:00 the WVU Men's Football team will be taking on the University of Cincinnati in Football.

Hopefully it will be a great day and night to be a Mountaineer.

It's a Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is ONCE again that time when we cease our labors for the week and take a little time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is yet once again another Big Ole Hairy Friday and the start of yet another weekend.

Yesterday I went out to lunch with an old friend of mine that is also working for SAIC, just in another part of the plant. I went to lunch with Chris Christopher at Panera Bread, this was the first time I had ever been to Panera's. It was nice to sit down and BS with someone I had lost touch with through the years. Chris owns and pilots a local Hot Air Balloon. Maybe one day I can lend him and hand and chase him down.

Big weekend both here and for me. WVU football team will be taking on Cincinnati Saturday Evening and the basketball team will play an exhibition game Saturday also.

For me Michelle, Chris Ostein and his wife Jenny will be traveling to Pittsburgh Sunday and standing on the sidelines for the pregame of the Steelers v Colts matchup. I told Michelle I will now have watched both Eli and Peyton Manning play. Peyton this Sunday and I saw Eli light up WVU in the Music City Bowl for Don Nehlen's last game as WVU's coach.

Hope your weekend is fun filled and prosperous.

How about that election

Anyone watch the 2008 Presidential Election results? I was watching CNN as they had a countdown clock on for the polls in California as they closed at 11:00 EST. At 11:00 CNN called Barack Obama the winner.

I went to bed early and woke up to see all the festivities, I wanted to see the announcement and I wanted to hear the historic speech of our nations first African American President.

I'm quite pleased with the election results, myself. I look forward to inauguration day.

Over the Hump

I hope everyone had a good day yesterday, it's nice to have the election now behind us and we can stop listening to the campaigning for a couple years at least.

I had a great day at work yesterday, designed a 3D model that drew praise was the talk of a presentation this morning at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in DC. Worked over Monday night to complete the model and received some very positive feedback, one co worker even commented that this was the first time he had ever heard anything either good or bad.

I found out today, that next Tuesday is not a SAIC holiday, but I get it because I work at a client site and we use their holiday schedule. Woo Hoo!!!

I'll be attending my first Steelers game this Sunday. This is the game that was selected for us to attend for winning the KDKA Steelers Trivia Challenge this past fall (actually it was in June). I'll be on the field prior to the game with field passes, so this looks to be a memorable day for me and Michelle.

Have a great hump day!!!!

Election Day

It's that one time that we reach every four years, the one day when we as Americans decide WHO will be our nations leader(s) for the next four years.

My choice was made long ago, and has done nothing but grown stronger as I have watched attack after attack on him, his character, his faith and probably even what his favorite brand of Oreo is.

Barack Obama has my full support and has my vote for the 2008 Presidential Election. I have done my research and he is the better of the two candidates we have to choose from. This is NOT a slam against John McCain, I feel he too would make not only a good but a great President. I have full faith in both candidates, and feel the current bonehead has set up the next President who ever it may be to be a historically good one.

I feel after listening to the debates, watching this campaign quite closely for about 18 months and doing a good bit of extensive research on each candidate, that Barack Obama is the man best suited to run our country.

Where ever you are, make sure you do your patriotic duty and vote. If you are not registered, ask yourself why you have surrendered the biggest voice you have and register for the next election.

A realxing day before...

yesterday was a nice and relaxing day, started out going shopping and then Michelle and I ventured on a fun little journey to Valley Falls State Park between Fairmont and Grafton.

I had been there once before, but that was years ago when I drove for Mister Bee's and just went exploring more than anything else. So this was my second time here, but first time actually getting out of the vehicle and enjoyed the wonderful landscape.

For those of you without a GPS and just looking for an excuse to drive somewhere, there is another site connected to geocaching called Waymarking. A nice little excuse to visit sites that may have some kind of historical significance. Waymarks can generally just be driven up to, you don;t have to trample out in the woods looking for something someone has hidden.

Last night when I dropped Michelle off, she said she had a very important message for everyone......YO!!! She also hates the fact that we were walking through Wal-Mart yesterday and they were playing Christmas Music already. Were 24 days away from Thanksgiving and they are playing Christmas music....loudly.

Oh well, Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to work I go....

Have a great day.

A good day for a multi cache

Yesterday Michelle and I called Michael and took both Haley and Chad over to the place we are going to start renting from Michael after the first of the year. I think they both liked it as well as Michelle and I.

After that, Michelle and I thought we would try to do a another Multi Cache, which is by definition:

A multi-cache ("multiple") involves two or more locations, the final location being a physical container. There are many variations, but most multi-caches have a hint to find the second cache, and the second cache has hints to the third, and so on. An offset cache (where you go to a location and get hints to the actual cache) is considered a multi-cache.

We decided to try one called Let's Go Mountaineers that is around Morgantown and has you going to multiple WVU sporting sites both past and present to obtain clues as to the whereabouts of the final destination Cache.

It was a lot of fun and we had a great time. It gave us the opportunity to even see a few things that have been placed since I have graduated from WVU such as the old Mountaineer Field Memorial. I stood at about the spot I was at selling Hot Dogs in 1978 when Tommy Pridemore picked off a pass at the end of the end zone and ran it back 108 yards for a touchdown. I was just a few feet, literally, from him when he intercepted the ball. Talk about a great view.

It was a fun day.

Halloween Night

Once again this year we all congregated to Jean's for the traditional Trick or Treat festivities that take place every year. The evening started off with me and Michelle picking up Trish and Layla and going over to Jeans where there was a feast of Little Caesars Pizza as well as a nice assortment of soda products, potato chips and Doritos. We arrived a little after 5:00 and everyone was already there waiting on us.

Michelle has never had anyone show up for halloween (I don't think I have either since I lived at Barrington North) so she was quite excited about seeing all of the ghosts, goblins, batmen, spidermen, Mario's and all the other costumes on the night and seeing the looks on many kids faces as they would come to the porch in search of candied treats.

We were prepared for whatever amount of kids managed to show up to say the least. Everyone pitched in and brought numerous bags of candied treats to give out to the ghosts and goblins in exchange for not tricking us.

The Mohawk Bowl was also being played this night, so that took a little away from the normal crowd and appeared to bring an estimated smaller crowd this year of roughly 300. No real way to count as the candy bars were already opened and put into a bowl without a count on the numbers, but there was plenty of candy left at the end of the night (that might be due to the over abundance of the supply of it this year rather than lack of demand).

It started at 6:00 and lasted until 8:00. It was a great evening. I have put all the pictures form the nights festivities on my site in THIS album.

It's a Big Bad SCARY FRIDAY

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha It's that time of the year when the ghosts and goblins come out from hiding and take time out to seek and capture the candied treasures in exchange for allowing us to have peace for the next year.

Tonight Michelle, Trish and Layla will venture to jean's to help her protect her home front from the treacherous ghouls and goblins that will escape and enter upon us. East Gate Manor must have some kind of a connection to the evil underworld as it seems to release many hundreds of those seeking those scrumptious candied treats.

BTW, it's also Friday so you can take some time out and spend with the loved ones.


Happy Halloween.

Better come up with some content

Would you believe that I got crap from my blog yesterday from Michelle. She said it was a cheap way to get a blog, but understood well enough that I had a case of writers block. So I better do a heck of a lot better today than I did yesterday.

Speaking of Yesterday, Michelle and I enjoyed a free dinner courtesy of Chic-Fil-A. We went there for lunch Saturday and got a survey questionnaire, if we called the number we would be given an access code. If we would bring that questionnaire back and our receipt from Saturday, we would get everything on the receipt for free. We did and were treated to a couple free dinners from Chic-Fil-A. A heck of deal if you ask me.

Sitting at dinner Michelle and I realized we had a mutual friend and a current and ex co-worker that we both know. Hayley is friends with a Melanie form the NRAC's daughter and a worker from SAIC's daughter is also friends with her. Small world.

I am getting a nice self taught education on KML's. It's some pretty complex code at times with multiple variables, but it is all making perfect sense to me now. Not that I will ever have to write the code (we export the code), but I can look at the code and edit it to where we may want it that may be beyond the capabilities of the software we use. I'm really enjoying this, it's challenging and rewarding.

We're on the downhill side to the weekend now.

Wasssup 2008

Is it Friday yet?

Yeah right, we are not even at hump day yet and I'm thinking about the weekend already.

A little note for everyone, that this weekend is the end of daylight savings time. We will gain an hours sleep this weekend as we leap back and turn the clocks back one hour early Sunday morning. It's even dark when I leave for work at 7:10.

I haven't had too much of an opportunity to talk to anyone and catch up on what's been going on in everyone's lives as of late, but I will do my best to rectify that this weekend is at all possible. Maybe I can do a tidbits and do a little information on everyone.

Don't forget the election is one week from today.

Back to it

Yes I know, the time to enjoy the fruits of our labors have once again come to pass and now entered the memory portion of our lives, it's time to go back to the fruits of our labors for another workweek.

Yesterday Michelle, Hayley and I went to her Sister Chris's for the Steelers v Giants fiasco. It was a tough 14-21 setback for the Black and Gold. The Steelers dropped a hard fought game to a team that just happens to be the defending Super Bowl Champions. The loss drops the Steelers record to 5-2, so things aren't that bad.

WVU is once again on the edge of breaking into the top 25 again as they are now 26th in the AP and 29th in the USAToday polls. A win this Saturday at UCONN could propel the Mountaineers back into the rankings.

Hi Ho Hi Ho....

Our Saturday

With absolutely no game plan in the works for yesterday, Michelle and I decided to take a trip to Pittsburgh. She had never been to Century III Mall so I decided to take her up and show it to her.

We did manage to stop and look around Value City Furniture
before we made it to Century III. We will be in the market in the near future to start our life together. We have stopped a few times looking at furniture, but I think we have now found a great store with a good product and the best prices.

Good news, Steve and Barry's may have went bankrupt and closing over 100 of their stores including the one here in Morgantown, however the one in Century III Mall is NOT one of them and will not close.

Outside of Century III we stopped an an outdoors store called Gander Mountain, a store that targeted the outdoors men and hunters and fishermen.

Yesterday evening we headed back and you know what we saw on Route 51? Primanti Bros. This was my fifth Primanti Bros I have been to and next month I will make the one at Heinz Field my sixth.

Good Morning

Good Morning my faithful readers. I hope your Friday was good and pleasurable, if you were not recovering from the night before.

I see both the great Morgantown High Mohigans and the satan worshipping evil UHS Hawks both pitched respective shutouts last night setting up a monstrous battle that will take place this coming Friday night. However I will be with Michelle handing out candy at East Gate.

Speaking of handing out candy on Halloween, East Gate by my calculations, this spatial location has the best CPM (Candy Per Minute) ration in he Morgantown area. Last year we had an estimated 350 Trick or Treaters (roughly one every 20 seconds for two hours). Two years ago we had an estimated 400 Trick or Treaters or roughly about one every 209 seconds again, but a little more dense. Three years ago we also had roughly 400 of the little ghosts and goblins stop by. This weekend looks to once again be promising.

Have a great day, I'm going to try to.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week when we cease the labors for the week and take time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again the dawn of yet another weekend.

How about that game last night. West Virginia and Auburn both finished in the Top 10 last year and both were pre-season top 10 and WVU fell behind early 17-3, but managed a 34-17 win. It was a GREAT night to be a Mountaineer.

Not too much scheduled for Michelle and myself this weekend, I think we are going to take it easy and have a relaxing weekend rather than running around everywhere. Never know, maybe a local geocache or two might be in the plans sometime this weekend.

Last night Gary called me, I advised him to install Utorrent to find what he was looking for. Torrents are a great way to find what you are looking for, especially with sites like Torrent Reactor and Torrents out there.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!