Sunday Morning Rambling

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm up watching the end of Red State and collecting my thoughts for the day. I'm the first one to recover from that losing battle with that dreaded Sandman last night. Fin is still passed out once again so that is pretty rare.

We did not get into too much yesterday, we did get a visit from my niece Val and her clan. Erica needed to print out some pictures for a school project and I have a color printer so we printed some copies out for her to complete her project. Hopefully she will get an A on this project. (I Spoke too soon, Fin is here..lol)

It's going to be a strange Sunday, the pro bowl which I never watch is being played today as next week is the Super Bowl meaning that there is really no football being played today. I guess after next weekend it's all over with until this fall and football widows get their husbands back.

Nothing special for us planned today, grocery shopping and our weekly trip to Phoenix Bakery to see Fred (The Cat) and give him a few Greenies as well as buy our bread for the week. Other than that not too much is on our agenda for the day. Maybe a nice relaxing afternoon nap. =)

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, not even the never tired Fin is making a single peep. I'm up with HBO on in the background and I'm collecting my somewhat limited thoughts for this day.

One of the things that I used to love to do growing up and always looked forward to on Saturday Morning was a morning filled with cartoons. Whether it be Buggs Bunny and the Road Runner or some show from Sid and Marty Kroft, Saturday mornings were always sacred as a kid, just before you headed out to play for the day. Now it seems the only thing you get on any of the networks, is News all morning long. When I was a kid, we had a limited number of channels and a smorgasbord of great Saturday morning entertainment, to day we have probably close to 1,000 channels and there never seems to be anything good on on Saturday mornings. Why is that?

So much for my non cartoon Saturday morning rant, not too much going on around Morgantown today, The WVU Men's basketball team is in Florida to take on the Florida Gators, but the Women's team is in fact at home to take on Baylor in what should be a great match up of two ranked teams. WVU comes in at #24 and Powerhouse Baylor is #4 in the country. Tipoff is at 4:00 PM and tickets are just $5.00 each.

Michelle and I have no plans for today, but that can always change. Cabin fever may set in or we just may stay in and relax for the day.

I will leave you with this rare find that I found on the internet this morning. I've never heard this before.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Well today it is off to the part time job that I have been working to make up some lost coverage at work. Last week we got a late delivery from TNG due to the snow storm and we had to get out of there before the state of emergency kicked in and Snowmageddon hit paralyzing the whole region for a few days. Things should return to normal today as far as that job is concerned.

It's that time of the year when Michelle and I do not make many plans for the weekend, there are no road trips or anything special planned for this weekend, although next weekend is Super Bowl Sunday. The WVU Men's Basketball team plays Saturday, but they are playing at the University of Florida in the Big XII -SEC Challenge, so I may take a little bit of time out and watch that game this weekend.

For anyone looking for something to do on Saturday, my Niece Amy is helping with a Spaghetti Dinner Benefit at the Mountain View Jamboree. If you don't feel like cooking, this might just be a very good option that helps raise a little money for a worthy cause.

There are a number of other events going on around Morgantown tomorrow if you are looking for something to do.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Third Annual Friends and Family Pic Nic

The Third Annual Friends and Family Picnic has been set up, reserved and paid for for the 2016 year. The picnic will be held at Krepps Park once again this year and will be on Sunday July 3rd and it will once again be an all day event.

Last years event was held in late June (30th I think) and it was actually kind of cold. Hopefully the day before the 4th of July (which is on Monday) will give everyone time to travel and make arrangements if need be and everyone should have the next day (4th of July) off to celebrate our nations birthday.

Hopefully this year we can be blessed with a little bit of nice weather and everyone can take advantage of the pool that is right next door.

This is the same shelter that we have used the past couple of years, bathrooms are close and there is running water and electricity at this shelter. If I forgot to invite you, invite yourself and come out and have a good time. If you are invited and you want to invite someone else that I didn't invite, invite them as well.

Counting down, 157 days and shrinking until we do it again.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of the tens of thousands of pictures that I either have captured with a lens, scanned or just stolen from some place on the internet. Little lost moments in time that I like to post up and briefly relive here. Sometimes this is very easy, and there are times that you struggle, but one thing it has and always will be is a whole lot of fun.

My how time flies, this weeks picture goes back over 20 years, time when your truly even had himself a little bit of that lip hair that they call a mustache. The other man in the picture is my Dad of course.

Looking at the date and noticing it is at my Sisters old trailer (actually two of them lived there at one time or another) I would say that we were all there to celebrate my niece Amy's 9th Birthday. I seem to recall Nick and Terri had a little cookout and birthday party for her and this is where we all congregated to.

Notice I am wearing a hat, something you rarely if ever see on top of my head. It was from the old but original Heiskel and King softball team that morphed into so many other teams and directions over the next 15 seasons. I used to love playing softball and I was just starting to enter into my prime as far as playing days.

I miss both my Dad and my Boys of Summer playing Softball.

Have yourselves a fantastic day.

Hi ho hi ho

Brain Fart Wednesday

There is one day of the week that I have no creativity or much else to say, especially during this time of the year when no much is really going on anywhere other than asking ourselves if it snowed.

Wednesday to me is just the day that any creative juices that I have are out of whack and taking time off, although yesterdays blog could have very well been a similar indication of that.

Maybe it's that I am just suffering from seasonal affective disorder from not having enough sunlight or it just could be that there is not a whole lot going on right now.

In the World of Sports the WVU Men's basketball team with a loss last week dropped to #9 in both polls. I think the Women moved up a spot to #24 and Super Bowl 50 has been set. The Carolina Panthers will be playing the Denver Broncos in what could very well be Peyton Manning's Swan Song of his career. Carolina has just been too tough this season, I have to go with the Panthers to pull this one off.

The WVU Men's baseball team will play an exhibition game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on February 29th this year in Arizona. The Diamondbacks are owned by WVU grad Ken Kendrick.

Yesterday I had to change my long standing Google + Saying that Abe Vigoda was still alive. Abe passed away yesterday at the age of 94. I have had the status of Abe Vigoda is Alive since Google first came out. It was a running joke that dates back to my college years. There is actually a long standing website dedicated to whether he was alive or not, this was the source of my status years ago. RIP Fish.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits aka I Hate Snow

* Monday is now past, you know what that means.

* I have had 19,049 snow hating days since my birth.

* It has been 4,272 snow hating days since I graduated from West Virginia University.

* 2,873 snow hating days ago Michelle and I went out on our very first date.

* There have been 2,097 snow hating days that have passed sine Michelle and my engagement.

* 1,634 snow hating days since our Wedding

* I have about 5,788 snow hating days before I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* There are only 2,426 snow hating days until WVU vs Pitt is renewed in Football.

* Only 340 snow hating days until I write my Goodbye 2016 blog.

* There are 334 snow hating days until Christmas.

* Only 310 snow hating days until my next Birthday.

* 249 snow hating days until the Springs Festival.

* I have 229 snow hating days until our 2016 Cruise.

* In 193 snow hating days Michelle and I will celebrate our Fifth Wedding Anniversary

* There are only 54 snow hating days until Spring 2016!!!!!!

* In 7 snow hating days Ground Hogs Day Phil will tell us that we are done with snow.

* I have written 4,344 Blogs, I've hated snow on each and every one of them.

* Nothing new on the brother search this week, I Still Hate Snow though.

* No new additions to the Hall Family Website, hopefully everyone hates snow as much as I do.

* Not sure if I have ever mentioned this before on my blog, but I Hate Snow.

*  I Hate Snow

*  I Hate Snow

* I Hate Snow

*  I Hate Snow

*  I Hate Snow

* Have yourselves a great day, getting rid of all this snow.

* Hi Ho Hi Ho I Hate Snow

Monday

Winter Storm Jonas is now part of our memories, the only problem is there are all kinds of reminders all over the place to remind us that Jonas was here and Mother Nature was just waiting to screw everyone's season up.

Today there are probably going to be a whole lot of closings around town, the area and the state as we are still trying to dig out from one of the worst single snow storms to ever hit the area.

My guess is even though that the temps are supposed to be above freezing today, that many area services will be closed today. This snowfall  impacted the area the area so bad, that even the main roads were not really functional yesterday morning, I can't even guess about secondary roads.

My intentions for today are to head into the office, but I'll wait to hear the official site opening status before making that decision. Collins Ferry I would imagine was not a priority to the State Roads Crew and I would hate to imagine how bad it may be. We'll have to wait and see however.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Storm Jonas is done.

Well Snowmageddon Storm Jonas has came through and left the area. It decided to blanket the whole east coast with a massive amount of that stuff that I don't care for, snow.

It snowed from early Friday Afternoon until mid afternoon yesterday non stop, it managed to leave around 21" of snow here where we live but much more in other places around the area. Believe it or not, we got it pretty mild.

Now is the time to get back out and around, we did manage to get all of our cars out yesterday thanks to Michael with his snow plow and snow blower. We cleaned all the cars off, dug them out and took all the cars down to the store as Michael scraped the entire driveway with the snowplow. That made a seemingly impossible task very accomplish-able.

Todays plans are to get out and around, now that the state road crews have actually treated the roads, we are going to do our normal Sunday Shopping today. The roads appear to be travel-able with a big thank you going out to all the hard working men of the roads crews. From the State to the City, all of these men deserve a great big thank you a city that was at an absolute shut down up and moving again.

Jonas was a heck of a storm, but we all survived it with little problems. Not many power outages with all that snow fall, just travel was temporarily impeded.

Have yourselves a Great day and I Hate Snow.

Snowmageddon 2016 (Jonas)

Well here I sit, snowed in to say the least, Michelle and I are both up and walking around looking at the snowfall that has hit us last night and not making any real plans for the day.

Looks like we have got about 12-13" here 12"on Pearl alone and I have seen people posting posting pictures on Facebook of anywhere between 14"-16" around Morgantown in some other places. It doesn't look like it is going to subside for another 12 hours or so. We're prepared and as far as I know everyone is safe at home.

Fortunately most people didn't go running round last night as the roads around Morgantown still look to be pretty much untreated at 4:30 AM. I have to say from the 511 cameras and the fact that most people stayed in, I'm surprised nothing was really done but it is still snowing so that's hard to tell and it would be a wasted effort.

We have no plans for the day other than sitting at home and maybe making the weeks menu before we try to venture out tomorrow to go grocery shopping. It's calling for snow up until early evening, so stay in and stay safe.

I do have my entire Winter 2016 Album on Facebook for all to enjoy.

Have yourselves a great day, find something good on Netflix and relax for the day, you're not going anywhere.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Winter 2015

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

Well I'm off once again from my career job today, although I have to say things are looking much better the past three days than they have in a while. Keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out in the long run, I'm feeling much better about it now. However I am starting a part time job as a Merchandiser today with TNG. It's just a few hours a week, but it's one location and it gets me out of the house exercising and recovering a small portion of the lost revenue. Funny thing is it's exchanging Magazines at Walmart in the University Town Center, like I was't going to be at Sams anyway today....lol.

Make sure that you are prepared for this weekend, they are calling for Major Snowfall from Jonas (Storms name) over the next couple of days. We may be looking at better than a foot of snow just in Morgantown between now and tomorrow night. Traveling will be hazardous, so be stocked up and get ready to hunker down for the storm. Netflix and a little binge watching can always be your friend. If you don't absolutely have to be out, don't be.

Have yourselves a great day and stay warm and safe.

Hi ho hi ho

From the National Weather Service

Please take the time today to plan ahead for the next 3+ days. This is a major winter storm headed to us tomorrow. Most areas, including Morgantown, is expected to receive a foot of snow and possibly closer to 2 feet of snow in Eastern Monongalia.

Heavy wet snow is expected. One inch an hour for 12 or more hours is possible. What does that mean?
1. Impossible to clear roadways during the storm. You should not travel unless you absolutely have to. If you do travel put some extra blankets, food, water in your car.

2. Trees unable to withstand the accumulating snow will bring down power and other utility lines. Temps will remain below freezing. This means prolonged power outages until crews can reach areas to repair them. Plan ahead for safe heating and personal needs without power.

3. Heavy wet snow could cause structural collapses or cause trees to fall into residential or commercial buildings. Plan ahead to have a To-Go Kit ready should you need to seek further shelter due to this or power/heat outages.

4. Do not try to shovel snow. Heavy wet snow shoveling is very dangerous and exerting. Check on elderly & those with special needs if you can. BE A NEIGHBOR!

5. Refill medications, child care supplies, pet supplies, non perishable food, and bottled water BEFORE FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

MOST OF ALL PLEASE BE SAFE AND USE COMMON SENSE.

It's BETTER to be overly prepared than NOT prepared.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look through all of the pictures that I have either taken with a camera, scanned or just plain stolen off of the internet through the years. Little lost moments in time that I like to post up and briefly relive here for everyone. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes you do struggle in finding something to talk about, it's always a whole lot of fun regardless.

This weeks picture goers back a good 15-16 years, I'm thinking it was around 2000 when I was back in college. I was actually at Nick and Terri's and a neighborhood friend of Nick's was there, Nathan as we all called him.

What stood out to me for this picture was not my presence or even Nathan's, it was the the fact that my Sisters long time pet and faithful companion Tucker (he's in the Middle) was there and posing for a photograph. Sadly these were Tuckers later years and he was getting old, blind and eaten up with arthritis, but that did not stop him from attacking the electric meter readers gonads one day...LOL

Tucker always seemed to be with Terri and I don't think it was a situation of them adopting him, I think he just showed up one day and adopted her and her family. As far as pets go, Tucker was around the longest and touched people the most. He was small, but feisty and protected those that he loved. Great Dog.

Have a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well the first couple of days of the week are now complete, now all we have to is get up and over noon, and it will all be down hill working towards another fun filled weekend. I should also welcome everyone to brainfart Wednesday...lol

We are looking at a major snow storm coming this Friday, in other words Snowmageddon is heading our way. They are calling for as much as 24" in our area come Friday and Saturday. So go out and make sure that you have your bread, eggs and butter for the storm. Be prepared early and don't get caught without your toilet paper and the things that you are going to need and don't be caught without or have any need to do anything other than sit and home and watch movies. You have been warned....lol And BTW, I Hate Snow

While we are talking about snow, if you have to travel check out the WV 511 Site for all your travel information that you may need. It's a very good site to bookmark, especially during this time of the year.

Note to self, send Phil some gifts so that he remembers me in two weeks.

Have a Great Day

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Nihat "Nick" Rehmani

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Brother in Law Nick a very Happy Birthday today.

Nick is one of those rare people that would bend over backwards to help someone. He is very career oriented and has been doing very well getting his home based business off the ground in between times when he has been doing a lot of contracting work.

I'm not sure what Terri has planned for Nick today, but I'm quite sure he is on Seventh Heaven with his Carolina Panthers now looking like they just may win their first Super Bowl in Franchise history in a few weeks.

If you happen to see Nick today, make sure that you take a little time out and wish him a very Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Nick.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well my long weekend is now over with, time to get back to the office and you know what that calls for, a Tidbits.

* It has been a total of 19,042 days since my birth, I count each and every one of them as a new blessing.

* It was 4,265 days ago that I graduated from Wets Virginia University.

* My life changed forever when I took a very special young lady out for a date 2,866 days ago. The best days of my life have been the ones I have spent with Michelle.

* It was 2,090 days ago that I proposed marriage to Michelle solidifying our Engagement.

* We partied down and feasted 1,627 days ago in front of our closest friends and family at our Wedding.

* I have about 5,795 days to go until I enter into the world of retirement, I've still got a few years, so I'm not anticipating that just yet.

* There will be a football game that I am looking forward to in 2,433 as WVU vs Pitt is renewed for the Backyard Brawl.

* There are 347 more days of content for me to write before my Goodbye 2016 Blog is posted.

* If you are counting, you have 341 more shopping days left to go until Christmas.

* The next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will take place in another 317 days.

* We didn't make it last year, but in 256 more days we are going to go to the Springs Festival

* There are 236 days left until Cruise 2016 if the situation permits.

* There are 200 days to go until Mine and Michelle's Fifth Wedding Anniversary.

* There are but a mere 61 more days to go until Spring, my favorite season of the year.

* It will be Phil's day here in a couple of weeks as we are 14 days away from Ground Hogs Day.

* 4,435th Blog that I have written for George's Journal. It's amazing how many posts have come out of my testing something out. Going on 11 1/2 years as a pretty much daily blogger.

* No work done to the Hall Family Website this past week. There are still 286 people in the database.

* Nothing new on the brother search, it's almost to the point where I am giving up on it due to the dead end. A year ago we were making progress, but dead ends prevailed.

* My sister Kim came up with a great idea of trying to duplicate the photo when we were all together for the first time. Not seeing this happen in the immediate future for reasons beyond our control, but I do think that is a great idea.

* Well the Pittsburgh Steelers NFL season officially ended with a loss to Denver of Sunday. It was a pretty good season and I'm very proud of this team fighting back through so many injuries.

* Have I ever mentioned before that I Hate Snow?

* The WVU Men's basketball Team rose to a #6 Ranking in the AP Poll, #7 in the Coaches Poll. The WVU Women's basketball Team enters the top 25 ranked #25 in the AP.

* With so many days being at home during the winter, I am starting to really get Cabin fever...lol

* Have yourselves a great day

* Hi ho hi ho

Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday

Today is a day that we take a little bit of time out and celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr, the slain Civil Rights leader whom we now celebrate his Birthday as a Federal Holiday. So that means my extended weekend just extended one more additional day today.

Dr King's birthday was actually January 15th, the same day as Michelle and her Sister Chris celebrate their Birthdays.

No plans for today, but I will start a part time job on Fridays this week with a company called TNG to try to temporarily offset the loss in funding that I am currently experiencing. Not a long term solution, more of a short term band aid until the future looks a little clearer as to what direction I may need to go in the near future. I'm also looking into starting my own business, but am still very much in the research and development phase of that. The NAICS codes that I am going to be filing under are 541360 Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services and 541370 Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services. I'll keep everyone informed as this starts to develop.

Like I said, I'm off today, so everyone who is working have yourselves a great day.

Sunday

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, Fin is once again reminding me that she either wants to be fed or just making sure that I am up.

Well the WVU Men's Basketball team came up a little bit short, as in a 2 point loss to the #2 team in the country on their home court with a last couple second tip in 70-68. If we would have won it would have been the first time since 1990 when Oklahoma did it that a team beat the #1 and #2 teams in the country in consecutive games. Oklahoma should be the #1 team in the country in Monday's Polls. WVU falls to 15-2 on the season.

The WVU Women's Basketball team hosted and beat the Kansas Jayhawks 72-35 at the WVU Coliseum. The Mountaineer Women improve to 15-4 on the season. The win was Coach Mike Carey's 600th of his career. Congratulations Coach.

Are you wanting a little bit of Football? Well the Pittsburgh Steelers without Antonio Brown, Le'Veon Bell, DeAngelo Williams and with a QB with a separated shoulder travel to Denver for the AFC Divisional Playoff game. Pittsburgh is very banged up and missing a lot of key playmakers including Mr Excitement Antonio Brown. The Steelers enter the game as 8 point underdogs because of all the injuries. The Steelers did erase a 17 point deficit a few weeks ago to win 34-27, so there is hope.

Have yourselves a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, Fin just woke me up and let me know that she wanted fed so I'm watching Horrible Bosses 2 and collecting my thoughts for the day.

So much for that thought, Fin woke Michelle up as well so we are both up. She obviously does not want us to sleep too much and acts as if she rules the roost, but then again both humans are now up...lol

Last night we went out to dinner to celebrate both Michelle's and her sister Chris's birthdays which were both yesterday. Chris and Jim wanted to go to Hot Rod's House of BBq in Waynesburg, which was a friend of Jim's whom he actually talked into going into business after he made his first batch of wings in his backyard. I have to say that I loved it, and it is more than worth the trip. Food was at a fair price and excellent.

Today is going to be a big day for WVU Men's Basketball, after beating #1 Kansas on Tuesday night 74-63, they now travel to Norman Oklahoma this afternoon to attempt to do something that has not been done for a long time, and that is beat the #1 and #2 teams in the country in consecutive games. The game is at Oklahoma so we're not the favorites. These two teams each blew the other out last season on their own home floors. The winner of this game should be the #1 team in the Country when Monday's Polls come out. WVU is ranked #11, but many top 10 teams fell this week and if we can pull it off this afternoon we would have a VERY strong resume and argument.

The WVU Women's Basketball team plays Kansas this evening at 7:00 at the WVU Coliseum. It's super hero night and admission is just $1.00. Swing on by for a little cheap entertainment and a good time.

Have yourselves a great day, no real plans for Michelle and I today.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

For me it is the start of a long holiday weekend as I am off work today and Monday is a Holiday, I don't go back into the Office until Tuesday. So it's a longer extended weekend for me.

Not sure what plans Michelle and I have for this weekend as of yet, I know we are going to watch the Steelers Sunday evening and other than that not much is planned. Hopefully it is not too boring of a weekend. I know we have talked about going out to dinner tonight with Jim and Chris as it is also Chris's birthday today as well as Michelle's.

Have yourselves a great day and enjoy your weekend.

Happy Birthday Michelle Dawn Hall

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my beautiful wife a very Happy Birthday today. Happy Birthday Michelle I love you from the very bottom of my heart.

Michelle is the love of my life and my soulmate, I got very lucky when this lovely young lady said that she would be my wife. She is the most wonderful woman that I have ever met and I thank my lucky stars each and every day that she entered my life and saved me.

She is a very unique woman, a very hard working woman and someone who is just absolutely amazing. I don't know where my life would be if we had not re-crossed paths, I am thankful each and every day that I am married to such a wonderful woman.

Michelle, you are my everything and I love you more than I could ever express with words. You are everything to me.

If you happen to see this wonderful woman today, make sure that you wish her a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Michelle, How U Do?

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look through all of the pictures that I have either taken with a camera, scanned or just plain stolen off of the internet through the years. Little lost moments in time that I like to post up and briefly relive here for everyone. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes you do struggle in finding something to talk about, it's always a whole lot of fun regardless.

This weeks pic really doesn't go back that far in time. Tuesday Morgantown was hit was a Snow Squall and this city went into absolute gridlock. This picture was taken in front of our home right after I got home from work and right before Van Voorhis Road became a parking lot and shut down.

I actually called Michelle at work and told her to come home early as I foresaw the events that were about to and did take place in and around our home and city. We were both safe at home early as the chaos began all around us.

I heard horror stories yesterday of people trying to get home in these extremely adverse conditions.

Have yourselves a great day and this is why I Hate Snow.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Oh here we are again, middle of the workweek and because I pre-write my blogs so that they can post early in the morning while feeding the cats, checking out Facebook and making breakfast, It is the one day of the week that is hardest for me to come up with content for.

For example WVU played #1 Kansas last night in Basketball, but as I am typing this we are literally hours away from tipoff so I really can't comment on how the game went but I'm hoping to be very Happy this morning.

It's just the hardest day to come up with content, considering yesterday was a Tidbits where I cover a lot of little things and tomorrow is a Photo Flashback where I take a picture from the past and talk about it briefly.

One thing that I am kind of excited to find out is that the FBI is going to add 230 jobs at their Clarksburg Facility. Not sure if I qualify for any of them, but I'm going to keep an eye on the FBI Jobs website and see if I can get my foot in the door there. The future at NETL is very cloudy right now, so I am exploring other options including this one.

Oh, Powerball Jackpot is $1.5 Billion with a Cash Payout of $930 Million. That works for me.

Oh, yesterday was a snowstorm tragedy in Morgantown. Traffic was horrible and kids were not getting home from school on their buses until as late as 9:00 PM. Oh and in that little basketball game- held in Morgantown, WVU beat #1 Kansas 74-63. It was a great day to be a Mountaineer despite the gridlock.

While I am struggling for content for today's blog, you have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded thing we refer to as Monday is yet once again behind us, now we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday and I still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It has been 19,035 days since my birth, I appreciate each and every one of them as I am awarded a new one to experience with each new day.

* It was 4,258 days ago that I fulfilled a lifetime dream by Graduating from West Virginia University. It was a late start, I was 35 years old to be exact, but I finished.

* It was 2,859 days ago that life life changed forever, I took a very special lady out on a first date and we have been together ever since.

* 2,083 days ago I proposed marriage to Michelle and we officially became engaged.

* It was 1,620 days ago that we had a Caribbean style non-traditional marriage.

* I have around 5,802 days to go until retirement, of course that is give or take a few hundred here one way or the other.

* I'm counting, it's just 2,440 days until the Backyard Brawl of  WVU vs Pitt in football takes place on the next occurrence.

* There are only 354 more days to go until my Goodbye 2016 is posted reliving the year ahead of us. I guess I will need to live it before I write it...lol

* There are only 348 more shopping days left to go until Christmas.

* In 324 more days I'll celebrate another Anniversary of my 21st Birthday.

* We failed to make it last year due to the weather, but we are planning on going to the Springs Festival in 263 more days, weather permitting.

* We are 243 days away from Cruise 2016.

* In 207 more days Michelle and I will be celebrating our Fifth Wedding Anniversary together.

* There are only 68 more days to go until my favorite season, Spring!!!!

* There are only 21 days to go until Ground Hogs Day, Phil remember me this year and don;t see your shadow.

* I have written a total of 4,327 Blogs for Georges Journal in the over 11 years I have been writing this daily recollection of my life.

* A little bit of work to the Hall Family Tree, there are currently 286 entries in the database and it continues to grow.

* Nothing new on the brother search this week, it's kind of a dead end search at this point.

* Have I ever mentioned that I kind of not like, actually really dislike to the point where you could say that I Hate Snow.

* If you haven't purchased your Powerball tickets, you might want to buy your ticket to dream before tomorrow nights $1.3 Billion drawing.

* I did wake up yesterday morning to a little bit of surprising news. Rock Icon David Bowie had passed away after his 18 month long bout with Cancer. Just the night before I was listening to him, Grace Slick and Freddie Mercury. Bowie and Mercury had a video for under pressure that was just the vocals and it didn't take long to realize we have very few vocalists today.

* Big Basketball game in town tonight, WVU takes on #1 Kansas at the WVU Coliseum. WVU last beat the #1 team in the Country on February 27, 1983. It has been long enough, lets see if we can do this.

* Lilly has had to go back to the Vet this past weekend, she has been a sick little puppy as of late and Michelle and I watched Rocky for a few hours on Sunday. I think him and Fin hit it off, they are both small and have a whole lot of energy and love chasing each other.

* Ang and Ryleigh Mae are doing good, still at the hospital but hope to take her home today.

* Have yourselves a great day

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

Well all good things must come to an end, and that includes those fun filled and enjoyable things that we refer to as weekends. We are entering another workweek so it's time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of work.

Today is the big day for College Football, it's the day that the National Championship Game is to be played when Semi-Final winners Clemson and Alabama square off this evening to see who reigns supreme in College Football. Alabama is a 7 Point Favorite in the game tonight but I would not count Clemson out just yet. This should be a great game between college football's two best teams. I'm thinking Alabama will win, but that could also be because Nick Saban is from Monongah and a local guy.

For you Powerball watchers, this Jackpot is so huge it is pretty much inconceivable. It's $1.3 Billion and rising, the cash payout alone is $806 Million. Imagine if you won. After paying about half of it Million in State and Federal Taxes, that would still leave you with around $400 Million. If you took that money and put it into a modest account that paid 2%, you would still be making about $2 Million  a year without ever touching the Principle. That's a whole lot of money and I would just love to win this drawing.

No such luck winning Saturday, so have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Sandra Bell

I would like to take this opportunity to wish someone very special in my life a very Happy Birthday today.

If it were not for this very special lady, this blog would not exist because I wouldn't exist. She is the woman who bore me and gave me life, something that I am forever grateful for.

We took Mom out to brunch yesterday at Golden Coral and sat and BS'ed for a while. It was a pretty good and a pretty memorable day. It was very nice that we had our own little section so that no one else would bother us.

If you happen to see the midget porn loving Irene today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish her the happiest of birthdays today.

Happy Birthday Mom.

Sunday Morning Rambings

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm barely awake but I am up writing my blog after a very eventful day yesterday. I'm up watching nothing and trying to wake up.

Our day started our with us running to Petco and Phoenix Bakery for a few errands, We got a text message from my sister in law Chris that Jim has been admitted to the hospital that night. So after that we decided to stop by.

At the hospital we are getting off the elevators and there is my Sister Pam, her Husband George and Calvin. It was strange seeing them there and likewise. Come to find out Ryleigh Mae had decided to join the family and wanted to start a little earlier than expected.

We came home and I watched the WVU Men's Basketball team beat Oklahoma State 77-60. It was a pretty good game and now up next for the Mountaineers is #1 Kansas. The WVU women won as well.

Later that night we watched maybe the craziest NFL game I may have ever seen, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 18-16  that took you an absolute roller coaster of emotions. Someone could write a book on this game that's for sure. Steelers winning 15-0 and Big Ben gets hurt, Bengals make comeback to take advantage 16-15, Landry Jones tries to rally and throws an interception to pretty much end the season for the Steelers, but the Bengals try running the ball and Fumble. Ben returns with an injured shoulder with less than a minute left in the game and starts to lead them down field. On a 3rd down Antonio Brown is cheap shotted by none other than Vontaze Burfict, who also injured Ben earlier to draw a 15 yard penalty and then Adam "Pacman" Jones ends up shoving a referee for another 15 yards to make it a 35 yard Chip shot Field Goal for Chris Bowell to give the Steelers the win. Crazy.

I did not win the $900 Million Powerball last night, and neither did anyone else. Thursday's Jackpot $1.3 Billion and the Cash Prize is $806 Million. You might want to take a couple of bucks and put on that...lol

Today we are going to take my Mom out for Brunch for her Birthday. We were originally going to go to iHop but plans have been changed to go to Golden Coral.

Have yourselves a great day, I need more rest...lol

Welcome Ryleigh Mae McClain

Moke and Ang McClain welcomed their first child into the world this morning at 9:07 AM this morning. She weighs 4 lbs 14oz at 18 inches and Mom and Mom and Baby are doing fine.

Michelle and I went to visit our Brother in Law Jim who is in the Hospital and as soon as we got off the elevators, there were Pam, George and Calvin. We both looked at each other as to ask "What are you doing here" to one another. It was sheer coincidence, but a welcomed one.

At the parents request, no pictures are being uploaded.

Congratulations to Moke, Ang and we welcome  Ryleigh Mae

Saturday Thoughts

Here I sit in the household, I am the LAST one to recover from that losing battle with that dreaded Sandman last night. Michelle is up drinking coffee and I'm up watching Knocked up on HBO Go and collecting my thoughts for the day.

There are a couple of sporting events of interest for me today. The first happens at 1:00 this afternoon right here in Morgantown as Bob Huggins takes his 13-1 and #17th Ranked Mountaineers in to do battle with the 9-5 Oklahoma State Cowboys at the WVU Coliseum. Hopefully the Mountaineers will not be looking ahead to Tuesday Night when #1 Kansas visits Morgantown.

Today also starts the NFL playoffs. The Pittsburgh Steelers survived the regular season as the 6th seed and will travel to Cincinnati to play the AFC North Champion Bengals. The two teams split the season series each winning in the others home field. There has been some tensions between Vontaze Burfict of the Bengals and James Harrison of the Steelers, so much so that the NFL commissioner has said this is not going to happen again.

No real plans for Michelle and I today as of now. I did go and break down Mom's Christmas Tree yesterday and set up her Kindle Fire that she won during the Chinese Gift Exchange. I have to say that I was quite impressed with it, it's a small colorful tablet that she can get on Facebook with as well as having access to my Sister Kim's large library of books she has purchased through the years.

Have yourselves a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Well I am off work today, there some issues with the contracts at work and assigning tasks, so I'm going to be on a reduced work schedule for a while. I'm not sure what the future holds in store for me right now, but there may be some changes coming up.

Today I think I am going to go to Mom's and break down her Christmas Tree. We set it up in November and it has been up for a couple of months, so it's time for it to come down now that we have passed now. It's time to retire her Christmas 2015 Christmas tree and get it ready for 2016.

I'll probably do a little Sam's Club shopping today as well to make it a little easier on Michelle.

Have yourselves a great day.

Photo Flashback #2

Ellis Hall, January 7, 1893 - May 16, 1977

I thought I would do a second Photo Flashback today because of a special day. It was after I had written the first one that I realized that this should have been my Flashback picture.

The man on the right was my Grandfather, the man who has had the most influence on my life than any other man. He has been gone going on 40 years next May (2017), but I would like to take a little time to recognize that today would have been his 123rd Birthday if he was still with us.

He is greatly missed.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to look through my 30,000+ pictures that I have either taken with a camera, scanned from a hard copy or just stolen from the internet or someplace else. Little lost moments in time to post up and relive her briefly with everyone. Sometimes it's pretty easy finding that one special image and sometimes it is in fact a difficult task. One thing it always has been for me has been a whole lot of fun.

For this weeks pic I'm going way back, kind of. When I was growing up my favorite burger joint was one that we had her in town called Burger Chef. A very popular burger chain that I think was ahead of it's time with its old Fixen's Bar. They would flame broil a burger and give you the plain burger and then you would go over to their Fixen's Bar and put what ever condiments you wanted on your burger. We had a few of them here in Morgantown, but only one building is still standing as the one at the top of High Street was demolished years ago.

This picture is from the door handle of the now Wings Ole in Suncrest, which that building was originally built to be a Burger Chef and opened in I'm guessing 1971 or 1972. My dad had actually laid some of the bricks in the original building and I'm thinking the addition that was added on to after the fire.

Burger Chef was bought out by Hardee's in 1992 pretty much closing all Burger Chefs. This door handle is the only remnant that really remains from that once popular burger chain of my youth here in Morgantown. It is located on the side of the building closest to Duncan Donuts if you want to check it out yourselves.

Just an image that reminds me of my youth.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho.

Humpday

OK I'm back to having one of those blogs where I am really struggling for content, Wednesdays are always my days where I struggle the most to come up with any original thoughts or insight. We're stuck in the middle of a work week with nothing really going on with us other than planning our dinner menu for the evening (Hot Sausage, Peppers and Pasta).

I thought about making this a Wisdom blog, but decided against it as I was just going to post a link to Youtube on how to make Butter, something that it's always nice to know the little things like that. Heavy Whipping Cream is always something nice to have on hand for a multitude of kitchen uses.

Michelle has started watching Making a Murder on Netflix. She really likes the true crime kind of shows and this Netflix Original that seems to be made for her taste in Television entertainment. I've never seen her pick up the remotes and navigate to Netflix looking for any certain programming before a couple of nights ago. It's a 10 episode season for season 1, and she is a few shows in already and really seems to be enjoying it. I think Netflix is changing the way we all watch Television.

How about Sports? The WVU Men's basketball team is currently sitting at 13-1 on the season after beating TCU Monday night. They will match up against #1 Kansas here in Morgantown on Tuesday night. The WVU Women's basketball team sits at 12-3 on the season. Football, the Steelers finished the Regular season at 10-6 and have advanced to the NFL playoffs. Their first round game will be at Cincinnati and if they win that they will be traveling to Denver to play the Broncos once again. Hold on, I have a good feeling about this post season.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that wonderful thing that we refer to as Monday is now once again behind us and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It has been 19,028 days and counting since my birth.

* 4,251 days ago I fulfilled a dream upon my Graduation from West Virginia University.

* 2,852 short days ago my life changed forever, I went out on a first date with a very special lady who I would end up planning on spending the rest of my life with.

* It was 2,076 days ago that I decided that I had made Michelle wait long enough, I got down on one knee and proposed.

* It has been 1,613 days since Michelle and I had our little wedding in front of our closest friends and family at the Marilla Center.

* I have about 5,809 days to go until retirement, give or take a few hundred here or there of course.

* It's just 2,447 more days to go until the Backyard Brawl of WVU vs Pitt in Football takes place.

* In only 361 more days, my Goodbye 2016 blog will be posted.

* If you haven't started Christmas shopping yet, you still have 355 to go.

* There are only 331 more days to go until another anniversary of my 21st birthday.

* There are only 270 days to go until Michelle and I go to the Springs Festival, we need some more sauerkraut from there as we have finally used up everything we bought last time we were there for New Years Day dinners.

* Only 250 days to go until our Cruise 2016.

* There are but 214 days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Fifth Wedding Anniversary later this year.

* There are only a mere 75 days to go until Spring. I love the Springtime, when the flowers bloom and the birds start singing.

* There are but a mere 28 days to go until Ground Hogs Day, Phil, can I count on you this year buddy?

* I have written a total of 4,317 blogs in my 11+ years of writing George's Journal.

* No work to the Hall Family Website this past week, although it is now getting pretty robust. I need to spend a little more time on it than I have been.

* Once again there is nothing new on the Brother search, dead end is all I can say at this point.

* Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow? I'm not a big fan of that white crap that falls from the skies and covers our road surfaces.

* It looks like I am going to be on a reduced work schedule for a while at work, it's a contractual thing and things are all screwed up. I honestly do not know what my long term future is at this point. It's all a waiting game.

* It feels good coming off a successful sports weekend. The Mountaineer Basketball team beat Kansas State, the Football team won the Cactus Bowl and the Steelers had luck go their way and found themselves back in the NFL playoffs.

* The new $3.00 a week fee for working inside the city of Morgantown starts this week. I personally think this is a very bad thing city council did, they took it for a vote a few years ago and it was overwhelmingly shot down.

* Michelle's sisters had a 70'th Birthday Party for their Mom Sunday evening, it was a little start for us to do dinner, drive back to Morgantown and have Michelle get the rest she needs before she goes to work. We would have loved to have been there, but the day and timing just were not in our favor.

* Traffic Cams around Morgantown are very useful during this time of the year.

* Did you know that on this day in 1933 the Golden Gate Bridge was born?

* I hope everyone has a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work Kind of Monday

I think the hardest day to return to work, is the Monday after you have just had a nice little vacation. No complaints though as I am happy to get out of the house today and rid myself of the cabin fever that I have had.

It was a nice break I do have to say, I've been off 12 days now and it's just time to get back to work. I have kept up on my work e-mails and it has been the slow time of the year so the break was nicely timed.

Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day, did our grocery shopping early and made a trip to Phoenix Bakery to pick up some bread for the week. They had closed for the Christmas and New Years Holiday, so it was nice to go and pick up some fresh bread once again. I did make home made Pepperoni Rolls last week, but that was actually my first attempt and I think I need to perfect the recipe.

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns 28-12 and the Buffalo Bills gave the Steelers life by beating the New York Jets 22-17. Both of these things had to happen in order for the Steelers to advance to the NFL playoffs next week, they did and we are in. Looking for another Lombardi Trophy.

Our neighbor puppy (Lilly) has been sick the past few days, Ashley took her to the vet where they kept her for a few days to try to get some fluids in her. Hopefully she will reach a full recovery and be up and around in the next few days. I kind of miss seeing my buddies every morning.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm still after watching the West Virginia Mountaineers win the Cactus Bowl 43-42 against Arizona State. Skyler Howard had a career game with 532 Yards Passing and 5 Touchdowns in the win while winning the Game MVP honors.

After a week and a half vacation during the holidays, today is my last day off before returning to work tomorrow. Just going to be a normal day for us including grocery shopping this morning.

The Steelers do play this afternoon and still have a long shot chance of making the playoffs, it would take a win in Cleveland tonight as well as a Jets loss to Buffalo. We were in control of our own destiny until last weeks loss to Baltimore.

I think it's time I relax and get a little sleep before I wake up in a few hours.

It's a Great Day to be a Mountaineer.

First Live Blog of 2016

Well I hope we all made it through the New Year safe and sound. I've actually taken quite a few days off from blogging with so many pre-written end of the year/New Years blogs that now it's time to start writing again. It was a nice little break, but now I'm back at it.

I'm up early with Fin who is probably going to start reminding me very soon that it is time to eat, but I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day.

We actually took our Christmas Tree down yesterday, so now our household is Christmas free right now. It was a little sad because I had become so accustomed to all the lights including my bubble lights that I loved so much.

For New Years we didn't get into anything, Michelle's back has been very sore the past couple of weeks, yes she went and seen a Doctor and the X-Rays come back good, but she is still in a great deal of pain.

Today we are going to head to Sam's Club and do that shopping as well as watch the Mountaineers play in the Cactus Bowl tonight. The Game starts at 10:30 our time, so it's going to be a later night for me if I don't just record it and watch it when I wake up. I'm not real confident right now that we are going to win, the Big XII hasn't been doing very well during this bowl season.

Have yourselves a great day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!

and surely I’ll buy mine!

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine†;

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!

And give me a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS