Photo Flashback Thursday

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

This weeks pic goes back to 2008 when I was invited to join a trivia team to compete for the KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Challenge. This was our first year that we competed and it was the start of an unmatched run in the history of the show.

This was the first time we competed and won all three shows winning the Championship without ever being behind in any show at any point. This was the one year we were Poised to Strike and we retired after that season undefeated.

A few years later we did it again as they needed teams to fill in the show and finished third in the finals. No one picked up a single book or did a single amount of studying, so we came back the next two years to win not one but two more championships to make us not only the only team in the history of the show to win it more than once, the first team to win back to back years and we were 3 times Champions of the show.

Funny thing is the last year we walked into the studios and we were like rock stars as they used this video in following years prior to the tournament to show new teams how it was played.





Have yoursleves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Guggisberg, Home of Baby Swiss Cheese

Two days down, YES! Two More ahead of us after today. OK. Now all we have to do is get our working butts up and over this noon time hump and it's going to be all downhill as we work towards a three day Holiday Weekend. DOUBLE YES!!!!!

I'll be off this weekend, I will be enjoying all three days of it and Michelle and I are getting away this weekend. We have booked one of the remaining available Suites at the Berlin Resort. I have also mapped out some of our favorite places to visit, these are all places that we have previously visited and would like to return. There are other places we have visited, but these are the ones we would like to concentrate on as well as discovering some new places. The Resort is pretty much right in the middle of everything and staying there will give us a chance to enjoy a full days festivities without having to worry about traveling home. I really want to do dinner at Chalet in the Valley again, their food is phenomenal and I highly recommend eating there if you are in the area. It's right across from Guggisberg Cheese and is probably owned by the same people.

But that is me getting a little bit ahead of myself, we still need to get through this work week first.

Chad returned from New Orleans on Monday evening, He had a great time there and loved Bourbon Street. He got to see the Saints play the Texans in a Suite with a former Super Bowl Winning QB he spent the weekend with. Ace has returned to his home and Peanut (My Cat) is still a little cautious being we had a big white playful pit-bull here for the weekend.

Have yourselves a great day today, make a difference and do something that is going to change the world no matter how big or small it is.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* One streak ended and another one started, although this one will be a short 5 day one, great reason to do a tidbits.

* It has been 19,637 days since I first set foot on this planet, I'm thankful for each and every one of them. Using my unique and rotating 933 day Calendar, that makes me 21 years old.

* It has been 4,853 days since I graduated from West Virginia University.

* 3,454 days ago I asked Michelle out for Pizza and a movie, the movie was horrible but the date goes on forever.

* 2,678 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle, about 4:00 in the morning, but she knew it was coming.

* It was 2,215 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became Husband and Wife.

* I have 5,207 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass is only 1,846 days away. That's OK< we get to kick some Hokie butt real soon to warm up for this game.

* There are 343 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Seventh Wedding Anniversary.

* We have 203 more days to go until Spring 2018. Summer is not even over with and I'm counting down to Spring.

* 157 more days until Phil takes center stage again and pretends that a Groundhog is the worlds most listened to Weatherman. I have to remember to send him some booze this fall.

* 124 more days to go until my Goodbye 2017 Blog is posted where I recount 2017 based on what I have written in my blog. It has been a year of transition to say the least.

* There are 118 more shopping days left until Christmas. Never too early to get a start on your Christmas Shopping.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 94 more days. If you use that antiquated 365 day calendar, this will be the 33rd Anniversary of it.

* We are 39 days away from Michelle and I going to the Springs Festival. Although we are talking about going to see some other Amish this weekend.

* There are only 5 more days to go until the Mountaineers kick some VT cHokie ass as the start of the 2017 WVU Football season is close to starting. I'm ready to have the Black Diamond Trophy back in Morgantown.

* I have written 4,969 blogs in what will soon be my 13 full years of being a Blogger and I'm also starting to close in on 5,000 posts written.

* Nothing new on the Brother Search that has been going on for a couple of years, but we've hit brick walls everywhere.

* Nothing new on the Hall Family Tree, even though there are some updates and additions that do need to be made.

* Michelle and I are talking about since we will have a three day weekend this coming weekend, we have talked about running to Amish Country in Ohio this weekend. We are talking about going up Saturday Morning and then coming back on Sunday, staying Saturday night. We have always made it a one day trip and want to spend a little more time out there.

* I think Josh has officially moved and Michelle and I are alone once again also down to just our cats as Ace went back to Chad last night.

* We are starting to plan on what we are going to do with our living room, the time for our new furniture to arrive is getting closer and closer and we have to purge a lot of things that are here now.

* This is my 2nd Consecutive day of working, this streak is only going to be 5 days =)

* I'm converting some old VHS tapes to Digital Format for Trish. She brought a bag of them over Sunday and we went through and determined which ones she wants converted to DVD.

* I'm going to put this out there and not sure if I have ever mentioned it before. I Hate Snow. =)

* Have yourselves a great day, make a difference.

* Hi ho hi ho

A New Streak

When one streak ends, a new one begins only this streak is only going to be a small handful of days. It's time to stick our collective noses back on the grindstone and get back to doing what it is that we do for a living for another fun filled week of work.

I do have to say that it is a little bit relaxing knowing all my listing is done for the quarter, all my interviewing is done for the quarter and Softball season is over with, now I can concentrate on one career thing right now as I gear up and get ready to start watching Football.

Nothing major planned for me during the week ahead, just a couple routine meetings at work and that is about the excitement I have planned for this week.

I have a family member going in for Surgery on Wednesday this week, they found out last week that the surgery had been bumped up a couple of days as a simple precaution. Everything should be fine, but they are just using an air of caution and doing it mid work week as opposed to the end of the work week in case there are any complications.

Have yourselves a great day today and let's change the world together.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, Ace and I are up watching television, or at least it is playing in the background and we are collecting our thoughts for the day.

Well my streak is over now and it is official. The last "Day Off" I had from from working for any of the three companies (that involved 4 different offer letters) I was employed by during the streak was the day of my 35th High School Class reunion on July 29th. I had worked every day for one of the companies since that Saturday so that was 28 straight days without any time off. Yesterday after doing my field work, all my cases were transferred to someone else for clean up, officially ending my quarter as I'm not traveling or doing any clean up work this quarter. It's a much needed break if I do have to say so myself.

Michelle and I went to the Lantern Release yesterday afternoon to help raise money for WVU Children's hospital. I think this is the biggest event that I have been to and it just seems to grow more and more each year. John, Michelle and the entire Koon clan do a great job working together and pulling this wonderful event off. I'm sure they raised a decent amount of money last night for a cause very dear to their hearts.

Today, I'm firing up the smoker and smoking some pork ribs. It was just going to be Michelle and I, but Trish is going to stop over as she has some VHS tapes that she would like converted into digital format that I'll do for her this afternoon. It's been a while since she has came for a visit, so it will be nice to catch up with her.

Have yourselves a great day today.

I'm off!!!!!! Woo Hoo

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household once again, we are dog sitting Chad's Pitbull Ace right now, and we are both up watching something on HBO and collecting our thoughts for the day.

Chad is in New Orleans for an aquatic show. He cleans and maintains saltwater tanks around town and he went down for the MACNA Conference for the weekend. He is down there all weekend with all his expenses paid and he flew first class yesterday, tomorrow he and the people that he is down there with will be attending a New Orleans Saints Game and will be in a private suite to enjoy the game. He is down there with a couple other people who are picking up his tab, one is one of Morgantown's highest profile residents and the winning Quarterback of Super Bowl 25 (hence the private at an NFL game). Experience of a lifetime for him with the Hostetlers.

Ace

Michelle is heading North here in a little while to surprise her Grandmother Ruth (Gigi) for her 96th Birthday. She is going up today and coming back tonight, she is also taking Ace (Chad's Pitbull) with her and dropping him off at Jon and Laura's for the weekend. Chad will get him back when he returns from New Orleans. EDIT UPDATE:, Ace is staying with us this weekend, there was a change in plans for Chad's flight yesterday so there was a change in plans for where Ace will be.

Me, I have to get Pearl inspected this morning, she is due for her annual state inspection and I have it scheduled to be done this morning at Hartsel's. I tried to get it done the past couple of weeks, but two weeks ago was move in day and they were all booked up last weekend so I scheduled it for first thing this morning.

After that I am going to take my last field day out in the field with RTI. This will be day 28 of my streak, and my last day of this streak as I am taking tomorrow off and they are taking my remaining case load and giving it to someone else for clean up. That means I will be off all next weekend and I'm doing the Happy Dance!!!!!!

The Johnny Koon "Light Up the Night, Lantern and Butterfly Release" is being held this evening at Westover Park starting at 6:30. All proceeds that are raised go to the Johnny Koon Brain Tumor Research Fund at WVU Children's Hospital. Lanterns and Butterfly's are $5.00 each, the memories that they create are priceless. Grab a few extra coins you have laying around and and enjoy the wonderful event.

Have yourselves a great day today, make a difference in this world.

Hi ho hi ho

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.

I have to say my routine has changed in the past few weeks, how I do things, when I do them and my whole systematic and repetitive routine has in fact with the job change. I welcome it as I am now once again challenged and I have a vision to push it way beyond expectation. Life is pretty good right now if I do have to say so myself. It's was just a matter of getting out of one routine and embracing another one.

This is my 27th Consecutive day of working either one job, the other or both of them like I did yesterday. I do have to say that I am in fact ready for a little bit of down time from RTI before we ramp up another quarter kickoff a little over a month away. I'll be working this weekend as well, but if my streak does not end on Sunday, it will be over next weekend as I really need a little break from it all and a three day weekend is a perfect point to call it over if not sooner.

Michelle is traveling tomorrow once again to surprise her Grandmother for her 96th Birthday. I would go but I have Pearl Scheduled to be inspected tomorrow morning plus I'm going to do some more field work.

Have yourselves a great day, live it to the fullest and do something to make a difference and change the world.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

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

Sometimes we need to just look back and remember. This amazing woman who is no longer with us would have celebrated a birthday this past Sunday, so I thought I would make a picture of her this weeks Photo Flashback.

This picture is from Moke and Ang's wedding who are looking at their seventh wedding anniversary later this year. I grabbed this picture of Jean at the reception hall after the wedding which was held at the Wadestown Firehall.

She is definitely missed as she touched so many lives.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday George "Moke" McClain

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my nephew Moke a very Happy Birthday today.

It seems like it was only yesterday that Pam and George were having their first baby, a small and precious package of a young child that has grown into the Mountain of a man that he is today.

He is a pretty remarkable man, he's an Iraqi War Veteran, a great Husband and one of the best father in the world candidate's for Ryleigh's Daddy.

Not sure what Ang has planned for Moke today, but whatever it is it is going to be a special day for him.

If you happen to see him today, take a little bit of time out and wish him a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Moke.

Hump Day

Two in, two more ahead of us, now we're just trying to navigate ourselves up and over this noon time hump so we can see another fun filled weekend off in the Horizon.

Things are starting to wind down for me a little bit now. For RTI I had a listing that was two months old that I finished up and set out on Sunday, we have met our goal this quarter for the first time since I started working for them and by "we" I mean our group. Softball season is now over with as we ended up finishing in the playoffs where we ended up in the regular season and that was third place.

Fall and Football season is coming and my intense schedule is starting to wind down a little bit allowing me to concentrate on one thing for a few weeks and possibly have a few weekends off here in the very near future. I'm actually looking forward to a little bit of downtime.

Did everyone enjoy the eclipse Monday? I had my special glasses that I bought for $1.99 at Krogers (some coworkers bought some for $15 each off of amazon that were not as protective or clear as mine). Working with a number of Engineers, I saw all kinds of contraptions that were built to view the eclipse. Some rather complex and some were as simple as two plates. One on the ground and on being held up with a pinhole in it to catch the reflection. All were very effective.

Have yourselves a great day, change the world and make it a better place with each and every passing day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* The Solar Eclipse is now something we are talking about as it is now in the remembering stage rather than the preparation to view stage. Good reason as any to do a tidbits.

* It has been 19,630 days since I first set foot on this planet, I'm thankful for each and every one of them. Using my unique and rotating 933 day Calendar, that makes me 21 years old.

* It has been 4,846 days since I graduated from WVU. I loved my time at WVU and now we are watching a whole new batch begin their careers and am ready for them to leave again already...lol

* 3,447 days ago I asked this very special lady out on our very first date, we have been together ever since and still going strong.

* 2,671 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle, we're still going strong today.

* It was 2,208 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became Husband and Wife.

* I have 5,214 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass is only 1,853 days away, we need to kick a little Panther ass, it has been too long.

* There are 350 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Seventh Wedding Anniversary.

* We have 210 more days to go until Spring 2018, Spring is my favorite season of the year. Summer is not even over with and I'm counting down to Spring.

* 164 more days until Phil takes center stage again and pretends that a Groundhog is the worlds most listened to Weatherman. I have to remember to send him some booze this fall.

* 131 more days to go until my Goodbye 2017 Blog is posted where I recount 2017 based on what I have written in my blog. It has been a year of transition to say the least.

* There are 125 more shopping days left until Christmas. Target has beat Walmart to the punch in putting out their Christmas stuff.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 101 more days. If you use that antiquated 365 day calendar, this will be the 33rd Anniversary of it.

* We are 46 days away from Michelle and I going to the Springs Festival. There is a new Cheese factory that I want to check out up there.

* There are only 12 more days to go until the Mountaineers kick some VT cHokie ass as the start of the 2017 WVU Football season is close to starting. I'm ready to have the Black Diamond Trophy back in Morgantown.

* I have written 4,961 blogs in what will soon be my 13 full years of being a Blogger.

* Nothing new on the Brother Search that has been going on for a couple of years, but we've hit brick walls everywhere.

* Nothing new on the Hall Family Tree, even though there are some updates and additions that do need to be made.

* I hope everyone had some good experiences viewing the Eclipse yesterday, if you missed it there is another similar one coming in about another 70 years.

* Softball season is complete. We had a one night playoff yesterday finishing up the season. It was a good year and I'm thankful to have played with this wonderful group of guys once again.

* Working for RTI I did manage to have a decent weekend, but not as productive as I would have like it to be. Hoping to wind this quarter down in the very near future, it has been a challenging one.

* This is my 28th Consecutive Day of working one job or the other and I will be working into this weekend as well.

* Michelle is going home this weekend for her Grandmother's 96th Surprise Birthday party.  This is the Grandmother whose home we go to every December when we do Christmas in Ohio.

* Light Up Night and Butterfly Release is this weekend at Westover Park. All proceeds go to the Johnny Koon fund at WVU Hospitals.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Solar Eclipse Monday

Today is a very special day, our country is going to see the first coast to coast Solar Eclipse since 1979. It's going to be a very memorable phenomenon for anyone who has never had the opportunity to witness one before.

I can remember a couple of them in my youth, and can actually remember specifically what I was doing when the last eclipse of this magnitude hit Morgantown (we are going to have 83% coverage). I knew it was going to be the last eclipse of that century and we knew in 1979 that we would not see this again until 2017. When we experienced the last one I was just finishing my Freshman year up at Suncrest Junior High School.

Now for many of you first timers, let me point out that viewing an eclipse can be very dangerous and you can very easily permanently damage your eyes and your vision. Looking straight at the Sun is very dangerous and you will need special glasses to look at it. If you buy any glasses (Krogers has them for like $1.99), make sure, and this is very important that they are ISO 12312-2 compliant. Use NASA's website for other viewing options but please use extreme caution.

When wearing these special glasses that are designed to look directly at the Sun, everything else will be unviewable  while wearing them. This is above and beyond the equivalent of wearing a welders mask.

If you have animals, seriously consider leaving them inside until the eclipse has run its course and is complete. The Middle of the day is going to appear to be the middle of the dark night for a while, nocturnal animals may come out making an appearance and you never know what could happen.

Please enjoy this very rare phenomenon as we wont experience it again until 2092 I think and I'm not waiting around for that one..lol

Have youselves a great day, make it a memorable one and once again...

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a quiet household, nothing is on the TV because I streamed Frozen last night and fell asleep watching it and have not changed the TV's setting since. I'm up early collecting my thoughts for the day and talking to a few people on Facebook about Sterling Faucet and the plant when it was in Morgantown.

We went to the Black Bears game last night and they dropped a 2-1 decision to Mahoning Valley. Mahonings pitchers registered 15 strike outs against the Black Bears. We actually had a man on third with no one out in the fourth inning and three batters struck out either looking or chasing pitches that were hitting 3' in front of the plate. It wasn't our finest hour, but I loved being at the Ballpark and had a great time with Michelle, Ashley and Christopher. We did manage to avoid getting rained on as it seemed to have went around us.

Todays plans, I'm back out in the field once again for my 23rd straight day of working one job or the other. and that streak looks like it may stretch the whole way into September and Labor Day weekend. It is starting to be a little bit of a drain on me especially with so many of my lines are transient residents and they didn't move in until we were half way done with the quarter and close to clean up time. That and starting a new job seems to have given me very little down time lately. The Baseball game last night helped tremendously.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a semi-quiet household, Michelle is up having a coughing fit and I just got up and am collecting my thoughts for the day. Some old Bill Murray movie is playing in the background and I'm still trying to wake up.

I'll be going out this morning to do some field work for RTI, hopefully I can wind this quarter down in the next week or so and and get ready for a little break which I am more than ready for. It's been a productive quarter despite everything that was working against me in regard to the places that I had to go and the timing of the transient residents.

Black Bear Game this afternoon for Michelle and I, if she feels up to it. We have tickets and food vouchers for Hit Dogs and Soft Drinks. Now hopefully Michelle feels better AND the weather holds out so that we can attend our first game this season. It's been over a year since the last time I was in Monongalia County Ballpark, that's a little too much time between visits for my taste.

Have yourselves a great day today and make the very most of it.

Hi ho hi ho

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 have made it through two weeks at AECOM after today, now it's time to once again turn my attention towards RTI for this weekend as I will be out doing field work tomorrow and Sunday. This will be the 21st and 22nd consecutive day of working one job or the other or both. I've got at least 5 more to tack onto that running total and it may even go beyond that into next weekend and the week following. At the very least I plan on taking some time off around Memorial Day.

Michelle and I will be attending the West Virginia Black Bears vs Mahoning Valley tomorrow afternoon. This will actually be the first time that Michelle and I have made it out to see them this season and I have to say that I'm a little bit excited. They are in first place and are playing the second place team as they are trying to secure a playoff spot.

Have yourselves a great day today and live it to the fullest.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

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

In figure since I did one of my older softball teams last week, that I would do my current team this week. This picture was taken last year of the Whitetail Crossing team. It's pretty much the same group of guys this year, we added a few and lost one or two and lost on to the season due to injury, but it's still the same core of guys as we had last year.

Both years I have played for them we have put together a great group of guys, after Monday's game most of us stood around in the parking lot BSing as we talked about a number of subjects, mostly softball related.

Playoffs begin Monday and I think we have just found our Niche and could be a team to be reckoned with.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Two days down, a couple more ahead of us (most of you I'm working again this weekend), now all we have to do is get up and over this noon time hump and it will be all downhill working towards another fun filled weekend.

Michelle's niece Amanda and her husband Joey closed on their house yesterday, meaning that they are now homeowners and didn't waste much time moving in and getting settled. I haven't been there yet but Michelle went over Monday night as I was playing softball and said it is really nice.

WVU will start their classes today, so I think I can officially say that they are all back. Fall Fest was last night and I have to say that I am getting old because I never heard of any of those acts. It could be that the genre of music I listen to is classic rock and don't really stay up on new music. Good luck to all WVU students as they start a new school year and to all incoming Freshmen as they are just now starting their collegiate careers. My advice is simply show up, pay attention, sit up front and you'll do fine. Remember you're hear for an education first and a party second and you should do great.

Michelle got the Starlink setup on Ice, we paid for 3 years of the full package, so we have all the options available to us including being able to lock and unlock it from our iPhones and running complete diagnostic reports on it. It's kind of amazing what cars can do now days.

Oh, it was 40 years ago today, that Elvis Presley died. I think most people my age remember exactly what they were doing when they found out the news. I was in the back yard playing wiffleball and Grandma Hall came out to tell me that he had died. Seems like only yesterday.

And since I mentioned WVU Freshmen and Elvis, a funny little story form my Freshman year. I started WVU later in life, I was 35 when I first entered WVU. My Freshman year I had a Geology Lab and my partner was a true freshman. When I told my lab partner how old I was he had this stunned look, and asked me the strangest question. "You were alive when Elvis was alive weren't you". Then it dawned on me that Elvis was probably dead 5 years before my fellow classmates were even born.

Have yourselves a great day today and make the most of it and live it to its fullest.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well my second week with AECOM has started and our softball season has concluded, tidbits time.

* It has been 19,623 days since I first set foot on this planet, I'm thankful for each and every one of them. Using my unique and rotating 933 day Calendar, that makes me 21 years old.

* It has been 4,839 days since I graduated from WVU. I loved my time at WVU and now we are watching a whole new batch begin their careers.

* 3,440 days ago I asked this very special lady out on our very first date, we have been together ever since and still going strong.

* 2,664 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to this wonderful woman, she didn't kick me or run away screaming so I guess that was a good thing.

* It was 2,201 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, and fulfilling a chiropractors bucket list item of marrying someone, we were wed.

* I have 5,221 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass is only 1,860 days away.

* There are 357 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Seventh Wedding Anniversary.

* We have 217 more days to go until Spring 2018, Spring is my favorite season of the year. Summer is not even over with and I'm counting down to Spring.

* 171 more days until Phil takes center stage again and pretends that a Groundhog is the worlds most listened to Weatherman. Hopefully he has some good news or we have a very mild winter.

* 138 more days to go until my Goodbye 2017 Blog is posted where I recount 2017 based on what I have written in my blog. It has been a year of transition to say the least.

* There are 132 more shopping days left until Christmas. I'm waiting to start seeing Christmas stuff out at some of our local merchants.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 108 more days. If you use that antiquated 365 day calendar, this will be the 33rd Anniversary of it.

* We are 53 days away from Michelle and I going to the Springs Festival. There is a new Cheese factory that I want to check out up there.

* There are only 19 more days to go until the Mountaineers kick some VT cHokie ass as the start of the 2017 WVU Football season is close to starting. I'm ready to have the Black Diamond Trophy back in Morgantown.

* There are 6 more days to go until North American has a total Solar Eclipse. Be careful in attempting to view it, but for you first timers, it'll just get dark for a couple of minutes during the middle of the day. We here in Morgantown will not see 100%coverage, but we will get 87% or 83%  coverage which will be significant. You can buy a special set of glasses at Krogers here in Morgantown for about $2.00 that will allow you to safely look at it. I bought a couple of pairs and have one in my office and Michelle has the other one.

* I have written 4,954 blogs in what will soon be my 13 full years of being a Blogger. I'm coming up soon on that big 5,000 blogs written number.

* Nothing new on the Brother Search that has been going on for a couple of years, but we've hit brick walls everywhere.

* Nothing new on the Hall Family Tree, even though there are some updates and additions that do need to be made.

* The students are mostly back, if you are driving around town allow yourself a little extra time and have a little extra patience for all the new to town people who don't know how to navigate our beautiful city yet.

* Rocky and Lilly with us once again as Ashley is in San Francisco for work for a couple of days, she she return tonight making the puppies happy.

* In the last week I have bought new furniture and a new car. I'm still a few weeks away from the furniture being delivered.

* Working for RTI I did manage to have a decent weekend, I'm starting to dwindle the numbers down. This coming weekend is when I should be able to see if units are vacant or occupied for the majority of this quarter.

* 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 things that we all call weekends. Now it is time for us to take our collective noses and stick them back together and get back to doing what it is that we do for a living. Me on the other hand, this is my 16th day in a row from what I can recall, I have worked every day since taking off a Saturday for my High School Reunion. I'm not complaining though.

Ice looks pretty good beside Pearl. Michelle is still trying to figure out all the features and accessories, we've been looking through the owners manual to see if it can cook dinner for us as well. Found out we bought her one day shy of us buying Pearl 6 years earlier. Only Pearl was a 2011 that we bought in 2011, Ice is a 2018 that we have bought in 2017 so it is the new model that is just now coming out.

Softball game tonight, it's the last regular season game of the year before the playoffs start, so I have no idea what happens after this evening. We are a playoff team, and will probably have the #3 seed going into the playoffs. Not bad for a bunch of guys who only play Sr league, all the other teams also play the regular leagues, we just get together to play a few games a year. I know some guys are wanting to put a regular team in the regular league next year, but my competitive days are behind me and I can no longer keep up with them young kids full of energy.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Out with the Old and In with the New

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to an old friend, one that had been with me for a few years but she was starting to show her age, especially when a wheel well fell off of it and I had to go back and pick it up. LP, my little car has been a great little car for me, it was a Point A to point B car and it more than served its purpose for me. She was pretty reliable and worked great for the purposes that I needed to use it for. Cars however do get older and it comes to a time when they have to be retired.

Enter Ice Ice Baby as Michelle refers to it. It's a bluish gray depending on what angle you looking at it from. LP had served its purpose and it was time to move on from that little car. We bought a 2018 Subaru Forester from John Howards yesterday afternoon, I just realized that it was either time to throw some money into LP or just go and buy a new car. As Michelle was coming home from Beaver yesterday, I told her to meet me at John Howards so we could test drive a few cars.

We had stopped by a couple of weeks ago look at what Subaru had to offer, we know we wanted to stay with Subaru and this is what we decided on.

I'm going to take Pearl and let Michelle have Ice, since she decided on all the features that she wanted in a new car. Pearl was a basic car, Ice is a Premium package that has a moon roof, heated mirrors a few driving safety features like the car will basically drive itself, a backup camera, and number of other features that Pearl just didn't have such as Eyesite, which will save us on the insurance. This was actually the second one we test drove, we drove a red one but it did not have blind spot detection or fog lights bu this one did, so this is our new car.

It also has Starlink which is a nice added feature in case anything would ever go wrong.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a very quiet household, it's just me and two cats as Michelle is visiting a friend back home last night, she'll be back this afternoon. I'm up early collecting my thoughts and watching something or another on the TV.

Michelle got her chance to go underground yesterday in a coal mine. She said it took them about an hour to get there so you know that she was probably pretty deep in the mine. She sent me a couple of pictures yesterday of her dressed up in her gear in preparation to go underground. She was excited to say the least and talking to her when she got back was like talking to a kid after leaving a candy store. She seemed to really enjoy the experience

For me I have my first week in with AECOM, now it's time to go back out and do field work for my other job for RTI. Students are moving back so it will be an opportune time.

The road construction coming off of I-68 and heading to the mileground is complete and the road has reopened for use. It might be worth a trip over there today to see how we are going to navigate the area.

Michelle and I bought new living room furniture Thursday evening, we had been looking for a while and did our research when we finally realized you get what you pay for so we paid a little extra and bought what we wanted from Star Furniture, we got an oversized sofa that is very well constructed (we didn't want any sleepers, recliners or anything else on the sofa), a couple really nice recliners (as opposed to getting a love seat) and a couple of end tables. It'll be delivered in a few weeks, so that will give us time to prepare for the delivery. We looked into buying from Pac5, but that furniture is marketed towards college students to last 4 years and then be disposed of. You get what you pay for, so we did it right.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Today Michelle have an honor with her employer that I have never had the pleasure of doing. Growing up the son of a Coal Miner, I have never been underground in a coal mine, although Michelle and I talked about going to the Coal Mine Museum in Beckley to take their underground tour. Today she beats me as she will be going underground today with her employer Mepco LLC for a tour.Yes I am a little jealous, only because it was something my Dad had promised to do for me and we never had the opportunity.

After that Michelle is going back up North to visit a friend as my weekend will be very busy with all the students coming back and attempting to catch some of the new transient residents return to Morgantown for the start of a new school year.

I said last week that my life was about to get very busy, well that time is now upon us. Hopefully I can a day off from one job or the other by Labor Day.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

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

This weeks pic goes back about 19 or 20 years, I can't remember the specific year of the picture but it was of the Sports Page Softball team from the 1990's. I would say arguably this was one of my most productive years as a player personally.

I can't remember what our record was that year, but I think this is the year we won our first 13 or 14 games of the season and had a great big target on our backs as the team to beat and I think picture is from that year. We kind of folded in the playoffs, but this was a team that should have won it all. I'm pretty sure we finished in first place on the season, but lost in the second round of the post season for some reason.

It was a great group of guys, a very cohesive team whose friendships lasted long beyond a summer.

Have a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Two days down, two more ahead of us, now all we have to do is get up and over this noon time hump and it will be all downhill working towards another fun filled weekend.

Actually my last day off from any of my jobs was on July 29th, which was the Saturday of my 35th year High School Class Reunion, with the students coming back this weekend, my next day off may come the last weekend in August as I will be rushing around trying to finish up this quarter that had mostly transient residents that are just now getting ready to return. I'm not complaining though, I'm thankful to have not one but two jobs of this caliber.

Not too much to really say today other than I'm still getting situated are my new job. My computer and my Phone were not moved until yesterday, meaning Monday the phone in my office rang to someone elses number and my computer space was a big bare area. I will be going from running three computers, all running dual monitors through a nice 4 port dual monitor KVM Switch to a single computer that is pretty much locked down as it is our Administration LAN (one everyone has) that I will be working exclusively on.

Rocky and Lilly are still with us as Ashley and Christopher and the girls are enjoying a nice trip to Ocean City before school starts. Michelle's Sister Chris and some of her family are down there as well enjoying a nice little break.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* First day for AECOM is in the books, can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It has been 19,609 days since I first set foot on this planet, I'm thankful for each and every one of them. Using my unique and rotating 933 day Calendar, that makes me 21 years old.

* It has been 4,832 days since I graduated from WVU. You know all these years later I still have dreams of being late for or missing an examination that was going to curtail my Graduation........13 years later.

* 3,433 days ago I asked this very special lady out on our very first date, we have been together ever since and still going strong.

* 2,657 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to this wonderful woman, she didn't kick me or run away screaming so I guess that was a good thing.

* It was 2,194 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, and fulfilling a chiropractors bucket list item of marrying someone, we were wed.

* I have 5,228 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass is only 1,867 days away.

* There are 364 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Seventh Wedding Anniversary.

* We have 224 more days to go until Spring 2018, Spring is my favorite season of the year. It's a time for rebirth of the land and we say goodbye to the cold and drab Winter.

* 178 more days until Phil takes center stage again and pretends that a Groundhog is the worlds most listened to Weatherman.

* 145 more days to go until my Goodbye 2017 Blog is posted where I recount 2017 based on what I have written in my blog. It has been a year of transition to say the least.

* There are 139 more shopping days left until Christmas. I haven't seen WalMart start to put of Christmas Decorations yet, but they are a coming. I see Krogers already has some Halloween stuff out. Commercialism of Holidays, sometimes they take it a little too far.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 115 more days. If you use that antiquated 365 day calendar, this will be the 33rd Anniversary of it.

* We are 60 days away from Michelle and I going to the Springs Festival. There is a new Cheese factory that I want to check out up there.

* There are only 26 more days to go until the Mountaineers kick some VT cHokie ass as the start of the 2017 WVU Football season is close to starting.

* There are 13 more days to go until North American has a total Solar Eclipse. Be careful in attempting to view it, but for you first timers, it'll just get dark for a couple of minutes during the middle of the day. We here in Morgantown will not see 100%coverage, but we will get 87% or 83%  coverage which will be significant. Welders masks or welders goggles are sufficient for looking at it, don't try it with just sun glasses.

* I have written 4,947 blogs in what will soon be my 13 full years of being a Blogger. I'm a little over a month away from starting my 14th year as a blogger and that's kind of amazing to me. I'm about ready to work for my 8th Company (albeit two are part time jobs) since I started Blogging.

* Nothing new on the Brother Search that has been going on for a couple of years, but we've hit brick walls everywhere.

* Nothing new on the Hall Family Tree, even though there are some updates and additions that do need to be made.

* .Get ready, Morgantown is about ready to be invaded once again and our population is about to double for the next 8 or 9 months as the WVU Students are getting ready to return to Morgantown. Classes start next week, so they are a coming.

* Rocky and Lilly are still house guests this week, they will be here as their Mommy and brother enjoy themselves in Ocean City Maryland for the week.

* I am so happy to get back to working full time, it takes a lot of stress off of me and Michelle of what is going to happen next.

* Needless to say that for my first day of work yesterday, I was up much earlier than I usually get up in anticipation of the new job.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

A New Beginning

We all experience change in our lives, change in where we live or how we do things. Change in careers and employers. For me the next chapter of my professional life starts today when I start working as an Engineer for AECOM.

AECOM has been named by Fortune Magazine as the most admired company for the third year in a row last year, so it is going to be an honor to work for them. SAIC was the largest company that I had previously worked for, and they had 45,000 employees around the world. That honor is now officially bestowed ton AECOM who employs 85,000 people around this globe.

My job title is going to be Engineer 2, but I will be doing all of the NETL site specific geospatial work. Everything for years had been in AutoCAD and they want to convert everything over to an ESRI ArcGIS environment and that is my specialty. I have some great ideas to implement and I feel like I am about to be challenged once again to break barriers and raise the bar for others to follow. I'm excited about this new opportunity to work for a great company.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Hi ho hi ho let's go!!!!!

Happy Birthday Randy Hamrick

 I would like to take this opportunity to wish my wonderful and camera avoiding nephew Randy "Bub" Hamrick very happy Birthday today. It's very hard to get a picture of him sometimes, but I do manage to get a few.

If my math is correct, Randy will be celebrating his 29th Birthday today.

Not sure what Randy will be getting into today, I don't get to see him that often but you know he is always pretty active and in to something or another.

If you happen to see Randy today, and hopefully most of us will, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and with this fine young man a very happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Randy.

Six Years Ago

It was six years ago that my life changed forever, I married the most wonderful woman in the world in front of our closest friends and family.

Michelle and I did this pretty much on a shoestring budget, but managed to make it a very special day where we had a very large feast. A special thank you has to go out to Jean and the women from the church who went above and beyond in preparing so much food, I still to this day hear about all the food that we had at our wedding/reception.

Michelle and I did a Caribbean / Jimmy Buffet Parothead type of them, no suites and no need to wear any uncomfortable clothes, just come and relax and feast away.

Another big thank you to our friend Jes who without her stepping up we would never have been able to pull this event off. She was an absolute Godsend in helping us organize everything else as Jean took care of all of the food.

It was a very special day for me, one where I took Michelle as my wife and the starting point of when my entered the most memorable times.

Happy Anniversary Michelle, I love you from the bottom of my heart and thank you for making my life both complete and full. You filled the emptiness that had so consumed my life.

Happy Sixth Anniversary.

BTW, How U Do?

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm, up early watching who knows what on the TV behind me and collecting my thoughts for the day and surfing the internet. \

I officially changed my LinkedIn Page to officially reflect my change in employment to AECOM. I did get to meet one or two of the guys I will be working with yesterday, so it's not going to be like I will be going into a strange environment. A few of them I once worked with at Sterling Faucet and there is one who I am kind of sort of related to on Jean's side of the family and I used to work with his Dad at Sterling, so within my company there will be familiar faces. I am moving from a nice big office to a cubicle, but I'm OK with that as I actually get to interact with people again. The last few years the Geospatial group from Sextant whittled down to just me and not even full time.

It has been a while since I worked full time in an office environment, so I'm going to need to update my work wardrobe just a little bit. I might actually have to get a dress shirt and tie to leave at the office full time in case any VIP visitors come in, I can be prepared.

Today I am going to be out in the field working for RTI (what else is new) trying to catch some of the returning students who have been selected. The last month has been a challenge to say the least, we actually put my section on hold for a while as I traveled to the southern part of the state to work for an extended weekend. They are starting to dwindle back into town and I'm going to try to get them as I can so as to I'm not overwhelmed when they fully return.

Michelle is up in Elwood City with the rest of the family to celebrate little Jonny's fourth birthday party today. Hopefully my wonderful wife takes some pictures of today's festivities since I will be unable to attend.

Have yourselves a great day today, live it to the fullest and make the best of it and be thankful you have are still here.

Hi ho hi ho

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.

Today is a bittersweet day for me. It is the last day that I will be working for Sextant Technical Services, a company that I have worked for for the last seven years and ten months. Dale Cunningham brought me on after SAIC had lost the NETL contract and had made me feel more than welcome the entire time I have worked for him. This is the kind of company that I wish everyone had the opportunity to work for, just to show you that there are exceptional employers out there and Sextant was by far the best company I have ever worked for. I'll still be at NETL and I will still see all of my former co-workers and friends, but my time with Sextant has come to an end. Thank you to Dale and the rest of the Sextant family both past and present for making this such a great place to work.

Other than that I will be flying solo this weekend as well as god sitting. I'll have Rocky and Lilly for a while as Ashley is going on a pre-back to school vacation. Michelle is heading back home for the weekend for Jonny's Birthday party, she'll be taking Chad with her and that pretty much leaves me here with the animals.

No fear though, I will be out working for RTI tomorrow as I'm trying to catch some transient residents who may be returning early.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

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

This weeks picture is very recent, so recent that it was just last week at Morgantown High's Class of 1982 35th Year Reunion. We grabbed a couple of group pictures during the weekend, but this is the one that had the most people involved in it so I chose this one. There are also better and closer pictures that were taken by others, but I have chosen to use the one Michelle took with my iPhone.

I should have taken my regular Camera for the day, but I did not and instead depended on everyone elses's pictures to really grab the moments of the weekend.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Two days down, a couple more ahead of us, now all we have to do is get up and over this noon time hump and it will be all downhill as we work towards another fun filled weekend.

Michelle and Chad will be going home this weekend for Jonny Paugh's 4th Birthday Party, I will be here trying to catch up on some field work for RTI and trying to catch some of the returning transient residents that I have been assigned this quarter. That and I'll be trying to get my body re-adjusted to working a normal office job again, but absolutely no complaints from me in that department what so ever.

Well the Monongalia County Fair kicked off last night in what is going to be a five day run for them culminating Saturday Night. I honestly can't say when the last time was that I actually attended a Mon County Fair, probably back in the 1980's when it was still held at Westover Park. In all likelihood I will not be attending this years festivities either.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well my work situation went from boring to anticipating to overwhelming pretty much over night, can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It has been 19,602 days since I first set foot on this planet, I'm thankful for each and every one of them. Using my unique and rotating 933 day Calendar, that makes me 21 years old.

* It has been 4,825 days since I graduated from WVU. You know all these years later I still have dreams of being late for or missing an examination that was going to curtail my Graduation........13 years later.

* 3,426 days ago I asked this very special lady out on our very first date, we have been together ever since.

* 2,650 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to this wonderful woman, she didn't kick me or run away screaming so I guess that was a good thing.

* It was 2,187 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, and fulfilling a chiropractors bucket list item of marrying someone, we were wed.

* I have 5,235 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred here or there.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass is only 1,873 days away.

* We have 231 more days to go until Spring 2018, Spring is my favorite season of the year. It's a time for rebirth of the land and we say goodbye to the cold and drab Winter.

* 185 more days until Phil takes center stage again and pretends that a Groundhog is the worlds most listened to Weatherman.

* 152 more days to go until my Goodbye 2017 Blog is posted where I recount 2017 based on what I have written in my blog. It has been a year of transition to say the least.

* There are 146 more shopping days left until Christmas. I haven't seen WalMart start to put of Christmas Decorations yet, but they are a coming. I see Krogers already has some Halloween stuff out. Commercialism of Holidays, sometimes they take it a little too far.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 122 more days. If you use that antiquated 365 day calendar, this will be the 33rd Anniversary of it.

* We are 67 days away from Michelle and I going to the Springs Festival. There is a new Cheese factory that I want to check out up there.

* There are 5 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Sixth Wedding Anniversary.

* I have written 4,939 blogs in what will soon be my 13 full years of being a Blogger. I'm a little over a month away from starting my 14th year as a blogger and that's kind of amazing to me. I'm about ready to work for my 8th Company (albeit two are part time jobs) since I started Blogging.

* I'm about ready to make some official updates to my LinkedIn Page as there will be a company change at the end of this week as I say Goodbye to the best employer you could ever want want to work for and start working for a new company and a new project.

* Nothing new on the Brother Search that has been going on for a couple of years, but we've hit brick walls everywhere.

* Nothing new on the Hall Family Tree, even though there are some updates and additions that do need to be made.

* Starting today, I have enough billable hours for my current employer to carry me through the end of the week before I switch over on Monday. That and the students are about ready to come back and my five months of wondering about my future have ceased and I just got very busy again and neither Michelle nor I are complaining.

* We were supposed to play Softball next Monday night, but we found out at the last minute yesterday that they changed the schedule and we were scheduled to play last night. Good job BOPARC, this is not the first time this has happened to me in my time there.

* With the new employment, Michelle and I have evaluated some things that we are going to do in the next 6-7 months including buying new furniture and buying a new car early next year once LP is paid off as well.

* At the reunion this past weekend Michelle's Strawberry Pretzel Salad was a big hit. An old friend of mine who both he and his wife are now retired from the Military loved the recipe and he asked if I would post it in my Tuesday's Tidbits. Jim, thank you for both yours and your lovely wife's service, the recipe is at the end of this blog post just for you. It was good seeing you and I was excited when I found out that the man who started my wrestling career was coming in for the re-union. Good seeing you.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho