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Sunday, December 31, 2017

Goodbye 2017


* January pretty much started out with Michelle and I going to St. Louis, I had to go out for re-certification for one of my jobs. It was the first time Michelle had ever been on an airplane. 

* The new Suncrest Elementary School opened up, it is located right across the street from NETL. 

* The WVU Men's Basketball team defeated the #1 Baylor Bears. 

* We said goodbye to President Obama and inaugurated the 45th pRESIDENT of the the United States. .

* Michelle was admitted to the hospital due to her blood sugar drops. They had her fast for 72 hours and try to see if they could simulate her blood sugars dropping low. They could not. 


 * Phil ruined my day by seeing his shadow and ensuring that we were going to have six more weeks of winter.

* I got addicted to an internet game, slither.io I started playing it when Michelle was in the hospital.

* Michelle left her job at BFS Companies. She was underappreciated and undervalued.

* I traveled to Paw Paw West Virginia to work for RTI over President's Day weekend.

* Michelle got addicted to watching April the Giraffe on an internet stream. So much so that I put Youtube on the Bedroom TV so that she could watch April during the night as well in case she woke up.



* Winter storm Stella we were warned was going to show her ugly head. It turned out to be a big dud of a Storm. More hype than snow.

* The WVU Basketball Team advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

* Michelle and I attended the Johnny Koon Bowl-A-Thon at Suburban Lanes.

* Our niece Amanda had her Bridal Shower at the Marilla Center.

* Michelle received three job offers since leaving BFS. Express Scripts was the first one, Mylan Pharmaceuticals was the second one and MEPCO who she was temping for acknowledged she was too much of an asset to lose and topped everyone's offers. It was where she felt the most comfortable, and it was the best offer. Mylan's was pretty attractive, but MEPCO stepped up to retain her services full time.

* Michelle got a new job, I bought a new gun. I thought it was a fair deal...lol



* Michelle went to the Johnny Koon Bowl-a-Thon at Suburban Lanes. I was working that day but did end up making it towards the end to say hello to everyone. 

* I found out and believed that my time at NETL was coming to an end. I had lost funding under the Research Contract and I had 15 Billable hours (instead of 160+) for the month to charge to. The horizon did not look promising as the Atlas efforts that had consumed so much of my time were being put on the back burner, meaning I was pretty much done. 

* WVU Basketball player Javon Carter won the NCAA Defensive Player of the Year. 

* My sister Terri celebrated a milestone 50th Birthday. 

* I traveled to Sistersville, West Virginia to work for RTI for a few days. 

* April the Giraffe, an animal Michelle had been streaming for roughly three months waiting for her to give birth, finally gave birth.  


* May started out with me making a second extended trip to Sisterville to work for RTI. This was my second trip here within about a month's time.

* I started my second season playing in the BOPARC 50+ Softball League. Many of the guys I played with this year were part of one of my older original teams at BOPARC. We had just re-assembled it for a couple of seasons.

* Michelle and I traveled and stayed in PA for Amanda and Joey's wedding, the wedding was in New Stanton, but everyone stayed a night or two close to the wedding venue.

* Michelle and I spend the Memorial Day weekend going to the local family Gravesites and placing flags on the tombstones of all relatives who have served our country and were no longer with us. It's something we have been doing every year as of late.

* We literally had thousands and thousands of dollars stolen from our Savings account, no fear we filed all the appropriate paperwork, closed the account and opened a new one and filed a police report. Happy ending we got every nickel back.



* June started on a sad note, when we officially had to cancel our 2017 cruise. It was one of the most heartbreaking things I had to do, but it was the right choice. (Month's later there were three Hurricanes in the Caribbean and that cruise would have been a total bust as Carnival pretty much canceled it due to the Storms) I guess we picked a good year to miss one.

* My Brothers Fiance Tonya was admitted to Ruby Memorial, meaning Gary was in town for a few days. It was nice to take a little bit of time out to see him.

* Hayley moved out of our house, her and Josh had lived with us almost a year. Josh remained living here as she went off and got her own apartment since they had broken up. It was no problem, Josh was a great guy and would be on travel for work for weeks at a time, so he was never here.

* Michelle and I found an injured woodpecker that we took to Cheat Lake Animal Hospital. They fixed him all up and released him back into the wild.

* We traveled to Harrisonburg Virginia for Calvin and Jeanetta's Wedding. It was a happy day, but pretty much everyone got very sick afterwards. It was one of those explosive at both ends types of sickness, it wasn't pretty.


* July started out with the 4th annual Friends and Family Picnic at Krepps Park. The weather was quite cooperative this year and we had family travel to attend the picnic from all over.

* Michelle and I went and watched fireworks the right way, we sat in our car at the Coliseum after the BlackBears game and had great seats for a wonderful fireworks show.

* I had the pleasure of meeting my third (actually 4th) Secretary of Energy during my career as Rick Perry visited NETL on one of the days I worked at NETL over the past few months.

* I traveled to Charleston for an extended weekend to work. I was actually working a small town north of Charleston, but I stayed in Charleston while I was working. I actually visited my first Pigly Wigly while I was down there.

* A documentary called "Families Like Yours" was released, it featured a couple of long time friends of mine and their families.

* Michelle and I attended our first MountainFest. We went to see Hank Williams Jr on Friday evening, we did not make it back for George Thorogood on Saturday evening due to the weather.

* My time at NETL had just received a new life. I had had a umber of job interviews over the previous few months and was starting to get a little worried. I was interviewed by the Prime of our contract that I had worked on for another Contract and was offered full time employment with them. The fears that I may have to leave the area to make the money I wanted to make were becoming a reality, until I got my phone call, interview and offer with AECOM.

* We had our 35th High School Class Reunion, it was great to see everyone and Ron and Sara Beth Blosser hosted it and treated us to a great meal at WhiteTail Crossing.


* I Officially left my job with Sextant after about 7 1/2 years, Dale was the best boss anyone could ever ask for and he treated everyone like gold. It was closing one of the happiest chapters of my life. 

* I Officially started my new employment working for AECOM, making the transition complete. I switched offices and for the first time was not in the building I had spent the previous 8 3/4 years in  (also sat there when I worked for SAIC), and got to move into a newly renovated building and floor. It was nice not having to look around for funding, money to buy supplies or anything of that nature. I'm pretty confident I will retire with this company. 

* Michelle with her employer, got the opportunity to go underground in a Coal Mine. Me the son of a Coal Miner, never had that opportunity and my wife beat me to it. 

* We bought new furniture from Star Furniture. We had looked around for a few weeks, but we ended up spending twice as much as we had planned on, but we also realize you get what you pay for. New Large Couch, two new large recliners that met all of Michelle's standards that she wanted in a new recliner and a few end tables. 

* We said Goodbye to LP, I took possession of Pearl and we bought Ice, a 2018 Subaru with all the extras. Ice is the new family car for when we travel and Michelle's day to day car. 

* Michelle, Ashley, Christopher and I attended our first BlackBears game of 2018. 

* We saw a solar eclipse in this area, this was the fullest solar eclipse that we had seen in this areas since I was a kid. 

* Michelle and I attended the 2017 Johnny Koon Light Up Night, Lantern and Balloon release. 

* Chad traveled to New Orleans and got to attend a Saints Game. There is a prominent NFL family that Chad does a lot of Saltwater tank work with, and he was their guest in the Suite. 



* September started out with my lovely wife and I heading out to Amish Country, we decided to stay out there a night this year for a get-away since we were not taking a cruise this year. Would you believe that our new car got backed into by a horse and buggy.

* Our new furniture that we ordered was delivered, brought in and set up. It took a few weeks, but anymore they don't really sell the items on the showroom floor and instead order it. Got a great deal on financing and used the money we saved to buy the five year warranty on everything.

* Hurricanes Irma and Jose hit the Carribean, it was a good thing we canceled our cruise this year because it would have royally sucked. We did have family in Punta Catna while the storms ravished the islands.

* We traveled to Cumberland Maryland to attend Trent's Birthday Party. We took Trish and Layla along with us for the ride.

* I reached a blogging milestone, 5,000 blog posts in just a little over 13 years. Just think, there are 365 days in a year and I usually write one blog post a day.

* Michelle and I made a trip to Preston County to attend the Buckwheat Festival.



* Donald Trump was scheduled to make a visit to Morgantown, but a mass shooting in Las Vegas put a damper on those plans.

* My Brother in Law Nick's Father, Abdul passed away. A very good man that I had numerous educational discussions with. I am a better man for knowing him.

* We attended the Steelers vs Jacksonville game. Arguably the worst game in Big Ben's career where he threw 5 INT's including two pick sixes. Our poor car took a rock to the windshield on the parkway, our poor car.

* Jim and Chris had their new home delivered and it was started to be set up. It took a few weeks before it was finished inside and they were handed the keys.

* Chad moved back into our home. He had been on his own a couple of years, but was having some financial trouble and needed a place to live.



* There was a shooting a church in Texas, Michelle's best friend Holly lost her brother and her sister in law in that fatal mass shooting. 

* Jim and Chris had their first Auction in some time, Chris has her license now and they are both Auctioneers. 

* WV Quarterback Will Grier suffered a very ugly and season ending broken finger in the Texas game. 

* We once again did Thanksgiving dinner at the Cassville Firehall. We rent it out every year and pay for it with money we make from an Auction that day. Everyone brings an item and we auction it off. My brother in law Roy and I always get into a bidding war for something or another. We jack the price way up, knowing it all goes to a good cause. Mainly the venue and the food. 

* Michelle and Chad went and cut down a live tree to put up as our Christmas Tree. Sammy the Christmas Elf also made another appearance for the year. 

* I did come across a childhood picture of Jean that her cousin Ron shared with me as well as a few other pictures. 

December



* Michelle started the month up doing a whole lot of baking, we had saved Bananas for about a year and basically had a freezer full of them to make Banana Nut Bread. 

* We bought Hayley the first Christmas gift of the year when we bought her 4 new tires for her car. 

* We traveled to Ohio to have our Ohio Family Christmas earlier in the month, Michelle's grandmother is 97 years old and still hosts Christmas every year at her house. 

* I had a big meeting with the Army Corp of Engineers, I'm hoping to get a number of new toys at work. 

* We bought our Mountainfest 2018 tickets. 

* Michelle and I went to Joey and Amanda's for Chrtistmas Eve, Joey cooked a whole pig on the spit and we feasted on pork. 

* I have made a total of 390 posts for 2017, this is the first year I made less than 400 posts in a year since 2006. 

* See you on the other side of 2018

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