Happy Halloween

I hope everyone is stocked up on candied treats for this evening, you're going to need it to save your house from being haunted from all the ghost and goblins running around tonight as it is the even of All Saints Day, otherwise known as All Hallow's Eve or as many of us know it, Halloween.

This used to be an evening when the entire family would congregate to my Dad and Jean's home, they would always go all out for the trick or Treating Youngsters that would visit their home.

They lived in East Gate Manor and would get anywhere between 300 (on a bad night) to 400+ visitors on Halloween. They weren't cheap with the candy either, they would go and get the good stuff. My Dad used to give away the full sized bars, but as crowds grew, the candy bars seemed to get smaller. It's either that or I got bigger from quality checking too many of them...lol

Michelle is going over to Chris's this evening to hand out treats. It's something that she absolutely loves to do and I'll be doing the same thing today at work for all the kiddies in the day care.

Have yourselves a great Halloween

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is now behind us and accomplished, we have instructions to move on to a Tuesday. Proceed ahead to a tidbits.

* It has been 20,057 days since my reported birth, by my calculation and using my patented 938 day calendar, that should make me 21 years old by my calculations or 54 by these old antiquated calendar's.

* It has been 5,280 days since I graduated from WVU, it was the fulfillment of a dream for me.

* 3,881 days ago Michelle and I went out for the first time, I drug her to the movie 10,000 BC and took her to Pizza Hut. Must have been the right combination because she is still around.

* 3,105 days ago I asked this wonderful woman of mine if she would like to get hitched.

* It was 2,642 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife.

* I have now lived 268 days longer than my Dad did, it really does put things into perspective as to how short his life was.

* I have 4,781 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, or at least start doing something else with my life other than working.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 1,418 days away. I'm ready to whoop some Panther butt.

* There are 281 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Eighth Wedding Anniversary together. I've taken her on six cruises and a couple airplane rides since then as well as multiple road trips.

* There are 155 days until the next start of my favorite season, Spring 2019. I like Summer as well, it's just that springtime is something special to me. Has anyone noticed that the leaves haven't changed colors yet? Don't think I have ever seen them wait this long into a season.

* 102 more days until Groundhog Day, when the prognosticator of prognosticators will tell us Spring is right around the corner.

* 62 more days to go until my Goodbye 2018 Blog is posted, the blog that is my last blog of the year and recaps the previous year.

* There are 55 more shopping days left until Christmas. We bought our village piece already for the year and Michelle has already started shopping.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 32 more days. I think this will be the 34th anniversary of that birthday using the antiquated calendar that most people use.

* I have written 5,426 blogs in my 14 full years now of writing this little piece of my life on the internet.

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm slacking on that aspect of my flight time. I'm running out of season to fly. I'm such a slacker.

* You know with the Mega Millions Jackpot last week I played $10 worth of tickets. I had 2 numbers on 2 tickets. I wonder if I can get my money back for them selling me faulty tickets, I wanted to be a Billionaire this week.

* Remember that this coming Sunday that Daylight Savings time ends and we turn our clocks back one hour. This is when you get an extra hour of sleep as opposed to losing an hours sleep in the spring. We'll Spring them ahead again on March 10, 2019

* My next big trip will be this January as I travel to St Louis to transition to and get re-certified for RTI to work 2019. It's nice traveling on someone else's dime.

* Michelle has a big job fair today at Lakeview.today from 10:00 till 2:00. They have a number of available positions if anyone is looking for a good paying job.

* I'm STILL converting some old VHS tapes to Digital Format for Trish. I really need to get back on this as I am such a procrastinator.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

Well that fun time of the week where most of the working world looks forward to is now behind us, it's time to stop the relaxation and get back to making a difference on this rock that we live on. Strap on your work boots, put on your ties or do what ever it is you need to do to head into another workweek as it starts now.

Looking at my week ahead it should not be too busy at the office. I've finally got my GPS set up at work, or should I say I have all the software I needed whitelisted approved and whitelisted and ready to use. We have multiple LAN's at work. The LAN I work on is the most locked down, almost impossible to do anything on and is the one that everyone is on. I used to be on multiple LAN's when I was on the Research side of things, so I was much less restricted because we also had project computers that we worked on. Once I switched last year to AECOM and another contract, I no longer enjoy that computer set up. I'm down to one machine and I have to jump through hoops to get it to do what I need it to do. I think we are all set up and ready to go at this point.

I do have a Morale Subcommittee meeting today, we are doing a Halloween Party on Thursday when the children from the daycare will come over in their costumes and we'll bring in Candy to hand out to all the ghosts and goblins.

Speaking of Trick or Treating, Michelle is going over to her Sister Chris's to hand out Halloween Candy Wednesday Night since we really don't get any trick or treating here. 

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit in a quiet household yet once again, I'm the first to recover from that losing battle with the Sandman last night. I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day and trying to wipe the sleep out of my eyes and start to become functional today. 

I think we have my travel plans for St Louis worked out, now I just need to it finalized so I can get duplicate plane tickets for Michelle. Looks like I am going to have a direct flight from Pittsburgh to St Louis on January 2 and will be coming back the evening of the 4th rather than waiting till the next morning to travel to come back. The return trip home will have a layover in Chicago at the Midway Airport before returning to Pittsburgh. I was just at Chicago's midway a couple of weeks ago on my return flight from Las Vegas. If I am going to be in Chicago, that means that a Chicago Dog (see Picture) might just be on my agenda once again. I know Michelle won't have one, but I thought it was pretty tasty myself despite it being comprised of a number of items I don't usually eat on sandwiches.

Today we are doing our normal Sunday Routine, going grocery shopping and heading on over to Phoenix Bakery to get our weekly bread. We are planning on doing a home made Beef Stew today, so we'll have the crock pot started up here in an hour or so so it can cook all day. It'll make for a nice Sunday dinner on a cold and rainy day. Kind of perfect for that.

I'll be out in the field working this afternoon, not traveling and will be working locally for the day. My other segment is pretty much worked down and I'll be going there on Saturdays for a little clean up, it's almost 90% completed and doesn't need a whole lot of attention. I would almost say after another week it'll be ready to hand off for someone else for clean up. Now it's time to concentrate on my smaller segment that is basically within walking distance for me.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit yet once again, it's a quiet Saturday morning and I'm up watching something called Rock Dog on HBO. It is just simply background noise so I'm not really paying attention to anything about the movie. I'm sitting here collecting my thoughts for the day with a big smile on my face as the Mohigans crushed the Hawks last night in the MoHawk Bowl.

I swear it's getting to the point where I say this every Saturday, I'm back out in the field once again today traveling to my out of county segment. I've went through it once and have it 75% completed, so it's going back to places where people were not home or to finish up a couple of interviews. I'll see how many of my lines I can finalize today. I have a local segment that has kind of been put on hold due to so many pending interviews the first day, but I can never seem to find anyone at home now. Working in student housing areas can be a real pain as they are not like traditional households and are more creatures of opportunity rather than creatures of habit at this point in their lives and it is more of a challenge to find them home.

Other than that, it's going to be a traditionally boring Saturday in our household. The Mountaineers have already played this week and MHS has earned bragging rights for the next 365 days, so no real sporting events that I will be paying specific attention to today. I may get a recap on the days games, but there are none that I am specifically concerned with off the top of my head. Probably going to be a traditional day of working, chores and a little bit of relaxing.

At work yesterday we were asked to submit any training that we would like to attend over the next year, so I put in for both the Federal Users Conference in Washington DC and I'm also swinging for the fences with the Mecca of GIS, the San Diego ESRI Users Conference, this is the big one that I would love to attend. We have five and now six complimentary seats with my recent license purchase and upgrades. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on both of these especially since they have thrown so many resources my way on the past year, I finally feel pretty good about making these conferences this year. I've been to the Federal Conference, but not the big one and I have met Jack already.

Have yourselves a great day and stay dry.

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.

Are you ready for a little High School Football action? Let's start out with Clay Battelle, they are on the road to Clarksburg to take on Notre Dame. I hear there is game in our town, oh yeah Morgantown will be hosting the cross town rival University High at Pony Lewis Field this evening. I'm not going to play favorites....ah screw that I'm a Mohigan, kick that U-High Ass hard tonight.

I'm planning on traveling and working once again this weekend, I have two segments and one is just a little far to go to late in the day and this time of the year. So I take that one and go there on weekends and work it then.

Shopping and dinner this evening, typical day for Michelle and I this evening.

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 over ten years (hard to believe it has been that long), when Michelle and I were still kind of new at geocaching and we were out for a challenge. We ended up going to Pedlars Glory, which is on the hill in front of my Sister Pam's house.

Funny story, while we were up there looking at Pam and George's place, I called them and told George to guess where we were at. I don't know if it was a lucky guess or he had a set of binoculars and seen us, but he guessed right somehow.

Have yourselves a great day and remember the game day traffic today.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Two days are 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 as we work towards another fun filled weekend.

Today is the second of two days that I will have a trainer up here to teach us how to use our new toy at work. We bought a Trimble Geo 7x  to accurately capture locations of features at work including getting the coordinates, this is the top of the line for GNSS systems and I've had it a couple months now. It's pretty complex and we paid for a trainer to come in for two days and help us get set up, and this is the second day. I'm pretty stoked about getting this and starting to use it to capture features.

Plan your day accordingly tomorrow, there is a WVU Football game being played here tomorrow night against Baylor. I think kickoff is at 7:00 PM and if you need to come through this area anytime between early afternoon and evening, expect some non-normal and extra heavy traffic in trying to get anywhere especially if you are near the stadium like we are.

Have yoursleves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday has once again passed us by, it's time to start concentrating on a Tuesday and you know what that means if you have ever read my blog, it's a tidbits.

* It has been 20,051 days since my reported birth, by my calculation and using my patented 938 day calendar, that should make me 21 years old by my calculations or 54 by these old antiquated calendar's.

* It has been 5,266 days since I graduated from WVU, true story all these years later I still dream that I'm going to miss a final and not graduate. It's not like I barely got by, I was both Gamma Theta Upsilon and Gamma Beta Phi and just missed Cum Laude.

* 3,881 days ago Michelle and I went out on a date years ago, Pizza and a movie and my life was forever changed.

* 3,098 days ago I asked Michelle to be my wife and gave her an engagement ring letting her know this was real.

* It was 2,628 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife.

* I have now lived 261 days longer than my Dad did, and I'm appreciating every minute of it.

* I have 4,788 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, or at least start doing something else with my life other than working. I'm sure I'll pick up a meaningful hobby by then, and I'm sure it will have a geospatial element to it. I was actually talking to a couple guys I used to work with at Helmick years ago and they have both retired within the last couple weeks. Time goes by too quickly.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 1,425 days away. I'm ready to whoop some Panther butt.

* There are 287 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Eighth Wedding Anniversary together. We've been together about 10 1/2 at this point.

* There are 162 days until the next start of my favorite season, Spring 2019. I like Summer as well, it's just that springtime is something special to me. Has anyone noticed that the leaves haven't changed colors yet? Don't think I have ever seen them wait this long into a season.

* 109 more days until Groundhog Day, when the prognosticator of prognosticators will tell us Spring is right around the corner.

* 69 more days to go until my Goodbye 2018 Blog is posted, the blog that is my last blog of the year and recaps the previous year. Maybe I should start formatting it.

* There are 62 more shopping days left until Christmas. I was actually looking at Lowes for our 2019 village piece we are going to add this year.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 39 more days. I think this will be the 34th anniversary of that birthday using the antiquated calendar that most people use.

* I have written 5,419 blogs in my 14 full years now of writing this little piece of my life on the internet.

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm slacking on that aspect of my flight time. I'm running out of season to fly. I'm such a slacker.

* I hate to mention this, but I do hate snow. sorry snowy weather is not my kind of weather. I did however see a lot of snow last week as I flew over the Colorado Rockies.

* I will say that I left Las Vegas with more money than I went there with. It was a great time out there, hopefully I can make it back some day.

* My next big trip will be this January as I travel to St Louis to transition to and get re-certified for RTI to work 2019. It's nice traveling on someone else's dime. 

* Have you got your Mega Millions Jackpot ticket for tonight's drawing. It's your ticket to dream before reality sets back in tomorrow.

* I'm STILL converting some old VHS tapes to Digital Format for Trish. I really need to get back on this as I am such a procrastinator.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back At It

Well that fun filled thing called Las Vegas is over with and the weekend is over with although I worked it, now it's time to stick our collective noses back to the grindstone for another fun filled week of doing what we do for a living.

My week ahead should be a busy one, I have a trainer scheduled to come in this week to train us on the new GPS that we just purchased. We bought a Geo 7x and it is a little more complex than you would expect for a GPS. It's also a smart phone and has a number of other features to use, but we're more concerned with the primary function of it and that is collecting features. I have a trainer coming in tomorrow and Wednesday to teach us how to use it, I already have my unit and have for a while.

Michelle is adding a new recruiter at her office this week, they managed to get a good one and well established from another local company and this is probably going to start getting really busy.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Well here I sit yet once again on a quiet Sunday Morning, I'm up early catching my thoughts for the day and trying to wake up.

Well yesterday was the big announcement and Bob Huggins got his man, 5 Star Center Oscar Tshiebwe has decided that he is going to play College Basketball here in Morgantown. It's the recruit everyone has been crossing their fingers and hoping to land, and yesterday he landed. Welcome Oscar, soon to be a fan favorite.

Yesterday didn't start out all that great for me, left front drivers side tire was going flat and when you have a 4WD or an All Wheel Drive you don't replace one or two tires, you replace all 4 and that is what I did yesterday morning. This set comes with an 80,000 Warranty and free rotation and balancing for the life of the tire, so it wasn't that bad of a deal.

I'm going back out to where I was yesterday to work, didn't get any interviews yesterday (which makes for a long day) but did knock off a few lines and am getting the segment worked down. Hopefully today I can complete my first cycle of the segment and everything will just be return visits after that.

Michelle kicked butt yesterday and did an amazing cleaning job here at home, hopefully we will be the single ticket winners for the $1.6 Billion Lottery this week and we can go live on cruise ships for most of the time. I think if we won we would tour the world and see all kinds of ports around the world, but that is if we have the right combination of numbers.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household once again, me and Peanut are up early watching Castaway on the boob tube. We also happen to be cat sitting Hayley's cat Figaro as she and Tyler are in Baltimore this weekend visiting some of his family.

Las Vegas (first post trip blog) was an absolute blast. My presentation went well and I really enjoyed the sights. However when you are only there a couple days and are working, there is only so much you can see and I tried to see as much as I could. Went to a number of Casinos, gambled at Caesars and Mandalay Bay and came home with more money than I went out with. I call that a good trip.

Today could be a big day for WVU basketball, Oscar Tshiebwe a 5 Star recruit we have been recruiting for a few years will make his college decision this weekend. This would be the highest ranked recruit of the Bob Huggins WVU era, as only Devin Ebanks was his sole 5 Star recruit that Bob has landed in Morgantown. He's landed many 5 Star recruits and franchise players, but at other schools. If Oscar chooses WVU, then the already bright future for WVU Basketball just got a little brighter. Comer Home Oscar.

I'm out working in the field today, I'll be traveling to another county to work both today and tomorrow as I try to get back into the swing of things for RTI. Had to take a hiatus as I concentrated on my career job this past week, but I'm rested and ready to go for this weekend.

Have yourselves a great day today

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.

Looking for a little bit of High School Football? Well we have High School Football for you. The Morgantown High Mohigans are at home hosting John Marshall. The Mohigans have fallen to 3-5 on the season and have struggle to be who they once used to be. University High is at home and hosting Preston and the Fighting Cee Bees are at home in Blacksville taking on Conotton Valley, OH.

One of the things I do need to do today is go out and get my drivers license renewed. I have a little over a month and a half to do it, but I always get the Federal ID because of my job and that is a little more expensive and a few more hoops that I have to jump through. I do go to Federal Facilities and I do get on Airplanes, so I need the Federal ID as opposed to just a state issued ID. It's something I advise everyone to have as they state ID's will be completely phased out in a little less than two years from now due to the ReadID Act.

Have yourselves a great day, not sure what my day will exist of. I may need to go into the office today briefly.

Hi ho hi ho

I'm Coming Home

Well all the site seeing and presenting is now over with, now it is time to say goodbye to Las Vegas and remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Hopefully I will come back here again some day and hopefully I've shared a picture of two for everyone to see.

I'll be heading out to McCarran International this morning on at a little after 6:00AM Las Vegas time (9:00 EST) on Southwest 2347 and unlike my direct flight out, I will have one layover on my trip back. We're stopping in the Windy City and Midway International for a brief layover before I board a plane to the Burg on Southwest Flight 2175.

I should be back home with my baby by early evening. We land in Pittsburgh at 4:10, so unboarding, grabbing my luggage and calling Charlie Browns to come and pick me up and get my car and heading home, it should be sometime around supper time when I get home. 

Have yourselves a great day as I deal with Jet Lag tomorrow.

Presentation Day

Good morning everyone, I hope everyone had a great day yesterday and an even better one today. I'm at the Courtyard Marriott here in Las Vegas, I'm on what they refer to as Dean Martin Drive and am just a little bit off the strip.

I will be heading about 14 miles north in a little while as I am preparing to make my presentation later this morning. This is the whole reason I'm out here and I want to knock this out of the ballpark. I want to introduce them to a new way of doing things both with the 3M product and how we capture and represent it. Someone I work with said he could see me presenting my different way of doing things to a large audience, well I guess that all comes true today.

Shouldn't be a long day for me, but that all depends on whether they want me to stick around all day or not. I'm sure I'm going to have a few questions presented my way. My presentation is good, I wrote it over the past few weeks and it has went well on critical review. Now comes the tough part, the presentation to a bunch of people I don't know.

Have yourselves a great day.

Traveling to Las Vages

No Tuesday's tidbits this week, I'm taking my butt up to Pittsburgh this morning and getting ready to get on an airplane to take my butt to Las Vegas.

For anyone wanting to track my progress, I will be on Southwest 1585 and will be crossing three tine zones as I head to Nevada. This will be the furthest west that I have ever traveled, and the only other time I crossed multiple time zones was when Greg Helbig and I drive to the Black Hills in South Dakota back in 2000.

I have a KMZ (google earth) file that I am taking with me and firing up so I can find a few key places once I get there. Today is going to be a long day, but an exciting one. So much to do and so little time to do it, there are a number of things I would like to do, one is the Pinball Hall of Fame but I would also kind of like to visit the Hoover Dam. I don't really gamble, so I may just briefly visit the casinos and get as many pictures as I can along the strip.

Tonight however I am preparing to present tomorrow.

Have yourselves a great day, I will.

Happy Birthday Brittany Dae Cummings

I would love to take this time out to wish my beautiful niece Brittany a very Happy Birthday today.

It seems like it was only yesterday that she was born, it's amazing how 28 years can go by in the very blink of an eye.

She is an amazing young women, graduating from West Virginia University a couple of years ago, she currently works for WVU Medicine and has been moving on up the chain.

If you get a chance to see or talk to Brittany today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish her the Happiest of Birthdays today.

Happy Birthday Brittany.

Monday

It's time to stop all the fun that we have been having and stick our collective noses back onto the grindstone for another fun filled week of work.

This may be my only day in the office this week or a day I am going through the motions to get to tomorrow. I'm only working one job this typical work week and it's going to one for the ages for me.

A little tidbit, it was 10 years ago yesterday that I started at NETL. I've been with three companies during my tenure there, I started out with SAIC and worked for them until they lost the rebid.  I then worked for Sextant  for almost almost 8 years until we lost our GIS Research funding and I have been with AECOM since last August and that is who I currently work on the site engineering side and implementing GIS over there. It has been a great 10 years, here is to the next 10 years. I just got my HSPD-12 Badge renewed until 2024.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm up early watching absolutely nothing on the Boob Tube and trying to wake up for the day.

Boy was last nights WVU game a big disappointment. I said that Iowa State was going to be fired up and ready, and as much as they were ready we took the polar opposite position and were the worst prepared I have seen in some time. The Mountaineers got manhandled 30-14 by Iowa State. I saw it coming and even told someone at work to watch for the upset, it was so bad and we were so uninspired that I turned it off in the first quarter knowing what to expect and saving Michelle's blood pressure from me cussing and screaming at the TV. It was U G L Y to say the least.

Today we have some grocery shopping to do and then I am heading out to work for the day. I think I am going to spend the day trying to clear up some of my pending interviews rather than screening new residences, I did manage to get one cleaned up yesterday. Doing the interviews can break up what is potentially a long day and breaks up the monotony of trying to screen people.

I've also got to write this weeks blogs as I'm leaving for Las Vegas this week and I really don't want to be in front of a computer screen.

Michelle is talking about running over to the Women's Expo at Mylan Park today.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday morning, I'm up a little early watching the Chappelle Show and gathering my thoughts for the day.

The WVU Mountaineers Football team travels to Iowa this evening for a tilt with Iowa State at 7:00. I like the fact that it is an evening game, that way my work day and chores will have been completed and I'll be able to watch the game this evening uninterrupted.I do have to say though that this game does have me concerned, Iowa State is a pretty decent team and they are going to be playing inspired football this evening so we better be ready for their best shot.

I am working today, I'll be heading out later this morning to work my segment that is not local. It's not too far away, but it's not exactly within walking distance for me either. I will be heading out on the road pretty early this morning, but not too early as to people won't be awake. Of course these people are the ones who wake up with the Roosters, so I do enjoy interacting with these people as opposed to the sleep till noon crowd.

I did have a little bit of a scare last night, looked in my wallet and my check card was not there. I had not used it since lunch on Tuesday, so I had not noticed it was gone. Fortunately I got on my banks site and noticed there were no strange transactions which was good. I almost cancelled the card from my ap, but came home and noticed it had fallen out and was under my trash can by my desk. Anxiety avoided...lol

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 and the start of another fun filled weekend.

Are you ready for some High School Football? The Morgantown Mohigans travel to Parkersburg to take on Parkerburg South. University High is at home taking on Buckhannon-Upshur this evening. Both Morgantown and University High are 3-4 on the season and both will be trying to even their records up this evening. 4-2 Clay Battelle is at home hosting Cameron out in Blacksville.

I'm off this evening from RTI, but I will be working both days again this weekend as I'm leaving for Las Vegas next week for work.

Thinking what could I do in Las Vegas during my down time? Go to a Casino? Do you know what I may do as one of the first things I do other than sight see? They have a Pinball Hall of Fame I just may go to. They have a number of pinball machines I used to play when I was a kid, Top Card, King Pin, Fireball and Jack's Open to name just a few that I used to play at Suburban Lanes or Towers during my youth. I love the old electromagnetic pinball games that scored by a rotating wheel rather than a digital scoreboard. I think more than any other game, I want to play Top Card. It was my favorite Pinball game from my youth and the one I have the fondest memories of. But that is next week...lol

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 goes back 8 years and one day, yesterday was Moke and Ang's 8th Wedding Anniversary and this weeks picture is from their wedding day eight years ago.

The picture that I grabbed (or this one) is the one of their first kiss as Husband and Wife after the preacher told him you may kiss the bride. Moke was never shy about showing his affection for the lovely Ang, and this is their first kiss as Mr and Mrs McClain.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho


How about a bonus pic

Hump Day

Well that is one day down, that and one holiday, 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.

Do you know what they should call this day? How about the day that I have the least amount of material to really write about (yes we do live a boring life at times) and the day that I struggle the most to come up with something to day.

I will be in Las Vegas this time next week making a presentation, so I am probably going to pre-write a few blogs for when I'm out there. I'm taking a Government laptop with me, but something tells me I'm going to be like a kid in a candy store and won't want to be sitting in front of a computer in that city. Too much going on to lose yourself in a monitor and a keyboard.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Three day weekend is over with, now it's back to my normal job and that grindstone after a weekend of working and traveling.

* It has been 20,037 days since my reported birth, by my calculation and using my patented 938 day calendar, that should make me 21 years old by my calculations or 54 by these old antiquated calendar's.

* It has been 5,252 days since I graduated from WVU, true story all these years later I still dream that I'm going to miss a final and not graduate. It's not like I barely got by, I was both Gamma Theta Upsilon and Gamma Beta Phi and just missed Cum Laude.

* 3,867 days ago Michelle and I went out on a date. You know every day is the first day of the rest of your life, never so much for me as that day when she came into my life.

* 3,084 days ago I proposed to Michelle.

* It was 2,614 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife.

* I have now lived 247 days longer than my Dad did, and I'm appreciating every minute of it.

* I have 4,802 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, or at least start doing something else with my life other than working. I'm sure I'll pick up a meaningful hobby by then, and I'm sure it will have a geospatial element to it.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 1,439 days away. I'm ready to whoop some Panther butt.

* There are 301 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Eighth Wedding Anniversary together. We've been together about 10 1/2 at this point.

* There are 176 days until the next start of my favorite season, Spring 2019. I like Summer as well, it's just that springtime is something special to me.

* 123 more days until Groundhog Day, I did see Phil last week when I was cutting grass. I think he's mad that all the apples from the apple tree have magically disappeared (or he ate them all).

* 83 more days to go until my Goodbye 2018 Blog is posted, the blog that is my last blog of the year and recaps the previous year.

* There are 76 more shopping days left until Christmas. It's time to start planning and start preparing, I was actually joking with a WalMart employee and wondered if they had their St Patricks days stuff out yet.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 53 more days. I think this will be the 34th anniversary of that birthday using the antiquated calendar that most people use.

* I have written 5,403 blogs in my 14 full years now of writing this little piece of my life on the internet.

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm slacking on that aspect of my flight time. I'm running out of season to fly. I'm such a slacker.

* I hate to mention this, but I do hate snow. sorry snowy weather is not my kind of weather.

* My presentation for next week is mostly done, now I just need to finalize it and prepare giving it. Any bets whether I see Elvis in Las Vegas?

* Michelle's old partner in crime at BFS, as she refers to her, is currently on her very first cruise. She is on the Carnival Prided and Michelle and I could not be more happier for her.

* WVU Football is ranked #6 in both the Coaches and the AP Poll this week for Football. Our best ranking since October 2, 2012 when we were #5.

* I'm STILL converting some old VHS tapes to Digital Format for Trish. I really need to get back on this as I am such a procrastinator.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Columbus Day

On a Monday that I would normally be heading to the office, we get a chance to sit back and relax a little bit and extend our weekend one more day as we celebrate Columbus Day.

I'm not sure if the schools are out today, but it is a Federal Holiday and I know that our contract calls for us to be paid anytime the Feds take off, so I get the day off from the office.

Working for RTI today may be a different story, if I were going into the office today, I would not be going out and working this evening, but I may take advantage of some daylight hours today and try to get some lines opened up and hopefully get a few interviews. I usually work the local section two days during the work week and then work other sections on weekends, but that may change this week and next week is almost a pass as I'll be in Las Vegas. I have to finalize my presentation this week. I'm not real good at public speaking, so going a few thousand miles away to do it might take some of the pressure off...lol

Have yourselves a great day today

hi ho?

Sunday

Here I sit yet once again in the early AM, I'm up early once again and just had the Proposal on the TV and now it is silent (I streamed it). I'm sitting here collecting my thoughts for the day and trying to wake up.

I'm out once again today doing field work, I had a pretty decent day yesterday considering that there was a home Football game for WVU. Being so many people attend the games or work the games, it's kind of hard to find people at home while the Mountaineers are playing. Heading out of town once again and working the same section that I worked yesterday. It's a nice rural setting and so far everyone I have met have been really super friendly.

Speaking of the Mountaineers, they ran their record to 5-0 on the season and three teams that were ranked ahead of us lost. The Mountaineers beat the Kansas Jayhawks 38-22. We were a little off yesterday, turned the ball over a lot and got to the Red Zone and couldn't capitalize numerous times. Hopefully they will be ready this coming Saturday when they travel to Iowa State to play. It was a win though, despite being a 28 point favorite.

The Steelers play the early time slot today, I might put them on in the car as I'm working. This has already started out as a lackluster year. Hopefully they can get it all turned around today.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning, I'm waking up and collecting my thoughts for the day as there is nothing on on the TV behind me. I'm just waking up and starting to plan my day out.

Looking for some football today, well the West Virginia Mountaineers will be hosting Kansas today for their homecoming football game. Kickoff this will be at noon today and hopefully Coach Dana has the boys ready to go and they have not been looking at the polls giving themselves big heads. I think we should be fine though, but you never know.

Me, I'll be heading out this morning and working all day for RTI. I will be working away from Morgantown, so there will be some travel involved with me getting to my other segment. This is going to be the busiest quarter that I have had in 2018 as my first quarter was cut short due to illness, my second quarter had a segment that I completed in almost no time and last quarter I had one segment assigned to me before they re-assigned my second segment to me after the FI it had originally gone to could not work it. Hopefully I get some interviews today and can start generating some numbers.

Have yourselves a great day today and Let's Go Mountaineers

Hi ho hi o

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 and the start of a three day Federal Holiday Weekend.

Are you ready for some High School Football? The Morgantown Mohigans travel to Wheeling to take on the Wheeling Park Minutemen. The University High Hawks are also on the road traveling to Mountain Ridge, MD and Clay Battelle hosts Paden City out in Blacksville this evening. Good luck to all the Monongalia County teams this evening, hopefully they will run the slate.

Monday is Columbus Day, so it's a three day weekend away from my normal job, I'm still preparing a presentation that I have to give in two weeks in Las Vegas. I'll be traveling to St Louis once again this year for certification with RTI in January, so still have a couple more trips planned for this year. This time however it's going to be on your dime as opposed to mine. Vagas and St Louis will both be Government travel.

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 at least 21 years (Since I am 21 years old) to a time when  I was just a young one. Yes that little cutie was in fact the author of this blog and I was sitting up on my Grandpa Hall's knee.

This had to have been the old house down in Van Voorhis that we had, so I would put this picture sometime around the mid 1960's and pretty much prior to any of my known memories. I have no idea what I have in my hand, it almost looks as if it was a belt or something that I was playing with.

Just a random picture from yesteryear, one that has always been very dear to my heart.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

The Oops I forgot blog

As I was just jumping out of the shower this morning and trying to run down through my mind what day it is and my agenda for the day, I had realized that I had not pre-written a blog to post for today. Oopsie on my part is all I can say.

Today Michelle is going to be at the energy expo here in Morgantown pretty much all day. She was running around yesterday trying to set up for it, now today is the expo and representing Xtreme Labor Solutions on the day. To look at the jobs they have available, check here.

I was going to go out and work for RTI this evening, but my Morgantown section is primarily students and they are all in the middle of mid term examinations. I have a number of pending interviews, but no one has any availability so I'm waiting till next week to restart this section. I will be traveling this weekend to work my other section.

I managed to get the grass cut yesterday after work, it has rained a great deal plus we went on vacation, so it was a little high to say the least. I used Jim's Zero turn mower as opposed to my push mower and knocked it out in no time at all.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

*  The marathon of days working is off to a great start, can't think of any better reason than that other than it is Tuesday to do a tidbits.

* It has been 20,030 days since my reported birth, by my calculation and using my patented 938 day calendar, that should make me 21 years old by my calculations or 54 by these old antiquated calendar's.

* It has been 5,245 days since I graduated from WVU, one of the two smartest decisions I have made in my life. Seems like only yesterday.

* 3,860 days ago Michelle and I went out on a date, a date that changed both of our lives from that point on.

* 3,077 days ago I kind of asked Michelle if she wanted to get herself officially hitched up with me. She said yes and we started planning a wedding.

* It was 2,607 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I became husband and wife. Jean prepared a feast and we all ate like kings.

* I have now lived 240 days longer than my Dad did, and I'm appreciating every minute of it.

* I have 4,809 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, or at least start doing something else with my life other than working. A long time co-worker hung it all up this past Friday and retired.

* The next Backyard brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 1,446 days away. I'm ready to whoop some Panther butt.

* There are 308 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Eighth Wedding Anniversary together. We've been together about 10 1/2 at this point.

* There are 183 days until the next start of my favorite season, Spring 2019. It has just always been my favorite season, it's like the earth is blossoming and awakening from a too long winters nap.

* 130 more days until Groundhog Day, I haven't seen my buddy Phil as of late. Maybe it's because he's eaten all of the apples.

* 90 more days to go until my Goodbye 2018 Blog is posted, the blog that is my last blog of the year and recaps the previous year.

* There are 83 more shopping days left until Christmas. It's time to start planning and start preparing, I'm seeing Merchants are getting ready.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 60 more days. I think this will be the 34th anniversary of that birthday using the antiquated calendar that most people use.

* I have written 5,396 blogs in my 14 full years now of writing this little piece of my life on the internet.

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm slacking on that aspect of my flight time. I'm running out of season to fly. I'm such a slacker.

* I hate to mention this, but I do hate snow. sorry snowy weather is not my kind of weather.

* Next trip I need to start preparing for my trip to Las Vegas in a few weeks. Gotta do a presentation on 3M Marker Balls that you place into the ground to track where utilities are located.

* Gary and Tonya both attended and worked the Trump rally in Wheeling this past weekend. Not sure if they got close to him, but I know she was working the VIP section.

* Michelle's Aunt has turned over the keys to GiGi's house to the new buyer, they spent this past weekend clearing the house out of all of its possessions and will auction off the remaining items in the very near future. She is 97 years old and still in good physical shape, she just needs a little daily assistance.

* I'm STILL converting some old VHS tapes to Digital Format for Trish. I really need to get back on this as I am such a procrastinator.

* Have yourselves a great day.

* Hi ho hi ho

Ready Set Go

Well so much for the relaxation and fun, now starts a 30+ day period for me where I will be working every day at either one job or the other. It's time to stick our noses onto the grindstone and head out and start the 4th quarter with RTI and start another week of work at NETL.

I will be heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks to do a presentation on 3M Marker Balls and how we use them and more importantly how we have brought them into a Spatially enabled database. I get to get up in front of a bunch of people I don't know on the other side of this continent and do it in sin city. I've started my presentation, but I need to add content and prepare it as the presentation date draws closer.

I still have vacation pictures and videos that I need to take off my cameras and upload to Facebook. I'll try to get to that one day this week, hopefully a day where I am only working one job. I didn't take a lot of pictures or videos on the actual camera this year, took most of my pictures on the iPhone and uploaded them to Facebook as I was taking them.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho