Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ images that I have either captured with a Camera, Scanned or just simply stolen off the internet. Little lost moments in time that I post up and relive tight here for everyone while I try to recall the moments around that image. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that image and sometimes it's a challenge, although one thing it always is is a whole lot of fun for me.

This weeks pic goes back to I think about 1986, Mom and Don were in from visiting from Georgia and them and Terri had stopped over to see my at my apartment at Barrington North. I'm thinking this was also the first day that I had a chance to see my Niece Amy, so that is how I can narrow it down to a year.

Obviously I was much thinner back then and even had a head of hair on top of my head. You can see a partial attempt to grow a mullet, but it wasn't that successful of an effort obviously.

Have yourselves a great day.

Wednesday

Kick in the Gonads kind of Day

Not doing my traditional Tuesday's tidbits today so I can do a little bit of venting about some of the events that transpired yesterday morning.

Last week I in a round about way indicated that I had officially accepted a contingent offer, it was verbally offered to me actually on Tuesday and I formally accepted the offer on Friday morning from FEI Systems about a job posting as a GIS Administrator position in Baltimore Maryland. It was a little less money, but I'm in need of a job and it would have put me in a good position I felt.

I was actually a little excited about the offer and Michelle started looking for places in Baltimore to live, and we were both quite happy with the direction it was going.

Then yesterday morning I got a call from the HR representative indicated that there was a notice of a decision to announce the winner of the contract and FEI Systems, the company I was going to work for, did not win the contract and the offer had to be rescinded. Talk about an unexpected kick in the gonads.

I never stopped applying for positions even after my offer came along, I wasn't putting all my eggs in one basket so to speak. So I guess the search continues.

Have a great day.

Monday Again

Ah here we go again, the start of another week of quarantine and in Michelle's case working from home. It's time to stick those collective noses back onto the grindstone for another fun filled week of doing what we do for a living.

I swear my days run together anymore, if it weren't for this blog sometimes I would lose track of what day of the week it is as every day appears to pretty much be a replication of the day before with the exception of a couple of days when I actually briefly get out for a little while.

Nothing new other than that, other than my desire to lay back down and go back to bed. No need for me to be up in the wee hours of the morning and that's logic I'm going to listen to.

Have a great day.

Sunday

Here I sit once again on a quiet Sunday Morning, no idea what is playing on the TV behind me as I am attempting to wake up and collect my thoughts for the day.

What does one do to combat sheer boredom while this quarantine is going on? I was binge watching survivor, but now I have been playing a game called Wormax. It's been a lot of fun and my strategies have gotten me to the #1 position a number of times in a room with 500 players in it.

I've also been playing a little bit of Facebook Texas Holdem, a game that I have played on and off for a number of years.

It's just a couple of things that help me pass the time way during my periods of sheer boredom.

Agenda for the day, shopping chores and paying the bills. Lots of excitement planned out for today, woo hoo.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day and wondering where my co-author is this blessed morning. Nothing is on the TV because my stream has ended and it's pretty quiet in here.

This past week I started to apply for jobs not in the Morgantown or Pittsburgh area. I applied for a job in Baltimore and almost instantly I was getting emails about setting up an initial interview and included in that email was something that you don't usually get until you've had your first interview, the benefits package, which is pretty good. So I interviewed the next day and was extended a contingent offer (still have to pass a background check and drug screen) for a probable July 1st start date. More details will be made available as they become available. I'm still looking locally, but I have a solid choice to fall back on that I feel pretty comfortable with.

Other than that not much else is really up. Kim set up a Quarantine Zoom Meeting next Saturday for everyone to have a video get together. It'll be nice to see everyone and have some fun, this whole quarantine thing kind of sticks, but we have to do what we have to do to get rid of this pandemic.

Have yourselves a great day and make it memorable. 

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....or something like that.

Well it has been a productive week so to speak. Had an interview with a tentative job offer and may have a short term one that will allow remote work until the Corona Virus is over with. Not too bad fro being stuck at home.

The NFL draft started last night with the first round, the Pittsburgh Steelers traded away their first round pick last year to Miami for Minkah Fitzpatrick  who had an immediate impact the very week they traded for him last year. Miami has the 18th Pick of the draft and that is where the Steelers would have drafted had they not made the trade last year.

Have yourselves a great day, the NFL Draft continues this evening.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ images that I have either captured with a Camera, Scanned or just simply stolen off the internet. Little lost moments in time that I post up and relive tight here for everyone while I try to recall the moments around that image. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that image and sometimes it's a challenge, although one thing it always is is a whole lot of fun for me.

This weeks pic goes back almost 13 years, back to Josh's first Birthday Party that Val and Bobby had hosted.

This weeks pic is a pic of my Niece Amy and her Husband Ralph before they were married and before Kaiden or Kynlea were even thought about. They were just young kids in love and the topic of todays Photo Flashback.

Amy also had a message for me when I tried to take her picture. Have yourselves a special day.

Wednesday

For the Protesters

Two days down for you working stiffs, two more ahead of you after today. Now all you have to do is get up and over the noon time hump and it's all down hill as you work towards another fun filled weekend.

Well I had my first interview yesterday as well as a contingent offer for employment. Not going to say much about it, but we are looking a mid summer start and it is with a pretty good company. The good news is I should get my official contingent offer letter today that I'll need to sign so they can go forward with a background screening and drug test. I'll keep everyone up to date as things progress. I will still be looking around, but this will get my foot into the door where my profession is pretty prevalent. The bad news, it's not in Morgantown or even in West Virginia or even Pennsylvania but it is on the East Coast and Michelle and I have been there numerous times. I'm still a Steelers fan though, despite potentially being in enemy territory..lol

Other than that, I do have all of my unemployment finally straightened out. They were so back logged that it took a few weeks to get it taken care of on their end. I'm good to go and up to date now, so that is always a good thing.

Have yourselves a great day, make it memorable.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* This is the I'm getting cabin fever and I'm bored version of Tuesday's Tidbits.

* It has been 20,593 days since I first set forth on this earth and made my presence known to all.

* It has been 5,819 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography.

* 4,420 days ago Michelle and I went out to see a movie and have some pizza. It was the start of a long relationship that continues to this day.

* 3,644 days ago I proposed to Michelle, 4:00 in the morning in the back yard.

* It was 4,086 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I tied the knot with the help of a co-worker of hers.

* I have now lived 807 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going.

* I have 4,256 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there.

* The next Backyard Brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 863 days away.

* 287 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day. I haven't seen my furry little buddy in a couple of weeks.

* 272 more days to go until my Goodbye 2020 Blog is posted, recapping my year.

* There are 247 more shopping days left until Christmas 2020.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 222 more days.

* There are 145 days to go until Michelle and I set sail once again to the Caribbean. Hopefully the events of the past week don't rain on this parade.

* There are 98 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Ninth Wedding Anniversary together.

* There are 86 days until Michelle and I head to Pittsburgh to see Reba in concert.

* There are only 61 days until the start Summer 2020!!!!!

* I have written 5,998 blogs in the now 15 1/2 years since I started blogging.

* No drone flights this weekend, but that has pretty much been my recurring theme this year with that. I do have a plan to fly Hayley's wedding venue sometime this spring for her.

* Michelle is working from home still.

* BOPARC has released their softball packets for 2020, The Senior League Packet has been released. We are going to be Whitetail Crossing once again this year if the Corona Virus doesn't cancel the season.

* This Corona Virus has still pretty much shut down everything not only here in the US but around the world. We are #1 in the world in infected people now.

* Speaking of the Corona Virus, you can track it here.

* We did have our first grass cutting of the season this past weekend.

* They STILL have not found Mountie Python, the 15' snake that escaped in Sabraton this summer.. He even has his own twitter account.

* 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

Here we go again, it is that time of the week that most of us hate the most, it is the start of another week of doing what it is we do or used to do for a living. It's time to stick those collective noses back onto the grindstone for another fun filled week of doing what we do for a living.

So what is on my agenda for today? Well to be honest with you pretty much nothing. Still waiting for my unemployment to even be processed and still sticking in resumes all around for when these quarantines are completed and we can get back to normal.

Have a great day and try to keep yourself occupied and entertained.

Sunday

Here I sit yet once again on a quiet Sunday Morning, Peanut is no where around and I'm here flying solo once again. I'm watching Division III on Amazon, if that tells you how bored I am at this point of quarantining.

Big news for the day? We're going to head to the grocery store and do some grocery shopping. Chili is on our menu for the day.

Other than that it's just another day, I'm actually starting to lose a perception as to what day of the week it is as there is nothing to really use as a base other than we go shopping Sunday Mornings. Peanut just showed up and is meowing.

Have yourselves a sanity filled day.

Saturday

Here I am once again, stir crazy on a Saturday Morning. My little co-author is no where to be found and I am once again out here doing this blogging thing all solo. Peanut must think it's the Catrona virus and she needs to sequester herself in the bed with Michelle.

It's once again the weekend I think, our days seem to run together anymore, I just know Michelle doesn't have any conference calls today, so that tells me it is a weekend day.

Plans for the day, not sure we might try to briefly get out a little while today and do something, although the weather doesn't appear like it is going to be cooperative at all.

I did apply for my unemployment two weeks ago and the claim has yet to have been processed. It's starting to get a little bit frustrating to say the least, but that's just because there are so many people filing that they can't seem to catch up on all of the new claims.

Have yourselves a great day today, try to keep yourselves happy and entertained.

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....or something like that.

I have to say, for someone who lived a very busy life working two jobs, I'm about ready to go stir crazy sitting around the house. Human Resources departments aren't contacting perspective clients about employment opportunities and that makes the stir craziness just a little bit less bearable.

I did complete my certification to list for RTI, I used to be a lister a few years ago, but stopped when I started at NETL. Now I've opened my availability of it back up as I am on a search for a new full time employer.

There are only so many seasons of Survivor one can watch and only so many movies one can watch, I'm ready to get everything back to normal or at least some semblance or normalty.

Rant over, have a great day. 

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ images that I have either captured with a Camera, Scanned or just simply stolen off the internet. Little lost moments in time that I post up and relive tight here for everyone while I try to recall the moments around that image. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that image and sometimes it's a challenge, although one thing it always is is a whole lot of fun for me.

This weeks pic goes back to either the late 70's or early 80's, my Sophomore year class picture. Being they were taken earlier in the year, I'm guessing it was taken in the late 70's.

If you stop and think about it in all reality, this picture was taken around the last time the Pittsburgh Pirates actually won the World Series. Yes I did have a full head of hair during those years.

Have yourselves a great day.

Wednesday Funnies

How about a NO Tidbits Tuesday

Here I sit in the early AM, I just woke up for a restroom break and realized I completely forgot to write my tidbits blog yesterday, so today you get a real live blog as it is happening.

So what's on my mind, absolutely nothing in these early hours. Michelle went to the office yesterday, but I was on the phone with a former co-worker who also was laid off at the same time I was, so she took a solo trip to Fairmont and Clarksburg as I conversed with Charlie.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on, just staying home and Binge watching survivor, I'm on Survivor Cagayan now, Jeff Probst is doing his best in helping me keep myself occupied.

Have yourselves a great day, I'm going back to bed.

Monday

Here we go again, another fun filled week of us either doing what we do for a living or just trying to find employment or simply just waiting to go back to work. I'm in two of those scenarios, looking for a job and waiting for RTI to restart.

I know Michelle may have to run down to the old Fairmont Office to pick up the mail as they are transitioning to the new office and she is working from home. I may ride down with her just to get out of the house and break the feeling of being being a house hermit. It's just not my personality.

I do have some training to do this week with RTI, I'm going to go back to doing listing again as I'm looking for a new job, I have to do a little bit of certifying and before I can go out and list anything. I did it a few years ago before I started working for AECOM, but once that happened I didn't have time to do it as it takes a days commitment to do a segment.

What am I doing other than that, well obviously putting in resumes left and right, but nothing is really happening anywhere because of the Corona Virus, so to prevent going stir crazy I have been watching seasons of survivor. I am currently watching Survivor Caramoan, another fans vs favorites show. So far I have watched Heros vs Villains, Micronesia, Redemption Island and South Pacific. I have watched the first I think 10 seasons before I got too busy and didn't have time to watch it anymore. I have missed it and it helps to keep you sane.

Have a great day.

Happy Easter

Here I sit on a quiet Easter Sunday Morning, I'm the first one up this morning despite it being a late night binge watching another season of Survivor. Peanut is once again no where to be found and I'm flying solo once again.

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter despite what is going on in our world. The Corona virus is something none of us have ever experienced in any of our lifetimes and still has not seemed to have peaked. It has changed our society as we know it including the most religious Christian holiday of the year. 

If I have to think back to what may be one of my fondest Easter Memories, I have to think back to when I was a kid living with my Grandparents. We had an Easter Dinner one year when we lived beside the church as we would usually have family gatherings. I remember my Dad setting up some kind of a scavenger hunt where Sharon, Lynne and myself would be occupied running all over the place trying to win a prize. I think it was more to keep us occupied and out of everyone's way as they were preparing food. Our prize, those damn knuckle busting clack balls that I never could get the hang of. That and some toxic bubbles in a tube that you put on a straw and blew a bubble. I'm telling you some of the toys from my youth were just down right dangerous.

We got our grocery shopping done yesterday morning, so today is going to be a planned relaxation day. We're going to have a small ham for dinner, but nothing really out of the ordinary with the exception of some deviled eggs and some brown and serve rolls.

Have yourselves a great day, make it special and memorable.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm the only one up and I've actually got a college football game playing on the TV from last fall. My co-author Peanut is no where to be found and I'm flying solo writing this.

Considering that tomorrow is Easter Sunday, Michelle and I are going to get our Sunday chores done today, since most things will be closed tomorrow. I'm not excited about facing the potential crowds this morning as we go to the grocery store considering that simple fact. Hence why we are going to hit the store early this morning to avoid any potential craziness.

No other plans for the day, the weather is kind of crazy as it was actually snowing yesterday as I was getting ready to go and do our Sam's Club Shopping. It was the first time I was out this week and it was strange, most things were shut down and it seemed like everywhere I went people were wearing surgical masks. I would say it is a movie scene from from apocalyptic movie, but that is the reality that we live in.

Have yourselves a great day today, go binge watch something. 

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....or something like that.

Those of us who aren't working, it's just another day on the calendar. I'm suffering from Cabin Fever and need to get out and about a little bit sometime today. I appreciate the free time, especially from someone who has had a busy schedule for some time, but I'm ready to find a new job and get back to work.

I came to a realization yesterday, this might actually be the time that I actually leave Morgantown and West Virginia. I'm eyeing up a couple of directions. One is the Pittsburgh area, wouldn't be so bad, and I would still be close to home. The other is heading East to Washington, DC. Let's face it, in my line of work Government Contracts are the most lucrative areas where money can be made and I have a skill set that is in great demand in the DC area. This might just be where I end up, this time it more than any other before it may be a reality. I think I'm ready to get out of Morgantown if the right opportunity presents itself.

Whats on my agenda for this weekend? Same as everyone else....boredom and binge watching

Have yourselves a great day.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ images that I have either captured with a Camera, Scanned or just simply stolen off the internet. Little lost moments in time that I post up and relive tight here for everyone while I try to recall the moments around that image. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that image and sometimes it's a challenge, although one thing it always is is a whole lot of fun for me.

This weeks pic is a rare one, it was taken when I was a smoker, has a mustache and some hair, and was actually pretty much as drunk as a skunk. This all happened one New Years Eve at Nick and Terri's years ago. I'm guessing early to mid 1990's time range.

I was quite fond of a liquor called Aftershock (see sitting on the table) and Gary and I had decided to reach a state of intoxication together. I was a little more fortunate than him, as I seem to recall him passing out drunk on the front porch. Fortunately they no longer produce aftershock, so neither one of us will ever be repeating that drunken night anytime soon.

Have yourselves a great day, combat the boredom and call someone.

Midweek Boredom

Well that is two boring days down, I've put in a dozen or so resumes in the past week, but it's all just a waiting game for me right now. I think I have a couple leads, but with the Corona Virus it's all nothing time a sit back and wait time until everything gets back to normal.

So what does one do with being stuck at home and being bored to death? I used to love to watch the series Survivor, and we now have Hulu, so I have decided to start watching a season of Survivor and binge watch as much of it as I can.

What season did I choose? I started with season 16 for some reason and started from there. It's a good way to pass the time away other than taking naps and eating all day every day. I used to write my blog in it's infancy based on the show, but I haven't seen it in well over ten years so it was like hooking up with an old friend.

Have yourselves a great day, one day at a time we will all get through this together. Stay strong, wash your hands and social distance.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* This is the I'm getting cabin fever and I'm bored version of Tuesday's Tidbits.

* It has been 20,579 days since I first set forth on this earth and made my presence known to all.

* It has been 5,805 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography.

* 4,406 days ago Michelle and I went out to see a movie and have some pizza. It was the start of a long relationship that continues to this day.

* 3,630 days ago I proposed to Michelle, 4:00 in the morning in the back yard.

* It was 4,072 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, Michelle and I tied the knot with the help of a co-worker of hers.

* I have now lived 793 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going.

* I have 4,270 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there.

* The next Backyard Brawl where we beat Pitt's ass in Football is only 877 days away.

* 301 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day. I haven't seen my furry little buddy in a couple of weeks.

* 268 more days to go until my Goodbye 2020 Blog is posted, recapping my year.

* There are 261 more shopping days left until Christmas 2020.

* My next Anniversary of my 21st Birthday will be in 238 more days.

* There are 159 days to go until Michelle and I set sail once again to the Caribbean. Hopefully the events of the past week don't rain on this parade.

* There are 112 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Ninth Wedding Anniversary together.

* There are 100 days until Michelle and I head to Pittsburgh to see Reba in concert.

* There are only 75 days until the start Summer 2020!!!!!

* I have written 5,982 blogs in the now 15 1/2 years since I started blogging.

* No drone flights this weekend, but that has pretty much been my recurring theme this year with that. I do have a plan to fly Hayley's wedding venue sometime this spring for her.

* Michelle is working from home.

* BOPARC has released their softball packets for 2020, The Senior League Packet has been released. We are going to be Whitetail Crossing once again this year if the Corona Virus doesn't cancel the season.

* This Corona Virus has still pretty much shut down everything not only here in the US but around the world. We are #1 in the world in infected people now.

* Speaking of the Corona Virus, you can track it here.

* We did have our first grass cutting of the season this past weekend.

* They STILL have not found Mountie Python, the 15' snake that escaped in Sabraton this summer.. He even has his own twitter account.

* 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

Happy Birthday Terri Rehmani

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my sister Terri a very Happy Birthday today.

Since everyone is at a stay at home order, my guess is no one is meeting at Whitetail like we have in years past to help her celebrate her birthday.

Terri is an amazing person, it was her that picked me up at the lowest point in my life and dusted me off and put me on the right path despite me having the fears that I had at that time.

Not sure if Nick has anything planned this today, maybe when this whole corona virus thing is over with we can all get together and celebrate it with her.

Happy Birthday Terri.

Monday Morning

Well you working people, your weekend is over with. It's time to get up and stick your collective noses back onto the grindstone for another fun filled week of doing what you do. Hopefully most of you can do it from home, but for those of you who have to go someplace, make sure you stay safe.

What's on my agenda for the day? Probably starting my unemployment claim, I didn't do it last week as I worked a couple of days which put me above the maximum claim amount, so I'm waiting until this week to start my claims.

I have put in for a number of positions in and around Morgantown, and West Virginia and even the region. I did hear back from one about a remote job from Nebraska, but they are looking for someone with some very specific experience with a database that I have never worked with. I'm sure it's all the same platform, but those were their guidelines.

Michelle will be working from home today and for a while as they are working on the Goff Building that they bought in Clarksburg and starting to bring that building back to life. I know Michelle is excited about the move there as it is a beautiful facility with all kinds of potential.

I am going to start listing again for RTI (I did it when I was between jobs last time), I've already signed all of the paperwork, it'll give me a chance to make some income as we are waiting for the project to start up again. Listing is pretty easy and can pretty much be done from the comfort of your vehicle without getting out, unlike my field work where there is face to face interactions with many people.

Have yourselves a great day, do something to make a difference to the rest of the world today no matter how big or small.

Quiet Sunday

Here I am at an early hour on a quiet Sunday Morning, Peanut I hear running around somewhere but she's not up here giving me any input into my blog. I was up to use the restroom but am going to lay back down and that is a definite.

We (mostly Michelle on the riding mower) got the first grass cutting in for the year. I trimmed some hedges where I park my car and mowed a few places with the push mower that the riding mower couldn't get to and now the entire lawn is mowed.

There was one thing that I did not do yesterday, and that was to write all my blogs for the week. I have plenty of free time for the moment and will either publish them live or the night before like I used to do. It was really hard to tell you about the week 6 days before it happened, so maybe this will help bring a little more life into this space.

We are going to try grocery shopping this morning as we usually do. Early Sunday AM's I feel is the best way to avoid all the chaos that is occurring in the local stores. It's something we have always enjoyed doing and will continue to do so, now it's just a matter of meal planning for the week.

Have yourselves a very special Sunday.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again, the household is not so quiet as Michelle also just woke up and turned her coffee pot on, which means she is up for a while. Peanut is still no where to be found though.

Well this was an eventful week to say the least, I was let go from Amentum Tuesday due to a numbers thing with the new contract. It caught me completely by surprise but one door closes it's just opportunity for another door to open. I've got a few resumes out already, so we are looking for that other door.

Looks like I may be going back to doing blogs once a day rather than being so crunched for time that I have to write all the weekday blogs on Saturday afternoon. Maybe now I can go back to putting readable content in them rather than just regurgitating the same mindless thoughts in a sea of redundancy.

Michelle and I took a trip down to the Goff Building in Clarksburg, which is going to be her new office. They purchased the entire building and all the grounds around it including the paid parking area. It's an older historic building that they are planning on totally redoing, it does have a lot of potential and everything is in place to bring back to life a historical place in Clarksburg.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

What are our plans for this weekend? Same as everyone elses, stay at home and continue to practice Social Distancing as we try to allow this Corona Virus to run its course and we can all get back to a normal life.

I will probably be buying our new lawn tractor this weekend, if not this weekend then definitely next weekend as the grass is starting to grow, the birds are returning and we need to get the grass cut for the first time in 2020 before it gets out of hand like it did a couple of years at the beginning of the grass cutting season.

There is one good thing, my basketball bracket for the NCAA Tournament hasn't missed a single pick yet. No teams I picked have been eliminated from the tournament yet. Of course the Pittsburgh Pirates haven't lost a single game this season yet either.

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, time to look at some of the 30,000+ images that I have either captured with a Camera, Scanned or just simply stolen off the internet. Little lost moments in time that I post up and relive tight here for everyone while I try to recall the moments around that image. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that image and sometimes it's a challenge, although one thing it always is is a whole lot of fun for me.

I don't think there could be a more appropriate picture for today's Photo Flashback than this one. How many of you yesterday bit on my April Fools joke that I was being transferred to Emerald City to work for the Wizard of Oz?

That brings me to today's pic, I couldn't think of a better one than a few years ago on Halloween up at Amy's. They were doing a Wizard of Oz Theme and Kynlea was dressed up as Dorothy (or my co-worker from Kansas).

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Now for the Non-April Fools Blog

I hope everyone enjoyed my BLOG, it was a lot of fun writing it this past weekend, but now on to the non  April Fools content. One that has me still in a lot of shock.

I as well as a number of my co-workers were laid off yesterday. Not paid off as in we'll call you back, laid off as in here is your severance package, turn all your property including your badge in. When the new contract came out, the work statement pretty much defined my work in ArcGIS (See 5.3.4) and I thought I was very safe. However the company that won the bid, bid it very low and they needed to eliminate a number of positions.

Yesterday at about 11:00 I was called into my bosses office and was handed a stack of paperwork indicating that I was going to be one of the people let go. 11 1/2 years after first walking into NETL I am now an outsider. The articles I posted were in yesterdays dominion post, talking about the contract transition.

I did call a few of my Federal Contacts and they are extremely upset with the situation, but before there can be a contract mod it has to wait 1 year and that will be ironically next April 1st (I promise this is not an April Fools joke).

I did thank all of my management as I was leaving yesterday, they are all a bunch of great people, however they had a job to do. It wasn't a performance issue, many of them wondered how I was going to be replaced. I was told by numerous people that I could use each of them as a professional reference.

I wish this was an April Fools joke, however this is not and not only is RTI shut down, I'm completely unemployed at the moment.

I'm being transferred

I found out yesterday afternoon, that I am being transferred to another location. My time at the Morgantown NETL site is coming to an end and the next chapter of my life will begin Monday at our location in Emerald City.

I am going to be very sad leaving Morgantown, but I guess it is about time. The good news is all of my moving expenses are being paid for and the company moving us will be Locasta, they are a very good northern moving company know to put whole houses on themselves.

I'll obviously have a new boss by the name of Frank Morgan, he's supposed to be some kind of a Wizard in the Emerald City. I've met a few of my new coworkers, Dorothy is is from Kansas, Nicholas Chopper who they say is like a machine, Ray Scarecrow who in my opinion doesn't have much of a brain and Coward Lee Lyon who seems to be a bit timid.

I hope you have a great day

It's off to see the Wizard.