Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* It is a back-to-work day for most people. A day when you return from an extended weekend and get back to doing what we all do for a living to make this a better world to live in, including myself as I start a new contract today. Michelle on the other hand is extending her weekend one more day, so for Michelle here is a Tidbits. 

* It has been 21,698 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,958 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. 

* 5,546 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. 

* 4,749 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. Second best decision I ever made. 

* It was 4,294 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. Best Decision I ever made. 

* I have now lived 1,930 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. It's almost two years according to my birthday age calendar. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 454 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,142 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, but I love doing what I do. Who knows though, doing what I do I may never retire as I am getting ready to embark on my next project today. 

* 249 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, I saw him this past weekend as he is back here for his Summer home and eating the corn Michelle puts out. 

* 215 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 209 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. Walmart hasn't put their Christmas stuff out....yet. 

* There are 185 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 108 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can get some revenge on our game this year. 

* There are 101 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old-time Rival, Penn State. It's a game that will be at nighttime on NBC so it's going to have a big audience. 

* There are 67 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together.  

* There are 29 days until my second favorite season, the Summer of 2023.

* I have written 7,192 blogs in the now 18 1/2 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* I think I know where I want to do my next drone flight, out by the old county graveyard. 

* Michelle is relaxing and enjoying day 4 of her 4 day weekend. . 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok,a lost Championship because the catcher dropped strike 3 (live ball) and did not throw down to first to get the final out and instead started to celebrate what they thought was a Championship until two runners rounded the bases and winning the game. 

* This one is long overdue, with that said HI HO HI HO!!!!!!!

Memorial Day

As many of us extend our weekends one more day, let's take some time out and remember and honor those who served our Nation in Uniform that are no longer with us. It's Memorial Day.

Yesterday Michelle and I made our yearly trip to three graveyards around town to honor my Grandfathers and Father who all served. Our first stop was Arnettesville Cemetary where we stopped by my Grandpa Newbraugh's tombstone and took a little time to visit the many relatives on my Mom's side of the family buried there. 

I have to be honest, after that we made a trip to Petsmart to get more birdcage cleaner. That and some Popcorn on a cob meant for birds. It was neat, you microwaved it in small increments and let it cool. Not sure how finicky of an eater Kiwi is, however, we'll have to wait and see. 

From there it was off to East Oak Grove Cemetary where replaced the flower holders in Dad and Jean's flower pots and put new vibrant flowers in and decorated it up a little bit. Replaced Dad's Flag and cleaned off all the grass clippings that had built up around and on it. I think I may spray their tombstone next as it could use a good cleaning. The stuff we used did a miraculous job on Grandma and Grandpa Hall's graves. 

We had one final cemetery to visit and we went to Mount Union Cemetary and visited Grandma and Grandpa Halls gravesite. His Brother Lincoln's grave which we treated with the cleaner also came up looking very nice. 

The final grave we visited for the day was my Dad's sister Glenna Mae's gravestone, which was looking pretty rough last year. We sprayed it down pretty good a couple of months ago and as we were working on Grandma and Grandpa Halls. As you can see these three tombstones which had a black soot on them last year have all cleaned up very nicely. 

A Big Thank You to my wonderful wife Michelle as she did a lot of spraying, observing and some scrubbing to make all of these markers look loved and cared for. 

Have yourselves a great day and enjoy yourselves, also take a little bit of time out to honor and remember those who this day is dedicated to. 

Sunday

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, Kiwi and I are up talking about today's strategy and meal planning. He wants Michelle and I to eat bird seeds all week and he'll eat the people's food, sorry little buddy that is not happening. We'll save the seeds for you. 

We went to Amy's yesterday for Erica's Graduation Party. Amy and Ralph were generous enough to host the event in their new garage, out and away from any of the heat. It was a pretty good turnout and a lot of fun. We didn't make it to the Graduation itself and instead met everyone at Amy's. 

Today it's grocery shopping and probably make our yearly trip to all of the graveyards that we need to visit to see family members who served and are no longer with us. We'll start in Everettesville, then to East Oak Grove, and finally to Mount Union Cemetary to put flags on those tombs and put some flowers on Dad and Jean's gravestones. It's something we do every year paying tribute to loved ones that are no longer with us. 

Other than that, probably some relaxing is on our daily agenda. Kiwi may have other plans, but we plan on taking it easy later on unless there is some unplanned event we forgot about. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Saturday

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning, Kiwi and I are up discussing some of the day's events and what is going on. He's wanting to have a discussion about whether it is better to play pool or darts. He's a pool kind of bird, but back in the day I was a dart thrower. 

Michelle was teasing me on Thursday along with some of her friends trying to trick me into buying her a hammock. I went yesterday and grabbed her the one she said she wanted and brought it home and assembled it. 

I also got my Laptop yesterday to do the work I am contracted to do. I got it all set up with my display monitors and now I am all set up and ready to go for Tuesday. Now it's fighting with permissions and getting access to all the software that I need, but I'll be doing that when I can bill them for my time not when everyone is getting ready for a holiday weekend. 

Erica Graduates today, I guess their commencement is this morning at Morgantown High, not sure if we will be attending Commencement as that's going to be a headache especially when it comes to finding parking in the area. Might not be too bad with the students gone, but it's still going to be a challenge to get parked. There is a Graduation Party for her tomorrow up at Amy's where we are all going to congregate and have a good time.

Have yourselves a great day, it's going to be one where I grab a few pictures. Hope to see everyone this afternoon. 

Big Ole Hairy Memorial Day Weekend Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward 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 again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Memorial Day Weekend Friday.

Here is the funny part of all of this, I have a three-day weekend so to speak, as I report to work for the Parsons Contract on Tuesday (remote role, work from home), but Michelle is going to be off on Tuesday so she gets a four day weekend. She was originally going to take today off, but some co-workers had to take this day for very good reasons that take priority so Michelle decided to take off Tuesday instead. 

Today I will be doing a laundry run as well as a trip to WalMart and Sams Club. I'll have everything done by the time Michelle gets off of work and starts her four-day weekend. It's going to be a busy one, with all the High School Graduations and parties this weekend. Erica's will be graduating from Morgantown High (my alma mater) and her part will be at Amy's place since she has a huge yard, and plenty of parking and they are away enough that all the kids will be safe so they can have fun. 

Paige, will also be graduating this weekend from University High and we got an invitation, I think Michelle said they are celebrating it on Sunday. 

Her cousin Julie's daughter Meghan is also graduating, but her party will be in a couple of weeks back up in East Liverpool. 

I will also be making my yearly run to three graveyards this weekend to place some flags on the graves of family members who served our country and are no longer with us. 

Havre a great day and the start to a greater weekend and we'll getback to the hi ho hi ho's next week. 

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+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes all the way back to 2011, August 6 as a matter of a fact. How do I know? This was the day Michelle and I got married. It's one of my favorites from our Photographers, who also happen to be Neices on Michelle's side of the family. I think they did a great job with this shot and it's one of my favorite. 

We had a Jimmy Buffett-style wedding, and gave out Lei's to all to everyone and the running joke was that everyone was going to get lei'd that day. We feated and had a lot of fun, and I learned what a cookie table was and fell in love with it. 

Have yourselves a good day as we edge into Holiday weekend eve. 

Wednesday

Well there is two of those work days down for everyone, get today over with and there will be a couple more ahead of a three-day holiday weekend. 

I swear Wednesday is a hard day to find a meme for, you either get camels saying hump day or you get pictures from the Netflix Series Wednesday based on the old Addams family Wednesday Adams. Sometimes it is a little bit limited to say the least. 

So what is new, I found out earlier this week my start date for LanceSoft will be May 30 instead of the 29th, but I kind of assumed that since the 29th is Monday and Memorial Day, which is a Federal Holiday. I've had a nice break, but it's time to get back to it as I hate sitting idle plus I like new challenges which this one will be. Believe it or not the head hunter calls have slowed down a little bit this week compared to the previous few weeks. I haven't updated my LinkedIn to reflect any changes yet, but I did update my Facebook profile. 

The good news is I was getting so bored watching the grass grow that I took advantage of the nice weather yesterday and mowed the lawn. It wasn't really needing it, but it was going to be at that point in a couple fo days so I decided to go ahead and kill my boredom and cut the grass. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Tuesday's Tidbits

* It is my Brother from Another Mother George McClains Birthday today, wishing him a Happy Birthday and doing a tidbits are on my agenda. 

* It has been 21,691 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,951 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. That was 19 years ago today. 

* 5,539 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. 

* 4,742 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,287 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. 

* I have now lived 1,923 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. It's almost two years according to my birthday age calendar. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 447 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,149 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, but I love doing what I do. Who knows though, doing what I do I may never retire as I am getting ready to embark on my next project. 

* 256 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, I saw him this past weekend as he is back here for his Summer home and eating the corn Michelle puts out. 

* 222 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 216 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 192 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 115 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can get some revenge on our game this year. 

* There are 109 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old-time Rival, Penn State. It's a game that will be at nighttime on NBC so it's going to have a big audience. 

* There are 73 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together.  

* There are 36 days until my second favorite season, the Summer of 2023.

* I have written 7,185 blogs in the now 18 1/2 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. I do have my drone and controller charging as we speak. 

* Speaking of drones, I have a little free time on my hands, providing the weather is nice it is time to fly. Any suggestions as to where? 

* I start back to work next week, I have all my peripherals set up how I like them and now it's just a matter of waiting on the laptop unless I have to go and pick it up. 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok, I try to avoid Politics on this blog, but this was just plain funny. 

* I'm looking I'm looking

Monday

All good things must end, and yes, that includes those super-productive things that we call weekends. Now it is time to take the collective noses and stick them back onto that grindstone of life and get back to doing what we all do to make this a better rock to live on.

I have to continue onboarding, this time with the client Parsons rather than with my employer LanceSoft this week. Everything for LanceSoft should be good to go, now I have to find out what I need to do with Parsons. I was initially going to have to travel to Utah to pick up my equipment, but now they are either going to mail it to me or they have an office in Herndon Virginia as well as Richmond. Herndon is close to Dulles, so it can be out and back the same day basically. I'm supposed to start next Monday. I have my peripherals set up how I like them, now it's just getting the computer.

I have to find some time this week to fly my damn drone which I still have not done. I'm such a slacker and I think I am just going to go out on West Run and fly it. That and AI may need to cut grass sometime this week. 

Other than that, not much is going on this week. I may kick back and try to enjoy the last of my time off before I enter back into the working world. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Sunday

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, Kiwi and I are once again having one of our in-depth conversations. Today it is about potatoes believe it or not. He prefers them with the skin off and I kind of like them with the skin on. He insists the skin is tough on his beak, but he does like bacon bits. What a crazy bird we have. 

I should have the docking station that I ordered Friday showing up today from Amazon, and Michelle and I went out yesterday and got a couple 24" Monitors and a new keyboard and mouse to set up for my contracting. Parsons is sending me the laptop since this is a Federal Contract, I originally had to go to Utah to pick up the equipment, or at least that is what was originally agreed upon, but they are just going to send it to me. I also bought a new cordless keyboard and mouse. This is the one I use at my regular PC and the one I like the most. I still have my combo from Duquense Light, but it's a straight keyboard and I was never really fond of it. If I have to do any typing I want an ergonomic one that I like with no cords running everywhere. I should be all set up by tomorrow other than the work laptop, which will be Federal Property. 

If you are not doing anything today and want to have a little bit of fun and raise money for a good cause, the Johnny Koon Bowl-a-Thon will be held today from 1:00-3:00 at Suburban Lanes. It's only $2.00 a game and shoe rental is free. Come on out and help raise money for Pediatric Brain Tumor Research and have yourself a good time. It's a good way to make some memories that I keep telling you to create. 

Other than that it's just going to be a typical Sunday for us, going to do our grocery shopping and chores this morning and then probably going to relax, if the weather is going to be anything like yesterday. Maybe find myself a good movie to watch. Although NASCAR's All-Star race is tonight at 8:00 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. I have been to two NASCAR races, the second was the Charlotte for the 1997 Coca Cola 600 years ago with my sister Kim, and the other was the Tyson Holly Farms 400 in 1995 when Ernie Irvin returned after his big wreck. North Wilkesboro Speedway was retired years ago and this will be NASCAR's return if you are interested. 

Gave yourselves a great day, and like I said make some memories.  

Happy Birthday Pam and George McClain

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Sister Pam and an early Birthday to my Brother in Law George and wish them both a very Happy Birthday today.

Pam is a sister that any brother would be very proud to have. She is the most genuine of the genuine and it is an honor to call her my Baby Sister. She would do anything for anyone and is one of the most innocent souls anyone would ever want to meet that has purple hair. 

George is the Brother in Law who last year at this time was getting ready to retire, now he spends a lot of his time in his boat making sure that we are the fish population doesn't explode. 

If you happen to see or talk to Pam today or George on Tuesday, take a little bit of time out of your busy day and wish this special lady or this fine young gentleman a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Pam and George a little early.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here Kiwi and I once again sit in a quiet household we're discussing whether or not Morgantown is better when the students are not here or not. Me personally I like it when they all leave and it's a peaceful little town, Kiwi on the other hand like it when they are in town and having parties. He likes to mingle and be friendly. 

So what is on my agenda for the day? I know Michelle and her Sisters are taking their Mom to a dinner at the women's dinner at Woodland this evening. It's a girl thing so I'll stay around the homefront and entertain all the 4 legged and 2 legged with wings friends that we have living here. 

Since I am going to start doing a some Geospatial contracting, I need to have my home office set up properly. I've been looking at a couple of 24" Monitors to use, and I just bought a really nice 4K Docking Station yesterday, I had one in mind that Duquense Light had given me when I was working for them, but now I'm going to probably do my own peripheral setup and just use a plug and play laptop, that was as I go from contract to contract it'll just be simply plugging their laptop in and using it. This docking station gives me all the options that I previously had and then some and was a little cheaper than what I had. 

Have yourselves a great day, make some memories and make it memorable. 

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward 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 again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

What's on my agenda? I will be heading out his morning to dry laundry, run to Walmart and then do then Sam's shopping all before my lovely wife gets done doing what it is that she does for a living to make people's lives more enjoyable. 

Speaking of Michelle as well as her Sisters Chris and Dani, they all went and spoiled their Mom last night and did their once-a-month spa day with her. Where they pamper her, do her hair, nails, etc, and about everything you would get at a local spa. They have done this about once a month and yesterday was their day to perform these daughterly duties and do some pampering. 

Erica Jean, I guess graduated from MTech yesterday and committed to continuing her education this coming fall. They had some kind of a signing event at the school where she is committed to continuing her education. I know I am very proud of her and her hard work as she prepares for the next steps in her journey of life. I know she will do very well this fall. I think her field of study is very similar to what my niece Amy studied. 

Some news on the job front finally. I had two interviews this week with a Federal Contractor called Parsons, through a Contractor called LanceSoft ( I had another interview for another company I was short-listed on as well). I hadn't heard from them by noon yesterday, so I figured they were going to choose another candidate. I wasn't too upset, but I wanted the job despite it being a short-term contract of a little over a month. I sent a text to the hiring manager yesterday asking for any feedback so I can close that out, but to my surprise, I was offered the position. It's a short-term fix and a resume builder, but there is still a lot of onboarding that I have to do because the work will come through the Department of Defense. I'm still looking for other opportunities, but it buys me some time and I will be working from home. Initially, I thought I was going to have to go to Utah for a day, but that does not appear to be the case. I did all my onboarding, Drug Screen and agreed to my background check yesterday, I start May 29th. 

Have yourselves a great day, make it memorable. 

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+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a whole lot of fun.

This week's pic is of a very lovely young lady that I am proud to call my daughter. This pic was taken a few months ago when she got her new set of glasses. She loves them. Such an amazing young lady. 

With that said I learned yesterday that this amazing young lady as I refer to her, is getting her life's dream back on track. She has always wanted to be a Marine Biologist, ever since I first met her. It was a dream that got a little sidetracked by youth and the Rocky Horror Picture Show so to speak..lol I learned yesterday that she will be going back to school, entering Waynesburg University, and plans on studying, you guessed it Marine Biology. It's a three-year program then she would transfer down to Florida where her Mother and Father in Law live to finish up her final year. 

Make your own memories today. 

Wednesday

Hey, what do you know about that, two days are down and you have two more ahead of you and today is the day we get up and over that noontime hump and see the dawn of another weekend off in the Horizon once again.

It has been a pretty uneventful week for me so far, had an interview on Monday for a short-term project and may have a second interview this week to go a little further down into the weeds, should find something out today about that hopefully. It's a Federal Contract for the Department of Defense where they are basically blowing some excess funding to get it off the books before the next fiscal year, it's the use it or lose it mentality basically. I look at it as a chance to audition for another large company that had a NETL Contract 15 years ago. Willing to take a chance to open some doors up so basically all this would be. 

A heads up to anyone who would like to go bowling on Sunday, the Johnny Koon Bowl-A-Thon, one of the annual fundraisers that the Koon family does that helps support WVU Children's Hospital. It is ongoing Sunday from 1:00-3:00 and bowling is only $2 per game and shore rental is free. Proceeds go to The Johnny Koon Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Fund at WVU Medicine Children's. It is a very worthy event that I have partaken in a few times, but anymore more of a spectator than a participant. Come out, get some exercise and raise a little money for a very worthwhile cause. All this takes place at Suburban Lanes here in Morgantown and there is always something to do. 

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

Tuesday's Tidbits

* It was 46 years ago today we lost Grandpa Hall and 19 years ago today I Graduated College fulfilling his wishes for me, sounds like a great reason to do a tidbits. 

* It has been 21,684 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,944 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. That was 19 years ago today. 

* 5,532 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. 

* 4,735 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,280 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. 

* I have now lived 1,916 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. It's almost two years according to my birthday age calendar. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 440 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,156 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, but I love doing what I do. Who knows though, doing what I do I may never retire. 

* 263 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, I'm loving the springtime. 

* 229 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 223 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 199 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 122 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can get some revenge on our game this year. 

* There are 116 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old-time Rival, Penn State. It's a game that will be at nighttime on NBC so it's going to have a big audience. 

* There are 80 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together.  

* There are 36 days until my second favorite season, the Summer of 2023.

* I have written 7,177 blogs in the now 18 1/2 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. I do have my drone and controller charging as we speak. 

* Speaking of drones, I have a little free time on my hands, providing the weather is nice it is time to fly. Any suggestions as to where? 

* My back is feeling better, not 100% yet but the older I get the longer it takes to heal/ 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok, I'm using my cousin Linda's Daughter Jessica to supply my content this week, that's my Mom's Sisters granddaughter from Alaska. 

* I'm looking I'm looking

Monday

All good things must come to an end, and yes that does include those super productive things that we call weekends. Now it is time to take the collective noses and stick them back onto that grindstone of life and get back to doing what we all do to make this a better rock to live on.

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day, we invited Mom and Gerald over to Chris's for a cookout and to enjoy Mother's Day. Lucy was in tow and got a chance to spend some time and visit her previous Mother who I don't think has seen her since Amy and Ralph's cookout last summer. It was a nice day. 

It was 7 years ago yesterday that that cute little adorable Cat on the left moved in with us. Seven Years ago we adopted Peanut, back when she was a cute little rambunctious thing, now she's a 7-year-old cat that only likes 2 humans, 1 other cat, and 1 bird named Kiwi. Anyone and everyone else she either tries to kill or hides from as she is far from a socialite. We do love her and appreciate her and have enjoyed the last seven years. 

I swear I am going to charge my drone this week and attempt to find someplace to fly it. I have time now and the weather has been cooperative, I just need to find someplace that I have not flown and have some fun with it. I'm out of practice with it, so Coopers Rock would be too much of a risk for me to fly it. 

Have yourselves a great day, go out and make this a better world to live in. 

Happy Mother's Day

Here I am on a Quiet Mother's Day Morning, Kiwi and I are up discussing his Mother and how she used to fly around all over the place. I reminded the little peckerhead that Michelle was his Mother and then it dawned on him, oh yeah, I forgot. Brid brain and he wants me to take him seriously when it comes to issues. Expert my butt. 

It is Mother's Day here and everywhere else. Here is has a little more special meaning as it is a Holiday that was founded in Grafton, in an adjacent county. Anna Jarvis is credited with founding the Holiday that is now internationally recognized. 

So to all the mothers out there, including my own Mother, my wife, her mother Suzie and to all of my nieces who have given birth and to my daughter who stepped into that role and to all who have ever been thought of as Mom, I would like to wish you all a very happy Mother's Day. 

Our plans for the Day, Michelle's Sister Chris has invited us over for a cookout, and we have invited Mom and Gerald to come along and of course, bring Lucy so Suzane can get a chance to visit with her. Hopefully, the weather holds up for the day as it seemed to rain all day yesterday. 

Have yourselves a great day and make some memories. 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here Kiwi and I sit in a quiet household, Peanut expressed that Kiwi is doing a good job and she is still holding out for more treats on her contract negotiations to be my co-author. Anyways Kiwi and I are up talking about a number of topics, as he just likes to ramble on sometimes without me getting a word in edgewise. I call it singing the song of his people. 

Today would have been my Dad's 78th Birthday. He was born on this day in 1945 and it'll be 24 years in a couple of months that he left us. 

I got a little bit of disappointing news yesterday, I interviewed Monday for a job that I really wanted and I was not selected for the position. This was a job I really did want and thought I had but I guess things were just not meant to be for this position. My interview even started funny as I could not connect to Teams and had to do a phone interview, I was a little bit frazzled but I thought it went well. My recruiter even thought I was a shoo-in for this position, but I guess the planets just were not aligned for this opportunity. 

If you want a little bit of advice, avoid the WVU Coliseum both today and tomorrow. Their Graduation Ceremonies are taking place so traffic will be heavy this weekend in that area. Just use a little caution and plan your travels accordingly. 

No plans for Michelle or I today. I got all the running around chores done yesterday and I even cut the grass Thursday evening, so it may just be a relaxing day for both of us. 

Make it special if you can. 

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward 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 again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Well it's looking dimmer and dimmer on what I thought would be some good news this week, I could still be wrong but it's about time to put that one behind me and look ahead to the next option or opportunity. I can't say I'm not disappointed, to be honest I am and I thought I had this one. We'll keep churning onward until we find something in my skillset and what I'm looking for. 

My plans for today are to head to the laundromat and then WalMart and then Sam's while Michelle is at work. I'll have all this stuff done before she gets home and we can go out to dinner. 

I did anticipate a lot of rain today and the weather was nice yesterday, so I hopped my butt and more sore back onto the mower and managed to get the grass cut. I didn't want to go into the weekend with it growing as they are calling for rain. I'm going to be busy today, and I don't really want to cut it over the weekend. 

Tomorrow is the Blue and Gold Mine Sale at the Football Stadium. That is when they go through all the dorms and take the items that students left behind that could be sold and the money is donated to the local United Way. It'll be held on the East Concourse, which is the Willowdale Road side of the stadium. 

As a heads up, tomorrow would have been my Dad's 78th Birthday. It's hard to believe it has been almost 24 years since he left us. Tine does go by quickly, that's for sure. 

Have yourselves a great day, and make some memories. 

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+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic is an artistic one I took during COVID, it's one of my former blog co-author Peanut, she held out for a contract dispute and was replaced my the Green Cheek Conure Kiwi, out in the backyard sitting on a rock. I decided I was going to try to do some fun stuff with the camera's setting and chose the color picker. I think this was done with one of my older cameras, as the 35 MM I use now doesn't appear to haver those settings. 

Anyways I picked the color of Peanut's nametag and some of the colors on the back were in the same range of the filter to get picked up. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hump Day

Hey, what do you know about that, two days are down and you have two more ahead of you and today is the day we get up and over that noontime hump and see the dawn of another weekend off in the Horizon once again.

Hopefully, I hear something today from my interview on Monday, I've got my fingers crossed as this is another long-term working-from-home position doing what it is that I love to do. I kind of like this working-from-home thing, it's actually pretty lucrative as long as you can find work. I'm actually contemplating becoming an LLC and doing it as a business, I'm weighing any benefits and liabilities that a 1099 would have over a W2. As a W2 employee, I can only work on one contract at a time, as an LLC I can line up multiple ones and pay someone else to do the work under my supervision as I work on other projects. I would just be responsible for all the billing and taxes. It really is worth looking into. I know when I was in college I really liked Nasrin's setup and business model at Recourse (although a different service) and someday wanted to be a consultant. 

I think I pulled a back muscle Saturday, I'm still limping around and am actually using a cane to get around as the right side of my lower back is really agitated. It's painful to move around or put any strain on it, so I am using a cane as assistance to assist in taking the strain off of it for the time being. I was going to cut grass Monday, but I thought twice as even though it's a riding mower, our yard is not smooth and even and could have caused a deal of discomfort if I could even swing my leg high enough to get on and off the tractor. 

I hope everyone has a great day today, do something to make someone else's life a little better, just a simple act of kindness will make this a better rock to live on.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is behind us, can't think of a better reason to do everyone's favorite blog post of the week. 

* It has been 21,677 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,937 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. A field that I am still passionate about. 

* 5,525 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. 

* 4,728 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,273 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. 

* I have now lived 1,909 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. It's almost two years according to my birthday age calendar. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 432 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,163 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, but I love doing what I do. Who knows though, doing what I do I may never retire. 

* 270 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, I'm loving the springtime. 

* 236 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 230 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 206 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 129 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can get some revenge on our game this year. 

* There are 123 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old-time Rival, Penn State. It's a game that will be at nighttime on NBC so it's going to have a big audience. 

* There are 87 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together.  

* There are 43 days until my second favorite season, the Summer of 2023.

* I have written 7,170 blogs in the now 18 1/2 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. It's getting to be that time of the year though. 

* Speaking of drones, I have a little free time on my hands, providing the weather is nice it is time to fly. 

* I think I pulled a back muscle this past weekend, it's still rather sore and agitated. 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok, asking Jon Bon Jovi who he thinks the best guitarist is of all time. Anser might surprise you. 

* I'm looking I'm looking

Monday

All good things must come to an end, and yes that does include those super productive things that we call weekends. Now it is time to take the collective noses and stick them back onto that grindstone of life and get back to doing what we all do to make this a better rock to live on. 

I'm writing this and drinking a glass of diet cran grape as O was in a lot of pain Saturday evening and into yesterday. Thinking it may have been a pulled muscle but remember years ago that something very similar to this happened years ago when I used to lift weights two hours a day when I was at NETL. I went to Med Express and they wrote me two prescriptions for pain (that I never took) and said I had a kidney infection. So Dr Wifey (Better known as Michelle) suggested drinking some cranberry juice to help flush the kidneys. I'm not a fan of cranberry juice, but this Ocean Spray Diet Cran Grape is actually quite tasty and I would drink it again. 

Wish me luck this morning, I have another interview for a job out west, but it is a remote role so I can work from home. This is one of those jobs that 30 different head hunters contacted me about this position, but the company that has actually placed people contacted me first, offered the most money and it was indicated I was their first and primary target for this role. Today I meet with the client and was asked if I was offered would I accept today. I thought this was a good sign, so I said yes and it's doing the part of GIS that I enjoy the most, editing. Getting down to the nuts and bolts and building the product. I actually managed a project for what they are asking on this one, but for the state of Virginia when I was with VARGIS, and had three guys working under me. So I think my chances may be favorable and it's more money (without overtime) than I was making contracting for Duquense Light. 

Speaking of Duquense Light, I have to go to Pittsburgh once again and test in for a GIS Position that they have. It's a Union Test and has absolutely nothing to do with GIS, it's more along the line of how well you understand physics and mathematical equations. I'm planning on going up Thursday, but plans could change. 

I need to charge my drone and the controller, I would like to get out and fly it sometime in the near future. Weather has not been too cooperative but hopefully that will all change in the very near future. 

Have yourselves a great day, make some memories. 

Sunday

Here Kiwi and I sit yet once again, we're talking about how much fun that he had yesterday when we took him outside as we, (Mainly Michelle) cleaned the back patio up. Kiwi was out in the sun visiting his cousins and still can't stop talking about it. 

We had a raised garden that I put on the back deck years ago, it was an above-ground garden that was actually quite productive. We put it in years ago and we used it for a few years, but it has probably been 10 years since we last planted it and it was just time to get rid of it. Michelle wanted it gone, so what Michelle wants Michelle gets and we got it all cleaned up, disposed of, and hosed off. It was a lot of fun when we did have it, we took a lot of pride in it, but its time had come and gone and it was time for it to be gone. 

We did get a lot of running around done yesterday though, Michelle went to Sephora, Home Goods, and JC Penney and I went to Bass Pro Shops and Harbor Freight and didn't buy a single toy...I mean tool. I did get a number of things done in and around the man cave (garage), bought some new garden hoses, and a new hard-bristled broom for outside, and got a bunch of tools back up into the garage. 

Today we are grocery shopping and I would imagine that there will be a nap associated with the day since it is due to Thunderstorm. I was going to cut grass yesterday, but it's not really high enough yet. 

Have yourselves a great day, make it memorable. 

Happy May 6th

Here Kiwi and I sit yet once again in a quiet household, I want to sleep in and he's wanting to jibber jabber, Wanting to argue if turning your Air Conditioning up makes it hotter or cooler. He's just got that analytical mind that questions everything and how it all works. I think he gets that from me. 

It was 86 years ago today that lived in a day of infamy. The Hindenburg blew up in New Jersey, making Morgantown native Herb Morrison's voice and recollection of the event timeless that is stuck in all of our heads over 8 decades later. I never had the pleasure of meeting the man, but my sister Kim knew him as they both attended the same church up until the time of his passing. 

Got a lot done yesterday, Michelle is still under the weather, I'm starting to wonder if it is strep throat, we got her some lozenges from Walmart yesterday that seemed to instantly help. She took yesterday off as well, relaxing and giving her a four-day weekend, if that is what you call it. 

She did like the teas I brought back for her a couple of weeks ago when I went to Pittsburgh. She loves Teas and has been drinking a lot of them lately in place of coffee, so we went to the Seneca Center and found the Tea Shoppe right here at the Seneca Center. She said the Teas are about the same quality and they seemed to have a larger selection of Teas. She got a 3 ounce package of Lemon Mango Punch Fruit & Herbal Tea that she really seemed to like. You get 3 ounces (about 10 cups an ounce) and the price is about the same that I paid for 2 Ounces in Pittsburgh. I guess that means less trips to South Hills Village and more to the Seneca Center. Of course we went to the Brownie House located in the Center as well. 

The day would not be complete without our first trip of 2023 to Mel's to pick up some Cantelope and a Mango. She is the one that has all the fruit stands around town. 

So how did my interview go this past week with ESRI, I think it went really well. We discussed a number of things, and her one question for me was why did I apply for this job. You have to be a Geography and especially a GIS Geek to understand my answer and she got that bill. My answer was simply because it's ESRI. If I get this job I'll have to relocate to the Charlotte Area, but I will be out on the road most of the time to be honest. I've been to three Federal and one Universal User Conference (In San Diego) and if I get this I will be doing it much more often. I have a good feeling about it. 

Not much on our agenda for the day, I guess it all comes down to the weather and how Michelle is feeling. It's supposed to be warmer, so Peanut is want to go out and explore the world. 

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

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward 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 again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

First of all, Happy Cinco De Mayo, which translates into May 5th in English, has something to do with Mexico and celebrating something. Yesterday was cooler with May the 4th and the Star Wars reference. 

Today is also the last day of finals at WVU. I think you will start to see a mass exodus out of town if you haven't already seen it today through tomorrow. Tomorrow is the official move out day at the WVU dorms and they have to be officially out of University Housing by noon tomorrow. So in short, a large majority of them are leaving today and tomorrow and there will be some hanging around for the week who are Graduating next weekend, then it is some peace and quiet around town. Woo Woo. 

I'll be doing my Laundromat, Sams Club and Walmart run today, that way I can have everything done by the time Michelle gets home from work so we can go out to dinner. Although she was a bit under the weather yesterday and took the day off, we've both had a touch of something the last couple of days, it seems to have hit her harder than it hits me though. 

Have a great day, enjoy the students leaving, traffic dwindling down and internet speeds around town speeding up. 

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+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic is one that I played around with the editing a little bit, it was from Christmas Eve in 2007 when we all met at Klaer Lodge (the night Michelle stood me up on a date). We had all grabbed a series of group pictures that night and this is one of me and the siblings that I knew at the time. Jonathan wasn't discovered for some years later. 

Well I superimposed Dad's picture into this one, as if he is watching over all of us. I thought it was a nice little touch after the fact. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Wednesday

Hey what do you know about that, two days are down and you have two more ahead of you and today is the day we get up and over that noontime hump and see the dawn of another weekend off in the Horizon once again. 

Well wish me a little luck today, with the job search. I have an interview this afternoon with the parent company itself, ESRI. I put in for a couple of jobs from them a few weeks ago and they are finally getting around to me. Not sure if anything will come of this, as it would be a job a little out of my skillset but my area of expertise if that makes any sense. I've really got my fingers crossed and I think this would be the cherry on top of my career if it comes to fruition. 

I'm glad we got the grass cut on Saturday, plus the bent blade experience, simply because it has been kind of cold and wet all week. Not the most pleasurable time of the year, but the WVU students are halfway through their finals and starting to clear their ways out of town. Less traffic will be such a pleasure, now if we can just get past all the road construction, especially on the Mileground. 

Have yourselves a great day, make it memorable. 

Tuesday's Tidbits

 * Monday is behind us, it's raining so I still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.  

* It has been 21,670 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,930 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. A field that I am still passionate about. 

* 5,518 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. 

* 4,735 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,280 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. 

* I have now lived 1,902 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. It's almost two years according to my birthday age calendar. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 425 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,170 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, but I love doing what I do. Who knows though, doing what I do I may never retire. 

* 277 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, I'm loving the springtime. 

* 243 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 237 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 213 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 136 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can get some revenge on our game this year. 

* There are 130 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old-time Rival, Penn State. It's a game that will be at nighttime on NBC so it's going to have a big audience. 

* There are 94 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together.  

* There are 50 days until my second favorite season, the Summer of 2023.

* I have written 7,163 blogs in the now 18 1/2 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. It's getting to be that time of the year though. 

* Speaking of drones, I have a little free time on my hands, providing the weather is nice it is time to fly. 

* I went and bought a nice breaker bar yesterday, we had a little trouble getting the bolts out of the mower this weekend, we needed additional leverage to break them loose. I had to borrow a breaker bar to break them loose. So I went and bought one yesterday, yes I bought the Harbor Freight. 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok, gotta love the Minions and how they relate to West Virginia. 

* Have a great day.  

* I'm looking I'm looking

Weekend is Over

All right all you working stiffs, that fun-filled thing that we all refer to as the weekend is over with, now it is time to take your collective noses and stick them back onto the grindstone to do what you do that makes this a better world to live in. 

You will probably notice it's quiet around town this week, as this is finals week for the students at WVU. The last Finals should be on Friday and that will also be Cinco De Mayo so there may be a party or two around town before most of them clear out for the summer. It's been a long school year, and now it is closing for the Semester. Graduation will be next weekend and that is when traffic will really die down around town for three months. I used to hate to see the students leave, but that was many years ago today I am getting ready to say Get the Hell Out of My Town! and have a nice Summer. 

Weather looks like a bunch of rain this week, good thing we got the grass cut Saturday afternoon. If it does clear up and we have a nice day, I'm thinking about charging my drone and going out and flying it somewhere, Break out the 2023 maiden voyage, I just need to charge it and the controller before I take on such a task. I do need to find someplace new and exciting to try to fly it. I've really got to take a little time out and do this when the weather breaks while I have a chance. 

Have yourselves a great day and a great start to a productive week. Make some memories while you're at it and remember, it's May already. =)