Tidbits

* Been a little bit of time since I've done one, so maybe it is time for me to put together a tidbits.

* Prayers go out to Larry Everson's family after his tragic boating accident last weekend at Tygart Lake. Larry and I have lost touch through the years, but we used to BS all the time at Sterling Faucet when we both worked there.

* Anyone on Facebook? I used to like MySpace, but Facebook seems to have more people I know and less computer intensive BS like MySpace. If you don't have a Facebook account you should get one to keep up with everyone.

* If it were not for facebook, how else would I have known Kim went for a 45 minute walk yesterday? Think about it.

* The school year is starting to wind down. WVU is closing out dead week and is just about ready to enter finals week next week. Soon the class of 2009 will be graduates and alumni.

* The regular schools are entering their final month before summer vacation. Brittany Dae will be graduating this year from Clay Battelle and Michelle's Nephew Tommy will be graduating from WVU as an RN.

* Congrats to Tommy for landing a job in Clarksburg.

* Hayley is helping Morgantown High do the play "Wonderful Town" starting tonight and running till Sunday. She has been busy all week with rehearsals and it is now showtime. She has been working on set design and set up.

* Our softball coach is out for the season. I don't know how, I think it was from drinking a cold one at MiHALEY'S, but he has injured his elbow and may need surgery. No Golf or Softball for Chris this year.

* Speaking of Chris, he has three video's up for a few awards. The Pat White Tribute, Alex Ruoff Tribute and the Meinke Car Care Bowl Highlights.

* I wish the weather this weekend is going to be like last weekend's weather, but I'm not that lucky.

* I'll leave this BLOG with a little bit of final wisdom. Show the person next to you you love them next time you have to fart, hold their nose for them while you pass gas.

Back from the Burgh

After a couple weeks of knowing about it, but having no time to prepare for it, I had to give a presentation yesterday at the DOE in Pittsburgh. We were allotted 30 minutes, but doubled that and took up an hour discussing things.

It was nice to get out of my office for the day, and it was a perfect day to be out. Rest of the week however, the weather is going to be less than favorable so yesterday was a great day to be out and about.

Today however, back to the office with a long list of e-mails to respond to.

Start of the Season

Well we started out our season last night with one in the loss column as we dropped our opening game 5-8. USSSA is now using a .40 core mush ball that just does not fly anymore.

After the loss we all took a trip to MiHALEY'S to drown our sorrows and have some great food. I tried a Mushroom and Swiss Burger and oh my was it awesome.

Oh well, out early today and I'll be in Pittsburgh all day on business. I actually have to give a 30 minute presentation at the DOE about the GIS capabilities within RDS. Wish me luck.

Can you say slackers?

Does this really look like softball practice? Does it? This is a nice shot of Ed (psycho), Phil and Paul standing in right field just shooting the breeze with each other. I think we need to seperate the 3 stooges. Come on guys let's move it.....

PLAY BALL!!!!!!!!

It is now officially official, as opposed to being kind of official, our 2009 softball season is upon us and starts tonight at 7:00.

In 2009 we will be MiHALEY'S after playing the last two seasons as MVP Paintball. We will be wearing our MVP shirts the first game or two, until our new uniforms arrive. I will once again be donning my old number 33 this season. It's my old number from high school football that I have never abandoned and kept through the years.

I have to say anyone who knows me, knows that been playing softball at BOPARC for quite a few decades now. There are guys on my team who were not even born yet when I first started playing softball as the Fun Quads (what ever that means) and the Press Box some years ago.

I no longer have that spring in my step that I once had, but I think over 25 years we have all lost a step or two. I'm still out there and still doing what it is I love so much and look forward to right after the last pitch of the last game of the previous season.

It is once again...Softball!!!!!

What a Day

Talk about a very long, productive and event filled day, that was yesterday for both me and Michelle. It was a full day to say the least.

In the early AM I woke Michelle up and we headed to rails to Trails where we had a nice brisk walk including an uphill climb at the turn around point for us, we ended up on Collins Ferry Road and on the outside property of the DOE where I work.

After that it was home and I changed my brakes and rotated my tires on my car. I figured it was going to be nice out and I wanted to do it before it got hot, with Michelle's much appreciated assistance I changed by brakes and rotated my tires.

This was just the begining og the day, we then started out and did not one, not two but three geocache's where we also retrieved a travel bug that we will place in another cache in the near future.

The final cache was Dorsey's Knob where the picture was taken after we met another couple up there. It had been five years since I had been up there to do my Senior Thesis in College. This was the first time Michelle has had a chance to go to this summit. I will just say it is not for the weak hearted as it is a 120' incline in elevation in about a 500' range. If you make it to the top, you have earned it.

After that we came home and I had a steak dinner with a baked potato and steams broccoli. I must have been a very good boy because I have had a great weekend so far.

A Nice Relaxing Evening

After a very long and stressful week at work, I welcomed the warm spring weather on a Friday afternoon and felt it was my responsibility to myself to get out and enjoy this wonderful weather.

I picked Michelle up after work and we went and shared one of our favorite pizza's, voted the best in Morgantown, Milano's Pizza.

After coming home and allowing Michelle to change into shorts and sandals, we took a little trip downtown to the DQ and had a teeny bot of ice cream. We sat down at the rails to trails and sat and enjoyed the serene setting and spent a little quality time together.

Of course as we were leaving I pulled out the iPhone and checked to see if there were any close geocaches in the area. We decided to try to get the Do 2 cache without my GPS, my compass and just using my iPhone. Ironically the cache was hidden by an older couple who I took my diabetes education class with a couple years ago, I come to find out they are big time into it now.

I love these kind of Friday evenings.

Update pn Josh Judy

I guess he has still been tearing them up, they have now bumped him up to the Akron Aeros. I guess his 0.00 ERA and three saves this early in the season has drawn a little bit of attention.

Great job Josh, keep going.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes readers it is once again that favorite time of the week, the time we take time out to cease our labors for the week and take a little needed time to just sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is yet once again the dawn of a beautiful weekend and yet another Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Wow has this been a very long and very busy week for me. There has not been a traditional day of work for me yet this week. I have been swamped from the get go and been working late every day. It's times like these that you learn to appreciate vacation time. I'm so glad the weather is going to be nice this weekend.

I noticed last night that the trees in the back yard are starting to take form with their leaves. Not just a few, but they are starting to get filled up and plentiful with the aesthetically pleasing colors that is spring time.

The weather is going to be nice this weekend, you might as well get out and enjoy it.

Softball Practice was canceled

Yesterday Morning I anticipate the worst, I packed my softball gear with me and planned on changing at work and picking Michelle up in order to get there in time. That way if I had to work over I could still make it.

Good thing it was canceled, because if it were not I would have still been at work when practice was over with. The worst part about all of this is I am Salary and I don't make any more money staying late than I would if I didn't even show it.

However I have projects and side projects out the ying yang and more stuff getting piled on top of everything that I don't even have time to prepare for a 30 minute presentation I need to make Tuesday in Pittsburgh about the GIS capabilities of RDS, the company SAIC is contracted under.

There is no immediate relief in the immediate future, I'm sure Michelle would like to see me sometime. I guess it is better than the alternative of not having a job. Oh well, Hi Ho Hi Ho off I go again.

I guess I was right

I looked at Mary's computer last Friday and saw that she had a very serious power problem. I knew it could be one of two scenarios, one her power supply had went bad and two there could be a problem with her motherboard.

As you can tell by my previous Best Buy thread, they were little to no help. Premier Computer on the other hand were more than willing to test her power supply and confirm that it was bad and install it for her with no hassle, BS, or sales pitches.

Mary had nothing but praise for them, I guess Best Buy with a Geek Squad that I have never been impressed with, has lost a few customers for lifetime over nitpicking.

Long Busy Day

Boy do I hate Mondays, it is the worst day of the week, it was raining yesterday and all of a sudden I am absolutely buried in work with deadlines. It wasn't exactly my typical Monday.

I even brought some work home with me yesterday, but for some reason my portable Hard Drive didn't sync properly and I did not have the appropriate files that I needed. I had two options, go back into the office at 8:30 last night after a long day or go to bed.

I chose going to bed and approaching it this morning with a clearer head.

A Sunday Afternoon Cookout.

On a nice pleasant Sunday afternoon, Trish Arron and Layla came over and we had a nice little cookout to close out the weekend before it is back to work today.

Trish made some potato sidedish that was actually quite awesome. We did have the opportunity to take a few dozen pictures of Layla put in the yard playing with flowers and having a whole lot of fun.

Hamburgers, Brats and Trish's side dish (plus Hayley's Portabella Burger now that she wants to be a vegetarian) were the main courses that we grilled. It was a good time, with some good food and some good friends and a great way to end a weekend.

Overall I would say it has been one of my better weekends in a while. Weather was great, had a great deal of fun and spent some quality time with Michelle.

Spring Game and Geocache

Yesterday was a great day, it all started out yesterday morning when we had some great weather. It was a great day for Mountaineer football and Michelle and I decided to take in the spring scrimmage, the final practice of the year for the WVU football team.

There was a nice crowd and the weather was just absolutely awesome. It was the starters vs the second string basically. The starting offense looked unstoppable and the starting defense wasn't budging an inch against the second stringers. Blown assignments and bad decisions made this kind of a boring scrimmage to watch. Some people were excited, but when you are performing against the scout team there is no reason to get excited. It was a lot of fun and Michelle's first spring game.

After we got home the weather was just a little bit too nice, so we decided to conquer the last geocache we attempted in 2008 (it got dark and we did not get it) and started the 2009 campaign with the West Run Cache for this year. Hayley went with us and managed to find it first, so she was the one who got her picture taken as you can tell.

It was an awesome day filled with nice sunshine, Mountaineer Football, geocaching and spending a little quality time with the love of my life.

Britain's got talent

This turned from funny to OMG in about 0.265 seconds.47, nearly 48 and unemployed trying to get a job as a singer.




Review


Won't get Makeover


If you have made it this far, I wonder of she is still unemployed? My guess is someone will hire her at least part time, but that comes with a bit of sarcasm.

Best Buy has the absolute worst customer service.

I am now officially boycotting Best Buy. They have to have the absolute worst customer service I think I have ever seen.

It all started off with me going and working on Mary's computer, she was having power supply problems. So, I called Best Buy to price a power supply, and the very non customer service friendly associate must have felt like I was inconveniencing him by calling and actually asking if they had one in stock. He didn't even bother even asking what I needed.

So, with what I think it a bad power supply we head to Best Buy to either purchase one or find maybe a laptop for Mary so she can have a computer. I go to the Geek Squad and ask if they could simply test the power supply and the girl said sure and walked in back with it. She comes out with this story that in case their tester breaks our power supply, they would have to charge us $30.00. What? Are you kidding? So we were a little upset and asked to talk to a manager and explained we just wanted to test it, if it came back good we it meant a motherboard was probably bad and if it came back bad we would be purchasing a new unit. Couldn't help us and pretty much arrogantly refused to be any assistance.

Dear Best Buy, you lost a sale from tonight of possibly even a new computer, and any future business from me.

Your geek squad has never impressed me as being the slightest bot knowledgeable either before tonight, but tonight just confirmed my original impression.

Horrible and I have already spent my last dollar there.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

How about that, it is once again that time of the week when we actually get a chance to cease our labors for the week and take a little bit of deserved time out and enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is the dawn of yet another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday!!!!!

Mom called me yesterday and asked me to come and look at Mary's computer, which I am planning on doing later tonight. It just doesn't seem to be functioning and probably needs a little bit of attention and routine maintenance. Not exactly sure what the problem is as of yet.

Tomorrow at Mylan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field will be the yearly Spring Game for the WVU football team. Admission is a $5.00 donation to Children's Hospital to get to see the Mountaineers in a regular scrimmage this season. The last couple of years it has been just the offense versus the defense, but this year I guess the team elected to go with a two team scrimmage against each other.

Weather should be nice and cooperative this weekend, get out and enjoy yourselves a little bit.

Kaiden

 

Hi all, Amy is thinking about putting Kaiden into the 2009 Baby Idol contest. She has a picture that she wants to use, but she wants to be able to crop out the Easter Bunny out of the picture and I told her I would assist her.

She actually has a better, less pixelized picture that we are going to use, she is talking about coming over tonight and cropping the full version of this picture. This picture is cropped out of the one that she wants to use to submit, but this is a draft of the edited picture.

The one we submit will be much higher quality.

Stress test

Michelle is going to have a lot of fun today, last weekend she was not feeling to well so we took her to the Emergency Room. Her BP was quite elevated and it caused an great deal on concern on my part. Fortunately all of her tests came back normal and she was released.

Today she has another test, this being the stress test administered at the Hospital. It can last anywhere between four and six hours and should be able to tell us a little more once we get the results back.

I took had taken her to her Dr's appointment yesterday and they will follow up with her sometime tomorrow about the overall results and to see what else may need to be done or tested.

Can't be too careful, I just found her, I have to keep her.

Midweek

Man is my BLOG starting to get boring if I'm doing tidbits and midweek reports. I have to apologize to everyone as my creative juices just are not flowing right now for some reason.

I could talk about this blah boring weather we are having but I think that is a little obvious here in Morgantown.

Here is a bit of advice, if you have not filed your tax return, you may want to get on it because it has to be postmarked by midnight tonight. Today is tax day.

Michelle does have a Dr's appointment today at 3:00. Tomorrow she is going to go in for a stress test.

Not much to say, but keeping it active for the day.

Tuesday Tidbits

* As you can tell, I'm out of material for today and have nothing really to say, so I guess a tidbits will be nice to fill in for today.

* First of all Michelle is doing fine, she will go in Thursday morning at Mon General to have a stress test. This will be a follow up from Saturday evening and we should know a little more by then.

* How about those Pittsburgh Pirates, they actually threw a two hit shutout yesterday against the Houston Astros.

* I did hear back from Josh Judy, he just picked up his first save of the weekend and pretty much lit them up with two strikeouts one no runs in his inning of relief. He mentioned that He did get a chance to go against the Major League Chicago Cubs in Spring Training for two innings. He threw two innings, had three strikeouts, no hits, no walks and no runs. He'll be a Major Leaguer before it's all said and done. Go get em Ace. light em up.

* Brittany has been in Europe the last few days, if you want to see how she is doing and want to send her an email it's Brittanydae@yahoo.com, I'm sure she would love to hear from everyone.

* I hope the weather breaks, I'm ready to do some outside stuff. The winter stuff by the fireplace is getting old and I'm ready for summer.

* Have a great day.

Easter Dinner

Well we have had our first holiday dinner since we moved in together and needless to say it Michelle did an awesome job. Ham, Home made noodles, fresh rolls, corn, real mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs and a nice carrot cake for dessert made this one meal I will remember.

Saturday night however, this meal may have been in a little bit of jeopardy as Michelle was having some chest pains and dizzy spells. We take good care of ourselves with multi vitamins and low dose aspirin daily, but I wasn't going to take any chances. She's too important to let anything happen to.

I hope everyone had a good weekend, it's back to the grindstone today.

Picasa

I downloaded Picasa earlier this week and finally have had a chance to play with it. I have to say it really impresses me and is not only one of the easiest, but one of the best simple picture editing software that I have used.

My Kodak came with some nice software, but nothing like Picasa as you can see by the collage I created above. It was really simple and quick, and it even can upload it to my google and Blogger account pretty easily.

I give it two thumbs up, everyone should give it a try.

Hoppy Easter

I would like to take this opportunity to take a little time out and wish everyone a very Hoppy Easter.

Take a little time out today and spend with family and see if anyone can find the tracks that that Easter Bunny left. I hear he is like a Ninja Type Easter Bunny, can sneak in and leave the baskets and hop back out without anyone catching him.

Only He and Santa Claus have this kind of stealth. The too fairy is right behind these two, but she works more than one day a year.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a Happy and memorable Easter.

A later BLOG

I know, this BLOG is posting a little bit later than I usually post. We went out grocery shopping for tomorrow's Easter dinner Michelle is going to prepare.

She's planning on a Ham, Mashed Potatoes and gravy, corn, fresh baked rolls, cake, Easter bread and colored deviled eggs. We haven't colored any eggs yet, so we got Hayley a Kung Fu Panda coloring kit to color some easter eggs before we turn them into deviled eggs.

We were shopping at Wal-Mart this morning and ran into Amy, Ralphie and Kaiden. They were out themselves doing a little bit of shopping for themselves and for Easter tomorrow.

I think Val is also going to have an Easter dinner, Terri talked about going up a couple of days ago when I talked to her.

Sherri Toth is in for the Holiday weekend, I was talking to her last night when I first got home from work. I'm going to put a little music on her MP3 player before she goes back.

Kim's out of the Hospital

Kim has been released from the Hospital, just a couple of days after her surgery. She called me just now on her way home from the hospital. She is very glad to have checked out of the hospital, judging by her facebook the nurses are also probably glad to see her go. 3:00 AM and she is playing with the nurses call button...just because she can.

Anyways she is in good spirits and hopefully will have a quick recovery.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time we we cease the labors for the week and take a little time out for ourselves to actually enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is yet again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Good Friday.

Yes today is in fact Good Friday , a very religious time of the year for the Christian Community. It all culminates at the end of the weekend with Easter.

Not too sure what Michelle and I are going to o for Easter, she mentioned getting a ham and preparing it here for us. I think that would be kind of awesome, and I'm actually looking forward to it.

Brittany either has or getting ready to go to Europe with a class trip. She'll be traveling abroad for 10 days and will get to see much more of the world than I have ever seen. I'm a little envious that she gets to make the trip.

This has been a quick week at work, but I am definitely ready for a weekend to enjoy myself. We never made it out last weekend to go geocaching, but this weekend with any luck will change that.

Have a great good Friday and a wonderful Easter weekend.

It's Baseball Season, time for a Josh Judy Update

It's once again baseball season, and I will once again continue to update the status of and old softball team mate who has went on to greener pastures again.

After a few years of being an under aged kid with a whole lot of talent on a few of our softball teams Judies Lounge, Recourse a couple of years and the Old Walnut Lane Inn and all while he was still in HS or younger, Josh Judy was a young kid that we all knew was something special.

I first wrote about Josh during my first month writing a blog and have written about his progress through the years. From him making All-American at Indiana Tech to being drafted by the Indians to him just tearing up the league last season.

Now it is 2009 and I have found a couple of interesting articles on Josh for everyone. There is a Scouting Report on him and how he has done. Rating his performance quite high and showing me that I may have to keep a closer eye on him and try to go and watch him if he pitches anywhere local.

He is also listed #43 on the Cleveland Indians top 100 Prospects. Pretty impressive considering there are 25 guys in the Majors, 25 or so in AAA, 25 or so in AA and he is pitching in the upper division of A. It looks like he could very well have a nice long career in front of him.

I'll keep everyone updated on his 2009 progress throughout the season. He is currently with the Kingston Indians in the Carolina League and their season opener is tonight.

Good luck Josh, go get em.

Kim is Out Of Surgery

It's 2:45 and I just got the call from Robert, Kim is out of surgery and doing fine. They were able to remove it laparoscopically so her recovery time should be minimal. maybe in a couple of days she'll out of the hospital and back home.

They did find a couple of Stones that had been hidden in previous tests, they were removed and everything went fine.

They did biopsy her liver, but the Dr said it appeared to look fine.

1,500!!!!!!!!

I have once again in my life of being a BLOGGER reached a historic milestone. There are some posts that just need to have the post be about, well that blog.

My first post, where George's Journal was first born was on September 11, 2004 . Who would have ever imagined when I tried writing my first blog that it would have evolved into what it has today.

On November 22, 2006 I celebrated what I called my first milestone, my 500th Blog post.


It was last year that I celebrated my 1,000th BLOG. Man I wish I could find another picture like that with a bunch of naked women laying down and forming the magical number.

I would like to thank my readers, without you no one would be reading this and I would have nothing to do every day.

Here is to the next 1,500

A little reminder

Kim is scheduled to have her surgery today. I have asked Kim to have Robert contact me and I will attempt to keep everyone updated as to her status and how the surgery went right here in my BLOG.

So, I'll update as soon as I know anything. Keep watching.

Hump Day Rewind

I was thinking earlier today of something that I could do when I run out of any material for my blog, to just give my blog a little life and a little boost.

I looked at my blog and it was right there in front of me, staring me right in the face and I just didn't see it.

A rewind. I have been blogging since 2004 and all the material was right there in front of me. Nearly 5 full years and close to 1,500 blog posts, my material was my previous posts from that day in my BLOG.


Last year on this day I started working for IMC and we had our first softball practice of the season.

Two years ago I had fun and wrote a blog about surprising Terri for her 40th birthday....er I mean her 29th again.

I'll try a rewind and an occasional tidbit to go with my Bog Ole Hairy Fridays and hopefully we can add a little more life to the blog by just simply looking back at what I have done.

I Have to Take Full Blame for this

OK Phil, I chopped off my hair Sunday night and was joking with Michelle that every time I cut my hair it seems to want to snow. Now listen rat, this is April and long after your six weeks of winter. Heck, we have even has a softball practice and two scrimmage games, winter is over with.

I think you and Mother Nature got together and just because I cut off my beautiful golden locks (OK I chopped off the non bald parts) that you two have gotten together and decided to bring this down upon me and everyone else.

I thought I saw your little Groundhog butt watching Michelle cut off my hair, I said to myself watch that little rat run and call Mother Nature and bring snow upon us. Phil you need to come over and visit me sometime soon, I hear BBQ'd groundhog tastes pretty good smothered in garlic.

Have I ever mentioned I HATE SNOW!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Terri Beth Rehmani

I would like to take this chance and wish my sister a very and Happy Birthday. I do believe that she once told me that she was 29 and holding, so I wonder if she is still holding onto 29?

If you get the chance today, make sure with wish her the very Happiest of Birthdays.

Tidbits

* How about we start our week off right with a little tidbits.

* Stopped over yesterday morning and saw Kim in the hospital. She is doing good and may be scheduled for her Surgery one day this week. She did manage to get up and walk a couple of laps with me and Michelle while we were there.

* Had our softball scrimmage last night against arguably a team that could win the league above us. They are a loaded team and we were just batting practice for them. My team ais a great group of guys, but sometimes I think they struggle a little with the fundamentals of the game trying to do too much.

* Never did get a chance to do any geocaching this weekend. I think Michelle and I are going to tackle one we did last year and never got to finish because it got dark on us first this year so we can finish a little unfinished business.

* After practice last night the team went over to MiHALEY's for a few beers, dinner and to watch wrestlemania. There was only one person working and she was hustling and a bustling to keep up with everyone.

* We're going to try to have practice again tonight, weather permitting, with just our team. We are in desperate need of batting practice before the season starts.

* If anyone wants a CD of my Grandfather's Music, just let me know and I'll make one for you.

* Watch for a milestone post this week.

Have a great Monday.

The collection of Ellis Hall

I received the 12 songs that Marc Crabtree told me he had obtained from the WVU collection at the Wise Library at the WV Collection.

There are 12 tracks, none of them have been named as we will need to start working on finding the names of these songs.

The 12 songs:

Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
My Little Home in West Virginia is Track 7
I believe Sllepy Eyed Joe is Track 8
Foggy Valley is Track 9
Stoney Fork is Track 10
Track 11
Track 12


These are the 12 songs and that includes the four songs he released on the RCA Victor Label. If anyone would happen to know the names of the unnamed songs, I would greatly appreciate knowing.

Could it be the season

You know I'm ready to fire up my GPS unit now that I have downloaded the software for the iPhone and ready to get out and start my 2009 season of geocaching. I'm a little eager to get out and maybe we'll go and seek one or two of them today.

I'm currently at 53 find and 1 hidden. I have another one ready to be hidden, I actually have had it ready since last summer, that I think Michele and I have found one or two good places to place it. Our first one "My Little Home in West Virgina" was our first hide, now that I have come across some more of my grandfathers Music I may incorporate that into the cache.

I'm ready for some outdoor activities.

I've heard nothing yet

I had a couple calls yesterday asking me about how Kim was doing, I have to say that I have heard nothing from them since Thursday Night when she was in a good deal of pain. Mom said she spoke briefly with her but Kim was very groggy and they did not speak long.

As soon as I hear anything I will be sure to let everyone know how she is doing. It's not that she does not want visitors, she is trying to get well and need the rest. One person popping in after another whether it be friends, family, co-workers and the Dr's and Nurses who are doing their jobs can prevent a patient from gaining any rest. So please everyone be considerate until she is ready to entertain visitors and is through this.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is yet once again that time of the week when we cease the labors of the week and just take a little time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is the dawn of yet another weekend and another Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Half of a day for me, my time will be in by lunchtime and I'll be heading to the home front a little bit early today. Add that little bit extra my weekend, if my part comes in I'll take my car to be worked on if not I'll be napping.

New is Kim was admitted to the hospital again yesterday. They think she has developed pancreatitis again and a little problem with her Gall Bladder that is soon scheduled to be removed anyways. I'll keep everyone up to date with her progress and status report. She has requested the chance to rest in the hospital, so please no visitors until she is ready to receive them. She's there to get better and recover for right now.

Mine and Michelle's weekend plans are up in the air, don't know what we will be getting into just yet. Maybe a WVU Baseball game or doing the first Geocache of the year may be on the agenda.

For those of you making any plans for this summer around Morgantown, BOPARC has their Summer Guide ready to be viewed. There is a nice movie under the stars lineup this summer.

Have a great day and the start of another weekend.

Rails to Trails

I love the springtime, it is the time of the year when I spend a little bit of time each day down on the Rails to Trails and try to shed a few of the winter pounds that I have put on through the Holidays and bring up my cardio vascular and brings my weight down.

I really enjoy winding down after a day at the office with the opportunity to take a nice relaxing walk with my sweetheart and enjoy a little bit of fresh air along the river.

We're talking about starting to do a few geocaches in the near future and even setting another one up that we have already have ready with the exception of placing it and setting it up on the website.

I did find a nice geocaching application for the iPhone.

Another Article

A Strange Chance Meeting

Last night after work, Michelle and I decided to take a little walk down on the rails to trails. Now you want to talk about being knocked off your feet, well listen to this.

I'm walking by the old glass factory and see a gentleman taking pictures of the old glass factory. A couple of years ago I corresponded with a gentleman in Florida whose father once worked at the factory and he asked me "is your name George?" Well, what I thought it was, was not but it completely shocked me.

The man's name was Mark Crabtree and he was a fiddle player. He had done a great deal of research on my grandfather and actually has most of his recordings in digital format. He knew a lot about Grandpa Hall and had actually tried playing Foggy Valley (we were standing basically where it was written) and he told me he had a Youtube video of him performing the song.

I will be in touch with him in the near future to exchange as much information as possible.

Enjoy Foggy Valley (see





**** update*****

Article on my Grandfather

Music

Foggy Valley

Stoney Fork

My Little Home in West Virginia


Mark Crabtree's performance. A Big Thank you to Mark for providing me this information and bringing some lost music back into the family.

It's Softball

Well in my opinion it is now my favorite tome of the year, last night was our first practice of the year and it was great to see everyone together again having a great time and just being, well, the guys.

After practice we managed to drive over to MiHALEY's for a few beers and some dinner. I had eaten earlier in the night so I didn't eat, but I think the guys really like the place, the atmosphere and the food.

Both Mike and Patty had a chance to stop by and meet everyone, Mike was out running errands and Patty was still over at the store and came over for a broom. I managed to talk to both of them for a while as the guys feasted and created a few new drinks.

It was a good day, and the first day of my favorite season of the year...softball.

A fun filled day ahead

Oh yeah, can you pick up on the hint of sarcasm? It's going to be a busy tie wearing six hours of meetings and three hours of traveling kind of day. 90 Minute seminar to run out to catch the shuttle to Pittsburgh, to a 90 minute teleconference with a bunch of geologists around the country to another shuttle back to Morgantown to possibly be able to make it back to our first softball practice of the season.

yeah, I'm going to have a very busy day to say the very least. I hate wearing a tie, but if I am going to be in Pittsburgh, wearing a tie is about par for us contractors.

Hope you have a great day, I'll have a busy one.

Softball sponsor for 2009

Over the last two seasons we have been sponsored by MVP Paintball, a very gracious sponsor and one of the best that we have had. Actually the two owners are team mates of ours and everything was good. This season however we received bad news that they would not be able to sponsor us this season. It was off to find a new sponsor.

Enter Michael Toth and MiHALEY'S, our 2009 Softball sponsor. Chris Ostein and I went over yesterday afternoon to talk to Mike, Mike had agreed to sponsor us a couple weeks ago but this was the first time that we had all had a chance to sit down and talk.

Funny thing is, MiHALEY'S is located on two floors, one of which used to be three apartments that Mike and Patty used to rent out. Here is the irony, a former team mate who left the team last season used to live in one of the three apartments that Mike converted into the bar.

Hopefully the guys on my softball team have found a new place to hang out, I think Chris was quite impressed with everything including the outside deck on the second floor.

Thanks Mike, you stepped up for us this year.

A MiHALEY'S Food review...again

A little over a month ago Michelle and I visited MiHALEY'S and I wrote a BLOG Entry about our visit. We loved the Hot Sausage Hoagies and have ordered take out numerous times since then.

Last weekend we heard a recommendation from a completely unbiased source and out of the blue about them going out to Red Lobster and couldn't get into the door so they tried MiHALEY'S and thought it was better.

Well last night Michelle and I ventured over across the street and tried the Seafood Alfredo that we had heard so much about. I was impresses with the Hot Sausage, I thought I would give the pasta a try now,

Sat down and the owner got our drinks for us, kind of made us feel like we were getting the VIP treatment. I wonder if him being my cousin has anything to do with this? Anyways the Weedhawks were playing, it had been a while since we last saw them so that was an added bonus.

The food, well it once again even went beyond expectations. The shrimp were large, fresh and done perfectly. The delectable creamy Alfredo sauce was just proportioned right with the thick pasta noodles to give it the perfect taste and make it a more than enjoyable dining experience.

Both me and Michelle gave it two thumbs up, and even though I had high expectations going in, it not only met but exceeded them for our dining experience.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

It is once again that tine of the week when you cease the labors of the week and take a little time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again the dawn of yet another weekend and another Big Ole Hairy Friday.

If you are looking for a little cheap entertainment, Saturday Night in Grafton there will be a Patsy Cline Impersonator to go along Casey (Willie Nelson Impersonator) in the building beside he Grafton Bowling Alley. We were up there a few weeks ago and it was good time, bring the family and make sure you buy a few things edibles from the snack bar. Michelle's Sister and Brother in law will be running it.

The NCAA Basketball tournament will be down to the Elite 8 after tonight. It does kind of stink to know that WVU is no longer playing in the post season, this is where I had them exiting rather than where they did.

I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone this week, maybe I'll catch up a little with as many people as possible.

Have a great day and enjoy the start of your weekend.

I finally upgraded

I have been one who did not like the Microsoft Office Suite at all since Vista had been introduced. I just wasn't fond of the entire interface and I have liked my Office 2003 and have never upgraded.

Being an SAIC employee, I am allowed to purchase a Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise edition for home use for $19.95, so I figured why not and ordered it. I have two computers at work, one runs 2003 and one runs 2007. If I would just go out and buy it, we're looking at $700.00 for this piece of software and I could get a copy for less than $20.00/

I prefer 2003, however to keep up with technological changes I have upgraded to the 2007 edition.

Nothing else going on, the NCAA basketball tournament re-starts tonight.

Hump Day

This week is going pretty quick, we are already at the hump and ready go head back down the other side. I can say I think I am ready for another weekend already and my guess is Michelle is too.

The NCAA basketball tournament starts again tomorrow, but WVU is no longer in it and my bracket is already pretty much shot already. I'll pay attention to a few of the games, but I don't know how close.

The good thing is that Spring Football is finally under way. I'll be going to the spring game this year as I pretty much do every year. I'm ready to see not only starting QB Jarrett Brown, but backup Quarterback Coley White (Pat's brother). Should make for an interesting spring game.

Hopefully the Mountaineers will return a solid team and be able to return to a BCS Bowl this season. I think everything is in place to be successful, we'll have to wait and see how the season plays out though.

Have a good hump day.

How about a tidbits

* Every once in a while you come across a little bit of writers block and the only solutions you have is to either not do a blog post or do a tidbits, I don;t like not being able to post so you get the tidbits.

* I talked to Web today at work, he's at the DOE doing a little contracting for a while. He said Nick and Terri are finally getting settled in and getting everything organized.

* I'm still updating all my contacts on my iPhone, there was a lot of information lost and I just need to repopulate the data. The important ones are done so far to an extent, I've still got a ways to go. I would like to get as much data about people as possible.

* As I was writing this BLOG (the night before) one of Michelle's cats got itself into one of the most precarious of situations. We're still trying to figure out how she got in butt end first in a tight and elevated space.

* In case you have not noticed, Illegal fireworks are about to be legal in West Virginia. It is currently in the state legislature and about to be voted on. The fireworks would be taxed at 10% and the revenue from the taxes would be used to support local Volunteer Fire Departments. We'll be able to buy the real stuff this year without having to go to Ohio or another neighboring state.

* How's that for a blog without having anything to say?

All Good Things Come to an End

All good things do come to an end, WVU Men's Basketball season ended Friday afternoon, the students spring break which is now over with and an influx of students comes back into town and my long three day weekend is now officially over with.

Can't say it wasn't a great weekend, it was pretty good if you ask me. We actually grilled out last night with hamburgers, hot dogs and and home made french fries to wind the weekend down.

Today however, it is back to the grindstone and back to work for me. Back to sitting at my desk for a few days and answering a few questions to people making a heck of a lot more money than I do. Next Monday I'll have to return to Pittsburgh for another meeting, mainly so I can be the technical lead on a WebX with a few geologists around the country as we determine a final well grid ranking.

Hi Ho Hi Ho......

We bought a new TV

Yesterday Kim and Robert with a little help from their close friend Ron brought me the entertainment center that Kim has been wanting to get rid of. It's a beautiful one and very much appreciated. Last night as we were moving things around, the back end of the 25" TV we had in the living room came out and pretty much ruined that TV as it broke the solder off of the board inside the TV to where it connects the cable.

So, we headed out and decided to get a new TV. We decided on a 37" High Definition Vizio and thought it would fit nicely into our newly given entertainment center and as you can see it does. I will now need to go to Comcast and get the HD service to go along with it.

The Wii, the VCR and all the movies that we had scattered all over the place fit into it quite nicely as the rest of the movies are in their own little container.

It is going to make for some very nice family TV viewing. We now have a TV and entertainment center that is not just overshadowed by the large family room. It makes it kind of nice that as I am typing this I have a fire going in the fireplace and the TV is on sportscenter.

Some Saturday Morning Rumblings

I'm up and I think that everyone else is asleep all nice and cozy in their beds, except Chad who is draining a fish tank, and resting peacefully. I have a nice fire going in the fireplace for a little early morning ambiance. We bought a little over a cord from Michelle's brother in law last week, so we're using it to heat primarily. The heat has been shut off for a while (it was an oven down here with it on), so the fireplace makes it nice and comfortable.

Did anyone watch that basketball game yesterday? Wow you talk about being a little disappointed, I have West Virginia going to the Elite 8 in my basketball bracket and they lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Dayton. Not taking nothing away from Dayton, they played hard and played to win, and managed to pick up their first NCAA Tournament Basketball victory since 1990 with a 60-68 victory over the Mountaineers. I guess I don't have to pay too close of attention to the Sunday games as we are not in them. It was a good season, a little disappointed with the way it ended, but a good season. I look forward to the 2009-10 season after we only lose Alex Ruoff and add a little more beef upfront.

What's with this cold weather, it's springtime the temps should be much higher than they are right now (it's 21 Degrees outside as U type this) and I am ready for a little bit of that warm springtime weather.

I've not had a lot of luck electronically in the past few days. My computer crashed and after I got it all back up and running I lost all of my contacts in my iPhone. I've started adding them all back in, but it will tale some time to get everything just right again. Shoot me an e-mail with your addresses (email and physical) if I haven't already talked to you.

I think Kim is going to stop over today, she has a TV stand that she wants to get rid of since they got their new Big Screen TV, so I'm going to take it off of her hands for her. I think I can find a place to put it.

I hope everyone has a great day.

Have I mentioned

That Phil the Groundhog is no longer news ans we have turned the corner, the Vernal Equinox aka Spring has peered its wonderful head officially saying goodbye to winter and the significance of a Rat in Pennsylvania.

Woo Hoo!!!!!!

I HATE SNOW, I LOVE SPRING!!!!!!

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week when we take a little time our from our labors of the week and take a little time out to enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again the start of yet another weekend and another Big Ole Hairy Friday. Except I'm off today and started me weekend yesterday.

I have been busy the last couple of evenings, got a nasty computer virus and I couldn't find my restore disc. So, I ordered one from Dell and it was here the next day. Wed night I re-installed Windows without reformatting the Hard Drive, thinking maybe that would do it. Well, that was an obvious no and I had to reformat it yesterday before I left for work and go the majority of it up and running last night when I got home from work.

If you are a basketball fan, the Mountaineers play this afternoon at 3:00 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Dayton is a pretty good team and we are going to have to play a solid game to beat them, I'm hoping we do because I have the Mountaineers winning in all my brackets.

Michelle was under the weather a little bit the last few days, I think she has caught the stomach flu again. Hopefully she'll be feeling a little better today and I don't catch it.

Have a great Friday and let's cheer on the Mountaineers.

Happy Birthday to Amy

It's been a year or two since that birthday, but if you see Amy today make sure that you take a little time out and tell her Happy Birthday.

I meant to post this last night (for this morning) however I am still fighting the major computer battle.

I would like to take this time out and wish Amy a Very Happy (insert your favorite number) Birthday. I started telling lies about my age about this time.

Let the Madness begin

I hope if you are playing a bracket that for March madness that you have it filled out already. I'm participating in a few of them, and basically all of mine look pretty much the same. SEE MY BRACKET. I love this time of the year, the next four days will be filled with NCAA basketball with the losers going home and the winners staying to play another day. They'll stay until they are crowned National Champions or they lose in a later round.

In the last five seasons the Mountaineers made an Elite 8, a Sweet 16, An NIT (Another tournament) Championship and another sweet 16 run last year that came oh so close to another Elite 8. There are 10 teams that NBC says could win it all and guess what local Morgantown team is #8 on that list.

I have an all Big East Final (3 of final 4) with Louisville beating Pitt in the Championship. It pains me to say Pitt will be in the finals, especially since we just showed everyone how to beat them in the Big East Tournament and gave them their biggest loss of the season.

Let the Madness begin.

Computer Problems

Looks like I get to restore my computer again as soon as I get my restore CD's from Dell. I was hacking some software and screwed up and got a virus that just invaded my computer and actually deleted Windows Explorer, basically making my computer worthless.

I tried to do a restore, but noticed I did not have all then needed CD's, I must have lost one in the move. I got on Michelle's machine and ordered a new one.

Of course my Windows machine isn't running, but I run a dual boot system and have Ubuntu running also. So, I can be online and have access to all my files to back up, I just can't run the windows operating system at this time.

Pittsburgh was nice yesterday, it was nice to get out of the office and hand out some business cards to a few feds.

Have a great day.

Happy St Patricks Day

Remember to wear your green today, it's St. Patrick's Day

Back to the Burgh Today

I'll be traveling again today back to Pittsburgh for a meeting on a project I am working on. Not the same one as last time I had to go up, a different project and meeting with different people.

I should be back in town at my normal time this afternoon, it'll just be nice getting out of the office for a little while today to hear what is going on with this new project.

I would say the majority of my day will be traveling.

Sherri's Visit

yesterday morning Michelle and I stopped over to visit Sherri while she was in. She looked great and was in great spirits and wanted me to put a little music on her MP3 player before she had to Charleston later yesterday evening.


She was going to stop over Saturday evening, but it was Michael's birthday and never got a chance to stop over. So Michelle and I took the opportunity to go over and visit for a little while before she had to return to Charleston.

I have her address if anyone would like to write her, I'm quite sure that she would appreciate any and all correspondence from anyone. I think Michelle and I will start to write her on a regular basis. That way we can keep up with what is going on in her life and maybe be able to give everyone updates from time to time. If anyone would like the address, feel free to contact me and I will get it to you for a small price....LOL

Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's back to the grindstone we go.

It has been one Magical Year

It was one year ago today that I went and saw arguable and laughably the worst movie that I have ever went and paid to go see, 10,000 BC. With me for the first time was my former boss at Valley Mart as we were on our very first date.

I remember she was nervous as heck and her heart was beating out of her chest the first time I kissed her. That was one year ago today. The past 365 days that have arguably been the best of my life so far.

I've spent Holidays with someone I love, done numerous and adventurous GeoCaches, WVU Sporting events and just lived a full life. It's been a year later and I have finally officially living with someone, the first time in my life as strange as that may seem.

It's been a special year with a special lady, let's hope she'll have me for a few more.

To the love of my life, I would like to say Happy Anniversary sweetie.

14th National Championship

The WVU Rifle team just won it's 14th National Championship in School History. Just a few short years ago they were on the brink of extinction, bu the fans spoke up and would not let this illustrious program die.

That is 14 Time National Champions. I think every championship that was won in between the times we won our last, was coached by either Dave Johnson, a WVU Alumni and National Champion or Glen Dubis, a Morgantown native.

Terri and Nick's new place

Stopped by to help Nick and Terri move earlier this afternoon. It's a nice little farmhouse out on Joes run with a gorgeous view if you are like me and getting tired of seeing so many neighbors around you. Their new home has the peace and serenity that one who may live an event filled life may envy. They have a beautiful hillside to look at from their backyard, it's all farm land, so the grandchildren will have a nice yard to run around and enjoy themselves in.

I think they will move in and Terri will make this a home like she did with their old house on England Road. I can see this being a fresh start and a new beginning for both Terri and Nick.

You know the bar ownership has taken so much of their time over the past few years that they just need a place to sit down and relax in. I think this will be what they were looking for.

Moving Day, Part II

Earlier this year Michelle and I moved to our current location on Van Voorhis Road. Today, my sister Terri and Nick will be moving to their new place.

If you are not doing anything today, I'm sure that they sure can use the assistance in moving today.

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Anyone stay up and watch that Basketball game last night? Syracuse followed their 6 OT game from the night before to beat my beloved Mountaineers in OT last night 69-74 in the Big east Semifinals.

It was a great game to watch, but we came up a little short. Tomorrow is selection Sunday and we didn't hurt our potential seeding for March Madness.

It should be a busy day for us today.

It's a Big Ole Hairy Friday the 13th

Yes it is once again that time of the week when we cease the labors of the week and take a little time out to just sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is yet again the dawn of yet another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday. This month, for the second straight month we have a Friday the 13th for those of you that may be a little bit superstitious.

First off, let me just say that beating the #2 ranked (twice #1 this season) ranked Pitt Panthers last night 74-60 was absolutely awesome. We beat the #2 team in the Country in the biggest College basketball stage in the Middle of Madison Square Garden. Pitt may STILL be a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and we play in the semi finals tonight at 9:00. IT IS a great day to be a Mountaineer.

I am quite excited that Sherri Toth will be in town this weekend. I was working yesterday on a nationwide exercise emergency response and my phone rang. Much to my delight it was Sherri telling me she will be at home this weekend.

This is going to be a special weekend for me, Sunday it will be one year ago that I took Michelle out to see the horrible movie 10,000 BC. The movie stunk and I'll be enjoying my one year anniversary of my first date with my sweetheart. I'm not sure what we will do, but we have to do something. It's not too many times in my life that I have dated anyone for one year straight without an ounce of problems or turmoil. I'm a very lucky guy.

The WVU baseball team will be home for a series with Sienna the entire weekend. There will be games Friday at 3:00, Saturday at 1:00 and I think that that is a double header and Sunday at 1:00. It's calling for it to be in the 50's, it may be doable.

Ok the easy part is done

Murderer's row of basketball tournaments, and I am referring to the Big East Tournament enters the quarterfinals tonight when the WVU Mountaineers will try for the third time this season to beat Pittsburgh.

Last night WVU beat Notre Dame for the second time this season with a 74-62win last night to advance to the quarterfinal round. Alex Ruoff lead the Mountaineers with 25 points and Freshman Devin Ebanks had a career high 18 rebounds in the win. The win runs the Mountaineers record to 22-10 on the year and pretty much secured not only an NCAA Tournament bid but a decent seed for the tournament that starts next week.

Last nights win was the easy part though, to win the Big East Tournament we will have to beat Pitt, then most likely UCONN and finally Louisville in the finals to win the Big East Tournament. When the NCAA tournament pairings come out next week, there are four regions of 16 teams, these three teams could probably be the #1 seed in 3 of the 4 brackets. Talk about a big hill to climb in front of you, this could hopefully be an exciting week of basketball.

Bring on the Panthers, maybe the third game this season will be the charm.

Hump Day

I made the grave mistake yesterday of not blogging in the morning, or should I say the night before, so I am going to make sure that we don't make that mistake two days in a row. As absent minded as I appear to be this week, I'm making sure that my readers will have their daily dose of George's Journal with their breakfast and coffee this morning.

For those of you interested, West Virginia Men's basketball team will play today against the winner of last night's Notre Dame v Rutgers game in the Big East Tournament. Hopefully we can win this one and make it the quarterfinal round of eight. Hopefully we'll be ready for them or it will be a very short tournament.

A few updates, First I talked to Terri last night, she and Nick have found a place off of Joe something road. They will be finalizing everything today and should be moving in shortly and I'm sure they will appreciate a hand if anyone wants to pitch in when they move.

Talked to Amy last night, she wants me to convert a few files for her from her old camcorder. I told her no problem and I would be more than happy to do it for her.

Michelle and I watched the movie Role Models last night. It was actually quite entertaining. See the trailer.

Late BLOG

Wow, my creative but empty mind just remember that I forgot to BLOG today. Needless to say I have been busy at work and Michelle has had some major Migraine headaches the last few days so my attention has been on other things.

It's been a busy week at work for me to say the least and I have to take another trip to Pittsburgh next week for the kickoff of another project I will be working on.

Clock is ticking, it's almost time to head on home.

A Date

Last night I had a cheap date with Michelle. It was a really simple date that will create a memory that will last forever and we can easily do it again.

I came up with the idea earlier in the afternoon, we had went shopping and I found a watermelon that I just had to have. A nice succulent seedless one, but that was beside the point. It was a nice little snack though.

In our backyard there is a nice walkway and a big concrete bench at the other end of the yard. So, I invited Michelle to go out with me and eat a little watermelon at a time when just 24 hours earlier it would have been dark.

We sat on the bench along the walkway in the yard and enjoyed each others company, a little conversation, and some watermelon. Now to most people you may be thinking so what, but to me a guy who lived in small cramped apartment for the last eight years, it was a nice evening at home with a special person. Michelle has had a Migraine all weekend, that magical watermelon has helped ease the pain and created a special memory on our night of the 359th day since our first date.

Ir was a good weekend.

A Little Less Sleep

If you are looking at your clock and forgot to turn it back last night (unless it is set to the atomic clock), you might be a little late if you need to be somewhere at a specified time this morning.

Days will now be longer, it'll start getting dark later and spring is just right around the corner (damn rat caused the delay). Michelle and I were walking around the yard yesterday and eying up the planters and noticed that some of the plants have started to sprout.

The WVU Baseball team swept a double header yesterday and the WVU basketball team dropped a heartbreaker last night to Louisville 59-62 in front of a near packed house and a Prime Time network game with the "A" Crew here calling the shots.

The baseball and Women's Gymnastics teams will be in action this afternoon if you are looking for a little cheap entertainment.

Get up and go out and enjoy the weather.

Going to be a Beautiful Day

The sun is up the birds are chirping and it is going to be a beautiful day out today.

I'm going to try to find out why I have had so much car trouble the last month or so. Every time there has been a weekend or a chance to look at it, we've either been busy or it was cold as heck outside. Signs are pointing to the Catalytic Converter being blocked.

Tonight Michelle, Me, her Mom and Hayley will be traveling to Grafton to see her sister Chris's father Casey Ferguson perform.



Just for Michelle, who is currently making my breakfast of Turkey bacon, Eggs and High Fiber English Muffin, I had to write something below the video. I guess you can say I am blogging for my breakfast.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it once again that favorite time of the week when we cease the labors of the week and take a little time out to sit back and actually enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is once again another Big Ole Hairy Friday and the dawn of a nice weather filled weekend.

First off as a reminder to everyone, that you will lose an hours sleep this weekend as we spring our clocks forward and welcome a little more daylight at the end of the day. Obviously this means we are on the downside of the season I don't like and entering the dawn of the season I love. The time of the year when the smell of fresh springtime emanates through the air ticking our sensitive nostrils with a hint of fresh and new foliage. I time when trees start sprouting their buds and when the beauty of so many bright and cheerful colors just starts to develop over the landscape. Have I mentioned I love the spring and summer time and hate snow.

The weather is expected to be in the 70's this weekend, so even though it is calling for rain today, the rest of the weekend looks to be filled with great weather. Michelle's Mom is coming into town Saturday and staying with us Saturday evening.

WVU is playing their first home baseball game today and over the weekend, I have to try to make it to at least one game. Michelle and I went to about a half dozen games last season and loved it.

Enjoy your Friday and get out and enjoy yourself this weekend.

Great Game Last Night

First of all a very big thank you to Gerald Bell for providing me and Michelle not only tickets, but great seats to last nights WVU Basketball game against DePaul.

WVu came out on fore and cruised to an 83-62 win lead by Alex Ruoff's team leading 20 points. DeSean Butler (16 Points 10 Rebounds) and Devan Ebanks (14 Points 14 Rebounds) both had Double Doubles and Kevin Jones almost had one (13 Points 9 Rebounds) himself. It's rare a WVU player turns in a Double Double, or at least it was prior to Huggs returning home, and last night we had two and almost a third with limited action.

Just to see how the future looks, WVU's three Freshmen combined for 39 Points, 24 Rebounds and 10 Assists as they combined shooting .630 Field Goal percentage.

Gameday will be here Saturday in the last Home Game of the Season, the Big East Tournament starts next week.

Once again thank you Gerald Bell.

Over the Hump again

Yeah we're getting closer to that time we like to call the weekend again, but we're not quite there yet. It is however the middle of the week and over the hump day.


I know, this is no where near as exciting as a Big Ole Hairy Friday, but bite me. Sometimes content isn't the easiest thing to come up with.

I did get a brief chance to talk to Amy last night, I think it was the first time I had gotten a chance to talk to her since Christmas. I told her to bring Ralphie and Kaiden on down sometime.

Talked to Val too briefly as I started to make my rounds with a few phone calls.

Talked to jean briefly, a guy I work with was looking to buy a house next to her Brother Richards and we were trying to get a little bit of information on it.

Tonight courtesy of one Gerald Bell, Michelle and I will be going to the WVU v Depaul game at the WVU Coliseum. We'll be cheering the Mountaineer's on to victory number 21 on the season.

Enjoy your hump day.

Dear Phil

Listen you little sawed off runt excuse for a groundhog, just because you saw your shadow a month ago doesn't mean anyone wants anymore of this cold damned weather. I know I am ready for springtime and probably so is the rest of the people living around the country. No More snow, no more cold weather and I mean it.

You have had your day in the sun, the snow mizer has had his run and Christmas was over with a couple of months ago. It's time to hang it up for the year and call it a season. Take a trip to Australia and snow on them.

It;s time for the new season, a time for the heat mizer to come up from down under and heat it up up here. I'm ready to hit the rails and the softball field, time to geocache and spend evenings out having fun instead of staying home and watching old 1980's movies.

Come on Phil, it's time to a little time in the sun, not the snow.

A back to work kind of day

Yep the fun for the weekend is now over and it's time to take our sorry butts back to work and back to the grindstone that we call work.

It was a pretty good weekend overall, Michelle wasn't feeling too well Saturday Night, I thought we should have made a trip to the hospital, but she's old school and refused to go.

We had a cookout Saturday evening and Trish, Arron and Layla paid us a visit. Hot Sausage and cheeseburgers were on the menu for the evening as we fired up the four main burner Char-Broil and cooked out. We even managed to fire up the side burner for our peppers and onions for the Hot Sausage.

I missed the game today, but WVU put it to South Florida 64-50 this afternoon to give the Mountaineers that magical number of 20 wins on the season.

And finally Kim and Robert got their first taste of Ryan's. They sounded impressed, I think they were thinking it was more like a USA Steak Buffet, but obviously it is much better and I think they both left impressed.

Last Day in Business

Today is a day of new beginnings, a day after the era of Nick and Terri owning a bar has ended it's long four year run. It is the dawn of a new day and a different start of a new and exciting era in their lives.

Yesterday was the closing of Nick and Tavern on Old Rt 73. I had to stop down one last time as I have always enjoyed the times I have been there to the company that was always there. For Nick and Terri their patrons were more like family than friends. They had spent both good times and bad together and created everlasting friendships and bonds that will last them forever.

Prior to Nick and Terri's they had the Country Inn, but there was just something about Nick and Terri's that The Country Inn just didn't seem to have. Maybe it was the interpersonal touch of all the regular patrons who always seemed to bind together and have a good time.

Nick and Terri's may now be gone, but it will never be forgotten. It was a dream of the two proprietors to make happen on less than a shoestring of a budget and for three years they made it happen. A real testament of their character, resources and will power.

Today is a new day, the first day after Nick and Terri's. The first day in the chapter of their new lives, taking the friendships, the knowledge and the integrity from the adversity they had learned over the past few years and have given them a strong base in which to build upon. Nick has been working as a successful independent contractor the last few years and Terri is getting ready to make the career transitional move.

With great sadness we say goodbye, but with great anticipation we embrace their futures.