Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of the pictures that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet through the years. Little lost moments in time that were captured with a camera lens and are stored on a couple hard drives at my home. I like to find just one special picture and tell a little story about it for my Blog. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes it's not so easy. It is however always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture was pretty much the start of our weight loss journeys. It was Memorial Day Weekend and we took a day trip to Black Water Falls for the day. This weekend was symbolic because this is right after we had met with our dietitian for the first time and was what we will both call the starting point of our weight loss together.

We are going to have to take another trip there again this year to do a "one year after" picture just to show how much weight the two of us have lost since we traveled there last spring. It was the start of a lifestyle change and the start of a new life.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Michelle Dawn Hall

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the my beautiful wife Michelle and her sister Chris (on the right) a very Happy Birthday today. I am so very fortunate to have had this amazing woman come into my life, that I can not even begin ton express my thanks and gratitude. I love her with all of my heart.

We have no plans today, we're both in the middle of a work week and we're both battling a little bit  of the flu as she even came home from work yesterday sick. Hopefully we both feel better today.

If you happen to see either my wonderful, amazing and beautiful wife Michelle or her lovely sister Chris, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish these two a very Happy Birthday today.

I Love You with all my heart Michelle, and I wish you the happiest of birthdays today.

Hump Day

Two days down, now all we have to do is get up over the noon time hump today and everything will be all downhill after that. It's Hump Day!!!

I have to admit that I had my flu shot this season, but I have been battling that nasty thing I will refer to as the crud the past few days. I would characterize it more as a sinus infection with a slight fever more than anything else. No complaints though if this is as bad is it gets, I guess I can consider myself pretty lucky to have avoided anything like this the past couple of years.

Anyone reading about all the crime that is going on around Morgantown lately? There was a robbery at a residence close to where I live, and armed robbery down the road from where I live and not to mention stabbings across town earlier this week. When did Morgantown become such a crime infested place to live? What has happened to my city that has caused stuff like this to happen with this frequency anymore. It's a little disturbing to say the very least. Not as bad as the idiot who tried to rob the gun store down the road last month, hand that guy a Darwin Award.

I have finally made some additions to the Hall Family Tree this past week. I made a few edits and added quite a few people as well as updated a few pictures. If you have not received an invite e-mail from me, please get in touch with me and I'll set you up for full access to the site if it pertains to you. It sat idle all Summer, so now I am updating it.

Have a Great Day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded thing we refer to as Monday is now once again behind us, other than having a pet monkey named Mr. Squibbles to party with the sloth can I think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* I have been around for 18,670 days so far. That's a little over 51 years for those of you wondering, that I have been here on earth trying to make it a better place.

* It was 3,894 days ago that I graduated from West Virginia University. I started late, but better late than never is what I say.

* 2,495 days ago on a cold spring Saturday evening, I took a woman out on a date for the first time. I had known her for years, even got stood up by her once the first time I asked her out, but I finally got her out for a night on the town.

* It was 1,719 days ago that I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle.

* 1,256 days ago, in front of our closest friends and family at the Marilla Center Michelle and I became Husband and Wife, exchanging our marital vows before feasting on a wonderful dinner.

* There are only 66 more days to go until Springtime!!! I'm ready already.

* In 124 more days my niece Brittany will graduate from West Virginia University.

* I'm 205 days away from my fourth Wedding Anniversary.

* It's only 322 more days to go until my birthday.

* If you haven't started your Christmas Shopping yet, you still have plenty of time as there are still 346 shopping days left still.

* I have 352 more days of content to add to the blog before I publish my Goodbye 2015 Blog.

* This is my 3,920th Blog that I have written for George's Journal, it's been over a decade to get to that number of posts but we are still going strong.

* I have about 6,166 days or so, give or take a few hundred here or there until I retire. I'm already a member of AARP and have been since I turned 50.

* Have I ever mentioned before that I Hate Snow?

* The new Baseball Park's construction is still moving along, I'm getting excited to see a few games there this spring and summer.

* I have a Doctors Appointment with my regular physician this morning. Just a routine checkup/followup from last fall.

* In case you haven't noticed, and I'm quite sure that you have, the peace and quiet that was the Christmas break around Morgantown is now over as all the students are back and classes started up again yesterday. Traffic will be bad now until Spring Break and then until the end of the Semester in May.

* The Mountaineer Men's basketball team tries to rebound from Saturday's loss to #17 Iowa State Saturday Night by taking on #16 Oklahoma tonight at the Coliseum.

* I am now officially 0 for 3 in the College Football Playoff Predictions for the year, Ohio State beat Oregon 42-20 to win it all last night. Good thing I don't gamble..lol

* Michelle and I were talking this past weekend about the Farmers Market in Morgantown, saying she couldn't wait for it to open up again. Well from 11:00 to 1:00 on Saturday at the Wesley United Methodist Church it is open this Saturday. CLICK Here  for their schedule on what is in season.

* I've changed a few subtle things around with the layout, there is now a search feature that allows the user to search anything that I have written about or linked to from this blog. It is located on the sidebar.

* I updated the blogs that I link to, deleting old blogs that no longer exist and updating current links.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday Morning

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately that also includes those fun filled things that we love so much and call weekends. Now it is time to stop all of the enjoyment and get back to doing what it is that we do for a living for the next few days until we can find another weekend.

Today is a pretty exciting day around college football, this season was the first season where there was actually a playoff to get to the College Football National Championship Game. Ohio State and Oregon, winners of the semi-final games will battle tonight for the first Championship Trophy. My guess is that this will be a very watched game being that it is the first one and a large fan based like Ohio State is playing in it. I'm horrible at making predictions, but since I am not emotionally tied to this game here it goes. Even though I was 0-2 in the semi-final games for predictions, lets see if I can go 1-2 or 0-3. I'm picking Oregon to win tonight's game. Ohio State is playing their 3rd String QB and Oregon is just a perfectly working machine of an offense that I think will win the first title. Morgantown native Rob Mullens is Oregon's Athletic Director.

Looking at the week ahead, it appears that we are going to get a break this week from last weeks blistering cold weather that we experienced. Looking at the week ahead, I have a return visit with my regular Doctor tomorrow morning at the POC and my wonderful wife and her sister share a birthday later on in the week.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Sandra Bell

I would like to take this opportunity to wish a very special lady a very Happy Birthday today. Special in as if it were not for her, neither I nor two of my sisters would be in the picture to the left. Today is my Mom's day of the year that we get to tack on another number. By last count, I believe this is number 72 for this wonderful young lady.

Not sure what her and Gerald's plans are for the day, and judging by the weather I would imagine it's not much, but I would like to extend this heart felt Happy Birthday Wish to my wonderful Mother.

If you happen to see Sandra Irene Bell (aka Mom) today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish her a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Mom.

Sunday

Here I sit once again, in a quiet household being the first one ton awaken from that losing battle with the dreaded Sandman last night. I'm up early watching Wedding Crashers on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Well yesterday was a less than stellar day for Sports Teams I cheer for. The Mountaineer Men's Basketball team dropped a game here at home to Iowa State 72-74 to drop their record to 14-2. The WVU Women's Basketball Team lost 62-66 to 5th Ranked Baylor. Long Time Pittsburgh Steelers Defensive Coordinator and member of the NFL Hall of Fame Dick LeBeau resigned from the Pittsburgh Steelers and intends to pursue coaching somewhere else, this was not a retirement. It was a less than stellar day for my favorite sports teams to say the least.

I did get a few videos posted to Youtube yesterday, all of the old VHS tapes have been converted, now it is just a matter of going through and editing the significant parts and publishing them for everyone. I have some older tapes as well that I already had converted years ago with my Brother in Law, maybe I can put some of those out. They were done years earlier and the tapes were not as diminished as they appear to be now.

Normal Sunday for us, grocery shopping this morning and one last load of laundry to do and we are pretty much done for the day. Michelle ended up going into work yesterday to get a lot of the payroll straightened out since there were so many rates of pay during this pay cycle for their corporation. I stayed home and stayed warm and didn't go anywhere. Sometimes we really do lead a pretty boring lifestyle..lol

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit once again in the early early morning, I am once again the first one to recover from getting knocked out by the Sandman last night. I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day and watching the Hangover Part III on HBO.

As I look at the temperature outside it is a blistering 3° F outside with a sweltering wind chill of -11° F. I'm a shorts and sandals kind of guy, so to say this is not my kind of weather would be a bit of an understatement.

If you are looking for for something to watch this evening, the #14th WVU Men's Basketball team hosts the #17th ranked Iowa State Cyclones this evening at 8:00 at he WVU Coliseum. This should be one of our toughest tests of the year so far as Iowa State has a darn good basketball team.

As for Michelle and I, it's just that time of the year when there are no plans and nothing we really have to do so we are probably going to stay in and stay as warm as possible today. Maybe it's a good day to watch a few movies or something good on Netflix. Call it a couch potato kind of day with nothing on the days agenda with the exception of maybe a mid day nap. =)

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Actually I'm off today, so it will be an extended weekend for me. I'll be heading out a little later this morning to do our weekly Sam's Club shopping and a few things around the house or town.

No plans this weekend other than just simply staying warm. Wind Chill yesterday morning got to -15° F and it was a bit uncomfortable to say the least. I'm not a big fan of cold weather, snow or even winter once it gets passed the holidays.

We learned yesterday that former Governor Arch Moore  has passed away. I was never a big fan of the man, his politics or anything about him, but my condolences go out to the entire Moore family during this time of mourning.

Have a great day and stay warm.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look through the tens of thousands of pictures that I have stored. Little lost moments in time that I have either captured with my camera lens, scanned or just stolen off of the internet. I like to find just one special image and post it up and share it on my blog. Sometimes this is really easy and sometimes I struggle to find that one special picture, but one thing that it always is is a whole lot of fun.

This picture goes back a little over seven years, my favorite childhood comedian was making a stop in Morgantown and my Sister Pam and the immortal Gallagher stop and take a picture with us right before he went on stage.

Notice that Pam and I both had our rain suits on, as Gallagher is pretty famous for smashing watermelons and and just getting the crowd as messy as he possibly can when he does his sledge-o-matic routine that I think I can still recite word for word today...lol

Have a great day.

I Hate Snow Wednesday

Not sure if I have ever mentioned this here before, but I Hate Snow. Not just a little bit, but I REALLY Hate snow and all of the treacherous travel that goes along with it.

Van Voorhis Road yesterday morning was an absolute joke. Michelle got out early and went to work, she must have just left in the nick of time because that is when everything around the house started getting bad. Cars in ditches, trapped on hills and even people with chains on not being able to make it up around the turn. I have an all-wheel drive Legacy and I couldn't even get out of the driveway most of the day because of all of the gridlock due to the ice and snow around the hill.

Where was the State Road Crew and the Salt Trucks? This was absolutely ridiculous as I can usually wait an hour or so later and get out after they treat the roads. I have to wonder if the state even has any drivers left as I don't think I saw a state road truck all yesterday morning to open things up around the hill where I live.

I've seen road conditions bad before, but I can't say that I have ever seen the state road so un-prepared in my life. Budgets need to be upped or they need to start chopping heads from the top down as this is completely unacceptable.

Have a Great day and try to stay warm.

Tuesday's Tidbit

* Well the work week is off to another start and we have Monday in our rear view mirrors now, now it's time to turn our attention to Tuesday and I still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It was 18,664 days ago, at about the time this blog posts, that yours truly entered the world.

*  3,887 days ago I fulfilled a lifetime dream and graduated from West Virginia University. I seen it as better late than never.

* 2,488 days ago on a chilly night, I took a special lady out for dinner and a movie. 10,000 BC was probably the worst movie ever made, but the night was a total success as I met my soul mate.

* 1,712 days ago, right in our back yard, I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle. See next bullet for her answer.

* 1,249 days ago in front of our closest friends and family and the Marilla Center, we exchanged our marital vows.

* There are only 73 more days to go until Springtime. Considering what the weather looks like outside, it can't get here soon enough.

* Have I ever mentioned here before that I Hate Snow?

* Brittany Graduates in 131 more days, she is getting ready to start her last Semester at WVU.

* Michelle and I are 212 days away from our fourth wedding anniversary.

* We are 329 days away from my Birthday.

* If you are planning on your Christmas Shopping this year, you have 353 more days of shopping to get it done.

* In  359 more days, my Goodbye 2015 Blog post will post. I have plenty of time to add content.

* In about 6,170 days or so, give or take a few hundred here or there, I will finally enter the world of retirement.

* This is my 3,912th blog that I have written for George's Journal.

* Now that the holidays are over with and days are still pretty short, this has to be my least favorite time of the year. Although my most favorite time of the year (Spring) is slowly approaching.

* I'm not sure if I have ever even mentioned it before here, but I Hate Snow (A Lot). Give me springtime with birds a singing and flowers a blooming.

* I have converted all of the old family VHS tapes to digital (found another one Sunday Evening), now it's just editing and putting them out on Youtube. I'm trying to get some creative ideas now that I have so much footage AND a great Camcorder that someone very special bought me for Christmas this year.

* After take the Family Medical Leave Act a few weeks ago to take care of Jean, my Sister Pam has finally returned to work.

* It's time to start planning events for 2015, namely the 2015 Picnic.

* WVU has a new Athletic Director to replace Oliver Luck, Shane Lyons was named yesterday as the new Athletic Director.

* The Baseball Park is really progressing, it's really starting to look like it will be ready for play in the very near future, I can't wait to attend a few games this year for both WVU and the West Virginia Blackbears. 

* Not sure if I have ever mentioned this here before or not, but I HATE SNOW!!

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday Morning Blues

All good things must come to an end, and that also includes those fun filled things we love so much called weekends. Now it's time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for another week of doing what it is we do so we can enjoy our weekends so much. That dreaded Monday is back and it's time to get life back to normal.

This was a productive weekend as I did manage to get all of Dad and Jeans VHS tapes converted to a digital so that I can put them up and share them on places like Youtube. Some of them I have to go through and edit out what I would call undesirable or offensive to some family members portions of the tapes before I publish them. I've got a few people who have contacted me about converting some of their tapes, which I gladly assist and do it for them. These are magical lost moments in time that are captured in both video and audio, these are must save files so that future generations can see what we did. All of my videos are on my channel here.

Looking at the week ahead, it's time to get back to normal after the shortened weeks due to the Holidays and get back to normal. The Thanksgiving to New Years "Eat what you want" Holiday season is now over with and I've actually put on a few pounds, now it's time to get back to doing what I have been doing since May and continue my weight loss journey.

What can I say about the temperatures, yesterday morning it was 60° F here in Morgantown and looking at the forecast ahead they are calling for it to drop to 6° F here on Wednesday and are calling for snow storms tomorrow. Time for everyone to rush to the store for Beer, Milk, Bread, Eggs and Toilet Paper.

The students will start coming back into town this week with classes beginning again here in Morgantown next Monday.

Hi ho hi ho.

Sunday Morning

Here I sit, yet once again going on just a couple of hours of sleep. I was the last one to lose my battle with the dreaded Sandman last night and the first one to recover from that losing battle last night. I'm up early once again and I'm getting an early start converting old family VHS tapes to digital format.

Me and Gary found all of the old family VHS tapes last night and I bought a converter last night and am converting many of the old tapes to digital format, including my Brother Gary and his band winning the Preston County Buckwheat Festival Battle of the Bands, which I have attached at the end of this post. So far I have 4 tapes converted, the one posted, an hour and a half tape (not all of interest) of Christmas 1988, Brittany's first Birthday party at Dad's, Valarie's Little Miss Pageant from 1989 Val and Her best friend Heather were back to back contestants.

I've still got some more converting to do today, hence why I am up bright and early. I'm quite excited to be able to capture, convert, store and share so many old family memories from over 30 years ago that my Dad captured with his VHS camera.

The Better Late than Never Christmas Eve Video

Sorry that this took so long to do, I had it started then a double death in the family on Christmas Eve warranted my video making attention elsewhere.

Here it is, our Christmas Eve 2014 Video

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded Sandman last evening and I'm up early collecting my thoughts for the day. The TV isn't even on yet, but I'm contemplating turning it on and watching something. I've been up for about an hour sitting here in the peaceful quietness that is our living room.

Our plans for today are simple. It's past the New Year and Christmas is now behind us, it's time to take the tree and all of the decorations down and prepare them for another year as we say goodbye to Christmas 2014 in this household. I will still have my Mom's tree to break down, but I know they tend to like theirs up a little longer so I'll wait until she is ready to pack it away before we actually do pack it away.

This evening the Pittsburgh Steelers will take on the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Playoffs in Pittsburgh. Michelle bought us new Jersey's for Christmas, I got Antonio Brown and she got Heath Miller so something tells me we will be breaking those two new Jersey's out for their initial wearing. Terrible Towels will be waving and we will be cheering on the Steelers.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Well I guess you can call this my third work week this week alone, as I was in for a for a few hours on Monday, I was off Tuesday, worked a few hours Wednesday, off yesterday but today is a full day before I get to start the weekend.

No immediate plans for us this weekend, other than our normal weekend chores and the things that we normally do. It was a trying week, so relaxation may be whats in store for us most of the weekend, that and watching the Steelers play the Ravens.

Have a great day.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Today's Photo comes as a live blog for the first time. So it's going to serve a double purpose to help answer a question that my sister Pam asked me yesterday.

She asked me if her and Gary were ever Baptized. I told her that they were both Baptized as young children, although I can't remember if there were two different Baptism's or if they were both Baptized at the same time. I do remember being there and being at the front of the Church with Dad and Jean at Drummond Chapel (Now Suncrest United Methodist) Church in the early 70's. The Reverend who performed the ceremony for both of the was Harper Callison (picture to the right here in a tie with my Grandfather) who passed away a little over 20 years ago.

I was Baptized by Reverend High, who proceeded Reverend Callison, but Pam's question to me was about hers and Gary's situations. If they need to find their records, this is where they need to start as I was in regular church (as opposed the Children's Church with Mrs Willard) that day(s) and that was a big treat for me as I got to go with the grown ups.

Now that is Baptism, confirmation if the Methodist Churches do it are a completely different story.

First Live Blog of 2015

Well we are now here on the other side, it's now 2015 and the start of a whole new year. A new set of goals, dreams and hopes and a time that we now look ahead not back on the previous year.

Michelle and I went to the Brookhaven Firehall last night to celebrate New Years with Sharon, Lynne and that portion of the family. Unfortunately Michelle had a tough time eating some pizza toppings making it an early evening for us as we headed back home and to bed prior to midnight. They planned to play games and have a great time, but we missed out on the fun this year. Sharon messaged me and said it was the craziest game of charades ever.

Looking at the day ahead, I've got my pork roast and my sauerkraut ready to go into the cRock pot (not making that mistake two days in a row)  and I'll probably watch a football game or two in the back bedroom. I won't torture Michelle with that much College Football..lol

I hope everyone had a very safe and Happy New Year.

Happy New Year

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!

and surely I’ll buy mine!

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine†;

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!

And give me a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS