The Ant Man strikes again...1981?

This picture was sent to me by Jean. Apparently she's been the one who ended up holding on to it. I sketched it back in 1981. I completely forgot about this picture. Jean says that she is going to get a better scan of it to me soon. Happy Holiday's everyone!

Lyons 2009 Reunion - Outer Banks, NC

On our way down to the Outer Banks, NC (Kill Devil Hills, NC) for Lyons Reunion 2009. This picture taken at Cheesapeak Bay Bridge/Tunnel. Traveled down with Kelsie, Anthony and Katie.

Sunrise on way into work - Beautiful

There I was, just driving into work like many other people that day and then I saw it out my rearview mirror. Beautiful! Thank You God.

Matthew's hospital room board

Underwood Memorial Hospital. Filled with drawings from his proud papa. Today marks 3 weeks and 2 days! He appears to be doing better. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Matthew's Hospital Stay

It's been 7+ days for Matthew's hospital stay. He has Acute Pancreatitis and the treatment is IV fluids; nothing down his throat. He has also been taking pain medication every 3 to 4 hours. Overall he is doing well and the nurses and doctors have been great.

Kathleen and I have been with him around the visitors hour's clock and then some. They don't kick you out here. Matthew has had many visitors. We are hoping that he will be released on Monday but we will have to see.

Thanks everyone for all your prayers and well wishes!

Margaret "Maggie" Grace Casazza

A baby girl was born on Wednesday, September 2. Margaret Grace Casazza was born at 12:03 PM weighing in at 6 pounds, 3 ounces, with reddish blond hair with blue eyes. She was delivered at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Maggie was named after the grandmother's of Susan and Christopher. Congratulations mom and dad!

A wet Phillies Game

It was a very very wet night at Citizen's Bank Park last night. It was also Cabrini College Night. Kathleen and I took the kids and Katie to the game. The Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 4 - 2. We met Robin and Jean and introduced them to our children. The game itself had 2 rain delays and we did not get home until mid-night.

Kelsie and Anthony are on!

West Deptford Little Theater presents High School Musical 2 tonight and tomorrow night.  Anthony got involved because the guy playing the part of comic relief decided not to do it and they asked him to do it.  Anthony's girlfriend, Katie, is playing Gabriela, so this keeps him around her at all times.  In any case, the show should be good and Kathleen and I are excited to see them and many of our children's friends in the show.  Show time is 7PM at St. Matthew's School.  Break a leg!

Check out West Deptford Little Theater web site: http://www.wdltproductions.com/

Pat West Grad Party - June 2009

Fran and Joanne had Patrick's Grad party yesterday at Incarnation Church in Mantua yesterday. It was good to catch up with all the brothers, sisters, moms, dads, aunts, uncles and friends. Patrick is heading to Cabrini next year.

Just testing from Ping!

Need a central spot to post updates from? Try
www.ping.fm

My nephew Drew...making big strides in his life...Congratulations!

Drew writes:

"Greetings from sunny (not so much recently) southern california, the entertainment capital of the world and home to a brand new series on Discovery Science...Science of the Movies edited by yours truly!

It's a geek-tastic journey behind the scenes of various blockbuster films and TV shows, explaining cutting edge CGI and breathtaking stunts.  The host has a goofy sense of humor and does a great job (he's a pleasure to edit!)

OK that was the mandatory plug for the show.  Hope everyone is well and keeping busy, I've been working day in and day out for the last four months on this show and my first episode airs on Thursday night at  10 p.m.  In total there will be 6 shows edited by me, and all of them have been incredibly difficult to put together, while at the same time a whole lot of fun.  I work with a great group of people hailing from all over the united stated:  some are locals, a couple of people are from the philadelphia area, maine, boston, and even montana!

The editorial staff consists of myself and one other editor, we alternate shows and help one another out as much as we can.  I've been truly blessed to be so busy out here, editing shorts and working on graphics projects outside of work.  I've met some pretty cool people and seen my fair share of celebrities, although I still haven't learned to surf.  All in due time I suppose!

I've attached the postcard for our show, I hope you can all check it out!  It's for anyone who has ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of our favorite movies and TV shows...and it's great for the entire family!"

Linda and Don, I am sure, are very proud of their son.  Way to go Drew!  Congratulations.

Awards

Kelsie and Stephanie both received 2 awards from the Fine Arts department. This picture was taken at the annual picnic at Soupy Island in Red Bank.

Another picture from the road

I took this picture on my way back from north Jersey in Jan 09 while driving.  Enjoy!

Another year of bowling...The Jonas Sisters - 2009

I believe they ended up third from the bottom which is an improvement from last season's bowling. Kelsie raised her average and had a high game this year of 183 (Jan 10, 2009). Not sure if Kelsie will continue the bowling or not; we will just have to wait and see.

My niece: Haylie - Prom 2009

She's so beautiful!

Is it me?

Is it me? I don't know, maybe. Why is it that at least once or twice a week I have to stop by the High School to always drop something off for my daughter? This morning it was her gym clothes. Other morning drop offs include books, lunch money and signed parent forms. I don't remember having to do this with either of my 2 son's. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just that girls have to bring SO much stuff to school with them that fate is not on their side. I am amazed at how much STUFF she brings with her (including MY hair brush!). I don't know, maybe it's just ME!

Do you remember?

To Those of You Born
1930 - 1979

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10 th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with
disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go ahead and delete this.
For the rest of us...pass this on.

Happenings this Week

- North Jersey twice this week...I must be one for punishment
- Heartsine moves office...truck called into duty to move servers
- Kelsie is sad that WDHS play is over
- Church Giving: Mr. and Mrs. Ellenberg
- Seth on FB...its about time
- Abad takes excellent pictures; also at NCAA tourny this weekend with ActionCam
- "G" summit this week
- FoxNation, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Rielly etc
- Layoff's at one of my clients
- Pres Budget...wow!

Beauty and the Beast

The West Deptford High School put on this years spring concert: Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Both Kelsie and Stephanie made the cuts and had parts as "town people" and "flatware". Both roles were ensemble. They put in a lot of long hours and it was worth it. Kathleen and I saw all 4 shows this past weekend. Grand Dad and Grand Mom, Uncle Tim, Aunt Stacey and the girls, Aunt Anne and Lexie, Uncle Carl, Uncle Chris and Aunt Susan all made it to show. It was a big success. Congratulations to cast and crew for a wonderful performance.

Kelsie and Stephanie at Pops and Pasta Night for WDHS

We had a nice time at Pops and Pasta night at the middle school. Kathleen worked the entire night in the back serving food with Karen. Anthony and I sat with Mr. Fanelli and enjoyed the show. Some of the performances included: The Dance Team, Various Vocal Ensembles, Men's Quartet, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Brass and Percussion Ensembles, Jazz Lab (which I thought was the best). We enjoyed all the performances.

Pictures from the event can be found here: http://cazphotos.photo-frame.com/main.php?g2_itemId=83987

Off to Florida for a couple of days (for work)

I am off the Fort Lauderdale Florida for a couple of days for work. It comes in the mist of this seasons largest snow storm thus far. I was able to help out with the shovel duties this time. I will be back home late Wednesday night. Hopefully, most of the snow will be gone on my return, but I'm not counting on it.

Grandfather and Grandmother Ware and Family

I would guess this picture was taken around the late 1960's. I don't know where the picture was taken. Christopher was not yet born at the time of the photo. It looks like we were at a restaurant.

Firefox with "NoScript" is my choice

If you tired of constantly having to run Spyware and Anti-Virus cleaning tools on your computer, let me give you a suggestion for safe web browsing: Use Mozilla Firefox with the NoScript plugin. NoScript prevents website scripts from automatically running when you surf. If you know you are on a "safe" website, you can tell NoScript to allow scripts from that particular site and it will remember it! I've been running this way for quite a while and I am happy to say that the "bad guys" have been locked out. Give it a try!

Facebook Revolution

It feels like the Facebook Revolution is in full production in our household. Kathleen is loving it and reconnecting with old friends. I find myself competing with her to see who can get the most friends. She's going to pass me one of these days, there is no stopping it. In any case, it seems more and more of our friends and family are joining the network. It's really an amazing thing.

Let it snow

Well there be enough snow to build a snowman? I don't know. I know my wife and daughter are hoping so because that also means that there will probably be no school tomorrow. It looks like this will be our first real snow storm of the season. Wow, we might get 3" worth. I like the snow because it means that I can turn on my 4 wheel drive and act like a real trucker.

Happenings this week

- Had to go to North Jersey twice this week
- Kathleen & Patty are Facebookin it
- New pres takes office...good luck with that
- Flanman gets Gallery up and running with a little help from me
- Anthony & Matthew start their 2nd week back at school
- Treats from the sisters of the Incarnation..yum yum
- Looks like Thanksgiving this year with Lyons Clan
- Eagles miss trip to Super Bowl
- New coffee machine is great. Thanks Hay family!

Disney's Mission Space Photo - From 2007