Happy Thanksgiving Day!

We had a wonderful time at Tim and Stacey's home for Thanksgiving. The turkey turned out perfect and so did his twice baked mash potatoes! No food disasters at all. It was a very good day capped off with an Eagles win over the Cardinals!

Turkey Day preparations are under way!

Tomorrow the family his heading to Uncle Tim and Aunt Stacey's home for Thanksgiving. Uncle Tim has never cooked a turkey before so this should be very interesting. Kathleen and I are preparing several dishes. I am personally responsible for the Pecan Pie. My sister Linda sent me her recipe so I am hoping everything turns out OK. In any case, I hope everyone has a super day filled with plenty of food and good football.

Comcast Building in downtown Philadelphia

The first snow of the 2008

Taken early this morning before I started on my way into work. We only got about a half an inch. The surrounding tri-state area got between 2" to a coding. It's been a cold November thus far. I believe it is one of the coldest on record. Anyway, I'll have to wait until the next snow before I can think about building a snowman.

Ben Stein thoughts...Do you agree?

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house inMalibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from thatAmerica is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on
your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they
will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

Disney On Ice Show 1993

Granddad and Grandmom Casazza have been treating their grandchildren to Disney On Ice shows for over 15 years! In this photo, Anthony, Jake , Peter and Uncle Peter pose for a quick picture. The Christmas treat always included dinner, prior to the show, dessert after the show as well as a show catalog and toy. The grandchildren will always remember this special time during their lives.

A Fun Night of Bowling

Spent a couple of hours with 6 teenagers and 2 other adults at the bowling lanes last night. Money raised went to kids college scholarship funds, We enjoyed good food and good conversation as well as some funny bowling styles (including mine).

Happenings this week

• WD School Board Meeting
• Matthew helps out the Special Olympics
• Christopher & Jimmy are blogging
• I don't know if my son Anthony is still alive
• Kelsie + Choir = Too Many Fund Raisers
• Its Parkview night at Chuckie Cheese
• Why can't something as simply as Faxing work over Vonage?
• Winkflash is cool
• Gas price = $2.00 /Gal !!
• Marriage is the union of a man and a woman
  

Raking Leaves

It use to be that when I raked leaves, I put them in BIG piles and then, out of no where, I'd hear the sound of one or more children crashing and vaporizing my piles. "Hey Dad, can you build it up again?" they would asked. Who was I to let them down. Sometimes, I would have to show them how to crash causing the biggest spread of leaves ever! What fun it was.

Now days raking the leaves means getting them out to the curb, just in time for leaf pickup and taking a couple of days easy to rehab. My guess is that someday, I will have grandchildren who will need to be shown the art of crashing and vaporizing the leaf piles.

Casazza Family Hams

This is my wonderful family down in Maryland for Tommy and Anna's wedding. What a bunch of Hams we are!

Anna and Tommy's Wedding - 11/1/2008

It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day for a wedding. Anna & Tommy got married at Episcopal Christ Church in West River, MD. We had almost everyone there; Pat, Erin and Megan were missed. Katie and Abbie looked beautiful. It was also nice to catch up with Aunt Lucy and Uncle Georgie. It was a day to remember.

Anthony and Matthew playing in the backyard - 1996

More videos coming...

Phillies 2008 Video - Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np7mBZzgyYg

"Just Look"

This article, by Cardinal Egan, explains the Pro Life argument from the Catholic Church in its simplest form. I encourage you to read.

http://www.cny.org/archive/eg/eg102308.htm

Watch this video on MLB.com

Blanton Home Run Video

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200810263646924

Photo Moment - October 1991

Going left to right, Peter, Anthony, Matthew, Elizabeth, Jacob, Drew and Alise. This picture was taken at Woodcrest train station in NJ. As far as I can remember we were taking the kids into Philly to the light show at Wanamaker's.

Happenings This Week

- I celebrated another birthday :)
- Anthony calls me at 12:03AM to wish me a Happy Birthday!
- Matthew calls me at 11:45PM to wish me a Happy Birthday!
- Kelsie & Mommy make me Lasagna and Chocolate Cake...YUMMMY
- The Phillies lose game 2 of World Series..Tied 1-1
- St Matthew's needs help with their Internet connection (Sr. Lucy)
- $170 for Truck Air Controls, $107 for Blower Motor Resistor, $30 for advise...still not working
- Pass the Pigs at Sunday Breakfast....Will I ever win?
- Almost done scanning

Happy Birthday to ME!

Please sent lots of money and expensive gifts.

Photo Moment

This is the Amtrak building in Philadelphia. I took this as I was driving by it on my way home from a client.

Happenings This Week

- Phillies win the Pennant!
- Last Presidential debate (almost down with all this political junk)
- ipod causes Julie's new computer not to boot
- Google Apps is so cool
- Matthew is coming home this weekend
- Tommy asked me to be in his wedding! Time to get measured for Tux.
- Red Sox's pull out miracle win in game 5...wow
- Mfon has a baby boy! Congrats

Phillies are a better team

This article from LA Times journalist. Enjoy Phillies fams!

It's unbelievable, truly unbelievable.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-newhan15-2008oct15,0,2366031.story

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

To scan or not to scan...that is the question

I've been very busy lately trying to get all the family (both Casazza and Ware) pictures on the website These pictures are from a scanning project that I started by in 2003. My dad had the idea to collect all the photo's from Uncle Tony and Cousin Pete and get them scan and put on CD's. I was happy to assist. I was actually able to create CD and thumbnail albums for all 3 families. During this project it also made sense to collect my mother's pictures from her side but I never really got a chance to complete the scanning of these photo's. So that's what I am doing now. In the end, everyone in the family will have a place to go to look up and download old family pictures. My Grandmother's photo albums are very interesting because she wrote many comments next to many of the pictures.

Homecoming Dance

Kelsie had her first Homecoming dance at the high school last night. She looked so beautiful. It's hard to believe that my little girl has grown up. We took pictures over at the Capri's house with Ali and Stephanie. Kathleen and Patty (the PTO) worked the event. I was able to stop by and see everyone. It was a very nice affair.

Phillies take game 1 of NLCS

Philadelphia, which led the National League with 214 home runs in 2008, banged its way to victory against one of baseball's stingiest pitchers. Lowe had surrendered just 14 home runs in 211 regular-season innings, but three in the postseason.

Before the first of the two home runs Lowe surrendered, there was Shane Victorino grounding weakly to Rafael Furcal and speeding down the line. The shortstop fielded the chopper, but threw high to first baseman James Loney for an error.

That ball hit by Victorino, like many others thrown by Lowe through the first five innings, had induced ground ball after ground ball. Fourteen of the 15 outs Lowe recorded came on the ground, giving the night the feel of something that might not work out for Philadelphia.

Furcal's error sparked the Phillies.

"I saw Loney reaching up, and said to myself, 'What's happening here?'" Victorino said. "I wanted to make sure I could get to second."

One pitch later, Victorino was waiting for Chase Utley at home plate. One of Utley's patented drives floated out to right, tying the score at 2.

"I was trying to get him over, no matter what, I was getting him over to third base," Utley said. "[I] squared a sinker up and it went over the fence. For Derek Lowe it was up, but it wasn't that bad of a pitch."

With barely enough time to settle, Pat Burrell sent the crowd into a frenzy with a rainbow into the left-field seats. Manny Ramirez peeked over his shoulder to watch, but there was no doubt it was gone.

Cue the disgusted look, the one a pitcher makes when fly ball finds the seats.

"He basically made two mistakes," Victorino said. "Things happen quick in this game. Momentum can shift on a simple mistake, a big home run, or big pitch."

Ken Mandel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Memory Moment

This is my dad (right) and my Uncle Tony (his brother) probably around the mid to late 1930's. My guess is that they are in Scarsdale NY at Uncle Caesar's home. My father and his family would make this trek every Easter. Uncle Caesar is my father's mother brother who also happen to live in the same building at 645 40th St, Brooklyn, NY. This picture was scanned from my Cousin Pete's photos back in 2003. Many more of these photos can be viewed on my family's photo website at http://cazphotos.photo-frame.com. Enjoy!