Go Elf Yourself

Still holed up in New York City for work. I've been staying in some of the dingiest 2-star hotels New York has to offer because my company is too cheap to pay for anything better. I think I hit a low point last night drinking scotch in a Best Western in Brooklyn with a doctor (still in scrubs), an orthodox Jew in a large black hat, a guy blaring country music from his laptop, and an African-American transvestite who was at least 275 pounds. A true melting pot. If that sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, just think what if feels like to be living it. But today's Thursday, and I get to go home, so I'm pretty stoked. Plus, Joy's nephew, Andy, just put me in a great mood by sending me this Flash movie that, well, just watch it.

Cassie's Favorite Photo

What a handsome Grandpa, don't you think?
Baby Avalyn 4 days old
Born October 23, 2007
8lbs 8oz, 19 inches long

Papa Joe and Tay Tay

This is me and Taylor my second grandchild. This picture was taken at Logan's fifth birthday party on November 18th. It's hard to believe she's three and a half!

She's so cute.

Every family seems to have one child that is a "ball of fire," and she is ours!

It's A Girl!

We have been blessed with girls in this family to say the least. Avalyn was born to Jessica and Quentin on October 23, and she is a beauty!

We have been proud Grandparents [ick!] of two others,Logan and Taylor, and this is our third. We have been privileged to watch her already, and truly enjoy each moment.

Christmas is a season for children, and we will enjoy it immensely as I'm sure you will.

Happy Holidays to All!

Back to New York

I'm back on the road again for work. This time, I have to travel to New York Monday through Thursday each week, at least through December. Luckily, Burlington has a decent airport. Un-luckily, that means getting up at 4:30 in the morning each Monday to head down. I'll get into the groove of things like I usually do, but this time it seems a lot harder leaving the girls at home. I'll have to coerce Joy into posting more about what they're all doing each day, only this time I'll be reading along with you.

The shot at the right was taken from my perch on the 43rd floor of the Standard & Poors building downtown. This particular day, the fog was rolling in across the bay, making it seem like I was actually above the clouds. Pretty freaky.

Happy Birthday, Tina!

OK, technically it was yesterday, but when you're that age, what's another day? Am I right? Anyway, this is the only picture I could find of Tina smiling, so enjoy your weekend, birthday girl! We love ya.

Spooky and the Bear

Halloween 2007 (1)
Originally uploaded by Volzer

Well, here are the Halloween pictures. Finally. Your angry letters and emails have been heard. We warn you though, they aren't for the feint of heart. Ruby looks positively scary in these, so much so that at the costume party she went to, she ended up scaring some of the other kids. We also realize that Vivian's bear costume, though cute, is really just a pair of footie pajamas and not a costume at all. But it was either that or a geisha dress, and you'll just have to wait till Christmas to see her in that. Besides, she wanted to be a bear, and who are we to argue?

Ruby the Photographer

Lately, we've been letting Ruby play around with our old brick of a digital camera, the one that sports less megapixels than my current cell phone camera. I posted a bunch of them up on Flickr, leaving out the numerous (I mean, numerous) photographs of our beige shag carpet and beige walls. Her basic method is to turn on the camera and start snapping pics randomly as she walks around the house. Cup? Snap. Foot? Snap. Vivian? Got it. Still, it's pretty hilarious and interesting (to us, anyway) to see what a 3-year-old kid finds interesting, not to mention seeing a bunch of pictures taken about 30 inches off the ground. Enjoy!

Happy Belated Birthday, Michael!

I'm slacking off already on blog posting, but according to my sources, yesterday, Michael Vernier turned 31. Can that be right? Here's hoping you had a good time and didn't eat too much cake. At this age, it doesn't come off...

Let the healing begin...

It's so sad to see your own family torn apart by petty squabbling. I mean, so what if the Indians seemed to have the series locked up and then let it all slip away. And so what if any chance for turning it around in the final game ended with some lousy direction from the third base coach. Still, as I've told Vivian a thousand times, that's no reason to gloat. But you know her, she's a trash talker. I just hope this family can come together and start the healing.

Don't Let Autumn Pass You By!

This is my very favorite time of year! I usually try to take a week off this time of year, and this fall is no exception.

This year I hiked several small trails at Hueston-Brumbaugh nature preserve. It is an outpost for learning and study for Mount Union College. They have well laid out trails and a wonderful nature center with bird observatory.

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." Siddhartha Buddha

Kill Junk Mail Dead by Opting Out

A while back, I joined the Do Not Call Registry, and now, for the most part, I can enjoy dinner uninterrupted (minus the occasional screaming infant). Somehow, Ohio University can still find me and hit us up for money, no matter where we move, but that's perhaps the only exception.

Still, there are lots more ways to "opt out" of these mailing lists and prevent your credit card companies, banks and credit agencies from sharing your personal information with every mail order catalog and mortgage refinancing firm known to man. The World Privacy Forum has created an extremely useful list of their Top 10 Opt-Outs, with detailed instructions on how to do it. Most can be done by phone or online. Take back your personal information, and save a few trees doing it.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to Joey and Steve! My gift to you is Public Embarrassment! (You lucked out, Steve. I don't have a sufficiently embarrassing pic of you.) I won't hazard a guess as to their ages, so we'll just leave it at "well into their 40s." Have fun, tonight. Maybe you'll have some pics of your own to share tomorrow?

'Nuther tech tip: Facebook

So I started a Facebook profile. Facebook is yet another social networking site, allowing you to connect up with friends and family. It's very popular at the moment, and in my opinion, has a much better design than MySpace, it's chief rival. Where MySpace has carved out a niche with teenagers (no offense Patrick) and rockers (no offense Steve), Facebook seems to be catering to older people who don't rock, or more accurately, who just rock less and in their own quiet way.

Anyway, it's easy and free to join and start finding people to add to your network. Basically, the site will scan your email list and compare it to Facebook's list of registered users. If there are matches, you can ask if they want to add you as a friend, and you're off to the races. So far, Michelle's the only family member I've found to link to, but I also immediately found a bunch of friends and co-workers I didn't even know had accounts. Pretty cool.

By the way, thanks for posting, Joe! If any of you want to be added to the author list, let me know. This is a democratic blog and family participation is encouraged!

This poem can define a life!

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

The Family Tree

Part of what I'd like to do here is communicate some interesting ways that technology can help to keep us more in touch with each other. Some of you have already visited the family tree I set up on Geni, a genealogy site--a big thanks to Tina for serving as resident historian and filling out most of the branches.

Besides offering some pretty snazzy visuals and tools for extending the tree, Geni is also a social networking site. Basically, this means that you can fill out and share personal information, photos, interests, contact info and the like with people in your network. Though with some social networking sites like MySpace, you end up with a zillion friends you don't even know, Geni is different in the sense that your network is limited to your family members. Registration is free, and you can always opt out of receiving any email. If you're interested, drop me a line and I'll be happy to add you to the network. Once added, you can begin to fill out your sections of the family tree, and the network grows.

Hello.

Indian Brook (35)
Originally uploaded by Volzer

Hi all. Welcome to the site. If you're here it's because a) you're on my Family email list, or b) you've made a terrible mistake. I've started and stopped this blog no less than three times, so I can't promise that I'll keep up with it. Anyone who knows me knows that I am downright negligent when it comes to calling, writing or sharing photos and video. Hopefully this will change all that, however briefly.

We've been through a lot this summer as a family: moving from Massachusetts to Vermont, Ruby starting pre-school, and Vivian being born. Not bad for less than six months. As summer comes to a close, it feels like we've finally settled in enough to enjoy the new environs. We've had lots of friends and family coming through, and we've enjoyed some wonderful hikes.

If you're interested in hearing more about the life we're creating here, seeing pictures of the little ones, or gleaning the occasional technology tip, then feel free to drop in from time to time. I may even have added a new post. For now, catch up on Vivian and Ruby's latest pics.