My family...
As you can see here, the first links on the main page, aside from my photo album, are sites that each of my brothers have made for themselves. As you check out each site, you'll see that myself, Mark, Mike and Mario are 4 brothers with different interests at heart. When we were younger, we never agreed with each other on anything, whether it was playing stickball at the local schoolyard on the weekends, listening to a favorite radio station, etc., though we did enjoy playing the old Atari 2600, and even then we would constantly get into fights during those weekend video game marathons, which is why I think that despite our differences yesterday and today, we all get along very well now, even if we see each other for a few times a year.
Mark was born in Philadelphia about 11 months after me. As a young toddler, he had to put up with my playful abuse, as evidenced in one of the Super 8 home movies the family saved onto a DVD recently. During one hot summer, we were playing in a little pool outside of our apartment in Philadelphia and for some reason I kept pouring water on top of Mark's head. Eventually, he got fed up and started crying as my mother kept insisting for me to stop doing it. Yet I continued to do it and he was resigned to sitting there and taking it like a man. Funny stuff indeed. Another fond memory from those "wonder years" is that during Christmas time, I absolutely loved Santa Claus. Mark, on the other hand, was petrified of the big fat jolly man and cried every time he even saw a plastic statue of him. Anyway, growing up in Cherry Hill, NJ some years later, people thought we were alike in many ways, but that wasn't the case at all. We were pretty competitive throughout our growing up years. Anything Mark liked, I didn't and anything I liked, he didn't. It was like fire and water between us...I'm a Leo (the fire sign) and he's a Cancer (the water sign). Bottom line was...we never agreed on most things. I will say this...we weren't always mean-spirited towards each other. We were racing each other on bicycles one hot summer day in 1976 and out of the blue, I hit a bump on the sidewalk, was thrown from the bike, cracked my head onto the street, bleeding profusely and somehow landing under a truck. Mark saw what happened and immediately raced home to get my mother. Here I was, a 9 year old boy, with a blood soaked hand that I got from feeling the back of my injured head. I couldn't see anything as I was in pain, crying uncontrollably as the ambulance raced on over to assist me. I had never mentioned it before to anyone, but I'll be eternally grateful to him for his quick reaction. Mark has also reignited his old childhood hobby of radio control. It all started when Mark and my cousins Jes and Jim were going through some old photographs at the family house a few years ago and in one of the photos, it was the three of them as teenagers holding their gas powered radio control cars. The look in their eyes pretty much inspired them to each purchase a radio controlled motorcycle at the chagrin of their wives. When they do get together, they look for a huge empty lot to ride their radio controlled bikes around a blacktop. Check out Mark's website on the link listed on this page when you get a chance. Today, he's married to Andrea and has two wonderful kids...a daughter named Ariel and a son named Riley, who actually reminds me of Mark as a young toddler. Funny thing is that he teaches them how to play video games and perhaps someday they'll learn how to utilize radio control bikes or cars. Yes, Mark and I still call each other names whether through e-mails, phone calls or in person, but it's all done in good jest out of mutual respect for each other.
Michael was born nearly 15 months after Mark. The earliest memory I can recall is my Dad bringing my brother Mark and me to West Park Hospital in Philadelphia because my mom was giving birth to Mike. He was a small baby and God bless my mother...she suddenly had 3 boys all in diapers! Our relatives used to joke about how the 3 of us were known as "The Three Stooges" because our dad gave us the worst haircuts which was very reminiscent of Moe Howard. Anyway, I never really picked on Mike during those early years because he was a baby and my parents both taught me to treat the baby delicately. Recalling what my mother once said to me a few years ago, Mike was so small as a baby that she took a tip from her older sister Fe and gave him water with sugar to bolster his weight. Well, within a few years, Mike got big. Not obese, but heavy and was labeled "fat" during his childhood. Eventually, he was able to control his weight issues, but today he's the largest of the family. Mike also had a fascination with computers. It all started back in the early 1980s when we all entered a video game contest at the Deptford Mall in New Jersey. I forget what the name of the game was, but it was one of those Atari 2600 games that we constantly played at home. All that practice made us pros at it. We all entered in the same group in the first round and when I look back on it, we should have gone in separately, because we would have taken 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize and monopolized the whole contest. Anyway, Mike won and got an Atari 400 computer as 1st prize. I looked at the prize as nothing more than an advanced video game system, but he made the most out of that thing, learning the computer language Basic and eventually upgrading to the Atari 800. Fast forward some years later and Mike purchased a Mac and really went to town with it. He may have gotten the internet early on in the 1990s and never looked back. He was in the filmmaking business, trying to get his foot in the door, running videotape and film up and down the New Jersey Turnpike between Philadelphia and New York. Eventually, he moved on and developed an interest in art. Some years ago, Mike enrolled at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. He's gotten very good at his painting. Heck, I remember attending the opening of one of his exhibits a few years ago and as I browsed around at the different paintings and sculptures throughout the facility, I absolutely had no clue or aptitude for the arts in general. But I also recall a time when he'd be in the basement of the family's house and working on some of his paintings. Anyway, at the end of the art show, I found out that one of his paintings had been sold for a few hundred dollars. Whoa! What was that all about? I'm sure he's made a good chunk of change over the years since taking up art, as I'm sure he's found his calling. Today, he's continuing his passion for art and has a cat that he rescued from a shelter named Phoebe.
Mario is the youngest one of the bunch. He was born nearly 5 years after Mike. At that point, our family had already moved from the Fairmount Park section of Philadelphia to the suburbs of Cherry Hill, NJ. As a young child, Mario had to endure the "older brother bullying" from myself, Mark and Mike as we were all growing up. I think Mario connected to Mike the most as they shared some things in common. They both enjoyed watching the Philadelphia Flyers and the rest of the National Hockey League. And like Mike, Mario got himself an Apple Macintosh and got really deep into its workings and functionality. It was far different from Windows; he'd even tell you to throw away your Windows PC and get a Mac. However, Mario will forever be known as the one who could play piano. My dad convinced him to take up lessons when he was just 7 years old. Since then, and some tough encouragement through the years, Mario has become quite proficient as a player. His recitals usually contain about two or three of these long classical compositions held in auditoriums, but I remember many times during those parties with the many relatives at the house, Mario would be asked to play a few pieces in the living room on the baby grand. It was like having a little piano concert in the living room. He also has been giving private lessons, teaching them his craft that has been a major part of his life. Today, Mario is working towards his PhD at University of Oklahoma, is married to Gina and has a son named Antonio.
Well, that's my family in a nutshell. We don't really see each other much these days, but thanks to the internet, e-mail keeps us in touch with each other. And of course, there's the holidays, vacations and other little get-togethers that puts the competitive spirit between us when we play the classic Atari 2600 or the current Playstation 2 video games.
Mark was born in Philadelphia about 11 months after me. As a young toddler, he had to put up with my playful abuse, as evidenced in one of the Super 8 home movies the family saved onto a DVD recently. During one hot summer, we were playing in a little pool outside of our apartment in Philadelphia and for some reason I kept pouring water on top of Mark's head. Eventually, he got fed up and started crying as my mother kept insisting for me to stop doing it. Yet I continued to do it and he was resigned to sitting there and taking it like a man. Funny stuff indeed. Another fond memory from those "wonder years" is that during Christmas time, I absolutely loved Santa Claus. Mark, on the other hand, was petrified of the big fat jolly man and cried every time he even saw a plastic statue of him. Anyway, growing up in Cherry Hill, NJ some years later, people thought we were alike in many ways, but that wasn't the case at all. We were pretty competitive throughout our growing up years. Anything Mark liked, I didn't and anything I liked, he didn't. It was like fire and water between us...I'm a Leo (the fire sign) and he's a Cancer (the water sign). Bottom line was...we never agreed on most things. I will say this...we weren't always mean-spirited towards each other. We were racing each other on bicycles one hot summer day in 1976 and out of the blue, I hit a bump on the sidewalk, was thrown from the bike, cracked my head onto the street, bleeding profusely and somehow landing under a truck. Mark saw what happened and immediately raced home to get my mother. Here I was, a 9 year old boy, with a blood soaked hand that I got from feeling the back of my injured head. I couldn't see anything as I was in pain, crying uncontrollably as the ambulance raced on over to assist me. I had never mentioned it before to anyone, but I'll be eternally grateful to him for his quick reaction. Mark has also reignited his old childhood hobby of radio control. It all started when Mark and my cousins Jes and Jim were going through some old photographs at the family house a few years ago and in one of the photos, it was the three of them as teenagers holding their gas powered radio control cars. The look in their eyes pretty much inspired them to each purchase a radio controlled motorcycle at the chagrin of their wives. When they do get together, they look for a huge empty lot to ride their radio controlled bikes around a blacktop. Check out Mark's website on the link listed on this page when you get a chance. Today, he's married to Andrea and has two wonderful kids...a daughter named Ariel and a son named Riley, who actually reminds me of Mark as a young toddler. Funny thing is that he teaches them how to play video games and perhaps someday they'll learn how to utilize radio control bikes or cars. Yes, Mark and I still call each other names whether through e-mails, phone calls or in person, but it's all done in good jest out of mutual respect for each other.
Michael was born nearly 15 months after Mark. The earliest memory I can recall is my Dad bringing my brother Mark and me to West Park Hospital in Philadelphia because my mom was giving birth to Mike. He was a small baby and God bless my mother...she suddenly had 3 boys all in diapers! Our relatives used to joke about how the 3 of us were known as "The Three Stooges" because our dad gave us the worst haircuts which was very reminiscent of Moe Howard. Anyway, I never really picked on Mike during those early years because he was a baby and my parents both taught me to treat the baby delicately. Recalling what my mother once said to me a few years ago, Mike was so small as a baby that she took a tip from her older sister Fe and gave him water with sugar to bolster his weight. Well, within a few years, Mike got big. Not obese, but heavy and was labeled "fat" during his childhood. Eventually, he was able to control his weight issues, but today he's the largest of the family. Mike also had a fascination with computers. It all started back in the early 1980s when we all entered a video game contest at the Deptford Mall in New Jersey. I forget what the name of the game was, but it was one of those Atari 2600 games that we constantly played at home. All that practice made us pros at it. We all entered in the same group in the first round and when I look back on it, we should have gone in separately, because we would have taken 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize and monopolized the whole contest. Anyway, Mike won and got an Atari 400 computer as 1st prize. I looked at the prize as nothing more than an advanced video game system, but he made the most out of that thing, learning the computer language Basic and eventually upgrading to the Atari 800. Fast forward some years later and Mike purchased a Mac and really went to town with it. He may have gotten the internet early on in the 1990s and never looked back. He was in the filmmaking business, trying to get his foot in the door, running videotape and film up and down the New Jersey Turnpike between Philadelphia and New York. Eventually, he moved on and developed an interest in art. Some years ago, Mike enrolled at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. He's gotten very good at his painting. Heck, I remember attending the opening of one of his exhibits a few years ago and as I browsed around at the different paintings and sculptures throughout the facility, I absolutely had no clue or aptitude for the arts in general. But I also recall a time when he'd be in the basement of the family's house and working on some of his paintings. Anyway, at the end of the art show, I found out that one of his paintings had been sold for a few hundred dollars. Whoa! What was that all about? I'm sure he's made a good chunk of change over the years since taking up art, as I'm sure he's found his calling. Today, he's continuing his passion for art and has a cat that he rescued from a shelter named Phoebe.
Mario is the youngest one of the bunch. He was born nearly 5 years after Mike. At that point, our family had already moved from the Fairmount Park section of Philadelphia to the suburbs of Cherry Hill, NJ. As a young child, Mario had to endure the "older brother bullying" from myself, Mark and Mike as we were all growing up. I think Mario connected to Mike the most as they shared some things in common. They both enjoyed watching the Philadelphia Flyers and the rest of the National Hockey League. And like Mike, Mario got himself an Apple Macintosh and got really deep into its workings and functionality. It was far different from Windows; he'd even tell you to throw away your Windows PC and get a Mac. However, Mario will forever be known as the one who could play piano. My dad convinced him to take up lessons when he was just 7 years old. Since then, and some tough encouragement through the years, Mario has become quite proficient as a player. His recitals usually contain about two or three of these long classical compositions held in auditoriums, but I remember many times during those parties with the many relatives at the house, Mario would be asked to play a few pieces in the living room on the baby grand. It was like having a little piano concert in the living room. He also has been giving private lessons, teaching them his craft that has been a major part of his life. Today, Mario is working towards his PhD at University of Oklahoma, is married to Gina and has a son named Antonio.
Well, that's my family in a nutshell. We don't really see each other much these days, but thanks to the internet, e-mail keeps us in touch with each other. And of course, there's the holidays, vacations and other little get-togethers that puts the competitive spirit between us when we play the classic Atari 2600 or the current Playstation 2 video games.
posted by Mel at 2:40 PM
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