Ravenweb Blog

To all my extended colleagues and connections, Many of you already know, but I wanted put up a short post to announce that Friday, January 28 will be my last day at Moog , and I'll be starting a new full-time position with my parent company ( the Superior Group ) next week. I'm excited about my new position. In my new role for Superior, I’ll be working as Brand and Business Innovation manager for the company and be responsible for the creation, development, and maturation of new ideas and driving innovation for the business. I’ll also lead initiatives as they pertain to branding, online marketing, and our intranet and public web properties. Thanks to everyone for all the support over the years and through my recent job transition.

2010 was an eventful and transitional year for me, with highs and lows, and moments of happiness and sadness. January I started the year determined to branch out professionally from managing technical projects in the web/tech space. In an effort to make new contacts and connect with unusual suspects, I finally embraced social media, and created accounts on LinkedIn and Twitter . Gradually, I met many new, interesting people, and really became energized about work and professional networking. April In April, my mother passed after a long illness. I felt the full gamut of emotions: grief that my mother had passed, relief that she was no longer in pain, sorrow that my daughter's time with her grandmother was so short, and resolve, to go out and embrace life.   In October, on the date of her birthday, I posted some of my memories of my mother . May Toward the end of Spring, I joined the Reserve Hose Fire Company . I'd been looking for a way to give back to my communit...

Today would have been my mother's 72nd birthday. While she passed earlier this year, she's still very much with me. As I celebrate her birthday and life today, I thought it fitting to share some of my memories of her with others. The following was originally presented as a eulogy at my mother's funeral on April 6, 2010. ## The temperature was 81° degrees when I got to the hospital on Friday afternoon, shortly after I received a call that my mother’s condition had taken a serious turn for the worse. It felt like a collision of opposites: my mom on her deathbed and a beautiful and unseasonably sunny day. But then I remembered how much my mother used to love being outside and it all began to make sense. Whether it was planting or pruning, weeding or walking, or just enjoying the sunshine or a mild breeze, my mom came alive when she was outside.  So it was no surprise that my mother’s last day was also the warmest day of the year to date. It was as if the Earth and all of...

My daughter turns three on September 9th. Her personality is really beginning to develop now, and everyday my wife and I are greeted with new sentences, vocabulary, and concepts that she has mastered. She's also navigating her way through a full range of mannerisms and emotions. One moment she might hold her white teddy bear "Pickles" close and give him a big, expressive hug. Then, in the next, after I've asked her to do something, she might react quite differently. "Cecilia, it's time for dinner. Let's put your toy away and get in your chair." "Daddy, no. Last one," she often says. "Honey, time for dinner." "No. No dinner. NO!" In these moments, while I sometimes feel exasperation depending on the particular outburst and duration, I mostly find myself smiling and wondering if these expressive moments foreshadow the personality traits my daughter will exhibit as she gets older. The possibilities seem endless ...

My 20 year high school reunion was held this past weekend. Though unfortunately I didn't learn of the reunion until just last week, I was able to attend one of the three weekend events. I went to the Friday night icebreaker at a local restaurant-bar, and I'm glad I went. It was great seeing so many faces and talking to people from my formative years. What's more, most of my former classmates looked great, appeared to be in good health, and were very friendly. I talked not only with people I knew well in high school, but also some people I knew of. It was that kind of night. People were happy and really open to the event. I did attend my 10 year reunion as well, but that seems like a lifetime ago, as so much has changed in my life since then (wife, house, baby). Anyway, if anyone is oscillating about attending an upcoming reunion, I would encourage that you go. Of course, in my case, I neither loved nor hated high school and I had only a few close friends (although I was fri...

Just wanted to take a little time out today to acknowledge how very thankful I am for everything that's happened this year. It's been a year of huge change, with a new house and baby, and I'm really thankful we've had the means to purchase and remodel a house and the good fortune of a healthy pregnancy and baby. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Please join us in welcoming .... Cecilia Eve Gullo Born: September 9, 2007 at 9:30 pm (est). Weight: 7 pounds, 1 ounce Length: 20 and a quarter inches We are overjoyed. Frank and Cecily

We have moved and are now living in our new house! Not all of the renovations are complete yet, but we're nearly done and think we just might have everything finished before the baby arrives.

We closed on our home last Friday (6/8) and are now property owners! Now the fun begins as we prepare to replace all the flooring, paint, clean, and cram in a kitchen remodel in three months before our baby arrives. Wish us luck!

We took some pictures of our new house during the home inspection last week. Enjoy! Some pictures of the front. Trees! The attached garage: Two views of our yard:

As I mentioned a few days ago, we bought a house. The property is in West Seneca, NY (a suburb of Buffalo, NY), just a few blocks from where we live now. The house is a 1700 square feet raised ranch, with three bedrooms and two and a half baths on a nice over-sized corner lot. I'll post some pictures soon.

Details to follow.