I am Joe Barr, and this is a site dedicated to me and my family
Carmen is our daughter, and our first born. Anna gave birth to her on February 12, 2004 at 2pm. Carmen weighed 8lbs 7oz, and was 20 inches in length. Here is a picture; to see more, visit the new Carmen Winter page.
On Christmas Eve of 2001, we lost a true hero, a patriot, and a veteran of WWII. I have dedicated a Memorial Page to my grandfather, Robert Zimmerman. To enter the Bob Zimmerman Memorial Page, Click Here. Please note this page is still under construction, so I apologize for the light content.
To see images of Fall in West Lafayette, Click Here!
Here is a picture of my beautiful wife, Anna.
As you all know, Anna and I married on 06/30/2001. You could not have asked for nicer, sunnier weather, or more beautiful scenery. I hope to add wedding pictures to the site as I get them scanned in. The page will be rather large when completed, but right now my scanner is totally jacked up.
Here is a picture of my wife Anna and I. Is she not the most beautiful woman in the world?Click on the image>>>
to see the new Anna & Joe Family Web page.
In July of 2002 we became homeowners! To see pictures of our home, visit the Anna & Joe Family Web page.
If you would like to make a comment or suggestion, please let me know. However, the site has been acting up lately, and I think I need to do some work on this form. Some messages are not getting through.
I know the fields don't reset, but the form did submit, I assure you! It may be some time before this is updated again. I will need to learn more about processing forms, and how to reset them after submittal.
I have thrown together some images of Rock-n-Roll for your enjoyment. Simply click on the link below to move on to the next page.
To view Joe's Rock-n-Roll hall of fame, Click Here!
In 2001, my sister Becky had a baby boy, which officially made me an uncle. My nephew's name is Jacob Burgess Chase, and here is his picture at 4 weeks.
Isn't Jake cute?!
He wasn't an easy birth, according to his mother, but she did say she would do it all over again. True to her word, Becky had a second son, Josh, in 2002. Then, just 3 months before Carmen was born, Becky and Lesli (Rob's wife) each had a girl.
Here is a photo of Jacob with his Uncle Joey.
The second addition to the Chase household is Joshua Vincent Chase. Below is a shot of me and Josh. To the right is me and a slightly older Jacob.
I'm going to work on an Ohio State Buckeye football page, full of historical stats and photos of our beloved Buckeyes.
I am not one to ignore history. Later I will link a page to this image to commemorate the most highly decorated unit in military history, my beloved 3rd ID.
To the right is our Division crest adorned with the words of that commanding general in WWI. When asked by a French commander if U.S. forces from the 3rd Division could hold off the German offensive at the Marne river, he replied "Nous Resterons La" meaning "We shall remain there".
To view a page dedicated to my gun collecting hobby, click on Joe's Arsenal!
Journal entries
12/25/2000: Working on Christmas...go figure. After tomorrow's brief respite, it's back to work. Getting ready for the MLB launch, and continuing with my Networking class at DeVry. Due to the new tuition reimbursement policy, I may be finished with school for the year.
02/10/2001: Working on a Saturday, but not for much longer. Bad news. My PC's hard drive (at home) crashed, which means that I will not be able to add any scanned pictures for the time being.
05/15/2001: MLB.com has turned into quite a ride! They changed their FEP to some jerkoff company called Digital River. They are terrible (and a competitor), and they are obviously trying to take over Customer Response.
07/15/2001: Working on a Sunday. Yippie. It's all good, though. Things have reall heated up at work as we head into Q4. Got married June 30th down at Shawnee. Will have pictures to show very soon, so stay tuned!
08/17/2001: Sadly, I am no longer with SubmitOrder, Inc. On August 4th, the company that I helped pioneer from its infancy, saw fit to terminate my employment due to a reduction in workforce. A total of fifty people were laid off that week. After 2 and a half years of blood, sweat and tears, it was like I lost part of my family.
09/11/2001: Today is a day that will live in infamy. The two World Trade center towers in New York were attacked and destroyed by 2 terrorist-hijacked planes. The Pentagon was also attacked and severely damaged by another hijacked airliner, and a 4th plane was hijacked and crashed in Pennsylvania. Looks like another psycho, Islamic nutjob organization is probably responsible. The American people will demand swift and brutal retribution for this crime.
12/02/2001: Much to catch up on. Sorry for the delay in postings; I have been very busy looking for a job. Last week saw the beginning of a new era for the Ohio State Buckeye football program. Under coach Tressel, the Buckeyes went up to Ann Arbor and kicked the shit out of Michigan. It was a great day.
12/20/2001: Well, we are official residents of West Lafayette, Indiana. I like the town, even though it's about 10 years behind Columbus. The city is rather quaint, and obviously a lot more quiet than C-bus, which I enjoy. However it will take some adjusting. My cat, Dio, got stuck inside the engine compartment of my neighbor's minivan the other night. Apparently the animals have some "adjusting" to do as well. It's been harder on them than one might think.
01/06/2002: Happy New Year! The holidays were great; thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts. It was a wonderful holiday season, even though the Buckeyes lost on New Year's Day to South Carolina (again). Although we lost, you can really tell this is a different team. Tressel's Buckeyes are a much more spirited, disciplined and poised group. After falling behind 28-0 in the first half, they battled back to tie the game in the 4th. The Gamecocks won only after intercepting Bellisari, and closing in for a game winning field goal as time expired. As always, "JUST WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR!!!".
01/21/2002: Not a whole lot of great news. Work is going well for me at MED Institute. Still love my job. As you may notice, I've been trying to update and streamline the site while continuing to add new content. There are still a lot of images I would like to add, but I have to fix my scanner first; it's quirky. Wintertime in West Lafayette...yeah, I'm getting a lot of fusball practice. Getting some things together for Grad school next fall. Purdue is looking better and better.
03/15/2002: Nothing really new to report. It's March madness, and NCAA tournament time. After winning the Big Ten tournament, Ohio State is now playing in the Big Dance. The Buckeyes made it past round 1, but just barely. When they are at the top of their game they really are a formidable team. Tomorrow Anna and I are headed back to C-bus for Bartony's wedding, and for Dad's birthday; should be fun. Tonight I'm going to try and fix the scanner so I can begin working on our wedding page.
05/14/2002: It looks like the scanner could be dead. I've uninstalled and re-installed the software several times to no avail. It could be a while before I have enough $$ for a new one. This means no wedding pics, no more pics of Bob, and basically limits me to recent digital pictures. Sorry. Check out the Joe & Anna page for pictures of the house Anna and I are trying to buy. No word yet, but we hope to know something by this week. It's a very quaint little house and we are READY to be homeowners!
11/18/2002: We are homeowners finally. Moved in this past June. We've been crazy busy doing work on the house, both inside and out. Haven't had time to update the site much, but all is well. Work is great, and Buckeye football is finally winding down. What a great season it has been. We are 12-0 headed into the final confrontation of the season with team up north. This is for a chance to play in the national championship. Go Bucks!
04/04/2003: As you will be able to see from my Buckeye photo page, the Buckeyes are officially the "Best Damn Team in the Land". 2002 National Champions. It is truly a great time to be a Buckeye. 11/05/2003: Oops. I let way too much time go by without updating. Sorry about that. Missed the whole summer. It was a fairly uneventful summer although 2 of Anna's friends (Stacey and Amy) did get hitched. I guess the biggest news was Anna getting pregnant. Our baby girl, Carmen, is due on February 11, 2004. Life is good. Time to add some content.
02/17/2004: Carmen is here! I will be adding pictures over the next few days. Life is good, even though I have to return to work, and Anna must return to school. Work is going well (I will be assuming CRA duties now), and Anna is doing well in school. Jorita has been here since late January, and Mom arrived last Friday and will leave tomorrow. It has been nice having the extra help here. I think Jorita will be staying until March. Becky, Olivia, Rob, Lesli and Megan were here over the weekend for a visit. That was a lot of fun. We haven't seen Dad and Judy yet, as they just returned from vacation in Mexico. On a sad note, my faithful longtime companion Ozzie died at the end of January, exactly 2 weeks before Carmen was born. The birth of Carmen helps, but I miss Ozzie badly. I understand why people choose not to be pet owners. The pain from that loss is almost unbearable.
04/19/2004: So far, so good. Carmen is growing like a weed, and seems to be as healthy as can be. She sleeps through the night for the most part, and is overall a very happy baby. I put in my 2 weeks' notice at MED. Got a really great job offer from a company out in California called Integrium. I will be a Regional CRA for phase III and IV pharmaceutical trials. I have to undergo a 2 week training course in Orange County starting on May 10th. I am excited to get started.
04/30/2005: Carmen is the best. She is almost 15 months old now, and just as cute as can be. I'll throw some pictures up on here soon. My job with Integrium is going well. I am about to start my 2nd pharmaceutical trial in the next week and a half. In fact, I'll be in NJ for training on May 10th-12th. This next one will be a phase III trial. Should be interesting.
01/22/2006: Oops. Sorry for the looooong gap in entries. Life is good. My Buckeyes had another good season. We lost 2 games (to NC Texas, and #3 PSU) but we beat ttun again, and we defeated Notre Dame to win our 3rd Fiesta Bowl in 4 years. The annual beat-down of Michigan is beginning to become a regular occurance. I love it. Carmen is almost 2 years old, and she has tons of personality to go along with her good looks. She is very close to her daddy. It's winter time, and I can tell she's getting cabin fever (poor thing). I see from my last entry I was about to start a phase III study. That went well, but I've decided to move on. Tomorrow I start my employment with Medtronic Sofamor Danek. I'm very excited about this opportunity to work for one of the premier device manufacturers in the world. I am very appreciative for the opportunity given me by Integrium, but I was having serious concerns about the viability of that company. Anyway, aside from the pay increase, Medtronic offers me so many advantages over Integrium, it would have been irresponsible to decline. Perhaps during these next 10 days in Memphis I will have more time to update this website. Tchuss!
05/09/2006: Spring is finally here. Life is good. Anna is pregnant again, and due on July 22nd. It's a boy this time. We are both thrilled, though a little nervous about the increased workload. We have decided to name him Charles Douglas; Anna wants to call him "Charlie". I still like "Chucky" personally. I know I have a ton of work to do updating our family section. Also, I think I am going to start a new page on here dedicated to my newest hobby: gun collecting. I've begun to amass a decent arsenal while living here in Indiana, including a couple of nice historical military pieces. I'll try to get some more photos of Carmen on here as well. I know, there's really no excuse...
06/04/2006: It's a nice warm day today. Carmen is napping, and I'm taking a break from the mulching and landscaping. Doing some updates and upgrades today on the site. I'm really going to get after it this coming year, and turn it into a real website. I'm probably going to start using one of the web-building tools. The novelty of using straight HTML coding is gone. Nodody does that anymore. Charlie is now due on July 21st which commemorates my first day of active duty service in the U.S. Army. More later.
07/05/2006: I'm down in Memphis for the next 3 days, returning on Friday. Anna is still pregnant (VERY pregnant) and ready to give birth any day now. We all had a great time at the family reunion last weekend. Carmen loves playing with her cousins. We were not going to go this year, and in fact did not decide to go until the last minute. Everyone was surprised to see us. Cousin Tony has a little baby girl, Allison. She is just 4 months old. I can't wait for next year as we'll have Charlie, and Carmen will be 3 and a half. I'm pretty busy with work these days as my first Medtronic project is about to start. I hope Anna doesn't have the baby while I'm gone. I'm getting some more work done on this site, implementing more and more PageBuilder pages. Keeping the site up to date could be a full time job, but I'm beat.
01/06/2007: I really need to get better at this. There's just too much to catch up on. Charlie was born on July 7th (2 days after my last entry). Anna went into labor while I was still in Memphis, but I was able to make it home in time for the delivery. Charles Douglas was born 7 lbs, 8oz and 19" long. Chuckie is now 6 months old, seemingly happy and healthy, but he is nothing like Carmen was. We toook the kids to Oklahoma this Christmas, and had them baptized. All in all, we had a great time visiting with the relatives over Christmas. 03/15/2007: Well the Buckeyes got thrashed in the Championship game, but the basketball Buckeyes are doing well this year, winning the Big Ten championship outright. All is well with the fam. Anna should be finishing school in the next 7 weeks or so. Carmen is doing well, and Charlie is just growing like a weed. He eats a lot now. I have to say he's a pretty darn good-looking baby if there ever was one.
01/06/2008: Another year goes by. Check out the new pictures on my updated Family pages. Life is pretty good right now. Kids are doing well, Anna has her RN, and yes, my Buckeyes made it back to the National Championship game. The game is tomorrow night, and honestly I'll be happy if we just don't get throttled like last year. Go Bucks!
01/20/2008: Life is still good, but my Buckeyes were soundly defeated again in the national championship game. Not a blowout this time, but we did lose by two touchdowns. Several things were apparent in this game. 1)We just don't have the championship defense like we had in 2002. 2)We clearly lack an effective offensive strategy to compete with top level teams from the SEC. Our plays are all very basic, and predictable. LSU, on the other hand, was running plays that were complex, fast developing, and took advantage of misdirection and confusion on our defense. Hats off to LSU; they earned it. 02/26/08: It's almost 11pm CST, and I'm in Iowa City on a site visit. Carmen's birthday went well. A fun time was had by all. On a somber note, we are all a little worried about Uncle Donald, who is in the hospital battling a recent diagnosis of cancer. Our hearts and prayers go out to him. We know he will pull through just like Aunt Suzie did with her battle.
06/26/08: Today is a great day for freedom in America. By a vote of 5-4, The U.S. Supreme Court found that the Washington D.C. ban on handguns is unconstitutional, and asserted that the 2nd amendment is an individual right. This is the 1st time in U.S. history that the SCOTUS has directly ruled on this issue. This monumental, landmark decision will serve as precedent for future court cases and legislation. When I heard the news (thanks, Rob, for the text msg), I felt like firing my rifle in the air. It was as if we had won a war. God bless America!
08/25/08: Well, it has been a great summer. Vacation was awesome. Had my 20-year class reunuion, and had an awesome time. I also reconnected with some old friends. The biggest news is that Anna and I are expecting our 3rd child. We have names finalized, I think, but I won't discuss them until we find out the gender of the baby. The due date is February 8th. Not much else to discuss. Carmen started gymnastics yesterday, Ohio State football starts next Saturday, and we're way behind on yardwork.
Even better is the news that came 6 days later. On Friday 11/30, I was offered a position as Clinical Research Associate with a company called MED Institute in West Lafayette, Indiana. So it's "Goodbye Columbus" and "Hello career". This is a career step of enormous proportions; it is difficult to put into words how significant this move really is. I will try to do a better job at keeping the site up to date with the latest news.
The job is simply amazing. I have loads of challenging and meaningful work. The responsibility is enormous, but I can handle it. Overall it's a lot of fun, and although I am only 3 days into it, I love it.
Sadly, My grandfather, Bob Zimmerman, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Christmas Eve. I plan to construct a memorial page for him here on my site. Since he was a WWII veteran, I will try to include some military pictures. I have a TON of work to do on the site. It needs a lot of streamlining and refining. I'm off for now; Anna and I are going to do some more work on the house today, and then go to the gym. Bye!
Much has happened. Sorry for the long break. America is at war with Iraq, removing Saddam Hussein's regime. At the tip of the spear is the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. They have fought with the kind of bravery and valor that the Marne Division is known for. Today is Day 15 of the war, and the US forces control much of the country. Iraq's war machine has been no match for the highly trained American military. God bless GW Bush and his staff; they have done an outstanding job so far.
Spring is in the air, and we just bought a new lawn mower. Can't wait to get started on the yard work.
Since the entire college football season elapsed since my last entry, I should note that Ohio State went undefeated in the regular season, and won an outright Big Ten title. Troy Smith has been unflappable, and has been at his best in the biggest games. He was spectacular against Texas, Iowa, and Michigan, and now we have one game left: the National Championship against the Florida Gators. I see it as an opportunity to right the wrong from 1996. Only this time we have a Heisman trophy-winning QB who plays his best on the biggest stage. If we win this game, he may be forever known as the best big game QB of all time. And the game is in 2 days. Go Bucks!
Right now we are busy preparing for Carmen's 4th birthday. We will be having the cousins over which always promises to be a good time.