New Jersey Epsilon: 2014

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Brother Interview: Steve Brahney '00!

This week's brother interview is on founding brother Steve Brahney '00!

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Bryan Gunn (12/16) https://www.facebook.com/gunn.bryan
Shane Walsh (12/18) https://www.facebook.com/shane.walsh.16718979
Bill Clayton (12/19) https://www.facebook.com/bill.clayton.944
Tim Francis (12/21) https://www.facebook.com/tim.francis.777
Ken Whelan (12/22) https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.whelan
Saumil Prasad (12/24) https://www.facebook.com/saumil.prasad

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Happy Birthday! (11/28/2014 - 12/11/2014)

Brother Interview: Shane Walsh '00!

This week's brother interview is on brother Shane Walsh '00!

Happy Birthday! (11/14/2014 - 11/27/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Matt Eisenschmied (11/22) https://www.facebook.com/meisenschmied
Joe Hankins (11/23) https://www.facebook.com/joseph.samuel.1253
Jesse Wilburn (11/25) https://www.facebook.com/jesse.wilburn.12
Kacper Jesiotr (11/27) https://www.facebook.com/kacper.jesiotr

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Brother Interview: Greg McDermott '01

This week's brother interview is on brother Greg McDermott '01!

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Jeff Komiskey (11/3) https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.komiskey
Nick Holsman (11/5) https://www.facebook.com/nick.holsman.3
Mike Iatesta (11/10) https://www.facebook.com/mike.iatesta
Ken Brittain (11/13) https://www.facebook.com/ken.brittain.568

Monday, October 27, 2014

Brother Interview: Bryan Gunn '10

This week's brother interview is on brother Bryan Gunn '10!

Happy Birthday! (10/17/2014 - 10/30/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Rob Waldron (10/20) https://www.facebook.com/rob.waldron.75
Michael Atkinson (10/26) https://www.facebook.com/eorphus
Adam Goodman (10/29) https://www.facebook.com/AdamCGoodman88

Brother Interview: Chris Hammer NJD '91, NJE '03

This week's brother interview is on former chapter adviser brother Chris Hammer NJD '91, NJE '03! This interview is a little different than most as Hammer has fielded a number of non-traditional questions from others and answered them as well. We hope you enjoy!

Brother Interview: Anthony Reid '10

This week's brother interview is on brother Anthony Reid '10!

Happy Birthday! (10/3/2014 - 10/16/2014)

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Brother Interview: Joe Valver '06

This week's brother interview is on brother Joe Valver '06!

This wee's brother interview is on brother Matt Bellifemine '07!

Happy Birthday! (9/26/2014 - 10/2/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Jim McBride (9/26) https://www.facebook.com/mcbrideiv
Ben Schwedes (9/26) https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.r.schwedes
Dan Freeman (9/26) https://www.facebook.com/daniel.freeman.9809
AJ Carchidi (9/27) https://www.facebook.com/aj.carchidi
Taylor Brody (9/28) https://www.facebook.com/taylor.brody.90
Sean Peterson (9/29) https://www.facebook.com/allheartnohype

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Brother Interview: Cody Prettyman '12

This week's interview is on brother Cody Prettyman '12!

This week's brother interview is on brother Andy MacLane '10!

This week's brother interview is on brother Brett Juchniewicz '05!

This week's brother interview is on founder, Randy Morton '00!

Monday, August 18, 2014

Brother Interview: Evan Stone '10

This week's brother interview is on brother Evan Stone '10!

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Steve Higbee (8/15) https://www.facebook.com/steve.higbee

Hugo Riveros (8/15) https://www.facebook.com/hugo.riveros.1293

Ryan Parisi (8/19) https://www.facebook.com/ryan.parisi2

Mike Melillo (8/19) https://www.facebook.com/michael.melillo.568

Ryan Feeley (8/20) https://www.facebook.com/ryan.j.feeley.profile

Morgan Sobel (8/20) https://www.facebook.com/morgan.sobel

Brian Finch (8/21) https://www.facebook.com/brian.finch2

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Ask Chaty - Episode 3

Welcome back. It’s been a while, so, maybe I shouldn’t be the one welcome\77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777 sorry, that was the cat. As I was saying… It’s been a while. I’m trying to get a back log of questions, however, with out anyone actually providing questions, that becomes quite difficult. But I digress. Let’s delve into the questions, shall we? We’ve got two questions from different brothers. Isn’t this exciting?

Question 1

What new events are going to happen with the chapter this year?

That is a very good question. We all know the standard ones: rush, initiation, alumni bar-b-que, etc. There are some new ones coming up. More information will be provided later in the semester from the Chapter’s AG. But to hold you over in the meantime, I’ll let you in on a small change to a yearly event. This year, on September 27, the alumni bar-b-que will now take place during Rush Week. This way prospective new members will have a chance to interact with us old people. This will be a great way for everyone to become familiar with the young guys and hopefully the young guys won’t mind us lurking around. (OK, lurking is a strong word… only like two of us lurk, the rest peer through windows.) The bar-b-que is not going to be at the normal place. It’s going to be at a local park and should include the four F's: food, fun, and games. (Crossing my fingers for kick-ball.)

Also, the Chapter has decided to team up with Theta Phi Alpha in an effort to raise $10,000 to support Glassboro High School. Later this summer, the Chapter will hash out some ideas and get the ball rolling. It should be exciting and will be a great way to get the Chapter’s name out there while working towards a great cause.

Keep on the look out for updates from the Chapter on any other activities. And before I forget, our 15 year anniversary is coming up in April. We hope to see everyone there!

Question 2

If you were to write and autobiography, what would the first sentence be? As a follow up, what would the last sentence be?

Well, it really depends on where I think the story should be begin. For instance if you want to start at the beginning, the first sentence would be, “It all started with a big bang.” Well, unless you’re one of those nutcase Earth creationists, which, if that’s the case, I guess the big bang would be when Adam and Eve did the biblical bah-chicka-wah-wah, while surrounded by apple trees and their pet Ankylosaurus. But that seems a couple billion years too long ago. Let’s bring this a little closer to present day.

“He saw her from across the Roy Rogers parking lot; maybe it was the 6 pack of Coors Banquet Beer that gave him encouragement, but there was something with the way the police lights glistened off the smoke from her Tareyton 100s that made him approach her.”

Nah, that’s a topic I really don’t feel like delving into. At least not without many years of psychological reprogramming.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Nope, that’s plagiarism.

“He was born with a mighty penis.” True, albeit, a bit boastful, or dare I say, cocky. (See what I did there.)

Well, I’m kind of at a loss here. So, I’ll just have Chris Cassino write my unofficial autobiography.

As for the last sentence, “He died doing what he loved, unfortunately for the rest of us, that meant the rest of the world would no longer have access to pants.”

Thank you all for taking the time to read these and keep the questions coming in. Don't forget about the twitter feed @AskChaty

Monday, August 11, 2014

Brother Interview: Chris Sheldon '04

This week's brother interview is on brother Chris Sheldon '04!

Happy Birthday! (8/8/2014 - 8/14/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Keith Ning (8/11) https://www.facebook.com/keith.ning.1
Jeff Kreisler (8/12) https://www.facebook.com/jeffk0812

Monday, August 4, 2014

Brother Interview: Kevin Hartnett '10

This week's brother interview is on brother Kevin Hartnett '10!

Happy Birthday! (8/1/2014 - 8/7/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Anthony Reid (8/1) https://www.facebook.com/anthony.reid.969
Frank Van Emburgh (8/1) https://www.facebook.com/frank.paul.3975

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

NJ Epsilon Event Survey

Please take a moment to fill out the survey regarding Homecoming and the Formal as it will help us better plan the events.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wb3o9Yuxp6brl1mhfIUtNTBG90F-IRSZpk4fcRijLP0/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link

Monday, July 28, 2014

Brother Interview: Jim McBride '02

This week's brother interview is on brother Jim McBride '02!

Happy Birthday! (7/25/2014 - 7/31/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Chris Sheldon (7/29) https://www.facebook.com/chris.sheldon.988
Austin Bejin (7/30) https://www.facebook.com/austin.bejin
Luke Nanney (7/31) https://www.facebook.com/lukenanney

Monday, July 21, 2014

Brother Interview: Jaried Kimberley '11

This week's brother interview is on brother Jaried Kimberley '11!

Happy Birthday! (7/4/2014 - 7/24/2014)

Brother Interview: Chris Monsu '11

This week's interview is on brother Chris Monsu '11!

Brother Interview: Dean Ialacci '12

This week's brother interview is on brother Dean Ialacci '12!

Happy Birthday! (6/27/2014 - 7/3/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Steve Hanson (6/28) https://www.facebook.com/thestevehanson
Joe Gillies (6/29) https://www.facebook.com/joseph.gillies.904
Joe Chen (6/29) https://www.facebook.com/joe.chen2992
Brian Hancock (7/2) https://www.facebook.com/brian.hancock.9216

Also, a special shout out to Ryan McNamara, who's birthday I overlooked last week thinking that there were no brother birthdays last week! (6/24) https://www.facebook.com/ryan.mcnamara.7587

Monday, June 23, 2014

Brother Interview: Ryan Runquist '06

This week's brother interview is on brother Ryan Runquist '06!

Brother Interview: Bill Clayton '00

This week's brother interview is on founder Bill Clayton '00!

Happy Birthday! (6/13/2014 - 6/19/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Jason Gaffney (6/13) https://www.facebook.com/gatsbynova
Justin Smith (6/13) https://www.facebook.com/justintimes
Emmanuel Yawson (6/13) https://www.facebook.com/emmanuel.yawson.330
JP Bowen (6/15) https://www.facebook.com/jp.bowen.79
Kevin Sweeney (6/15) https://www.facebook.com/kevin.sweeney.3154

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Ask Chaty - Post #2

Today's AskChaty article is brought to you by what I originally thought was Spam. I got an email from an account named, "gmail" with the subject, "Are you the mafia." Kind of afraid to open it, fearing it was a trojan horse or a virus. I opened it anyway and noticed it was from an account with the email address "seanakaiser," so I'm going to assume it was truly from a Brother.

The original concept of this series was to answer one serious question and one joke question. This post though, I am going to do something a little different. The question brought to me by "seanakaiser" affords me the opportunity to answer the same question in three ways; the serious answer, the joke answer, and the Sicilian answer.

The email posed to me:

Subject: Are you the mafia?
How do I join the Chapter Advisor Committee?
Rumor is, the infrastructure is very similar to the mafia. And, I'm interested in the position of enforcer. Is it currently vacant, and could you provide the job description?
If not, what other ways could I contribute and give back to the chapter?
But seriously, how do I join the mafia? I swear I won't tattle

The serious answer:
The Chapter Advisor is chosen by the Chapter and it's his duty to set up a Chapter Advisor Committee which, currently, are 3 gentlemen who are tasked to aide the chapter in Membership, Finance, and Fraternity Education. Now, how does one join the Advisory Committee? One can be part, usually, by 1 of two ways. Either you ask to join or the Chapter Advisor asks you.

The current Chapter Advisor has selected 2 people already to serve along with him, regardless of whether they want to or not. Brother Matt Bratsch is serving as Fraternity Education Counselor and Brother Marco Inskip is the Finance Counselor.

If you are looking for other ways to get involved... well... hoping to not sound like we at this blog are beating a dead horse, but the NJE Corp is always looking for help. Want to set up a social event? Want to set up a fundraiser? Want to join and do nothing? There's a place for you! But if you really want to know more, set aside about 7 hours. and ask Brother Pelletier. I'm sure he's got flyers, brochures, a PowerPoint presentation, and for those RTF majors, a coloring book.

The joke answer:
If this was set up like the Mafia's infrastructure, trust me, some of you would have been whacked a long time ago. Not that we here at Ask Chaty condone any of this.
But, now that I think of it, isn't the Fraternity structure as a whole kind of resemble the Mob. Each Chapter is its own Family, run by the Boss (GP) and all his Capos (P, AG, etc...). And if you want to be the enforcer, well, I guess the position of Phu is right for you.

The Sicilian answer:
There is no such thing as the Mafia.

Thank you all again for taking the time to read these posts, and keep the questions coming to the AskChaty gmail accoint!
And don't forget to follow on twitter @AskChaty

itb...
Ask Chaty

Brother Interview: Ed Swydersky '09

This week's brother interview is on brother Ed Swydersky '09!

Happy Birthday! (6/6/2014 - 6/12/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Matt Bratsch (6/8) https://www.facebook.com/mbratsch
Jason Vergara (6/8) https://www.facebook.com/jason.vergara.93
Jeff Warren (6/11) https://www.facebook.com/jwarren1980
Matt Stacker (6/11) https://www.facebook.com/matthew.stacker.3
Nick Alexeivich (6/12) https://www.facebook.com/nick.alexeivich

Monday, June 2, 2014

Brother Interview: Ben Schwedes '00

This week's brother interview is on brother Ben Schwedes '00!

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Don Steever (5/30) https://www.facebook.com/donsteever
Warner Siegle (6/1) https://www.facebook.com/drwarner.siegle
Matt Bellifemine (6/3) https://www.facebook.com/matthew.d.bellifemine
Alex Gunnarson (6/4) https://www.facebook.com/alexgunnarson
Jake McFarland (6/4) https://www.facebook.com/jake.mcfarland.37

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Brother Interview: Bobby Koprowski '04

Happy Memorial Day to all of our brothers in the armed forces!

This week's brother interview is on brother Bobby Koprowski '04!

Brother Interview: Josh Bakal '04

This week's brother interview is on brother Josh Bakal '04!

A BIG Thank You to our Donors!

On behalf of the NJ Epsilon Corporation, we would like to thank all of our donors for the generous support! Without you, we would not be able to continue operating or save for a house. Your donations to our corporation operating account help us pay for our yearly tax filing fees, printing and mailing costs, annual events like the Alumni/Family BBQ and Homecoming, and more. The donations you make the 137 Society are helping to pave the way for future undergraduate Phi Psis by providing us funds which will one day go towards the down payment for a chapter house. We can not thank you enough for all of your support and look forward to your continued support in the future!

Donations to the Corporation's operating account:
Ken Whelan
Russ Pocaro
Rick Pelletier
Amaresh Vidyarthi
Robert Schaefer

Donations to the 137 Society:
Ken Whelan
Rick Pelletier
Robert Martin
Robert Schaefer
Paulie Sanborn
Alex Bienz
Bernie Parisi
Ryan Wolvin

Happy Birthday! (5/16/2014 - 5/22/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brother:

Nick Monsu (5/21) https://www.facebook.com/nick.monsu

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Ask Chaty - Post #1

I would like to thank everyone for giving us the opportunity to bring this new blog post to everyone. We hope it's going to be as enjoyable for you guys as it is for us. Please keep the questions coming via the AskChaty @ gmail account. Nothing it too bizarre. This editions questions are brought to you by Brother Rick Peletier, NJE-2002.

1. What is your birthday?
One could also ask, "why the hell did I get a text message asking to re-text someone your birthday?" This is an interesting question for a couple reasons. One, because it's been a "secret" for so long. And two, because when it came to light that Brother Matt Bratsch had rummaged through Headquarters' files (1) a whole slew of you guys got an odd text message from me with little-to-no explanation. So, here's the explanation.
As you know, or don't know, or don't care to know, but, the subject of the actual date of my birthday has been a topic for some time. In fact, it has sometimes showed up on scavenger hunts. Brother Bratsch had been on a quest to figure it out since he interviewed me while he was a New Member and I gave him the date, April 31. ... I'll wait ... OK, you checked your calendar, there is no April 31st. Skip ahead a few years and he gets elected as District 1 Archon. Skip ahead a short while after that and he's at Headquarters and finds himself in the records room. A little poking around and I get this text message while out:

So, I drove home and made a phone call to Marco and decided not to let this violation of privacy go unpunished. So, I got in touch with the Monsu Brothers (2)(3) and had them get in touch with everyone they know. And I sent out a quick mass message asking everyone to text Matt the following, "His birthday is March 5. Everyone knows it." To which most obliged. I later get a reply back from Matt while he's in a training session at Headquarters:

In a matter of 40 minutes we were able to virtually bitch-slap someone, and if that's not what Brotherhood is all about, well, frankly, I don't know what is. So, thank you to all who helped out. I figured an explanation was long overdue.

(1) I picture him sneaking in through the ceiling tiles like those two guys in cheap suits from the Progressive commercials.
(2) Monsu Brothers sound like a really bad WWE tag-team.
(3) Or a trapeze act.

PS: There are 2 other people in my family with the same birthday, both are my cousins on my Dad's side.
PPS: A fellow Rowan brother also shares the same birthday.

2. If you could go back to 1998 and tell your "founding father"-self some advice, what would you tell yourself?

Go Teke

Monday, May 12, 2014

Brother Interview: Dan Burnham '05

This week's brother interview is on brother Dan Burnham '05!

Happy Birthday! (5/9/2014 - 5/15/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Rich Farally (5/12) https://www.facebook.com/rich.farally
Jeff Pratz (5/13) https://www.facebook.com/jeff.pratz
Billy Kluge (5/13) https://www.facebook.com/billy.kluge
Eddie Williams (5/15) https://www.facebook.com/eddie.williams.3990

Monday, May 5, 2014

Brother Interview: Mark Peterson '08

This week's brother interview is on brother Mark Peterson '08!

Happy Birthday! (5/2/2014 - 5/8/2014)

Happy Birthday to the following brothers:

Rudy Smith (5/2) https://www.facebook.com/rudy.smith2
Eric Destasio (5/3) https://www.facebook.com/eric.destasio
Mike Mehedin (5/6) https://www.facebook.com/mike.mehedin

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Monday, November 17, 2014

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Monday, October 27, 2014

Monday, October 20, 2014

Monday, October 13, 2014

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Monday, August 18, 2014

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Monday, August 11, 2014

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Monday, August 4, 2014

Friday, August 1, 2014

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Monday, July 28, 2014

Friday, July 25, 2014

Monday, July 21, 2014

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Monday, June 23, 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Friday, June 6, 2014

Monday, June 2, 2014

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Monday, May 19, 2014

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Monday, May 12, 2014

Friday, May 9, 2014

Monday, May 5, 2014

Thursday, May 1, 2014