When I was about 6 years old my dad bought me an Apple IIe for christmas.
Certainly he's not the only dad who ever bought his kid a computer, but my dad would seem to be the least likely dad to do something like this. It's because he worked in a factory, and the highest tech item that he would use at work was a press break. Maybe a drill, depending on your definition of high tech.
But you see, he had books. He wasn't your typical factory worker in that regard. And by "he had books" I do not mean that he had a bookcase or merely a couple hundred books laying around. He had over 10,000 books - I counted them once just to figure out how many there really were. He wasn't an idiot by any means, and while he made choices for his family that ended with him working in a factory, it's not like he couldn't have been anything else.
Anyhow, he thought that computers would be the future. What better way to let your kid be a part of that future than to get them a computer? It cost over $3000 for all the accessories and the computer itself, which was a lot of money in the early 80s. These days people would balk at paying half that much for a computer in today's dollars.
Was it worth it? Every real job I ever had was made possible because of knowledge that came to me starting with that simple $3000 investment. I would not have had any of the neat jobs that I have had if he didn't make that sacrifice.
Happy Father's Day 2010.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Half full?
My dad once had a job interview where the interviewer asked him if a given glass was half full or half empty. He said that he didn't know.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
"Are you currently in the process of filling it up, or emptying it?"
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that is the best possible answer to that question, despite it meaning that my dad didn't get that job.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
"Are you currently in the process of filling it up, or emptying it?"
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that is the best possible answer to that question, despite it meaning that my dad didn't get that job.
Monday, June 25, 2007
"Don't end up like me"
From the time I was a little kid, my dad always told me not to end up like him.
See - he worked in a factory. He was able to make about $100k a year for a while, but that came from working 12/7 for a long time. His commute was nearly an hour, as he wanted us to grow up in the country and not the city. So he was basically working 14 hours a day for years. There was a 2 year stretch where he didn't have a single day off. He could have had the holidays, but who'd turn down triple time on Christmas?
And he didn't have to work that hard, obviously, but he did. He wanted to make sure that we had things. He wanted to make sure that he could buy me computers and stuff (in the early 80s) because he figured that that was the future, and he figured that if I had them to play with I'd be good with them for the rest of my life. I guess that turned out to be true.
He always made sure that we had "things" and could do things. I was involved in nearly every activity possible in school and out, and for a while he even took a Karate class with me. My favorite memory of that was him sending a guy to the hospital in a tournament. Until recently, I'm positive that my dad really could have kicked the asses of virtually any other dad out there (barring professional fighters).
His life is the definition of sacrificing for others, and he gave the bulk of it to provide enough money for his family to have what they otherwise could not.
And I guess this brings me to my favorite memory of my father. He sat me down a few years ago and asked if I remembered him telling me not to end up like him. I obviously said yes, since it was a common message that he repeated. He asked if I knew what he meant. Yeah, working in a factory sucks.
"Wrong. Don't get married."
See - he worked in a factory. He was able to make about $100k a year for a while, but that came from working 12/7 for a long time. His commute was nearly an hour, as he wanted us to grow up in the country and not the city. So he was basically working 14 hours a day for years. There was a 2 year stretch where he didn't have a single day off. He could have had the holidays, but who'd turn down triple time on Christmas?
And he didn't have to work that hard, obviously, but he did. He wanted to make sure that we had things. He wanted to make sure that he could buy me computers and stuff (in the early 80s) because he figured that that was the future, and he figured that if I had them to play with I'd be good with them for the rest of my life. I guess that turned out to be true.
He always made sure that we had "things" and could do things. I was involved in nearly every activity possible in school and out, and for a while he even took a Karate class with me. My favorite memory of that was him sending a guy to the hospital in a tournament. Until recently, I'm positive that my dad really could have kicked the asses of virtually any other dad out there (barring professional fighters).
His life is the definition of sacrificing for others, and he gave the bulk of it to provide enough money for his family to have what they otherwise could not.
And I guess this brings me to my favorite memory of my father. He sat me down a few years ago and asked if I remembered him telling me not to end up like him. I obviously said yes, since it was a common message that he repeated. He asked if I knew what he meant. Yeah, working in a factory sucks.
"Wrong. Don't get married."
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Coonskin Cap
In 1985 the Transformers were the most popular things in the world. I’ve read that they were responsible for a third of Hasbro’s revenue in that year, and I believe it. I had a lot of them, mainly because my dad bought them for me. Transformers were one of the only non-electronic items that I ever acquired a collection of, and I can’t wait to see the new movie that will likely destroy my memory of them.
Anyhow, the 1955 version of the Transformers was Davy Crockett. It was the most popular show on television, and every kid seemed to have their own coonskin cap. My dad really wanted one, but his parents had been affected severely by the depression. They even hated to spend money on necessities. “Two piss one flush” was a common maxim around their home. I understand that that’s not proper grammar, but it’s as I heard it.
So it’s no surprise that they wouldn’t spend money on a silly hat so their kid could prance around like a Disney outdoorsman. That would be ridiculous - far less ridiculous than going hunting, killing a raccoon, and making the damn hat yourself.
When my father first told me that story, he told it in a way that made it sound like a let down, and my knee-jerk reaction was to comment on how much cooler it was to have a “real” one than something from Hudson’s. It took me a few seconds to realize that he knew that from the start, but I won’t tell him that I know that he knew that.
Anyhow, the 1955 version of the Transformers was Davy Crockett. It was the most popular show on television, and every kid seemed to have their own coonskin cap. My dad really wanted one, but his parents had been affected severely by the depression. They even hated to spend money on necessities. “Two piss one flush” was a common maxim around their home. I understand that that’s not proper grammar, but it’s as I heard it.
So it’s no surprise that they wouldn’t spend money on a silly hat so their kid could prance around like a Disney outdoorsman. That would be ridiculous - far less ridiculous than going hunting, killing a raccoon, and making the damn hat yourself.
When my father first told me that story, he told it in a way that made it sound like a let down, and my knee-jerk reaction was to comment on how much cooler it was to have a “real” one than something from Hudson’s. It took me a few seconds to realize that he knew that from the start, but I won’t tell him that I know that he knew that.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Old School
So my dad got his arm crushed by a truck, and found himself in a hospital. In the bed next to him was a guy who was dying. It was kidney failure or something, and his kids would drop by from time to time. He'd ask for 7-up, and they'd offer him Sprite.
"Nah, man, I want 7-up. I'm old school."
The guy's kids come to visit him after a few days, and it's time for my dad to be released. They say goodbye, and my dad tells him to beat "that thing." Whatever that thing is, I'm pretty sure that there was no beating it. Not for him.
A bit later my dad walks back in the room with a case of 7-up.
"I'm old school too."
"Nah, man, I want 7-up. I'm old school."
The guy's kids come to visit him after a few days, and it's time for my dad to be released. They say goodbye, and my dad tells him to beat "that thing." Whatever that thing is, I'm pretty sure that there was no beating it. Not for him.
A bit later my dad walks back in the room with a case of 7-up.
"I'm old school too."
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Hello World
So I already have a basically unread blog of my own, but wanted an outlet for some of the stuff that my dad shares with me. He didn't want me to get him anything for Father's Day, so I won't. Maybe in a year, or after I've written more here, I'll show this to him.
Everyone has a story to tell, and I figure that my father's story is worth sharing piecemeal with the rest of the world. I figure it'll be stored in the google servers long after he ends up dying, so I suppose that immortality will be somewhat of a gift.
Everyone has a story to tell, and I figure that my father's story is worth sharing piecemeal with the rest of the world. I figure it'll be stored in the google servers long after he ends up dying, so I suppose that immortality will be somewhat of a gift.
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