Rant #855: Happy Birthday

At this blog, I have celebrated the birthdays of those who are famous, and those who are not so famous, those who have changed our lives and those who have changed our lives maybe just a little bit.

Today, I am going to celebrate a birthday that is very important to me.

This guy may not have changed or shaped anyone else's life, but he certainly did mine, and for that matter, my sister and my mom too.

Today, my father turns 81 years of age.

He was born during a different era, when things were simpler, but still pretty hectic. The Depression was a time to reflect on how or when you might eat your next meal, and times were tough, really tough.

He lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with his immigrant parents and three younger siblings.

When the family became too large, they ventured out to the then uncharted area of Queens to live, which was quite a hike for them, as my grandfather owned a butcher shop on Delancey Street, and rather than it now being in the neighborhood, they now had to trek there by car.

My father was very smart in school--he skipped a grade or two--but his role was destined. He was going to work in the butcher store, and he became a butcher upon graduation from high school. He tells us he barely got out of school, but I really think he was too smart for school.

He served in the military during the Korean War. He was a Marine Corps cook, which is funny, because up until that point, I don't think he had cooked a day in his life. But the war effort saw he was a butcher, so they figured he could cook. Go figure.

He never went to Korea. He was supposed to go, but he had two sets of papers, and while the Marine Corps sorted this out, they put him in jail, so he says he has a jail record.

He did serve in Cuba, and he tells stories that I cannot repeat here about his dalliances with the natives. Very funny, but XXX-rated.

What I can tell you is that he served during a time when the Armed Forces were slowly being integrated, but very, very slowly. He says that the Marine Corps put him with others they considered "malcontents" because of his religion--Jews, Puerto Ricans and blacks were often lumped together--and he tells of the time when he was one of the few, if not the only, white person on a Marine Corps bus in the Deep South, and he was sent out to get sandwiches for his troop, because he was the only person that would be served.

Anyway, after he served his time in the Marine Corps, he went back to the store. My father could have gone to college, and in another time, he would have. But during those days, the oldest child, especially the oldest son, went to work to help support the family and to allow his siblings to continue their education.

That is what my father did, in fact, the day after he was out of the Marines, he went right to work.

His brother became a doctor and a teacher. His two sisters became teachers. 'Nuf said.

In the mid 1950s, he was set up on a blind date and met the lady who would become my mother. They will be married 57 years come January.

I came around in 1957, and my father gave up smoking cold turkey for me. The doctor told him to stop, because my mom was pregnant with me, and he did.

As I was growing up, I always looked up to my father. He worked long, hard hours as a butcher, but he was home on the weekends. He slept a lot on the weekends, but he always had time to play with my sister and me.

We played lots of ball, and his influence really made me a sports fan. He loved competition, and while he was a very good athlete, I wasn't, but it didn't stop him from pushing me, and I loved it.

He was my coach for a couple of seasons in Little League, and we won a couple of championships in our league. I vowed as a child that if I ever had a son, I would also coach him, and I kept my vow, coaching my own son for a few seasons. I hope my son, if he ever has a son, will follow this direction, too.

In the mid 1960s, faced with the loss of the butcher store because of some grand plan New York City had to build a highway right through it--which they never did--he became a full time, licensed New York City medallion cab driver. It took a lot of gumption to change your career in midstream like that, but he did it, and did it very successfully.

He owned his own medallion for decades. He still drives a cab a few days a week to this day.

He has been very successful as a cab driver, and I still remember that I picked out the colors--blue and white--of his first cab. In those days, cabs didn't have to be yellow, now they do.

Anyway, we later moved ourselves, from Queens out to the wilds of Long Island, and the move initially wasn't easy, but it all worked out for the better for our family.

Through it all, my sister and I graduated high school, college and graduate school. We are both pretty successful at what we do in life. My mom is the most active person I know, and she enjoys life to the fullest with my dad.

They have five grandchildren, four boys and one girl. I contributed one boy and one girl to that mix. And the kids love their grandparents, and worship their Zaydee.

My father lives downstairs with my mom in the same house as my family does. It has become a good arrangement. My wife and I help out when we can, and yes, my parents help us out too.

My father is every bit as competitive as he was when he was much younger. He has that spirit that will never leave him, and that keeps him going.

His hearing has deteriorated, he doesn't seem as tall to me as he once did, but his work ethic has never left him. Honestly, with his hearing in the state that it's in, I don't know how he drives a cab, but he does, and he still is a top booker. And he is honest as all hell. He won't take you 20 miles out of the way to get to your desination. He never did that when he was younger, and he won't do it now.

He is the patriarch of our family, and although he has weathered the years, he is as strong as an ox in at least mind if not body. But that body continues to allow him to do pretty much what he wants to do, so it is OK, too.

That picture I included here is my father in 1969 on his birthday in that year, when he turned 38. More than four decades later, he hasn't changed all that much.

So I salute my dad on his 81st birthday. He is probably the most important male figure in my life, bar none, my link to my past, my present, and yes, my future too, as is my mom.

I am so damn lucky to have both of them around. I love both of them so, even if we mix it up from time to time. That is the competitive nature in me, I guess.

Thanks to him, and my mom, for being there when I've needed them, and my family has needed them.

I don't know if we could have done it all without them.

Rant #854: Pong Ping

No, I did not win the Powerball jackpot. I think the winning tickets were purchased out west.

Oh, woe is me.

So let me move on from that to a day in history that will be immortalized by some, and for others, it's a day of infamy.

And for still others, well, it doesn't mean anything to them.

In 1972, 40 years ago, the so-called first video game, Pong, was introduced to the world.

No, it wasn't the world's first video game--even though it is identified by many as the first--but it was the first to be widely accepted by the public.

Created by Atari, the video game debuted at Andy Capp's Tavern in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Pong was the simplest of video games--basically, akin to tennis, it was just hitting an object back and forth--but it set the stage for later video games, the explosion of these games in the 1990s, and today's video game market, where not only are the games more life-like, but you can play these games online with people half way around the world from where you are.

I did play Pong. It was a real novelty at the time.

I remember playing it in a bowling alley, probably in Queens, maybe around this time or maybe in 1973.

It was kind of neat, but I never really got into video games at all.

Later, in the 1980s, I remember playing Qbert and Space Invaders and PacMan and lots of other video games, but I was a pinball machine guy, really.

Not a wizard, but I always found those games more challenging.

And they were more "real" to me. There was actually a ball darting down this maze.

With a video game, it was nothing but electronic figures going all over the place.

Not real to me, I guess.

My daughter and son got into video games, got out of them, and got back in them.

My son likes the sports-oriented ones, like the ones with the NBA and WWE stamp on them.

I know my daughter plays them, too, but I don't know what she goes for, certainly not the sports one.

My son as the Wii, and he is firmly content with what he has.

But he is too young to realize that the leap from the simpleness of Pong to the complexity of NBA 2012 took about 30 years to happen.

And it all stemmed from the popularity of Pong.

Once Pong took off, a new way to spend our time was created.

Board games survived, pinball machines survived, but well, it was never the same anymore.

And we can both blame and applaud Pong for helping to change the shape of the gaming world forever.

It's been 40 years, and things have changed a lot during that period of time.

Could I play Pong now? Sure I could, but honestly, I have better things to do with whatever free time I have now than to sit down and play a game where I am simply hitting a figure back and forth.

Here's to Pong, though. It's sort of the father of the video game, the link where all video games started, so for that reason, I have to give it its kudos.

Now onto more important matters ...

Rant #853: Skywriting On the Wall

Today is the 90th anniversary of something so innocuous that I figured I would write about it here.

I am sure that this is probably the only place that you are going to be reading about this, so here goes.

In 1922, 90 years ago, the first skywriting demonstration was held.

Capt. Cyril Turner of the Royal Air Force spelled out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" over New York's Times Square.

The result: about 47,000 calls in less than three hours were made to that number, and so was born an advertising vehicle that exists to this day.

This was the first public exhibition of skywriting, so I assume that it had been tested and used prior to this, probably by the military.

We have all seen skywriting in the air, usually over very public events, or when we are at the beach.

The skywriting lasts a few minutes, and then goes away literally in a puff of smoke.

All different messages have been put in the air this way.

I have seen ads for suntan lotion, and I have seen marriage proposals.

It is a very unique advertising vehicle, because it's only readable for a few minutes, and then, it's gone.

Sometimes, these things are easy to read, while other times, you really have to stare at them for awhile to make them out.

Not being a pilot, I could never figure out how these things are done, anyway.

How does the pilot know what he is writing? How does he know to cross his t's and dot his i's?

I am sure there is some type of planogram that he uses so that he knows exactly what he is doing, but it's something I never figured out.

Maybe that's why I find skywriting so fascinating, in a subtle type of way.

It's something I simply don't get, and I wonder how someone one day decided that you could actually write messages in the sky.

No, it's not a morbid fascination, it's just one of those things that make life interesting.

You know, it falls into the "head scratching" category for me.

And to me, that's not a mere puff of smoke.

Rant #852: Cyber Fun Day?

So, did you spend scads of money on the Internet during Cyber Monday?

I didn't, but I know that millions did just that. And they did it while they were at work.

Cyber Monday is a day that has been created by the retail industry trade groups to kick start sales on the Internet.

Of course, this is commonplace now, but several years ago, it wasn't.

People couldn't imagine shopping electronically. Heck, you couldn't see and feel what you wanted, and you wouldn't get the extra rush of actually having the stuff immediately, rather than waiting for it.

Well now, shopping on the Internet has become commonplace. Seemingly everyone does it.

I have personally bought dozens of things on the Internet, mainly CDs and DVDs.

And today, people can get those types of things immediately, electronically.

Everything is a file nowadays.

The thing I can't figure out is how people buy more personal things on the Internet.

I am mainly talking about clothing, whether outerwear or underwear.

How do women know if a bra will fit properly if she buys it on the Internet?

How do you know if pants will look right, if tops will look right, heck, even if shoes will fit your foot right if you buy it on the Internet?

I guess it is the modern extension of buying from catalogs.

Since the first Sears catalogs in the 1800s, people have been buying somewhat blind when it comes to clothing.

But they buy ... and buy ... and buy.

I can't buy clothing like that, but millions of people can.

As it is, Cyber Monday has become a multi-billion dollar business.

Personally, I have all my gifts for the holiday, and my holiday is Hanukkah.

It comes on the evening of December 8, so it is a bit earlier than Christmas this year.

But happily, I did not have to buy into Cyber Monday this year.

For me, it was simply a normal Monday. I didn't interrupt my workday to buy like it was going out of style.

Did you?

Rant #851: Back to Business

Today we all get back to business after a long Thanksgiving Day weekend.

I had plenty of turkey this weekend. First, we had our own annual Thanksgiving Day feast.

I ate so much turkey that I was ready it explode; it was that good.

Then, on Saturday, we went over to my brother in law and had more turkey.

I watched myself at this one, what with the long drive and coming home late. I didn't eat much turkey, but enough to make me content.

Mix that in with turkey salad leftovers, and I was really happy that my wife cooked my son and I meatballs and pasta last night.

Did you shop 'til you dropped?

This morbid fascination with buying everything in the store at all hours really doesn't do anything for me. I didn't think there were that many bargains out there, anyway, although the way the department stores were advertising them, you would think they were giving up the store.

They weren't.

And as I thought, those protests about workers having to work on Thanksgiving fell to deaf ears.

Sure, the stores should not be open on the holiday, but until people stop wanting to shop on that day, the stores will be open.

And nobody says anything about other people who have to work that day. What about those working in restaurants, supermarkets, and the like ... why do they have to work?

The protests were nonsensical, and when I heard that many were manned not by people directly involved in the stores, but by Occupy New York imbeciles and their brethren around the country, I knew that the whole thing was a bunch of nonsense.

But anyway, we are all back to business today.

The holiday is but a memory, and now we have to go back to work.

I woke up at my usual time, went through my usual ritual to get ready for work, and in about 45 minutes, I will be off to the races.

Even though the holiday is a relatively long one, it goes fast, and this year, I had lots to be thankful for.

This was a good holiday, and I hope your holiday was as good as mine.

Now, "Back to the salt mines," as Mr. Rutherford used to say on "Leave It To Beaver."

The digging begins ...

Rant #850: It's All About the Turkey ... and Family

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so this is my last Rant for the week.

I am taking a few days off. And that makes me happy. I need to relax, and I am very thankful for this little break that is coming my way.

I am also thankful for lots of other things as we enter one of the year's best holidays.

I am thankful that my home was not severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

I am thankful that my family is intact, there have been no major illnesses or injuries, and that we are all relatively healthy.

I am thankful that my pinched nerve seems to be responding to the regimen that I have adopted, and physical therapy too (I am still in a bit of pain, but it's not as bad as it was).

I am thankful I have a job to go to each workday. I complain about it, there are things that aren't right with it, but at least I bring home an honest paycheck.

I am thankful that my daughter, at long last, just told me that she found a job.

I am thankful that the Knicks are off to a great start, and that you always have a good shot with the Yankees.

I am thankful that the Nassau Coliseum will not be razed, and it appears it will be reconfigured to showcase concerts and high school and college athletics. The final word isn't in yet, but it looks like the Coliseum will live on.

I am thankful that I have the best wife, and good kids, and that my parents are still around to enjoy all of this.

And I am thankful that I bought a big enough turkey to fill the brood that is coming here tomorrow: in addition to my family, my sister's family too.

I had to haggle a bit, but I got a decent turkey. Don't ask. A certain supermarket chain runs an ad that they "can't be beat," on the price of turkeys; I beat their price, and they still give me an argument about the definition of what a "frozen" turkey is.

But I prevailed, which was nice.

So to all of you, have a nice holiday.

And remember, it is all about the turkey ... and family.

You can't have a real Thanksgiving without both.

Rant #849: Thanksgiving Day Turkey

Thanksgiving Day is right around the corner, and I am looking forward to all of those Black Friday sales (not).

But something has come up this year which might just spoil the dressing, if you know what I mean.

Numerous stores have decided to open on Thanksgiving Day, and begin their Black Friday sales a couple of hours early.

This has numerous people happy, because they can begin their shopping early.

This also has numerous people livid, because now they have to go to work on a day that is supposed to be dedicated to family.

Black Friday is bad (or good) enough; now we also have Black Thursday to contend with.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why the stores are opening on Thursday.

It is to get a competitive advantage.

And yes, people will shop on Thursday, all full of Turkey and with, what they feel, is nothing else to do on the holiday once all their guests have left and the leftovers are firmly tucked away.

But those that have to work, to keep their jobs, protest. They believe that this is the only day of the year that they can really spend top to bottom with their families.

Two major chains, Wal-Mart and Target, are opening on Thursday, and this has riled their employees.

From what I read, there will be protests at these stores. Target employees already have a petition out against opening on Thursday, with thousands of signatures.

Yes, I do feel it is wrong to open on Thanksgiving Day. That is a day that is supposed to be wholly about family, not about sales.

But on the other hand, people will shop 'til they drop if given the opportunity. And stores have a right to play into that, by staying open.

I don't know how the workers are getting paid that day, but I am sure they are not making their normal rate, in particular if they are hourly workers. Anybody hear double and triple time?

But the bottom line is that what makes opening on Thursday any different than the idiocy that goes on the very next day?

Stores open early, real early, on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

And idiots line up to shop, bursting upon the stores hours before they open.

All that some stores have done this year is to push the hours up a bit.

Yes, it is wrong, very wrong, to open on Thanksgiving. But the stores make oodles of money on Black Friday, pushing them into the black, hence the name Black Friday.

They just want to make oodles more, and that is why they are opening on Thursday.

Again, I don't like it, and no, I won't be shopping on Thursday and hopefully not Friday.

But I have to look at both sides, and both sides are right in this case.

I, myself, have worked in the past on Thanksgiving, and it isn't too much fun.

I do feel for the workers, and I hope that this is the only Thanksgiving they have to work.

Maybe, if people stayed away, then these stores would see that it is not economically feasible for the stores to open on that day.

But you just know that shoppers won't stay away that day.

They are full of turkey, figuratively, literally, and stupidly, as far as I am concerned.

Stay home. Show the stores that Thanksgiving is one day that everyone should enjoy, and enjoy on their own terms.