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Thursday, September 29, 2005

90 Years

Grandpa and Me

Today, my grandpa is 90 years old….

90…

Wow!

We share something very special that no one else in our families shares – blue eyes. I have his glass-blue eyes. Every time I look in the mirror, I feel so special. I am the only one with his eyes.

He was born in 1915! I have been thinking about all that has happened in his 90 years…

In 1915, Tzar Nicholas was still in power in Russia, Raggedy Anne was invented and the Red Sox won their first World Series. Woodrow Wilson was president and television had not been invented (1926). Albert Einstein proposed his Theory of Relativity (published in 1920).

Grandpa has seen the average price of a loaf of bread go from 7 cents to over $2, a car go from around $500 to over $20,000 and the average home price go from just under $5000 to well over $200,000. Stamps have gone from 2 cents to 39 cents and the DOW average has gone from 99 to over 10,000.

In his lifetime, my grandpa has seen the automobile go from a steam powered land vehicle that only the wealthiest could afford to an electric/gasoline hybrid of which most families could afford two.

He has seen the birth of space flight, the landing of men on the moon and the use research probes on other planets that send live data back to Earth. Speaking of planets, my grandpa was already 15 when Pluto was discovered in 1930.

He has lived through invention of movies with sound – the first commercially available movie with sound was released in 1923. Color movies became commercially available until the 1930’s. He’s also seen the advent of the VCR and videos and now the DVD player and fully digital media (like TEVO).

The first radios with tuners to find multiple stations were invented in 1916. NBC and CBS were both founded in 1926. The “Golden Age of Radio” is considered to begin in 1930. The long playing record and transistors were not invented until 1948! Up to that point, radio was done live and you could visit the radio halls to watch the broadcast!

The first television broadcast was in 1930 and also had to be done live. The technology to tape and edit television shows using magnetic recorders was not invented until 1938. Scheduled TV broadcasts didn’t begin until 1939. He has also witnessed the first nationwide broadcast of a television show in 1976.

During his lifetime, American soldiers have fought in World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, Iran-Contra, Operation Desert Storm, and currently the “war on terrorism” in the Gulf.

The Chrysler Building (1930), the Empire State Building (1931), Hoover Dam (1938), the Space Needle (1962), and the World Trade Center twin towers(1969) have all been built in his lifetime.

He lived through the Great Depression (1929 to 1940) and was around before a social security system was even invented (1933).

The first computer was not commercially available until 1951. The first home computer became available in 1976. In fact, the modern computer was completely invented and grew up from a punch-card processing mega machine into our digitialy linked, portable laptops and smart phone versions during Grandpa’s life!

He has seen the birth of zip codes (1963) by the US Postal Service and the beginnings of the LACK of use of the US Postal Service due to the internet. And just in case you are wondering, the internet was not released for public use by the government until 1994, so anyone over 11 has witnessed the advent of THAT!

Telephones have come a long way too! They have gone from party lines using operators, to individual lines using rotary dialing, to push button phones, to car phones, to cell phones.

Speaking of which – we are giving him a cell phone for his birthday. I guess Grandpa is keeping up with the world!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPA!!!

4 comments:

Alice the Brit said...

Rock on Grandpa, he looks AWESOME for 90 !!!

Make sure you download him a cool ring tone (loud!) for that nifty new cell-phone!

Alice, the Brit

Anonymous said...

what an awesome tribute - and what an amazing time. Happiest of birthday wishes!

amazing grace said...

Happy Birthday to your Grandpa!!!
Wow--he looks so great! 90 years old....i can't imagine.....

loved your post girl!!!

Anonymous said...

hey girl---thanks for your excitement on my news!!!

i am so excited i can hardly stand it!!!!

i can't wait to see her face! i will post pics as soon as i get them!!!!