christmas '81

The back of the photo says "Feb. 1982", so I am assuming this was taken during the previous holiday season. I have now officially become one of those guys who posts their own baby photos on the Internet.

Anyway, this photo is quite famous. It was on my father's desk in his office in Huntington when I was a little boy.

Dad had all kinds of neat things around his desk. He had, for example, a pair of buoys that he had found on the beach near where we lived. He had a poster on the wall of a sports car (of course) as well as of a skier who looked like him, though wasn't actually him (did he buy it because of the resemblance?)

He also had a little cow toy on his desk that, if you turned it upside down, it made a "moo" sound. And then there was this photo.

When I was a boy, I didn't get its humor. To me it was a photo of me with an ugly Santa crying (I had probably just peed in my pants too). But he must have found it hilarious. I would put in on my desk too. He must have been proud. "That's my son."

Back then, Dad worked for Lear Siegler. This was my favorite of the firms for whom he worked, probably because "Siegler" reminded me of "seagull." Through the years he accumulated other firms -- Link, Sherwood, Boundless -- I lost count. But Lear Siegler was my favorite.

I am not even sure what he sold. He always seems to be selling computer/mechanical/logistical things. He has taken time in the past to explain what these gadgets do, but I can never remember how they work or what their names are. Imagine if I had to explain to Marta what I do! Now that would be difficult.

When Dad came back from computer/mechanical/logistical thing fairs, he would bring back the free stuff they gave out and surprise me. "Look, Justin," he would say. "I brought you some smurfs!" But they were never really smurfs. They were little fuzzy things with corporate logos on them.

He would be pleased to know that I now do the same for Marta and Anna. At my last conference I brought home two fuzzy sheep, with corporate logos on them, which Marta played with and Anna attempted to eat. But I never called them smurfs. I'm not so cruel.

Ah, Christ. I should just sit down with Archie and Edith Bunker and start singing "Those were the days", right? But I am getting sort of deep into young adulthood. I was reading a review of the latest Indiana Jones film and I had to reread the part where they said the last one came out 19 years ago just to digest that fact. I even did the math in my head. Yep, 2008-1989= 19 years. Damn.

One of the first movies I remember seeing in the theater, along with Splash and Return of the Jedi, was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which was released 24 years ago almost to the day. I remember when we got home I was so doped up on popcorn and Hollywood violence that dad had to restrain me from bashing my toy pinwheel into the side of his bed. But that's the great thing about kids. They are non-stop entertainment.