Another Year Older and...Well, You Know the Rest
Tomorrow, I turn fifty years old. How did that happen?
Mickey Mantle, one of my childhood heroes though with feet of clay, said: "If I had known that I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." Ah, the Mick.
It was a good year and overall I am well content with where I find myself, though sometimes puzzled as to how exactly I got here. Born in the Bronx, NY (da Bronx!) I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Born in 1955, I am totally involved with technologies that not only weren't invented in my childhood, but weren't even in the science fiction books that I grew reading. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than 'ere conceived in your philosophy.
I have two wonderful children and a great job as Sales Manager at Stardock. I get to work amongst REALLY, REALLY smart people and can hide behind them, try to blend in. Koop's recent quote "Saying that I am smart for a sales guy is like saying I play chess well for a dog."
I took my first vacation since 2001 this year. My eighteen year old son Jon and I drove the 600 plus miles to New York for a week of fun and sightseeing. I am thrilled that he actually wanted to spend the time with me. (Eighteen years old and spending a week with his Dad? Who would willingly sign up for that?!?) We did odd things, like visiting the South Bronx where I grew up. We saw Ground Zero and my heart broke. I worked at World Trade upon occasion. We saw my best friend from days of yore, Chuck Magnus, at a jam session. Chuck's son Sam is twenty. He and Jon hit it off. I commented that when I thought of our kids hanging out together, somehow I imagined them younger.
We also did "touristy" things. We went to China Town, Little Italy and the Village. We visited The Cloisters, a wonderful museum in upper Manhattan, and Untermeyer Park in Yonkers. Mostly, we hung out with each other.
Pictures, poor in quality from a disposable camera, are at http://larrykuperman.wincustomize.com/photos.aspx?a=1.
I also got to spend a lot of time with my daughter, Lauren, who is fast approaching the ripe old age of eleven. We are together Monday and Wednesday evenings and often Saturday nights. She is in sixth grade. Lauren, not without protest, attends the Sunday School where I teach. (Yes, Virginia, Secularists can have Sunday Schools too.) Next year, I will be her teacher and see her through her Bat Mitzvah.
This is my second year teaching seventh grade at Sunday School. We focus on Jewish history, ancient and contemporary, on Bible studies, including a discussion of "Who Wrote the Bible" and on Jewish identity. My goal is to help the kids define themselves as members of many communities. We visit area congregations, including Hasidic, Conservative and Reform. I hope this year to include at least one Christian church and the Ann Arbor Islamic Center. We encourage Tzedekah (anonymous good deeds) as part of Tikkun Olam, the healing of the world. My classes have raised hundreds of dollars my Safe Houses, cancer victims and other charities. Last year's class adopted a child in Ghana. We don't preach about good deeds, we DO them.
Speaking of which, I attended several B'not Mitzvot from my last year's class. I was honored at everyone. (koop blushes.) Somehow, old man that I am, I made a difference in these young lives.
My dad celebrated his 97th birthday this year. Born in 1908, in Czarist Russia, he came to the US in 1913. Virtually penniless and not speaking English, he produced three kids that have had successful careers. Between my sister (a former teacher at the University of Michigan and at Community High School in Ann Arbor), my brother (a senior mathematician at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton) and myself, I think that we have three post graduate degrees and a host of honors.
I do miss my mom. Gone for a number of years, I still remember her as one of the warmest and most giving people that one could ever meet. She ended her working career as a case worker for the Department of Social Services (Welfare...I don't like euphemisms) serving the South Bronx. Here was this tiny (maybe 5 feet tall, being charitable) women who walked the Mean Streets when the buildings were burning. How did she stay safe? Warmth and humanity. She should be numbered among the righteous of the world.
Stardock is a wonderful place to work and it fulfills me. I get to work with the biggest companies in the world (Microsoft, General Electric, SONY, BellSouth...yeah, the biggest) and to be on the cutting edge of technology. I can't believe that I get paid for this...wait, Brad don't read that part! And skinners....koop gets all starry-eyed. They are the artists of our time. If we are the Internet generation (well, not me, but you young people out there...) it is the skinners that capture our zeitgeist, the spirit of our time.
Let me offer a birthday toast. Too many names to name...but MikeB (that I got to meet in person this year! w00t!), Voo, Hippy, Essorant, BoXXi, _Martin_, Pas, TSF, PixelPirate, Snowman, Morphium, Mormegil...and so many more. And the developers that make it all go...WBlinds, SkinStudio, Bagginz, Alberto...the Uber Wizards that make it all go. The Admins that keep it all going smoothly...KarmaGirl, Jafo, Fuzzy Logic, GoodMorphing...all the rest. T-Man, who has to have the most thankless job in the world. Pat, you are the Wizard Behind the Curtain. To Nakor, for his friendship. And always to Frogboy for his vision and for trusting me.
To all the bloggers...for someone has to comment. To BakerStreet and to OG San especially, for their thoughts and insights. If the skinners make me feel, you make me think.
They remind us that there must also be beauty in the world. Here's to another year!