Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Mistermuse: A Birthday Tribute
On this day, *ahem* years ago, mistermuse (aka my dad) was born. And so to mark this auspicious occasion, I have compiled a list of little known facts about his life. There are many things we already know about mistermuse – he’s a reader, writer, thinker, jazz aficionado and classic movie buff, and today, in honor of his birthday, here are ten things you didn’t know about the man who aMUSEs us all!
- His grandfather came from County Clare, Ireland and could “talk the blarney”. Perhaps this is where mistermuse got his way with words.
- As a boy he traded his set of original Superman comics for a BB gun. At least he didn’t shoot his eye out!
- He worked for the same company his entire career, starting out in the mailroom and working his way up. How many can say that today?
- He met my mom through a “computer dating service” – a newfangled thing in the 60’s. His first matches weren’t so hot and he was going to give up the experiment after his sixth and last match. Thank goodness my mom was the sixth and not the seventh!
- When I was five years old he brought home a pet for the family in a cardboard box – no, it wasn’t a puppy, it was a duckling! For the next ten years we had a duck waddling around in our suburban backyard.
- In his travels, mistermuse has visited eight countries (Canada, Mexico, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland), all fifty US states, and has taken pictures of covered bridges in every state that had one.
- He retired at age 50 with a nice early retirement package and then worked for a couple of years as a building security guard. His favorite part of that job was getting to watch TV while working.
- Mistermuse has a sneeze with a decibel level high enough to set off our doorbell sensor. Thankfully, he has not yet blown down the house.
- He was always a devoted son and cared for his mother for the last 11 years of her life while she lived with our family.
- He is the best dad I could ever ask for. 🙂
So now you know ten more things about mistermuse than you did before and I hope you all enjoyed reading it too.
And finally,
Happy Birthday, Dad!
As poet I can’t compare – your wit’s sharpened on a strop,
but if Daddy I’m the bottom, you’re the top!
scifihammy 1:25 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Happy Birthday Mistermuse! What a lovely tribute 🙂
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Bun Karyudo 2:05 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
This was a good post for me to read. This was my first visit to the Mistermuse site, so this post gave me a lot of factual data to be going on with. Incidentally, as a very young person, I do have a question about point number three: What’s mail? 😀
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linnetmoss 6:09 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Charming! I knew there was an Irish connection in there somewhere 🙂
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Carmen 6:18 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Well, well! About the Irish descendants – I figured as much! 🙂 I am wondering if he’s got a picture of the famous covered bridge in Hartland, New Brunswick (Canada). It’s supposed to be the longest in the world.
What a track record! Since he’s always telling us things about everyone else, it was time we learned some things about him – thanks for that, eh? 😉
Found this Irish blessing-
“May the winds of fortune sail you
May you sail a gentle sea.
May it always be the other guy
who says, “This drink’s on me!”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mister (A)muse!!!
xx
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mistermuse 7:01 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Well, well, I was simply overWELLmed to find this post on my blog when I turned on my computer this morning. Need I add that this was a complete surprise, and appreciated more than I can say. And now Ill tell you a thing or two you don’t know about daughter ‘rielyn’: she and her big sister are the best daughters a dad could wish for, and her ‘real’ name is LITTLE ONE (and oddly enough, we call her older sister ‘Big One’). Love you, Little One!
Also thanks to scifihammy, Bun Karyudo, linnetmoss, and Carmen for their comments (and yes, Carmen, I have photographed the Hartland Covered Bridge from both sides of the river, although it took me two days to cross over the bridge from one end to the other). 🙂
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rielyn 5:39 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink
You’re very welcome, Dad! I’m glad your readers like it too. 🙂
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Carmen 7:15 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
The birthday boy makes an appearance, as cheeky as can be,
Another year older and better at hyperbole. . . 🙂
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GP Cox 7:47 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
What an outstanding tribute. Funny, one thing that caught my eye was the covered bridges. My own father was drawn to them as well, maybe that’s why I like them so much? My present one year at Easter was 2 duck chicks and yes, he loved his mother dearly.
(Hey – are we related? haha)
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mistermuse 8:41 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Thanks (on behalf of my daughter), GP. Yes, I believe we are related, in the best possible way — our common humanity. 🙂
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arekhill1 9:16 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Happy, Happy, Sr. Muse. And I trust your birthdays will continue to be happy, as long as you stay away from those Dayton girls.
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mistermuse 2:57 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Well, I anticipated your advice by deleting the “Dayton girls” reference before I saw your comment, Ricardo, because I’d already forgotten all about them (besides, who outside of Ohio ever heard of Dayton?). “Let sleeping dogs lie” is my motto.
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Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC, SCAC 6:34 pm on November 23, 2016 Permalink
Come ON, MM! Everybody in the Air Force knows Dayton – the “big city” close to Wright Patterson AFB in Fairborn, of course.
I don’t know if my Mom was one of those Dayton girls of whom you speak, but – from a story related to me when I was about five years old – she did attend Bath HS (where the football team chant was — “Saturday nite is Bath nite”).
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
– ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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mistermuse 9:55 pm on November 23, 2016 Permalink
Well, I don’t know if I have any readers in the Air Force, but if so, I humbly apologize (which is more than I would probably do if those “Dayton girls” had been from Dayton, Tennessee (of Scopes Monkey Trial fame)!
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Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC, SCAC 10:52 pm on November 23, 2016 Permalink
lol – I doubt they would expect ap0logies – they’d most likely chuckle.
I’m with you on Dayton, Tn. btw- apologies would, no doubt, be lost on them. Most folks with any sense are long-since gone, I imagine, and the rest – well, genetics will out?
xx,
mgh
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Carmen 9:26 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
“stay away from those Dayton girls.” says the ‘sex magnet’. 🙂
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mistermuse 3:04 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
I see that I didn’t delete the “Dayton girls” reference quick enough, Carmen. I hope this doesn’t change things between us. 🙂
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Carmen 3:21 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink
Ha, ha. No chance, Mister!
It might change things between myself and everyone else, though, because they might not have seen what I saw – arkehill’s hovercard. . . 🙂
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Cynthia Jobin 11:30 am on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Two literary giants in one family….who knew? Happy Birthday to you!
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mistermuse 2:46 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
One of those “literary giants” is a Little One, and the other is shrinking from old age — none the ‘less,’ all accolades are gratefully accepted. 🙂 🙂
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BroadBlogs 8:20 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Happy birthday to your dad!
I had no idea that there was computer dating in the 60s. Your parents were ahead of their time.
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mistermuse 9:17 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
And now we old-geezer parents are behind the times….and I have an idea the computer is behind that too.
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Cynthia Jobin 9:44 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
I was in college in 1965 and I remember Operation Match. This sent me to Google which tells me:
Operation Match was the first computer dating service in the United States, begun in 1965. Users filled out a paper questionnaire which they mailed in with a $3 fee. The questionnaire was geared to young college students seeking a date, not a marriage partner. Questions included “Do you believe in a God who answers prayer?” and “Is extensive sexual activity in preparation for marriage part of ‘growing up?’”[1] The questionnaires were transferred to punched cards[2] and processed on an IBM 7090 computer at the Avco service bureau in Wilmington, Massachusetts.[3] A week or two later, the user received an IBM 1401 print out in the mail listing the names and telephone numbers of their matches.[4]
Operation Match was started by Harvard University undergraduate students Jeffrey C. Tarr, David L. Crump and Vaughan Morrill, with help from Douglas H. Ginsburg, then a student at Cornell[3] who later became Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. [5] Tarr, Crump and Ginsburg formed a company called Compatibility Research, Inc. and rolled out the service in several cities.
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mistermuse 12:16 am on October 19, 2016 Permalink
I appreciate your taking the time to find and pass along that very interesting info, Cynthia. I don’t remember the name of the computer dating service which brought my wife and I together, nor do I remember the specific questions….which I suppose is typical of a man, but I make up for it by being the sexiest husband my wife ever had (not to mention the only one she ever had, but who’s counting?).
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Michaelinw Montezinos 11:33 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Happy birthday to a wonderful gentleman. Rielyn wrote a greeting that lets us know more about mistermuse. I hope you keep on writing and may the good luck of Ireland be with you always.
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mistermuse 11:59 pm on October 18, 2016 Permalink |
Thanks, Michaeline. Sure and I wish ye the best of luck as well.
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Enigma 8:12 am on October 19, 2016 Permalink |
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Don Frankel 10:02 am on October 22, 2016 Permalink |
And now we know the rest of the story. Well done Rielyn and you picked the perfect song.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISTERMUSE!
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eths 7:52 pm on October 25, 2016 Permalink |
What a lovely tribute!
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