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Carl Eyman
05-14-2004, 2:37 PM
My dearly beloved granddaughter is being graduated from high school next week and my wife and I have composed this e-mail to her but have a question.

Dear Laura:

So you'll be through high school and off to college soon. Old people always say it seems like yesterday, etc; so we won't say it. But there comes the question of a graduation gift. Traditionally high school graduates off to college always got a portable typewriter to help them in college. Since grandparents' main job is preserving tradition, we are prepring to give you the portahble I got as a gift when I was graduated in 1939. We've sent it out to be cleaned; so it should be in A-1 shape.

Congratulations, Laura!

Love, Nanny and Papa
Now our question. If we give Laura this machine, will her brother be jealous when he graduated in three years? What can we do for him that will be as meaningful?

Donnie Raines
05-14-2004, 2:53 PM
Now our question. If we give Laura this machine, will her brother be jealous when he graduated in three years? What can we do for him that will be as meaningful?[/QUOTE]

Carl,

I am willing to bet that your grandon will love whatever it is you feel the need to share with him. My folks were always worrying about be equal with us kids...and we were always happy just being around family and enjoying each others company(..really). I would make your grandaughters graduation the most special event you can....and your grandson's will fall into place in three years.

Dont sweat it....


Donnie Raines

Chris Padilla
05-14-2004, 2:53 PM
Carl,

I have to be honest here...I thought this was tongue in cheek!:o ...but I am pretty sure it isn't! I'll explain in a second.

So to that end, I think the gift is wonderful...in fact, this is more of a family heirloom if I am not mistaken! Have you considered building a nice table to set it upon...to display it? How about a nice storage case/display case?

Here is the tongue in cheek part...I thought you were kinda joking to give someone starting college an old typewriter that they most likely won't get used! I think a computer might be more useful.

So to answer the actual question, what else do you have of equal meaning of handing down tradition to your grandson? Do you have any old college text books? A nice display shelf for them might be cool. Maybe a college annual? College sweater? Your own framed diploma? Maybe an old tool you dearly love. I think it was Todd Burch that posted about an old hammer his grandfather used that he always wanted as a kid. He was shocked some 20-30 years later that his grandfather remembered and offically handed it to him. That was pretty cool.

Anyway, I don't have any more room in my mouth for my second foot if the space is warranted! :D

Waymon Campbell
05-14-2004, 2:57 PM
Carl - My wife and I had this same situation occur with our two daughters who are a year and a half apart in age. LOML was always worried that what we did for one had to be equal for the other. You know, same number of presents at Christmas, same amount of money spent on this, or that. Finally, it got so out of hand that we sat down and had a long talk. The outcome of that talk was that we would do our best to be fair. But understanding that life was often not fair, we decided that if a special gift was in order for one (as is your case), that did not mean that the same special gift was for the other. Each of these situations was, and is unique, and we decided we would not let the "everything being equal" get in the way of our feelings.

So, what happened often was that one daughter or the other would complain about getting what they considered to be the short end of the stick, so to speak. Every time that happened we would admonish them that making comparisons was not a good practice because inevitably you compare what you have with something better that the other got. You never compare what you have with someone who has less. To reinforce the point I recall one time a daughter asking for a pair of $150.00 shoes because everyone else at school had them. So, daughter and I took a drive. We left our comfortable, upper middle class subdivision and drove about a mile down the road where there were people living in "shacks". I told her to compare what she had to what they had. After that I never heard her compare what she had to someone else.

Not sure if any of that helped Carl. But I say give the typewriter gladly, don't miss the opportunity to do something special.

Donnie Raines
05-14-2004, 3:11 PM
Carl - My wife and I had this same situation occur with our two daughters who are a year and a half apart in age. LOML was always worried that what we did for one had to be equal for the other. You know, same number of presents at Christmas, same amount of money spent on this, or that. Finally, it got so out of hand that we sat down and had a long talk. The outcome of that talk was that we would do our best to be fair. But understanding that life was often not fair, we decided that if a special gift was in order for one (as is your case), that did not mean that the same special gift was for the other. Each of these situations was, and is unique, and we decided we would not let the "everything being equal" get in the way of our feelings.

So, what happened often was that one daughter or the other would complain about getting what they considered to be the short end of the stick, so to speak. Every time that happened we would admonish them that making comparisons was not a good practice because inevitably you compare what you have with something better that the other got. You never compare what you have with someone who has less. To reinforce the point I recall one time a daughter asking for a pair of $150.00 shoes because everyone else at school had them. So, daughter and I took a drive. We left our comfortable, upper middle class subdivision and drove about a mile down the road where there were people living in "shacks". I told her to compare what she had to what they had. After that I never heard her compare what she had to someone else.

Not sure if any of that helped Carl. But I say give the typewriter gladly, don't miss the opportunity to do something special.

I had to chuckle! My father did that to me when 'Air Jordan' shoes were the hot thing when I was in school. Since then, I have taken my own daughter for the same ride(though she is younger then I was).

The tradition lives on...... ;)

Donnie Raines

Carl Eyman
05-14-2004, 3:34 PM
;) I guess I should have used an icon - though thought the idea of a portable typewriter for a kid that was using a computer in kindergarten was ridiculous enough, I thought. Actually she is getting a laptop from her parents and cold weather clothes for Schenectady (Union College) weather from us.

But I am going to send her the e-mail and see what the reaction is. The typewriter actually is long gone. If she'd called our bluff we were going to tell her it disolved in the fluid while being cleaned. Thank for your coments.

Dan Mages
05-14-2004, 3:38 PM
I think you should get your grandson a laptop, if it is in the budget. When I was in college, my laptop was a life saver. You can say that the laptop is the modern day equivilent to a typewriter.

Dan

Rob Russell
05-14-2004, 3:51 PM
Carl,

Your thought is really nice.

I would amend your message to read something like:

"here's the tradition of the portable, but we're pretty hip for old folks and know that you'd prefer this type of portable"

and explain that you'll help with the purchase of a laptop. I say "help" because you may not be able to buy one of your own. I also wouldn't get them one right now, because 3 months is a long time in the PC industry and waiting until August 1st will get more more technology for less money. That and you would really want to find out any specifics on what their college might require.

Rob

Carl Eyman
05-14-2004, 5:41 PM
:D Thank all of you for your help - both serious and otherwise - but the answer was right there in front of me all along! I'll give him my Keufel & Esser (sp) Log - Log - Duplex - Decitrig . Now if anyone here under 30 years old knows what that is, I'll donate another $10 in your name to Ken's Pen fund.

Mark Stutz
05-14-2004, 6:37 PM
S************!!!!! My kids have no idea what those things are.



Hope I didn't give it away. I posted without reading fully! I'm NOT UNDER 30!!!

Chris Padilla
05-14-2004, 7:40 PM
:D Thank all of you for your help - both serious and otherwise - but the answer was right there in front of me all along! I'll give him my Keufel & Esser (sp) Log - Log - Duplex - Decitrig . Now if anyone here under 30 years old knows what that is, I'll donate another $10 in your name to Ken's Pen fund.
Why, Carl, I do believe that is a slide rule! :D I will be 35 in June. :rolleyes:

Dan Mages
05-14-2004, 7:46 PM
:D Thank all of you for your help - both serious and otherwise - but the answer was right there in front of me all along! I'll give him my Keufel & Esser (sp) Log - Log - Duplex - Decitrig . Now if anyone here under 30 years old knows what that is, I'll donate another $10 in your name to Ken's Pen fund.


WELL!! That would be a slide rule. My father taught me to use one when I was young. I used it in high school and college to tease and intimidate my math teachers.

Dan

Oh, and I am 26 :D

John Miliunas
05-14-2004, 10:12 PM
Sorry to go OT in the middle of this thread, but the slide-rule thing brought back a real happy memory for me. My dad taught me how to use a slide rule when I was in 7th grade. That was right about the same time that those new-fangled electronic calculator thingies were starting to become a bit more common, though still very expensive. Well, on my next Algebra test, I pulled out my slider and commenced with the test. The teacher quickly came to my side and said, "John, I clearly said that there were to be no calculators for this test." Being kind of a smarta$$, I said, "No, you said there were to be no *electronic* calculators for this test." She fell silent for a moment, then I saw this sliver of a smile and she says, "Yup. You're right. Continue." :) I aced that test, though before the next one, she qualified her rules with, "NO calculators allowed for the test!" :eek: Funny, but she was looking directly at ME when she announced that! :cool:

Tony Falotico
05-14-2004, 10:47 PM
Sorry to go further off, but I love these nostalgic posts -------- Anyone remember the old mechanical calculators -- they looked like an old typewriter, weighed in at 40-50 lbs. It's been a l-ooooo-ng time, but you input your numbers via a push keypad (had columns of the same number, rows went from 1-0 ????). when everything was entered you pushed a button and the carriage would bounce up and down and move back and forth, displaying each digit of your answer like the fruits show up in slot machines. Popular brands as I recall were Marchant & Fridon (?).

I'll never forget, taking a surveyor's final exam (Junior College night school) about 20 of us had carried these monsters in to use. Extension cords, four way sockets all over the place ---- Half way through the test too many of us hit calculate at the same time, blew the circuit breakers on the entire science / engineering wing!

Thanks for listening guys, I love these nostalgic posts!

WOW! I FOUND ONE! Looks like the one I used to have .....

Ian Barley
05-15-2004, 2:08 AM
[QUOTE=Tony Falotico]Sorry to go further off, but I love these nostalgic posts -------- Anyone remember the old mechanical calculators -- [QUOTE]

Now come on Tony - be precise. You are talking about the new-fangled electo-mechanical calculators.

When I first started working at the bank we had proper mechanical calculators. Like the one you showed but with an 18" lever handle on the side that you pulled after each row of input and again at the end of the process for your answer.

Those were the days when banking was manual labour.

Rob Russell
05-16-2004, 9:52 AM
:D Thank all of you for your help - both serious and otherwise - but the answer was right there in front of me all along! I'll give him my Keufel & Esser (sp) Log - Log - Duplex - Decitrig . Now if anyone here under 30 years old knows what that is, I'll donate another $10 in your name to Ken's Pen fund.

Boy - a K&E huh? Somewhere I have an old, small (~6") ivory slide rule that was passed on to me by my grandfather. It's small enough so I hang on to it as a momento.

Tony Falotico
05-16-2004, 10:17 PM
Now come on Tony - be precise. You are talking about the new-fangled electo-mechanical calculators.

Ian, I yield to your correction, though surprised because according to your profile you are ten years younger than me. I must have lead a sheltered life! I had seen the older mechanical ones, but never had to use one.