83 and Counting

Michele and Kevin Quized me, 8 for 8 decades

Happy 83rd Birthday, Dad! ❤️🎂

Since we can’t be there with you today, we wanted to find a way to celebrate with you from afar—and do something a little different.

You’ve spent 83 years watching technology change in ways that probably would have been unimaginable when you were little.  Somehow technology, photography, family, and a whole lot of interesting adventures have woven their way through your life - one day we will read all about it in your book!

Today, we’re sending you on a birthday scavenger hunt through the decades!

Throughout the day, you’ll receive a series of clues and challenges. Some will test your memory, some your technology knowledge, and some may require a little storytelling. 😉 You may even hear from a few other people along the way.

The rules are simple: Answer each challenge and text your answer back to this text thread. Once you do, your next clue will be unlocked.  No Googling unless we tell you otherwise! 😂

There are 8 clues—one for each decade of your life. You have all day, so there’s no rushing. Just have fun with it and enjoy the trip down memory lane.

4 – Video Cassette Player and later Player Recorder designed to allow consumers the ability to watch programs and or entertainment anytime, anywhere on the cassette.

I was selling for Sony who introduced the Betamax format, which allowed us to record movies from a Beta Cam or from a TV tuner later built into the box to record anything on television, or recorded on the tape cartridge by the movie industry and rented by the retail industry. A customer friend of mine was an early renter of movies and became rich doing so. I made lots of money selling the product while working for Sony, who owned the patent for both Beta and VHS formats, but forced the competition into using the lower quality VHS format. Oops! The VHS format was adopted by almost all other companies and was introduced at a lower price. They quickly took over the market with pre-recorded movies widely distributed in tremendous speed and support consumers wanting more choice at a lower price and sacrificing higher quality. The sales force shifted its focus to the professionals and other Sony innovations. 

5- Fax Machine: A Telephone with a built-in scanner that would digitize the text from a sheet of paper and send that data, via telephone lines, to another fax machine to be printed at the desired address, speeding up the “snail mail” services and business alike. Replaced today by the internet and the evolution of technology advancements in both equipment and software that allows us to send any type of digital information, to or from any type of device, almost instantly.