I am having one of those mornings, technology-wise. Olga woke me up at 5 a.m. and as it turns out, it's a good thing she did, because I've been doing nothing but wrestling with the computer since then.
Today is my birthday. Woo hoo! I am 58, which my friend Jennifer would describe as my mid-late 50's (as opposed to 57, which was my early-late 50's, or 59, which will be my late-late 50's). Dave has cooked up some kind of birthdayish plan for this evening but I have no idea what it is, other than that it involves a martini. Which is really all I need to know.
(David Schwimmer is also 58 today -- my celebrity birthday mate.)
In celebration, I thought you all might like to see what my very first birthday looked like, back in 1967:
At least, I'm pretty sure that's my first birthday. Don't I look like a one-year-old? And there's only one candle on the cake. (There's no sound, so do not adjust your speakers.) My great-grandmother gave me that stuffed dog and I had it for about 40 years, before it finally disintegrated into a plastic baggie full of sawdust. I don't remember that pink toy at all so it must not have lasted long, but I do have photos of me wearing the green outfit.
Today is my birthday. Woo hoo! I am 58, which my friend Jennifer would describe as my mid-late 50's (as opposed to 57, which was my early-late 50's, or 59, which will be my late-late 50's). Dave has cooked up some kind of birthdayish plan for this evening but I have no idea what it is, other than that it involves a martini. Which is really all I need to know.
(David Schwimmer is also 58 today -- my celebrity birthday mate.)
In celebration, I thought you all might like to see what my very first birthday looked like, back in 1967:
At least, I'm pretty sure that's my first birthday. Don't I look like a one-year-old? And there's only one candle on the cake. (There's no sound, so do not adjust your speakers.) My great-grandmother gave me that stuffed dog and I had it for about 40 years, before it finally disintegrated into a plastic baggie full of sawdust. I don't remember that pink toy at all so it must not have lasted long, but I do have photos of me wearing the green outfit.
That's me with my dad in our backyard, with our first dog, Beans, in the background. My mom always said Beans was crazy.
Anyway, that home movie clip is what put me through techno-hell this morning. Some of you may remember that I had our home movies professionally digitized many years ago, and they were stored on a thumb drive and on CD. I thought, "Oh, I'll just trim the home movies video file in iMovie -- easy as pie."
Except that when I plugged the thumb drive into my computer, it didn't work. It appears to have died. And I had no way to transfer the CD file onto my computer because of course computers no longer come with CD drives (and haven't for about ten years). And apparently, in my great wisdom, I somehow failed to back up the video file on any other device.
I wound up playing the CD on our television and recording it with my phone. Ridiculous! I'm not worried about losing the movies -- I can transfer the file off the CD at work. But what a pain.
Anyway, in other news, I had another crazy busy day yesterday. I got to school about an hour earlier than usual for my interview with the 7th graders -- they seemed fairly uninterested but I tried to be mildly entertaining -- and then had a busy morning. I raced home for lunch to let Olga out, because Dave had an afternoon medical appointment and we didn't think either of us would get home until 5 p.m. or so, which seemed too long to let the dog languish on the couch. As it turns out, Dave got home early from his appointment, so that was all unnecessary, but oh well.
I spent a few minutes in the garden with Olga, trimming dahlias. The foliage has already died back on some of them, so after cutting them back I put them in the shed for winter. I was going to take them out of their pots for storage but maybe I'll just repot them in the spring.
And Olga wanted me to throw her Kong, which is a very good sign that she's feeling better. She carried it out to the garden and dropped it and barked. When I did throw it a short distance she didn't chase it, but hey -- baby steps!
(Photo: The "Beatles Cafe," which is actually called Helter Skelter, at the St. John's Wood tube station.)
Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteHave a good day
Thanks, Sue!
DeleteHappy birthday 🎂 and good steps in the right direction for Olga.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the reminder to keep my archive checked and updated ( which I used to do once a month) and put on an external hard drive as well as files on my main laptop.
As if, as you know yourself, there weren't enough other things to do!
I am very surprised I didn't have these files backed up. I think I must have THOUGHT I'd put them on my external drive and then deleted them from my main computer. Oops!
DeleteHappy Birthday young man! Have a lovely day. Sorry there is no sun for you, but at least it isn't raining!
ReplyDeleteYeah, sun in November is too much to hope for! LOL
DeleteHappy birthday Steve and some nice memories arose for you. I think you might have been two years old.
ReplyDeleteYeah, who knows. I was a bit small when I was born but I rapidly became very large!
DeleteTwo? No way. I know a one year old when I see one.
DeleteSending birthday wishes from Ohio!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteHappy birthday Steve, you were clearly determined to be a dog owner from early on and also, how very serious a child you were! Do you have any memories of ever laughing or maybe smiling, a tiny chuckle? Only joking, birthday presents are a serious matter to investigate. Hope you will have a great day.
ReplyDeleteIt IS funny how I never smiled in that movie. I think I was perplexed.
DeleteYour appearance has hardly changed in all these years Steve. Happy Birthday! It's not just David Schwimmer you share November 2nd with but also my youngest granddaughter - Margot. One today - just as you were in that endearing silent movie.
ReplyDeleteYes but Margot is considerably younger! Just a bit.
DeleteHappy birthday, loved your video, watching your mum.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was great to see her -- and so young! (She was 30 in that movie.)
DeleteThe video warmed my heart. What cheeks! Happy mid-late 50s!
ReplyDeleteI was very pudgy. Apparently my dad was mixing the formula double-strength, or something like that. It's family lore.
DeleteHappy Birthday and enjoy your surprise!
ReplyDeleteThanks, e!
DeleteHappy Birthday to you! I hope Dave's surprise evening is filled with fun, good food and a great martini! I loved the video. And the photo. Big smiles. And good news with Olga -- things are looking up! I'm thinking of buying a cheap CD player to link up to the computer for that very reason (and also, to transfer music from some of the zillions of CDs I have to the computer). My computer only has two USB ports so I need one of those extenders. How come it was so much easier before they got fancy?
ReplyDeleteYou were a sturdy lad, and though you don't remember the pink toy, that merry go round seemed to mesmerize you! I am really glad that Olga is improved. Still amazing to me that a dog could get vertigo, but in thinking about it, why not? Like us, they have ears...
ReplyDeleteMaybe I played with that merry-go-round enough that I broke it? As for dogs and vertigo, apparently this is a very common thing among elderly dogs.
Deletejust noticed that I neglected to throw a happy birthday out there. Sorry about that. But happy belated birthday.
DeleteHappy birthday Steve, you were a lovely baby and you have grown to be such a person.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Yael! :)
DeleteYou were such a serious baby! "How does this work? Oh, let's pop it in the mouth and see where that goes!"
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, dear friend Steve! I am so glad that we know each other, my blog brother, my Florida friend.
I think I was very confused. LOL! Thanks for the birthday wishes, blog sister. :)
DeleteHappy Birthday, Steve! Hope the year is filled with good health and lots of fun adventures!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ellen!
DeleteHappy birthday, Steve! You're a year older than my son. Somewhere there a similar picture of him at one, with a one candle cake. He wasn't quite as serious as you about it. Enjoy your birthday bash, whatever Dave has planned for you. So Olga is up to her version of fetch, that's good.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Olga still has that playful spirit, which is a very good sign!
DeleteI like the facial expression on the first photo. One year olds just don't get birthdays. and Happy birthday today.
ReplyDeleteAt that age, the birthday party is more for the parents than the kid!
DeleteHappy birthday Steve! You're still a youngun, it's a moving goalpost as we age. I used to think 70 was old, until I turned 62:)
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day.
Yeah, I can see how the goalpost would shift over time! (And fortunately, for many people, 70 IS fairly young nowadays!)
DeleteOMG baby YOU nearly made me lactate! What a dear child. Glad to hear that Olga is back, somewhat! Old age is a bitch, I can verify. Happy Birthday- you are as young as you will ever be!
ReplyDeleteYour ability to stick with tech frustration is admirable, well done you!
Ha! You made me laugh. I was determined to post that movie one way or another.
DeleteHappy Birthday from S. Colorado! When you picked up the stuffed dog, I just knew it would head for your mouth! Sure enough! LOL
ReplyDeleteHope you have a wonderful day!!
Kids are so funny, how they experience everything through their mouths! (For better or worse!)
DeleteHappy B-day Steve! Enjoy your special day and celebration tonight.
ReplyDeleteWith tech, it seems we always need a work-around. Good that you have a solid plan.
I'm happy Olga is feeling better. She's progressing and that's a good sign.
The early photos of you show some adorable deep thinking going on.
I'm not sure it's DEEP thinking, but I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on. (I feel that way now sometimes too. LOL!)
DeleteHappy Birthday, Steve! I look forward to hearing if Dave's plan included actual cooking. (how nice to be married to a trained chef)
ReplyDeleteNo, he took the night off from cooking and we went out! And I say good for him.
DeleteI backed up our digitised heritage cine films to a private YouTube channer, with link shared with family members. Your are very good quality images.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea. I thought I'd put mine on YouTube privately as well, but it turns out I only posted a few clips, not the whole thing.
DeleteHappy birthday! I always think you're about 10 years younger than I am - ha! And I laughed out loud when you stuffed the dog in your mouth.
ReplyDeleteNot TEN years! I think you and I are roughly the same age, aren't we? Maybe you're a few years older, but only a few.
DeleteI turned 60 in March. I think I just feel elderly compared to you :)
DeleteHappy Birthday! I'm 10 years older than you!! I haven't tried to put any videos in my blog for a long time, since my younger daughter's gymnastics days. I imagine I would be horribly frustrated! Enjoy your martini. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty easy to post the embed code from YouTube, at least in Blogger. I don't post videos to the Blogger platform itself. Not sure what it's like in Word Press (or TypePad or whatever you use).
DeleteHappy Birthday! May you collect many more. Nice to see Olga progressing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jim! And yes, she's getting better every day.
DeleteHappy Birthday!! I hope you are having a great day! I loved the home movie. I see some typical 1-year old curiosity happing. It's that point in time when you don't really know what is happening but if people are going to give you things, it must be okay.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere, there is picture of me grabbing my cake with both hands when I was one. Luckily, I soon learned better table manners.
Enjoy your martini and dinner!
You'll notice the cake is being kept out of my reach. I'm sure my parents were wary of the same thing happening!
DeleteHappy Birthday, Steve!
ReplyDeleteJust an FYI, should there be a need in the future - you can buy a fairly inexpensive (about $25) external CD/DVD drive (flat and small) that connects with your laptop via a USB port. I've used on for a number of years.
I probably should buy one of those. I have a portable DVD player but I'm not sure it can read CDs for data purposes. (And I couldn't get my computer to "see" it, even when I connected it via HDMI.)
DeleteHappy birthday dear one xxxx
ReplyDeleteThank you, John!
Deletehappy birthday and yeah, I have music on CDs that I never downloaded to my harddrive and now with my new mac mini, I can't and don't have a CD player so I can't listen to any of it.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a portable player, like some of the others have suggested to me, might be good for you, too? If they're that inexpensive it might be worth it just to have access to your CDs once again.
DeleteHappy Happy Joy Joy!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bob!
DeleteLOVE the video. It reminded me of the tapes I still have somewhere from my cable tv production days, some of which have my (now giant) son as a little boy narrating one of the kids' shows I shot and produced. Hope I can find a format to move them to that won't be obsolete in 7 years.
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy Birthday! You were a very cute and focused baby.
I feel like everything gets obsolete eventually. Maybe putting them online like Tasker mentioned above is the safest option. My suggestion would be to have a professional digitize them, if you own the rights.
DeleteHappy birthday Steve! I hope you’re enjoying that martini!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rosemarie! :)
DeleteYour eyes were so blue! I can see you were interested in how that little pink toy worked, but you tried to eat the poor puppy. Happy Birthday.
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by everything!
DeletePS, you can buy external CD drives that plug in via usb cord. I don't know if you can download the cd contents that way though. I use mine to watch dvds when there is a blackout, the laptop battery lasts long enough to watch a couple.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. I have a portable DVD player but I couldn't get it to work with my computer and I'm not sure it reads data. I think I can borrow a CD player from work.
Delete
ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure to have a video! I have perhaps thousands of pictures of my childhood but not one video that I can recall.
I didn't realize the lack of CD/DVD drives in computers until I upgraded this past summer and found I didn't have one. Like suggested above, I bought a portable one that plugged into the USB drive to install the few programs I had on disk and then gave the drive to my oldest daughter who now used it in college to watch movies on her laptop. Fortunately, I've long since had all my digitized movies from my grandparents (and yet not one with me in it) and other pictures stored on my hard drive and backed up to the cloud for many years. I've heard too many horror stories of people storing things long term on thumb drives and losing them after years of non-use. I think they need to be used fairly regularly to maintain their integrity.
How much older than you is your father? he looks to be in his late 40's, perhaps into his 50's in that picture.
Happy belated birthday! No matter what anyone says, 57 isn't old!
Adorable time travel. Happy belated birthday.
ReplyDelete