Back When......

Today I was "IMing" with a friend when out of the blue, says "look at this" and sends me a link to the following item pictured to the right. That's right a vintage 1976 T1 Little Professor Game. My immediate reply was "Oh man, I didn't have one of these, but my cousin did." Do I remember what this did? Probably not. I am certain it was a calculator that taught you math skills or some other elaborate way to trick us into learning. In case you want to know, this little gem is for sell on KSL right now. I am not picking it up, but just in case you might find it handy to have. A bargain at just $15.00.

Anyway, this led our discussion into items we had as children. I said that one of my favorite toys was this red thing that looked like a phone. I think I might have thought GIANT phone, but at the time it would have been exactly the right size. It would be HUGE by today's standards. I was telling Mel what a little treat this toy was. It had buttons on it like a key-pad and you could play games with it. Each key had a different tone and if I remember right you could play songs on it and maybe a memory game or two.

Mel said: "Well was it the Merlin?" Yeah, that is the name. I wasn't 100% certain it was called the Merlin. But it is. (These can be found on the web for sale as well.) Yeah, Mel asked me if I remembered thinking how "High-Tech" they were? Oh for certain, they were the best ever. We talked about other games we had, including the Simon and The Atari.

Well, when Atari was mentioned I immediately had flash backs to that awesome 2600 gaming system we had. Seriously, the graphics were amazing, the games we awesome. I just did not think anything could ever improve upon this technology. (Have they done that yet?) I also started thinking about the games I had for the Atari. Immediately I remembered my favorite--FAVORITE Atari game. It was Space Invaders. There is a little bit of a story here. Which is really the purpose behind this post. Space Invaders was set to come out on my 12th birthday. No, not the day before, not a week before. Exactly on my 12th birthday. Of course, what did I want for my birthday that year? Yep, I wanted Space Invaders. Nothing more and nothing less was acceptable. I woke up the morning of my 12th birthday and it was like any other day, except I received birthday wishes. Since I knew that we would be having cake and ice cream with the family that night, my present was not yet expected. I waited all day and the day could not be over fast enough. I had to get home so I could get that game.

Finally, the designated hour arrived and the family all came over for cake and ice cream. (I am certain the cake would have been carrot cake as that is my favorite.) I opened all other gifts until it was time to open the one from my parents. I hastily ripped into it and there it was. I am certain the angels above all sang out their Gloria's!!!!! When I look back, I think of this fondly as my favorite birthday. Back then I didn't. But looking back now, I realize what my parents must have done to give me that present. I am certain that as soon as my mother dropped me off at school she got herself and a 5-month-old baby ready for the day, drove to Provo and had to actually find a place selling them. (Back then we didn't have a Wal-mart every 2.3 miles and these games were a bit harder to find.) She found it, had to come home, make my birthday cake, wrap the present, go to the store and get ice cream all before I got out of school. All so her spoiled boy would be happy. Oh and Happy I was! (At least I wasn't prone to my spoiled rotten moments that sometimes made appearances on holidays and birthdays. But that is a different post.)

Anyway, I don't think I told her, so mom when you read this. I want you to know how grateful I was (am) and I say thanks!