# Happy Cake Day to me! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189 "2025-01-20T23:11:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/1 "2025-01-20T23:11:40Z")
I was just posting in GQ (or FQ I guess) and I noticed today is my SDMB cake day! I joined the board 25 years ago today after lurking for several years both on the web and on AOL. A quarter century as a member, almost half my life. In fact, given the lurking I think I have been visiting the dope for half my life. I remember Cecil published the first book and shortly after that I found the board. Was it 96’? 97’? Hell, I don’t know. But I remember it as a huge escape and crutch as I went through college. Damn. 😲 ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/2 "2025-01-20T23:29:41Z")
Our board is made brighter by your presence. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/3 "2025-01-20T23:37:09Z")
Congrats! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/4 "2025-01-20T23:44:17Z")
Thanks! Does it make you feel as old as it makes me? Damn, lot’s of memories. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/5 "2025-01-20T23:44:24Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/6 "2025-01-20T23:45:48Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Our board is made brighter by your presence. 🙂 I hope that wasn’t a taunt. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/7 "2025-01-20T23:47:26Z")
I thought it was icing for the cake… or maybe syrup. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/8 "2025-01-20T23:57:11Z")
Hooray for 25th anniversary cake!! I’m a mere 21-1/2 yo Doper. I salute you! You might enjoy this thread > [@Longest Tenure?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-tenure/1012548): > > If this should go somewhere else, mods please move it. I’ve been lurking here since 1999 (when we were on AOL) and joined up sometime in the 2000s. Some of the current posters and mods were there then, or at least have been around as long as I remember. Others have Charter Member or years in their profile. Who’s been here the longest? Is there a prize? There should be! ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/9 "2025-01-21T00:02:51Z")
Kinda makes me jealous. . . my IRL birthday is this week, but my SDMB Cake Day isn’t until May. . . Tripler Wait, _I can have cake **twice** this year!!_🤠 ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/10 "2025-01-21T00:25:09Z")
Happy Cake Day! And many more… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/11 "2025-01-21T00:30:50Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Wait, _I can have cake **twice** this year!!_ 🤠 Not only can, but _will_. A mere slice on your Doperversary, but a whole cake on your B-day! Life is good here. Outside? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/12 "2025-01-21T00:46:24Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > hope that wasn’t a taunt. It absolutely was NOT meant as one. I was making a silly “Game of Thrones” reference, that’s all. Meant in a cheerful spirit. If it didn’t come across that way to the O.P. I offer my sincere apology. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/13 "2025-01-21T00:56:16Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > It absolutely was NOT meant as one. I didn’t think so, but I just wanted to be sure, [because of the warning](https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/happy-anniversary-to-snls-happy-fun-ball-do-not-taunt-this-toy/). ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/14 "2025-01-21T02:43:49Z")
I have to say, I really enjoyed that thread. Lot’s of names there from the past. I also tried to use the wayback machine to view the dope, and wow, that was a blast from the past. Unreal. Anyway, thanks for posting. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/15 "2025-01-21T14:28:55Z")
I hoped you might. Yeah, a stroll down memory lane for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/16 "2025-01-22T15:26:43Z")
Looks like you beat me here by two days, then. I remembered that it was sometime in January, 2000 that I joined, but I didn’t remember the exact date. And I hadn’t noticed that this was my silver anniversary… Wow, more than half of my life has been here. IIRC, my first post was in reply to a Mailbag column by Jill, about poison ivy. But the thread that really made me realize I’d found the place where I belonged was Galileo, a Hammer, and a Feather, about a month later. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/17 "2025-01-22T21:43:28Z")
God cake us, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/18 "2025-01-24T06:18:12Z")
I have always read all your posts with interests! I am happy to have shared this journey with you! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/19 "2025-01-24T07:01:54Z")
Actually, I wanted to edit my post because you really had an effect on me and that is worth sharing. Sincerely. It was too late, so I replied again… I believe I started reading the dope in 95 or 96 on AOL when I was in a physics undergrad program and struggling. I wasn’t struggling with physics (I had straight A’s, was a member of Sigma-Pi-Sigma and Tau-Beta-Pi, was president of my college’s physics club, tutored at nearby high schools, ran the regional science fair, etc…), but with the more mundane aspects like depression and having a life. I ended up dropping out of college in my senior year to the dismay of my professors and standing up several interviews I had at Cal Tech, Stanford, and Berkeley for grad school. I lived for a year off my savings drinking, clubbing, and wearing jeans and a bathrobe. I spent the next 4 years working menial jobs as a secretary, or a drafter, or as an assembly line worker in aluminum can plants. All kinds of jobs. I was a mechanic for awhile. I am not going to say it was a dark time, because some of it was the brightest and I did end up understanding a lot about myself. But, and this is important, I remember reading your posts. I was always reading the dope. Not posting, I didn’t feel like I had much to contribute, but I rad the dope like teenagers scroll tik-tok today. I remember you posting and being a physics grad student and I felt… awe,… and jealousy,… and regret. I still remembered my physics (I was good at it), but reading your posts you were clearly better at it or at least had a better grasp and I always looked for your posts while I lurked. After a couple of years I went back to school in 2002, finished my bachelors, got a masters (MSEE with a specialization in optics at my state school), and then enrolled in a Ph.D. program for optical computing (thesis (paraphrased): spatial/spectral holography in cryogenically cooled erbium doped crystals and their applications in range/Doppler lidar - there is more, but this is really the pinnacle of my work). I did not finish. By 2008/9 my research was funded by a small defense contractor and the great recession forced them into bankruptcy in my 3rd/4th year. Having a kid and a mortgage, I took my MS and ran. I currently work in remote sensing for NASA (as a contractor at a University). But you had a part in this. You didn’t know it. How could you? But you (among others at the dope) had an effect on my views and the trajectory of my life. Seriously. I don’t know why I wrote this. But it is all true. -Happy Fun Ball, aka L.G.Butts, Ph.D., aka Eyer8 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189/20 "2025-01-25T15:44:48Z")
Thank you for the kind words. And as it happened, I also “took my MS and ran”. In my case, though, it wasn’t so much about the money itself (I was in a theoretical field that had very little research grant money, so I mostly supported myself with TAing). In my case, the proximate cause was that my original advisor died, and the new advisor who took me on was… not a good fit. My introduction to the Dope was in high school, some time around 1993, when a friend had one of the books (the one with the column on rectal foreign bodies, whichever one that was). Then in college, I was surfing random links online (remember that? Everyone had a homepage, with random links to anywhere and everywhere else, all connected in a random mish-mash, so you’d just sort of wander, instead of opening a new tab directly to Google and just going straight to where you were looking for), and stumbled upon a link to The Straight Dope, and recognized it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-cake-day-to-me/1013189.md?page=2)