Daddy the Renaissance Man

Our grandfather was very strict. The titas said he was actually stricter before. He was just a quiet man - reserved, cool and collected. He was an engineer, carpenter, sailboat captain, disciplinarian and a computer programmer.

He made study desks for us. It was varnished, about 3' height with just one drawer in the middle. He made one for his wife, my grandmother, for me and my cousins Tina, Ana and Ben.

I remember him having an engraver and he put this to good use by engraving his wife's initials on her silverware. Upon finishing, my mom, Linda, asked hers to be engraved too. Instead of putting her initials "LPA," he mistakenly carved "LDP" - perhaps the initials of his wife "DGP" was still on his mind.

Daddy was a computer programmer and he was the first one that I knew of. He made educational computer games for the grandkids. He had an IBM computer with the big floppy disk drive. He had this connected to a tape player (the ones with huge spools). You needed to play it, wait a few minutes while it made funny sounds then you would be able to play the games. Our favorites were the arithmetic and world capitals game. I remember him having a biorhythm? or biometric game but I'm not sure whether he had made that.

He had a sailboat in the garage. It was off-white/beige in color with a multi-colored sail. He would bring it sometimes to trips to Opol beach and sail with Manong Berdan, his Boy Friday. They would take it as far east as Carmen bridge. I was only able to ride in it once - in shallow waters. He only allowed the boys to be taken to the deeper waters.

Daddy was also an inventor. I remember him making an ink dipper in the hopes of saving money. He allowed the roll of the printer cartridge to be dipped in ink (using a small lever) and reused that cartridge.

I remember him making my science project in 6th grade. It was a series of wires to make a bulb light up. It didn't look like it was made by a 6th grader but luckily, the teachers didn't notice.