Nov 28, 2016 - We appreciate you Walt

[FriendsofWalt]

In one month Host Walt will celebrate a birthday. I wanted to be the first to wish him a great day.

 

 

WALTER TUTHILL

 

Walt is a Host here on Cruise Critic. I have known Walt for about 20 years and I thought others would be interested in a little background about Walt. This is what I remember about Walt’s background. November 28th is Host Walt’s Birthday!!!

 

Walt was born in the early 40’s in Eureka California. Walt’s only memories of the time in Eureka were of staring out at the ocean and daily visits by the milkman while his father was at work. When Walt was four years old, his family moved to Bismarck, North Dakota. Walt, always an inventive soul, developed the playground game of “Totter”. It was kind of a solitaire version of teeter-totter. Well Totter didn’t attract many kids as sitting motionless on a plank of wood wasn’t exciting to children even during the 1940’s.

 

Always with a drive to get back to the ocean, Walt at age 14, stole his neighbor’s ID and headed to find the Navy recruitment office. When Walt entered the office, the Officer of the Day said to young Walt; “Son, we would be happy for you to join our ranks, but you look very young.” Walt handed the man his stolen ID and said; “See sir, I am old enough.” The officer looked at the ID and proceeded to say to Walt; “I’m glad that you have ID, but I’m doubting that you are one, Juan Gonzales, Age 43.” Walt’s dad was summoned and on the drive home Walt’s father, always the pragmatist, asked Walt; “Why would you steal the neighbor’s ID when your cousin lives across town and just turned eighteen.” The next day Walt took his dad’s “advice” and stole his cousin’s ID and headed for the Coast Guard Recruitment Center. Again, the Officer of the Day took Walt’s stolen ID and said; “Son, we would be happy for you to join our ranks and I can see here that you are old enough to join, but, Son, I don’t think that your name is Gertrude Wilson.”

 

After the attempts to join the military and see the oceans, Walt’s life was quite uneventful. In High School, Walt was a star athlete, he lettered in the unusual sports of Rochambeau and his real expertise, Tic-Tac-Toe. Walt received a four year scholarship for his state championship in Tic-Tac-Toe. Walt’s college years were also quite uneventful, other than the famous incident that shut down the campus fraternal system.

 

After college, Walt wanted to return to the ocean. So, he took a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii. While in Hawaii he decided to get passage on a pleasure cruise to get the total feeling of the ocean experience. Walt awoke early in the morning and headed down to the docks. He spotted his ship and asked the Captain if he could have permission to board. The Captain said; “Yes”. And off Walt was for a three hour pleasure tour on the S.S. Minnow. Now many of you may know of the S.S. Minnow and her fateful trip as it has been chronicled in print and on the television screen. Walt traveled under an assumed name for the trip, I will let you guess what that name was. (Think Movie Star)

 

After the fateful journey, Walt was rewarded with $ 20,000,000 by one, Thurston Howell III. Being set for life, Walt again tried his luck at introducing the game of “Totter”, this time changing the name to “Teeter”. $ 10,000,000 and over a decade later he gave up. Walt spent the balance of the $ 20,000,000 on various failed inventions. Like the “Pet Chicken’s Raw Egg”, “Catch for One”, and “Failed Monopoly - The board game of Bankruptcy”.

 

This gets us to Walt’s recent history. Walt being out-of-luck and needing a high paying job took a job with Cruise Critic. He knew that the one figure salary and full benefit package would take care of him for life.

 

I would like to wish Walt the Happiest of Birthdays and to many more happy years ahead.

 

 

Signed,

 

Your Little Buddy.

[Bo1953]

Walt's Little Buddy - Thank you for the heads up and a historical background on him... ;-)

 

Happy Birthday Walt and a big Thank You for everything you do to assist us here on CC...

 

bon voyage

[chemmo]

Never had the privilege to meet you, Walt, but sincere thanks for your CC contributions.

 

Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

[FlorenceItaly]

Thank you, Walt! We appreciate your dedication to CC and it's members.

 

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday. May all your wishes come true!

 

 

 

 

Marie

[Host Walt]

While I appreciate the thoughts, the only thing that's close to accurate is my birthday which occurred 8 days before Pearl Harbor in 1941. And yes, I tried the Teeter Totter, but found out it takes two to operate a real Teeter Totter and I was alone.

 

My avatar is a reasonable facsimile of my first sea going vessel. My dad took me out off the south shore of Long Island to get me used to the idea of fishing and ocean travel.

 

The first true passenger "ship" I ever sailed was the Lackawanna Railroad ferry that crossed the Hudson River from the Hoboken terminal (yes, that Hoboken terminal) to Christopher St. dock in New York City.

 

And my CC "stipend" is a token payment that is supposed to offset a token portion of the cost of my internet access.

 

One other "fun fact" (apologies to Sheldon Cooper), President Roosevelt (FDR) formalized Thanksgiving as a national holiday in the 1930's to spur retail sales following the Depression. In 1941 he formalized the date of the holiday to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year.

 

While it was originally assumed that the day was based on the national reaction when news of my birth in 1941 was first announced, FDR made it clear it was a commemoration of the first Thanksgiving in 1621. ;)

 

Thanks for the nice post.

Edited October 29, 2016 by Host Walt

[FriendsofWalt]

Apparently, I've confused a few of the details over the years. :)