Steve's been busy this week - chasing Qs, and solving a mystery...
I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail since the show started.
But this one was different.
A guy who was doing some shopping on eBay and he found a Zippo lighter… with the name Steve on it … and a series of letters and numbers - WA8TCL.
He had researched that Ham radio call sign, and found it was last registered to a Steve Staeger in Southfield Michigan in 1997.
So he Googled that name, and found me.
I’m a Steve Staeger from Southfield Michigan, but the guy he’s talking about is my dad.
He was a HAM radio operator long ago, until I probably ruined his equipment.
That lighter was a gift from my mom A LONG time ago.
I’m pretty proud of my dad, but I’d probably say I’ve never been more proud of him than when he quit smoking - cold turkey one day about 10 years ago.
When he kicked the habit he kicked anything else involved with it to the curb. He was pretty sure he accidentally threw that lighter away.
The seller told me he found it at a flea market in... get this…Denver… where his son is now a TV reporter… some 1,200 miles away from the spot my dad last had it.
Mom told me to buy it so we could re-gift it to him.
So I did. And since dad is a fan of Next, watches every night from Michigan, we figured we’d spoil the surprise and tell him on the show (see above).
I’m looking forward to hearing more about the adventures this thing has had when he comes to town for Great American Beer Festival in October.
