This is April Fool's Day. But today I'm not going to pull a prank or post some silly message that's not real. Instead, I will show you a man who was very important to me: my dad. He was born on April 1st, so he was the butt of jokes for much of his life. But from my perspective, the typical April Fool's jokes never happened. Because April 1st is my dad's birthday, the day is not a time for pranks, but giving Dad a nice present. Unfortunately, my dad is dead. But I still remember his birthday and want to show everyone how important he was to me. So instead of an April Fool's joke, I'll post a picture of my dad in his prime.

He was a nuclear engineer. His job (until he was laid off) was to operate and oversee nuclear reactors for the Commonwealth Edison company (later ComEd, then Exelon). He was a licensed Senior Reactor Operator (go here for info: Senior Reactor Operator Towards the end of his career, he was the number 2 person who would be contacted in case of an emergency at any of ComEd's plants. I saw the list myself when my dad took me to his office on weekends to play on his computer. In the event of some kind of problem with the reactors, there is a list of people who must be contacted. The CEO of ComEd was first, and my dad was second. His Senior Reactor Operator status made him the go-to guy in the event of an accident. I can't even describe the knowledge this man possessed about nuclear reactors. If there were ever an accident (which are extremely unlikely with modern reactor designs), my dad was the one to analyze and fix it. Towards the end of his career, his job was to write training scenarios for hypothetical failures, no matter how unprobable.

The picture you see is my dad dressed in a wet radiation suit. Some parts of a reactor have areas with contaminated water, which can be hazardous to human health. The suit he's wearing is basically a raincoat made of Gore-Tex. You can see from the picture that good ol' duct tape is used to seal leaks (like on his leg) and to seal his gloves and boots. Even the filters on his gas mask are specially designed to remove radioactive particles (even though most of the radiation he ever experienced were alpha and beta particles, which can be blocked by skin and aluminum foil respectively).

Essentially, the picture you see is my dad at his best. He loved his job. Just listening to him talk about nuclear engineering would let you know that he loved that field.

So this is my April Fool's joke. It's not a joke, but a dedication to the man I admire most. The only thing I want to say to everyone ] is to tell the people you love how much they mean to you. Seriously, tell your mom and dad, or uncle, or aunt, or whoever how much they mean to you. You'll never appreciate how much someone means to you until they're gone.

Happy birthday, Dad.