Good morning! I have such a fun little story to share with you today. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did when I first heard it!
So: Back around 2020 or so, reader John Forsyth told me that his son Jeff had recently turned him on to Uni Watch and that they both enjoyed following the site. Jeff recently had a birthday, so John purchased him a pair of gift subscriptions to Uni Watch Plus and to my Substack. In addition, he ordered Jeff a 25th-anniversary pint glass from Teespring, but it didn’t arrive in time for Jeff’s birthday. “No problem,” says John. “We got Uni Watch creative!”
What John means by that is that he and his wife made a little Uni Watch jigsaw puzzle for Jeff. You can see Jeff looking at the puzzle in the photo at the top of this page, and here are two more shots showing how he completed the puzzle, along with a closer look at the design:
How great is that? “I just thought you’d find our efforts fun and appreciate the creativity,” says John, “and it’s another opportunity for me to let you know how much we enjoy what you do!”
I have to tell you, people, little episodes like this one make me misty-eyed. I’m honored that Uni Watch played a role in Jeff’s birthday, and I’m super-proud (but not the least bit surprised) to know that I have such creative, DIY-spirited readers. Please join me in wishing Jeff a happy birthday and in thanking John for sharing all of this with us. Uni Watch: It’s a family affair!
Happy Birthday Jeff! Great gift and really fun way to present it.
The cats really look like Sylvester! Sufferin’ Succotash!
It definitely is Sylvester. Tried to do a quick google search to see if I could find the exact cartoon the image is from without any luck.
Kind of funny that a team called the Kopy Cats is also copying the cartoon character.
I love that Jeff is sporting the OG Maine state flag on his sweatshirt!
Actually a fauxback: link
Happy birthday, Jeff! (Love your sweatshirt, too, by the way.)
Happy Birthday, Jeff…Cheers!
Things like this make May 26th seem terribly close.
The Copy Kats Sylvester on the right has a white left elbow, is missing a couple hairs on his head, has a skinnier tail & halo, a different mouth, whiskers, eyelids and toes – and has completely ruined my day. There’s probably more differences, but I too annoyed to keep looking one moment longer.
*I’m
Just further evidence that there’s always some degradation when you make a copy of something (especially a copy of a copy).
link
Phil, can you link that picture you posted in the comments yesterday of Paul’s cats? I think you posted it on the later side and it was perfect, I hope more people get to enjoy it today :)
This one?
link
re: tobacco cans – maybe they weren’t official (in those days of laxer copyright?)
What a great drawing of the 25th logo…
Happy Birthday Jeff, awesome job, Mom & Dad…those pint glasses are really sweet,
looking forward to seeing what he gets you guys for Mother’s and Father’s Day(s), LOL
DIY stories are my favorite Uni Watch content. It just blows my mind how creative people are!
What I love most about this story is, if I have the players right, Jeff is the son who turned Dad John on to UW, although it appears from the photos that Dad John is the one putting together the puzzle. In any case, Jeff appears to be fairly young in these photos (I’m guessing around 10?) so the fact that he was Getting It(TM) four years ago is AMAZING. Good on John and his wife for finding fun ways to encourage Jeff to be creative and to be a uni-watcher.
Jeff is in his 30s and is putting the puzzle together. I *think* the youngster in the Spider-Man outfit is Jeff’s son (and thus John’s grandson). John isn’t shown in hte pics because he took the pics.
Thanks for the explainer. That makes more sense (I originally thought Jeff was the one putting the puzzle together). The giveaway was the fact that he received (or will be receiving) the UW pint glass. That seemed like an odd gift for a child.
Yeah from photo set-up and wording, I wasn’t the only one who thought that…
Oh well
Ahhhh, that makes much more sense. Still, glad to see that Grandson Spider-Man appears to be engaged with the puzzle as well, so maybe he will be a third generation uni-watcher.
Thanks for the birthday wishes everybody! And thanks to Paul and Phil and everyone else who make Uni watch what it is!
That can’t be an official Cubs tobacco tin. It doesn’t have the R in a circle!
Didn’t know about the Cubs having their own tobacco? I definitely need one of those to add to my Cubs collection.
Paul, did B&W give you a “go to hell look” when you said “get a room”? :) Mine do!
And yes, our gas stations in the south always have a variety of fried food LOL. Our gas station down the road from our house has fantastic fried chicken/”jojo taters”/gizzards/livers. We quit going to Popeye’s and KFC years ago. But, the biggest hit in the south, or at least around here, is what they call “chicken on a stick”. Pretty much a chicken kabob battered and deep fried. Not a big fan, but they sure do sell a lot of them. And people wonder why Mississippi is one of the unhealthiest states in America.
Great birthday story and a wonderful hockey shirt.