7/18/02
The Hemminger family in Saratoga now has a new member of the family, Specialist Chip Gizmo, who was the product of the father, Earl, and "Team CG" from his office.
Gizmo is the latest character of the "Beetle Bailey" cartoon strip that Hemminger and Team CG at the State Department named in a recent nationwide contest. Donna Hemminger has adopted him as well, via the morning newspaper.
"I look there first now. He was in there yesterday. I tend to go to ‘Beetle Bailey’ to see if Chip's in there, see if it's a Gizmo day," she said.
Hemminger's first brush with Chip Gizmo came in May when a group at the office discovered there was a contest to name the newest "Beetle Bailey" character, a computer geek. Team member Melinda Isachson came upon the contest notice when she was browsing the Web for FOSE information. That started the ball rolling. Other team members, Kenneth Hill and Bob King, were equally involved.
"We were just bouncing names around. ‘Gizmo’ is a term everyone uses in computers," said Hemminger.
IT TOOK ONE LUNCH break of the four crowded around the computer to come up with the name.
The "Beetle Bailey" producers, led by creator Mort Walker, challenged readers with military cartoon terms that are standards in the strip such as "Camp Swampy," "Pentagon's Spit ‘n’ Polish" and "General Halftrack," who is an old-timer who needs technical assistance. "A new information-technology officer appears on Mort's drawing board, and ‘Beetle Bailey’ readers are invited to enter the U.S. national contest to name the new computer guy," the rules read. There were 84,725 entries.
FOSE, a computer job and trade exposition, was one of the sponsors for the contest, and Hemminger was at the exhibition when he came upon the contest booth, so he filled out the entry form.
"I put down it was a team effort in the box on the form," he said, but since his name was on the top, he was the one called in late May. A message was left on his voice mail, and he let each one of the team hear it before calling back. He figured he had to be a finalist and then decided to read the rules.
"I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. I didn't even know there was a prize," he said.
The prizes were original Beetle Bailey drawings and airplane tickets to anywhere in the country. The drawings were contributed and the CG Team agreed to let Hemminger have the tickets.
After they let him know he won, they told him to keep it secret until the announcement on the July Fourth weekend. Soon the whole family, Donna and daughter Katherine, 15, were in on it. Katherine wasn't a regular Beetle Bailey reader.
"I wasn't sure which comic it was until they showed us. We accidentally found out. We weren't supposed to know," Katherine said.
FOSE, Northwest Airlines and Beetle Bailey Cartoons sponsored the contest as a benefit for Fisher House, a program to house military families while their siblings are hospitalized, similar to the Ronald McDonald House for civilians. Prizes included airplane tickets, and original artwork, which was contributed to Fisher House. According to their information, the promotion was made possible through "Beetle Bailey" creator Mort Walker and King Features Syndicate. The "Name the Tech Officer" contest was underwritten by Dell Computer Corp., with prize donations by Northwest Airlines and promotional support from the Military Times. The contest manager was NEI/Cartoon Art Association.
The prize was awarded at the State Department building, where the Hemminger family met Secretary of State Colin Powell, Mort Walker and his wife, and had a guided tour with lunch in the executive dining room.
"It's my 15 minutes of fame," Hemminger