Friday will be John Breen's 65th birthday. I'm sure all of you will join me in wishing him a very, very happy birthday. We all have a lot to be grateful for when it comes to his very frequent presence on this board, and for his many years of service (close to 40, I think) on the B31 Mechanical Design committee.

For me, it goes much farther than that. You see, I first met John in November, 1976, when I joined the engineering firm where he was already employed. He taught me this business as a green engineer. He'ss till teaching me things today. He also introduced me to my wife of 26+ years, and was the best man at our wedding. (She wishes him well, too. I'm not quite sure why. You'd think she'd have spent the past 26+ years plotting revenge instead.)

He and I have shared a lot of laughs over the years, frequently at each other's expense. Frequently, also, we've managed to find a not-so-innocent victim and skewer them with repeated barbs from both directions.

John has had a number of interesting experiences over the years. Before he got into this business, he was in the Army, where his job was to disarm and dispose of unexploded WW2 ordnance in West Germany.

Once he mustered out of the Armed Forces, he and a bunch of his childhood friends decided one weekend afternoon to amuse their wives by running around throwing firecrackers at each other while wearing pots and pans on their heads. Presumably, they had consumed considerable alcohol before one or the other of them hit upon this idea. In any case, none of them was seriously hurt during these festivities.

Joh is a very large man. He's about 6'-4" and has a big frame. When the Pittsburgh Steelers were dominating football in the 1970's, John used to hang out with some of them. He was able to use this extracurricular activity to good effect. He was with some business acquaintances when they encountered one of these players (Jack Lambert, who had an on-field persona of extreme intimidation) on a street corner. Without breaking stride, John walked up to Lambert, clapped him on the shoulder, and announced, "Hey, fella, you look like the south end of a northbound horse." All the business acquaintances assumed they were about to see John's last breath, but of course it was not to be.

John also once fell off the top platform of a cat cracker and managed to save his own life by grabbing on to the handrail of a platform a couple of levels down. He dislocated both shoulders in the accident, but of course it could have been much worse.

John has taken more college-level courses than almost any of us, but despite that he has managed to avoid acquiring a degree. I used to tease him that there were no more courses he could take at Pitt without them giving him a diploma in something or other.

But the amount of time he has poured into this topic boggles the mind. He has a collection of every issue of the B31 codes, back to their origin (no, they're not chiseled into stone tablets). He has written and taught a great deal about this subject, including teaching a post-graduate course at the University of Southern California.

At one time, John and his first wife raised prize-winning Maine Coon cats. (If you've never seen a Maine Coon, they are huge. Big ones in show condition can easily exceed 30 pounds.) I'm not sure of the peak paw count, but I think it may have exceeded 50 at one time. John also rescued stray cats during this time frame, including a big black blind cat that could catch flies in midair even with his handicap.

John met his current wife in Austin, Texas, while he was working on the "Incredible Levitating Power Plant" project. They were married some years later, and somehow she decided to move from Texas to Pittsburgh with him, where they currently live in the house John was raised in. So now you know why he mentions both Pittsburgh and Texas in his automated signature on his posts.

Wow, that is an accomplished life indeed! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!

Mr John

Happy Birthday wishes and it is a privilege to have you on this forum where a perfect balance of Knowledge, patience and tolerance has been consistently seen from you.

Have a Great day and future ahead!!!

Happy Birthday John. I wish someday I get an opportunity to meet you in person and attend one of your lectures.

Nothing like learning directly from you.

Best Regards

Mr John,

Wish you a very happy birthday. I think countless people have been benefitted by your posts in this forum.Very happy to have such dignified persons like you in this forum.

Best Regards,

Ramkumar,
Bangalore,India.

Happy birthday John!
Life is the art of building relationship
Thanks for your great and nice advice!
best regards and wishes
ozm

Congratulations from China.

As a comparatively young engineer who did the job of piping stress analysis for only five years, I can learn a lot from Mr John. Your spirit of researching and helping newbies with great patient and kindness impressed me very much.

I wish you a happy birthday.

Best Regards

Your advice, patience, and kindness is very much appreciated.
Many Thanks to you John!

Happy Birthday! And enjoy your special day!

Thanks,
chichiri

Wishes from India

I wish you a happy birthday

regards
senthil

Mr John,

Wish you a very happy birthday. Thanks for being a friend and guide for budding piping stress engineers.

Regards,
Parag

John sir..Many more happy returs of the day.. .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Even I come here just short time .
I think it is better to upload Mr John's picture and let everyone know him and his family.

Happy birthday!

Though I don't know you,Mr John, but I can feel u are always with us from the day i registered this forum last year!

John,

Just back from vacation, Happy Belated Birthday.

Many thanks for your contributions here, they are always appreciated.

Belated Happy Birthday John. Wish i could meet you in future.

Hello all, I too have been away for a while.

My thanks to all of you for your very kind good wishes.

Please believe me; I have been greatly honored to be able to occasionally provide a little help to my fellow piping engineers in their pursuit of knowledge. My participation here is like a small drop in a great ocean; I have always been amazed at the wealth of knowledge that can be found here (just do a little “digging” in the archives). I believe that everyone who participates in these discussions (those who ask and those who answer) benefit from that participation.

However I would like to remind everyone that our thanks should go to COADE. By providing us with this forum in which we can come together to help each other, COADE has done a great service to the community of piping engineers. The Caesar II discussion board moderators have always encouraged a comprehensive range of "give and take", very much wider than just discussions of the CAESAR II software. The liberal approach of the moderators has created a unique and beneficial situation for us and I think we should thank THEM for their efforts. I would suggest that the best way that we as individuals can show our gratitude to COADE is by being kind to each other and by coming into these discussions with humility. We each started out in piping engineering with very little understanding and very great humility. Sometimes we each need to take the time to remember that.

Again, my thanks to all of you.

Regards, John.

[Only this time have I thought of opening this forum-something I have not done for maybe three to four months, and surprise to see Craig’s thread]

Belated Happy Birthday to Mr. John Breen. Before I even saw Craig's enormous amount of appreciation to John B., I have thought of one day suggesting to our forum members to give John any sort of appreciation in the form of award certificate or whatever it is in lieu of his ever consistent support and sincere help most appreciable to the novice. For me I can't help too but help or say something to the novice I encountered too anytime having in mind all the time that there is an example of this guy (John B) who is not tired of explaining/encouraging the novice to learn more. I have known him since I joined the forum in 2000 where I lost my identity and changed to a new one. There has never been a dull thread from him. I have learned a lot from him. I am taking this chance and opportunity through this forum to greet John Breen a Happy Birthday, a prayer and best wishes for the future years to come.

More power to you and may our God Almighty richly Bless you.

Ed Lamigo

Wish you a very happy birthday. I think many people have been benefitted by your posts in this forum.Very happy to have such learned & distinguished persons like you in this forum.