On what would have been his 85th birthday I found myself browsing through my dad’s old Twitter account. I never disabled it. Honestly, I’m not even sure how I’d do it. But I liked knowing it was there. I hadn’t looked at @mugwump7 since he died in the spring of 2013. Looking at it again gave me an odd sense of communicating with the dead. A digital seance, of sorts. I was surprised by how much joy it brought me, and by how well his brief existence on Twitter managed to encapsulate the man.

signing up for seminars—Music, big band to rock —spooks -great decisions and local politics — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) August 9, 2009

This is his first tweet at the age of 78. Not bad, and certainly better than mine. My pops was an electrical engineer by training and career making him more comfortable with the insides of a computer than "mucking about" (as he was fond of saying) with apps and keyboards. Still, he tried, always willing to learn. Diligently double-index fingering his thoughts out into the world.

finally got the Ghia started —washed off two years of dust /Users/ken/Desktop/DSCF0335.JPG — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) May 16, 2010

60th anniversary for Berlin air lift veterans at museum this morning —Met someone I served with—two lifetimes ago —almost surreal — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) September 30, 2009

Not everything worked as expected, though.

His military service was a defining characteristic of his life.

WSJ Headline -"Even the French hate the French" — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) June 23, 2010

He served his tour of duty in Germany, just after the war, where he developed a taste for beer and sauerbraten, and a distaste for the French.

@Trixxy @samsheffer This is a very old film—first saw it at least 30 years ago — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) April 5, 2011

He knew things about aliens because of his top secret military clearance as a civilian engineer working on Cold War-era projects.

microprocessor bad —why the hell do I need a microprocessor on a stove? — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) November 10, 2009

He saw the frivolity in the Internet of Things long before it was given a stupid name.

And there was this exchange.

Happy birthday —did I get the date right? — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) March 24, 2011

And this.

@MisoG A major milestone indeed — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) September 2, 2010

His humor was dry.

@Trixxy should unplug lamp during repair — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) February 6, 2012

Really dry, and delivered with the absolute stoicism of an only-child raised during The Great Depression. I found him hilarious.

@Trixxy Congrats on awesome first post —a lot of kudos from the readers — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) July 10, 2011

And he was incredibly proud to be my dad, following every move as we launched The Verge.

# — Ken Ricker (@mugwump7) April 19, 2013

His final tweet was just a simple "#" less than a month before he died. I’ll probably never know why, but I like to think of it as a metaphysical sign-off, a hashtag wildcard bidding farewell to all the things of life.

I'll read and reread his 134 Tweets for years with the fresh perspective that comes from time and experience gained. Some Tweets I'll remember, while others will appear brand new as I pore over them with new insights accumulated since his death. Not unlike the closing scene from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. A scene setup by the following quote:

"After somebody dies, you can still keep learning about them. You know, their life. It can keep unfolding itself to you just as long as you pay attention to it."

I’m paying attention dad, and I’m still learning.