I'm so old I've...

[herbgeek]

I'm so old that when the browser first came out, I said why would I ever need such a thing, when I already have Archie and Veronica to find any files on the internet that I want.

[benhyr]

I'm so old I've owned (new) clothes made in the US!

[LDAHL]

I’m so old I can remember doing my chemistry homework with a slide rule. I’m so old I remember tuning my Dad’s AMC Matador with a timing light and plug gapper. I’m so old I remember cigarette commercials featuring doctors. I’m so old I used to walk around with silver change in my pocket. I’m so old I joined the Air Force because I wanted to do something about the Soviet Union. I’m so old I can remember getting a transistor radio for my birthday. I’m so old I can remember learning the metric system because my teacher told us we’d be converting over in 1975. I’m so old I can remember worrying when Paul Ehrlich was on talk shows telling us about the food riots we could expect by 1980.

[Greg44]

I remember getting free stuff at gas stations when you filled up your tank. Dishes in boxes of laundry detergent, etc.
Free maps at the gas station. S&H Green Stamps...licked many of them in my day for mom.

[Nella]

...the word "ditto" meant a machine, not the phrase "me too."

[Rogar]

I'm so old, I've forgotten how old I am. OK, not quite, but I occationally have to think about it.

I've enjoyed reading through everything for sure. I can almost remember the smell of paper coming out of mimeograph machines, and associate it with grade school tests. I remember the teachers lounge was so thick with cigarette smoke you could about cut it with a knife. Remember when the drive-in movie speakers came out with little heaters on them so you could go to the drive-in in cold weather? Although I think I prefered another method to keep warm Wing windows were one of my favorites that's gone away. Men wearing hats instead of caps (and having the manners to take them off inside). Duckwalls and Woolworths. Free concerts in the park on Sunday evenings with brass bands. Fill 'er up and check the oil?

[Tenngal]

fender skirts.......seats that seemed to go on forever........clear vinyl car seat covers that had that wonderful (to a kid's nose) smell? My first car was a 1970 Opel GT, green and I spent hours washing and polishing that little car.

[pony mom]

I remember so many of these--rotary phones (still have one somewhere, a heavy black one), mimeographs, manual typewriters (keys would jam if you typed too fast), reel to reel recorders.

My parents had an old Polaroid camera with a flash that would blind you. And an 8mm movie camera with a bright light...most of our Christmas morning movies are of my sister and I shielding our eyes from the blinding light.

Remember when you could buy cigarettes from a vending machine? And stamps? Those ashtrays that sat on a tall base so you didn't need a table? Those little AM radios shaped like a hoop or a ball (Loop a Loop or something like that)? Hot stinky yellow rubber raincoats with those metal clasps? Bubble umbrellas? Clip-on roller skates (always unclipped at the wrong time). Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom? The truck that would come and spray mosquito stuff through the neighborhood (the bug man's coming! Close the windows!)? Click Clacks? - OUCH! Sun In for orange hair. All old people had false teeth. Women in their 50s looked old. Those old belted sanitary pads were the size of surfboards! The boxy 126 cameras? Those round fur-covered cases to hold your 45rpm records? Ker Plunk and Tinkertoys?

It's sad that so many things are in the past---people being better dressed for all occasions, being safe playing outside in your neighborhood, having only one television for the whole family to watch together. However, I eat Maypo at least 2-3 times a week--it's still around.

Oh, if you're from the NJ area, remember the stores S. Klein, Two Guys (food, hh goods, appliances and a bowling alley), Korvettes? Highway circles? Action Park?

I'll stop now.

[Tradd]

Korvette was in suburban Detroit, too!

[catherine]

Oh, if you're from the NJ area, remember the stores S. Klein, Two Guys (food, hh goods, appliances and a bowling alley), Korvettes? Highway circles? Action Park?

How about Palisade Park?? I grew up in CT (live in NJ now), but our 8th grade graduation party was at Palisade Park--it was a BIG DEAL to go there! And I brought my new Polaroid Brownie camera to take pictures! I also remember when Newark was a small airport.