Questions that make you feel old.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I remember when our cable system only went up to 36 and then 98 and 99. Now I have 900 channels.

I'll be 25 in October.

I can remember back to when we had "rabbit ears" and only 3 channels (4 if you count PBS) on the tv. And if the President was on, your night was screwed.

We first got cable tv in the lat 70's and it only went up to channel 13 (5 was HBO.) It went up to around 36 channels by 1983 or so, then on and on. Now I've got satellite with over 300 channels of nothing to watch.

And what did we do before cell phones and computers? We had landline phones in every room of our house including the bathroom (still do) and 25 foot cords and a calculator. We managed fine.

*goes to get out of chair and get ready to leave out for the afternoon*

[lordlundar]

New techs today don't even know what a boot disc is.

I had that when I was upgrading ScotiaBanks. I had a fellow tech ask "what's a boot disk?" (we were using them for formatting the old systems) and I explained it, then I got "what's a floppy disk?"

Then there's when a kid sees my 20th anniversary Optimus Prime (the Gen1 version remade with some battle scarring)

"Why does he look so plain?"
"That's the Generation 1 Optimus"
"What do you mean 'Generation 1'?"
"Well, that's the original, that's what he looked like 20+ (I think it's 23 or 25 now) years ago."
"You mean there was a transformers before the movies?"

Then there's when I play an 8-bit or 16-bit game and get asked "where's the polygons?"

<and now I go into a corner and cry>

[NiennasMaid]

The only thing I can think of is "Willow." And if it's not that, I have no idea either.

It's from the original The Day The Earth Stood Still. It's the phrase that stops the killer robot from vaporizing the hot chick who is trying to save the day.

Now, if they could just find the right phrase to use to get the robot to vaporize Keanu Reeves...

Yeah Titanic (regardless of my feelings on it) is not old enough to be a classic yet. You can't call something a classic till it's at least 30 years old. Maybe 20 years, but that's pushing it. Still it's weird when shows I watched as a kid like Home Improvement are now on Nick at Nite....

I think it could be argued that something isn't a classic until it's successfully passed from one generation to another. If it's just one generation who likes it, even if they like it for a long time, it's not really a classic...

[BookstoreEscapee]

"You mean there was a transformers before the movies?"

Since my brother collects stuff and keeps everything, I'm sure he still has his Happy Meal toy collection (from when he worked there), which includes Chicken McNugget Transformers

I didn't watch much Bill Nye (we were Mr. Wizard fans) but my friend's dad reminds me a lot of him.

Titanic came out the same year I graduated college.

[Bloodsoul]

*mellows out to Temple of the Dog's "Say Hello 2 Heaven"*

[Rine]

A couple of weeks ago, I had my laptop at my church. My laptop, for whatever reason, came with a modem installed. So, here I was cranking it up with a class full of second graders (plus teachers) in the room. They all quieted when they heard the modem roar to life and do its thing. None of the children had ever heard those noises before. I can't remember why I had to use it, but I had no access to ethernet or wireless...

But, I'm only 24 and I still remember how to use boot disks and I even know a bit for DOS. I remember learning how to execute things on my dad's ooooold computers. Granted, I don't really remember a whole lot and I'm more familiar with knowing how to tinker with command prompt on Windows.

[Dreamstalker]

AHHH yes the squeal of the modem handshake. makes yours teeth hurt if listened to too long

Hence why I have it as a ringtone, that way I know it's my phone (unlikely that Jane Normal will want to find and download it).

[Bloodsoul]

Two things:

1) I found out that my much younger coworker has never heard of the movie Die Hard (c'mon, the greatest Christmas movie ever!)

2) I'm watching the film now and there's a scene showing about $0.80 for gas. How much are we paying now?

[Racket_Man]

Two things:

12) I'm watching the film now and there's a scene showing about $0.80 for gas. How much are we paying now?

Heck I remember gas here in the US in the mid 1960's going for 15 CENTS a gallon maybe 18 cents a gallon. but then again the cars of that day did NOT get the greatest gas mileage anyway.

[NiennasMaid]

Die Hard (c'mon, the greatest Christmas movie ever!)

Agreed! My friends and I have a Die Hard Christmas party every year. It's one hell of a fun movie!

[Green_Fairy]

But, I'm only 24 and I still remember how to use boot disks and I even know a bit for DOS. I remember learning how to execute things on my dad's ooooold computers. Granted, I don't really remember a whole lot and I'm more familiar with knowing how to tinker with command prompt on Windows.

we used to have to use zip disks whenever we used the computer. my dad's a computer engineer and he probably made it overly complicated for us, but whatever worked. i also remember playing doom...when my older brother wasn't around, of course.

2) I'm watching the film now and there's a scene showing about $0.80 for gas. How much are we paying now?

there's a neighboring town that has a gas station that's been shut down for a few years. they left the price board up for it and it reads $1.25 or something like that. i've seen a few people almost cause accidents because of it

[Cazzi]

i also remember playing doom...when my older brother wasn't around, of course.

A trip to see my friends normally isn't complete without a 3 way game of Doom Them on their computers, me sat on the sofa with remote keyboard & mouse linked to the media box attached to the 42 inch HD TV

[draftermatt]

On Facebook somewhat recently, a coworker did one of the "what song was #1 on the day you were born?" apps and got Paula Abdul's "Rush, Rush".

She's never heard of it.

I've never heard of it either, but then again I don't care for Paula Abdul.

Mine was Duran Duran - The Reflex

[Evil Queen]

Oh, I know I'm not the oldest one here. Just got tired listening to people in their 20's bitch about being an old fart.

Hey, I cracked my teeth on MSDoS, 80s music, and remember when gas was less than a dollar a gallon and my Dad bitched about it.

I remember when Barney and Friends was a stage production. Bill Nye was who you learned your science from (Mr Wizard hadn't been off the air for very long) and your idea of a "dirty word" was "dumbbell" and "meanie head!" These days 6 year olds say "fuck" as if it's a replacement word for "That's not fair!"

I'm bitching I feel old because my coworkers are too young to know what ANY of those things are. So shut up, we're all allowed to bitch and complain.

[Exaspera]

My Son at 9: Did you have microwaves when you were little?
Me: No.
Son: How did you cook anything!?