Kids these days will never know….

[CDGator]

Did anyone else have a pen-pal in elementary school? Mine was in Africa somewhere. Our school made us do it and we wrote once or twice.

 

[CDGator]

Being able to let your dog roam the neighborhood and people didn't freak out that there's a lost dog.

 

[bradgator2]

Did anyone else have a pen-pal in elementary school? Mine was in Africa somewhere. Our school made us do it and we wrote once or twice.

Same exact thing here. I had some chick in Russia. She never would send a pic

 

[B52G8rAC]

Prank phone calls

"Downtown Mortuary, you stab 'em we slab 'em." "Airport Firehouse, you crash, we dash." (Wrong number answers, based on 'Is Frank there?' Because, no caller ID.)

 

[LaylaGator]

Standing behind ladies in the grocery line while they write out personal checks! It actually happened to me today. I was wondering if that old bitty had just time-traveled in from 1985.

 

[B52G8rAC]

A dial up modem. You’ve got mail!

Phhh! Party lines. Picking up the handset and listening to see if anyone is on the phone. And if they are, listening to see if the conversation is interesting.

 

[B52G8rAC]

Standing behind ladies in the grocery line while they write out personal checks! It actually happened to me today. I was wondering if that old bitty had just time-traveled in from 1985.

Wait, what? How else would you pay for food? I don't usually carry that much cash.

 

[B52G8rAC]

Everyone smoking inside. At home. In restaurants. Fuching everywhere.

Dad, in the car. Using the triangular vent windows to blow the smoke to the back seat. Where the kids sat.

 

[B52G8rAC]

Actually HS photography class was awesome. 3-1 ratio and plenty of dark room time.

I was going to say developing your own pictures, You beat me to it.

 

[B52G8rAC]

Changing you own oil and pouring the stuff down the drain. Changing points, plugs and condenser (every 3000 miles). Rebuilding a carburetor and wondering why there were five weights and two screws left over. Retread tires. Bias ply tires (7 to 10,000 miles of road wear). Asbestos brake linings. Trading in for a new car every 3 years because the one you had is worn slam out. Oh, rich people traded every year so there were good used cars available. Yeah, they don't build 'em like they used too.

 

[CDGator]

Blockbuster

Does anyone remember the brief period of time when Netflix started and would mail out DVD’s to your house to watch?

 

[Alumni Guy]

Having the ability to tell a racist/sexist joke and people not getting butt hurt and acting like you’re actually racist.

Same for movies: revenge of the nerds could never get made these days.

PC culture sucks the fun out of life.

 

[bradgator2]

Does anyone remember the brief period of time when Netflix started and would mail out DVD’s to your house to watch?

There was a senior engineer on the verge of retirement at my first job. He comes up to one day and asks if I would invest in this new startup company that his kid was helping to create. Minimum purchase in was $1000 and you would get 1000 shares. He described it to me and thought it was the most insane thing I had ever heard of. Obviously it was Netflix. Nothing could overtake Blockbuster!

 

[Detroitgator]

Did anyone else have a pen-pal in elementary school? Mine was in Africa somewhere. Our school made us do it and we wrote once or twice.

Yup, a girl in Greece.

 

[Detroitgator]

What you had to do and what it was like to actually hear, "YOU ARE CALLER 96!"

 

[Double Gator Dad]

Transistor radios. The toy department that Sears only had during Christmas season. Lightning bugs on a June night. Board games. Model building (although 3D printing is a splendid alternative).

Boys being boys, girls being girls, kids being kids, and long prison sentences for anyone who has a problem with that.

A few times a year, I can see a few Lightening bugs in the backyard.
What a fantastic flashback that is vanishing every day.

 

[CDGator]

A few times a year, I can see a few Lightening bugs in the backyard.
What a fantastic flashback that is vanishing every day.

We still have them on our farm. Our kids played with them.

 

[g8r.tom]

have all their friends phone numbers memorized.

 

[Detroitgator]

have all their friends phone numbers memorized.

Still remember my home phone from back then, but none since.

On the phone number front, was it just a Michigan thing, or did anyone else here have the holdover phenomena of this: for phone numbers with the prefix of "565-XXXX" or "274-XXXX", people would say "Logan 5" and Crescent 4" whereby "56" is "L" and "O" above the numbers and "C" and "R" are "2" and "7". Detroit area also had a lot of "Belvedere" for the B and E numbers. You didn't make up the Logan, Crescent, Belvedere... they were fixed conventions, but didn't match up to any phonetic/pre-phonetic alphabet letters like "Baker/Bravo" or "Love/Lima"... (Charlie was Charlie both pre and post).

 

[CDGator]

Still remember my home phone from back then, but none since.

On the phone number front, was it just a Michigan thing, or did anyone else here have the holdover phenomena of this: for phone numbers with the prefix of "565-XXXX" or "274-XXXX", people would say "Logan 5" and Crescent 4" whereby "56" is "L" and "O" above the numbers and "C" and "R" are "2" and "7". Detroit area also had a lot of "Belvedere" for the B and E numbers. You didn't make up the Logan, Crescent, Belvedere... they were fixed conventions, but didn't match up to any phonetic/pre-phonetic alphabet letters like "Baker/Bravo" or "Love/Lima"... (Charlie was Charlie both pre and post).

I have no idea what you are talking about.