The Stories you'll tell your grand children about the good old days

[BlackEleven]

I'll tell them about
-SD TVs that were "square" (and they'll say "oh ... weird!")
-VCRs that played "tapes" and sometimes the VCR would eat the tape
-my first computer the Apple IIE with a two-coloured monitor (green and yellow)
-playing frogger on said computer
-what a neat thing I thought ICQ was

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Getting the Christmas Wish book and circling all the toys I would like.

I think you were talking about the Sears one, but I remember doing that with Consumer's Distributing.

If only they could have stuck it out another 10 years they would have been into the information age and would have kicked everybody's butt.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I think you were talking about the Sears one, but I remember doing that with Consumer's Distributing.

If only they could have stuck it out another 10 years they would have been into the information age and would have kicked everybody's butt.

I couldn't remember if it was Eatons or Simpson-Sears. A friend of mine from University (now a Bay Street taxation Lawyer) was clerking at the law firm that handled Eaton's bankruptcy. He said he was reading the minutes from their meetings and just saying to himself, "You idiots".

And Consumers Distributing - I'd forgotten about them. You're right, they were an online store before there was an online. I still have my old walkman I got from there, it's kicking around somewhere.

[Cheese]

double posted ...oops

[ken0042]

And speaking of stuff from Consumer's Distributing.......... I remember getting my first remote control toy car from them. It was called a "Max Machine" and the controller just made a deafening loud click, and the van would turn in a random direction. OK maybe not random, it would cycle between left, straight, and right.

Or how about those gas powered airplanes you would have on a string and it would fly around you in a circle until it ran out of gas?

[Cheese]

I remember....

• walking to school...bare feet uphill both ways.
• there were no microwaves...
• the 1st new fandangled BLACK and WHITE TV!
• Going to a double header movie with cartoons starting it off...for 25 cents.
• my dad bringing home the new Chevy....1962 Impala.
• my first job....35 cents an hour.
• bell bottoms, wide belts and ##### kickers
• Beatles haircuts
• the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix...........
• when I had hair
• my kids asking to borrow the car...then giving them the old junker.
• The Excorcist...man the was scary when it first came out...
• listening to Foster Hewett on the radio
• watching Bobby Orr score his flying goal
• Watching the 1972 Summit series...in High school
• Watching the Flames lose to the Habs in the finals.
• Watching the Flames BEAT the Habs for the Stanley Cup!!
• 45s, 32s, 78,s 8 tracks, cassettes, CDs MP3s
• Computers? Ya on the first Star Trek series....go get em Jimbo!
• Punk music starting...Disco...New Wave...pukin Rap

soooooooooo much more

[Bobblehead]

LAWN DARTS!

Cans of pop/beer with pull tabs, then with those round holes you would poke out.

And speaking of beer - Stubbies!

[CaptainCrunch]

Seeing the First Star Wars movie in 1977 remembering the opening scene with the Star Destroyer roaring overhead for about 5 minutes.

The move from our black and white to color T.V.

Rabbit Ear antennae

Getting the first T.V. remote control

When we played war it wasn't a video game and some kid always ran home crying with a gash in his head from a rock

Buying my first pack of smokes when they cost 3 dollars

Comic Books were a dime.

The fall of the Berlin Wall, and breathing a sigh of relief when I was in the military at the time.

The first Supersonic test flight

One small step for man one giant leap for mankind

The end of the Vietnam War, I was 5, and remember seeing the evacuation on the news

The bad clothing of the 70's and I still have the pictures of my white fro.

Watching the 1972 Summit Series, and hearing the neighbours erupt when Henderson scored the goal that shook the earth

The 1980 Miracle on ice.

One of the best presidential speech I've ever heard "Mr Gorbachev, tear this wall down"

One of the worst Presidential gaffs of all time "I'd like to announce that we've just outlawed Russia, the bombing starts in 5 minutes"

Nixon getting on the helicopter after his emotional resignation.

Seeing my first concert "April Wine"

Seeing my best concert "Heart"

Standing in the book repository where Oswald shot Kennedy alone

Scoring my first goal in hockey, to this day it was an end to end rush top corner(Long clear in goalie was picking his nose and waving at his mom)

Where were you when John Lennon died?

The first Space Shuttle explosion, I was studying for finals, and I looked up at the T.V. to see the two solid rocket boosters twisting off into space and saying, that dosen't look right.

My first school yard fight, she was tough and a biter.

Running into her 10 years later and asking her out, she was still a biter

My first car was a pinto, then the whole exploding gas tank news came out.

I think that covers it.

[MRCboicgy]

In the good old days (2006) when my bf and i got jumped coming out of a movie at chinook, then being chased to our car, having the door panels kicked in, and being tailed by rednecks in a minivan (of all things).

you gay kids have it easy nowadays!

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by MRCboicgy

In the good old days (2006) when my bf and i got jumped coming out of a movie at chinook, then being chased to our car, having the door panels kicked in, and being tailed by rednecks in a minivan (of all things).

you gay kids have it easy nowadays!

That is seriously messed up. No one messes with my fashion consultant!!

[V]

Watching the 1972 Summit series...in High school

I am so jealous of those that got to live through that.

I remember our typing class in school where half the class had to learn on typewriters and half on 286s because we didn't have enough computers.

- My parents getting their first microwave.
- Playing street hockey from 8:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night. All summer and winter holidays.
- Playing on the old Atari, Intellivision, Commodore 64, LORD on BBSes


I was googling LORD the other day and found out the game's still going strong. Weird.

So many more crazy memories.

[Indi]

Originally Posted by ken0042

And speaking of stuff from Consumer's Distributing.......... I remember getting my first remote control toy car from them. It was called a "Max Machine" and the controller just made a deafening loud click, and the van would turn in a random direction. OK maybe not random, it would cycle between left, straight, and right.

Or how about those gas powered airplanes you would have on a string and it would fly around you in a circle until it ran out of gas?

Oh dude, I was just rummaging in a box downstairs the other day and found 2 .049 engines, a couple of glo plug wrenches and assorted gas tanks.....I used to to live for flying my corseair or trainer.....god that was fun! Nowadays you just cant give a kid a can of volatile white gas, a battery and an engine.....you'de probably get arrested for it

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

I remember when the Saddledome was section A-Z and AA-ZZ... and row 23 was still in the lower bowl!

I remember when they had "LOOOOOOB" on the area dividing the lower and upper bowls.

I also used to listen to AM 106. I remember the "top 10 at 10" and the "top 6 at 6"

I remember using "Sportscope" to keep track of live hockey scores.

[Buzzard]

I got one....back in 2006, you could still buy a 3 bdrm bung in acadia for $320,000 !!!!

[I-Hate-Hulse]

One upon a time, I had to go to special places to play video games. You have these embedded into your minds now but back then you had to make a special trip.

These were called "arcades" or "Wizards Castles" or just "Wizz". I had to save up quarters (yes, they were still useful back then) in empty film canisters (yeah, you had to put rolls of film into cameras back then) so I could feed to machine to play. Usually 25 cents a game but the newer games were 50c. No neural sensors, just these sticks you controlled with your hands with buttons on the side. Usually punch and kick, maybe jump. I bet my high scores for Gauntlet and APB are still there....

You know you're old when you go to a museum (Science Museum in London) and you see your 1st two computers in a display case...

[Sylvanfan]

Lot's of fun to read this thread, it certainly brings back a lot of good memories for me.

I remember that my family was one of the first to have a remote control T.V. It was the only T.V. set we had in the house, had like a 21 inch screen and cost like $900 at the time (1981 IIRC from Muntz Stereo and Video in Cranbrook BC).

Waiting for the Tuesday paper to see how many points every player in the NHL had. If the Flames were on the West coast they couldn't have a Flaems game story printed the next day.

Having the bank between my house and the school so that I could go to the bank and withdraw $2 to buy a slush and a bag of chips and still have money for the next day. When the green machine showed up in grade 9 I was blown away and the Royal Bank one gave out $5 bills.

Amazing at just how different things have become in the past 5 years, than the past 10 and so on. I think of someone like my dad who is 68 and how much the world has changed in his lifetime and it's truly amazing.

[Shawnski]

The old 0.049 engines (Twin B's?), yeah, remember them well. Had my best flight without strings!!! Just got the balance right and let her rip. Went up about 300-400 feet and just looped over our heads... nearby city workers thought I was doing some amazing remote controlled tricks! Surprised the heck out of them when we told them no remote.... plane landed after about 5 minutes not 50 feet from where we let her go... amazing.

I also remember Pong.. have been a video game addict ever since...

Playing baseball against Larry Walker as a teenager....

Skiing before the moguls got butchered by snowboarders...

Speaking of skiing, remember when skies had "safety straps"? Nothing like having two weapons strapped to your legs attacking you mercilessly as you tumbled down a double black diamond post wipeout.

Speaking of wipeout, remember that song?

What about "Pop Rocks", the candy?

My first (THE first) Discman... about the size of a paperback novel and took 6 "D" cells.... that with a pair of Bose Roommates blew the doors off most stereos at the time...

The first school computer... which we programmed in Basic... and had the power of roughly what is now in your typical coffee maker....

Typewriters that took a lot of effort... and a lot of whiteout...

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

LAWN DARTS!

And speaking of beer - Stubbies!

Not just lawn darts, but lawn darts with actual sharp points! We used to huck them straight up in the air and run underneath them.

They still make stubbies in our fair country.


http://www.brickbrewery.com/html/brick005.html

And remember these portable entertainment devices?


http://www.handhelden.com/

[JiriHrdina]

^^^I had the baseball one. Played it for hours. Hmmmmmm. Wonder if my folks still have that game? It was fantastic.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by fotze

Wholy crap, I played this one a million times!!

I still own that one. Found it last year when my parents made me go through some boxes at their house. That and a few other electronic games from the early 80. I told my dad he could have wrapped them up as Christmas presents and I would have been so happy. He muttered something under his breath.

Matel brought out a new re-make of the original football game. I tried show my buddy's teen age kids; they couldn't understand what the blips were supposed to represent.