Grumpy Old Coot (and Cootess) Thread

[Taun]

When I was in the 9th grade, our High School started a computer programming class... The class was in two parts, classroom on campus, where they were taught COBOL and FORTRAN

programming, writting all of their code on sheets of paper, then a lab at the local University (Texas Western College - Now known as UTEP)... That computer was the second computer

in the city - not counting the ones at the military base (Ft. Bliss)... It took up an entire floor of a large building, was noisier than all get out and cost millions of dollars... If you have a "smart phone"

now-a-days, you have massively more computing power than that beast...

Each time the system was turned on, the Operating System had to be re-loaded, tested then could be used... Then the program you wanted to run (no graphics at that time) either had to

be loaded by magnetic tape (a giant reel-to-reel system), punch cards (each card a single line of code so you could have a stack of tens of thousands of cards) or manually entered on a keyboard...

If your program ran and failed, you got a print out, went back to school worked on it for a week or so then (maybe) got to return and have your revised program ran... That's a lot of work for "Hello World!"

Lord help you if you dropped your punch cards and they got out of order!

[Taun]

Speaking of 45 rpms, I remember my younger sister having some of her girlfriends over and they would watch American Bandstand, play their records, and practice the newest dance moves. I though they looked goofy, until, after a year or so later, that I found reasons to pass them by, noticing that my sister's friends were moving more than their feet, Up and down, you know?

And about televisions, I was talking to an online friend about antique televisions. He has a couple and then he went on about their value to collectors. I saw one in a Tulsa, OK, pawnshop a few weeks ago. It was gold-colored, had a small screen with slightly curved left and right side edges. It sat upon a wooden veneered console. Rabbit-ear antennas came out the top with a little dial for fine tuning reception. Of course, it had a tag that read NFS. Some of the younger people looked at it with curiosity, wondering (I'll bet) how it functioned.

This is a pic of a similar model to my families first TV...

Strictly Black and White... well... grey mostly... fuzzy picture full of "snow" (static), it rolled terribly and took forever to both warm up (it was all tubes no transistors) and to fine tune... The 12" screen (roughly 35cm) was considered fairly large for the

day, and we were actually the envy of our block...

The screen was actually round(ish) and the square frame cut off the top and bottom of the picture - but it was billed as a Square screen...

Edited October 8, 2014 by Taun

[Lilly]

be loaded by magnetic tape (a giant reel-to-reel system), punch cards (each card a single line of code so you could have a stack of tens of thousands of cards) or manually entered on a keyboard...

When I went to college I got a job as a keypunch operator at the 'computer building'. My University (Syracuse) only had one computer.

My iphone5 can do way more than that entire building could....pretty amazing.

[Regi]

Speaking of 45 rpms, I remember my younger sister having some of her girlfriends over and they would watch American Bandstand, play their records, and practice the newest dance moves. I though they looked goofy, until, after a year or so later, that I found reasons to pass them by, noticing that my sister's friends were moving more than their feet, Up and down, you know?

I think so.

One of the first 45's I remember buying- if not the first- was Foreigner's Hot Blooded and when I think of it now, I can't imagine what my mother must have thought about those lyrics blaring from my room, but honestly, I don't think I thought much of lyrics at the time.

(I also liked the music in Double Vision and as far as those lyrics went, I liked the way they sang "ooooh..." in the chorus. )

This is a pic of a similar model to my families first TV...

Strictly Black and White... well... grey mostly... fuzzy picture full of "snow" (static), it rolled terribly and took forever to both warm up (it was all tubes no transistors) and to fine tune... The 12" screen (roughly 35cm) was considered fairly large for the

day, and we were actually the envy of our block...

The screen was actually round(ish) and the square frame cut off the top and bottom of the picture - but it was billed as a Square screen...

Wow, your family had a really nice TV!

[Minds_Eye]

Hey, I still remember VHS and Beta! I bet most kids nowadays would have no clue what I'm talking about.

[Q-C]

Great posts all! I've been smiling all the way through, with a bit of an aching in my heart .

Speaking of which, I remember when there was only one smiley! And it was everywhere and on everything.

I remember always being exhausted at the day's end, injured in some form or another, and everything we did was a competition. Who could do the most, highest, fastest, funniest, grossest, etc.

We were always collecting stuff and building stuff. I remember when we needed something, some poor soul was appointed to go get it from their house. I remember vividly sneaking in and trying to sneak out with something I knew I shouldn't be using to build a spaceship with! Knowing everyone was counting on me and I'd be so well received if I came back with the needed part.

Sometimes you'd get away with it. Sometimes you'd pay for it later and sometimes before you could turn the doorknob you'd hear those fear-striking words "Where are you going with that?!"

Edited October 25, 2014 by QuiteContrary

[toyomotor]

Great posts all! I've been smiling all the way through, with a bit of an aching in my heart .

Speaking of which, I remember when there was only one smiley! And it was everywhere and on everything.

I remember always being exhausted at the day's end, injured in some form or another, and everything we did was a competition. Who could do the most, highest, fastest, funniest, grossest, etc.

We were always collecting stuff and building stuff. I remember when we needed something, some poor soul was appointed to go get it from their house. I remember vividly sneaking in and trying to sneak out with something I knew I shouldn't be using to build a spaceship with! Knowing everyone was counting on me and I'd be so well received if I came back with the needed part.

Sometimes you'd get away with it. Sometimes you'd pay for it later and sometimes before you could turn the doorknob you'd hear those fear-striking words "Where are you going with that?!"

And your answer, "Who me?"

[Q-C]

And your answer, "Who me?"

Haha! I also remember, "Oh, I just wanted to show this to David. I'll bring it back." Sometimes it actually worked. But mostly I heard "Put it back, young lady!"

[cedarcarver1]

I've been away for awhile (moving/transitions/new friends,etc.), but I remembered to look up and see what the rest of you are talking about. Obviously, not all THAT much. But it is amusing.

I was watching an old b/w program the other day (t.v. and I don't get along all that well anymore) and someone mentioned that one of his "hubcaps," had changed or been lost. I don't remember exactly the correct words (and I didn't want to hit the repeat button) but it sent me down a rabbit trail.

Another program I watched this afternoon had two brothers commenting on old pics of them as kids at a swimming hole. One quipped to the other, "Are those your ears? They look like a pair of hubcaps!" I started laughing for no reason except for the reference in using the word, "hubcaps."

It's been a few years in using that term. Mainly guys my age and and older. Nowadays, I usually hear, "wheel covers or rim covers."

When I was a kid running around, finding a hubcap usually meant trying to find the owner, or try identifying the type of vehicle it came from. Pretty much unique for certain models such as Pontiac, Buick, Caddy, Chrysler, etc.. Hubcaps and whitewalls usually could make a $50.00 dollar junker increase in value by $100.

Wire-spoke hubcaps cost a bundle, but could really make a vehicle's wheels sparkle and stand-out.

Where I grew up, there was an old character everyone locally knew that lived in the country for years before moving to the edge of this larger town northwest of us by about ten-fifteen miles. He was commonly know as "Hubcap H*****," due to the large number of hubcaps that decorated his house, garage, barn, trees, outhouse, fences and such. I mean this old man had hubcaps hanging EVERYWHERE!! I suppose if he could have figured it out, what few skinny cows, dogs and chickens he owned would've been sporting hubcaps as walking advertising.

I accompanied my dad and grandpa more than a few times to find a matching hubcap or two that had popped off somewhere due to an unseen pothole that always magically reappeared elsewhere on those old roads -- kinda like nowadays, ya know?

After he moved closer to town, he repeated the same outdoor decorative technique for his new residence as he did the old.

You could always tell his vehicle when it traveled anywhere. He had an old rattly pick-up truck with tall, rail sideboards that sported hubcaps nailed to the sides. The bed of the truck was also piled high with junk he scavenged from the roadside, or someone paid him a few dollars to come pick-up their old junk. I guess, like other people like him, he did what he had to do. His forte`, though, was in acquiring a high inventory of hubcaps, hence the nickname, "Hubcap H*****."

He was well over six-foot tall, lanky,wore a battered felt hat, thick-lensed, smudged glasses, a prominent, bobbing Adam's Apple, bibbed overalls, large ears, long gangley legs, and huge loosley-laced brogan boots. Yep...he was quite a character.

If someone came up to his place looking for a hubcap, he'd cogitate for a minute or two, trying to recall where he'd seen one, disappear for a bit, then return with the correct, matching hubcap. However, it wasn't just showing up, getting a replacement hubcap(s), paying him and leaving. It was a drawn-out procedure. It was his time to visitate, get to know his customer, talk about the weather, hunting, fishing, animals, politics (local and national) and some occasional gossip. He had a good day when he'd be able to talk someone into discarding their old hubcap and replacing them with a set (4) that would spruce up their vehicle.

In a not-so-odd way, he reminded me of Mr. Haney, he of that old sitcom, "Green Acres."

You don't see very many hubcaps anymore except at old car and truck shows, or J.C. Whitney parts magazine.

He's somewhere else now, peddling hubcaps to angels, I'd guess. Or used harps and rusty wings...

[Taun]

I found, as I get older more established, that I get more easily annoyed by noises... Like young kids shrieking as they play - which never use to bother me, now I find myself grumbling

"Why don't those @%#!% kids shut the heck up?" And of course the guy that drives by with his windows rolled up, but you can hear the bass thumping from his car stereo three blocks away...

My neighbors who feel they have to have their domestic arguements out in the parking lot - at great volume - where they proclaim to the entire neighborhood just how worthless their mate is...

(Why are women so shrill at these times? Like amplified bagpipes playing through a steam whistle)

So I am turning into my grandfather - who groused about every little noise ("Them danged birds is singin' way too danged loud this mornin'!")

I now know what he meant...

And this from a guy who spent years in missile artillery units!

Edited February 11, 2015 by Taun

[Regi]

I was watching an old b/w program the other day (t.v. and I don't get along all that well anymore) and someone mentioned that one of his "hubcaps," had changed or been lost. I don't remember exactly the correct words (and I didn't want to hit the repeat button) but it sent me down a rabbit trail.

Another program I watched this afternoon had two brothers commenting on old pics of them as kids at a swimming hole. One quipped to the other, "Are those your ears? They look like a pair of hubcaps!" I started laughing for no reason except for the reference in using the word, "hubcaps."

It's been a few years in using that term. Mainly guys my age and and older. Nowadays, I usually hear, "wheel covers or rim covers."

That's so funny about the kids' ears looking like a pair of hubcaps and yes, it's interesting that it's a comparison you're not likely hear from a kid these days.

Actually, it's kinda funny to me that you brought this up because just the other day, I was researching (I was trying to find an old cemetery- I think it was moved for a lake) and I stumbled across the fact that there really is- or really was- such a thing as a poorhouse.

Seriously, I've always thought 'poorhouse" was just something people said when they were headed for broke or went broke...you know, "We're headed for the poorhouse" or "we're in the poorhouse now."

From what I understand so far (I'd like to learn more about it) it was a place that housed the homeless, but also anyone who couldn't support themselves for any reason.

It turns out that there was a poorhouse located not too darned far from where I curently live. In other words, I'm not too far from the poorhouse!

[Regi]

I found, as I get older more established, that I get more easily annoyed by noises...

So I am turning into my grandfather - who groused about every little noise ("Them danged birds is singin' way too danged loud this mornin'!")

I now know what he meant...

I've observed that it's both ways for me, that is, I seem to have more patience for things I didn't used to- or maybe it's tolerance- and then there are other things for which I have no patience. (Including mockingbirds. )

[cedarcarver1]

Kinda funny (not really) in how you can hear the high decibel screeching of kids two clicks away? And the VA said I have 15% hearing loss.

And a poorhouse? We didn't know we was poor until someone from the county told us we were! (Actually, we owned quite a bit of land, livestock, pecan groves, garden produce, etc...but we we kids worked like we were indentured.)

Thank God I live in the country by a river! I would be going ballistic with inconsiderate neighbors, noise, screaming, fighting. I got enough of that in my second marriage...and the Marines! Lol!

I am enough of a reclusive curmudgeon as it is. The only things I yell at, "get off my lawn," is the cat covering up his surprises right where I split wood and stack it.

You have my deepest sympathies.

My patience is reserved for my best girl and other persons/situations I can easily squirm out of.

[cedarcarver1]

I salute each and every one of you whom have contributed to this site. It is an area I peruse once in awhile to take a staggering step down Nostalgia Lane. Mostly humorous, but, nonetheless, entertaining.

I occasionally work with a jazz band here, and the other day, as I was going to rehearsal, I saw a couple of twelve-year-old- kids (on or thereabouts) who were mucking about with their bicycles, and noticed clothespins in their hands.. I sped on by without a second glance only because I knew they were trying to modify their bicycle's sound with whatever means necessary. Yep. The playing card and a clothespin!

I remember those days. Of course, I also remember that Plastic Tiger sound emitted by the Mattel tiger mounted on your handlebars that we all saw on TV. I never could afford or beg hard enough to have my dad pony up the money for one because, "all the other kids had one!" (yeah! right!)

And Banana seats? I, and every body else I ever knew back then, had one. Of course, a nine-speed bicycle with tall, thin wheels, just made for a radiant banana seat. And it fit sooo perfectly, too! NOT!!!

I looked like a DORK... But, I thought I was cool. (in my mind.)

I was eventually afforded the opportunity to upgrade my bike, but I still needed to achieve "cool," status.

Back then, just before Evel Knievel began his great round of applause, we were leaping barrels, ditches and small kids with a single, rapid, squeaky-pedaling bound. Not always successfully, I might add. But, in our minds, we achieved stardom and renown! Lol!

The things kids and adults do now-a-days just fills me with righteous indignation! What they do now, we thought of decades before. I have the scab scars, plus the aches and pains that comes with old age and accomplishment.

Oh, well. At least someone is making money off of what we used to call, "I double-dog dare ya, ya yellow skunk!!"

Just imagine seeing ourselves on Youtube! Whoopie! More than likely, though, America's Funniest Home Videos.

Grandpa's? Don't let this happen to you and become a poster boy for , "Don't Let This Happen To You!"

We were Aces of the two-wheels long before all the others were a twinkle in their dad's eyes!!!

[Taun]

A good thing about being - ahem - more mature... Is walking down a hallway at work and seeing a young student (early to mid twenties) getting set to do or say something that I KNOW

is going to "crash and burn" on him (or her)... And I resist the urge to warn them - just smile and walk by... Let 'em learn like I did... ( as long as it doesn't actually physically hurt them)

Edited March 27, 2015 by Taun

[little_dreamer]

I'm getting old enough that young people don't always understand the cultural references that I make. When I say something like "gone like Jimmy Hoffa", they have no idea who or what I am talking about. They are probably thinking: "What is this old fool babbling about again?"

[Taun]

I was watching some old reruns this weekend - "Beverly Hillbillies", "Hogans Heroes", "Bewitched", "I Dream of Jeannie" and the like...

They are just as funny now as they were then (as verified by my grand niece) and there was not one bit of "toilet humor", and no profanity in any of it...

I really miss the old days sometimes...

[Flashbangwallop]

There is some progress even at my age. For instance I remember having to wipe my own bottom where as today a nurse does it for me. Lick that

[Taun]

Like my grandpa once said (he lived to be 104)... "We start out in diapers, and - if we're lucky - we end up that way"...

[Regi]

^ Oh, like hell that's lucky...

Anyway...

I realized the other day that I miss vent windows. Yeah, it was a beautiful day but too warm for the car windows to be up but too cool for them to be down...

[Taun]

I liked vent windows too... Until one breaks... They were the dickens to repair...

I don't miss bench seats in a car though... It was nice having "my girl" slide over next to me while I drove... Now that would bug the heck out of me...

Edited December 9, 2015 by Taun

[Regi]

I like movies with older characters and issues they face and I watched this one not too long ago and I thought it was really good, soo... here's the trailer.

[Regi]

I came across this movie on cable over the weekend and I really enjoyed it. I didn't know what it was- I'd never heard of it- and it took me a while to recognize Kevin Kline. I guess it's just been so long since I've seen him.

Anyway, here's the trailer.

[little_dreamer]

I remember when I was a very young kid they had locking bathroom stalls in a shopping mall. You had to put in some money for the stall door to open. Lucky that I was under 4 feet tall and could climb under the door without paying. I haven't seen those pay-to-use toilets since then. I don't think I am flexible enough to do that today, and I don't really feel like crawling on a public bathroom floor now.

[Regi]

^ My mother told me about those when she taught me a funny poem...the poem was about sitting there all brokenhearted after having paid a nickel 'cause as it turned out, it was all for nothing.