Yesterday was my brother's birthday. He's even older then I am. Actually, I may call myself The Old Grey Frog, but I really don't think of myself as old. I don't even think of my parents as old. We're all just experienced. Some of us just have a bit more experience then others. I suppose I could list a resume of all the things that I've experieced over my lifetime.

Color TV--I remember when my grandparents got their color TV. My grandmother hated it. She made my grandfather turn off the color so she could enjoy the black and white reception. I remember when we got our first color TV. It sat in our living room next to our "stereo".

Microwave ovens--My husband bought me an Amana RadarRange. Wow! We were given free cooking classes with our purchase. There were microwaves in our dorm building when I went to college but they rarely worked. Someone always tried to heat up a TV dinner in them and they'd blow up. Keep in mind that TV dinners always came in aluminum "trays". Despite written warnings about using metal in the microwave someone always forgot that aluminum was a metal.

The Beatles--I never was much of a fan but they sure had cool hair.

JFK--Yes, I do remember where I was when JFK was assassinated.

Vietnam--I remember one day when I came home from school. There was a note on the fridge. My brother had left to go to the May Day demonstrations in Washington D.C. with a bunch of his friends. I'm sure my parents were thrilled. And yes, he was arrested. I'm sure he's on some government watch list to this day. I remember sitdowns and tear gas. I remember the draft and the lottery system. I remember conscientous objectors.

Car phones--That's relatively recent. Motorola. Hey! I just got my first cell phone.

Cordless phones--It took me forever to learn that I could walk around the house while talking on the phone instead of staying anchored to the base. Of course, new problems arose. Where's the phone?

TV remotes--Where's the remote? I remember when these first came out. Now no-one knows how to change the channels without one. I think there still may be buttons on the TV set, just in case you lose the remote.

VCR's--I used to be able to program them but now DVD players are out and I can't figure out which remote goes to which device.

Records--I remember when we bought 331/3 instead of 48's. You couldn't even play your 78's anymore on some record players.

Tape recorders--Reel to reel. They were expensive too. Then you could get cassette tapes. Wow! Not those little cassettes but those big chunky huge 8-track cassettes. And then I bought myself a new smaller audio cassette player and recorder. Woohoo!

Answering machines--I loved it when they came out with these. Do they still sell the one's with little cassettes? We've gone digital now. My in-laws still refuse to have a cordless phone or and answering machine. I think they may have a VCR but they don't know how to use it.

I could go on and on. Bubble gum. Flavored bubble gum. The shrinking chocolate bar. Lean Cuisine. McDonalds. Burger King. I even remember when smoking became bad for you. Only one problem with experienced people. There are no guarantees that the unexperienced will listen to the experienced. That's something that will never change.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Pop Quiz and we aren't talking Cola Wars. Ratings Below. How many of these things do you remember?

1. Blackjack chewing gum (this stuff was truly yucky)
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water (wax lips too...)
3. Candy cigarettes (before cigarettes were bad for you and at the same time that Popeye was still allowed to beat up the bad guy.)
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottles (church basement and camp)
5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes (Clancy's)
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers (we never signed up for this but I remember telling him to "Get out of Town before Midnight" with my cap gun.)
7. Party lines (They gave us one by mistake when we first moved to Arizona in the 80's)
8. Newsreels before the movie (cartoons before the movie)
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive-6933) (Walnut6-3008)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody (This and Romper Room)
14. 45 RPM records (Please! If I can remember 78's, I certainly haven't forgotten 45's)
15. S&H Green Stamps (I'm not sure what my mom bought with all those stamps. I'm sure she did use them...eventually...I'd hate to think that she saved them and licked them for all those years and just threw them away. Please tell me that she doesn't still have them stored in the basement of the condo.)
16. Hi-fi's (no comment)
17. Metal ice trays with lever (I wonder if my sister still has hers?)
18. Mimeograph paper (and I think I remember how to use that machine too I can still remember the smell. MMMM)
19. Blue flashbulb (I think I still have eye damage from those things. Remember flashcubes for the instamatics? Remember instamatics?)
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys (our skates were stored in the orange crate shelves in the garage..the keys were tied neatly to the skates so we couldn't lose them.)
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins (It was real tricky to see if you could still hear the movie but not let in the mosquitoes when you hooked the soundbox to your car.)
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!