# And We Were Grateful for What We Had



## Phil Elmore (Jul 30, 2003)

When I was your age, we didn't have it so good.

We had only thirteen channels of basic cable.  I used to have to cross the living room -- uphill, in the snow, both ways -- just to turn the channel or change the volume.

We sat too close to televisions that were about three feet deep while absorbing those thirteen channels, constantly standing and sitting when our fathers used us as human slaves to adjust volume from the other end of the living room.  I probably absorbed enough rads that my children will be born with three arms -- and they still won't appreciate what I went through at their ages.

We had a really big, aesthetically unpleasant microwave whose touch-sensitive buttons didn't always work.  I had video games, just like you -- video games in which one block pushed another block across a screen so the block on the opposite side could send the middle block back to the first block.  This looked nothing like the cover art for the video game box, of course, which was an oil painting of two sweating tennis players with rippling muscles smashing a ball between them.  Those were tough times, young man.

Worse, we were still expected to GO OUTSIDE at that age.

My parents spent my entire childhood trying to kill me.  They sent me out on my bicycle without any pads or helmet at all.  Imagine that -- I rode all over the neighborhood on my orange banana-seat bike, my head exposed to traumatic brain injury, my knees and elbows completely unarmored against the of asphalt and gravel.  My contemporaries did the same.  I knew one kid who fell off his bike and hit his head.  We worried about him a lot and wondered why, oh WHY, society did not do something about the mortal peril in which we found ourselves daily.

We went to the playground and climbed jungle gyms mounted on concrete slabs.  The jungle gyms were fifteen hundred feet high and topped with barbed wire.  Well, okay, they weren't quite that bad, but they were still high up enough that none of us were surprised at the grim fates awaiting us when Billy Simmons fell off and broke his arm and showed up in second grade wearing a cast that we all autographed with trembling hands.

To tell you the truth, it's a miracle I'm even alive and relatively intact at my age.  Listen well, young fellow -- for when you're my age you're going to have to think of something to tell _your_ children about how bad you've got it now.


----------



## Kirk (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Sharp Phil _
> *My parents spent my entire childhood trying to kill me. They sent me out on my bicycle without any pads or helmet at all. Imagine that -- I rode all over the neighborhood on my orange banana-seat bike, my head exposed to traumatic brain injury, my knees and elbows completely unarmored against the of asphalt and gravel. My contemporaries did the same. I knew one kid who fell off his bike and hit his head. We worried about him a lot and wondered why, oh WHY, society did not do something about the mortal peril in which we found ourselves daily.
> *



And your folks had NO idea where you were at all.  You wouldn't
get in trouble if you were home before the street lights came on.

Thanks for sharing your writings Phil-arama!


----------



## Ender (Jul 30, 2003)

*LOL...good one!..I enjoyed it!


by the way, we WERE the remote control. our dad would bark out orders to change the channel..*G


----------



## Shadow Hunter (Jul 30, 2003)

I stopped by my old elementary school recently. I fondly remember my favorite thing to climb on. It was several old telephone polls with several tires bolted to them at various levels. I had to have fallen off the things dozens of times.

They are not there anymore. There is not even a hole where they used to be. Just a layer of sawdust.

Sad.

But I wonder, why the heck are Big Wheels still around? I can't be the only person who nearly killed himself multiple times on those things. You take a corner too fast, you scrape the skin off of some weird places and you wallow in the horrified screams of your mother when you come home as well as the envious looks of your friends when you show off the scabs. There has got to be a few greedy lawyers who salivate at the idea of taking that company to court.


----------



## Phil Elmore (Jul 30, 2003)

Big Wheels were great.  Those plastic tires had no traction whatsoever, so you could get yourself going at horrific speed and then skid for blocks trying to stop, knowing you'd just have to bail and dump the thing, the detachable, sort-of-adjustable seet tumbling behind you like the hubcap spun free from a wrecked automobile.

Even better was the Green Machine, the much-cooler-than-a-Big-Wheel contraption that steered with two levers, one on either side.  Somehow its being more difficult to steer made it more cool.  I dunno why.

My orange banana-seat bike was quite the geek conveyance.  It had oversized aftermarket handle-bar cushions of ribbed rubber, and a basket on the handlebars.  I learned to ride a two-wheel bike on that thing.  It started out with plastic fenders, but I smashed the front one crashing into the metal guidewire on a telephone pole.

I tried to do a wheelie once and the bike came down right on the basket.  My father, an engineer by trade at the time, bent the basket back into something like its original shape, though it was never quite right and never looked quite right again.

At some point I actually managed to _break the frame_ on that bike.  My undaunted father took it to work and *welded* the tubing back together.  For the rest of its life it had this hideos blackened patch in mid-frame, at the center of which was a blob of solder.

It's a miracle the neighborhood children didn't take one look at that bicycle and beat the crap out of me on principle alone.


----------



## Cryozombie (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Sharp Phil _
> *
> Even better was the Green Machine, the much-cooler-than-a-Big-Wheel contraption that steered with two levers, one on either side.  Somehow its being more difficult to steer made it more cool.  I dunno why.
> *



I HAD ONE OF THOSE!  ONE OF ONLY TWO KIDS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD WITH ONE!  WE were like the biker gang of our bigwheel group!


----------



## Phil Elmore (Jul 30, 2003)

The Green Machine


----------



## progressivetactics (Jul 30, 2003)

yep the bikes that almost got us killed are still around and yet the Lawn Jarts had to be removed from the shelf because too many people were lobbing them into their neighbors skulls and killing them, in self defense-i'm sure.


----------



## kkbb (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Sharp Phil _
> *We had a really big, aesthetically unpleasant microwave whose touch-sensitive buttons didn't always work.  *


At least you had one!  I wasn't so lucky.  Then when they did finally get invented, and were affordable, people tried to cook EVERYTHING in them.  My favorite though was homemade (already oven baked) bread, topped with big chunks of chedder!.... hmmmm yummy.  Can still remember the smells.  
My Grandmother didn't know or care to learn to use one.  she just used hers as a bread box!  Thats only because her ovn was full of bread & potatoe chips & rice.  They used to keep fresh in the oven because the pilot light would throw enough heat to ward off the dampness.  

I remember being in my dad's old Plymouth fury II.  It was brand new & my dad was very proud of it.  I generally rode in the back seat (no seatbelts of course).  My Dad would just crank the SINGLE (and only) speaker on the dash until it crackled.  It was brutal but Motown never sounded so sweet.  Believe it or not kids, we did not even have and 8 track player.  AM radio! Thats it.  At that time AM/FM was an option and good old 8 track was not even invented yet!  It didn't matter though.  We always enjoyed the things we had.


----------



## Kirk (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by kkbb _
> *I remember being in my dad's old Plymouth fury II.  It was brand new & my dad was very proud of it.  I generally rode in the back seat (no seatbelts of course).  *



I rode in my dad's station wagon (fake wood paneling on the 
side) in the very back seat in the tailgunner position.  Having to
stare at the driver behind the car, at traffic lights.  Sometimes I'd
stand up in the seat, and ride that way.


----------



## tkdcanada (Jul 30, 2003)

I think in a lot of ways, those were better times.  Kids and people in general are so used to having so much that they become spoiled and materialistic losing sight of what's really important.  Back then, life was so much simpler and people didn't waste so much time worrying about what they don't have.


----------



## kkbb (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Kirk _
> *I rode in my dad's station wagon (fake wood paneling on the
> side) in the very back seat in the tailgunner position.  Having to
> stare at the driver behind the car, at traffic lights.  Sometimes I'd
> stand up in the seat, and ride that way. *


 :rofl: 
Ya I remember those station wagon rides.  Mini vans were unheard of .... large vans were mainly panel vans (no windows)... and with the three kids it was to crowded in the Fury....my dad also picked up a station wagon.... "come on dad...roll down the back window!" No...yuo'll get gased":rofl:   Way to funny....
Always knew where we had been though!


----------



## kkbb (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by tkdcanada _
> *I think in a lot of ways, those were better times.  Kids and people in general are so used to having so much that they become spoiled and materialistic losing sight of what's really important.  Back then, life was so much simpler and people didn't waste so much time worrying about what they don't have. *


I agree with you to certain point... times were different but were they better?  I was discussing this with my wife and she said to me "I don't really think so, women for the most part were treated poorly, almost second class.  Women's issues have come along way. People, in general, only lived to age 65 or so (I agree with her here too..I remember an old guy back then was in his 60's now they are in there 80's).  People are better educated now, not kept in the dark about the ways of government, health care, technologies...etc... "  She went on to name a few more valid points.  We agreed on one thing for sure though... both times, past & present, now and then, have their own precious memories.

P.S.
I don't think that anybody can convince me that today's generations are the "survivors" we were.


----------



## Ken JP Stuczynski (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Kirk _
> *...
> 
> Thanks for sharing your writings Phil-arama! *



This has been floating around email circles for way too long.   Do we really need a thread for it?

How about, "When I was your age, we didn't use padding when we sparred" ?????


----------



## tkdcanada (Jul 30, 2003)

kkbb,

That's why I said "in a lot of ways"  

I agree with you that many things now are much better than they were and I would not want to give that up, but.....

it all comes at a price.  People tend to be much less genuine now  and so caught up in the rat race

....which is sad.

But you are very right on all your points.  I agre completely.


----------



## Phil Elmore (Jul 30, 2003)

> This has been floating around email circles for way too long. Do we really need a thread for it?



I can't speak for anything that may be ciculating that sounds similar, but *I WROTE THE COLUMN POSTED TO THIS THREAD*.  I don't paste things people send me via e-mail.


----------



## Bob Hubbard (Jul 30, 2003)

I saw something similar a while back, but Phil's an original.

Heck, my grandfather told me something like this a ways back....  They are all funny.


----------



## Bob Hubbard (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Kirk _
> *I rode in my dad's station wagon (fake wood paneling on the
> side) in the very back seat in the tailgunner position.  Having to
> stare at the driver behind the car, at traffic lights.  Sometimes I'd
> stand up in the seat, and ride that way. *



I have one of those wagons....

I heard someone say I looked real good for my age.....had my nephew in there with me...they thought he was my grandson....  

:rofl:


----------



## Bob Hubbard (Jul 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Sharp Phil _
> *The Green Machine *



I had one.  Prefered the Big Wheel.    (Wore that SOB out...my dad def. got his moneys worth there.)


----------



## theletch1 (Jul 30, 2003)

> I have one of those wagons



My first car was one of those wagons.  It was a 1973 Plymouth Satellite or something along those lines.  I bought it for 100.00 
when I was 16.  I don't recall either of the back seats actually ever being in the upright position. Man that thing was huge and had enough room in the back for....... well, it was roomy.


----------



## Bob Hubbard (Jul 31, 2003)

*Admin Note:*

"Discussion" of the originality, etc of this topic has been split off.

Please keep this thread to the concept of the memories.

:asian:


----------



## Ender (Jul 31, 2003)

we didn't have memories when we were kids. we had to write em on stone tablets!...


----------



## kkbb (Jul 31, 2003)

Does anyone remember listening to the 1972 Canada VS Russia Hockey games on their "Transistor" radio.

Or... The uncle who had extra money and bought one of the first LED watches..... it had the red numbers and a deep red face....

Or the first electronic calculators..... again with the red led's ... it could add, subtract , Multiply, and divide...... and the schools would not let you use them in the class....  afraid you would not learn the 3 R's

Remember the first digital clocks?  They had numbers on little cards that flipped down when the time changed and a little light to illuminate them...pretty cool...
I remember when the Canadian dollar was worth more than the American dollar!.... Wow... times have changed...


----------



## Ken JP Stuczynski (Jul 31, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Kaith Rustaz _
> *I had one.  Prefered the Big Wheel.    (Wore that SOB out...my dad def. got his moneys worth there.)
> 
> *



I LOVED mine ... wish I had a CAR that cool.

Except everyone on the block thought it was stupid and made fun of me.  Probably because of my wisp ... I mean lisp.


----------



## Seig (Aug 1, 2003)

What about Stretch Arm Strong, GI Joe with Kung Fu grip, the Six Million Dollar Man complete with Bionic Chip.  I had a 5 speed bicycle and a spider man wrist shooter.  I remember having a 600 pound B&W TV with a 9 inch screen and we got excited when the local line up in DC went to 5 channels!!!!!!!


----------



## kkbb (Aug 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> *What about Stretch Arm Strong, GI Joe with Kung Fu grip, the Six Million Dollar Man complete with Bionic Chip.  I had a 5 speed bicycle and a spider man wrist shooter.  I remember having a 600 pound B&W TV with a 9 inch screen and we got excited when the local line up in DC went to 5 channels!!!!!!! *


Yup...didn't need color tv. Nothing was broadcast in color for a long time ...then came Walt Disney's sunday night show and The Red Skeleton show in color, both could be seen at Grandma & Grandpas house.  It was the only place to watch color tv... a round tube one at that!  

Those action figures were cool but none were as cool as Major Matt Mason... with his battery operated moon walker!  This dude wore a space suit and helmut... very cool...and the walker ..in which he sat had the coolest walking legs you ever seen...walked across almost every terrain...
Really neat
For those that don't know who he is...
http://www.phd.msu.edu/storto/mmm.htm
and the crawler:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3139949173&category=748


----------



## Ken JP Stuczynski (Aug 1, 2003)

My mom threw out hundreds of dollars worth of micronauts without telling me.


----------



## Bob Hubbard (Aug 1, 2003)

Heh...I've got a case of the original Kenner Star Wars figures kickin around somewhere.


----------



## kkbb (Aug 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Kaith Rustaz _
> *Heh...I've got a case of the original Kenner Star Wars figures kickin around somewhere.
> 
> *


Ya...kinda makes ya wanna go to mum & dad's and start searching


----------



## theletch1 (Aug 1, 2003)

Phil's other thread on vending machines reminds me of getting the big GLASS bottles of soda out of the vending machine (god forbid you didn't have a bottle opener) that occassionally had a chip in the glass on the opening of the neck.  Or the even older ones that had the lift up top that you had to figure out the maze of rails to get the soda out (I think that some funeral homes still have these).


----------



## theletch1 (Aug 1, 2003)

oh, yeah, and gasoline with lead in it.... I used to love the smell of leaded exhaust fumes.... guess that would explain a lot:shrug:


----------



## tarabos (Aug 1, 2003)

i just remember that the cool kids had the big wheels...but the rich kids has the POWER WHEELS!

they were drivin' for real!


----------



## tarabos (Aug 1, 2003)

and there was no cooler power wheel vehicle than bigfoot!


----------



## kkbb (Aug 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by theletch1 _
> *Phil's other thread on vending machines reminds me of getting the big GLASS bottles of soda out of the vending machine (god forbid you didn't have a bottle opener) that occassionally had a chip in the glass on the opening of the neck.  Or the even older ones that had the lift up top that you had to figure out the maze of rails to get the soda out (I think that some funeral homes still have these). *


Ya..those vending machines were cool... I remember trying to sneak an extra bottle through by holding up the little trap door..(never had any luck)  
I only remember Coke, Orange Crush, & Tahiti Treat in the machines though.  And many chipped bottles


----------



## Ken JP Stuczynski (Aug 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by theletch1 _
> *Phil's other thread on vending machines reminds me of getting the big GLASS bottles of soda out of the vending machine (god forbid you didn't have a bottle opener) that occassionally had a chip in the glass on the opening of the neck.  Or the even older ones that had the lift up top that you had to figure out the maze of rails to get the soda out (I think that some funeral homes still have these). *



SOmeone I know just threw out a "converter" for old vending machines to dispesne cans instead of bottles.


----------



## Seig (Aug 5, 2003)

> _Originally posted by kkbb _
> *Ya..those vending machines were cool... I remember trying to sneak an extra bottle through by holding up the little trap door..(never had any luck)
> I only remember Coke, Orange Crush, & Tahiti Treat in the machines though.  And many chipped bottles *


What about the old NiHi machines?


----------



## kkbb (Aug 5, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> *What about the old NiHi machines? *



NiHi? Whats that...can't recall them?


----------



## theletch1 (Aug 6, 2003)

NiHI grape!! Pure sugar rush.  I can remember my mother drinking Tab.  God that stuff was awful.  Remeber having to lug all the empty bottles back into the store for the return deposit?


----------



## Seig (Aug 7, 2003)

> _Originally posted by theletch1 _
> *NiHI grape!! Pure sugar rush.  I can remember my mother drinking Tab.  God that stuff was awful.  Remeber having to lug all the empty bottles back into the store for the return deposit? *


I also remember pop tab chains!  Tab, the worst aftertaste of any drink known to man.  What about the guy in the white t-shirt and the black vest singing the Dr. Pepper song?


----------



## Shadow Hunter (Aug 7, 2003)

How about when MTV and VH1 used to play music videos?


----------



## theletch1 (Aug 8, 2003)

> I also remember pop tab chains! Tab, the worst aftertaste of any drink known to man. What about the guy in the white t-shirt and the black vest singing the Dr. Pepper song



Yeah, I can remember those commercials.  How about the anti-littering commercials with the native american on horseback and the tear rolling down his cheek or the Mean Joe Green commercial for Dr. Pepper (at least I think it was DP).  How about Roos tennis shoes? The ones with the pocket on the side of them, way before "Air" anything.  Or bicycles with only one gear and coaster brakes?


----------



## Seig (Aug 9, 2003)

I had a pair of those roos in grey suede.  I forgot all about them!  Remember the Jordache craze?


----------



## kkbb (Aug 9, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> *I also remember pop tab chains!  Tab, the worst aftertaste of any drink known to man.  *


Absolutley gross...one of the first diet pops:barf:


----------



## jfarnsworth (Aug 9, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Shadow Hunter _
> *How about when MTV and VH1 used to play music videos? *



That's the truth .  All they have anymore are suck shows.:shrug:


----------



## kkbb (Aug 9, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> *I had a pair of those roos in grey suede.  I forgot all about them!  Remember the Jordache craze? *


Ya .. "I wear Jordache or nothing at all"... way to funny!  But actually..there was a LEVI craze before the Jordache craze... ripping the Levi tag off the pocket of your school chums... holes and multicolored patches were big too!


----------



## Senfeng (Aug 11, 2003)

My goodness!  Am I the oldest one here?  I remember when...

*  TVs were equipped with two plastic dials.  When the grip on those dials wore down and the dial came loose you had to use a butter knife to change the chanel.  The first dial gave you control over chanels 2-13.  The other dial let you change between 60 changels.  I think my first martial arts wrist excercises came from turning the dial from Chanel 20 to Chanel 54.  Oh... and I WAS the remote control.  Well, me or any sibling (or friend) unlucky enough to be the last child in the room when a show ended.

* Cable consisted of 1 chanel that was only available from 8pm to about 10pm.  1 movie was shown, then is was back to the wrist twisting torture of chanel flipping for your parents.

* Burger franchises were "KING-less" and void of any type of preprocessed chicken lumps.  The Big Mac in all it's sesame seed covered glory was the the new thing.  Fries came in one size. And your meal was not associated with a number, nor did it have a "happy" or "kids" equivalent.

BTW, I do remember the Green Machine.  Thanks for the pic!  It brought back a lot of memories!


----------



## OULobo (Aug 11, 2003)

Hey does anyone remember the old fast food franchise, Burger Chef. They used to have the symbol of the giant chef's hat.


----------



## theletch1 (Aug 11, 2003)

Here's one for ya.  Stereos that were in a cabinet with the lift up lid on them.  Had a.m., an 8 track player and record player in it.  If you had one of the high speed ones you had f.m. with an a.f.c. button on it.   The record player had 78, 45, 33 1/3. and 16 rpm speeds on it and the quickest way to get into trouble was playing a 33 1/3 album at 45 speed to get it to sound like the chipmunks.


----------



## Seig (Aug 12, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Senfeng _
> *My goodness!  Am I the oldest one here?  I remember when...
> 
> *  TVs were equipped with two plastic dials.  When the grip on those dials wore down and the dial came loose you had to use a butter knife to change the chanel.  The first dial gave you control over chanels 2-13.  The other dial let you change between 60 changels.  I think my first martial arts wrist excercises came from turning the dial from Chanel 20 to Chanel 54.  Oh... and I WAS the remote control.  Well, me or any sibling (or friend) unlucky enough to be the last child in the room when a show ended.*


 Ours had 2-13 and one with a "U" on it.  I don't know wht the tv had that many channels, we got 4, 5, 7, 9.  Since we lived  in D.C we got the extra channel, WTTG.  I remember watching Wonderama with Maury Povitch on it.  He _always_ had the Jackson 5 as his special musical guest.....I remember the first remote we had, it came with our first VCR in 1983, it had a 12 foot cord on it.  My mother and her husband had a "Star Command" remote for his TV.  When I got old enough, I learned how to whistle in the right tones to turn the TV on/off, up/down or to change the channels.  What that really taught me was how to piss my step-father off while maintaing a good head start.



> ** Cable consisted of 1 chanel that was only available from 8pm to about 10pm.  1 movie was shown, then is was back to the wrist twisting torture of chanel flipping for your parents.*


Cable?  We didn't have anything approaching cable until 1989!



> * * Burger franchises were "KING-less" and void of any type of preprocessed chicken lumps.  The Big Mac in all it's sesame seed covered glory was the the new thing.  Fries came in one size. And your meal was not associated with a number, nor did it have a "happy" or "kids" equivalent.*


I remember the first Happy Meals, they came out with the first Star Trek movie, and they had Star Trek toys.  I also remember the "Burger King" magic shows, with the pickle-lo that everyone had to have.  Back then. the advertisement was take you whole famil out to dinner for under 5 dollars.


----------



## Senfeng (Aug 12, 2003)

> _Originally posted by theletch1 _
> *...and the quickest way to get into trouble was playing a 33 1/3 album at 45 speed to get it to sound like the chipmunks. *


 :rofl: 
Actually, I used to get in trouble by playing my sister's 45s without the center piece.  It just sort of warbled in and out of tune.

How many of you remember when...

... Captain Cruch had only one cereal and Coooooookie Crisp had a magician as its mascot?

... all phones were rotary?

... the only ChiaPet available was the sheep?

... KFC was called Kentucky Fried Chicken

... Hollywood actors performed "Judo" moves through a series of stiff-handed CHOPPING motions that rendered their opponents unconscious.


----------



## Senfeng (Aug 12, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> *Ours had 2-13 and one with a "U" on it.  I don't know wht the tv had that many channels, we got 4, 5, 7, 9.  Since we lived  in D.C we got the extra channel, WTTG.  I remember watching Wonderama with Maury Povitch on it.  He always had the Jackson 5 as his special musical guest.....I remember the first remote we had, it came with our first VCR in 1983, it had a 12 foot cord on it.  My mother and her husband had a "Star Command" remote for his TV.  When I got old enough, I learned how to whistle in the right tones to turn the TV on/off, up/down or to change the channels.  What that really taught me was how to piss my step-father off while maintaing a good head start...*


:rofl: 

I knew there had to be someone as old as me on these boards!


----------



## kkbb (Aug 12, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> * When I got old enough, I learned how to whistle in the right tones to turn the TV on/off, up/down or to change the channels.  What that really taught me was how to piss my step-father off while maintaing a good head start. *


Car keys worked great to for this...just jiggled them and the channels would change:rofl:


----------



## Seig (Aug 13, 2003)

> _Originally posted by kkbb _
> *Car keys worked great to for this...just jiggled them and the channels would change:rofl: *


If I got my hands on his car keys, it was to go get into his brand new Datsun 280Z.


----------

