I may be old, but I'm cool old

Well, maybe

I was talking to my son about the internet, and message boards.
I mentioned mIRC. He gasped, and said "it's that old"????? !!!!!!!!!! with a truly shocked, yet disappointed look on his face.
Yep, ol' buddy boy can't imagine his mom chatting online. I could see a concerned and confused look on his face.
*** JAGStorm is now known as Coololdmama

Don't even get me started on music, I told him about Excalibur club in Chicago during its heyday. He was screaming, that is like
the birthplace of EDM... yup, this ol' gal used to shake her Doc Martins there. Actually someone should do a post on Excalibur, there was
a lot of paranormal rumors about that creepy place.

Just for giggles, I think this video sums up old school vs. new... guess I'm nerdy!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Explain to him what it was like being raised without internet and cellphones.

The horror!!

originally posted by: DrumsRfun
a reply to: JAGStorm

Explain to him what it was like being raised without internet and cellphones.

The horror!!

I don't know if this generation knows what that is like. I don't think they will ever understand the freedom we all
collectively gave up..

Phone rings... don't know who called... if it was important, they would call back... no voicemail either.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Wow... That's a blast from the past. Excalibur. And, yes, it was a very creepy place.

You made me remember my first drink purchased in a club (nowhere near 21 years old) at Cabaret Metro. The cute bartender even coached me on how to be more confident when ordering next time to get "better" results and less uncomfortable requests for my (obviously) fake ID.

Good times. Good times.

I even learned that gay clubs had much better music from my lesbian friend who dragged me to Berlin one very late night...

What was that cool Reggae place? On Clark, I think?

Now I'm looking at tickets for a weekend trip back to Chicago. Thanks...

a reply to: 35Foxtrot

I don't know if there are any good clubs in Chicago anymore. Excalibur is now called Tao, total hipster paradise.


There are some good places in Atlanta though.
My best friend and I went to a club in Atlanta. We were having a great time, music blasting. People drinking, dancing. All of a sudden, the doors blast open and a church choir and band busts in, and starts singing When the Saints come Marching in as they made their way in and out of the club. It was a spiritual moment. I will never forget that.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Really scare 'em, tell them you were on ARPA! I was in 1978 through a Control Data ramp using a 150/300 baud phone cradle acoustic coupler and a TELEX.TTY43 printer/workstation. Didn't bother with usenet I think until winter 1984/5 as I was running multiline apple ii BBS systems. It was a beast, 192kb memory (64k + 128k card), two 5-1/4" floppies, 2 8" 1mb floppies and a 5mb hard drive lol

Cheers - Dave

originally posted by: bobs_uruncle
a reply to: JAGStorm

Really scare 'em, tell them you were on ARPA! I was in 1978 through a Control Data ramp using a 150/300 baud phone cradle acoustic coupler and a TELEX.TTY43 printer/workstation. Didn't bother with usenet I think until winter 1984/5 as I was running multiline apple ii BBS systems. It was a beast, 192kb memory (64k + 128k card), two 5-1/4" floppies, 2 8" 1mb floppies and a 5mb hard drive lol

Cheers - Dave

I have two words for you:

Cassette Drive

Playing Castle Wolfenstein and Dungeons and Dragons on an Atari 800 loaded from a MF'ing cassette tape!! Well, more than ONE cassette tape....

originally posted by: 35Foxtrot

originally posted by: bobs_uruncle
a reply to: JAGStorm

Really scare 'em, tell them you were on ARPA! I was in 1978 through a Control Data ramp using a 150/300 baud phone cradle acoustic coupler and a TELEX.TTY43 printer/workstation. Didn't bother with usenet I think until winter 1984/5 as I was running multiline apple ii BBS systems. It was a beast, 192kb memory (64k + 128k card), two 5-1/4" floppies, 2 8" 1mb floppies and a 5mb hard drive lol

Cheers - Dave

I have two words for you:

Cassette Drive

Playing Castle Wolfenstein and Dungeons and Dragons on an Atari 800 loaded from a MF'ing cassette tape!! Well, more than ONE cassette tape....

ROFL, I had an Atari 400 I think it was in 1984 and an apple ii clone, had cbm before that and grabbed my first pc clone in 1985. I remember the cassette drives lol and the cartridges. Remember 8 tracks, reel2reel and punch cards lol. We be old Bubba!

Cheers - Dave

originally posted by: bobs_uruncle
a reply to: JAGStorm

Really scare 'em, tell them you were on ARPA! I was in 1978 through a Control Data ramp using a 150/300 baud phone cradle acoustic coupler and a TELEX.TTY43 printer/workstation. Didn't bother with usenet I think until winter 1984/5 as I was running multiline apple ii BBS systems. It was a beast, 192kb memory (64k + 128k card), two 5-1/4" floppies, 2 8" 1mb floppies and a 5mb hard drive lol

Cheers - Dave

I ran a BBS on a Commodore 64 / 128. Had three phone lines and I remember I thought I was hot sh*t because I had like 5 3.5 floppy drives running in a series that I soldered up myself. Cases broken open so I could put a room fan on them to keep em cool. I was also a "phone phreak" back when you had to ... gasp... pay for long distance. My first modem was 300 baud.

Legends say that I'm so cool even God himself doesn't know my true age



I think this is one of those stages in growing up. You start realizing that folks from other generations can not only be "cool," but they can even have important things to say. Even crazier, dem old folks may have been pioneering the very things the youngins think are all new and shiny.

Sounds so silly, but I sure can remember that time.

originally posted by: DrumsRfun
a reply to: JAGStorm

Explain to him what it was like being raised without internet and cellphones.

The horror!!

Yeah, I don't think they can imagine not being connected all the time....

In the mid 90s, I worked at a consulting firm. I used to travel a lot and email was just becoming a big thing. I could only check email about two times a day. I literally had to go unplug a fax machine and then "dial up" so I could down loan all my emails.

Some how work still got done and no one was freaking out that we weren't always connected.

a reply to: JAGStorm

They should have film it in a Fry's Electronics store.

Quit calling yourself old. If you are sixty two you can refer to yourself as old. If your kids got kids and their kid has a kid or two, you can call yourself old. Neither of my two daughters call me dad much, also none of my grandkids call me grandpa, I want it that way. I am Rick to them. It is easier to do it that way, if my grandkids tell my daughter grandpa told them something, it involves the other grandpa, it helps keep confusion at bay.

Then if I am in a store, some kid can call out grandpa and I do not have to look, there are lots of grandpas out there, but not nearly as many ricks.

Being adult is not being old, you do not become a true adult till you get into your thirties. Once you get into your sixties, old becomes Your second childhood.

a reply to: Edumakated

I ran a BBS on a Commodore 64 / 128. Had three phone lines and I remember I thought I was hot sh*t because I had like 5 3.5 floppy drives running in a series that I soldered up myself. Cases broken open so I could put a room fan on them to keep em cool. I was also a "phone phreak" back when you had to ... gasp... pay for long distance. My first modem was 300 baud.

Ok, you were like the Geek in the video! We all know about the rich kids that had the Commodore 64s!

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: bobs_uruncle
a reply to: JAGStorm

Really scare 'em, tell them you were on ARPA! I was in 1978 through a Control Data ramp using a 150/300 baud phone cradle acoustic coupler and a TELEX.TTY43 printer/workstation. Didn't bother with usenet I think until winter 1984/5 as I was running multiline apple ii BBS systems. It was a beast, 192kb memory (64k + 128k card), two 5-1/4" floppies, 2 8" 1mb floppies and a 5mb hard drive lol

Cheers - Dave

I ran a BBS on a Commodore 64 / 128. Had three phone lines and I remember I thought I was hot sh*t because I had like 5 3.5 floppy drives running in a series that I soldered up myself. Cases broken open so I could put a room fan on them to keep em cool. I was also a "phone phreak" back when you had to ... gasp... pay for long distance. My first modem was 300 baud.

Wow, we go back a long way eh! Lol. I can just see the faces on the younguns on here, "wtf is that, better look it up on the internets, if it goes back that far" lol

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: bobs_uruncle

Yeah, and Edumakated brought up a great not so great memory, phone lines!!!

One time I had a lot of long distance call. (A lot) My parents bill was in the hundreds of dollars and my parents made me pay ever cent. I had a crappy fast food job and paid it all off. Kids do not realize how cheap that kind of communication is now.

I was clearing out an old junk box of assorted cords and whatnot, came across an old Bellsouth caller ID.

My kids had absolutely no idea what it was, and were completely stumped.

Finally told them it was for knowing who was calling you, assuming you paid for the ID service, and they looked aghast, "Phones didn't come with that already? WOW...that must've been the stone ages or something!"

Hubby cackled until I reminded him he's older than me & remembers using the first cell phone, that glorious Motorola 8000X, because his dad had one. I got a dirty look for the reminder, lol, and an even dirtier one when they asked what that was and he had to describe it to looks of incredulity.

My mother got a "portable computer". It literally was a box that probably weighed about 30 lbs. It had a full sized keyboard that folded down and a little 8 or 9 inch monochrome screen and two 5.25 floppy drives.

My uncle had a pimped out Lincoln in the early 80s with a car phone. It was a literal phone! As in old school phone handset with freaking rotary dial!

a reply to: Edumakated

I was making music on a commodore 64, I'm sure it was that model? Had a brilliant sound chip built in. Octamed was the 4 tracker music program I sampled my voice on and made my first(maybe my best) electro ever!

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: bobs_uruncle
a reply to: JAGStorm

Really scare 'em, tell them you were on ARPA! I was in 1978 through a Control Data ramp using a 150/300 baud phone cradle acoustic coupler and a TELEX.TTY43 printer/workstation. Didn't bother with usenet I think until winter 1984/5 as I was running multiline apple ii BBS systems. It was a beast, 192kb memory (64k + 128k card), two 5-1/4" floppies, 2 8" 1mb floppies and a 5mb hard drive lol

Cheers - Dave

I ran a BBS on a Commodore 64 / 128. Had three phone lines and I remember I thought I was hot sh*t because I had like 5 3.5 floppy drives running in a series that I soldered up myself. Cases broken open so I could put a room fan on them to keep em cool. I was also a "phone phreak" back when you had to ... gasp... pay for long distance. My first modem was 300 baud.

You too ?
Who paid for long distance ?
Daisy chain all the way to Seattle Washington
Where the good stuff was.
Took a week to get "The Coppertone Girl All Grown Up"