DonDiego and I exchanged some dialogue about old television shows. The topic began to morph from old television programs into the progression of television itself.

It got me thinking about a few random things from my childhood. I know I'm young, but it's still kind of weird to think back to how things were. These are just some random thoughts that popped into my head, and they are in no particular chronological order:

• I vaguely remember a time when certain TV stations would go off the air. It was before the dawn of the infomercial era. I remember when MTV used to play music videos, too. I remember when VH1 was for "old folks".
• I remember the early episodes of the Simpsons. And I remember such timeless classics as "Small Wonder" and "Out of this World".
• I remember when the airbag was invented for passenger vehicles. I believe it was Mercedes-Benz (back when they were still Mercedes-Benz) that developed it, but refused to patent it on the basis that "some things are too important not to share". God...I actually remember that commercial.
• I remember the introduction of the Ford Aerostar. It was the "coolest" minivan in the world...and my parents bought one. I remember it had a control panel for the radio in the backseat...and it took my mother months to figure out who was changing the stations.
• I remember the introduction of the consumer car phone. My mother had one in the Aerostar. It had to be professionally installed and the unit took up darn-near the entire center council.
• I remember when Dukakis ran against Bush and lost. I vaguely remember Presidential addresses from Reagan.
• I remember hearing my parents talk about a 401(k) in the mid-1980's. I had no idea what it was, but it seemed like a big deal. My generation has no idea what it was like to work without a 401(k) (they were just introduced to the rank-and-file working class in the early 1980's). But again, I also remember a time when people could retire on corporate pensions. My generation will never know what that is like either.
• I remember playing with "He-Man" and "G.I. Joe".
• I remember imitating Star Wars battle scenes with my little friends. We'd use old wrapping paper tubes as light sabres. Oh...and I thought they were called "Life Savers".
• I remember the first flowers I picked for my mother. I was living in Texas and I was on the Kindercare playground. I had just friend Philip in a foot race when I happened upon some Dandelions.
• I remember thinking that shoes made you fast. Whenever a kid in school (pre-school, as I recall) got a new pair of shoes, I would challenge him to a foot race.
• I remember some little wench pushing me into the deep end of a swimming pool at school (Kindercare, again) and me not knowing how to swim.
• I remember watching a movie that depicted jousting. A friend and I got this bright idea to ride our bikes at eachother at full speed; armed with steel trash can lids and broom handles. In hindsight, it wasn't the brightest idea.
• I also remember jumping off the roof of my house for fun. This is something my mother never knew about. I guess until now.
• In the summertime, when I stayed home alone, I was given specific instructions not to leave the house. But I did. My friends and I would ride our bikes to Disneyland (it wasn't that far away) and play in the underwater arcade. I'd often call my mother at work from the payphone to check in with her. She always thought I was at home.
• Heck...I remember when payphones were on nearly every corner. And they were only 25 cents.
• Stamps were 25 cents, too.
• I used to be able to ride my bike through a McDonalds drive through and eat like a king...for less than $3.
• When I was 9, I remember going to the railroad tracks to climb the avacodo trees. I rigged a pulley system to haul buckets and buckets of avacods down from the trees and I would sell them on my street corner for 10 cents each. Grocery stores were charging something like a dollar. I used to have so many cars lined up waiting to buy fresh-picked avocados that I had to hire a neighbor kid (who was two years older than me) to help me fill orders. A few weeks later, I had to fire him for being unprofessional and for stealing. A few weeks after that, he took my idea...and with his parents help, managed to attract nearly all of my customers. He undercut my prices by offering two-for-one specials. Between this, and the fact that my trees were "mysteriously" being picked over, I went out of business. Soon thereafter, he raised his price to 15 cents each and made a killing. I was very angry at him...we stopped being friends.

On this note, I'll end it here. This can go on all night. It's a pretty fun excersise, actually. Just start with any random childhood thought and go from there. It's amazing the things you remember!

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MaryCross (04-04-05)

Things I remember:


* Taking burnt out light blubs back to Edison for replacements
* Paper straws
* The Mellus newspaper
* Drive in Movies
* Peppy Hamburgers
* No Drive Thru fast food resturants
* Doctors making house calls
* Re-heating food on the stove or in the oven, NO microwaves

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"I'm sick and tired of hearing things from uptight, short sighted, narrow minded hypocrites. All I want is the truth, Just gimme some truth"

- John Lennon

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I I remember when MTV used to play music videos, too. I remember when VH1 was for "old folks".[/I]
Ha, I remember when the latest acts were on the Ed Sullivan Show. The "not quite famous" acts were on Shindig.

[I]I remember the early episodes of the Simpsons
I remember when the Simpsons started on with little 5 minute slots on the Tracy Ulman Show

I remember the introduction of the Ford Aerostar. It was the "coolest" minivan in the world...
I remember the early commercials pushed the fact that it was designed after the space shuttle. When the Challenger blew up, the commercials were pulled.

I remember when Dukakis ran against Bush and lost. I vaguely remember Presidential addresses from Reagan.
I remember Kennedy vs Nixon

Heck...I remember when payphones were on nearly every corner. And they were only 25 cents.
Stamps were 25 cents, too.
I remember payphones were 10 cents and stamps were 4 cents

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amonestar la yocorazo

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ok here are a few I remember...
*Jack in the box restaurants (they had cool "bendable buddie" toys in the "kids meal"
*weebles (weebles wobble but dont fall down)
*Rainbow bright
*Pretty In Pink Barbie
*Big Hair 80's
*Drive in Movies that charged by the car full, not by the person
*Playing in the woods near my house catching tadpoles in the creek
*finding gardner snakes and toads all around our yard
*feeling safe roaming all over the neighborhood
*curfew being when the street lights came on
*The Dukes of Hazzard
*The release of "Friday the 13th" and being terrified watching it
*no caller ID, call waiting...if someone was on the phone you got a busy signal
*no one took a phone with them when they left their house
*The phone company was MIchigan Bell
*You had Atari if you were really cool
*Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Q-Bert, and centipeded were the "hottest games"
Like everyone else I could go on and on depending on which time frame of my life I looked at

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AM RADIO only option for car radio.
45 rpm players for cars.
manual- push grass cutters
car tires with tubes
Federal's Department Stores
DSR buses that ran on electric
locamotives that were powered by coal
Coal furnaces in houses
The Detroit Times
The Pinky Lee Show on WXYZ
Kukla Fran&Ollie
Hookups for crystal radio in homes.
The Stop Don't Shop on Sundays campaign
Crowded Churches on Sunday
J L Hudson's in Detroit
The Vernor's plant in Downtown Detroit
Western Market on Michigan Ave.
Turn signals on cars as an option.

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If pro is the opposite of con? would CONgress be the oppositeof PROgress?

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I remember playing with my mom and dad's 8 tracks.
I remember having a two speed record player.

I remember playing manhunt with my friends, hiding in people's backyards.
I remember sneaking to Honda Hills to smoke underage. My friend and I found some gardner snakes caught in a shoebox and we let them go. The boys who caught them came by later and asked what we did with the snakes and we acted totally grossed out like we had nothing to do with it..

I remember walking home one day and giving a homeless man the Candy I just bought from Gaglio's, and when I got home my dad and me packed him a hot lunch and brought him some shoes and a coat.

I remember sneaking down the hallway on the way out to recess with my friends...the rest of the class would keep going toward the double doors, and me and some of my friends would shimmy around the corner to go "exploring" in the convent.

I remember the Tigers Roar in 84.

I remember my friends parents aerostar and what a junker it was.

I remember my families old station wagon and How I would taunt my father as he drove it by singing "Feel the Muffler" DJ Magic Mike Style.

I remember drinking coffee and eating chocolate in Mrs Spears Accounting Class. There would always be some person who graduated stop by and see her everyday too.

Wow, it is crazy what you start recalling once you get going..

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"With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind"

-pixies

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oh...who had coleco? My babysitter had that and my favorite game for it was the smurfs!

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anyone else have the big antenna on top of the house since not many in the neighborhood spulrged for that passing fad called cable
We had rabbit ears on our TV too that quite often you had to adjust the tin foil on to try to get the picture to stay still
We had an 8 track player that played all the great Motown Favorites...
I remember driving under the over passes and loosing the radio signal untill you hit the other side

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Squishie, my first job that I had where you actually got a paycheck was Jack in the Box. Nothing was better than going into work early on a Saturday and having tacos for breakfast. I still miss that.
Everyone only had one tv for the whole family.

I remember when HBO didn't come on until 8:00 pm.
I thought CNN was crazy to run news 24/7.

I remember when Southland opened and when Fairlane was built.

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I remember bozo the clown comming on very early.
I remember using aqua net hairspray for my big hair.
I remember when MTV only played music videos.
I remember going to arcades thats where i met my hubby.
I remember going to see evil dead it was very scary back then.
I also remember paying by the car load at the drive in now it is per person.
I remember playing hide n seek with all of the neighbor kids and not being scared to hide in the alley at night. I lived i southwest detroit and i wouldnt walk dow a alley now.
I remember the truck that used to drive around with a pool that was cool.
I also remember playin in the water when the fire hydren was turned on.

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