How to tell you are getting old

[brian john]

As an electrician I suddenly felt old yesterday, I drove by a building I worked in when I was a first year apprentice, They are tearing it down to make way for future imporvements. Does not seem that long ago it was a brand new structure now it is a pile of rubble.

[Dennis Alwon]

You are only as old as you feel. At least that's what they say---

My kids use to tell me I was so old that "I fart dust"

[Mike03a3]

As an electrician I suddenly felt old yesterday, I drove by a building I worked in when I was a first year apprentice, They are tearing it down to make way for future imporvements. Does not seem that long ago it was a brand new structure now it is a pile of rubble.

<sigh> The Alumni Foundation called this week seeking a donation (again). They are funding the construction of a new building on my old campus to replace Lejune Hall - which had it's grand opening when I was a sophomore.

So I know exactly how you feel, although seeing a toaster exactly like mine (which was a wedding gift) in with the other antique appliances at the local antique show didn't make me feel any younger.

[charlie b]

I was a member of the crew of the brand new nuclear cruiser, USS Arkansas, CGN-41, when she was commissioned in 1980. I was not available to attend her decommissioning ceremony in 1998. That is far too short a life span for a ship.

[yanici]

When you back to a house you worked on as an apprentice and admire the old home run you stapled up years ago. It was a paper covered romex with the old undersized EGC. But, at least it's not k&t.

[patc]

When you start saying....and doing ....the same thinds that the "old guys" used to do....which you swore , you would NEVER do. Yup... I'm there...

[brian john]

I never felt old till 5 days before my 54th B-day when I had that heart attack, rowed boats rollerbladed, ran, back packed,till that day, the attack sure slowed me down a bit. I am just getting back to some of the old things.

I also said I would never do certain things and catch myself doing them. One saying I avoid is I NEVER say "these kids today they don't know, do understand, ect...." I was no differnet then some of them and my kids are SOOOO much beter than I ever was..

[al hildenbrand]

these kids today. . .I feel old, watching my 16 year old son play with such intensity and abandon. I feel still older as I return to my task, knowing I have to get it done to be ready for the next one in the schedule.

[buck33k]

The older I get, the more I think about it.

[hardworkingstiff]

The older I get, the dumber I feel.

I looked at the back of my hands about a year ago, and said "Oh chit, I have Joe McManus hands". Joe was a guy I worked with/for back in the early 70's. I don't when it happened, it just did. :-?

[tp4537]

I am so old I remember when basketball was a no-contact sport.

[Tori]

I know I'm getting old because of the young beauties that I used to be able to hit on now call me sir

[satcom]

What was this post about, I can't remember!

[memyselfandI]

I'm not old. I'm just seasoned. Like wood. Not rotten though, unless you as the kids after daddy has been to the, well you know.

[ptonsparky]

If you can remember when equipment grounds were controversial and the journeyman you worked with just cut them off or foldeded them back.

Now where did they put that spell check thingamabob?

[bill j]

Wow. After reading this thread I don't feel so bad now. The only thing is I thought it was bad but I see it gets much worse. :roll:

[hillbilly]

I know I'm getting old because of the young beauties that I used to be able to hit on now call me sir

Touche!

I went on a service call this week and the young lady of the house (the 1 with 4 kids) kept calling me sir....
I asked her not to because it made me feel old, she said "yes sir", she would try to remember.
steve

[hockeyoligist2]

I know I'm old this morning, I had to rip out all the conduit, transformers, ETC. in an old building yesterday. I was working with a younger guy and we finished in about 6 hours. The boss said wow, it would take two days with most people!

This morning I'm so sore that I can hardly move. But I had to keep up with the young guy!

[LarryFine]

I'm not old. I'm just seasoned. Like wood. Not rotten though, unless you as the kids after daddy has been to the, well you know.If we're using wood as an analogy, I own my own business: I'm definitely pressure-treated!

[macmikeman]

My ten year old kid got me going to the local skateboard park with him. Took a bit of relearning:roll: I hadn't been on one of those for thirty years. Kowabunga!!!

[electricguy]

A skate board to me was an old pair of metal roller skates separated and mounted to a piece of plywood
Hummm reminds me of the song done by Melanie
Brand new key

[360Youth]

I began to feel old when the kids in my church youth group were born after I graduated. I just thank God I am not as bad as I feel or complain sometimes. It is humbling when you feel old and you come across those that can't walk. Kind of like the old saying, "I used to complain that I had no shoes until I met the man who had no feet."

[360Youth]

I know I'm old this morning, I had to rip out all the conduit, transformers, ETC. in an old building yesterday. I was working with a younger guy and we finished in about 6 hours. The boss said wow, it would take two days with most people!

This morning I'm so sore that I can hardly move. But I had to keep up with the young guy!


:grin: I remember having lunch one day and a co-worker saw a friend and asked how his weekend was.
"I played volleyball on Saturday."
"Aren't you too old for voleyball?"
"Yeah, but I didn'y know that till Sunday!"

Years later I now know that feeling.

[rcarroll]

"Yeah, my friends are gone & my hair is gray, I ache in the places I where used to play...." Leonard Cohen.

[brian john]

Few years ago we were having lunch and the Beatles were playing on the radio, one of the apprentices yelled get that Woodstock junk off the box. I said hey that's the Beatles leave it alone.

Another guy said I know those guys Paul McCartney use to play with them and I said and you know who else, He response was "This guy Ringo from Thomas the Tank Engine show, some guy named John Lennon and Rex Harrison."

43 years ago today the Beatles had the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and number one hit on the charts.

[cowboyjwc]

I don't feel old when I'm coaching my son's twelve year old team (31-4 in case you're interested). I feel old when I go down to the other fields and watch my granddaughter play.

And when I get up the next day after pitching batting practice.

[tallgirl]

I began to feel old when the kids in my church youth group were born after I graduated. I just thank God I am not as bad as I feel or complain sometimes. It is humbling when you feel old and you come across those that can't walk. Kind of like the old saying, "I used to complain that I had no shoes until I met the man who had no feet."

Wait until your co-workers were born after you graduated ...

My first professional programming language was FORTRAN (that's FORTRAN 4, for those of you who know about FORTRAN). I programmed using punch cards my first year in Mechanical Engineering. The kids I work with today have never seen FORTRAN or a deck of punch cards.

My bifocals (3rd change in prescription, mind you) are getting to the point where I need new bifocals. And the cute glasses I have that aren't bifocals are almost too weak for my arms, and I don't have short arms :mad:

[ptonsparky]

Sometimes it is kind of neat to see the third generation of customers and recognize them as to who their parents & grandparents are.

[JohnJ0906]

Wait until your co-workers were born after you graduated ...:mad:

Sigh.... already happened :rolleyes:
Last summer I had 2 helpers... I was older then both put together.

[hardworkingstiff]

Last summer I had 2 helpers... I was older then both put together.

That's easy. It won't be long before I will be older than three young bucks.

[jaylectricity]

I got old when I got a car. I knew that I would ALWAYS need to have the freedom of transportation.

I got old when I moved outta Mom's house when I was almost 18.

I got old when I spent 8 years fooling around and working management jobs in the food industry.

I got old when I actually started watching the news.

I got old when I realized that my experiences could help a few people I know.

I got old when I realized that 24 year olds still had to decide whether or not they should take my advice.

I got old when I realized I was thinking whether or not I should give advice to people if I thought I could help them.

I will be getting old when I look at an apprentice and say, "I've been doing this for years, don't tell me how I should be doing it!"

I have much more getting old to go...and so do you. Embrace it. :smile:

[tshea]

The other day I saw My Dad staring back at me from the mirror!
One of my jmen graduated with my son from high school.
Two of apprentices ages total 41, 10 less than me! OLd only at wake up time....:D

[bradleyelectric]

Knowing that precautions have to be taken so my girlfriend doesn't have a child that would be younger than her granddaughter!!

[j_erickson]

I know I'm getting old because of the young beauties that I used to be able to hit on now call me sir

No, those are their daughters.;)

[j_erickson]

Wait until your co-workers were born after you graduated ...

My first professional programming language was FORTRAN (that's FORTRAN 4, for those of you who know about FORTRAN). I programmed using punch cards my first year in Mechanical Engineering. The kids I work with today have never seen FORTRAN or a deck of punch cards.



Yep, my only programming course in college was fortran. Wasn't Fortran 4, though. And definitely didn't use punch cards.

[cowboyjwc]

Mine was Fortran and and Cobalt. I punched a few cards in my time.

[charlie b]

I punched a few cards in my time.
So did I. I even remember getting scolded by the computer operator because I had not informed him, in advance, that my program was going to cause the computer to punch out a new set of cards for me.

Does anyone else remember the interface terminals that used a long, yellow, punched paper tape as the means of sending the program (over a telephone line) to a remote computer?

Does anyone else keep a slide rule at your desk, and still remember how to use it?

Does anyone else still remember how to use the abacus? :grin:

[zbang]

fortran 4 (check) ... fortran II (check) ... cobol (ran away from) ... punch cards (still have some... good for notes)

Does anyone else remember the interface terminals that used a long, yellow, punched paper tape as the means of sending the program (over a telephone line) to a remote computer?
Oh, you mean the TeleType ASR-33? (check, might have some parts in the garage)
Does anyone else keep a slide rule at your desk, and still remember how to use it?
Not in my desk, but yes. (call it a check)
Does anyone else still remember how to use the abacus? :grin:
I have two, but don't use them. I do have a book that describes how to do long division and extract roots on it. (half-a-check)

I'm also probably one of only a handful under 50 that can still run carbon-arc motion picture projector and properly load resistance theatrical dimmers. :grin:

[ceknight]

Does anyone else keep a slide rule at your desk, and still remember how to use it?

It's not at my desk any more, but I still have my slide rule and the TI-50 that replaced it.

My son laughed a few years back when the battery in his scientific calculator died one night and I handed him the slide rule, telling him to finish his homework. :)

[brian john]

Does anyone else keep a slide rule at your desk, and still remember how to use it?

Does anyone else still remember how to use the abacus

My father taught engineering at Ft. Belvior and was a CPA. His whole life he carried a slide rule in his shirt pocket (Army, not exactly part of the uniform) he taught my brother and sister to use one. Myself I hid every time he said come here I want to show you this.

I was an extreme knuckle head, and figured what did ever need math for. I hated it in school and my grades proved it. I always figured I was too STUPID. In part time college I aced all the math courses I took and LOVED THEM.

In case no one noticed I did not take typing and durn neared failed English .

[macmikeman]

I still have my circular slide rule. Anybody else ever use one of those?

[FNCnca]

I keep an E6-B (aviation flight computer/slide rule) at my desk. Use it for a large amount of the simple calculations I do. It keeps me sharp in case my batteries die in midair somewhere.
It is also fun to see the expressions on people's faces, when I can calculate something faster, on my little piece of cardboard, than they can with a calculator.

[al hildenbrand]

I still have my circular slide rule. Anybody else ever use one of those?Nope, not here.

I just have a Post Versalog.

[Dennis Alwon]

You guys are so old I bet you remember when the
DEAD SEA
was still
ALIVE
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/TECH/science/11/10/dead.sea/story.dead.sea.float.afp.jpg

[Dennis Alwon]

I still have my circular slide rule. Anybody else ever use one of those?
I'm still using my abacus
http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/abacus/images/Abacus-3.jpg

[Mike03a3]

I still have my circular slide rule. Anybody else ever use one of those?
I have a selection of slide rules, straight and circular, along with a collection of calulators from the first TI that could only add, subtract, multiply and divide up to some high end graphing ones.

I still believe we made fewer big mistakes when we used slide rules. You really had to understand the magnitude of your answer as you worked your way through a problem. The slide rule just gave you a few digits of accuracy, the decimal place was your problem. Now, punch it up in the calcualator and whatever appears in the window is gospel. Oops, wonder why the bridge collapsed. Ah, those danged decimals did me in.

[macmikeman]

Well here is the thing. When I was in the 12th grade I could see the little bitty lines on my slide rules. Now I would need a magnifying glass to do the same trick. Calculators rule.

[brian john]

Another way you know, I had to laugh as an apprentice ran a 100' extension cord for the corded sawzall, to cut some 3/4 EMT, someone asked him why he did not use the cordless sawzall. I asked him where his hacksaw was, he answer "hacksaw, I don't own one". An apprentice without a hacksaw?


They'd set you home for that when I was an apprentice, and candy bars use to cost a nickle.

[hillbilly]

[QUOTE=brian john]

"and candy bars use to cost a nickle".

I remember those days.
I grew up on a dirt road and it was a mile's walk to "the store".
I could walk to the store and pick up coke bottles (returnables) on the way and by the time I got there, usually have enough to buy a coke and a Moon pie....3 cents a piece for the bottles.
Cokes cost a dime and moon pies were a nickle each.

steve

[hockeyoligist2]

[QUOTE=brian john]

"and candy bars use to cost a nickle".

I remember those days.
I grew up on a dirt road and it was a mile's walk to "the store".
I could walk to the store and pick up coke bottles (returnables) on the way and by the time I got there, usually have enough to buy a coke and a Moon pie....3 cents a piece for the bottles.
Cokes cost a dime and moon pies were a nickle each.

steve

I guess I'm older..... cokes were 7¢ Moon pies were 3¢ and the returnable bottles 2¢ that was in 1960.....

[brian john]

Hockey: YOU ARE OLD....3 cents. what year? I remember a 5 cents, and my Dad useto say "When I was a kid......."

[yanici]

Yeah, 5 cent cokes but 7 cents if you took the bottle out of the store. Saturday movie matinee was 25 cents for two full length movies and some cartoons.

[rcarroll]

The cheapest gas price I remember was 23.9 cents a gallon

[hockeyoligist2]

Hockey: YOU ARE OLD....3 cents. what year? I remember a 5 cents, and my Dad useto say "When I was a kid......."

That was 1960. I'm 53. If you aren't from SC and the same age or older...... :) remember the cost of living, as well as the wages, were/are much lower in SC! When I started driving, gas was 23.9¢ a gallon. I kinda remember my Dad complaining when it went above 20¢ a gallon. And when a shorty Coke went to a dime he wouldn't let me have one! He was a "Fixer" in the cotton mill, I don't know what he made during that time. But when I was 19, I was making $3.50 an hour he told me I was making a lot more than him!

[brian john]

Another way: I now have bifocals and computer glasses.

I am 54 and grew up part of my life on mlitary bases movie was 15 cents, Mom gave us a quarter, we got a bag of popcorn and a box of 4-saltwater taffies with a toy with the dime left over.

Eight years old and rode my bike (NO HELMET OR PADS) 3-4 miles each way, parents never gave it a thought. (Oh and looked for bottles the whole way)

[Mike03a3]

Hockey: YOU ARE OLD....3 cents. what year? I remember a 5 cents, and my Dad useto say "When I was a kid......."

If he was really old, he'd have paid with a 3-cent coin.

http://www.coinfacts.com/three_cents/three_cents_nickel/1885_Three_Cent_Nickel_Rev.jpg or http://www.coinfacts.com/three_cents/three_cents_silver/1851o_trime_rev.jpg

[charlie b]

Another way: I now have bifocals and computer glasses.

I am 54 and grew up part of my life on mlitary bases movie was 15 cents, Mom gave us a quarter, we got a bag of popcorn and a box of 4-saltwater taffies with a toy with the dime left over.

Eight years old and rode my bike (NO HELMET OR PADS) 3-4 miles each way, parents never gave it a thought. (Oh and looked for bottles the whole way)
Now I am confused, Brian. Did you write that story, or did I? :-? I could have said the exact same thing (except that I don't hit 54 until later this year). :)

[brian john]

Charlie AVOID my birthday present..Massive heart attack, 5 days before my B-DAy.

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

[QUOTE=brian john]

"and candy bars use to cost a nickle".

I remember those days.
I grew up on a dirt road and it was a mile's walk to "the store".
I could walk to the store and pick up coke bottles (returnables) on the way and by the time I got there, usually have enough to buy a coke and a Moon pie....3 cents a piece for the bottles.
Cokes cost a dime and moon pies were a nickle each.

steve

I'll bet driving ground rods was easier too, since way back then, rocks were still soft.

[Ragin Cajun]

I still have my circular slide rule. Anybody else ever use one of those?

Yep, loved those. How about a Fredden (sp) mechanical calculator?

Anybody remenber the "skate key?" "Secret encoder ring"

Fortran? Key punch? IBM cards. Argggg. Worked during college with punch cards.

I'm vertical, another good day.

RC

[hillbilly]

[QUOTE=hillbilly]

I'll bet driving ground rods was easier too, since way back then, rocks were still soft.

The first ground rod that I was ever involved with was a piece of 3/4" galvanized pipe.

It was around 1959 and I helped (as much as a 8 year old could) my father wire my grandfather's house.

Up until then, they used a wood cookstove and "coal oil" lamps.

Having "electricity" also meant that they could have a well pump and indoor plumbing.....no more "drawing" and carrying water.

I remember it like yesterday...well probably better than yesterday.

steve