When Was The Last Time You...

[LizzieMaine]

I was talking to a friend at work today about how so many of the things we took for granted as kids have just disappeared -- some of them so gradually we might not even notice they're gone until we stop and think of it. Many of these things, for those of us Of A Certain Age, were things which had lingered unchanged since the Golden Era or even longer -- but now they're pretty much all gone except as curiosities, or, for some of us, are willfully clung to out of principled Luddism. I thought it might be interesting to ask about some of these here -- so...

When Was The Last Time You....

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?

2. Used a Rotary Phone?

3. Listened to AM radio?

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?

7. Received or sent a telegram?

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?

9. Wound a clock?

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?

I'll post my own answers later, but I'm curious about how my fellow Loungers will answer!

 

[Zig2k143]

The only thing I did in that list was listened to AM radio... I listen to sports often.

12. (New Age) Connected your phone handset to your Modem.... AkA WarGames.

 

[CharlieH.]

Well.....

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?

Last time it was truly over the air was around 1999. I've practically given up television anyway.

2. Used a Rotary Phone?

A couple days ago when recieving a call. We still use an 80's phone in the house.

3. Listened to AM radio?

Last time I turned on the glorious Philco about a week ago.... I got static.

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?

Is there any other material for soda bottles?

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?

Can't say I have since I don't have keys to any of the local temples...

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?

I think I wanna cry....

7. Received or sent a telegram?

When I turned 13, my now deceased grandmother sent me a telegram.

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?

I dun like dem bainks!

9. Wound a clock?

I'm not allowed to have a real clock....

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?

Last year for my photography course.... and I sorely miss it. Must've been the fumes.

 

[CharlieH.]

11. Used a typewriter of any kind?

.

A few nights ago when I had to rub out a couple of hoods.

 

[Joie DeVive]

Ok, I'll bite...

When Was The Last Time You....

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?
Last night! Heroes finale!!
2. Used a Rotary Phone?
It's been a while, probably over 5 years ago.
3. Listened to AM radio?
I am right now!
4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?
I think it was about 2 years ago. I knew someone who has an old pop machine. He stocked it with bottled sodas. So cool!
5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?
The last time I bought canned pineapple juice. A year ago?
6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?
Last month, but it was a thank you note, does that count?
7. Received or sent a telegram?
Never, and didn't they cease sending them last year?
8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?
Never, I'm not patient enough.
9. Wound a clock?
Never, I've never had one that required it.
10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?
I can't remember, sometime in the last few years though.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

When Was The Last Time You....

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?

• HDTV comes over the air, so 2 days ago.

2. Used a Rotary Phone?

• I have one on my desk at work, so today.

3. Listened to AM radio?

• This afternoon at lunch, in my vehicle. I like talk radio, and it's on AM here.

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?

• About two weeks ago. Sun Drop, made with pure cane sugar.

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?

• Probably a month ago. It was a can of V-8 vegetable juice.

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?

• About a week ago. It was a thank you letter.

7. Received or sent a telegram?

• I never have had the opportunity.

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?

• Maybe 10 years ago?

9. Wound a clock?

• Yesterday. My pocketwatch has to be wound.

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?

• Probably 5 years ago.

11. Used a typewriter of any kind?

• A couple of weeks ago. I have to do forms at work with a typewriter from time to time. It's an electric.

 

[Viola]

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?

Last week for Supernatural. Guilty pleasure.

2. Used a Rotary Phone?

I don't think I ever have. I know we have one in a box somewhere though, its turquoise.

3. Listened to AM radio?

I...don't listen to AM.

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?

I don't drink soda, really. When I do, its in a glass at a restaurant. Snapple comes in glass bottles.

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?

Last summer. I buy big cans of tomato juice.

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?

Christmas.

7. Received or sent a telegram?

Never seen one.

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?

Every time.

9. Wound a clock?

Never, and I even when I vintage-fy I want one of those "self-winding" motion wristwatches.

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?

I hardly ever take any kind of photo. I'm a camera-phobe.

-Viola

 

[Jay]

Last week I sent a letter to a friend; typed it out with a 1929 Royal Portable and signed it with a fountain pen, while drinking soda from a glass bottle and listening to AM radio. Am I trapped in the past? Are we all?

 

[Senator Jack]

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?

9/11 - I think all but one station went out and that came in snowy. When everything got back to normal, I subscribed to cable.

2. Used a Rotary Phone?

Whenever someone calls my land line

3. Listened to AM radio?

Once every few weeks, but the conservative shouting matches drive me away.

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?

Boylans and Stewarts still come in glass bottles. Have one or the other about once a month.

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?

A canned ham about two months ago

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?

My penmanship is atrocious. I wouldn't subject that to anyone.

7. Received or sent a telegram?

Never sent a telegram

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?

Never balance my checkbook

9. Wound a clock?

About every 8 days I have to wind my 1950s wall clock

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?

About four years ago.

11. Used a typewriter of any kind?

The computer screen gives me headaches. I write on the 1929 Underwood and then edit on the computer.

12. (New Age) Connected your phone handset to your Modem.... AkA WarGames.

Last week, to test a client's connection

 

[Zig2k143]

Lol no one has number 12?

What am I the only computer geek from back in the 80's that actually had a modem coupler... Hey its vintage now...

If someone is curious this is what it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler

 

[Dinerman]

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?
no reception here.
2. Used a Rotary Phone?
yesterday. We've got an old Kellogg Red Bar
3. Listened to AM radio?
'Fraid Not, it's been a while
4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?
Last week- a bottle of Moxie Blue Creme on friday, and an orange crush on saturday
5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?
no
6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?
two weeks ago
7. Received or sent a telegram?
um... no.
8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?
I don't figure it at all
9. Wound a clock?
does a watch count?
10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?
whenever the last diner trip was. Slide film.

 

[Sweet Polly Purebred]

1. Watched Over-The-Air television? I'm interpreting this as something like UHF? If so .. last summer, but I grew up in the mountains and we only received one channel on UHF on a 12" b&w .. Saturday morning tv for my sister and me (mid 70's) consisted of (in this order) some weird Samurai soap opera in Japanese @ 7am, Our Gang/Little Rascals @ 8am, Bowery Boys or Abbott & Costello or Crosby and Hope or The Three Stooges @ 9, followed by Elvis, and Creature Features (Vincent Price!!). I think that's where my love of vintage really started. I grew up thinking the perfect man was a webbed creature from the black lagoon wielding a Samurai sword, dancing like Gene Kelly, singing like Elvis, and bumping into his buddies in a haunted mansion.

2. Used a Rotary Phone? Early 80's. My grandmother had a rotary and she was still on a party line! She even used call letters to give out her number.

3. Listened to AM radio? Today, listening to a sporting event.

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle? Last Saturday night, good ole' Coke.

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key? This is funny! I use mine all of the time! I normally keep a church key in my Chef box with my knives.

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink? I love writing with a nice ink pen, I sent out a few handwritten letters last week.

7. Received or sent a telegram? Never.

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator? My balance stays consistently low enough that I can use my fingers

9. Wound a clock? Wound my watch today .. but haven't wound a clock since .. hmm .. ever.

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop? During the last eclipse I made a pin hole camera for some of the kids I work with. I didn't have the equipment to develop it, but would have if I could have. My mother was photographer and had a makeshift darkroom in a small room in our house. She used the clawfoot tub in the loo as her rinse bath lol

 

[Senator Jack]

Ah, you're talking about one of those. Funny, I got started in the comp biz in 1982 and even by then those were out-dated.

 

[Zig2k143]

Ah, you're talking about one of those. Funny, I got started in the comp biz in 1982 and even by then those were out-dated.

Ok never said I wasn't OLD....

 

[Senator Jack]

Kiss Me Deadly asnwering machine - 1955.

I'm trying to find a picture of the type that would have a motorized handset that lifted off the phone and set itself down on tape recorder.

 

[Jay]

Those things are called acoustic couplers? And they're out of date? Why was there in "The Matrix?"

 

[Polka Dot]

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?

At Christmas, at my parents' house.

2. Used a Rotary Phone?

We used to have one when I was about 12. Not since then.

3. Listened to AM radio?

Can't recall.

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?

I do this all the time. Pop tastes better in glass.

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?

Ha, I didn't even know that "church key" was the name for that particular tool. But I've used one within the last year or so.

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?

A week ago.

7. Received or sent a telegram?

I've never seen a telegram.

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?

Never. I'm horrible with money, and rely on online banking to tell my my balance.

9. Wound a clock?

Never.

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?

I just had some film developed last month.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?
You mean network TV? Every night. But I do remember UHF and when TV stations went off-the-air at night. I remember test patterns well. Then the National Anthem when they came back on-the-air!

2. Used a Rotary Phone?
My grandmother had one up until the early 90s.

3. Listened to AM radio?
Maybe a year ago. I don't really listen to any type of radio, though.

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?
My husband drank soda from a glass bottle in 2004. You can buy 6-packs of glass bottles in my local supermarket. As for me, I haven't had soda since 1994!!

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?
I might have. Not sure what this is...
ETA: Ok, I remember those! We still have one, but I don't think I've ever used it. I remember my mother using it when I was a kid.

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?
I had penpals from 1991 until 1997. That was the last time, aside from postcards and the like. I considered writing one of my old penpals in 2002 to see if she remembered me, but decided against it.

7. Received or sent a telegram?
Never, unfortunately

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?
All the time!

9. Wound a clock?
Whenever my art deco clock that still works needs it!

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?
February.

 

[dhermann1]

Modem

I worked for United Press International for a while in 1971. (At the beautiful NY Daily News Bldg on 42nd St,BTW.) We had an RCA Spectra 70 computer (knock off of an IBM 360, remember them?) We sent the daily Stock Exchange data to the Wall Street Journal's production offices in Chicopee, Mass every evening by calling them up on the phone, getting a voice on the other end, and then plunking the handset down on the rubber thingamabob (technical term) for the data to get beeped up to them. There must have been a data transfer rate of about 2400 bits per second, if that. And now the average wrist watch has more computing power than that "heavy iron" Spectra 70, and data transfer rates are through the roof.
As far as this little quiz is concerned, I wonder how many of our younger whippersnappers have said "What's that?" to any of the categories, e.g. telegram, or typewriters. I used to have my grandmother's Elite type (as opposed to the larger Pica) portable Smith Corona. It got lost in a move decades ago. I wish I still had it!
Still have old telegrams saved, going back as far as 1862.

 

[panamag8or]

I was talking to a friend at work today about how so many of the things we took for granted as kids have just disappeared -- some of them so gradually we might not even notice they're gone until we stop and think of it. Many of these things, for those of us Of A Certain Age, were things which had lingered unchanged since the Golden Era or even longer -- but now they're pretty much all gone except as curiosities, or, for some of us, are willfully clung to out of principled Luddism. I thought it might be interesting to ask about some of these here -- so...

When Was The Last Time You....

1. Watched Over-The-Air television?
Last night. I haven't hooked up cable in the new place, yet.

2. Used a Rotary Phone?
4 years ago. My parents were reluctant to make the switch, back when they charged extra for touch-tone.

3. Listened to AM radio?
Last weekend.

4. Drank soda from a glass bottle?
Doing it now. I love my Coke in a glass bottle.

5. Opened a can -- any kind of can -- with a church key?
How do you think I opened my Coke? Openers that leave a triangular opening are not true church keys.

6. Wrote a letter with pen and ink?
Been about a year, unless a short note counts, in which case it was 2 weeks ago.

7. Received or sent a telegram?
Unfortunately, I am a telegram virgin, and with the demise of the Western Union telegram, I will likely die one.

8. Figured your bank balance without a calculator?
Never done that, although I have access to dozens of blank ledger books.

9. Wound a clock?
Last week. Thanks for reminding me to go do it.

10. Took pictures using film you had to develop?
5 years ago, in a photography class.

I'll post my own answers later, but I'm curious about how my fellow Loungers will answer!

See, I didn't do too bad.