You Know You Are Old When

[tradosaurus]

After Mom passed and Dad was living alone at home, we got him a medial alert fob that hung on his neck. It had a base station that would call me and 911 if he pressed the button. It was put in the living room on an end table, a good central location in the house. It had a blue light on it to indicate it was operating, but Dad slept in his recliner most of the time and the blue light bothered him, so he would unplug it. I even moved the base station to the kitchen and he still would unplug it, which caused a few heated arguments when I would come over and find it unplugged.
Finally, one Monday morning my niece went over to check on him and do the cleaning found him dead in his recliner with the TV on and the telephone in his hand. The fob was one his neck, but the base station was unplugged again.
He was a stubborn old cuss, got it from his dad, but that's another story.

I think your Dad knew what he was doing.
I would rather die like that than potentially linger in a hospital racking up needless medical bills.

 

[tradosaurus]

The older people I know are more afraid of losing everything to healthcare than they are of dying. Sad state of affairs when the newcomers have more privileges than the elderly and homeless.

I've heard of old couples "divorcing" on paper so that medical bills won't take away the assets of the surviving spouse.
Divorce due to medical bills

 

[Pixguy]

The older people I know are more afraid of losing everything to healthcare than they are of dying. Sad state of affairs when the newcomers have more privileges than the elderly and homeless.

Newcomers... you mean the illegals?

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a really interesting read on immigration past and present. Worth the time to read it.

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20immigrants%20comprised%2013.6,share%20they%20comprised%20in%202019.

My grandparents came over in late 1800s/early 1900s as children. They pretty much got on a boat and showed up.

 

[jyoutz]

Here's a really interesting read on immigration past and present. Worth the time to read it.

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20immigrants%20comprised%2013.6,share%20they%20comprised%20in%202019.

My grandparents came over in late 1800s/early 1900s as children. They pretty much got on a boat and showed up.

My great grandparents did the same.

 

[MossRoad]

They came as children, met here at a Hungarian church. Grandma was 18, grandpa was 26. They got married, and the next day they went to my grandma's parent's house and took her 3 younger sisters from her evil step mom and raised them as their own.

So grandpa went from 26 year old bachelor to 26 year old man with 18 year old wife, two early teen-aged daughters, and a 3-4 year old daughter in 24 hours.

Two years later they had my aunt. And two more years later they had my dad.

I just found out a few years ago that my grandpa did not become a US citizen until the 1950s, when I was going through some of my father's old papers.

 

[Pixguy]

Here's a really interesting read on immigration past and present. Worth the time to read it.

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20immigrants%20comprised%2013.6,share%20they%20comprised%20in%202019.

My grandparents came over in late 1800s/early 1900s as children. They pretty much got on a boat and showed up.

I'm not looking to start any political conversation but no one I've spoken to is opposed to LEGAL immigration. Put in your paperwork, wait your turn and don't allow any taxpayer funded handouts. The end.

 

[Oaktree]

You know you are old if you remember transistor radios and TV broadcast went off the air at 10 pm leaving a test pattern on the screen.

Our local AM station used to sign off at sunset, which in the winter was around 4pm. I vaguely remember test patterns on tv, though for the most part it was past my bedtime when they ran them.

I'm not sure of the year but I got a transistor radio when they first came out. It was so cool to have one and they were clear as a bell and well made. They were just called "transistors" and not "transistor radios". If you had a transistor, you became a chick magnet.

I got my first transistor radio in 1962 for my 12th birthday. Don't recall it being especially well made, nor did it turn me into any sort of chick magnet. It was cool to be able to listen to distant stations at night and hear the hit songs of the day. Maybe referring to it as a "transistor" was a regional thing...don't recall anyone I knew calling it that.

I think it cost $20 which would translate into around $200 today.

 

[Oaktree]

I would drive the same route in a Honda and the reception was always bad at one stretch of road... amazing how a 1959 tube radio could out perform 1980's Japanese radio.

Every Japanese car I've ever owned had a crappy radio in it. Clearly a corner cut, since the good-quality aftermarket radios of the day came from the same country.

Some of those early radios installed with the modifications approached half the price of some of the less expensive cars of the day.

Not quite as extreme, but if you wanted FM reception in a car in the 70s be prepared to fork over a good chunk of change. My one and only new car was a 1970 Dart, and if I'd wanted the AM-FM radio it would have been an extra $400 or so...this on a car I think I paid a little over $2k for. For about a third of that, I bought an 8 track player with built in FM instead. Not that there was a lot worth listening to on FM back then...mostly elevator music or classical...not much interest to a 20 year old.

 

[sixdogs]

I would drive my 59 Rambler on occasion to work and always with the radio on... perfect reception as soon as it warmed up

I would drive the same route in a Honda and the reception was always bad at one stretch of road... amazing how a 1959 tube radio could out perform 1980's Japanese radio.

Not sure what they were called but we had a huge box type radio the size of a carry-on suitcase and you could pick up stations from around the world. Most were clear as a bell too.

My '37 Chevy had a tube radio and AM was crystal clear no matter what road you were on. Great sound, a pleasure to listen to and it gave you the warmth and feeling of watching a high-quality black and white movie.