I like watching old movies and TV shows that have been out of production for awhile. Lately I've been watching reruns of the first season of Magnum P.I. on Hulu. I have a patch cord so that I can watch shows from my computer on my big TV in the living room so the rest of my family winds up watching too. To me Magnum P.I. isn't a very old show but it's completely new to my kids. After a few episodes my 15-year-old son said, "This show isn't bad but wouldn't it have been easier if Magnum had just called the police on his cell phone? He wouldn't have had to chase so many people then." I had forgotten that Magnum P.I. was pre-cell phone. A few people that could afford them had car phones back then but they were expensive, they didn't work everywhere and they didn't work very well. I tried explaining that to my son but he just looked at me like he was waiting for me to tell stories of my old dinosaur hunting days so I gave up. A few weeks ago we were watching some old movie and someone pulled a video tape out of a big box. He asked me what that was and I told him that was a VCR. He looked at me like I was pulling his leg. I remember quite well that the original VCRs were the size of suitcases. I was in high school the first time I ever saw one. I watched Jeopardy with the kids when the computer competed against two human champions. My kids were amazed at a computer server that fills a room. I remember when computers had tubes and filled a whole building but still weren't as powerful as a modern pocket calculator. It's a very odd feeling getting reminded that I'm getting a little age on me. Mentally I don't feel old. I remember all this old stuff like it was yesterday. There are people old enough to vote, join the military and buy booze that have no memory of any of it not even from childhood. But when I look back I was born a little bit before man walked on the moon so I guess I predate a lot of stuff that people take for granted now.

Movies and TV shows like Magnum P.I. seem like they do everything the hard way now because they didn't call for back up on a cell phone or look up information on the internet. In my memory they make sense because that is what life was like and it's easy for me to drift back into the mindset of the time when you had to use a payphone or physically go somewhere to find information that you want. I'm not a cellphone junkie and I still get by well enough without one that I sometimes forget that I've got one. That might be old fashioned but when my cell phone battery dies I'm not left wondering what to do.

Lori