What "I was there!" stories are you impatient to brag about to the next generations?
What "I was there!" stories are you impatient to brag about to the next generations?
I actually just became a grandfather two days ago
Have they asked you in advance if you even want that?
;-)
I remember leaded gasoline (and prices under USD$1)
I saw (on TV) the Challenger explosion
On 9/11 I was staying at a friend’s house, and that morning basically every news site was brought to its knees. Like serving static text only summaries. I remember going outside and seeing the newspaper on the porch and thinking “This is going to be the last normal one for a very long time”. It was of course.
Some friends and I took a long road trip and in person we saw this fly the first of the two flights for the X prize (Note: that one actually had some decent reasons to use the name X)
I caught COVID-19. Twice. So far.
I was there when a plane crashed on the airport where I live.
I was there when a car cought fire on the highway.
I was there when the fediverse "exploded".
Man, my life is boring.
I was there when smart phones came out.
When Y2K didn’t happen
When the internet was a useful tool and not monetized to shit
When the thread of sanity broke and society began to transition into some Lordranesque nightmare of tribes.
When Y2K didn’t happen
*When tens of thousands of people spent years of their lives making sure Y2K wouldn’t happen.
People
Programmers
Pick one. Signed, Management
Y2K happened, just now how everyone thought.
Instead it was a huge marketing ploy. Everyone spent money to be protected and safe. We all listened to Prince as the ball dropped.
IT really wasn’t. Sure, it had way too much hype, but a lot of the saner predictions really could have happened, except for the huge amount of work so many of us went through.
I was working at an investment management company at the time, one of the first “quant shops”, and there was an unimaginably vast flood of money coming through that could have ground to a halt, with ear splitting squeals and shrieks. Our stuff wasn’t retail, but you bet people would have suffered with any disruption of business, retirement plans of millions in jeopardy, investments of the wealthy, corporate wealth of all types would have been hit hard. And there were so many companies in similar condition. I was on remediation projects for a couple of years, along with most of my team and consultants when we could, and we came through with no glitches!
And yes that was the first time I was tempted to be a consultant, to get a bigger share of the money being spent. And yes I did celebrate New Years with by far the most expensive trip I had gone on to that point - included tickets for three headliner concerts, expensive suites, and unlimited margaritas
My mom ran away from home to see Elvis in a high school auditorium, and was in Little Rock when it was being integrated, I always thought that was cool.
I saw Nirvana before they were famous, in a crowd of about 30 people in a club here, and barely missed being blown up over Lockerbie, but the moment that stands out most in my mind is: I was getting frisked (felt up ) by a cop on a US city street when, no shit, the English punk band GBH were walking by and they started shouting at the cops, oh my God I have never felt so cool.
I was there for 9/11 like many others were growing up. Many born in 2001 and after would not understand the impact it has had on America.
I was there for the Boston Red Sox finally snapping a multi-decade streak of losing or not making it to a World Series in 2004. This is significant if you're a sports fan, especially baseball.
I was there to see the rise of social media sites that many use today.
I was there for 9/11 like many others were growing up.
This reminds of the hilarious time my dad asked my nephew if he was invited to the cockpit while flying transatlantic. To which he responded “grandpa, I was born 5 years after 9/11”. neither of them appreciated how hard I laughed at that.
I remember using Windows 3.1.
I’m so old.
If I put myself in the mindset of the time, this makes complete sense. Looking back though it sounds ridiculous.
I love it.
I was there when the Scranton Strangler drove past my office.
Now you take these and go buy yourself a space ship.
I was there loading games from audiocassettes and using systems with 1,000 bytes of ram before the internet existed.
I was there when your windshield would have to get cleaned from bugs every couple days if you ever drove fast.
Fire bad!
T shirts good!