man old1If you're even half-way old, you will remember when:

* Your computer's ready-mode was a black screen with a single cursor, and there was no such thing as Windows; there was just "DOS."

* Your phone choices and bills were much easier because AT&T was a good old-fashioned monopoly.

* There was this amazing new video game called "Pong" and you thought it had the most advanced graphics imaginable.

* The first true laptop computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80. If you were hip, you referred to it affectionately as a TRASH-80.

* Sean Connery was Pierce Brosnan.

* The astonishing mobility was a cordless phone you could take around the house; it got better reception than the one you can now take all over the country.

* Mail was something you wrote on a piece of paper and put into a stamped envelope. And you didn't get 110 unsolicited pieces of it every morning promising great riches or body enhancements.

* There was a guy on "60 Minutes" named Mike Wallace who was so old you figured he'd retire at the latest by 1990.

* No normal person had speakers on a computer.

* The diners at the next restaurant table were smoking cigarettes and you barely noticed.

* A 1-gig hard drive seemed as big as a warehouse.

* The only thing you knew about Robin Williams was he played a weird alien named "Mork" on television.

* An 8-track tape the size of a paperback book was an advanced concept in compact music recording.

* And jokes were always told in person!