The Things Olds Do

[Kennythetiger 9374]

20 hours ago, mininghorn88 said:

My dad is big into genealogy.  He has been chasing our roots for 40+ years now and has branched out in numerous ways. His idea of a vacation these days is going to visit other olds that he has traced down as family members in the southeastern states and visiting “old home places” (those that still exist) and cemeteries.

In lieu of putting all of this info together in an online program like Ancestry he has developed his own system and has dozens of 3-ring binders put together with all them cross-referenced. Eventually one day I will probably be tasked to get it all entered for future reference.

Anytime that I let them know that I am going someplace he always says, “You should go by and see your 18th cousin 4’times removed (whom I have never met nor heard of). They live in BFE Tennessee. It is not too far from XYZ”. Or “While you are close you should go by so and so cemetery. That is where ABC is buried”.

On my last trip to London he asked if I could go by such and such property to see what it looks like today since one of my ancestors owned that property back in the 1600s. I did manage to take a picture of a street sign featuring my surname in a prominent part of London. He was happy about that.

That’s actually pretty cool. Sounds like a good project for him. 

[thunderlounge 7813]

1 hour ago, Crapinon said:

I told my kids I'm randomly hiding $100 bills in old books and boxes of junk. This will make up for them leaving all their stuff behind when they moved out and expecting me to store it for them. 

I am so stealing this idea. Excellent. 

[Incredulity 11649]

Kick it up a notch.

 

Leave only 1 or 2, in completely obvious places.

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

4 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

I mean...it is.

 

4 hours ago, NWBuck said:

Not always: USDA Food Product Dating

CNN- The truth, and strategy, of food expiration dates

Here’s a conspiracy theory. The food industry pushed for a change to Best Buy Dates because it would cause confused consumers to replace foods earlier than they would with hard expiration dates.

Case in point is milk. I usually add a splash of milk to my coffee. I can always tell when milk is starting to sour because it stops mixing smoothly in coffee, it starts to curdle. That’s how I always knew when to dump it out without even tasting it. Under the old expiration dates, that used to be pretty much that day or the day after. With BBDs, I’ve gone a week or more past that date without any problems using it in my coffee.

Meat and poultry is a different story. It starts to smell and look funky at 12:01am after the Use Or Freeze By Date. 

Edited July 19, 2023 by ImissWallyPryor

[Jimbaround 975]

Here’s a conspiracy theory. The food industry pushed for a change to Best Buy Dates because it would cause confused consumers to replace foods earlier than they would with hard expiration dates.
Case in point is milk. I usually add a splash of milk to my coffee. I can always tell when milk is starting to sour because it stops mixing smoothly in coffee, it starts to curdle. That’s how I always knew when to dump it out without even tasting it. Under the old expiration dates, that used to be pretty much that day or the day after. With BBDs, I’ve gone a week or more past that date without any problems using it in my coffee.
Meat and poultry is a different story. It starts to smell and look funky at 12:01am after the Use Or Freeze By Date. 

This right here. There is a reason they use the words “best by” and “use by” on different products. Chips have a “best by” date on them but you’re not going to get sick eating potato chips a month past their date. Ground beef is another story.

[BB65 478]

My mom passed away in Feb. While going through financial paper work in a filing cabinet she had tax returns from the early 80s. Along with cancelled checks from bills she paid in the 70s. 50 year old checks she paid on her Sears credit card.

[Biff Tannen 45663]

5 hours ago, Crapinon said:

I told my kids I'm randomly hiding $100 bills in old books and boxes of junk. This will make up for them leaving all their stuff behind when they moved out and expecting me to store it for them. 

My wife does this now anyway.  We have no kids.

[Chewbacca 7766]

42 minutes ago, BB65 said:

My mom passed away in Feb. While going through financial paper work in a filing cabinet she had tax returns from the early 80s. Along with cancelled checks from bills she paid in the 70s. 50 year old checks she paid on her Sears credit card.

My dad has his daytimers from the 70s and 80s in a storage unit.  That he pays $300 for every month.  While his kids subsidize his rent so he's not homeless.  BTW, he would go homeless before he'd get rid of that fucking storage unit.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Chewbacca

[LW Goatman 1117]

I went to visit my folks a few weeks ago and when I was leaving my 70+ year old dad gave me a brand new snow shovel. We all live in Texas where it doesn't snow but he used it for pine needle pickup and mulching. Mind you I don't have pine needles at my house but he found a particular use for it and thought I might as well. 

My mom gave me a makita reciprocating saw a couple of years ago as a thank you for something I did for her. She didn't like the fact that I had some cheapo saw I had broken out in front of her. 

Practical gifts.

[WhatTheBuck 28773]

20 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Man, I tell ya. Won't be long before this thread is about me. Us, even.

I still have a working cassette deck. Can't fathom getting rid of it.

I’ve got dual cassette players on my boom box. I also still have some cassette recordings that on the rare occasion I still listen to. I even still have some unopened blank tapes so I could actually make copies if I wanted to. (In theory. I’m not sure if both player and recorder are working well enough to make that feasible.) I just haven’t been able to bring myself to throw out a couple of perfectly good Maxell II-S tapes (one 90 minute, one 100 minute) still in their shrink wrap.

And this is a really good recording I made from the Grateful Dead Hour circa 1989. I’ve got a great sounding bootleg of the whole show on CD but the tape includes a couple of interviews, one with Jerry Garcia and one with lyricist Robert Hunter, about the writing of Terrapin Station that I want to hold on to.

[Dennis Taylor 18808]

30 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

My dad has his daytimers from the 70s and 80s in a storage unit.  That he pays $300 for every month.  While his kids subsidize his rent so he's not homeless.  BTW, he would go homeless before he'd get rid of that fucking storage unit.

Is it climate controlled? 

[Chewbacca 7766]

1 minute ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Is it climate controlled? 

Of course.  Can't risk damaging the daytimers! 

[Dennis Taylor 18808]

6 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Of course.  Can't risk damaging the daytimers! 

I bet his rent is > $300...2 birds, 1 stone...

[Chewbacca 7766]

7 minutes ago, Dennis Taylor said:

I bet his rent is > $300...2 birds, 1 stone...

I'm sure it probably is.  And when he's gone, I'm not even going to go through it.  I'll wait for the Storage Wars episode when someone pays $5k to clean out his old, worthless shit.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2731]

My Mom had a storage unit with all her teaching materials well after retirement. She thought someone might want it. No idea who, but somebody might.

We threw it all away a month after she passed.

[Incredulity 11649]

4 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

 

Here’s a conspiracy theory. The food industry pushed for a change to Best Buy Dates because it would cause confused consumers to replace foods earlier than they would with hard expiration dates.

Case in point is milk. I usually add a splash of milk to my coffee. I can always tell when milk is starting to sour because it stops mixing smoothly in coffee, it starts to curdle. That’s how I always knew when to dump it out without even tasting it. Under the old expiration dates, that used to be pretty much that day or the day after. With BBDs, I’ve gone a week or more past that date without any problems using it in my coffee.

Meat and poultry is a different story. It starts to smell and look funky at 12:01am after the Use Or Freeze By Date. 

Read the article 

 

open dating was pushed by consumer advocates.  Sure as shit there are unintended consequences to any change.  Yes, some manufacturers have used it to their advantage/as a marketing tool.  It absolutely was not a corporate conspiracy to sell more.

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

5 hours ago, Incredulity said:

Read the article 

 

open dating was pushed by consumer advocates.  Sure as shit there are unintended consequences to any change.  Yes, some manufacturers have used it to their advantage/as a marketing tool.  It absolutely was not a corporate conspiracy to sell more.

Ah, to be so young and naive. 

[conVINCEd 21469]

8 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

I'm sure it probably is.  And when he's gone, I'm not even going to go through it.  I'll wait for the Storage Wars episode when someone pays $5k to clean out his old, worthless shit.

Mine have one solely for the XMas decorations, but they no longer have the energy to go full Xmas anymore.  They were in the attic for a long time, but dad can’t climb the ladder anymore.  Or get on the ladder to hang lights.  Still pay for the storage unit though. Mom does have a really good collection of Nieman Marcus Santas, so I suppose it’s not a total waste.  I suppose when the time comes that I will distribute the Santas amongst the family and throw everything else away.

[Ogie Ogilthorpe 639]

On 7/18/2023 at 5:27 PM, mininghorn88 said:

My dad is big into genealogy.  He has been chasing our roots for 40+ years now and has branched out in numerous ways. His idea of a vacation these days is going to visit other olds that he has traced down as family members in the southeastern states and visiting “old home places” (those that still exist) and cemeteries.

In lieu of putting all of this info together in an online program like Ancestry he has developed his own system and has dozens of 3-ring binders put together with all them cross-referenced. Eventually one day I will probably be tasked to get it all entered for future reference.

Anytime that I let them know that I am going someplace he always says, “You should go by and see your 18th cousin 4’times removed (whom I have never met nor heard of). They live in BFE Tennessee. It is not too far from XYZ”. Or “While you are close you should go by so and so cemetery. That is where ABC is buried”.

On my last trip to London he asked if I could go by such and such property to see what it looks like today since one of my ancestors owned that property back in the 1600s. I did manage to take a picture of a street sign featuring my surname in a prominent part of London. He was happy about that.

My dad does this too. He has visit churches in England to look through their records, had the mormons send genealogy records (apparently they have the best library for this stuff), The spend the summers up north and the winters in the south and he brings 2-3 bankers boxes of his genealogy stuff back and forth every year.

The funny thing about it is he now has gone back as far as he can go as he has got to where the records just list our family as Crofters (english farmers) with out much details.

He says he plans to write a book summarizing the History of the Ogilthorpe Family.

[CycleTex87 2965]

My dad passed away about 15 years ago.  He and my mom had his/hers walk-in closets in their bedroom.  My dad's closet is still left as if he went in there this morning and got dressed.  All his clothes still hanging on the rods, shoes on the floor, odd boxes of stuff left in there.  She just leaves the door closed.  I guess one of these days we'll have to get in there and clean it out (when we clean hers out).

[Parliament 14234]

She misses him terribly. 

[Crapinon 2252]

2 hours ago, CycleTex87 said:

My dad passed away about 15 years ago.  He and my mom had his/hers walk-in closets in their bedroom.  My dad's closet is still left as if he went in there this morning and got dressed.  All his clothes still hanging on the rods, shoes on the floor, odd boxes of stuff left in there.  She just leaves the door closed.  I guess one of these days we'll have to get in there and clean it out (when we clean hers out).

My mother in law has done the exact same thing. He died 5 years ago but if you open his closet it looks exactly like it did then.

My mom died when I was 14 in 1973. I still have her purse that we brought home form the hospital. All the content is exactly like it was when we brought it home, money included. My dad died 8 years later and I have the contents of his desk, including his scratch/ordering pads and even paper clips. I can't throw any of it away. My kids will have to do it after I'm gone. 

[tbone_ 14106]

My dad passed away about 15 years ago.  He and my mom had his/hers walk-in closets in their bedroom.  My dad's closet is still left as if he went in there this morning and got dressed.  All his clothes still hanging on the rods, shoes on the floor, odd boxes of stuff left in there.  She just leaves the door closed.  I guess one of these days we'll have to get in there and clean it out (when we clean hers out).

My dad passed away in 2009, unexpectedly from complications in the hospital. I still have his suitcase of clothes he took to the hospital in the top of my closet. Unopened since then.

Won’t ever get rid of it. Or probably even ever open it.

Also, this thread is great. Not meaning to be preachy but it is interesting how much less all this shit bothers me at 55 than it did at 45 or 35. Now I just want to enjoy the time.

[CycleTex87 2965]

1 hour ago, Crapinon said:

My mother in law has done the exact same thing. He died 5 years ago but if you open his closet it looks exactly like it did then.

My mom died when I was 14 in 1973. I still have her purse that we brought home form the hospital. All the content is exactly like it was when we brought it home, money included. My dad died 8 years later and I have the contents of his desk, including his scratch/ordering pads and even paper clips. I can't throw any of it away. My kids will have to do it after I'm gone. 

My sister has been after my mom to move for a few years.  House is too big for one person, upkeep is a hassle/too much to handle, maintenance needs done, etc.  I'm sure one of the road blocks for my mom is this closet.

[tejas60 3532]

look people, this thread is listed under LULZ.

gettin' too dusty in here...

 

 

[fattyflattie 4639]

On 7/21/2023 at 7:55 PM, tejas60 said:

look people, this thread is listed under LULZ.

gettin' too dusty in here...

 

 

No lie.  Enjoying the lulz. Wish I had something to contribute. 

Parents stopped by today to celebrate my birthday.  Parkinson’s has turned the old man nearly into a vegetable in such a short time, I can’t even wrap my head around it.  Enjoy the lulz while you can.  

[MissingInAction 25004]

Don't EVER help an old with their computer or phone.

You will get blamed for every issue they have with their shit after that 

[Kennythetiger 9374]

6 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

Don't EVER help an old with their computer or phone.

You will get blamed for every issue they have with their shit after that 

Even worse in my family- you then become the expert tech person. My poor sister. 

[Biff Tannen 45663]

9 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

Don't EVER help an old with their computer or phone.

You will get blamed for every issue they have with their shit after that 

I know this too well. Oh, that thing I fixed for you that then broke later due to completely unreleased circumstances?  Now you want to sue me?  Awesome. 

[ABSR 5308]

On 7/20/2023 at 3:46 PM, CycleTex87 said:

My sister has been after my mom to move for a few years.  House is too big for one person, upkeep is a hassle/too much to handle, maintenance needs done, etc.  I'm sure one of the road blocks for my mom is this closet.

My Dad retired early 2000 while living in DC suburbs.  They were not from there and wanted to move, but they had a large house with a basement that was under the entire house footprint.  Over 20 years they had just put stuff down there and it was fairly full and the idea of having to deal with that was daunting and stopping them from moving.  Main living areas had nice stuff but was not cluttered.

My wife (and my Dad and I) loaded 10 SUV’s full of stuff to take to the dump, and gave away other stuff.  This made my Dad feel like he could move, which they then did and moved back to Texas.

[rage-a-holic 4373]

12 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

I know this too well. Oh, that thing I fixed for you that then broke later due to completely unreleased circumstances?  Now you want to sue me?  Awesome. 

My mom nagged one of my cousins for months to help with her Ipad/PC/Router issues. He saw how much work it was and told her he'd have to charge her, which she was fine with.

That was 5 years ago and she still complains weekly about something he "must have broke" or "fixed wrong". If she can't find one of your old emails or she replies to the wrong person? He "messed up my email program".

[MissingInAction 25004]

2 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

My mom nagged one of my cousins for months to help with her Ipad/PC/Router issues. He saw how much work it was and told her he'd have to charge her, which she was fine with.

That was 5 years ago and she still complains weekly about something he "must have broke" or "fixed wrong". If she can't find one of your old emails or she replies to the wrong person? He "messed up my email program".

Dude, one of the last times I saw my parents I had my laptop with me. So I ask for the wifi password and they both absolutely lose their shit. Screaming that I was going to "download hacker viruses onto their stuff".

So I got the default password off the router itself, locked them out of everything then left. 

 

[Dbeasy 15040]

My dad while he was alive would video tape Cubs games every day. For years. He never watched them. He wasn’t a  Cubs fan. 

[Kennythetiger 9374]

Maybe he just liked the sound of Harry Carey’s voice. 

[honolulu horn 6158]

31 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

My dad while he was alive would video tape Cubs games every day. For years. He never watched them. He wasn’t a  Cubs fan. 

This might be the thread winner

[luke duke 6412]

My dad is big into genealogy.  He has been chasing our roots for 40+ years now and has branched out in numerous ways. His idea of a vacation these days is going to visit other olds that he has traced down as family members in the southeastern states and visiting “old home places” (those that still exist) and cemeteries.
In lieu of putting all of this info together in an online program like Ancestry he has developed his own system and has dozens of 3-ring binders put together with all them cross-referenced. Eventually one day I will probably be tasked to get it all entered for future reference.
Anytime that I let them know that I am going someplace he always says, “You should go by and see your 18th cousin 4’times removed (whom I have never met nor heard of). They live in BFE Tennessee. It is not too far from XYZ”. Or “While you are close you should go by so and so cemetery. That is where ABC is buried”.
On my last trip to London he asked if I could go by such and such property to see what it looks like today since one of my ancestors owned that property back in the 1600s. I did manage to take a picture of a street sign featuring my surname in a prominent part of London. He was happy about that.

Get him an Ancestry.com subscription. You’ll keep him busy for a year or two.
My dad has eleventy billion slides from the 60’s and 70’s. I bought him a slide scanner and he probably spent 500 hrs digitizing them.

[mininghorn88 2277]

11 minutes ago, luke duke said:

Get him an Ancestry.com subscription. You’ll keep him busy for a year or two.
My dad has eleventy billion slides from the 60’s and 70’s. I bought him a slide scanner and he probably spent 500 hrs digitizing them.

I have discussed this with him in the past.  He is not a fan of technology.  My parents do not own a computer.  They do have a mobile phone which is turned off half of the time to "save the battery".  They do not text.  My mom barely uses it but my dad will surf the internet a bit with it.  As i mentioned in an earlier post I will most likely have him come to my house with his tome of material and I will enter all of it for him.  I have a subscription to Ancestry that I use for WW2 military research.

[TrashMaster G 17541]

Man, some of you are related to some mean, cranky old bastards/bitches.

I help my mom with computer/phone/tv stuff frequently. I'm honest about what I can/can't do. She's always grateful for what I can.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

No shit. Lol. I have no problem running over to my parents and reconnecting their TiVo to their wifi or whatever simple fix they need

[LCHorn 2612]

On 7/16/2023 at 10:51 PM, WhatTheBuck said:

Back in 1999 my mom clipped a newspaper article she thought might interest me.

She mailed it to me two months ago.

There was nothing interesting in it. 

Hah!  Catching up on this thread-my Mom cut out a bunch of Longhorn articles from the Statesman for me when I was in Iraq in 2005 and just gave them to me the other day.

“Just found these in case you want to have them.”  

Even worse it was all Kirk Bohls commentary pieces.  

[tbone_ 14106]

Hah!  Catching up on this thread-my Mom cut out a bunch of Longhorn articles from the Statesman for me when I was in Iraq in 2005 and just gave them to me the other day.
“Just found these in case you want to have them.”  
Even worse it was all Kirk Bohls commentary pieces.  

Did you frame the one explaining why he voted for Reggie Bush?

[tbone_ 14106]

My Dad retired early 2000 while living in DC suburbs.  They were not from there and wanted to move, but they had a large house with a basement that was under the entire house footprint.  Over 20 years they had just put stuff down there and it was fairly full and the idea of having to deal with that was daunting and stopping them from moving.  Main living areas had nice stuff but was not cluttered.
My wife (and my Dad and I) loaded 10 SUV’s full of stuff to take to the dump, and gave away other stuff.  This made my Dad feel like he could move, which they then did and moved back to Texas.

This is how you do it.

[rage-a-holic 4373]

1 hour ago, TrashMaster G said:

Man, some of you are related to some mean, cranky old bastards/bitches.

I help my mom with computer/phone/tv stuff frequently. I'm honest about what I can/can't do. She's always grateful for what I can.

That's great if you live close or have spare time to help. 

Depending on the month, I live 4 hours away  in Austin or 25 hours away in Mexico.

These are my standard responses for tech help whenever my mom conveniently forgets how far away i am:

• Ipad/Iphone/Apple TV: I use android, I know zero about any Apple products
• PC: I only work on Windows Servers
• Router/Networking: I just plug it in and use the password printed on it. Anything else the Google Fiber guys fixes.

 

[blacklab 11926]

My dad passed away a few years ago, there's some things I miss, but being his tech support is not one of them.

What was infuriating was he would never answer questions or do what I ask.

Me: Hey dad, how are you

Him: Yahoo is broke

Me: So you don't have internet or you can't sign into yahoo?

Him: just a minute let me click here and see what happens

Me: what did you do?

(1 min later)

Him: It's not working

Me: ok, can you get to yahoo and not log in? or does the page not show up?

Him: Hold on, let me try to restart chrome

Me: Are you getting a yahoo screen or not?

Him: That didn't work, I'm going to reboot now

[shakahorn 1645]

14 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

Don't EVER help an old with their computer or phone.

You will get blamed for every issue they have with their shit after that 

To be fair, this reaction is not limited to just olds.

[Dennis Taylor 18808]

My brother is 14 years older than me, and is in very poor health.  He's thrice divorced with no kids so I'll have to be the one to handle his affairs when he either can't do it anymore or has passed away. I asked him to put together a list of all his banking stuff etc. He gives me a list with account numbers, passwords etc. 

Me- I would need your username, what is it? 

Him- what's that? 

Me- Don't you do some banking online? 

Him- yes

Me- So how to you log on? 

Him- I call the number and enter my account number and it gives me my balance and stuff like that. 

Me- that started in the late 80s

Him- yeah I don't trust that computer stuff

 

 

[dcbc 14465]

On 7/15/2023 at 10:03 PM, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Haha this.  Only my old cables are in baggies labeled with what they are supposed to be, because my wife is also an old and almost as anal as South Austin’s mom.

Today, we had to troubleshoot my mom's computer/monitor connection, neither of which she no longer can operate on her own.  We had every weird VGA to digital adapter known to man in a bag with all of our other semi obsolete cables we'll never use again, but it damn sure helped us troubleshoot the issue to the point of just buying her a new monitor, which will somehow be the source of frustration in a week or so.  But like Borat, I LOVE her.

[Armybrat 40822]

On 7/15/2023 at 9:51 PM, Prepuce of Doom said:

My MIL is an absolute menace on the internet. I still thank my lucky stars about her decision to switch to Macs a decade ago because it means I never have to troubleshoot her computer problems anymore. 

Anyway, one time years and years after Twitter had already become an ingrained part of the public consciousness, she asked me and Mrs. Doom in total seriousness and earnestness, "what is hashtagging, and should I be doing it?" 

This question has reached catch-phrase status at our house. 

I have no idea what it is, what it does, and don’t care.

[Gil Bang 25907]

6 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

I have no idea what it is, what it does, and don’t care.

#oldfuck  #yellingatclouds  #grumpy #ruger

 

[Armybrat 40822]

16 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

#oldfuck  #yellingatclouds  #grumpy #ruger

 

I just bought a CZ.

so there