What was your "I'm officially old" moment?

[triplemultiplex]

When you first went to an unfamiliar bar and did not get 'carded'?

There are bars that card in Wisconsin?



I got one:
You tweak a muscle from just standing up.

[akotchi]

When candidates I am interviewing for open positions at work are younger than my youngest child . . .

[SSOWorld]

Gray Hairs I guess.

[CometTheMountainLion]

When I can remember a time when you just had to buy a game console and a disc and you actually got the whole game.

[epzik8]

Struggling to figure out the touchscreen of my roommate's new 2024 Toyota Corolla. I'm not quite 30 yet and have had no problems adapting to new technology in the past.

[MikeTheActuary]

When I can remember a time when you just had to buy a game console and a disc and you actually got the whole game.

I remember games coming across multiple floppies.

For that matter, I remember computer games requiring you to flip the cassette tape, or that came on ROM cartriges.

[formulanone]

When I can remember a time when you just had to buy a game console and a disc and you actually got the whole game.

I remember games coming across multiple floppies.

For that matter, I remember computer games requiring you to flip the cassette tape, or that came on ROM cartriges.

Nowadays there are updates, expansion packs, and micro-transactions which add/subtract/edit the game.

Console gaming has disinterested me for the last 15+ years; for the one time a week I might want to play, a console insists on an update and then the game might patch as well. It seems to be designed for the "daily gamer" instead of a casual one, so I'd long since decided that I'm not going to waste time with that.

[Rothman]

Heh.  I bought a Missile Command cartridge for my Atari 2600 a couple of years ago.

[1995hoo]

Heh.  I bought a Missile Command cartridge for my Atari 2600 a couple of years ago.

One of my old college roommates just bought an Atari 2600+, which is an updated version of the original console that supports HDMI connections. The downside, from what I've read, is that the joystick cables are not any longer than they were on the original machine, so you wind up sitting far closer to the TV than you would prefer with modern TV sizes. When I was over at my mom's house a week or two ago I found old Atari cartridges in her basement, so I'm tempted to buy one of these, but I don't know whether I'd play it enough to make it worthwhile even though the cost is pretty minimal.

[WillWeaverRVA]

I work at the health department, so seeing patients born in the mid-2000s and realizing they're not little kids probably did it for me.

I've had gray hairs since I was 18, so definitely not that.

Of course, there's the coincidence of me getting an invitation to our neighborhood's seniors club on my 39th birthday, plus the fact I just started getting AARP mail despite being 16 years away from even considering that...

[Rothman]

Heh.  I bought a Missile Command cartridge for my Atari 2600 a couple of years ago.

One of my old college roommates just bought an Atari 2600+, which is an updated version of the original console that supports HDMI connections. The downside, from what I've read, is that the joystick cables are not any longer than they were on the original machine, so you wind up sitting far closer to the TV than you would prefer with modern TV sizes. When I was over at my mom's house a week or two ago I found old Atari cartridges in her basement, so I'm tempted to buy one of these, but I don't know whether I'd play it enough to make it worthwhile even though the cost is pretty minimal.

I lucked out in that my current flat screen still had the old ports along with HDMI.  I am hoping I will be able to find a TV with the old ports when I need a replacement.

Still ticked that Nintendo's light gun doesn't work with flat screens.  Saw a way to modify things so it would, but far beyond my capabilities.

[DandyDan]

Probably back in 2010, when I turned 38, when I found out a coworker of mine who was younger than me became a grandmother.

I think that says more about her and her children than it does about you. 

Probably, but there are people in my family tree who became grandparents earlier than average as well.

[ZLoth]

Heh.  I bought a Missile Command cartridge for my Atari 2600 a couple of years ago.

One of my old college roommates just bought an Atari 2600+, which is an updated version of the original console that supports HDMI connections. The downside, from what I've read, is that the joystick cables are not any longer than they were on the original machine, so you wind up sitting far closer to the TV than you would prefer with modern TV sizes. When I was over at my mom's house a week or two ago I found old Atari cartridges in her basement, so I'm tempted to buy one of these, but I don't know whether I'd play it enough to make it worthwhile even though the cost is pretty minimal.

I lucked out in that my current flat screen still had the old ports along with HDMI.  I am hoping I will be able to find a TV with the old ports when I need a replacement.

Still ticked that Nintendo's light gun doesn't work with flat screens.  Saw a way to modify things so it would, but far beyond my capabilities.

What type of output does that video game unit utilize? There are converter and upscaling boxes available.

[golden eagle]

This occurs in stages:

2) hearing songs from your senior year in high school on a classic rock station

I get this every time I hear Pearl Jam or Nirvana on classic rock stations.

[elsmere241]

When not only your boss, but his boss, are younger than you.  (I got that this year.)

When you worry about your one living parent's health and wind up calling him once or twice a week to check up on him.

And more recently, when there are only three or so radio stations you can tolerate, and you find yourself gravitating to the classic rock station.  (And that station's longtime DJs that put it on the map, have retired.)

[kkt]

When you have no living parents or grandparents.

[Max Rockatansky]

When you have no living parents or grandparents.

That was my situation by the time I was 34.  Both my parents were gone by the time I was 32.

[dlsterner]

When you have no living parents or grandparents.

Nor (in my case) any living aunts and uncles.  Lost the last one in 2019.  I'm now part of the oldest generation in my family (both paternal and maternal sides).  Which is a valid "officially I'm old" moment.

Also, realizing that I have now lived longer than my father and his father.

On a lighter note, seeing posters young enough to be my kids - or grandkids - contributing to this thread.

[Scott5114]

Struggling to figure out the touchscreen of my roommate's new 2024 Toyota Corolla. I'm not quite 30 yet and have had no problems adapting to new technology in the past.

I don't know that it's people our age's fault so much as it is that UI design has gone to complete shit since phones came out and everyone started treating everything like it was a Web page and programming it in JavaScript knockoffs.

[ZLoth]

From this post:

A hard drive from the early 1980s was $2,000 (not inflation adjusted, that would make it $6,360) and had only 5 MB of storage space. I regularly work with log files and packet captures that are much larger than 5 MB.... ZIPped. In addition, a little over $2,000 would pay for eight 14TB drives in my NAS server (at $260 each... I couldn't find any new drives for $250) that would give me approximately 75TB of effective storage in a RAIDZ2 configuration.

I also remember in the early 1990s when I ordered a 305MB drive for $300 to replace a 105MB drive. Again, you can purchase 128GB USB Thumb drives for as little as $13.

[mgk920]

From this post:

A hard drive from the early 1980s was $2,000 (not inflation adjusted, that would make it $6,360) and had only 5 MB of storage space. I regularly work with log files and packet captures that are much larger than 5 MB.... ZIPped. In addition, a little over $2,000 would pay for eight 14TB drives in my NAS server (at $260 each... I couldn't find any new drives for $250) that would give me approximately 75TB of effective storage in a RAIDZ2 configuration.

I also remember in the early 1990s when I ordered a 305MB drive for $300 to replace a 105MB drive. Again, you can purchase 128GB USB Thumb drives for as little as $13.

Remember that the government's own 'inflation' numbers are absurdly low and in real terms,  that early 1980s price could well be in the five figures by now.

Mike

[Dirt Roads]

From this post:

A hard drive from the early 1980s was $2,000 (not inflation adjusted, that would make it $6,360) and had only 5 MB of storage space. I regularly work with log files and packet captures that are much larger than 5 MB.... ZIPped. In addition, a little over $2,000 would pay for eight 14TB drives in my NAS server (at $260 each... I couldn't find any new drives for $250) that would give me approximately 75TB of effective storage in a RAIDZ2 configuration.

I also remember in the early 1990s when I ordered a 305MB drive for $300 to replace a 105MB drive. Again, you can purchase 128GB USB Thumb drives for as little as $13.

We had a problem with one of the first 500MB hard drive that I ever worked with (they had two, plus four drives for all of the removable spin packs).  I was working as backup System Manager when the technician came in, opened up the cabinet and started to pull out the drive controller.  I was like "Where is your groundstrap?"  "I don't need one on these new machines", he replied.  An hour later, his boss called in and reported that the fellow had indeed zapped the controller, which cost about $1,000,000.  (I was shocked, pun intended, because we only paid about $1.25M for the entire Intergraph VAX 11/785 system).  That's not what makes me feel old.  The machine it replaced was a twin PDP-11/30 that was the third unit ever sold by M&S Computing (predecessor to Intergraph).

[kkt]

Wow.  I hope that technician went into a different line of work.  (Maybe he can be a surgery assistant and see what the surgeon says when he skips wearing gloves.)

[GaryV]

Another one. I was taking grad classes in IT about a dozen years ago. The topic was sorting techniques, one of which is "perk up". I had to explain a coffee percolator to the class.

[ZLoth]

Another one. I was taking grad classes in IT about a dozen years ago. The topic was sorting techniques, one of which is "perk up". I had to explain a coffee percolator to the class.

Aren't those the coffee makers which "squirt up" coffee to a clear handle while it's brewing?