I'm only hanging on to watch you go down.

above lyric from "So Cruel" by U2.

Well, the Cardinals are thisclose to being eliminated. One more loss and no World Series for us. Like many die hard Cards fans, I'm being very cautiously optimistic that we're going to win tomorrow. The Astros have nothing to lose, we do. The ump needs to get off his fucking knees and stop blowing calls. He blew 2 big ones tonight and I think ultimately, those cost us the game.

Okay, I don't think you out there in blog land care about baseball enough to listen to a rant about it, so I'm gonna shut up.

@Steve -- congrats on your new job

Saw NIN on Friday. I have never been more enthralled by a concert in all my life. NIN was dead on perfect, QOTSA (Queens of the Stone Age) were pretty rockin', and Autolux, while I didn't like them one iota, I respect them as musicians and appreciate them for going out on stage each and every night.

Other highlights of the weekend
-Saw an old, old friend at NIN named Leroy. It was nice to see him and Joe chat too.
-Had a good talk with Angel at NIN. She really is a great, cool chick.
-Toni's birthday was a delight.
-Downed 2 martinis in a total of 5 minutes at the bar. Too bad it was last call, cause I could have stayed there all night long.
-Went to the Mega Target by my work. This thing has a - get ready - CART ESCALATOR! Unfortunately, I didn't have a cart to test it out, as my purchases did not necessitate the use of a cart. Next time, I will get a cart and see how this cart escalator works. It was still fascinating.
-Lava lamp works once again. Thank you Nix for the lightbulb. I'll hit ya back with a new one soon. The orange glow has returned to my living room once again.
-Bought a powerball ticket. I won't win, but it's fun to try.

I went to my old high school today for homecoming, and I realized one thing. I'm getting old. The freshmen this year are class of 2009. Yikes! That's 10 years younger than me. The seniors are 6 years younger than me. They were born in 1987. They were barely 11 or 12 when I was a senior. Frightening.

In the spirit of that, I have found this online. It's by Paul Harris, host of the Paul Harris show on KMOX. I hope this makes you all think about how things were in the good old days, and what kids today have missed out on. I have bolded things that I remember. Some of the things on here apply to my parents' generation, but some are still thought worthy. I've also added my thoughts in parenthesis when applicable.

"When my daughter grows up, her life won't include..."
This Just Plain Harris column appeared on the Op-Ed page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch June 9, 2005:

It begins with this simple opening: "When my daughter grows up, her life won't include..."

Recently, my brother was in the car with my two nephews, and when they reached their destination, he told them to "crank the windows up." The two boys had never heard that expression, and my brother realized it's because they've never been in a car without electric windows. Sure, they exist, but not in the world of these six- and four-year-olds.

With my daughter's eleventh birthday last week, I started making a list of all the things from my own life that will never be part of hers. When I mentioned it to my wife, friends, and KMOX listeners -- all Baby Boomers -- they chimed in with suggestions, and the list grew to include:

Movies on videotape. Double features. Drive-in theaters. (Andrea's note : I remember the old '66 drive-in, where the Best Buy in Crestwood now stands) Theater marquees proclaiming: "Held over for 30th week!" Signs under the marquee advertising "It's Air Conditioned Inside" in letters that look like dripping ice.

Rabbit ears. Using pliers to change the channel because the knob's broken. Getting up to change channels. Wired remote controls. Waiting for the TV to warm up. Having to watch a show when it airs or missing it forever.

Cassette, 8-track, and reel-to-reel tapes. A Walkman that plays cassettes. Cassingles. CD singles. Records and turntables. Adapters for 45s. "You sound like a broken record."

Cameras with thumbwheels to advance the film. Cameras with film. Flash bulbs, flash cubes, flip flash.

Ultra-bright home movie lights. Home movie screens. Home movie projectors. Slide projectors. Editing small reels of Super-8 film onto bigger reels.

Film strips at school with a next-frame beep that every kid could imitate and drive the a/v guy crazy.

Phones with dials. Phones with cords. Changing your phone number when you move. Pay phones. Busy signals. Really expensive long distance calls. Party lines. Answering machines.

Smoking on airplanes. Smoking in movie theaters. Smoking at work. Ash trays on restaurant tables.

Bank tellers. Writing checks. Buying tickets for games, concerts, and movies at the box office.

Going to the library to use an encyclopedia. Copying something out of the World Book for a school assignment. "The Reader's Guide to Periodicals."

Gas stations with the rubber hose that dings when you drive over it. Gas for under a buck a gallon. Free drinking glasses with a fill-up. (I think my mom still has some)

Rear car windows that open all the way. A foot switch to activate bright headlights. Cars with wing window vents in front. Cars with bench front seats.

Scoring your own bowling game. Women wearing swim caps at the pool. Only boys playing sports at school. Lawn darts.

Soda in glass bottles. Soda made with cane sugar. Church keys for cans without pop tops. Cans without pop tops. Pop tops that come off when you pull them.

TV weather reports without Doppler radar. TV weather forecasters who use stick-on pictures of sun and clouds. TV news that's on on in the evening. TV stations that sign off in the middle of the night. (Anyone remember test patterns, the Indian, or the Star Spangled Banner with a flag graphic)

Floppy disks. Computers that fill a room. Dot matrix printers. Green-and-white computer paper with tractor feed perforations.

Typewriters. Carbon paper. Correctype. Wite-Out. Thermal fax paper. Mimeograph machines. The smell of mimeograph machines and paper in the school office.

Prices on food items at the supermarket. Jiffy Pop you shake on the stove. Coffee cans with keys. Coffee percolators on the stove.

Metal ice cube trays. Defrosting the freezer with a turkey baster and a yardstick. Yardsticks with furniture store names and logos. Yardsticks.

Susan B. Anthony dollars. Sacagawea dollars. $2 bills.

Writing letters. Postage stamps you lick. Envelopes you lick. S&H green stamps.

Cotton diapers. Rectal thermometers. Bar soap. Portable bubble hair dryers with the carrying strap. Wearing curlers to bed.

Metal keys for hotel rooms. Winding a wrist watch. Tonka trucks made of steel. Styrofoam boxes at McDonald's. Rubbers -- the ones that go over your shoes.
-----
Copyright 2005, Paul Harris
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Some more that were not included in the print version of this column:

K-Tel collections of "the original hits by the original artists!"
Car radios with an analog tuner dial.
Mailboxes in the neighborhood.

Finally, three that aren't generational, but are indicative of the post-9/11 world we all live in: Going to the airport gate to meet someone. Going to the top of the Statue Of Liberty. Going to the World Trade Center.

Also, one more that is interesting
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first "lost generation" nor today's lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.

We are the ones who played with Lego Building Blocks when they were just building blocks and gave Malibu Barbie crewcuts with safety scissors that never really cut. We collected Garbage Pail Kids and Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Ponies and Hot Wheels and He-Man action figures and thought She-Ra looked just a little bit like I would when I was a woman. Big Wheels and bicycles with streamers were the way to go, and sidewalk chalk was all you needed to build a city. Imagination was the key. It made the Ewok Treehouse big enough for you to play in. With your pink portable tape player, Debbie Gibson sang back up to you and everyone wanted a skirt like the Material Girl and a glove like Michael Jackson's. Today, we are the ones who sing along with Bruce Springsteen and the Bangles perfectly and have no idea why. We recite lines with the Ghostbusters and still look to the Goonies for a great adventure.

We flip through T.V. stations and stop at the A-Team and Punky Brewster and "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" We hold strong affections for The Muppets and The Gummy Bears and why did they take the Smurfs off the air? After school specials were only about cigarettes and step-families, the Pokka Dot Door was nothing like Barney, and aren't the Power Rangers just Voltron reincarnated?

We are the ones who still read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, Beverly Clearly and Judy Blume, Richard Scarry and the Electric Company. Friendship bracelets were ties you couldn't break and friendship pins went on shoes - preferably hightopVelcro Reeboks - and pegged jeans were in, as were Units belts and layered socks and jean jackets and jams and charm bracelets and side pony tails and just tails. Rave was a girl's best friend; braces with colored rubberbands made you cool. The backdoor was always open and Mom served only red Kool-Aid to the neighborhood kids - never drank New Coke.

Entertainment was cheap and lasted for hours. All you needed to be was a princess with high heels and an apron; Sit 'n' Spin always made you dizzy but never made you stop; Pogoballs were dangerous weapons and Chinese Jump Ropes never failed to trip someone. In your Underoos, you were Wonder Woman or Spiderman or R2D2 and in your treehouse you were king.

In the Eighties, nothing was wrong. Did you know the president was shot? Star Wars was not a movie. Did you ever play in a bomb shelter? Did you see the Challenger explode or feed the homeless man down the street? We forgot Vietnam and watched Tiananman's Square on CNN and bought pieces of the Berlin wall at the store. AIDS was not the number one killer in the United States. We didn't start the fire, Billy Joel. In the Eighties, we re-definied the American Dream, and those years re-defined us. We are the generation inbetween strife and facing strife and not burning our backs. The eighties may have made us idealistic, but it is not idealism that will push us to be passed on to our children - the first children of the twenty-first century. Never forget we are the children of the Eighties!!"

Goodnight.
ANDREA