How Vintage Do You Go? -merged thread-

[KY Gentleman]

I can't imagine people doing without something that might make their quality of life better only because it wasn't around "back in the day".
We wear vintage hats and clothing items because we might like the style or overall quality better, but to not use an item that is an improvement over its predecessor? It dosen't make sense to me. But, to each his or her own!

 

[freebird]

For me, I can't go too "old school". I'm an insulin dependant diabetic, and on an insulin pump. I was on injections for years only going on the pump roughly six years ago. Before the pump my blood sugars were all over the place, I'm a very brittle diabetic, after the pump my sugars have been much more stable.

As for cell phones, the first time I carried one it saved my neck, so I absolutely couldn't or wouldn't do without mine. Computer, I could do without, but then I wouldn't have access to information that I need on occasion, such as : How to properly hone a razor, medical info, etc.

A vehicle is almost necessary where I live, if one wants to do any shopping. The nearest clothing stores are 10 miles away, and my Endocrinologist is 40+ miles away.

About as old school I can get is in dress, shaving, and perhaps photography.

 

[jayem]

I'll admit, I'm lost without my iPod.

TV: I watch Adult Swim, the Food Network, and sometimes informercials if I can't sleep. Other than that, there's really no need for it. I never had cable growing up, and only got it recently through some crafty wiring on my brother's part. There's only one TV in the house, and it's 20 inches, non-flat screen.

Cell phone: I didn't get a cell phone until I was 16yrs old (I'm 20, now) simply because I ended up taking the train often to friends, school, work. Taking the Red Line at 11PM can be a wee bit scary...

Computer: We didn't get one until 2002. I typed on a typewriter for all my school papers. I still feel more comfortable on a typewriter, actually. I didn't know how to use the internet until we got a computer.

Microwave: Another thing we didn't get until about 5 years ago. We had a microwave in my first house, but it was the early 90s and my mom would never use it because she feared the radiation would melt our brains. I never cook with it, since it turns food into mush.

AC: Despite my numerous protests, we don't have an AC and Chicago summers can be killer (literally!). We have two window-units, but they're so loud and obnoxious it's almost not worth putting them in. I'm currently trying to persuade my mom into using some of that stimulus check to install central air (energy star, of course), but she'd rather get some landscaping done. The good thing about this old house we live in is that the windows were specifically installed to give a cross breeze.

Credit: I have none. I paid my car in full cash, and I'll probably open up a credit card account when I plan to buy a house. I have no debt, and plan to keep it that way since I have a major spending problem. (Got it from my dad, he died owing $10,000 to ONE of his SEVEN credit cards. You don't even want to know the other amounts...)

One thing I now regret taking for granted...

Washers and Dryers!!

God, do I hate the laundromat...

 

[donCarlos]

The technology is the only thing I love in this world. Cell phones, computers, MP3 players, everythin...

There was a man on TV who lives in the 1920´s - literally. He lives 1920-1930 again and again...Never using the modern stuff, always in his role...

 

[Story]

I, for one, welcome our new zombie overlords.

Off to the underground sugar mine with you, woman!

 

[Undertow]

...He constantly tells me I could never make it back in the day. He says I rely too much on credit cards, debit cards, and modern appliances...We are also NOT buying anything on credit, or loans. (mortgage excluded).

I'm not sure excluding credit and loans would be "old school". Beside the obvious fact that people have been taking loans since the invention of currency, I can provide one "vintage" example of credit.

During the '30's and '40's, my great-aunt Leona would send my grandmother Ruth down to the little neighborhood grocery store with a list. The owner would fill the order and write in a ledger, "Leona - $13.24". When pay day rolled around, she would settle the debt.

Now, as you can imagine, not everyone settled their debts right away and some rarely settled.

I think this is a pretty clear example of offering a line of credit for products and/or services, albeit, not originating at a bank like modern credit cards. However, I would venture to say some banks offered some forms of credit then as well.

 

[Nashoba]

I would add non-smoking rules in public places and the general decline of smoking to the list of modern things I like. I just read a biography of Mark Twain, and I felt like I had to shampoo, take a bath and dry clean my clothes just from reading it!

generally speaking I would agree with that. Except for pipe smoke. For some reason that doesn't bother me. It's comforting in an odd sort of way....

 

[pgoat]

generally speaking I would agree with that. Except for pipe smoke. For some reason that doesn't bother me. It's comforting in an odd sort of way....

I feel the same way.

I just walked past a gent with a pipe yesterday - smelled great. I loathe the smell of cigars (except at a baseball game - that just seems right somehow) and cigarettes.

Just for the record I smoked a pipe for about 5 years off and on in my early 20s and they certainly do not taste as good as they smell.....

 

[DrSpeed]

I sometimes feel that in this day and age technology is pushing people to live faster and faster.
When you write a letter you'd expect an answer in let's say, a week or two. When an email is not answered the next day you're getting impatient already. When someone has a mobile phone, he's expected to answer it, day or night, period. You can't be out, don't hear the phone or just don't want to answer it.
Of course, when you think about it, the technology is not to blame, it's us.

 

[freebird]

I sometimes feel that in this day and age technology is pushing people to live faster and faster.
When you write a letter you'd expect an answer in let's say, a week or two. When an email is not answered the next day you're getting impatient already. When someone has a mobile phone, he's expected to answer it, day or night, period. You can't be out, don't hear the phone or just don't want to answer it.
Of course, when you think about it, the technology is not to blame, it's us.

And that is why we have so many instances of 'road rage', people in a hurry, trying to get things done NOW. Well put, DrSpeed.

 

[Twitch]

My main TV is in the bedroom, the only place you can be totally comfortable.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I sometimes feel that in this day and age technology is pushing people to live faster and faster.
When you write a letter you'd expect an answer in let's say, a week or two. When an email is not answered the next day you're getting impatient already. When someone has a mobile phone, he's expected to answer it, day or night, period. You can't be out, don't hear the phone or just don't want to answer it.
Of course, when you think about it, the technology is not to blame, it's us.

Very well said....

 

[Story]

You can't be out, don't hear the phone or just don't want to answer it.

And yet, they have a 'message' feature. [huh] Would that some nattering people were as easy to tune out as the ringing of a cell phone.

*

What I'm reading are people winnowing out what they see as the extraneous distractions of modern day life, tailoring modern conviences to fit their style and rejecting - in whole or part - the one-size-fits-all/must-buy!/minty-fresh marketing package that's shoved down our 21st century throats.

Gosh, sorta sounds like a macro version of wearing vintage mixed-and-matched with modern 'just because'.

Works for me.

 

[Gingerella72]

I've really enjoyed reading through this thread.

I belong to another forum at www.simpleliving.net and the folks there range from extreme militia-type survivalists to vegan hippy-tree huggers (said with a smile, not as a bad thing) and these types of topics and conversations take place there everyday, from both ends of the spectrum. So, I expect this topic over there - it was pleasantly surprising to find it here!

It just goes to show that the mainstream public is becoming more aware of how we've allowed a materialistic, convenience-driven lifestyle to inflate itself to the point of blowing up in our faces. Americans have always loved bigger, better, and more....and the consequences of that are beginning to make itself felt not just by the extremists, who have always been aware of it, but by John Q. Public as well.

It used to be that people that didn't care for TV, didn't use credit cards, and opted for a more simple lifestyle were the odd ones....now the pendulum is swinging the other way and those that live for TV, maxing out their credit cards for useless junk and wasting resources are being looked on with scorn. :eusa_clap

Back on topic, I like a mix of the new and the old. I don't have a cell phone and don't use credit cards (except a debit card) and want to adopt more "old fashioned" ways into my lifestyle....but they'll have to rip my computer and internet service from my cold, dead hands....lol

 

[Decodence]

Giving up phones and the internet is short-sighted IMHO. Credit cards, whether you like them or not, are CRUCIAL to your credit. You will need credit some day unless you live in horribly depressed markets where housing doesn't cost anything. The key is not to get rid of your lines of credit, but simply to never carry a revolving balance. Use it, and how, just pay it off EVERY MONTH. Of course, 99% of my charges go on my CHARGE card, not CREDIT cards.

 

[Story]

The elephant in the room

What no one's mentioned yet is that life can change in the blink of an eye.

Look at Myanmar (after the cyclone), China (after the quakes) and New Orleans (after Katrina). While something that devastating might not happen in your immediate area, if it's 'right next door' interstate transportation might be severely affected.

Fresh vegetables might disappear from the supermarket shelves (read the Victory Garden thread?), fuel might shoot up to $10/gal (got a basket for your bicycle?)

www.ready.gov

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

What no one's mentioned yet is that life can change in the blink of an eye.

Look at Myanmar (after the cyclone), China (after the quakes) and New Orleans (after Katrina). While something that devastating might not happen in your immediate area, if it's 'right next door' interstate transportation might be severely affected.

Fresh vegetables might disappear from the supermarket shelves (read the Victory Garden thread?), fuel might shoot up to $10/gal (got a basket for your bicycle?)

www.ready.gov

THat is what I was trying to get at when I alluded to the 'Black Out' of 2003. We take alot for granted, and have a sense of security that things will always remain status quo.

I mean, look how the nation is reacting to an increase of just $1.00 in gasoline prices.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I sometimes feel that in this day and age technology is pushing people to live faster and faster.
When you write a letter you'd expect an answer in let's say, a week or two. When an email is not answered the next day you're getting impatient already. When someone has a mobile phone, he's expected to answer it, day or night, period. You can't be out, don't hear the phone or just don't want to answer it.
Of course, when you think about it, the technology is not to blame, it's us.

That's exactly my beef with the whole communication revolution. We've lost the ability to *wait.* How much of this information being cellphoned and texted all over the place is really that dead urgent? How much of this information really warrants an immediate interruption of whatever else you might be doing? How much of this immediate-access information, really and seriously, improves the quality of one's life --or, how much of it is just another layer of clutter that could easily wait till later? Just because one *can* communicate messages instantaneously doesn't necessarily mean one *needs to.*

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

That's exactly my beef with the whole communication revolution. We've lost the ability to *wait.* How much of this information being cellphoned and texted all over the place is really that dead urgent? How much of this information really warrants an immediate interruption of whatever else you might be doing? How much of this immediate-access information, really and seriously, improves the quality of one's life --or, how much of it is just another layer of clutter that could easily wait till later? Just because one *can* communicate messages instantaneously doesn't necessarily mean one *needs to.*

My sentiments exactly. To append to that, I have noticed that is why in my house when the television is off, the cell phones are off, no one is on the internet, or no one is playing video games.....time ticks by a lot slower...

 

[Flivver]

I'm not anti-hi-tech, but I refuse to use the parts of it that make life more hectic or complex. I find that having grown up in the 1950s makes it easier for me to shun many of the new "conveniences" that have made modern life so hectic.

I have never had a cel phone and have no desire for one. I have one landline phone with local service only...no long distance, no answering machine.

I grew up with television and have a fairly modern CRT TV as well as VCRs and DVD players. But no cable TV. My reception is via an antenna on the roof. I *am* experimenting with a TV converter box to receive digital broadcasts on my analog TV so I can continue to receive "over the air" TV after February 17. Probably won't get an HDTV until my present TV dies.

I strongly resisted computers until 1999 when having one became necessary for my job. Computers are a mixed bag...they make work easier, allow me to work at home on bad weather days and are a non-intrusive way to keep up with distant friends. But the internet can be an addictive waste of time, as can e-bay! I've been working to minimize my internet surfing and e-bay shopping. The FL is the only internet community I participate in but I *do* enjoy it. It's really fun to connect with people who appreciate the past as I do!

I do not have air condirtioning in my house and seldom use it in the car.

But I will admit to using the microwave oven for more than just warming leftovers...the mark of a bachelor I'm afraid.

I also believe in being self sufficient...I do my own house and car repairs; can fix a TV or a reluctant oil burner using whatever modern technology is necessary to do the job.