expiration dates...
It is really very simple. All of us have an expiration date.
HUH? What's up with that?
But, who knows when the inevitable will happen?
The same is true when it comes to objects and things because they also come with an unknown expiration date.
Chrysler's K Cars, credited with saving the company from bankruptcy back in 1981 met their demise in 1995.
Did Philips and Sony engineers know their collaborative invention in 1979 would have such a limited engagement? CDs are hard to find today.
Who knew iPods would end up with such a short shelf life? The iPod Touch was discontinued in 2022, so, the once revolutionary music media didn't last all that long.
I thought Pet Rocks would be around for at least a couple years. Turns out one year was even too much to hope for as they lasted six months from the summer of 1975 to the start of the next year.
A former New York bank clerk, George Eastman, invented photographic film. My 18 year old granddaughter has never seen a roll of film.
Some critics say the end of MTV came in 2009 or 2010 because of its failure to reinvent itself after YouTube's debut in 2005.
The music channel began in 1981 when it aired the first music video, Video Killed the Radio Star by the Ruggles. There are also those who believe motion picture musicals were the first music videos.
Nintendo's Game Boy cost a nickel under 90 dollars when it was introduced in 1989. By October of 1998 when production shut down, 118 million units had been sold.
Polaroid stopped manufacturing film for its instant camera in 2008. Digital cameras are credited with developing the end of the once popular device.
Countless outdated appliances, gadgets, machines and thingamajigs have been undone by technology. Typewriters, cassette tapes, answering machines, car phones, the list is endless.
But, the truth of the matter is, there is only one expiration date I am really concerned about and I don't even want to know any of the details.
The subject of expiration dates brings to mind many thoughts and I wondered if this is a matter others spend time thinking about with any frequency. Others like Ed Pratt, 80, and, Jean Haynes, 79.
This is an age when you do think about expiration dates, Jean said. No matter how healthy you are, it creeps into your thoughts.
Do you think of it often or or is it more random?
I don't want to dwell on it, but it flits into your conscious thoughts every once in a while, she admitted.
I assume you are retired. What did you do for a career?
My work started out in a public library, she recalled. Then, I went to a hospital and I liked it a lot. I was a medical librarian.
Tell me what a medical librarian does.
I did research for doctors, nurses, any medical person in the hospital, she explained. I looked up diseases, medicines, symptoms, anything at all they needed.
You must have liked what you did.
Yes, I found my niche early on and I have no regrets, she stated. I worked for 42 years.
Now you are free to do anything you want and you are at a good age.
There is a sort of comfort being this age because I don't like the way the world is headed and I feel sorry for the younger generation, she confessed.
Can you elaborate on that for me?
I have never been frightened of a political climate, but, I am frightened now. I am afraid of what we are facing, she admitted.
Do you have peaceful thoughts too?
She shook her head yes. I think, well, I can walk and I am still reasonably healthy. I am just grateful and want to keep on going for as long as I can. I've got tons of friends all about the same age and we can commiserate with each other.
Do you have a bucket list?
I do not have a bucket list, she laughed. I want to take it as it comes.
It has been a pleasure talking with you, Jean. Thanks so much.
You too and good luck.
Ed Pratt is a retired aircraft mechanic. His answers tended to be more pragmatic.
Oh, yeah, I think about an expiration date, he said.
How so? Can you be more specific?
Well, if you make it to 85 you are doing well, he surmised. Anything above that is fantastic.
Do you have longevity on your side?
In a way, Ed said. My mother lived to be in her 90s, but, I don't expect to make it that far. I have to have my faculties because without that, I'd just as soon cash out.
When you were among the working elite, who wrote your pay check?
I worked for UPS, Eastern Airlines and some private organizations, he replied.
Did you travel and see the world or were you assigned one place?
Yes, I did move around, he confirmed. I traveled a lot and saw a lot of countries. But, when I retired, I came back to where it all started.
How does Ed Pratt want to be remembered?
They won't remember me anymore than they will remember you, he laughed. Maybe the grandkids, but, that's about it. Almost everybody you knew when you were growing up, they are gone, right?
I haven't really thought about it that way, but, I suppose it is accurate to say we won't be remembered beyond grandkids. How about a bucket list? Do you have one?
Not anymore, he sighed. I did at one time, but, I'd rather use my money to survive on and not waste it on travel or other stuff.
Ed, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Yes sir, he smiled. I enjoyed talking to you.
Coming up: another oddities, observations & ?'s; lunch with the George Brothers; a conversation with POS; an interview with a motorcycle outlaw turned evangelist, plus what did two brothers, 11 and 9 think of the Olympics?.
And, finally. Jack Benny and Jerry Seinfeld are my two favorite comedians. I am borrowing this quote from Benny:
Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
HUH? What's up with that?
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