Flashback Friday....Once upon a time, in a land before the iphone...

My recent ramblings about technology made me go looking for evidence that once upon a time we actually had to write, type, lick, stamp, mail, dial, talk, load, click, wind, rewind, carry, develop, project, flip (the record), record, dub, mix, burn and actually learn how to do this all and gasp, be talented to make things read, look and sound good.

The Proof is in the Archives:

Before Texting,  Shelby's Great Grandma wrote letters:

 Before there was the quick email...we dropped a post card:

And for the really important news, there was this, the grandfather of instant messaging:

To get to where we were going we used a map:

then we had "girls":

now we never have to stop for directions:

and if you can't just get in the car and go?
No problem, bridge the miles using the world wide web.

These two were experts, long before FaceTime:

Cody's Grandma and mom learned on this:

and then he learned on this:

And do you think Drew's love for video games 

was inherited from Jeremy and the boys?

 Think again.

Here we see who really is behind Drew's love of Super Mario:

another future Vander in-law shows his Game Boy grin:

Pre-pod:

Josh and the Hi-fi

Sister Susie and the Brownie:

Dave and the Single Lens Reflex:

Nancy and the trusty AE-1:

Patty and the Digital SLR

Susie making 8mm home movies:

(note the 126 insta-matic on the console television)

Verna reporting the news with portable VHS camera:

 Darold lightens the load with the camcorder:

Susie with the smaller VHS-C

Mike using the 8mm handi-cam:

Jeremy and the mini-dvd camcorder:

dance with nance and the mini-dv camera:

Pre-imovie and Dance with Nance:
Paragon Productions - 12 projector multi-image presentations:

Dance with Nance gets an upgrade to DLP projection:

Dance with Nance gets another (temporary) upgrade:

Janet and the Rotary Phone:

Susie on the 696-0662 Landline:

Junior on the cordless portable:

Mike moves to the Flip phone:

Shel rocks the camera flip phone

Erik show us how we used to take a picture on our camera and make a phone call on our cell:

Now we take a picture with our cell and and let Facebook make the calls:

And I'm okay with that. 

I feel much more up to date and connected to friends and family than I ever have.

It's really amazing to see how our lives have changed just in the past 10-15 years. It's hard to imagine how much farther we can go with this thing called technology...but I have a feeling that the next 10 years are gonna make this blog post look like ancient history.

Directions to here:

Oh and if you decide to call my landline? (Yep. I still have an old school landline).  You'll be happy to know that I'm still rockin' that 696-0662 phone pictured above.

(could not find a picture of anyone using their "car" phones, two ways, or walkmans. And sadly, our collection is really missing anything on vinyl. Feel free to send me pics to add, if you have any).

Happy Birthday Day to Nephew #1 !!

Everyday is a Winding Road....and sometimes you Crash.

Ever since I've been driving down the technology road with the computer that YOU probably helped give to me,
I've been lucky enough to evade a crash.

Since that first iMac, I have driven 4 computers and have passed thousands of photos and hundreds of thousands of video edits thru the road and world of 1's and 0's ("cause it's all one and zeros," right Joshua)?

Fortunately, I have always flipped or traded away the machines, before they gave out on me and left me stranded by the roadside.

That was until this last one.

me, holding my tongue just right...

I knew that it was time to give its engine either an overhaul or a parting out, but I kept driving it despite the noises of a dying fan (you can ask Susie what that sounded like) and a screen that would only work right when plugged into an external monitor OR if you held your tongue just right and pressed on the battery just right while starting it up.

I had started shopping, but I didn't get it replaced in time before I had to take it on one last trip where I would be driving it long distances, over hard winding roads to get this year's family Christmas video done.
It plowed thru and got me to that destination and then, while we were at the border between 2012 and 2013, it decided that it had done enough traveling and on a very simple stretch of road (sending an email) it turned down an unmarked road, maybe even a dead end and....crashed.
Yep, in the wee hours of the morning of December 31, it ran out of gas and seems to have blown a gasket. It never actually crashed, it just slipped into neutral. I had to do a hard shut down and when I turned it back on, the engine was separated from the body. They are both still working and running, they just can't seem to find each other.

I've tried to walk away from the crash unharmed...
and believe me it could have been much worse...
This memory keeper has preached to you about driving safely and wearing your seat belts by backing up your pictures and precious cargo. Fortunately, I think I have practiced what I preached and had most everything backed up.
Well, sort of...
somewhere along the road, I never seemed to get my music backed up...
but most of that is still on my ipod.
There are some documents that didn't make it into the garage of the external hard drive...
and there is this folder named "stuff to file..." that is sort of a rest stop. I put stuff there until I'm done with it or figure out where to park it and that folder is haunting me. I keep telling myself, if I can't remember what was in there that I may need, do I really need it? Or, more likely, I will only remember what was in there, when I need it and don't have it. (much like that stupid insurance card and or current registration that never seems to be in the right place when someone important is standing next to your car asking for it).

So the wondering was making me crazy, so I took it to the Mac Mechanics...
but, much like many mechanics that I've met (especially in Carmel), they don't want to fix it 'cause "it's too old...and not worth fixing." Or don't want to do the work that it would take to recover the information and if they did, it would very expensive. hmmm.

So, I'm following my DIY Dad and brothers and seeing if I can do it myself.
I've put the old macbook pro up on blocks and I'm currently running a program on the crashed computer that "might" be able to recover "some" files.
I started it last Friday nite and it has been running non-stop for 120 hours and is currently 87% done
scanning the hard drive that the Pros said was dead. Of course this is only step 1 of 3 steps.
We shall see if it will give anything up.

During all of this, I was computer-less, but not completely out of luck. Thank God for my Brothers and Sisters, who must have been able to see into the future, as they gave me an ipad mini for Christmas and it got me thru the transition time.

If you follow Apple and their latest problems of making announcements, but not being able to keep up with the demand of said announcements, you will know, of course, it was the worst time to buy a iMac.
I had decided that I wanted to go back to a desktop and use the ipad for on the go. I wanted the gorgeous 27" screen version, but the new ones were out of stock...which drove the older ones, the version I actually wanted, up in price.

After much ebay stalking, I ended up deciding to stick with a laptop and maybe will spring for that display later.

So what have I learned?
Check the oil and water.
If you hear a noise, don't ignore it.
and, if you are overheating, don't keep driving!
And that Crashes are painful.

But most of all, it has been a real eye opener to see how intricately woven this thing called technology is in my/our lives.

The ipad was great, but it looked different, had a learning curve and did not have all my info and pics loaded onto it.

I had no idea how rewired my mind had become and how much it involved using my computer for thinking about and getting things done.

Everything from googling stuff, communicating, moving money around, googling stuff, story telling, socializing, googling stuff, cooking, writing, googling stuff, working, selling stuff, buying stuff, googling stuff, remembering stuff, making stuff, googling stuff, researching, giving gifts, googling stuff, listening to music, watching stuff and google, google, googling stuff.

I felt like I was on a road with no landmarks, no maps, no mile markers, nothing.



Most of you know what I mean.
You all know I'm a little behind the curve when it comes to using a "Big Girl Phone."
I'm just not there, yet.
But if you replaced "your phone" in the above scenario...meaning how you are when you lose your phone or it crashes. Yep. That's how I've been since the computer crash.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this.
I hate to be so dependent on a "thing."

But...

Technology is amazing.
It's changed our lives.
I can remember mom sitting at the kitchen table listening to us talk about this new thing called email.
She laughed at the lingo...we were using. When we told her the computer says "you've got mail, " she said "what, does it put a little flag up...like on a mailbox?"

Oh, Mom...what would you think of Facebook?
Or what would you think of this:

I know she would love it, because it puts all her children in touch with each other : )

It really has changed our lives. The way we get stuff done. The way we think. The way we remember.
For example, it has totally rewired the way I remember events...
When wondering when something happened, I mentally going thru my iphoto library (just ask Sandy...when I say..."2005...definitely, 2005"...it's because I can close my eyes and see the pictures lined up in chronological order in iphoto).

However, it was a little alarming to see just how much I'm addicted to the Internet and how much I really need to use a calculator to do simple math : /

And how much I can't remember, by just using my memory alone.

But, it is here to stay.
In the world of phones that never leave our hand, flash drives that are bigger than our first computer,

 laptops, desktops, ipads and 4 year olds that can navigate an  ipod touch even before they can read....

it's not gonna slow down or turn back.
I wonder what these kids are going to be telling us around the kitchen table in 20 years!


At any rate, I have a new computer...
It's shiny and near new, but there have already been some bumps in the road.
Where the old computer was too old to use newer software...
This one is too new to use the older hardware....
It's a catch 22.

But it is what it is....

...and everyday is a winding road and I can't imagine traveling down this road without it!


Directions to here:

Now, go back up your photos!

So............

Um...

and, um.....

March!

Directions to here:

Thanks Ed, for reminding me I have a Blog!

Ruby Tuesday...

To borrow a phrase from Sister Susie....

"It's not Strange..."

Well, maybe a little.
Ok. Maybe it is strange, but I'm glad I don't mind being strange.

I'm talking about going to a funeral for someone I have never met.

Have you ever done that?

I was headed up to Lowell for Garland's funeral anyway, so I decided to just come up a day early and go to Marcia's service as well.

In the time that I had figured out who she was and how we were related, I had talked to Ruby and heard her memories of Marcia and her family. She called Marcia's dad, Uncle Lew and had fond memories of going to their house and ice skating on Red Wing Lake.

I did a search on the Lowell Library site and found an article about Marcia's dad (our Great Uncle) and the various work and businesses he owned. One of them mentioned a Fox Farm on Red Wing Lake, which I read was on Holtz Road.

Now, here is where I fail as a historian and a memory keeper. Being the youngest and having moved away from Lowell, forgive me, but I did not know that there was a lake on Holtz Road. I asked Susie if she knew where Red Wing Lake was on Holtz Road and she gave me her "uh, yaaah." response.

So, Marcia inherited, Red Wing Lake...yes THAT lake on Holtz road that everyone in Lowell knows about except for me. I then figured out that it is next door to where Mrs. Hoshaw lived and that Marcia owned the mobile homes that were lined up on Holtz Road and she was Blanche's landlord. I learned from Mike, that Marcia's mom started working at Hardings when she was in her 60's and worked there several years, well into her 80's, I believe.

I went to her funeral service, expecting a small, short service.
I don't know what compelled me...other than the need to represent our family and to pay my respects and honor her in her passing, since I had not met her while living.

It was a little strange, but oh, my goodness, I am SO glad I went.

It was a small crowd.
I recognized only a couple faces.
She had been cremated, so there was just a picture up near a floral arrangements.
There were a couple cousins in town from out of State and I believe, a nephew who spoke.
And a lady named Roberta Thomas gave the Eulogy.

I understand that Roberta was first a family friend, I believe a neighbor and later, also had Marcia for a patient.
She gave a wonderful tribute to Marcia.
Starting from the very beginning of her life, all the way to her last moments on her deathbed, she told Marcia's story, with facts, tenderness, humor and love.
What a gift!
When I left I felt as if I really knew Marcia.
I went in very sad that I had not met her. Very sad that I would never know her or her story.
I left her service, feeling as tho I DID know her.
Still, sad that I did not get to meet her and hear these stories from her, but I was very, very glad I went.

So, even tho it is a little Strange, I'm glad that Strange does not keep me from doing what my heart tells me to do.
I'm glad I went and can now say that I feel I know Marcia...and as a long lost cousin can introduce her to you, here....and hopefully honor her life and her memory.

and That's not Strange.

Marcia A. Shurte
94, of Lowell, IN, passed away Friday, June 8, 2012 at Lowell Health Care Center. She is survived by cousins, Mary Ann (Jack) Kelly and Jim Burroughs, both of Sun City West, AZ and longtime friends Ernest and Jean Hausmann, Roberta Thomas, Paul Ackerman and their families. She was preceded in death by her lifelong friend, Elma "Johnnie" Johnson. Marcia was a 1936 graduate of Lowell High School, receiving her Bachelor's Degree from Ball State University and Master's Degree from University of IL; she was a retired Teacher from Crystal Lake, IL School System. Marcia was very giving to friends and family. She donated to many charitable organizations and was known for her kindness. Cremation will precede Visitation, July 6th from 10-11, concluding with a Memorial Service at 11AM, all at Sheets Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 604 E. Commercial Ave. in Lowell. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to, Roberta Thomas, 625 Gatewood Dr. in Lowell for the Lowell Health Care Center Garden Beautification Program. 

Directions to here: 

Go here to see more pictures of Marcia's life.

Flashback Friday...Lowellians

Stopped by the Lowell Library to see if I could find more pictures of Marcia Shurte.

They have a great Indiana and local interest collection which includes several Lowellian Yearbooks.

Found several pictures of Marcia and many other family members.

Always fun to discover pictures I've never seen before.

 Especially love these two

Lowell Red Devils

Ruby Tuesday...

I was writing the blog post about Pauline Sioris and went to Sheets' website to copy her obituary and saw her picture.

No, not of Pauline.

I saw her picture and I didn't even have to see the name to know that we were related.
She looks THAT much like many of our other family members.

I saw the obituary for Marcia Shurte.

We are related to the Shurtes on the both theVandercar and Tilton side of the family.
Great Grandma Hattie (Grandpa George's mother) was a Shurte.
Great Aunt Alice (Uncle Keith Dinwiddie's mother) was a Shurte.
(I've covered all of this in a post about why Ruby looks so much like Aunt Lulu).

Hattie and Alice also had a brother named William Franklin, our Great Uncle.
He had a son named Lewis.
Lewis had a daughter named Marcia.

So Hattie ➝  George ➝ Bob

     Alice ➝   Keith    ➝ Ruby

     William ➝ Lewis ➝ Marcia

And this is why Marcia looked so familiar.
She looks a lot like Great Grandma Vandercar...and Aunt Lulu...and Pauline...and Ruby...
so you can see why I recognized her.

Recognized, but alas I did not know her.

And here is where I let out a great big heavy sigh.
Because, I can't believe she lived so long...
and I can't believe she was right there in Lowell, right there on Holtz road, that she was even Mrs. Hoshaw's landlord and I didn't even know about her.

She would have known lots of PEOPLE and lots of PLACES and lots of STORIES that I would have LOVED to hear about.

Flashback Friday....Real World 101

I started my senior year in high school and without my asking, Dad starting shopping for a used car for me.

I suppose my after school schedule of every night play practice and yearbook was wearing mom and the family car out.

After we found the car (that's another Flashback for a different Friday), I was told, "now you need to get a job."

I wasn't quite sure how to fit a job into the crazy senior schedule, and I really don't remember any of the details of how I found it, but my first real job, with a real boss (I'm not counting working at the station for Dad here)...was at the Stuckey's at I-65.

I only worked a few hours during the week and on the weekends.

A couple girls from school worked there and I think some of the Merkel kids had worked there. (Maybe Aunt Maxine suggested it)??

I really wasn't thrilled about working with fast food. I didn't want to see my friends come in and have fun, while I was working. Honestly, I didn't want ANYONE I knew to see me in the awful polyester uniform and the ridiculous hat I had to wear.

I found out soon enough, that I had nothing to worry about.
The snack bar wasn't tempting enough to the locals.
Gas was always a little higher than the Truck Stop and all we ever saw all day long, were travelers. People on the way to or on the way home from somewhere else. 

Stuckey's was a unique company.

Most of the buildings were shaped alike.

An A-Frame type building with very high ceilings. Almost Cathedral looking.

They were also unique in that most of the managers were transplants from other areas. They would move managers around to various stores. Housing was provided. Each one of these stores had an apartment attached to the building. You walked into the back store room and there was the door to the apartment. I don't think it had an outside entrance.

This is where my first boss, Jim, lived with his wife Alice.

Jim and Alice.
They were an odd couple. Jim was a little man who was very quiet and calculating.
Alice was a heavy smoker who would come out of the apartment, cigarette in hand screeching "J-e-e-m." Her lipstick was bright red and always a little larger than her actual mouth.

I can remember Jim being sorta nit picky. The kind of boss that wants things a certain way, but never bothers to tell you what that way is...until he's telling you what you did is not that (right) way.
But, I don't think any of us had any major problems with him. It's just that he was the boss, we were not.

I still remember the day that he showed up.
Jim and Alice had been running us in circles all week long, getting ready for a visit from the District manager. There was a lot wrong with that store. It had been opened a long time. The bathrooms were not updated and pretty bad. Not dirty, but never clean looking...just worn out. There was flooding all the time due to the building sitting lower than Rt. 2. Neither Jim nor Alice seemed to make any extra effort to fix any of these things. That was until these visits...then it was lots of band aids and things done that we normally didn't do.

I was standing by the register in the snack bar when he arrived.
A handsome white haired man in a navy blue blazer with tan pants.
Jim scurried up to the door to meet him.

They exchanged hand shakes, a bit of small talk and headed toward the snack bar. There was a unspoken silent, "don't you dare mess up his order" threat from Jim in the air.
Jim turned to me and said "This is one of our new girls, Nancy Vandercar...Nancy this is our District Manager, Garland Fish."
Before I could get a "hello, nice to meet you"out, Garland turned to Jim and said, "Oh, I know who she is, Nancy and I go way back, don't we Nance?" He said to me with a wink. I was a little surprised, but this was not anything unusual in my life. Having grown up living behind the Log Cabin, the local Social hang out for the community, I often had people that I didn't know telling me "I remember when you were this tall." I figured that Garland was a customer of Dad's and he probably knew me from the station.

So neither Garland nor I was surprised, but poor Jim.
He looked as tho his goose had been cooked. I'm not sure if he was proud to have hired someone Garland approved of, or scared that I might give all his secrets away to his boss that I go "way back" with.

It was at that moment, that Garland Fish taught me my first lesson of working in the real world.
Sometimes...it's not what you know, but who you know.

Let's just say, my life got a lot easier at Stuckey's after Jim found out that I knew the District Manager and the District Manager knew me!