Path: reader4.news.rcn.net!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!default From: seiler@ma.ultranet.com (Scott Eiler) Newsgroups: alt.support.childfree Subject: Re: Where were you when (was Re: Defining Boomers, Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 01:43:05 GMT Organization: Eiler Technical Enterprises Lines: 68 In article <397c32df.0@news.syr.edu>, the robotic servitors of edlauzon@syr.edu rose up with the following chant: >Speaking of where were you when . . . > >- President Reagan was shot As I often say to sports trivia questions, the correct answer is "who the hell cares". >- Space Shuttle blew up Probably at work, so I heard about it later. >- Gulf war starts *That* I remember. When Iraq first started threatening Kuwait, I was on a plane home from Berlin, talking with seatmates about whom America would probably oppose next, now that The Commies were leaving the picture. I'd claim partial credit for guessing "The Arabs", except most Arab governments were on our side. When the bombing started, I was visiting my (pacifist) sister. I took great pleasure in turning on the New York City radio news station and saying, "They should be hitting Baghdad right about now..." When George Bush visited the Raytheon plant which produced the Patriot missile, I was at a Raytheon plant, watching over closed-circuit TV. When the offensive started, I was at a convention, in a room full of wargamers. We cheered. >Funny how here I am living in the video/tv age and all the "big" events of >the 80's and 90's I first heard on the radio. Odd. I still get most of my news from the radio. My biggies are: 1. The night John Lennon died. I was in a college dormitory in East Lansing, Michigan, and I heard by radio. The hard rock station in town immediately started playing nothing but John Lennon. So did the soft rock station. 2. The day Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down over the Soviet Union. I was working at GTE Strategic Systems on the MX Missile. (Dontcha just love Reaganomics.) We had numerous Air Force visitors, and I was shuttling between plants in a van with some of them, when the announcement came over the car radio. The Air Force representatives immediately remarked what dumb shits the Soviets were. Speaking of which, that's where I was working, when I was first asked what I was doing when JFK died. And I was the first person who ever answered to them, "How should I know, I was two years old". 3. The day the Berlin Wall fell. I was on vacation in the Bahamas, sitting by the pool with a Walkman, following the whole thing on BBC World Service, and wishing I were in Berlin to see it. Which leads me to my Berlin vacation, which leads me back to where I was during Desert Shield. And why could I go to these places, even ten years ago, without having to arrange for childcare? Yes, I know, it's a trick question. -------- Scott Eiler B{D> -------- http://www.ultranet.com/~seiler The two things most often said about Lincoln (Nebraska) are it's very clean and it's a great place to raise children. If reproduction is not your aim, at least you won't step in anything distasteful. -- From the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy entry on Lincoln, Nebraska, USA (http://www.h2g2.com/A296165).