why is it...

[TAB]

that i can remember part numbers, brands and vendor of something I order 1 time for a customer 15 years ago.  but for the life of me i cant remember where the hell i put my tape measure. i know i have dozens of them in my garage and probably 3 in my truck, but i cant find the one i keep in the junk drawer.   i was using it yesterday.

trying to buy a new washer and dryer, but my space is pretty tight(  not the space for them, but the opening to get them thru to get too it.

[MikeBjerum]

Our daughter and I took a quick trip back to Minnesota for the memorial service for my Aunt/Godmother last month. After the service we went over to another Aunt's home to visit. Several of my cousins were there, and we were telling stories. I am the oldest of the grandchildren, and my mom was the oldest of the family, so I got to learn a lot from the older generations.

As we were talking I would talk about something, and after a while one of my cousins asked how I could remember so much, in detail, from so long ago. I told her it was easy, but I sure wish I could remember what I had for breakfast today.

[Big Frank]

Most of the time I can remember 13 digit NSNs for 3 M60 machine gun parts because I had to order the same thing over and ever and over again 42 years ago. But I can barely remember my 7 digit cell phone number because I never call myself. The funny thing is, a lot of folks who are getting older still remember the phone numbers we had when we were kids. I remember that the first 2 digits were LETTERS of a word, not just numbers. Mine was CEdar 3-6089. CE is 23, so it was 233-6089. My short-term memory has gone to s**t.

[alfsauve]

My family’s phone number was 79. Party line so we only answered if it was 4 short rings.  As a kid I’d pick up the phone and a friendly operator would ask, “Number, please?”.  I’d just say that I wanted to talk to my daddy. Sometimes she’d tell me that he was over at the post office and that I should try again in 30 minutes. She had a window overlooking the important places, like the PO, the Barber Shop, the Drug Store and the courthouse. 

The next number we had, my parents kept for over 50 years.  I’ve had my home number for 45 and my cell phone for over 30.  I can remember my Service Number, which was not my SSN.  I also remember the first programming codes I ever used. 710 301.  It was the original instructions for Halt and Catch Fire on an automated tester developed for the Hounddog Missle. And yes I remember the tester model number, GSM133.

[Rastus]

Party lines.  How I do remember that misery.  We had some precocious girls who had to keep the line burnt up and busy....and they were/are ugly.  I vaguely remember my dad threatening their dad that if it cost my dad a job there would be hell to pay...things became immediately better.  Repeatedly asking nice did not work.... but the can of whoop ass on the shelf worked first time.

[Sponsor]

[TAB]

When I think of party lines I cant help but think of pillow talk.

[Big Frank]

When I think of party lines I cant help but think of pillow talk.

Dial 1-900-SEX-CHAT to party with hot girls.   My uncles in the U.P. had a party line. One time when the phone rang I went to answer it and they said it wasn't for them. I didn't know how they knew that, or why their phone was ringing if no one was calling them, but they told me it was a party line. I don't remember anyone else ever having one other than that one on the farm. Party lines were good for eavesdropping on your neighbors and getting all the gossip, like in this Norman Rockwell painting from 1919.

[PegLeg45]

I have a lot of numbers memorized ... several credit cards, bank routing numbers,  checking account etc.....but lose tape measures, sharpies and reading glasses all the time.

[MikeBjerum]

I have heard that we have a finite amount of memory space in our brain. Once we max out, every new bit of information remembered causes something old to be deleted.  It must be true, because I heard a great joke today, and I forgot my wife's name.

[Big Frank]

I recently lost a pair of sunglasses while out shopping. I went back to the medical lab where I was before I went shopping and asked if anyone had turned in a pair of sunglasses. The phlebotomist said, you mean the ones right here, and motioned at her neck. I had them hanging on the front of my shirt collar. The really weird thing about it was it was the first time I wore that shirt. It has spandex or something in it and held the sunglasses perfectly still when I moved around. I didn't have the front of the collar slit open like most of my T-shirts that have neck holes too small for me, and the sunglasses were right up against my neck. But I couldn't feel them at all.