> The Washington Post Report from Week 228, in which you were asked to
> tell Gen-Xers how much harder you had it in the old days:
>
> > Second Runner-Up:
> >
> >     In my day, we couldn't afford shoes, so we went barefoot. In the
> >     winter we had to wrap our feet with barbed wire for traction.
> >
> >         (Bill Flavin, Alexandria)
> >
> > First Runner-Up:
> >
> >     In my day we didn't have MTV or in-line skates, or any of that
> >     stuff. No, it was 45s and regular old metal-wheeled roller
> >     skates, and the 45s always skipped, so to get them to play right
> >     you'd weigh the needle down with something like quarters, which
> >     we never had because our allowances were way too small, so we'd
> >     use our skate keys instead and end up forgetting they were taped
> >     to the record player arm so that we couldn't adjust our skates,
> >     which didn't really matter because those crummy metal wheels
> >     would kill you if you hit a pebble anyway, and in those days
> >     roads had real pebbles on them, not like today.
> >
> >         (Russell Beland, Springfield)
> >
> > And the winner of the velour bicentennial poster:
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't have no rocks. We had to go down to the
> >     creek and wash our clothes by beating them with our heads.
> >
> >         (Barry Blyveis, Columbia)
> >
> > Honorable Mentions:
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't have dogs or cats. All I had was Silver
> >     Beauty, my beloved paper clip.
> >
> >         (Jennifer Hart, Arlington)
> >
> >     In my day, attitudes were different. For example, women didn't
> >     like sex. At least that is what they told me.
> >
> >         (Tom Witte, Gaithersburg)
> >
> >     When I was your age, we didn't have fake doggie-do. We only had
> >     real doggie-do, and no one thought it was a damn bit funny.
> >
> >         (Brendan Bassett, Columbia)
> >
> >     Back in the 1970s we didn't have the space shuttle to get all
> >     excited about. We had to settle for men walking on the crummy
> >     moon.
> >
> >         (Russell Beland, Springfield)
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't have days. There was only time for work,
> >     time for prayer and time for sleep. The sheriff would go around
> >     and tell everyone when to change.
> >
> >         (Elden Carnahan, Laurel)
> >
> >     In my day, people could only dream of hitchhiking a ride on a
> >     comet.
> >
> >         (David Ronka, Charlottesville)
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't have fancy health-food restaurants. Every
> >     day we ate lots of easily recognizable animal parts, along with
> >     potatoes drenched in melted fat from those animals.  And we're
> >     all as strong as AAGGKK-GAAK Urrgh. Thud.
> >
> >         (Tom Witte, Gaithersburg)
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't have hand-held calculators. We had to do
> >     addition on our fingers. To subtract, we had to have some
> >     fingers amputated.
> >
> >         (Jon Patrick Smith, Washington)
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't get that disembodied, slightly ticked-off
> >     voice saying 'Doors closing.' We got on the train, the doors
> >     closed, and if your hand was sticking out it scraped along the
> >     tunnel all the damn way to the Silver Spring station and it was
> >     a bloody stump at the end. But the base fare was only a dollar.
> >
> >         (Russell Beland, Springfield)
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't have water. We had to smash together our
> >     own hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
> >
> >         (Diana Hugue, Bowie)
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't have Strom Thurmond. Oh, wait. Yes we did.
> >
> >         (Peg Sheeran, Vienna)
> >
> >     Kids today think the world revolves around them. In my day, the
> >     sun revolved around the world, and the world was perched on the
> >     back of a giant tortoise.
> >
> >         (Jonathan Paul, Garrett Park)
> >
> >     In my day, we wore our pants up around our armpits.  Monstrous
> >     wedgies, but we looked snappy.
> >
> >         (Bruce Evans, Washington)
> >
> >     Back in my day, '60 Minutes' wasn't just a bunch of gray-haired
> >     liberal 80-year-old guys. It was a bunch of gray-haired liberal
> >     60-year-old guys.
> >
> >         (Russell Beland, Springfield, & Jerry Pannullo, Kensington)
> >
> >     In my day, we didn't have virtual reality. If a one-eyed
> >     razorback barbarian warrior was chasing you with an ax, you just
> >     had to hope you could outrun him.
> >
> >         (Sarah M. Wolford, Hanover)
> >
> > Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company
> >