This Christmas, Santa brought the kiddo a few old school Transformers pins for her denim vest. Her great aunt bought her a blinged out Autobot necklace.

She loves the new Transformers movies, and she also has a thing for Bumblebee style Camaro’s.

The funny thing is she’s never seen the original Transformers movie or the TV series.  Mr. HIH decided it was time for her to see where the Autobot action originated. Tonight, he’s giving her a Transformers history 101 class while they’re watching the movie.

My brother is 32 and he doesn’t like the new Transformers movies. He remains faithful to the original robots in disguise. How about you? Did you like the new Transformers movies or are you old school? Maybe both?

Check out this blast from the past, be sure to notice the awesome voice over cast:

Last night Mr. HIH installed a new microwave. Our old one stopped working weeks ago after an instant oatmeal incident.

He decided to buy the same exact model thinking it would be easy to install over the oven. Little did he know the manufacturer decided to change the outer design so that meant, realligning, and re-drilling holes in the cabinets. After hours of things not going well, Mr. HIH started to sound like the dad on A Christmas Story. Finally after a tough night of Tim the Toolman style work the new microwave is operational.

This morning we chose a bag of Orville’s microwavable popcorn for breakfast. We have an air popper but it’s just not the same thing. There’s no fake butter smell, and no artificial ingredients to savor. I could go into a rant about how much fiber popcorn has, even if it’s microwavable or how it can be used as part of your daily grain intake but it would never be as entertaining as Bill Cosby’s Chocolate Cake speech. Click here for Cosby’s Chocolate Cake vid.

Some of you might think using an air popper is Old School but I remember my mom popping corn on the stove.

All you cartoon and commercial voice over experts out there, who does the voice of that big popcorn piece? Anyone?

I was a kid in the 70’s and although I don’t miss the rabbit ears on my parents TV, getting up to change one of our 5 channels or polyester pants and shirts with starched collars, I do miss a few things. Here are five of the things I miss most from the 1970’s.

Marathon Bars

Whenever I got a chance and a few coins in my pocket I’d get on my bike and ride to the nearest corner store to pick up this delectable candy treat. These days, I’d have to go to the United Kingdom or Australia for a Curly Wurly which has the same braided chocolate caramel but I’d miss the cool ruler on the side of the wrapper.

The Marathon Bar I’m talking about should not be confused with the Marathon Bar that is what’s now named Snickers. Love the Mork suspenders on this UK ad for Snickers when it was called Marathon.

Gum Without Artificial Sweeteners

My favorite gum was always Fruit Stripe. The sweet burst of flavor, the bright striped colors, and of course the cute zebra, made this the perfect gum for kids. Luckily you can still chew Fruit Stripe and it’s really one of the only gums that doesn’t have an artificial sweetener. Next time you stand at the check out line browse through the gum ingredients and even if you see sugar on the label you most likely will find phenalynaline, sucralose or aspartame.

I know Jack LaLanne would say no to gum all together but I say no to gum with artificial ingredients. It’s a start anyway.

Glass Coca Cola Bottles

Alright I know first sugar in gum and now sugar in Coca Cola. The sugar is the least of my worries, ever since my first taste of Sweet Tea I’ve loved that bold caffeine flavor, not to mention the slightly hyper effect it gives me.

There was something so wonderful about carrying around a big glass Coca Cola bottle, especially on a hot summer day. I consumed enough of these to stunt my growth at least a couple inches.

I saw the old school bottles being sold at Costco but they were imports from Mexico made with pure cane sugar and were very expensive. What the world needs now is Coke in a glass bottle, and more apple trees and honey bees.

Rollerskate Rinks

Oh how I loved my roller skates. I’m not a great roller skater now but I could roll with the best of them back in the day. I watched The Facts of Life just so I could live vicariously through Tootie being allowed to skate inside the house. Check out this great 8mm clip from YouTube user alecwally23. His sister made it in the 70’s for a class project in high school.

Disco

Ahh how I loved doing the hustle in my bedroom lip synching to my K-Tel records. I really believed I would grow up to disco the night away at Studio 54 with the Solid Gold dancers and Miss Piggy. Unfortunately by the time I was 18 disco was dead and I couldn’t afford a ticket to NY anyway. Instead I was in Tijuana, Mexico dancing to Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.

For those of you who don’t think you can dance disco, feel free to practice at home along with this video: