…you’re stopped for a train and see the Conrail logo and in your mind’s eye you can see the Chessie kitty.
(The C&O Railroad’s Chessie for all you youngun’s.)
I like Chessie! But I’m not that old.
We lived down the road from the railroad tracks, and my dad used to run out the door to count the cars on the train. He also ran out of the house every time he heard an airplane, so he could see what kind of plane it was.
My family’s a little odd. 
You go on Spring Break and realize that the last time you were on Spring Break was exactly one decade ago.
You need to use your reading glasses because the lettering in the comic books are getting too damn small.
Heh. That happened to me years ago.
–Cliffy
Posted by kittenblue
Thank you!
Years ago, when I went to school in upstate New York, I saw all the trains with the Chessie symbol on them. The thing was, this was when they went to a symbol that was a capital “C” with the interior done in a silhouette of this cat. If you never saw the original picture, you’d have no idea what it was supposed to be. At first I thought the paint inside the “C” had cracked off, but I shrewdly realized that they all couldn’t have flaked off in the same way.
On the other hand, if it was supposed to be a silhouette, I couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be a silhouette of. It looked like a flattened and misshapen cat more than anything else. But it didn’t relly look like that, either.
Then I read about it on James lileks’ site (www.lileks.com . I’d link to the exact page, but the system here won’t let me open it), where I learned that it was a sleeping kittn, on a pillow, and partly covered up. But, of course, he didn’t give a picture. And all my efforts to find a picture of the pre-silhouette Chessie using Search engines came to nought.
So, finally, I get to see what that damned cat really looks like.
In case you’re wondering, you can see the silhouette below on this page: http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dchessie%2Blogo%26toggle%3D1%26ei%3DUTF-8&h=124&w=200&imgcurl=www.swapmeetdave.com%2FHumor%2FCats%2FChessieLogo.jpg&imgurl=www.swapmeetdave.com%2FHumor%2FCats%2FChessieLogo.jpg&size=9.4kB&name=ChessieLogo.jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.swapmeetdave.com%2FHumor%2FCats%2FChessie.htm&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.swapmeetdave.com%2FHumor%2FCats%2FChessie.htm&p=chessie+logo&type=jpeg&no=3&tt=98&fr=FP-tab-web-t
For some reason now the WEb seems awash in explicit Chessies. But the last time I looked, I couldn’t find a single one.
You know you’re old when your grandchildren have grandchildren - not a second before.
Keeping the railroad theme, you know you’re old when you remember there was an actual “Wabash Cannonball,” not just a bluegrass song.
You stop at a store counter and see the cigarette “born by” date sign says 1987 and you think “hell, I lost a lot of money in the market that year.” Then you see the beer “born by” date says "1984 and you think “hey, I voted in that election.”
The college interns come into your office for their first day of work and your first thought is that it’s bring your kid to work day.
You watch the Olympics and most athletes are half your age.
You meet up with a wild buddy from college that you haven’t seen in forever. Not only does she have kids–some are driving!
You avoid going certain places around Spring Break time because it’s much to crowded, too noisey, and there are too many kids.
In my father-in-law’s last year (he was 94,) he told me, “I guess I’m getting old. My friends ask me how I’ve been, and I can’t remember.”
Thanks all for posting the origins of the Chessie cat. I always wondered why the stylized cat. I have no idea what the hell the new logo is supposed to be for Conrail.
You know you’re old when you can remember dialing your phone number at home, hanging up, and having your phone ring.
You know you’re old when you realize that when your hubby tells you that your breasts are like ripe fruits, he’s thinking of bananas.
I had no idea that was supposed to be a cat. I’d figure the paint was flaking, only there’d be another one.
You know you’re old when you can still remember renting your phone from the phone company.
You remember the first time you ever owned a remote control TV (and you were an adult).
You still say “______ has a new record out…”
The stars of your favorite sitcom as a child are either dead or walking very slowly at the TV LAND awards.
You increasingly tell young people “when I was your age…” before you can stop yourself. And the people you’re telling this to have kids in school.
Hmmmm…you’re old when you think you are, or…
When you work for fun, or the wife has said “Get out of the house! You’re underfoot all day long after retirement!” Disclaimer - my wife has never said anything like this.
When you recognise a '69 Chevy Malibu ('cause it was the first car you bought brand new) and then on the way to that job mentioned above, you think about how you thought your father-in-law was an old fogie when he reministed about his 1920 Ford…same 40 year interval…pretty much.
When you look at the ladies, and think "She really has a nice (fill in blank), but she is sooooo young…I shouldn’t be looking…but you do anyway.
BTW, thank you to all of the so very nice ladies who may or may not have seen this old geezer just taking a look and feeling young again.
I remember seeing the Chessie freight cars when I was a kid - in Arizona on the Southern Pacific line. I didn’t see a cat. I figured it must be a nickname for Chesapeake Bay, a notion that would have been corrected if I had ever cracked open an atlas.
…you watch a commercial showing the results of a weight-loss product; And you think the chick in the “before” picture looks pretty hot.