Can you imagine how atrophied his muscles must be? Alot more than your average programmer, I''m sure!

Hmmm, let me think back to 1984....

VCR''s were still mostly the top-loading kind rather than the "push-through-the-front" that you see today. Ohh, and Beta was still alive and kicking.

Atari 5200''s and Intellivision''s were the rage, and if you had a cool dad, you might have a Sinclair.

Microwaves were just starting to become affordable...but in the multi-hundred dollar range.

Rotary phones were giving away to pulse based phones, but you could still find rotary phones in homes (you all DO know what an analog rotary phone is don''t you??)

CD''s were available...if you were rich. Early CD players cost a few hundred bucks...even into late 80''s they were well over $100

If you were cool and had an X86 (or more likely an 8088 from Tandy) computer, you got to play with different shades of monochrome green!! Go Hercules graphics!

Remote Controls on TV''s were available, but would set you back about a hundred or more compared to manual TV sets.

GI Joe and the Transformers ruled the cartoons, and they showed G-Force early in the mornings too.

The Return of the Jedi came out in 1983, so we were still playing with those toys.

We grew up scared thinking that the bomb could fall any day.

IIRC, Gorby wasn''t in power yet (still Breshnev I think), so Glastnost and Perestroika hadn''t taken place yet....those commie bastards. Lech Walesa (sp?) was trying to rally support to free Poland with his solidarity party. The Warsaw Pact was still big and strong.

Duran Duran was all the rage with the chicks.

Jeeez....I''m getting old.

Ohhh....and we had to write our papers on typewriters. Even dot-matrix or daisy Wheel printers were extremely rare (you guys do know what typewriters are don''t you...or dot-matrix printers?)

You know, despite all the changes in technology in the last 20 years, life doesn''t feel that much different. Sure, we all have cell phones now so meeting up with people is ten times easier, and email and the internet has changed how we do our shopping and getting information, by as for day-to-day living? I don''t think it''s changed all that much.

We still watch TV, we still go to the movies, we still ride bikes, we still drive to work in cars or the subways, airplanes aren''t any faster, and it''s still a pain in the ass to go grocery shopping. What amazes me is that I think "wow, 1983 was 20 years ago....but damn, 1963 was 20 years ago compared to 1983!!" and that blows my mind. I mean I lived in 1983 and remember it well and back in ''83 I always thought 1963 was like in another epoch. Now I look back 20 years and think..."geez, somethings have changed alot, and somethings haven''t changed at all".

That poor dude is in for a bit of a shock. In some ways it will be like nothing''s changed, but when it comes to technology he''ll be so far behind. Not to mention his education. Assuming he was kid when he was in the accident, he''s got a lot of catching up to do. He''ll physically have the body of an adult, but still the emotional level of a child. I feel really sorry for him actually.

Don''t you wish you could be around him when he views all of the technological marvels since 84? To see the likely overwhelmingly surprised expression on his face would be priceless!

Gee, it sure would suck to lose out on 19 years of life, though.

My entire life has taken place during someone''s coma.

Or... what if I am really in a coma, and this has all just been a fiction of my imagination? DUUUUUUUUUUDE, that''s SO DEEP!