This Is Our Minutiae Thread: For Those Pesky Job/Housing/Money/Geography Details

[MaryPatShelby]

10 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Did some mid-Atlantic hospitals still have maternity wards with nurseries in 2008? I thought those were phased out by then. My niece was born in 2006 in a major mid-Atlantic hospital and they had already switched to the "care in mother's room" model by then. I figured whatever affluent NJ hospital Tess was taken to after her birth would have had the same kind of deal.

I had a baby in 1991, and he was with me the whole time.  If there was a nursery, I was unaware of it.  

[ShadowFacts]

11 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Did some mid-Atlantic hospitals still have maternity wards with nurseries in 2008? I thought those were phased out by then. My niece was born in 2006 in a major mid-Atlantic hospital and they had already switched to the "care in mother's room" model by then. I figured whatever affluent NJ hospital Tess was taken to after her birth would have had the same kind of deal.

I visited my niece's newborn 4 years ago in the Midwest, and there was definitely a nursery, where visitors were actually allowed to briefly hold the babies.  It was quiet and dimly lit.  When the babies were not in the nursery, they were in the mothers' rooms.  That way moms could get some rest.  This was a medical college-affiliated hospital, quite modern. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

4 hours ago, ShadowFacts said:

I visited my niece's newborn 4 years ago in the Midwest, and there was definitely a nursery, where visitors were actually allowed to briefly hold the babies.  It was quiet and dimly lit.  When the babies were not in the nursery, they were in the mothers' rooms.  That way moms could get some rest.  This was a medical college-affiliated hospital, quite modern. 

East Coast hospitals still have nurseries now. Not every new mom wants to wake up all night; even if she is nursing, she'd rather the nurse bring the baby in to be fed and then do the diaper changing and soothing back in the nursery. Other new moms may be ill or on heavy pain medication after c-sections and can't be relied on to take care of the baby through the night.

However, visitors can't enter a nursery contains multiple babies, to whom they might spread infection or do who knows what.  A visitor either looks through the window or waits until the baby is in the mom's room and visits there. A grandmother  would not be allowed in a nursery with other babies. They needed a way to have Rebecca address Tess privately. The only way that could have happened in real life, in my opinion, would be in Beth's hospital room, if Beth were asleep and Randall went to the bathroom or stepped out.

Edited November 5, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

A grandmithet would not be allowed in a nursery with other babies.

Depends on the hospital, my parents were allowed in the nursery when my niece was born in 2012.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

20 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

Depends on the hospital, my parents were allowed in the nursery when my niece was born in 2012.

With other babies present? I guess they were not as risk adverse as most hospitals.

[biakbiak]

Just now, ItCouldBeWorse said:

With other babies present? I guess they were not as risk adverse as most hospitals.

Yes, with other babies present. They were also allowed in the NICU with my other niece in 2013 when she was there for 2 1/2 months. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 11/5/2017 at 2:26 PM, biakbiak said:

Yes, with other babies present. They were also allowed in the NICU with my other niece in 2013 when she was there for 2 1/2 months. 

I think the NICU is often different, due to the fact that babies may be there for an extended period of time.  There, they take the time to screen people to make sure they are up-to-date on their inoculations, including chicken pox (or to confirm that they have had it).

Edited November 9, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Violetgoblin6]

7 hours ago, ShadowFacts said:

I visited my niece's newborn 4 years ago in the Midwest, and there was definitely a nursery, where visitors were actually allowed to briefly hold the babies.  It was quiet and dimly lit.  When the babies were not in the nursery, they were in the mothers' rooms.  That way moms could get some rest.  This was a medical college-affiliated hospital, quite modern. 

Outside of Philadelphia, St. Mary's Medical Center had a nursery in 2007. 

[bros402]

Randall is definitely North Jersey, so Tess was probably at St. Barnabas in Short Hills, or maybe they went to St. Peters in New Brunswick.

[methodwriter85]

I didn't go to a football school, but I could have sworn that serious football recruits were already signed by junior year. Eh, oh well. It seems like most shows ignore that.

[biakbiak]

6 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I didn't go to a football school, but I could have sworn that serious football recruits were already signed by junior year. Eh, oh well. It seems like most shows ignore that.

No. National Signing Day is a thing and it's the first time high school seniors sign their letter of intent to declare their colleges, they can give a verbal commitment early but it' not binding in any sport until your a senior.

[PRgal]

Are half-sized lockers common in colder-climate areas in the US?  Lockers at Canadian schools - or at least those in Toronto - are full length (thanks to heavy coats), though you SOMETIMES see 3/4 height lockers (for coats/bags) and then horizontal cubbies with doors, usually for books.

[ShadowFacts]

2 hours ago, PRgal said:

Are half-sized lockers common in colder-climate areas in the US?  Lockers at Canadian schools - or at least those in Toronto - are full length (thanks to heavy coats), though you SOMETIMES see 3/4 height lockers (for coats/bags) and then horizontal cubbies with doors, usually for books.

Not common here in Wisconsin, full size is necessary for coats, boots, whatnot. 

[chocolatine]

3 hours ago, PRgal said:

Are half-sized lockers common in colder-climate areas in the US?  Lockers at Canadian schools - or at least those in Toronto - are full length (thanks to heavy coats), though you SOMETIMES see 3/4 height lockers (for coats/bags) and then horizontal cubbies with doors, usually for books.

I went to high school in suburban NYC my junior year, and our lockers were half-sized. 

[Guest]

No lockers here.  No big coats and they're a security risk, I think.  

[bros402]

I went to high school in suburban NJ - our lockers were full size - there was a little shelf at the top of them you could fit a few books in, though

[califred]

At my kids schools in Cali and NC most kids didn’t even have a locker and the ones I saw were not full size.

I grew up in St Louis and ours weren’t full length either in the 80s/90s

[Scarlett45]

On 11/17/2017 at 0:06 PM, Winston9-DT3 said:

No lockers here.  No big coats and they're a security risk, I think.  

Where do students store their belongings?! How do they stay warm without heavy coats?

[chocolatine]

25 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Where do students store their belongings?! How do they stay warm without heavy coats?

In many countries schools don't have lockers. I went to school in the former Soviet Union, then in Germany, and never had a locker until I went to school in NY for my junior year. Students just carry their school bags and coats with them and hang the coats over the back of their chairs. In Germany we didn't have the hardcover 800-page textbooks that I had at my US high school, and we used slim notebooks instead of binders for our notes and homework, so my bag wasn't very heavy.

[Scarlett45]

1 minute ago, chocolatine said:

In many countries schools don't have lockers. I went to school in the former Soviet Union, then in Germany, and never had a locker until I went to school in NY for my junior year. Students just carry their school bags and coats with them and hang the coats over the back of their chairs. In Germany we didn't have the hardcover 800-page textbooks that I had at my US high school, and we used slim notebooks instead of binders for our notes and homework, so my bag wasn't very heavy.

Ah I see thank you.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Where do students store their belongings?! How do they stay warm without heavy coats?

They carry them in backpacks and it’s the desert.  

[PRgal]

I went to school in Bermuda for a year and middle school-aged students kept books at their homeroom desks, even though they changed classrooms for different classes.  The kids did not use heavy binders for notes, but elementary school style notebooks (or exercise books as they call them there).  We had full sized lockers back at my school in Canada, but only for day students.  Boarders kept books in their rooms.  

[ShortyMac]

My middle school had half-sized lockers and my high school had full-sized.

[Violetgoblin6]

On 11/21/2017 at 7:41 PM, ShortyMac said:

My middle school had half-sized lockers and my high school had full-sized.

Lol. I'm the opposite. My Junior High had full lockers and my very large, suburban Philadelphia high school had half lockers! Couldn't really fit a coat in there. 

[drafan]

Does anyone know if the house (Jack & Rebecca's) is the exterior of the house from either thirtysomething or My So-Called Life?

It could be either, but I'm leaning toward MSCL.

[methodwriter85]

Sophie's name just bugs the shit out of me. I think I knew exactly 1 Sophie who was born in the 80's while I was growing up.

Couldn't they have just named her Jessica or Sarah or something?

[OtterMommy]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

Sophie's name just bugs the shit out of me. I think I knew exactly 1 Sophie who was born in the 80's while I was growing up.

Couldn't they have just named her Jessica or Sarah or something?

My daughter and I were having this exact conversation.  Well, not exactly--my daughter is 8 and has no knowledge of this show.  But we were talking about names that were popular when I was a child.  She asked about Sophie and I honestly could not think of a single peer with that name.  Now, I had a great aunt named Sophie (who was born in 1903) and you can't spit without hitting a Sophie now, but it was definitely not in fashion in the 70s and 80s (at least where I lived).  Jessica, Sarah, Jennifer, Kristen, Kimberly, Carrie....all better choices.

[biakbiak]

It doesn't bother me because there are always names that are extremely popular and peopke still have different names for a lot of reasons. When I was 4 or 5 the popular name was Tiffany to the point that I asked my mother where all the Tiffanys went and when asked what I meant I explained that there a lot of kids my age named Tiffany but I had never met an adult Tifanny but I still had plenty of friends who didnt have popular name and neither did my sister and me (we were always sad because our names were never on tschotkes).

Edited December 24, 2017 by biakbiak

[bros402]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

Sophie's name just bugs the shit out of me. I think I knew exactly 1 Sophie who was born in the 80's while I was growing up.

Couldn't they have just named her Jessica or Sarah or something?

Let's check social security!

 

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

 

So, the twins were born 1980, let's just look at 1979 and 1981 just for fun.

Popularity of the name Sophia:
1979: 426th (490 girls)

1980: 366th (642 girls)

1981: 211th (1233 girls)

Now, let's look at Sophie:

1979-1981: Did not rank in the top 1000.

And for fun, Sofia:
1979: 816th
1980: 823rd
1981: 664th

Let's chalk it up to being a family name. Or maybe a name in a TV show or book her parents liked.

[Dejana]

12 hours ago, biakbiak said:

It doesn't bother me because there are always names that are extremely popular and peopke still have different names for a lot of reasons. When I was 4 or 5 the popular name was Tiffany to the point that I asked my mother where all the Tiffanys went and when asked what I meant I explained that there a lot of kids my age named Tiffany but I had never met an adult Tifanny but I still had plenty of friends who didnt have popular name and neither did my sister and me (we were always sad because our names were never on tschotkes).

I would find it distracting if absolutely every character on a show had the most popular names for the era because that's not realistic, either. For me, it would feel like a writer just looked up a "Most Popular Names of [Year X]" list and limited themselves to about 20-30 options for all their characters, and I'd wonder if the writing for the show itself is just based on a bunch of clichés about a particular era. I do think that sometimes it's a subliminal thing with stuff set in the past, where the characters TPTB are trying to push on the audience get a name that's "too contemporary" while the lesser characters get the names that scream "born in 1982", or whenever. 1940s-born Megan gets to be lusted after by men and women alike and good at everything, while Dottie and Clara never get promoted out of the secretarial pool...that sort of thing.

Still, many of the top names now, especially names for girls (like Emma, Sophie or Abigail, for example), aren't new at all but names that were popular 100+ years ago and are just back in fashion. Children have always been named for family members, even if it wasn't necessarily the hot name at the time, so when the name becomes trendy again, you get outliers like a thirtysomething Ava amid all the toddlers and tweens. If Savannah Guthrie weren't a real person but a TV character, you'd have people insisting that she's clearly at least 12-15 years too old to be called that according to statistics, but she's named after a great-grandmother.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Dejana

[ShadowFacts]

And I think sometimes writers must just throw in names they like/their kids' names, etc. without regard to popularity in the time period.  I also like it when more than one character has the same name or a variation, which doesn't happen often. 

[chocolatine]

5 hours ago, ShadowFacts said:

I also like it when more than one character has the same name or a variation, which doesn't happen often. 

Ross and Russ!

[Good Queen Jane]

For those who think Randall's adoption was unlikely, real life.

[Dejana]

On 12/28/2017 at 11:00 AM, Good Queen Jane said:

For those who think Randall's adoption was unlikely, real life.

Heh, the father is like Jack, Dr. K and the firefighter rolled into one! The baby got named Rebecca and the mother's name is Beth--so many This Is Us vibes all around.

[Runningwild]

On 11/4/2017 at 11:44 PM, methodwriter85 said:

Did some mid-Atlantic hospitals still have maternity wards with nurseries in 2008? I thought those were phased out by then. My niece was born in 2006 in a major mid-Atlantic hospital and they had already switched to the "care in mother's room" model by then. I figured whatever affluent NJ hospital Tess was taken to after her birth would have had the same kind of deal.

Yes, they most definitely did have nurseries. See:

https://www.google.com/amp/wtvr.com/2013/11/11/switched-at-birth/amp/

[MelGoLightly]

Absolutely no one had a stainless steel refrigerator back in 1998 unless they lived in some fancy slick house - surely not the Pearson's suburban home spun house?

[ChromaKelly]

Would Kate still be recording an audition tape on a tape recorder in 1998? Wouldn't she burn a CD or something? Home computers, making your own mp3's - or at least .wav files - were a thing then. I would totally think they would want video too.

ETA - adding in my nitpick from the episode thread

Gonna nitpick the crockpot. The crockpot was still on when Jack was cleaning up the kitchen and he switches it off. So, Rebecca left the crockpot of chili on that whole time? No one scooped out the chili, put it away, and washed the crockpot out? 

Edited January 24, 2018 by ChromaKelly

[SnoGirl]

I was in middle school in 1998, and my family was around the same socio-economics as the Pearson’s. I was still making mixed tapes and recording the radio in 1998. I had CD’s too, but we didnt have the technology or the know how to make music tapes any other way. Have we seen a computer in their household?

[MelGoLightly]

7 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

Would Kate still be recording an audition tape on a tape recorder in 1998? Wouldn't she burn a CD or something? Home computers, making your own mp3's - or at least .wav files - were a thing then. I would totally think they would want video too.

ETA - adding in my nitpick from the episode thread

Gonna nitpick the crockpot. The crockpot was still on when Jack was cleaning up the kitchen and he switches it off. So, Rebecca left the crockpot of chili on that whole time? No one scooped out the chili, put it away, and washed the crockpot out? 

So honored you accepted my invite - lol. I was actually here to respond to your first question and saw the 2nd comment. Haha. 

 

Regarding Kate's audition tape - no way! Back then, I was still ordering cd's on Columbia house records for 1 cent and never ever paying the full price! No way were we home recording cds. I took guitar lessons in 1997 when I was 17 and I was provided cd's of my lessons and the songs I wrote and recorded, but that was not something I would have done at home. This was also a time when you hand wrote your college applications - it's so hard to believe how analog life was just 20 years ago! But I'm part of that generation that grew up for 20 years analog and the rest fully online. 

Edited January 24, 2018 by MelGoLightly

[elle]

26 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

Gonna nitpick the crockpot. The crockpot was still on when Jack was cleaning up the kitchen and he switches it off. So, Rebecca left the crockpot of chili on that whole time? No one scooped out the chili, put it away, and washed the crockpot out? 

That was oddly staged.  I guess they did not want to show Milo scooping out burnt chili.  He did switch the control from high to off, for a moment I thought he had mistakenly switched it to low instead of off.

[chocolatine]

34 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

Would Kate still be recording an audition tape on a tape recorder in 1998? Wouldn't she burn a CD or something? Home computers, making your own mp3's - or at least .wav files - were a thing then. I would totally think they would want video too.

I remember in the late 90s a CD burner was an expensive upgrade. Our home computer didn't have one. IIRC, my first computer that had a CD burner was a laptop I got in 2003.

37 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

Gonna nitpick the crockpot. The crockpot was still on when Jack was cleaning up the kitchen and he switches it off. So, Rebecca left the crockpot of chili on that whole time? No one scooped out the chili, put it away, and washed the crockpot out? 

There was a quick shot of Rebecca starting to put away all the Super Bowl food, but then she suddenly went "nah" and just left it there. I'm not sure why she did that, whether she assumed that Jack would put it away, or just didn't care what happened to it. It seemed odd, since the food would have gone bad if it had been left to sit out overnight. Then Jack came down and put everything away and cleaned up and that's when he turned off the crockpot. My nitpick that he must have felt that it was still hot, but he still left a dish towel right next to it. He's a construction guy; he of all people should know that textiles should not be touching heat sources.

[methodwriter85]

On 12/24/2017 at 2:16 AM, biakbiak said:

It doesn't bother me because there are always names that are extremely popular and peopke still have different names for a lot of reasons. When I was 4 or 5 the popular name was Tiffany to the point that I asked my mother where all the Tiffanys went and when asked what I meant I explained that there a lot of kids my age named Tiffany but I had never met an adult Tifanny but I still had plenty of friends who didnt have popular name and neither did my sister and me (we were always sad because our names were never on tschotkes).

I was kind of the reverse. My first name is Jeremy and that name pretty much peaked in the mid-1970's, a decade before I was born. I did know a fair amount of guys with my name, but most of them were my age or older. I very rarely meet little kids with that name, so it's kind of cool when I do.

Was the crockpot really supposed to be from the 1960's or early 1970's? We knew they got it in 1980 from the couple that were moving away, and the implication seemed to be that it was old even then. However, my family has an ancient crockpot from the 70's and it was a brown, ceramic look instead of the white look.

[chocolatine]

5 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

I was kind of the reverse. My first name is Jeremy and that name pretty much peaked in the mid-1970's, a decade before I was born. I did know a fair amount of guys with my name, but most of them were my age or older. I very rarely meet little kids with that name, so it's kind of cool when I do.

Pearl Jam named a song after you in 1992. ;)

[methodwriter85]

4 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Pearl Jam named a song after you in 1992. ;)

Yeah, I know it. All of my siblings are older so I was watching MTV in 1992. People I've conversed with online have thought I'm lying about my age because I seem to get references that people my age shouldn't get, but that's really because I was consuming pop culture I shouldn't have been consuming as a little boy.

Speaking of Pearl Jam, man I wish this show could have brought in more grunge. They did a little bit of it ("Possum Kingdom" by the Toadies) but I'd love to hear more. Especially the Smashing Pumpkins.

[chocolatine]

1 minute ago, methodwriter85 said:

Speaking of Pearl Jam, man I wish this show could have brought in more grunge. They did a little bit of it ("Possum Kingdom" by the Toadies) but I'd love to hear more. Especially the Smashing Pumpkins.

I think it's tricky because the teen Big Three flashbacks are set in the late 90s, a few years past the "golden age" of grunge. The Smashing Pumpkins weren't nearly as popular as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden were in their day, and their most successful album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, came out in 1995, before the teen flashbacks.

[methodwriter85]

8 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

I think it's tricky because the teen Big Three flashbacks are set in the late 90s, a few years past the "golden age" of grunge. The Smashing Pumpkins weren't nearly as popular as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden were in their day, and their most successful album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, came out in 1995, before the teen flashbacks.

No, the teen flashbacks started in 1995. The first season, they're specifically mentioned as being 15. This season, they just moved the timeline a bit to 1997-1998.

I wonder if that whole bright colors, sunny pop look will come into play here. They're all still wearing the last traces of grunge (well, except Randall) but I wonder if we'll see Kevin cut his hair and start spiking it, for example.

[Trillium]

Grunge style lasted in the Midwest for a while. Late 1999 was when it started turning to the candy colored, pleather pants look, at least where I lived. Even then, we’d still wear flannels occasionally, because they were a practical clothing choice. 

 

I started my first semester of college in fall 2000 and was the only person on my floor that had a CD burner. And this was at a Big10 school. In fact there were several people in my dorm that didn’t have their own computer. You either shared with your roommate or went to the lab. I’d burn people mixed CD’s for $10. But it took forever to download songs from Napster and our T1 internet was so slow. It would literally take me a week to do one CD sometimes, as I did have to actually do school work too and the Napster file would time out. The struggle was real. 

Edited January 24, 2018 by Trillium

[ChromaKelly]

8 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I remember in the late 90s a CD burner was an expensive upgrade. Our home computer didn't have one. IIRC, my first computer that had a CD burner was a laptop I got in 2003.

There was a quick shot of Rebecca starting to put away all the Super Bowl food, but then she suddenly went "nah" and just left it there. I'm not sure why she did that, whether she assumed that Jack would put it away, or just didn't care what happened to it. It seemed odd, since the food would have gone bad if it had been left to sit out overnight. Then Jack came down and put everything away and cleaned up and that's when he turned off the crockpot. My nitpick that he must have felt that it was still hot, but he still left a dish towel right next to it. He's a construction guy; he of all people should know that textiles should not be touching heat sources.

OK,  I couldn't remember exactly when CD burners were a thing. I remember my now-husband sending me a mix CD in the mail around 1999-2000. I also still had dial-up internet at the time too. The singing into a tape recorder seemed old to me.

Re: crockpot/kitchen. At first I thought it was the next morning, as Randall was standing there eating out of a bowl, assumed it was cereal. So, the crockpot still being on really threw me. Stuff left in the crockpot even on low really gets crusty and then you have to soak it to clean, and this is before those crockpot liner bags, so IDK I guess it's just really bugging me.
My parents had the same crockpot forever, an avocado green one. Lasted from the 70's to 2000's. I think they only ditched it to get a bigger one.

[biakbiak]

9 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Was the crockpot really supposed to be from the 1960's or early 1970's? We knew they got it in 1980 from the couple that were moving away, and the implication seemed to be that it was old even then. However, my family has an ancient crockpot from the 70's and it was a brown, ceramic look instead of the white look.

I just watched the episode and when he gave it to them he said it was only two years old. I dont know why someone wouldn't complain to a manufacturer on an appliance breaking so soon after it was purchased since it had already been regulated to the garage but there you have it.

[chocolatine]

2 hours ago, ChromaKelly said:

Re: crockpot/kitchen. At first I thought it was the next morning, as Randall was standing there eating out of a bowl, assumed it was cereal. So, the crockpot still being on really threw me. Stuff left in the crockpot even on low really gets crusty and then you have to soak it to clean, and this is before those crockpot liner bags, so IDK I guess it's just really bugging me.

Randall came back from the movies in the evening and was eating a bowl of chili when Jack came down and Randall told him that he'd kissed Allison.