My parents, the prognosticators

My parents have made predictions over the years. I thought I’d revisit some of them here.

  • Subway restaurants. When I was little, we’d go shopping in South Bend. I’m pretty sure that’s where we went to our first Subway restaurant. At that time — sometime in the mid-’80s — there were very few Subways around; no one I knew had heard of them. My parents picked up franchise information on them because they believed they’d really take off; they didn’t do anything with the information because they knew absolutely nothing about running a restaurant.

    Today: Subway is the third largest fast food chain in the world.

    Verdict: Correct!

  • Computer animation. Back in the early ’90s, my mother expressed interest in computer animation. In particular, she thought it was the future of animation.

    Today: Disney’s last “traditional” animated film (not counting direct-to-video) was Home on the Range, released in 2004. Their next is scheduled to be The Princess and the Frog in 2009.

    Verdict: Correct!

  • Zenith Electronics Corporation. My father held Zenith stock after he no longer worked there because he believed their technology for HDTV would be valuable.

    Today: Zenith is pretty much gone. They went bankrupt in 1999 and LG Electronics, majority stakeholder at the time, took over the brand.

    Verdict: Incorrect.

  • Laser tag. Back in the ’80s, when laser tag toys first hit the market, my mother believed laser tag would be huge.

    Today: Not as popular as it was in the late ’80s. It has recently been featured on The Simpsons (“That 90’s Show”) and How I Met Your Mother (Barney loves laser tag), and was one of the activities at Mike Roth’s bachelor party.

    Verdict: Partially correct.

(Comment from old site:)

Well,Well,Well…I guess

Well,Well,Well…I guess you’ve become nostalgic in your “old age”. My prediction for the future is that the X Games will become better than ever-because I love watching those “kids” and how competitive they are. They are real athletes with their own clothing and language and followers. So I know I am pretty old to be a fan but I really admire their bravery or craziness-whichever it is. The end. Oh, and by the way, my gut reaction to people has never been wrong, thus the fact I don’t care for very many individuals. The end.


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