Last modified: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 2:57 AM EDT REILLY: Confessions of a geezer The other day, while looking for my glasses, I realized something. I had looked for them for a long time. I asked my children. I asked my wife. I asked the dog. I finally found them, right where I had left them, (next to the computer) and just as I was saying to myself, "Why, if they had been a snake, they would have bitten me," I realized that I had become a geezer. Heck, I was practically Mr. Wilson from "Dennis the Menace." There have been other signs. For example, talking about news events in the recent past with a reporter, who brightly told me, "Oh, I remember that. I saw that on TV when I came home from second grade." Or when a guy in downtown Attleboro asked me for directions and I started by telling him, "Go past where the old Saltzman's used to be," and he said, "Thank you, sir." When did this happen? I used to be a hip, happenin' guy. I was "down with" all that "groovy" stuff, like all that "boss" rock 'n' roll. Old people liked Lawrence Welk and complained about their mortgages and taxes and watched "Meet the Press." I was part of the generation that was "gonna die before we get old." Oops. Well, now that I'm here, I figure I might as well enjoy all the perks that come along with geezerhood. I don't mean the early-bird specials or the right to drive in the left lane on I-95 at 45 mph with my blinker on. Although that's fun. Civic duty I mean the complaining. You see, when I was younger, it wasn't "cool" to crab about whatever it was that bothered you. But now, it's practically a civic duty. So here's a short list I composed, admittedly in something of a hurry because "Meet the Press" is going to be on soon. There's that ad on TV that's trying to get us to spend our rebate check by telling us that the rebate is "like a gift from the government." Yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's a gift - of my own money. And speaking of TV, what's the deal with this all-digital broadcasting? I understand that if you have cable you are not going to have to worry. But there are some of us who still have TVs with rabbit ears that we keep in the basement. We're supposed to do laundry without a TV on? What are we, Amish? And since when is it OK having presidential candidates younger than we are? Now I know how my parents felt when JFK was running, Admittedly, having John McCain in the race skews the average age back to the acceptable range, but still. And where do they get off making the type on computers smaller? Um, just a sec, I have to find my glasses. TOM REILLY is a Sun Chronicle news editor. He can be reached at 508-236-0332 or at treilly@thesunchronicle.com if he can get some young whippersnapper to download his e-mails.