ABOUT ME

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Personal statistics:

  • Name: Larry Robinson
  • Email: midimagic (combine this, an at sign, and the domain for email)
  • Domain: sbcglobal.net
  • Relative age: Born in 1951
  • Eyes: Brown
  • Hair: Brown
  • Height: 65 inches
  • Weight: You don't want to know!
  • Ear size: 2.75 inches
  • Socks: Black (unless muddy)
  • Sayings:
    1. "All of government is accomplished on the backs of the workers, not business."
    2. "Without profit, there is no reason to hire."
    3. "Government has no power to create wealth."
    4. "Life is a dirty trick."
  • Alcohol intake: None
  • Operating System: (CLASSIFIED)
  • CPU Speeds 4 Hz and 2.5 Hz
  • Maximum audio input: 90 dBC
  • House: Only house in Bloomington containing an interchange
  • Doorbell: Fully automatic and hands-free
  • Answering machine message: "No one can find the phone right now..."
  • Number of remote controls needed: 9
  • Virtual band: MidiMagic.
  • Car: 2002 Pontiac Bonneville
  • What I really want in a car
    (but can't get, because they don't make it anymore)
  • Driveway: Stop complaining! The city made me move it!
  • Do not attempt to defeat the interlock.
 Collaro Conquest

Here's how my favorite record changer gets the record size exactly right:

It feels the records with the tip of the arm.


THE LISTS:

My 20 favorite things (#1 is my most favorite):

  1. The Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and His churches, including Vineyard Community Church of Bloomington Indiana
  2. This certain cute female I just can't get out of my mind
  3. Mixing and recording music
  4. Record changers - especially smart ones
  5. Solving UFO cases
  6. Highway interchanges
  7. Programming computers
  8. Puddles
  9. Surround sound
  10. Electronics
  11. Smart traffic signals
  12. Science fiction films
  13. Comedy films with pie fights
  14. Writing music
  15. Light shows
  16. Chicken teriyaki stir-fry
  17. Computers where the operating system is subservient to the program
  18. Books
  19. Clogs
  20. Cartoons

The 20 things I dislike the most (#1 is most detested):

  1. Promotion of sinful activity by government and by Hollywodd
  2. Daylight Saving Time (The time change twice a year)
  3. The State favoring the religions of Atheism, Environmentalism, and PC
  4. Abortion
  5. Bicycle riders causing hazards by breaking traffic rules
  6. Perfume and chewing gum at public events (my allergies)
  7. Chewing gum displays in the checkout lanes (allergy)
  8. Politicians who think it is necessary to cheat to win elections
  9. The unfair Plurality Voting System (and its use in political polls too)
  10. More than 10 percent of income taxed away (only workers really pay taxes)
  11. Lying politicians.
  12. Untrained politicians making traffic laws
  13. Government overregulation
  14. Government spending on nonessentials (e.g. new pro sports arenas)
  15. Monopolies and monopoly powers, including copyrights, patents, exclusive contracts, and copy protection
  16. Microsoft changing the operating system every three years
  17. Scents in every home product (allergy)
  18. Government banning products
  19. Companies discontinuing products
  20. Minimum orders (In order to get 4, you have to buy 1000)

My top 20 record albums of all time:

  1. We Shall Stand - Maranatha Singers
  2. Take Me to your Leader - Newsboys
  3. Going Public - Newsboys
  4. Tell Somebody - Terri Bewley
  5. Encounters of Every Kind - Meco
  6. Star to Star - Chromium
  7. Tubular Bells 2 - Mike Oldfield
  8. Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
  9. Audio Adrenaline - Audio Adrenaline
  10. Don't Censor Me - Audio Adrenaline
  11. The War of the Worlds - Jeff Wayne
  12. Ewok Celebration - Meco
  13. Electric Dreams (soundtrack) - Jeff Lynne
  14. The Wizard of Oz - Meco
  15. Snoopy for President - The Royal Guardsmen
  16. Hot August Night - Neil Diamond
  17. Going Places - Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
  18. Journey to the Center of the Earth - Rick Wakeman
  19. The Best of Spike Jones - Spike Jones & the City Slickers
  20. Blue Swede - Blue Swede

My top 20 TV shows of all time (not counting animated):

  1. Candid Camera
  2. Star Trek (consider them all one long series)
  3. The Three Stooges Show (with Harlow Hickenlooper)
  4. The Dukes of Hazzard
  5. Hogan's Heroes
  6. Battlestar Galactica (Hey! It's back!)
  7. The Andy Griffith Show
  8. Bonanza
  9. Green Acres
  10. Perry Mason
  11. Disney's Wonderful World of Color
  12. Salvage I
  13. Knight Rider
  14. Dick Van Dyke Show (original)
  15. Mission: Impossible (original)
  16. Buck Rogers (1980s)
  17. Fame
  18. Project U.F.O.
  19. Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
  20. Touched by an Angel

My top 20 singles of all time:

  1. We Shall Stand (with our Feet on the Rock) - Maranatha Singers
  2. Shine - Newsboys
  3. Testify to Love - Avalon
  4. I wish We'd All Been Ready - DC Talk
  5. UFO - Geoff Moore & The Distance
  6. Caribbean Air Control - Chrome (aka Chromium)
  7. Downtown - Petula Clark
  8. Audio World - Audio Adrenaline
  9. He is Here - Terri Bewley
  10. Big House - Audio Adrenaline
  11. Hallelujah Glory - Vineyard Music
  12. Come On Down to my Boat - Every Mother's Son
  13. I Think We're Alone Now - Tommy James & the Shondells
  14. Tijuana Taxi - Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
  15. Come Dancing - Kinks
  16. Baby, I'm Burnin' - Dolly Parton
  17. Bring Back Howdy Doody - 1910 Fruitgum Co.
  18. Yummy Yummy Yummy - Ohio Express
  19. Monster - Steppenwolf
  20. Sweet Pea - Tommy Roe

My current top 20 TV shows:

  1. Mythbusters
  2. The Event
  3. UFO Files
  4. Ancient Aliens
  5. Universe
  6. Modern Marvels
  7. Extreme Engineering
  8. Forensic Files
  9. Law and Order
  10. Law and Order: SVU
  11. Law and Order: LA
  12. Top 20 Dumb Criminals
  13. 48 Hours
  14. Body of Evidence
  15. Paranormal Investigators
  16. (There aren't any more - it's that bad)
  17. Missing in action: Battlebots, Candid Camera, Enterprise,
  18. Battlestar Gallactica, Flash Gordon, Doctor Who,
  19. Junkyard Wars, Stupid Criminals, Monster House, Monster Garage,
  20. Jake 2.0, Monster House, Monster Garage, Big, Doc

My top 20 movies of all time (#1 was most liked):

  1. A Thief in the Night (count the series as one long movie)
  2. The Wizard of Speed and Time
  3. Star Wars (count the series as one long movie)
  4. The Horse Without a Head
  5. Dune
  6. What's Up, Doc?
  7. The Great Race
  8. Apollo 13
  9. Sex and the Single Girl
  10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  11. Chariots of Fire
  12. Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
  13. The Last Starfighter
  14. batteries not included
  15. Starman
  16. The War of the Worlds (1995 Pendragon)
  17. The Parent Trap (1961)
  18. Flashdance
  19. McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force
  20. Hog Wild

My top 20 all-time cartoon/animated shows:

  1. Supercar
  2. WB cartoons with Marvin the Martian
  3. Space Angel
  4. Road Runner
  5. Loony Toons and Merrie Melodies
  6. The Jetsons
  7. Josie & the Pussycats
  8. Fireball XL-5
  9. Top Cat
  10. The Flintstones
  11. Rocky & Bullwinkle
  12. Archie & His Pals
  13. Colonel Bleep
  14. Underdog
  15. Gyro Gearloose
  16. Little Roquefort
  17. Heckle & Jekyll
  18. Ruff 'n Ready
  19. Wacky Racers
  20. Red's Dream

My top 20 pinball machines of all time:

  1. Fireball*# (Bally 1972)
  2. Gulfstream II*# (Williams)
  3. Black Knight* (Williams)
  4. 9-Ball* (Stern 1981)
  5. Nip-It*# (Bally)
  6. High Speed* (Williams)
  7. Firepower* (Williams)
  8. Flight 2000* (Williams)
  9. Wizard# (Bally)
  10. Pinbot* (Williams)
  11. Vector* (Bally)
  12. Fathom* (Bally)
  13. Split Second* (Stern)
  14. Phoenix* (Williams)
  15. Xenon* (Bally)
  16. Solar City# / Target Alpha (Gottlieb)
  17. Twin Win# (Bally)
  18. Triple Action# (Williams)
  19. Big Indian# / Big Brave (Gottlieb)
  20. Amigo# (Bally)

* = multiball

# = I repaired this when I fixed pinball machines.

I have to have played it for it to be here. 2 names = 2 or 4 player versions.

Gulfstream II was my multiball modification to a Williams machine.

My top 20 highway interchanges:

  1. Chicago: The Hillside Strangler (I-88, I-290, I-294, US-20, IL-38, IL-56, IL-64 ... This thing is 5 miles long!)
  2. Union NJ: Minimally Complete* (Garden State Pkwy, US-22, NJ-82)
  3. Perth Amboy NJ: Can of Worms (Garden State Pkwy, US-9, NJ-184, NJ-440)
  4. Boston/Wellesley MA: Snakes Alive* (I-90, I-95, MA-16, MA-38, MA-128)
  5. Golden Glades FL: Red Wigglers* (I-95, US-441, FL Tpk, FL-9, FL-826)
  6. Utica NY: Whydidtheydothat?* (I-90, I-790, NY-5, NY-8, NY-12)
  7. Queens NY: Kew Gardens (I-678, NY-25, Grand Central Pkwy, Interborough Pkwy)
  8. Rochester NY: Elegant Curves* (I-490, I-590, NY-96, NY-590)
  9. Columbus IN: Bridge Arte SPUI* (I-65, IN-46)
  10. Portland OR: Portland Paperclip* (I-5, OR-99E)
  11. Newark NJ: Newark Nightmare* (I-78, US-1, US-9, US-22)
  12. Wentzville MO: Pretzel Bender (I-70, US-40, I-64, US-61 --- Old version)
  13. Chicago: The Spaghettibowl (I-90, I-94, I-290)
  14. Roeland Park KS: Loopy-loop* (US-69, US-169 Old version)
  15. Albany NY: The Throttleneck* (I-87, I-90 --- both interstates through that little tollgate???)
  16. Cambridge OH: The Solid Rock* (I-70, I-77 --- in rock cuts)
  17. Washington DC: The Mixing Bowl (I-395, US-1, VA-27)
  18. Washington DC: Pook's Hill (I-270, I-495, MD-335 --- oops!)
  19. Tampa FL: Graceful Turbine* (I-4, I-75)
  20. Bloomington IN: Wow! It fit!* (IN-37, Monroe Dam Rd.)

* = My own name for it

The interchange must be complete (even if through subsidiary ramps or side roads) to be listed.

My Favorite:

  • Color: Cyan
  • Number: 1771561
  • Car (all-time): 1957 Chevrolet
  • Record changer: Collaro Conquest (see pic above)
  • Battlebot: Toe Crusher
  • "Fame" contestant (2003): Serena Henry
  • Computer: Tandy Color Computer
  • Radio station: WVNI 95.1
  • MIDI patch: Tubular bells
  • Candid Camera gag: Record player taking orders in a laundry
  • Practical joke: Mirror image clock
  • One-liner: "Bartender, this Manhattan tastes like New Jersey!"
  • Talk show: Rush Limbaugh
  • Gooey substance: Cheese dip
  • Record dropping method: Center push and overarm
  • Record size sensing method: Pickup arm tip scan
  • Pie delivery method: Full body wipe
  • Salad Dressing: Mullens Imitation French
  • Steak Sauce: Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce
  • Stooge: Larry
  • Knock-knock joke:

    • Knock! Knock!
    • Who's There?
    • Cowsgo.
    • Cowsgo Who?
    • Cows go "Moo"! Owls go "Hoo"!

QUITE THE ODDEST EVENT OF 2003

driverway mess

"If you hadn't noticed, I ordered a driveway, not a quagmire."

It rained extremely hard an hour after the contractor put in the
new driveway, and I walked across it to go to the shed to get
a shovel to fix the water runoff in another part of the yard.
You can see what happened: The gravel was extremely soft,
because it hadn't settled and hardened up yet. (I'm glad it
wasn't the van that sunk.)

This image was taken later, after the driveway hardened:

my car?

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