Larry's Hobbies & Interests

I did not start "reading" until 1986. Up until then I can only remember reading Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex, But Were Afraid To Ask by Dr. David Rubin and the CB book from Radio Shack in the 70s that was the basis for the movie Handle with Care. Even through High School (Graduated in January, 1976) I managed to get out of reading the assigned books. In 1986, David, the owner of Webscope and good friend since we met in 1974, insisted that I read HHGttG and gave me the first book, of the four book trilogy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I couldn't put them down. I wanted more. My daughter was born in 1986. When she started walking I decided to try reading another book. When Your Child Drives You Crazy, by Eda LeShan, caught my attention. I figured since I could now "read", I would try something more serious. I highly recommend her book for new parents. She helped me come to terms with my own childhood and prepared me for one of the hardest "jobs" on the planet. After a few books, I started to keep track of what I've read. I will compile a list of the books that are worth mentioning and maybe the full list since it's easy to add.. what's another page to keep updating? I haven't spent much time investigating BookWire yet though. And now you can order books via Amazon.Com, but I'd still rather spend time in Walden.

In 1989, following a discussion on The Grand Central BBS, I agreed to read The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey. I didn't even think the book existed. I found TSB to be a great piece of literature and it opened my eyes to how our societies have developed. It helped me get over a lot of old fears and answered many questions. But nothing and no one has had the impact that Dr. Wayne Dyer has had. His books have changed my life, my outlook and day to day interaction with our universe. I have dedicated Larry's Home to him because I would not have had the desire to create these pages otherwise. His writings have truly helped me take a different path. I can't thank him enough. At the suggestion of an Internet emailer, I also read Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins. He's more business oriented than Wayne. Wayne is for everyone.

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Comedians have shaped my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up on the Marx Brothers, Abbott & Costello and a TV show called Reel Camp. My younger years were affected greatly by Steve Martin, Robin Williams, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, John Candy and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Along came Saturday Night Live and introduced me to John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Rich Hall, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Martin Short and Andy Kaufman before Latka Gravas. I've also enjoyed the wide range of talents such as Andrew Dice Clay, Jim Carrey, Penn and Teller, Firesign Theater, and Steven Wright. I've been calling 516-922-WINE since before Jackie the Jokeman joined Howard Stern. When I need a laugh, I visit the Laugh Web.

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My personal modem history dates back to the late 70s. Since I gave in to surfing the Web, I started bookmarking lotsa links. When I created this page, I used some of them and found even more! My first link was about HTML. Searching for other links was easy once I found Yahoo, The Whole Internet Catalog, and InfoSeek. Fixing up my home page was easy with Weblint. PC Magazine and PC/Computing always have the latest and greatest in computing. CWS Apps has all the Winsock applications for SLIP & PPP. The WWW Viewer Test Page makes sure everything is working properly. When I have the time I check out the Cool Site of the Day, the Previous Sites, the Fool Site and Spider's Picks. Spinning the URouLette wheel warps you through the Web to parts unknown. There's also WIC's Top 50. Today (05/25/96) I happened to catch Life on the Internet on my local PBS station. And today (03/22/98) I realized most of these links are gone. Links come and go, but I was able to update some of the other topic areas, feel free to tell me if any links don't work. It's nice to know when people visit, so let's hear from you. Thanks for reading about my interests.

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032298: The last movies I saw in a theater were The Lost World , Jungle 2 Jungle , Ransom , and Forrest Gump. My all time favorite Trilogy is Star Wars. My favorite movie to watch over and over again is Groundhog Day. The 2 movies I've seen in a theater hundreds of times are Kentucky Fried Movie and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. A League of Their Own is my favorite baseball movie. The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink are two great movies too. I've enjoyed and really liked hundreds of other movies. If any others come to mind as being special, I'll list them at a later date.

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I always check in to the ultimate band list or Sony Music to see what's new. When I got cable I was able to watch my MTV and VH1. My all time favorite artists are the Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr, Billy Joel and Pink Floyd. I can't pick a favorite Beatles or Billy Joel album, but The Wall has meant a lot to me from the first time I listened to it. R.E.M. caught my attention with Stand and in the last few years I've come to appreciate Madonna and Michael Jackson. I also like, in no particular order: The Cars, Simon & Garfunkel, Kraftwerk, Roy Orbison, Squeeze, Beach Boys, R.E.O. Speedwagon, Styx, Meat Loaf, Eagles, Blondie, B52s, Harry Nilsson, Kenny Rogers, Enigma, Laurie Anderson and thousands of singles from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, there's just too much to mention. The list just keeps on growing.

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(added 091300) I've been going to Bluegrass Festivals since 1991 but just recently got a digital camera. I have added lots of pics from Grey Fox (07/00) and Delaware Valley (09/00) Bluegrass Festivals and each festival since. I have pics of Rhonda Vincent, Natalie MacMaster, Del McCoury, Mountain Heart, Ralph Stanley, Balfa Toujours, Ricky Skaggs, Lynn Morris, Jim & Jesse, and others to share.

I've been to Wind Gap (99, 00, 02, 03, 08, 09), Peaceful Valley (91F, 93, 95J, 97F), Winterhawk (92, 94, 96, 98), Grey Fox (00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 08, 09), Grey Fox Line (02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 08), AFBA (04, 06, 08), Echoes from the Hills (04) and Delaware Valley (93, 94, 96, 97-01J, 02, 03, 04, 05, 07, 08).

In 2008, I also went to OATS (08, 09) & Gettysburg August (08) for the first time, would go again if the opportunity arises. In 2009, it did, I went to Gettysburg May (09) & Strawberry Park (09) for the first time.

The best place to find current festivals is with the Grillbillies and their comprehensive schedule.

051508: joined YouTube to upload all my .avi files working backwards from 2007 & HQ avi's from current festivals with my new Canon S5. 072609: Joined Picasa & uploaded 1998,1999,2005-2009 pics in albums.

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I haven't had much time to add some of the people I've met or find interesting, but today (04/03/96) I found the Switchboard, a nationwide directory that's easy to use. I met a few nice people in June (96) on SpiritWeb.

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How can you avoid politics? During heavy political discussion on The Grand Central BBS in 1988, I found The Libertarian Party. We were put on their mailing list and TGC carried their current literature until we took the BBS down. Since then we really haven't been too involved, but every so often I enjoy checking in on the White House and reading the WH Publications. The U.S. House Of Representatives are always worth a few minutes also. The Capitol Steps know how to poke fun at politics.

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Is this like Philosophical facts? :)

I liked Star Trek Voyager, in the last 2 years I got more into TNG but never got into DS9. TOS is an all time favorite and I really enjoyed Enterprise, too bad it was cancelled so soon. I grew up watching Lost In Space and the Twilight Zone. Every now and then I get to watch the Sci-Fi Channel. In March of 97, was told I just had to read Stranger in a Strange Land and then in May I read J.O.B. by Robert A. Heinlein. They were both so much fun, I read them through a second time!

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I like the Mets , Jets , Giants , Knicks , Nets , Rangers , Islanders , Devils and even the Yankees . However, baseball is my favorite. I've been following the Mets since 1966. Went to my first Met game on Campbell Soup Day in 1969. They beat the Cubs in the game that started it all. I also happened to be working 4-12PM and was able to hear or watch most of the Met games in 1986. 1994 was the first, and maybe the last, time I paid much attention to hockey. I watched my first hockey game in many years during the end of the season, then all the Ranger playoff games and the Stanley Cup. 10/17/00 Last year the Braves shut us down, but this year, the Cardinals helped us out twice. First they wiped out the Braves in 4 games and then played like the Mets do against the Braves. 10/28/00 It was great to see a Subway Series. I was hoping for 7 games and a Mets win, but the Yankees were destined for 3 in a row, but no more than a 14 win streak. I hope next year is just as exciting.

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I grew up listening to AM radio in the 60s. I remember Bob Grant and Alex Bennett on WMCA. WPIX 101.9 was my first FM station. In the 70s I met Mark Simone, Jim Kerr and Dan Neer a few times when I played DJ on college radio. In 1980, I met and became good friends with Jack the Wack until he left NY and WPIX. When he returned to NY and Z100 we never got together again. I mainly listened to WPIX until they turned Jazz. I've spent some time listening to Z100, WPLJ, Howard Stern (660 & KXRQ), WNSR (turned WMXV), WCBS-FM and even WQXR for a few months. Until the Gulf War. When we started getting active in the Gulf I turned on 770 WABC and haven't gone back. Jay Diamond was on in the morning, Rush caught my attention in the afternoon, and Bob Grant was someone I remembered from my childhood. I haven't been listening as much as I used to, but I hear Lionel most every morning from 8-9 and sometimes go to sleep listening to Bob. I also enjoy listening to Lynn Samuels and Dr. Dean Edell during the weekend. I do most of my listening in the car nowadays, so when I'm in the car, unless it's a hockey game, I usually listen to 770. I heard a re-broadcast of Rush (11/11/95) announcing a new web site for his ties and while searching for it I found FAIR.

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My favorite way to travel is in an RV. We've been on 4 RV trips so far. We were going to rent one this year (1995), but I'm typing on where the money went instead :) We did the next best thing, rented a trailer for a week in the Ocean View Resort Campground in NJ. Most of our time was spent in Wildwood on the Boardwalk. Ever been to the beach there? It's a long walk out and back! Walking on the Boardwalk is a lot of fun, we all came home saying "Watch the Tram Car, Please".

Since 1995 we've been on many vacations, just haven't had time to write about them. In April 1996 we took a trip down to Washington, DC and in August we went to see Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. While there, we took a drive up through New Hampshire into Maine.

Finally, in July 1997, we rented an RV again. We went to the Peaceful Valley Bluegrass Festival and on the way back, we spent a night in the Panther Lake Campground. The next day we went to Wild West City. In August, we a long car trip up through Niagara Falls NY, Toronto, London, and Windsor Ont, Battle Creek MI, Fort Wayne IN, Lancaster OH, Pittsburgh, Punxsutawney (saw Phil!) and Harrisburg PA. In Toronto, we stayed at the Royal York and Westin Harbour Castle, one night each, 2 of the fanciest places we've ever stayed at, anywhere. We spent a day at Casa Loma.

In May 1998, we took a trip to Ohio. Stayed in the Ramada Inn in Breezewood, PA on the way out and 2 Amerihost Inn motels on the way back, Zanesville, OH and Shippensburg, PA. We were in the small Executive Suite in OH, and then took the Presidential Suite in PA. Each room overlooked the pool and had a large jacuzzi in the room. Teenie Beanies has just come out that weekend, and we stopped at nearly every McDonalds through NJ, PA and OH, and every one on the way back through PA and NJ! But that was a fun weekend anyway.

In 1999, we went to Florida. More about that, next update.

Go.com and the Rec.Travel Library offer some interesting ideas for vacation spots. The AAA has greatly improved their site for when I'm drving. When I fly, I check out Continental before buying tickets.

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I don't get to watch as much TV as I used to. How much can I look at video devices? There's not enough time in the day! 3 or 4 TV sets are usually on in the house though. So when I take a break from the computer, the family room, kitchen and bedroom sets are usually on, sometimes on the same channel! At 2PM all the sets change to channel 7. I used to watch One Life to Live and General Hospital in the 80s. I still catch OLTL when I'm not on the computer.

Sometimes I want to know What's on TV right now or this week, or what Miles has been watching (not since 1995, sorry). Seems like most of my old links dont exist any longer, so we'll have to find some new links. In 1999 our favorites are Ally McBeal, Boy Meets World and Friends. [to be continued]

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