I was destined to be a wise ass radio guy. I was always getting in trouble at my gigs for making things that were normal into something that I thought others would find funny. One time I got in big trouble being trying to make a funny on the Tokyo Shapiro mainframe before we opened. Um, I learned my lesson real fast which is why I kept to myself in every job that involved a computer since. Of course, when a best friend hired me as a delivery driver for Curtis Mathes, I couldn't resist having a little fun. This was laying in the utility box in front of the transmission hump of my Ford Econoline van. It was an old Zenith TV remote control that had it's 4th button broken.  It still clicked, but the guts were broken. It looked like it had been chewed by a dog. So, I had a little fun. Yes, the "Stupid Idiot Driver Cut Me Off" button which I thought was so creative may have been a little harsh.

Mr. Fat Hanz (TM) is looking a little blurry. Yes, but here is the business end of this device. I remember we had a remote for our Magnavox television stereo as I was growing up. I never thought to see what actually made the channels change. Turns out, it was chimes! These four bars inside this remote were tuned to a different note. When you pushed one of the buttons, it made a click and there was a tone as a hammer struck one of the chimes. Technology! When pops got out of the service he went into car sales and it was the beginning of the muscle car years and he sold AMC. Plus, ol' pop was a big music fan whereas mom liked the classical. So, they bought a top of the line Magnavox console color TV and Stereo with big speakers, a changer and an AM/FM stereo tuner. Plus it was ornate, with sliding doors covering up the TV and stereo when not in use. To use a STEREOtype, "they just don't s*it them out like that anymore." The TV went down after dad and mom spit ways and we could never afford to have it repaired. The stereo followed a few years later. We were left with a plug-in piece of furniture. Boy, I wished we would have kept it. Meanwhile, for my "Warrantizer", my best friend-boss didn't find it that funny and said the head of our division wouldn't find it funny either. Leonard Nimoy probably wouldn't have given a damn, but Gene Roddenberry might have sued.

ARF! -Ric