Blog Archive 2015 Feb
Sun Feb 1 = I helped Ken, my neighbor to the east, watch paint dry this afternoon. He is repainting a 1960 vintage Chevrolet Impala hardtop and could not do anything until the paint on the door jams dried. We probably had our best visit yet - about 40 minutes. Usually we're both busy going here and there.
- This evening I had one of my rare leisurely visits to the gym - LA Fitness this time. I sat in the massaging hot tub, took a shower and did a light, fast legs workout. Of course, along the way, I made my usual smart remarks to the other patrons, talked about comedy some and passed out a few tickets to my two appearances, later this month, for the
Arizona's Funniest Comedian competition. My Timex Ironman Triathlon Tap W254 Watch battery suddenly died again - this time after only three months.
Mon Feb 2 = Phone calls this morning: Straightening people out who don't do things right. C Crane sent me a clear pouch for my CC Witness, when they should have sent me a neck lanyard, which should be in the mail tomorrow.
- FLIR shipped my repaired i7
camera
(out for delivery today) with signature required rather than indirect signature, which I had requested and needed, because I had an optometrist appointment. FLIR said they phoned FedEx and it could not be changed. It took a conference call with FedEx and them for them to realize it
could be changed and to change it - in spite that the package was already out on the delivery truck. I felt like a spy, being home, when the FedEx driver rang my doorbell. I did not answer the door, but discretely observed. I had to see if everything would go properly. It did and I got the package with the indirect signature.
- This afternoon I saw my optometrist with several other stops along the way most notably Union Hills Ace Hardware to buy four springs for my lab light because its original counterbalance springs are not strong enough to support the heavier LED bulb I am now using. Ace was like spring heaven. I never saw so many in one place.
Tue Feb 3 = I had to get up early this morning to phone Ken's Transmission to see if they could take my van today - after getting to bed late. Finally I got around to a couple of my lists:
- First-of-the-months list:
- Van tires all checked out at their 33psi, except the right rear one which needed .5psi to bring it up to 33.
- Logged last month's volunteer hours with
- Duet
- The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
- Checked out use of my website with Google Analytics (always interesting)
- Switched bathrooms with the toilet cleaners
- Poured a pan of boiling water down my kitchen sink drain
- First-of-the-week list:
- Review my Action List (trying to be organized)
- Clean toilets
- Look over the week's calendar
- Check the weather forecast for the week
- About 9:00 I took my van to Ken's Transmission for a 30k-mile transmission service; about 500 miles early because it is not going into direct drive at 42 mph.
While I was home with no transportation I:
- Worked on comedy for tomorrow night
- Put Moon Juice root stimulator on my myoporums
- Shot my weeds with Round-Up
- Almost strained my brain with all these lists in today's blog
- Took a long nap to make up for last night
- This afternoon I got a call that the transmission is having a serious mechanical failure and will need to be rebuilt. Ouch! But it will cost equal to about two car payments, then I can continue driving my van for almost free. Thank goodness for my emergency fund! After a lot of figuring, I decided to rent an economy car from a near-by Enterprise for one day. That will get me to the dermatologist tomorrow afternoon and to CrackUps for comedy in the evening. I'll turn the car back in on Thursday and work around home until my van's transmission is finished on Friday. Amica Insurance is pretty good to their customers. I was able to arrange comprehensive insurance with them to cover the rental car for 18 days for $14 rather than one day for $37.08 at Enterprise. All this is not perfect, but IS better than getting stranded on the freeway.
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Wed Feb 4 = Here's the way I tried to maximize my 24 hours of transportation with the rental car:
- Ken, of Ken's Transmission drove me to Enterprise at 1:30 to pick up the rental car
- I stopped by Ken's Transmission to retrieve some items from my van since I did not know I was going to leave it there for several days,
- I drove directly to my dermatologist in North Scottsdale - he found nothing :)
- Stopped by home for lunch and a nap
- Bought white tissue paper at Dollar Tree for tracking fluid drips under my van
- Went to LA Fitness for a combined light, fast Torso workout and a heavy, slow legs workout
- Drove to CrackUps Comedy club for my 130th appearance, where I had fun with my tweaked Old Man routine, which I plan to use for one of my Arizona's Funniest Comedian appearances
- Stopped by Winco Foods for bananas, white peaches and cash for a series of comedy classes at The Comedy Spot
- I got to bed super late (1:46am), ordering new prescription glasses from Zenni Optical. I got Memory Titanium frames but went overboard by ordering lenses with a refractive index of 1.67 when 1.59 Polycarbonate lenses would have been adequate... and $28 cheaper. Live and learn.
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- I got my van back around 5pm, although I was not expecting it until tomorrow some time. This evening I analyzed my comedy set from last night and looked up the transmission repair information for my van in my file. This is its fourth transmission overhaul - not too good. Transmission overhauls since the van was new have cost me an average of 2.3¢ per mile, while my fuel costs for 2014 have been an average of 17¢ per mile.
Fri Feb 6 = This afternoon I took my van back to Kens Tranmission because it doesn't appear to be staying in direct drive as it always has. Phill checked it out and said it's working normally and may need a few hundred miles before the van's computer getts everything sorted out.
- This evening I mostly finalized my routine for Sunday evening at the Third Street Theater. I'll pare that routine down to five minutes for the Arizona's Funniest Comedian competition on Wednesday at the Tempe Improv.
Sat Feb 7 = Much of the day I worked on two comedy routines for tomorrow: my class and the Third Street Theater. I also spent a lot of time making about 100 schedule slips of my upcoming appearances and 58 free tickets for my
Arizona's Funniest Comedian appearances to give to people tomorrow at the Third Street Theater.
- I was so busy with the comedy that I decided to skip tonight's weekly hamfeast.
Sun Feb 8 = I left home at 10:15 this morning and did not get back until bout 9:30 this evening. First stop was The Scottsdale Comedy Spot for class. It was our dress rehearsal for Thursday's Comedy Showcase there. It is going to be a good show. The class ended about 3:00. I stopped by a shady spot in the parking lot of an LA Fitness at 1900 N. Scottsdale Road with the intention of going inside for a light workout if I had time, which I did not. In my van's
office
I went over my class notes and the stereo audio recording of my set (which I moved to from the CC Witness' SD card to my computer) and the class' feedback. Then I revised my routine for Thursday. By the time I got all that done, it was time to get things organized for doing a similar, but more racy, comedy set at the Third Street Theater, applying a couple suggestions from the class.
- Then I drove to the parking lot of the Third Street Theater, took a 20-minute nap and went in for the show. It was a good show, I was the only comedian there and my set was a lot of fun. I wrapped my set up one mintue and 36 seconds after I got the light. I video recorded my set. That way I can see right when I get the light and can also evaluate things like how often and how long I am looking at my notes.
- Oh, yes, with tonight's audience my total audience count topped 4,000!
Mon Feb 9 = Today I analyzed last nights routine and added a new parameter: how many times I glanced at or looked at my notes - only applicable with a video - not audio recording. This afternoon I laundered my bed sheets, some sweats etc., went to LA Fitness for a light, fast legs workout and tweaked both the routines and notes for Wednesday and Thursday.
Tue Feb 10 = This morning I had an appoint with my new urologist, since Dr Raymond Hurm has retired to SanDiego. Everything is good.
- This afternoon I planed my evening trip and tweaked and practiced for my next two appearances, printed more ticket tabs on my LabelManagerĀ® 280 and used them to make more tickets for my appearances in the
Arizona's Funniest Comedian competition. I also paid my two credit card bills.
- This evening I drove down to the Tempe Improv, stopping by LA Fitness for a quick abbreviated arms workout on the way. At The Improv it was good to finally meet Rene Hart from FL who has put together
Arizona's Funniest Comedian. I was there just to observe the competition. A number of my comedian friends were on stage.
- I learned how
Arizona's Funniest Comedian works and also saw some of the competition. My conclusion: I have a better chance of doing well than I had orriginally thought. I STILL want to focus on having FUN!
Wed Feb 11 = This morning I practiced my ouutine for this evening and took Gerald to his doctor's appointment under the auspices of
- Duet
- The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
- This afternoon, because my set this evening is only five minutes and at the suggestion of Dee Ann, comedy instructor at the
Comedy Spot, I reduced my trigger notes from 36 point lightface on a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper to 24 point boldface on a 4 x 6 index card; all Times New Roman font. That is what I used tonight and it seemed to work OK.
- This evening, at the Tempe Improv, was my first competition in the
Arizona's Funniest Comedian competition. I had already taken out a lot of my material to get my Old Man routine down to five minutes. I left out even a little more because I was so afraid of going over time, which would disqualify me. My short, 4 and a half- minute set went well but not as well as the sets of
Jonathan Gregory,
Anthony Desomito and
Keith Reza, who will be going on a semifinal competition on March 19th.
Thu Feb 12 = During the day, in preparation for tonight's Showcase at the Comedy Spot, I finalized and rehersed my routine: the same as last night, with a few important changes, including including replacing the pee bits with the toothbrush bit. Putting it all together in my mind was a challenge.
- On the way to the Comedy Spot I had to stop by the Tempe Iprov to retrieve my camera in its bag and the tripid that I had left there last night, tucked away in a corner of the green room. Thank goodness for honest people! Like I say in my set, "Old guys forget stuff."
- The Comedy Spot was the best - to a sell-out crowd. I was allotted 6:00 with no
light
to signal the end of our sets. My set lasted for 5:41 minutes. I got 6.7 laughs per minute while the audience was laughing 30% of the time. I matched my goals, but only for the six-minute set. Always something else to work on!
Fri Feb 13 = My main accomplishments today were staying home, evaluating and figuring statistics on my past two comedy appearances and... resolving my checking account.
Sat Feb 14 = Valentine's Day: I didn't get around to flying my
- Nano
- fourth type of RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
at the
- RC Park
- Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
until around noon. You can't rush the cycling of flight batteries. It was good to see my friends out there, and to meet Adam who had an awesome silver, 4-engine scale B57 bomber.
- After lunch I reviewed an excellent book (in my Kindle, of course) I had read previously.
Brag!: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing It by Peggy Klaus seemed even more appropriate as I am trying to get going in comedy. In her Myth #5: More is Better, she said
... I am once again reminded that self-promotion is all about the quality of one's message and story, rather than a boring list of accomplishments.
She emphasizes having an interesting and relevant story.
Sun Feb 15 = I learn something new every day. Today it was at the Comedy Spot stand-up comedy class: Always have something prepared for stage time. Today's class was listed as
Review of Showcase Performance
so I did not have anything ready. Also I got a
black eye
for the showcase because none of the people showed up that I had invited. After the Showcase review, each of us students went up for five minutes of material. Since I was not expecting to go up, I did a lame set on inventing, from notes I had on hand but for which I was neither practiced nor very familiar. I DID get plenty of feedback for my bomb. In retrospect, what I should have done was to read the set rather than try to do it from the cold notes. Live and learn!
- This evening I made a batch of six of my protein frosties, reviewed my audio notes from today's class researched Jurassic World for a comedy bit and prepared my grocery shopping list for tomorrow.
Mon Feb 16 = Today was mostly for
- Duet
- The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
.
This morning I took Denise shopping at Winco and this afternoon took Judy to see her doctor. She has the most positive outlook, considering she is nearly blind.
- This evening I mixed up 2 lb, 11.1 oz of spicy brown mustard, minced garlic and garlic powder for my turkey sandwiches. If I calculated correctly, this batch should last me until the middle of November.
Tue Feb 17 = I spent a lot of today practicing for tonight's comedy routine. I also replaced the low-power MR-16 LED lights on my master bedroom ceiling with 75W equivalent daylight flood lights. Now the bedroom is bright and cheery. Now to find a good use for the MR=16's
- Tonight there was young audience of only about 14 and they did not laugh a lot with my Old Guy routine. Kristofer Royer, the headliner got them going with his entertaining ramble.
Wed Feb 18 = This afternoon I had an appointment with my urologist. He did a cystoscopy and observed that there is a blockage. The fact that I am not experiencing uroflow problems is due to my bladder adjusting. He recommends surgery for removing the obstruction to prevent bladder damage from over extension. We'll do a follow-up in August. Now you know more than you wanted to know.
- This evening I drove down to Stand Up Live to observe
Arizona's Funniest Comedian competition. I saw a lot of my comedy friends, including some who went up for the competition. The three winners, out of the 17 contenders were, Jas Clay, Tyler Vanla (sp?) and Kristofer Royer (feature comedian from Brigett's yesterday).
After the show energetic and enthusiastic Arthur Hamilton
wanted a picture with me and one of my tickets.
Thu Feb 19 = Today I worked some on tonight's comedy, went to two gyms, passing out tickets for tonight and doing a light legs workout.
- Tonight's
Arizona's Funniest Comedian competition was awesome. I had one of my best sets yet: only five minutes of my famous Old Man routine. One of my comedy friends said it was the best I have done so far. I would have to agree, with 7.75 laughs per minute and the audience laughing 42% of the time. I did well, but evidently not as well as the winners, Dietrich Shelton (Black), Tim Bateman (White) and Gene More, a gay Mexican that killed it.
- In the next few days I plan to add some of my recent videos to this website.
Fri Feb 20 = Today I mostly stayed home except for a trip to Fitness 1 for a light, fast arms workout and a stop by Bashas' for some bananas. I stowed some stuff from my desk and kitchen counter, explored the possibility of having surgery for taking out a partial urinary blockage sooner rather than later, did some comedy scheduling, started the ball rolling for getting my Sony Vaio computer keyboard fixed (it occasionally leaves out characters and duplicates characters), figured the somewhat complicated due and late payment dates of the buyer of some desert land, prepared for Sunday's comedy class, updated my blog for the past week and took about eight modules of a Red Cross online first aid class.
Sat Feb 21 = I spent most of the morning messing with my Timex Ironman Triathlon Tap W254 Watch. It suddenly died about a month ago. I pursued repair, with Walmart, a warranty company and with Capital One MC's extended warranty program. Next will be to send the watch in to Timex.
- It took me 15 minutes to do my monthly Blog roll-over :)
- I am SO disgusted with the Red Cross on-line learning website. Every log on so far I have to reset my password. Then navigating through their maze to continue the class involves about 12 obscure steps. Then they say little about how to navigate through the required materials and nothing about how to quit a session to continue later. How inconsiderate and what a high-tech mess! I try to make everything accessible on my website with only two clicks after landing on the home page.
- This evening I scrubbed the white letters on my van tires from dingy to bright, buffed the headlights and went to our weekly hamfeast. It was at Streets of New York at 7 St & Bell, only three miles from home. Good group.
Sun Feb 22 = This morning I headed down to The Comedy Spot in Scottsdale for the weekly class with Dee Ann. I learned that the last half of my Inventing Routine needs punch lines and a more common audience appeal.
- I impulsed time away this evening by researching digital picture frames (got the bug from buying a non-functional one at Goodwill for $2.50), adding my
Kindle Touch 3G to to my Technology web page (will be uploaded in the next few days), checking how rapidly kidneys can process water (30oz/hour; 2 min./oz), how much water is required per day (Mayo says 180/day is good for me), studying internal resistances of LiPo batteries, finding a useful chart for the characteristics of 10
varieties of apples, watching some of
Bud Abbott & Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein when I got to sleepy to do anything else and printing out my updated Comedy Appearances lists.
Mon Feb 23 = I didn't get out of the house until after supper this evening. In the mean time I
fed
my myoporum with Moon Juice root stimulator, analyzed yesterday's comedy class feedback, took a nap, compiled my Yoga Routine for Dos Gringos tomorrow evening, started my 2014 Income Taxes with Tax Act Online, did about three sections of the Red Cross online First Aid course and wasted time studyng digital picture frames some more.
- The trip was to LA Fitness for a light torso workout, Fry's Food for some blackberries etc. and, finally to Bashas' for grapes at 97¢ a pound and Braeburn apples.
Tue Feb 24 = Kept my nose to the grindstone today. I worked on my taxes some, on the disgusting Red Cross on-line first aid class for about 40 minutes, sent two emails to Walmart suggesting that they create a department that takes over for, now defunct, Radio Shack and tweaked and practiced my Yoga routine for tonight. I froze the almost six pounds of grapes I bought yesterday - individually, after picking them off the stems. They should be perfect for adding to my cereal and cottage cheese mixtures.
- Traffic was slow heading down to Dos Gringos in South Tempe, so it is good that I left home early. It took me over an hour to drive down to the LA Fitness near Dos Gringos because there were accidents on every route. Instead of the 45 minute workout I had planned I had only about 25 minutes for an abbreviated slow and heavy legs workout.
- I had an almost perfect delivery of my Yoga routine but with few laughs. I think I'll relegate the routine to fitness audiences and yoga groups.
Wed Feb 25 = This morning I got my new glasses adjusted by Hope at Walmart's Vision Center at 19th Ave & Bell. She was very helpful and did such a good job that I sent a thank you note to Corporate in Lawrenceville, GA. I got home in time to wash my van before laying out in the sun for 20 minutes at solar noon.
- This afternoon I updated this blog and this evening completed the Red Cross online course and printed out my certificate.
Thu Feb 26 = I scurried around and got the the Red Cross center in time to chill out a little. I found out that I was not the only one who had trouble with the Red Cross online course. One student said everyone in her office considered it a joke and several other students weren't even able to complete the course and get their certificates. I also learned that the online course software went
live
only a month ago. Thomas B Crittenden, our instructor, did a good job as did my partner, Marilyn.
- On the way home I stopped by LA fitness for some hot tub, a shower and a slow, heavy arms workout.
- This afternoon and evening I added and shuffled videos on my Comedy web page, which I will upload in the next few days. Also, online, I worked on my income taxes and paid the second half of the property taxes, which are due March 1st, for my four properties.
- I skipped the monthly
- ARA
- Arizona Repeater Association (ham radio operators)
meeting this evening and promised myself that I would fix my 6m Best Nemesis kite with the found time, which I did. I probably spent more time than necessary opening the main bladder zipper, pulling out a section of the bladder, getting everything technically correct, using
LocTite Vinyl, Fabric & Plastic Flexible Adhesive to glue the deflate valve back on, hoping that the other valves did not come off the bladder in the process. I went to bed with a special weight configuration holding the valve in place overnight.
Fri Feb 27 = This morning I researched five auto body shops for repainting my van and vacuumed the house while listening, with ear muffs and ear buds, to a
Clark Howard podcast that I had downloaded to my
C. Crane Witness MP3 player.
- This afternoon I went to three auto body shops to get ideas for repainting my van: between $4,000 and $7,000.
- Interesting things from the Internet this evening.
- The Nov, 2014 issue of Consumer Reports rated my $700, 2-year old Sleep Number C2 as the best buy for adjustable air mattresses, beating out both the $3,000 Sleep Number i8 and the $3,200 Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Choice Supreme.
- My van is worth about $2,200
- Also I put my 6m Best Nemesis kite back together and inflated it in the great room. After about two hours, it is still holding air (except the second strut to the left of center which is slightly soft), so I'll head to bed and see how it looks tomorrow.
Sat Feb 28 = Kite was still hard (inflated) this morning, except for the one soft strut, and perfectly acceptable, so I rolled the kite up and put it away. Cool!
- This afternoon I prepared for tomorrow's comedy class. This evening drove down to the Five Guys on 44 St south of Thomas for our weekly hamfeast. There were seven of us, including a new ham couple.
