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Blog Archive 2015 Mar

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Sun Mar 1 = I left just in time for the Stand-up class at Scottsdale Comedy Spot with everything for an extended trip (gym bag, lunch, supper, computer etc.) to include this evening's show at The Tempe Improv... except my class materials, which I left sitting on my desk.
- The class went well and I used my computer as a tablet for the notes for my routine. The class was very helpful in coming up with punchlines and twists for my mundane Stupid-Comments-At-The-Gym ideas.
- Because the class got out a little earlier than usual, I drove on home after the class, getting gas on the way. At home I added a thermographic image to Big Fat Tires on my VAN web page and transferred the audio file from my comedy class to my
Vaio
Sony Vaio Duo 11 computer with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 8, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
.

Mon Mar 2 = This morning I picked up Denise for our monthly shopping trip to Winco Foods under the auspices of
Duet
The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
.
- After dropping her off at her house, and since I had my refrigerator in the van so my frozen vegetables would not thaw, I was able to drive directly up to Deer Valley Rd and have Pat, at Maaco, give me an estimate for repainting my van.
- Then there was just enough time to grab a quick grilled chicken salad at Wendy's on the way to Prime Eye Care where Dr Jeff Pyritz checked flashes and a black fleck in my right eye's peripheral vision to the right.
- This evening I cycled a brand-new-from-the-refrigerator Eflight flight battery for 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
10 times to see how a new battery should behave. It didn't have the capacity that I expected - especially after the fifth cycle. However, the battery worked OK with a test hovering flight here at Rockwood in my great room.
- My Canon printer started streaking. Refilling the ink cartridge and multiple regular and deep cleanings did not solve the problem. I did my critical comedy printing on my HP OfficeJet 100. I need to use it occasionally anyway to keep it working.

Tue Mar 3 = Cool comedy this evening, but it did not start out that way. I phoned Desere at Copper Blue's this afternoon. She told me that the comedy show started at 7:30 and I needed to arrive by 7:00 to sign up. After stopping by the west Mesa 24 Hour Fitness for a brief, light and fast legs workout, I arrived a little before 7:00 and found that the show had started at 7:00, so I could not go up. The show WAS interesting, in spite of a less than enthusiastic crowd that thinned out toward the last. John Higby, a comedian friend of mine told me about another location that I had not heard of, so after the Copper Blue's show...
- I was off to the Grand Avenue Pizza Company for Hashtag Comedy. After playing to the awesome crowd, I think I've got my mojo back. Kapono Rowe runs a good booked show of two feature comedians with about 20 minutes each and 14 open mic comedians with about five minutes each.
- I was the final comedian so Kapono let me go a little longer. My 7:20 set ended with cheers and whistles from the crowd of about 20. After the show people made me feel good with unsolicited comments like: - This being my 137th appearance, brings my total audience count to 4,510! I went onstage at 11:25 PM, had the audience laughing 32% of the time with 6.8 laughs/minute and got to bed at 1:00 Wednesday morning... tired, but happy!

Wed Mar 4 = For today's big trip I walked across the street to the mail box and back. The rest of the day I worked on comedy scheduling, analyzed last night's routine and Sunday's class audio notes, poured boiling water down the kitchen sink, cleaned the toilets, reviewed my goals and action list and checked the tire pressures in my van tires (all were 32.5 lb, close enough to the 33.0, esecially considering the garage was cold). This afternoon I impulsed for about 15 minutes and straightened the feathering spindle on 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
without removing the spindle :) - the second time. A 15-second flight in my great room confirmed that I had done a good job.

Thu Mar 5 = Eye Surgery this afternoon, although I did not plan for it: Dr Edward Quinlan, Retinal Specialist, found a very small tear in my RIGHT eye at the edge of the retina. It took just a few minutes for him, with a LASER, to pin the tear down so it will not develop into a retinal detachment which can lead to blindness if not surgically corrected. During the out-patient procedure I experienced some mild discomfort and saw some bright flashes of greenish-white light. To make sure I take care of my sight I am going to go easy on the exercycle and inverted shrugs for the next few days. I went to Dr Quinlan on a referral from Dr Pyritz after oberving a new fixed floater and some flashes.
- On the way to the ophthalmologist appointment I stopped at the near-by, Bethany Home, Youfit gym for a look around and a shower.
- On the way home from the ophthalmologist appointment I stopped by the same Youfit for a light arms workout (no inverted) and then chilled out up at the Union Hills and 7th St Goodwill where I found a good $8, Logitech USB microphone and this Taylor 7086 $7, 5 x 9 x 1" high LCD digital, glass bathroom scale. The slide-out display under the glass gives the scale a high cool rating. All the scale needed was a new 2032 button battery.
Taylor compact scale

Fri Mar 6 = Today I completely rewrote my gym comedy routine using an entirely different slant. We'll see how Sunday's comedy class likes the new version.

Sat Mar 7 = This evening, I went to our weekly hamfeast, which was at Dickey's BBQ at Shea and Scottsdale Rd. Both their pulled pork and fried onions (actually onion rings) were greasy. In preparation for heli flying tomorrow, I fast charged 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
flight batteries R Y Z D.

Sun Mar 8 = Another busy Sunday in Paradise - Morning to bedtime:

Mon Mar 9 = This morning my Timex Ironman Triathlon Tap W254 Watch was delivered by the USPS to Little Rock and I applied Moon Juice root stimulator to my Myoporums. Laundry this afternoon - whites - Mostly my 30 pair of sox. This evening I prepared, rinsed and froze about three pounds of fresh strawberries that I got on sale from Fry's Food.

Tue Mar 10 = This morning I gathered my notes and practiced my Old Man routine for Copper Blues tonight and phoned Kylie at Servce King about their estimate for repainting my van. This afternoon I tweaked the Median/Shopping/Gym routine that I delivered last night at the Third Street Theater and will use on the 16th at The Turf. I also made 4x6 official trigger notes. Last night I used 8.5x11 pencil notes, which was about right at that stage of the routine's development.
- How much money should I spend to repaint my van? I'd like it to last until self-driving/parking autos are reasonably priced - my guess is six years (by 2021, when I'll be 80). The biggest players are most likely to be Tesla and Google. This 13:38 minute video looks at the current state and future of self-driving cars.

- Tonight's audince at Tempe's Copper Blues was SO MUCH FUN! It was my debut there. I was near the end of the show in the Speed Rounds, so only had three minutes. During that three minutes the audience laughed an average of 7.4 times per minute was laughing 36% of the time. Good going, me!
- This evening I used the LocTite vinyl adhesive to glue the side heal support on my right Nike total air sole shoe. It came off in an area and started snapping when I walk.

Wed Mar 11 = At noon today I lay in the sun for 20 minutes. This morning I got my ideas together for talking to Juan at the Bell Auto Body Shop about repainting my van. I tried to not blast him with questions but, since the company hasn't been in business long, wanted to know his experience, the financial strength of the company and more details about the kind and quality of paints he would use. It turns out that we had a nice talk. I believe he understood and was straight forward and helpful. I think he and his crew can do a good job on my van. They were not the cheapest, but are hopefully the best.

Thu Mar 12 = This morning I had a follow-up appointment with my retinologist, Dr. Quinlan for the LASER procedure I had last week. Everything appeared OK. On the way home I sopped by Discount Tire for a tire rotation. The tires seem to be wearing fairly evenly. I forgot to remind them so they did not cross the tires to the front. When I took the van in to switch the front tires they found a small nail in the passenger front tire (A) - too close to the edge for them to repair. They said they could not put it back on. I had them put on the spare, which is smaller than my other three BIG tires.
- So I drove my van on the uneven tires the 34 miles to see Eathan Watkins at the Speakeasy in Scottsdale. I went because it was Eathan's first headliner show. Boy, he was good! It keeps me humble and is a cross between being inspired and seeing how far I have to go. Several of my comedian friends were there, both on stage and in the audience.

Fri Mar 13 = This morning I took my van into Discount Tire and they mounted the BIG Good Year tire I had stashed in my garage from my last set. Now the four tires match, at least in size.
- Then on to Bell Auto Body. Juan, there, went over my van in detail and will work up a contract for repainting it.
- The last few days my HP OfficeJet 100 portable printer has been giving some faded copies so, this afternoon I drilled a hole in the top of the black cartridge and squirted in all the black ink I had on hand (not much). That seems to have taken care of the problem. I also ordered more bulk black ink.
- I started getting my ducks in a row for the repainting of my van, as follows:
  1. Car rental: Since my van will be in the paint shop for two weeks, I'll need a rental car for about three different days. The near-by Enterprise offers special shop rates: about $30 a day, including taxes.
  2. Insurance: I added collision and comprehensive insurance to my van for the two weeks (plus a third week for good measure) my van will be in the shop. The insurance will cost me just a few bucks ($5k deductible) and will transfer to the rental car, as opposed to paying about $19 per day for Enterprise's insurance.
  3. Credit Limit: I might pay for the paint job by credit card, so I phoned Capital One to get an increase in my credit limit to cover it. Its about time. For years I've been trying to get Capital One to raise my ridiculously low credit limit.
- Eyes: The floaters in my right eye are a little more pronounced and closer to my central vision. I phoned the reninal specialist triage office but never heard back from them. - I managed to spend most of the evening writing two thank you notes, figuring my van's tires, updating the spreadsheet where I track their wear and starting to resolve my checking account. My trip out for this evening was to LA Fitness to visit a little with Cryone at the front desk and then on to the post office to mail the thank you notes.

Sat Mar 14 = This morning I was thinking I would go to LA Fitness first thing. I ended going to 24 Hour Fitness last thing this evening, after the weekly hamfeast way down in Chandler. In the mean time I finished preparations for tomorrow's class at Comedy Spot, tweaked and practiced my new Homeless/Gym routine for The Turf on Monday evening and filed some of the clutter from my desk.
- Eyes: Toward evening my right-eye floaters are migrating, and occasionally right in my central vision. I don't know if this is an ocular emergency, but I am somewhat concerned.
- This evening I did my monthly Blog roll-over in a near record 17:30 minutes :)

Sun Mar 15 = At the Comedy Spot class, Sean lead us in a total-class exercise that emphasizes listening and responding. I did my Maui and SUP routine, which they tore apart with ideas for me to work on.
- This afternoon Denise, (under the auspices of
Duet
The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
) and I went grocery shopping.
- This evening I drove down to Stand Up Live in downtown Phoenix to see the semi-finals for Arizona' Funniest Comedian, for the preliminary round in which I had competed. It was a good show and the three winners were well deserving.

Mon Mar 16 = I rushed down to Reninal Specialists for a check up by Dr. Haak after noticing increased and more pervasive floaters closer to my central vision. Everything looked OK, so I can just expect to live with them.
- Tonight I drove down to The Turf Irish Pub to do comedy. For the first time I learned about walk-outs from Eric Beiz, the producer. Fortunately no one walked out this time while I was up. The comedian before me, from Los Angeles, Eric Meyer, killed it - by far the best comedian of the evening. He yelled a lot and was really funny.

Tue Mar 17 = Today was the best day to get my van emissions checked, before it goes into the shop tomorrow. It passed after they provided me with a new gas cap! On the way home I got some MP Rotator heads at Sprinkler World for
Dahlia
my Phoenix rental house located on Dahlia Drive
. On the way to Grand Avenue Pizza to do comedy this evening I stopped by O'Reilly's and Auto Zone looking for a universal radio antenna and the west Northern LA Fitness (my first time there) for a light torso workout

Wed Mar 18 = All morning Channel 12, and others, preempted regular TV programming to cover a shooting in west Mesa. Naturally the media played it for all it was worth for hours. I took my van in to Auto Tune for an oil change and AC service. They replaced the high-pressure hose. I hope that fixes the slow freon leak. On the way home I bought a new radio antenna for my van at Pep Boys (the fourth place I looked) and went to LA Fitness for a heavy legs workout. My Wednesday reward for that was one of my protein frosties.
- This evening I analyzed my Gym routine from last night at the Grand Avenue Pizza. I think I simply had less energy, enthusiasm and punch than the previous time I was there, doing my old man routine. I also rinsed, bagged, scrunched, flattened and froze 3 lb of strawberries and 1.5 lb of blueberries.

Thu Mar 19 = This morning I scrubbed the white letters on my van tires so they'll look good when I drive into the shop for my repaint on Monday.
- This afternoon I took Carol, under the auspices of
Duet
The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
, to see her doctor. It was good seeing Carol again and catching up.

Fri Mar 20 = This morning I had a good heli time. While my batteries R Y Z D. charged I fixed and ate breakfast and flew my PhoneixRC simulator. Then, out 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
I had four pretty good flights with 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
: did some banked turns, hammerheads, pirouettes, flips and inverted. Three of the flights were perfect: taking off from my hand and landing back on it after a four-minute flight.
- Around noon I laid out in the sun for 20 minutes and also discovered how to create smoke signals with my microwave oven by putting in a yam for 33:33 minutes rather than 3:33. By the time I caught it smoke was so dense that you couldn't even see inside the oven, even after opening the oven door. The yam lost about 85% of its weight and smelled like a cigar inside. The rest of the afternoon and evening was for airing out the house.
- This afternoon I finished my HeliCase #2 web page. I will get the new page active with a link from my Technology web page the next day or so. I feel good with my accomplishment, although a tinge of guilt considering all the other things I could have been doing. Guess it's Baptist Guilt from my childhood.

Sat Mar 21 = This morning I went to the Scottsdale Springfest, hamfest where I bought a little one-inch squirrel cage fan, another Kill-a-Watt wattage meter and a Y adapter for stereo headphones.
- For comedy, I finalized my routine for Dos Gringos then spent the rest of the day rewriting my Maui routine and trigger notes for the comedy class at Comedy Spot tomorrow.
- The four ounce container of ink that I ordered arrived today via USPS from the Printer Filling Station. Good service!
- It took about five minutes to solve a problem that I have been procrastinating for eight months! Last summer I noticed a hot connection on my van's LiFeMnPO house battery when the refrigerator was running. I bypassed the problem by switching the refrigerator plug to a different socket and promptly started procrastinating. Today I confirmed the bad connection with my FLIR i7 thermographic camera and recrimped the connection. Problem solved!

Sun Mar 22 = Today's trip was nearly 12 hours from 9:15 this morning to about 9:15 this evening. I went to the Comedy Spot class, to LA Fitness in North Scottsdale, to a Fry's Food store for Bananas, Blueberries, Lettuce and a Bell Pepper and to
Dahlia
my Phoenix rental house located on Dahlia Drive
where I filled dirt in around a couple of sprinkler heads.
- The day wasn't over until I put my new Helicase #2 web page online and prepared my van for the paint shop tomorrow by removing all my special gadgets and gizmos.

Mon Mar 23 = This morning I took my van to Juan at Bell Auto Body. I thought he was going to start on it today, but he said he needs to go over it thoroughly and do a detailed contract.
- My HP OfficeJet 100 mobile printer quit printing. I have been using it since my Canon 4800 ink is not feeding.
- I tried to register on the Social Security website to get the 1099's for my taxes, but the site would not let me. Told me to phone for help because, "We cannot create an account for the Social Security number you entered.

Tue Mar 24 = I learned that the cheapest days of the week to fly anywhere are generally Tu; W; Sa.
- This afternoon I rented a cool Enterprise car (2014 Hyundai Veloster) with a blind-spot mirror and a backup camera. I drove down to Dos Gringos in South Tempe to do comedy. It was fun.

Wed Mar 25 = I flew 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
. It only flew for about a minute on the first battery. It unbound on the others, some of them new. Someone said it was probably a bad main circuit board. Also he noticed that the main gear had a tooth missing. So that's where the funny sound was coming from.
- Before I went out to the field I flew my PhoenixRC simulator, but it had a problem. I had to unplug and replug the USB end of the transmitter interface cable. Before that, the computer erroneously thought the controller was online when it was unplugged, and there was no response to the controller when it was plugged in.

Thu Mar 26 = I registered for MyChart, which is a service of my John C Lincoln Health Network. They say, "MyChart is an electronic health records portal that offers personalized and secure online access to portions of your medical records... Using MyChart you are able to securely use the Internet to help manage and receive information about your health. It also includes the ability to: - A little after 5:00pm Enterprise picked me up to rent a red Kia R10 GDI, which was capable of 0-60mph in 11.42 seconds.
- Toward evening I drove to the north Scottsdale LA Fitness for a quick, fast and light legs workout, then across the street to Chop and Wok to do comedy. Listening to my stereo audio recording, I think I did better than most, although I could have paused more for laughs. I guess it is human nature to hate silence or pauses. I need to practice using them effectively.

Fri Mar 27 = I have developed a 4 x 6 x 11 inch Car Case (the box in which my
B&F
Bind and Fly
Nano
fourth type of RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
came). The cardboard case has a handle on the side and contains everything I might need when I rent a car. Here's what I carry in the case: - This evening I drove the little red rental car to get a wedding card, some wedding presents, to LA fitness, Sprouts for broccoli, to ARCO for a little gasoline and to Enterprise to turn in the car.
- My HP OfficeJet 100 mobile printer quit printing - again - so I couldn't print out more of my Comedy Announcement sheets     >:(

Sat Mar 28 = This morning I messed with my HP OfficeJet 100 mobile printer until it started working. The instructions are useless and contradictory :(
- This afternoon I started the long process of converting the about 400 files on my Sony ICD-0X312 digital recorder to MP3s by transferring them to my C Crane Witness via an audio patch cord. This MP3 glob will serve as a backup for the files.
- This evening I went across the street to one of the fanciest weddings ever - that of my friends and neighbors Greg and Brenda Wolfe. It was inspirational and good to meet their families. All done tastefully and beautifully in their back yard. Part of the entertainment was a five minute comedy toast by... me!

Sun Mar 29 = This morning I rented a little white Hyndai Accent (0-60 in 10.66 seconds) for the drive down to take the Comedy Spot class (taxi would have ben $110 both ways) and then to take Denise shopping at Winco and Fry's Food under the auspices of
Duet
The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
.
- The comedy class was fruitful. Dee Anne took some time with me after class, which I appreciated. I learned that I still have a long ways to go with this comedy thing and that I need to develop my right-brain creative skills more. She suggested, The Comedy Bible: From Stand-up to Sitcom--The Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How To" Guide by Judy Carter. I looked Carter up on the Internet and added her to my comedy web page. She is really good. This evening I started reading the book on my Kindle.

Mon Mar 30 = Almost a perfect day. This morning I mailed two thank you notes at the Rose Garden post office, got gasoline, didn't have time to stop by a gym (what made it almost) and got the rental car returned on time.
- Enterprise delivered me to Bell Auto Body where I toured my van repaint progress. Of course it looks ugly at this stage. We decided to replace the back bumper since it is chewed up a little too much and to not paint the front bumper. The bare, grey plastic will look unusual, and not show rock chips as much. The shop will plan on reapplying the old, somewhat weathered strips on the sides of the top. I think Juan and his crew are doing a good job. As you can see below, (right video) they have used fiberglass fill to take care of rusted areas around the hatch hinges and the upper right, rear corner.
- They will buff out the paint to make it smooth and shiny but not the top of the van. The unbuffed orange peal will give better UV protection. Juan gave me a ride home and I showed him how to use the BullZip PDF printer.
- Juan phoned this afternoon from Bell Auto Body and told me that he noticed a crack in the windshield that was too large to be repaired. After finishing sunning and a fast, two-minute exercycle session, it took some time for me to arrange and coordinate replacement of the windshield by Peter Zabosky of Novus Glass through Amica Insurance. Stuff like this unpredictably happens and that's the reason you don't want to schedule yourself too tightly.

Van Repaint
Paint pealing on roof due to factory defect
TPealing Paint
Rusty right hatch jam
Taylor compact scale
Right hatch jam after grinding rust, fiberglassing and painting
Taylor compact scale
Walk-around Van Before Repainting             51 sec. video
2:09 min:Walk-around Van Repainting Progress             2:08 min. video
- This evening, on my shopping list for Goodwill, I added a USB keyboard to use to confirm that the keyboard problem (character duplicates and omissions) is really the fault of my
Vaio
Sony Vaio Duo 11 computer with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 8, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
. Then I remembered that I have a little, folding, Universal Freedom Bluetooth keyboard that I used with a HTC smart phone several years ago. I got the keyboard out and had no trouble binding it with my Vaio even without its old battery. The keyboard sits on top of the Vaio keyboard... and works without the duplicates and omissions. BAD VAIO!

Tue Mar 31 - Preito Battery has come up with what they claim is a revolutionary new 3-D Lithium-Ion battery technology using copper foam that, they say has:

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