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Blog Archive 2016 Jan

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Fri Jan 1 = HAPPY NEW YEAR! Today Stan and I mostly teched out. In the late afternoon drove to 32 St & Bell Rd where we did some grocery shopping followed by his walking took a walk while I did a medium full-body workout at the LA Fitness there. It used to be a 24-Hour Fitness. This evening we got Google Docs working on all our devices so we can both work on our TO DO list at the same time and see what the other person is doing, wherever we are in the world.

Sat Jan 2 = Today
Stan
Stanley, my older brother who is a machinist for Eaton Corporation in Hutchinson, KS
and I went to Harbor Freight where I got 24 AAA cells, a free flashlight and a body trim removal tool kit. This evening we attacked the left sliding door of my van. The power lock locks it, but does not unlock the door. After lots of tugging and prying we finally got to the lock mechanism. The eye on a lever is broken off - probably not replaceable, and that is why my pwer lock will lock the door but not unlock it.s

Sun Jan 3 =
Stan
Stanley, my older brother who is a machinist for Eaton Corporation in Hutchinson, KS
and I attended the eleven o'clock service at the North Valley Baptist Church. Pastor Brent Loveless and everyone were very friendly. Both Stan and I were raised Baptist, so we felt right at home.
- This afternoon I spent a little 28 minutes on the phone with Andrew Shea of Godaddy. We got both my emails working and the new one, contact@arizonalou.com correctly forwarding to my Gmail inbox.
- It was almost dark this evening when I finally got around to spraying preemergence on my front and back yards. The chances of rain for the next six days are 21%, 51%, 80%, 42%, 34% and 40% respectively. Those high PPs are unusual for Phoenix. Hopefully, then, my preemergence will get watered in.
- With the help of Godaddy's Andrew in Iowa, I finished organizing my email for comedy. Stan helped me test the forwarding, so now I'll see any email that is sent to contact@arizonalou.com in my gmail inbox.
- The pop-up side trimmer on my Remington F-5790 shaver has gotten pretty dull. I attempted sharpening it with 280 grit valve lapping grease and then toothpaste. I put it in front of the refrigerator to dry. We'll see if it works better tomorrow morning.

Mon Jan 4 = The newly sharpened side trimmer on my Remington F-5790 shaver works well now, and I saved a lot of time, trouble and a some bucks by sharpening it myself.
- This afternoon I celebrated the first business day of the new year by going to my new urologist, Dr Farshid Sadeghi. I think I am going to like him. He's not as likely to do things that may not be necessary like my last urologist.

Tue Jan 5 = I took Denise shopping this morning under the auspices of
Duet
The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
. It was a little awkward with tools and door parts spread around from the door-lock project.
- I'm having a little trouble getting my arms around the latest comedy routine I have come up with. I am excited about the many little nuances, but am having trouble nailing them all down. Hopefully I'll have it ready to go by Thursday evening.
- For my website, I tweaked the VAN LIFE web page information about my van's refrigerator and added a link to My 12 Volt Store. A neat website with everything you can imagine to use in your vehicle.

Wed Jan 6 = Today's mail included junk, of course, plus a notice of payment on the note I have for selling my #4 desert land. Their payment was due Oct 30th, so they have only two months past due, plus three late fees. It also appears that they are a little behind on their property taxes for the land.
- It felt good to get back into the gym after
Stan
Stanley, my older brother who is a machinist for Eaton Corporation in Hutchinson, KS
's visit. On the way I stopped by FedEx Office to print out three things - two copies of my Vacation Count-down (one for San Diego later this month and another for the Dominican Republic the first part of February). I'll have only one day between the two trips, so will really have to have my act together.
- Less is more... maybe. I may have increased my confidence in the new-year's routine I'm doing tomorrow and at the same time improved my presentation by reducing what I bite off. Tonight I started focusing on just the first, CELEBRATING THE NEW YEAR, topic rather than all three for the set. I will still do TORNADOES and, maybe the GROUCH topic if I have time.

Thu Jan 7 = Comedy tonight at Chop and Wok in Scottsdale.

Fri Jan 8 = This afternoon I spent about two hours on the phone with Jitin Singh of Microsoft controling my computer. Finally got the printers working, but my computer is still being flaky: going to sleep or hybernating after two minutes of non-use, messing up the icons on my desktop, forgetting my file associations and generally making my life a little miserable.
- Late afternoon I got my tires rotated by Discount Tire. I have one tire, an old one, that is getting a little low on tread. I may need to replace it with a spare I have in my garage after the next tire rotation. It is not real simple, siince I have extra big tires on my van.
- This evening I inflated the two kites I'll be taking to the Dominican Republic. Not all good news. After 24 hours the 8m Best Nemesis was all good except its smallest right strut was deflated after four hours. The 12m Epic Screamer main strut was slightly soft after 24 hours (not a problem) but the first strut to the right of the kite's center strut getting pretty soft after four hours. I've got some fixin' tuh doo (ugh).
- I bought DriveSnapshot and started the process of imaging my computer. Now if I have a failure, I should be able to get back up and running in minimal time.

Sat Jan 9 = Tonight I spent $70 on a ticket, drinks and parking going to Stand Up Live in downtown Phoenix and didn't even get to see Rob Scheider, but saw Joel McHale instead. Rob was last week. I guess I'll have to learn to read calendars. I am sorry I missed seeing Rob.

Sun Jan 10 = Today's comedy event was at the Phoenix Center for the Arts, Third Street Theater. It turns out that to tap into their PA system I needed an adapter from RCA plugs to a 3.5mm stereo plug, so settle for putting my Rode shot-gun mic on a little tripod in front of one of their speakers that was sitting on the stage. I got to use the microphone's attenuator for the first time.

Mon Jan 11 = This afternoon I drove down to Bryan Ricci's apartment for some comedy tutoring. He gave me some good ideas - not sure how I'll have time to implement all of them, but will start by modifying my routine for Wednesday.

Tue Jan 12 = This morning I took my van for an oil change to Auto Tune - new owners. They said my power steering had no fluid and showed me lots of oil and crud on the hoses, pump and rack-and-pinion. The plan: Fill the reservoir, wipe off the 300k miles of crud and see what it looks like next oil change.
- This afternoon I had too many things to do than to waste an hour at my allergist's office. I never saw her because between their offices and that of my PCP, they never got a referral for me.
- After that I scooted out to ACMS in Scottsdale for the annual meeting and election of our Mountain Rose HOA.

Wed Jan 13 = I got a phone call from my allergist, that I did not need a referral after all, according to the benefits of my medical insurance... oh well. Rescheduled.
- After reading reviews etc. I decided to go with PowerDirector from Cyberlink for editing my videos. It has a multi-cam feature that I need. I got it all downloaded.
- This afternoon/evening trip was all to the west: to Power Dodge for the left sliding door lock mechanism they special ordered for me, to a Dollar Tree for mustard, Ace Hardware for rubber surgical tubing for my 8m Best Nemesis one-pump system, Fry's Food for 99% fat-free Hebrew National franks, to Fry's Electronics for a three-foot audio cord with a 3.5mm stereo plug on on end and double RCA plugs on the other and to Toso's Bar & Grill for the open mic comedy show co-hosted by Joe Salinas and Bryan Kerlie. Not only did I do some comedy, but sold three T shirts to Dan Amaro and Eric Sobczak:)
- But that's not all. On the way home I stopped by Fitness 1 for a record late 11pm slow, heavy arms workout. Hey, it was right on the way home and I had already treated my self to my Wednesday-night post-workout protein frostie.

Thu Jan 14 = I got almost the perfect recording of my set tonight at Chop and Wok, with two video cameras and two additional sound recorders: stereo for the crowd and monaural-adapted to stereo through the PA system for good comedian sound. Now we'll see if I have time to put it all together.

Fri Jan 15 = I spent the whole day getting things organized for my next trips. I sent requests to appear as a guest at several comedy clubs on my way to and from
OBX
Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina
 in the spring and summer. I registered for a comedy festival in New York City in July. I repaired my 8m Best Nemesis kite, using surgical tubing I bought last night at Ace Hardware to replace a leaking strut connection tube, and got up-to-date on my vacation countdown lists - two at once: one for driving to San Diego and the other for flying to the Dominican Republic.
- I appeared on today's Clark Howard show... it was a repeat from two years ago, of my phone call about sharpening your electric razor.
- This evening I resolved my checking account - first try :), installed and adjusted the new left sliding door
lock
lock control mechanism on my van and sent off an email to Laughing Skull in Atlanta about a possible guest appearance on my
OBX
Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina
 trip.

Sat Jan 16 = Today I sent more emails to comedy clubs.
- This evening I went to LA Fitness for a 15-minute heavy, slow torso workout. At home I made a one-minute test video with two cameras and four audio sources. I got them loaded into PowerDirector, my new video editor by CyberLink. My big accomplishment was to get the audio synchronized with the videos

Sun Jan 17 = My allergies kicked in full force last night. It didn't help that I got to bed late last night, working with my new Cyberlink video-editing software.
- The 4:00 show this afternoon at the Kax Stage of the Herberger Theater Complex was both fun and interesting. The best part of the show, I thought, was the Lilac Crazy Quart, a women's barbershop comedy quartet. My set was well received: a combination of some old and some relatively new material. Some of the performers took advantage of John, the host, and his good nature by going way over on their time. That meant that the show went long and the last performers had almost no time.
- This evening I spent some time working with Cyberlink's PowerDirector 14, Wave Editor and AudioDirector. Their multi-camera feature is good, but so far, I have not found any way to combine and adjust multiple audio tracks.

Mon Jan 18 = My goal is to finish all my axillary projects, like fixing bladder leaks in the two kites I plan to take to the Dominican Republic and buttoning up the trim panels on my van's left sliding door after replacing the power lock assembly. The new lock assembly has a plastic connector (instead of steel, as the original) for the inside release button rod. It is slipping so the door does not open from the inside. I solved the problem by adding stainless steel safety-wire to help pull a lever. Good news: the problem reared its ugly head before I put the inside trim panel back on. Bad news: my bailing-wire system may not last.

Tue Jan 19 = Today is the official first day of one-week-to-leaving for both trips. I measured out the nuts and powdered milk to take for both, cut up 252 super-heavy business cards that I had previously printed, 10-up (81 Comedy only and 171 comedy on the front and kiteboarding on the back), then, after I Moon Juiced my myoporums, I scurried off to Dos Gringos to try out some new material: Boxes and Death.
- My six lb. of psyllium and four pounds of flax-seed meal arrived from PureFormulas.com

Wed Jan 20 = This morning I took Lyn to see her cardiologist under the auspices of
Duet
The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
, stopped by LA Fitness for a shortened, heavy, fast legs workout and got some grapefruit and apples at Sprouts Farmers' Market.
- This afternoon I took down the Christmas lights and addressed the envelopes for 27 Snow cards. Most people send them out earlier and call them Christmas cards.
- I got about six of my past comedy routines printed out and organized and analyzed the laughs on two of them. Analyzing laughs takes time and is easy to put off, but I think doing it helps improve my comedy. I also did the monthly roll-over for this blog and got a 6-ounce shaker of cinnamon/ginger refilled and ready for the trips.

Thu Jan 21 = Today I got my van refrigerator moved inside and cooling.
- This afternoon I worked on my comedy routine for this evening.
- This evening, after I checked the forecast, I washed my van and tires and buffed my headlights so they all sparkle, got my tech drawer organized for San Diego, prepared my pre-trip shopping list, emailed the paperwork for the extended credit card warranty on my Olympus VN-7200 voice recorder, made a final groceries run to Winco and did and stopped by LA Fitness for a fast, heave torso workout.
- At Chop and Wok in Scottsdale, tonight, was my last local appearance before leaving and my second try with Boxes and Death The boxes will be OK, but Death needs more work.
- Back home, heading to bed, I put in my final load of whites to soak overnight - cleaner clothes without wearing them out.

Fri Jan 22 = Gene O'Kelly, the CEO of a major corporation, was diagnosed with inoperable, terminal brain cancer and given three months to live, so spent his last 100 days using his drive, organizational skills, his ability to look at the big picture and his attention to detail, preparing himself and those around him, with lots of love... and writing a book, Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life. I recommend the book. At least put the free sample on your e-reader.

Sat Jan 23 = I spent most of the day preparing for the drive to San Diego. Around noon I phoned the five comedy clubs I emailed about a week ago, about making guest appearances.
- Tonight I pounded and pried the bottom off of the little water pump
Water Pump
for my van's running water system. It had frozen up. With the bottom off I was able to move the impeller down so it would not rub against the internal case, move the shaft around and lubricate it to the point that it will probably work... maybe for another year. The only place I can find the pump nowadays is from the UK.

Sun Jan 24 = Packing up to leave day: I met
George & Cindy
younger brother and his wife who live in Mesa, Arizona
around noon at Sweet Tomatoes in Scottsdale for the final time before my trips. We got the Plantronics Bluetooth headset I gave her for Christmas working with her Samsung Android cell phone. George made me feel good when he asked if I had new tires. I just keep the white letters bright and clean. Actually the tires are getting toward the end of their tread life.
- Back at home I replaced the battery in my Timex Ironman Triathlon Tap W254 watch. Good features but HORIBLE battery life - only lasted four months.
- I sent in the paperwork to Bob Jastrab of Ranch Coordinator Services to renew the lease with a rancher for a 10 acer parcel of land I own out by Wittmann. The lease helps reduce my property taxes.

Mon Jan 25 = This morning I headed my van toward San Diego. On the drive, for the first time, I did a complete feature show, glancing at notes. This included material that I had not done for months. It took about 50 minutes. Also I practiced, timed, tweaked and cut down my routine for this evening at the Comedy Palace... or so I thought. About half way to San Diego I received a voice mail explaining that the open mic had been moved to tomorrow night.
- Making the best of the situation, I saw Jeff Dye who is pretty famous. He went for 1:06!
- I got acquainted with Brandon Young and Dan Bublitz, who are producing the San Diego Comedy Festival here.
- I will be parking my van near or around The Comedy Palace. Thanks George and Tony Salek.

Tue Jan 26 = This morning I drove way downtown, 10 miles, to Horton Plaza and scoped out The Mad House Comedy Club. On the way back I found the National University Library, which is one of the best, with soft chairs, free Wi-Fi and free B&W printouts. The rest of the day I mostly hung around The Comedy Palace. I had a good 5-minute set at their open mic and then drove down to Mad House for another good set of 3 minutes. After that I drove back up to the Palace for the night. To bed about 1:30am.

Wed Jan 27 = Considering that I was going to sleep late in the morning, I was worried that my van would get too warm, being in the sun. It didn't get as warm as I anticipated. - This afternoon I went to an LA Fitness for a slow, heavy full-body workout and then to the National University Library to process audios of my set from last night and prepare for tonight' comedy show.

Thu Jan 28 = That's a printer! This morning I used the National University Library's Ecoprint FS-4200DN printer to print out 13 new, inverted, double-sided, high-quality B&W pages of my Future Appearance lists, 6-up. Seeing it perform reinforces my thought about buying a LASER printer for my B&W printing at home These copies look so much better than the ones I did yesterday in my van on my little Epson WF-100. Of course I had done those at draft quality to save my expensive ink.
- Comedy was fun, again, at Mad House - This time my routine was three minutes of StandUp-Paddleboarding in Maui.

Fri Jan 29 = I forgot a few things on this trip. If I list them, I might remember them next trip... and forget a different set of things. - The latest to bed yet: about 3:30am after doing three minutes at The Mad House Comedy Club.

Sat Jan 30 = I got up in time to make it to the comedy workshop by Greg Dean. He is a first class teacher and has years of experience. A number of years ago, he decided to stop performing comedy and go into teaching it after he survived a bout with cancer. I spent $100 on a book and DVD of his and he bought one of my T-shirts.
- This evening I got a complement. At a Round Two show for the San Diego Comedy Festival competition, a 20-something guy stopped me and told me that he thought what I did Tuesday (my signature old man routine) at the Open Mic was really funny, that he particularly liked my energy, the Roman Numerals and the way the crowd and I mutually liked each other. This matches what we learned in this afternoon's comedy class. I want to make a point of reading, listening to and relating to the audience better. I'll try to keep that in mind tonight at The Mad House with my Fingers routine.
- The Mad House show started at midnight. Since I was from out of town and this was my last appearance there, Miles, the host, gave me five minutes instead of the usual three for comedians on the alternate list. Thanks, Miles. Due to the late show, I got to bed at 4:00am. I spent the night at the Walmart near I-15. The van was not hot in the morning because it was cold and overcast with some rain showers. Also I had parked in the shade of a little tree. I understand that Dollar Tree, to the north, does not have parking lot monitoring and that overnight parking there should not be a problem.

Sun Jan 31 = I spent some time at the National University Library this afternoon. On the way to the Comedy Palace I got my Christmas letter and cards in the mail.
- The finals for the San Diego Comedy Festival were pretty good. The winner, Jerry Garcia, is the one I would have picked. It is the first time I heard him, so I don't know if he repeated his material. Most of the others did repeat... for the third time. Second place was Derek Poston, a comedian friend I made there in San Diego.
- After the show I headed toward Phoenix and spent the night at Walmart; 170 Town Center Pkwy, Santee, CA 92071

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