Blog Archive 2017 Aug
Tue Aug 1 = Be On Key cancelled tonight's jam without notice, so I got there and found out that there was not going to be an opportunity for me to get on stage. Plan
B
kicked in. John, at the bar, said I could tell some jokes to people on the patio. Sounds like Sioux Falls all over again. I did a 32-minute show for an audience of 8, mostly members of a band which was going to play later in the evening.
- The good news is that I got off early, drove north and spent the night in a quite residential neighborhood in Cheyenne, the capital city of Wyoming.
Wed Aug 2 = I finished the drive to Laramie, WY in time to stop by Walmart, the Coal Creek Coffee House to double check on tonight's open mic and then spend a couple hours at the Albany County Public Library.
- I pulled the trigger and ordered a Dell XPS 13 9360 Touch computer to replace my deteriorating Sony Vaio.
- Good show tonight. I was one of two comedians. The rest were all musicians except for one poet. There was no time limit given, so I did 16 minutes worth. Some of my slightly blue material probably wasn't the best choice. For my next appearance, in Salt Lake City, I'll aim for 100%
clean.
It will be good practice for the show I will be doing in October for
- Duet
- The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
.
- Spent the night in Laramie, WY
Thu Aug 3 = This morning I spent tending my van, checking the tire's wear and pressures and adding two quarts of Transmission fluid, ATF+4, after it started slipping. Good thing I wasn't in the middle of nowhere when it happened. It involved a little more time because I had forgotten to have extra quart on hand and paper funnels. Thanks to O'Reilly Auto Parts I've got both now.
- I spent almost 3 hours at the Coal Creek Coffee House catching up on things, making an appointment for my regular skin check (dermatologist) and organizing, and analyzing my T-Shirt stock and ordering more. Right now I am out of sizes xS to L, and have only one XL on hand. Delivery will have to be when I get back to Phoenix, since I am on the road.
- I headed across the rolling grasslands toward Salt Lake City the middle of the afternoon and crossed the 7,500' continental divide on I-80 at 5:48pm. I spent the night in Evanston, but not at Walmart because I would have try to sleep with car specs going through my head due to the awesome PA system at a drag race track about a half mile away. The only thing louder was the cars themselves. I found an isolated residential area with big shade trees to solve the problem... almost. This town was so small you could hear the racetrack everywhere, although not as loud as at Walmart. Ear plugs and a noise curfew mostly took care of the problem.
Fri Aug 4 = Making lemonade, here. First thing when I reached Salt Lake City, I stopped by the Kafeneio Coffee House to confirm tomorrow night's open mic. The good folks there said that the Saturday night open mic had been pretty well discontinued due to lack of turnouts. Since I have my own equipment, we agreed that I would put on a comedy show as both the producer and the headliner.
- Things got busy. I adapted four of my Comedy-n-Sunset posters for the event and distributed them about the place as agreed. Then I started letting people know about the event as I went to the gym, stores and back at Kafeneio later in the evening.
- Spent the night at Discount Tire so they can check my tire pressures, cold, first thing tomorrow morning.
Sat Aug 5 = It LOOKS like apple juice, but it sure doesn't TASTE like apple juice. Since I had left my nighttime comfort bottle at a gym I became desperate. I thought about using my drinking water bottle, but I am not sure my aim would be up to the challenge, I need some water to drink and it is a very special Hawaii Water bottle. Fortunately, I had a spare 32oz cottage cheese-type container that filled... the bill. Later in the day I'll buy a new 64oz apple juice bottle, drink half the juice, pour out the rest and have my new facility.
- I had Discount Tire increase my tire pressures from 36 to 39psi at the recommendation of the Discount Tire guy. I was going to increase the pressures some anyway because the edges are wearing faster than the centers. He said that is typical of minivans.
- I went to the gym but never had time for a workout. Too much to get done with my computer and the gym's internet
- I arrived early to set up all my equipment, cameras, PA system, Bluetooth music player, audio recorders etc. They got an hour's show, although the audience was small: Three guys who came specifically to see me and a mother, her friend and her small son, who stayed until their pizza was ready. About half way through we had a five-minute intermission because two of the guys had to leave and wanted to buy T-shirts first. The last half of the show was the one guy left for the audience, but we had fun. The show must go on!
- Spent the night in a residential neighborhood of Salt Lake City.
Sun Aug 6 = This morning I did a heavy arms workout and hung around Anytime Fitness.
- This evening's comedy in Millcreek, UT (a suburb of SLC) was one of the most enthusiastic yet, with some of their chants, like with my $10 T-shirts,
Only ten dollars. Shut up and take my money!
The first round I did mostly my
?75 Yoga Holding routines. The second set I did
?75 xxx Boxes Viagra.
- Spent the night in Salt Lake on a semi-private street, probably not the best idea.
Mon Aug 7 = The Salt Lake City Library is an awesome, mostly glass (even the elevators), structure. It cost me $1.50 for parking after their first free half hour to just use the bathroom and look around.
- I ended up spending several hours at the Calvin Smith library, where they had free parking.
Tue Aug 8 = I got gas at a station with the stinkiest window wash ever. Of course I did not realize that until after I had washed the windshield and buggs off the front of the van. After that, the whole van smelled like s*it. Also I think it attracted ants which eventually decided to move in and explore the place.
- I checked out the Watchtowr Cafe (Star Wars theme, not Jehovah's Witness) and spent time in a gym and in a library.
- The Watchtower was mostly comedians working on a little new stuff, and they were not impressed, not laughing much. I did about as well as anyone.
- Spent the night north of Salt Lake City.
Wed Aug 9 = This afternoon I decided that I had to do something about my van brakes due to the increased grinding on the left side. After some research I decided on Firestone.
- Tonight was a fun show at Liquid Laughs Lounge in Boise, ID, making Idaho my 40th state for comedy. It was a well-run show produced and hosted by Alicia. Each of us 25 or so comedians got three minutes. The crowd of 28 was quite responsive.
- Spent the night at a Winco Foods in Boise.
Thu Aug 10 = This afternoon I showed up at Firestone for my 1pm brake job. I remember, now, why I have not done business with Firestone for about 30 years. This time, after telling me the the pads & rotors and labor would be $200 something, they told me that over $900 of work would need to be done to fix the brakes properly and that they would do no less. I wasted about three hours for nothing. Then I found Paco whose Danny, on short notice, installed $16 brake pads I got from Advance Auto on both front sides for $30. The cost of the work, the pads and a $5 tip for Danny was $51. I'll still need to get the brakes properly checked out in Phoenix by my mechanic there.
- Spent the night in Boise, ID.
Fri Aug 11 = This was a driving day on the way to La Vegas, NV. I spent the night in little Ely, Nevada.
Sat Aug 12 = After about an hour of driving around around I found my niece, Stacy. but I couldn't drive my van to their home on Nellis Air Force Base because my driver's licence says
Not for federal ID.
It was great reconnecting with her, her husband, a Captain in the Air Force, and their cute 2-year old son, Rocco, who is an amazing kid. A few days ago he decided he was through with diapers. I never heard of someone potty training himself especially so young. He also thought my hat was pretty cool.
- tonight's comedy appearance was at the Asmara Ethiopian Restaurant. It was a good show, produced by Sam Munisted, who was also an excellent host.
- The night? Since my driver's licence said "Not or federal ID" (thanks, Arizna) I would not have been able to get back onto the base after the show and the low temperature forecast for Las Vegas was 93° F.
Sun Aug 13 = I checked out of the motel and met Stacy at the Nellis Air Force Base visitor center parking lot and road with her to her church, which is on base. I worked on this blog while she and Dave had a meeting. Then we picked up my van and drove to their house which is on base.
- This afternoon I brought my PA system in to show it off. Rocco was infatuated when I played music on it and loved using the microphone.
- After supper we went on a 1.6-mile walk to a little kids playground where both the adults and kids had fun socializing.
Mon Aug 14 = With my van sitting out in the sun, I have idled the engine several times to keep the LiFeMnPO house battery charged, as it runs my van's refrigerator. I got things all packed up to leave, make a couple stops to rotate my tires etc. and then meet them at the Springs Preserve. Immediately when I started my van, the serpentine belt came off.
- I spent about a half hour trying to put the belt back on and, at the same time sufficiently covered with black grease. The belt did not cooperate and the engine was too hot.
- I barely made it off base and to
Qwest Automotive, nearby, which Stacy recommended. Theo, there had me on my way in about an hour. No time for the tire rotation or the Springs Preserve, but I DID make it to the comedy show in plenty of time. Joy and Myra hosted a good show with an enthusiastic audience of 42 at the Hop Nuts Brewing Company.
- I spent the night in a quiet, shady, residential area. Due to the automatic low voltage disconnect (LVD) of the van's LiFeMnPO house battery, I turned the van around facing south (into the wind) and idled it for about half hour at 3am. I DID get a good night's sleep in a little over nine hours.
Tue Aug 15 = I made it all the way home to Phoenix without further problems with my van. At refuel stops I cleaned any oil and grease off the serpentine belt with a brake cleaner spray.
- I arrived at my house a little after dark after stopping by Toso's and getting gasoline. It was different to spend the night in my bed at home. Several times during the night I had to remind myself that I was not in my van.
Wed Aug 16 = Today I stowed a lot of things from my trip, sunned, took two fast spins on my exercycle, logged the grocery sales, took a food inventory, made a shopping list and did my semi-monthly grocery shopping at Winco - not with Denise, as she died while I was away. Guess she just couldn't live without me! She WAS a good gal.
- My Channelmaster over-the-air DVR had 165 monologues waiting for me from Jimmy Fallon, James Cordon and Saturday Night Live, in spite of a couple of power outages while I was gone.
Thu Aug 17 = What a shock when I opened a letter containing a bill for $50.75 from the Atlantic City Expressway for a 75¢ toll that I evidently missed the second of July.
Fri Aug 18 = I have been listening to recordings from while I was away, including Health Futures from a local radio talk station. The shows are about ageing, and can be a little depressing. In the show I listened to today, they mentioned some good movies about Alzheimer's. One these you would particularly recommend?
- Away From Her w Julie Christie
- A Song for Martin (English subtitles)
- Age Old Friends
- Alive Inside
- Aurora Borealis
- Eternal Sunshine w Jim Carrey
- Firefly Dreams (English subtitles)
- Grey's Anatomy - Alzheimer's (TV)
- I'll Be Me Glen Campbell's final tour
- Iris...
- On Golden Pond w Henry Fonda (old movie)
- Spellbound w Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant (old movie)
- The Notebook w James Garner
- The Savages - Caring for a parent
Sat Aug 19 = This morning I saw dermatologist, Sarah Hartman for my semi-annual skin check. She found three spots on my left arm and back that I'll keep an eye on, rather than getting biopsies at this time.
- I got in to the national Leo LaPorte, The Tech Guy, radio talk show again. My question was about partitioning the C: drive on my new Dell XP-13 laptop.
- This evening was busy. I cut my hairs, as I was getting a little shaggy, took a bath and then went to an awesome pool party.
Sun Aug 20 = I spent (maybe wasted) almost the entire day researching and then trying to partition the C: drive on my new Dell XPX-13 laptop. None of the three programs I tried would allow 120gb on the C: drive and 844gb on a new D: drive.
Mon Aug 21 = I did without my van all day and night because this morning I took my van into Ken's Transmission with a leak. They did not have a rack available so did not get around to it, and didn't let me know that they would be keeping it overnight. Next time I'll make arrangements other than just leaving it.
- After talking to Craig at Data Doctors about partitioning the C: drive on my new Dell XPS-13 laptop, I have officially decided not to do it.
- This afternoon's big project was to prepare a red 9x12" envelope to overnight to CBS TV in the LA area to see if I can do some stand up comedy on the Late Late Show.
Tue Aug 22 = Overnight delivery is expensive. It cost $59.61 to have it delivered by UPS by 10:30am tomorrow with a signature required.
- I added all the software installation files that I expect to need to my new Dell XPS computer... also free AOMEI Partitioning
- My van didn't run right, but it surely looked good after getting the engine cleaned at Cobblestone. On the way home it stalled at least 20 times and would not always easily restart (maybe from parts getting wet during Cobblestone's engine cleaning). A lady followed me until I made it into a parking lot. She looded at the engine and thought it might have a leaky head gasket. She then followed me to C & R Tire and disappeared before I had a chance to thank her. I left my van at C & R Tire and Tarren took me home. That saved me having to rise early tomorrow morning and take the van to them, which I had already scheduled. Also they could start on the van first thing... with a cold engine.
Wed Aug 23 = C & R Tire picked me up around noon after they diagnosed my van.
- When I drive into my garage I have been hearing a funny popping sound, so today I investigated. During my trip I had adapted the weather station stub on top, making it a little higher, so I did not realize it was about an inch higher than my garage door. Today I took off 1.05" so there is no more popping sound as I drive in.
- Busy with appointments this afternoon: At 1 I met with the DMV with the required passport and other documents to get a driver's licence that will also be good for federal ID.
- Next was an appointment with my dentist for a teeth cleaning. He said I had kept my teeth very clean - about a 9 - for the past eight months.
- On the way home Late this afternoon I took my van into C & R Tire so they can start fixing it first thing in the morning.
Thu Aug 24 = Here at home, without transportation, I watched videos of two of the funniest and creative comemdians around and, of course added them to my
Favorite Comedians web page:
Carlos Mencia, here with 6:33 of being a proud American from Honduras and
Gabriel Iglesias, here with 24:06 of
Fluffy Visits Saudi Arabia.
- Later in the day I watched a
Laughs recording from when I was on my road tour. Those comedians paled in comparison to Carlos and Gabriel.
- I tried recording an hour with my Nexus 6p cell phone camcorder using the new Cinema FV-5 software. It quit recording after 18 minutes :(
- I picked up my fixed van from C & R Tire and spent much of the afternoon installing a few initial programs on my new XPS Laptop, making an image of it and making a bootable USB key with MediaCreationTool which I downloaded from Microsoft. After I test all these things to make sure they work, I'll be ready to hook up my screens and officially start using my new XPS.
Fri Aug 25 = Not so fast! I did't get my new
- XPS
- Dell XPS-13 computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
fully restored until evening. This is the first time I have ever imaged a computer, wiped it and restored it. It was a test, for practice and to make sure I could really do it if I had a major computer crash. I have now started installing programs and, tomorrow, will be transferring my files over from my old
- Vaio
- Sony Vaio Duo 11 computer with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 10, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
.
Sat Aug 26 = I contacted UPS about the late delivery of my 9x12 envelope to CBS. It was guaranteed overnight to be delivered by 10:30am. It didn't arrive until 10:51, so I will be receiving a refund for the almost $60 I paid to get it there by 10:30.
Sun Aug 27 = I am still using the old
- Vaio
- Sony Vaio Duo 11 computer with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 10, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
as my main computer, but am getting more files moved over to my new
- XPS
- Dell XPS-13 computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
.
I have been using a key to manually unlock my van doors ever sence Kentuckey where I lost my car keys, along with the remote fob. Yesterday a replacement arrived in the mail. Reprograming the new remote (actually a used one) was a little technical, but not very hard, because, for about 10 years I had kept a working spare fob in a vacuum pack for just such an occasion. This remote saved me having to have a dealer program my new remote for about $70. Here's the instructions:
- Obtain all remote transmitters for this vehicle. This procedure will erase all previously programmed remotes. You must program all existing and new remotes that you wish to use on the vehicle at this time.
- INSERT a key into the Ignition and TURN the Ignition to the ON position (just before cranking).
- PRESS and HOLD the UNLOCK button on a working remote for four (4) to ten (10) seconds.
- While still holding the UNLOCK button, PRESS the PANIC button for one (1) second and RELEASE both buttons at the same time. A chime will sound within three (3) seconds to indicate entry into Programming Mode.
- PRESS ANY button on the same remote until you hear another chime indicating that the remote has been successfully re-programmed. This Step MUST be done within 30 seconds of hearing the first chime in Step 3.
- Within the next 30 seconds PRESS ANY button on the next remote to be programmed to your Vehicle.
- REPEAT Step 5 for any additional remotes to be programmed to your Vehicle.
- Test all remotes. Programming is now complete.
- This evening I officially started using my new
- XPS
- Dell XPS-13 computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
and retired the Vaio.
Mon Aug 28 = I have been having trouble with my monitors with the
- XPS
- Dell XPS-13 computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
. It turns out that the $70 dock I got from Dell will not support two monitors AT THE SAME TIME, in spite of what they told me before I bought it. When you plug in the HDMI, the VGA stops. It took quite a bit of experimenting and a trip over to Fry's Electronics for a new VGA cable to find that out because I had to cut off one wing on the VGA cables to get them to plug in at the same time as the HDMI cable. So, I have another project - finding a hub/dock that does what I want it to do and arranging to send the Dell one back(after I receive the replacement).
- This afternoon I put together another red 9x12 envelope and got it overnighted to CBS.
Tue Aug 29 = This morning I got ahold of the CBS mail room and told them about the 9x12 red envelope I had overnighted to the producer of the Late Late Show.
- I've been busy keeping my van going and getting my new
- XPS
- Dell XPS-13 computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
going.
- The big project for today was finally opening the box with 51 new comedy T-shirts from Design-A-Shirt, almost 2 weeks after it arrived. The order was good except for a small misprint on all the shirts and sending me royal blue instead of navy for the four xS shirts. Design-A-Shirt is not perfect, but they always make it right.
- Never got to a gym.
Wed Aug 30 = Today I started going over and tweaking my Yoga routine. I made a phone call to Design-A-Shirt. They will send me navy shirts to replace the royal blue ones, and also send me seven additional xxL shirts (for some reason I received 1 but wanted 7 in my last order) at no charge due to their missprint.
- I spent some time on the phone with
- Duet
- The organization I support and through which I take non-driving seniors shopping and to their doctors' appointments
,
coordinating shopping, transportation, comedy for the Tovera tour and some other project ideas.
- Toward evening I ran some extensive tests with my five media sources, including the new kid on the block... the Cinema FV-5 camcorder on my phone. The trick is to get it to record video indefinitely that will coordinate with my other video and audio sources.
Thu Aug 31 = Had a good day today, in spite of not getting around to much comedy, paypal or stowing stuff. I DID get Cyberlink's Power Director 15 going on my
- XPS
- Dell XPS-13 computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
and confirmed that videos from the Cinema FV-5 properly synchronized with my other media sources, made 20 more of my Stand Up Live tickets, took a nap, made arrangements to have this year's Comedy Writing Workshop at Valle Luna, N Cave Creek Rd (thank you, Brian Loewen) where I also had some supper and did a heavy arms workout. Today I passed out six tickets for Stand Up Live on Sunday, September 17th, to people who said they would come and see me. We'll see.
