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Blog Archive 2019 May

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Wed May 1 = My last comedy in Austin for this trip was tonight at the Kick Butt Cafe. They surely have a lot of activities there, including the comedy.
- Correct installation of ear plugs makes a difference. Due to the adjacent freeway noise I got them installed correctly (pulling up on the outer ear) and had a pretty good night's sleep. The ear plugs did such a good job, I didn't even hear my SleepBot alarm, which was about five feet away from my head.

Thu May 2 = This morning I picked up the new water pump for my van's running water system and got it installed. Works like a dream.
Pump
It was about twice as expensive as the previous two pummps but is better and worth it. Also it was available for pick up here in Austin at Grainger.

Fri May 3 = Today I headed east toward Houston and spent the night in Elgin, TX in the parking lot of an Anytime Fitness.

Sat May 4 = Houston's Joke Joint gave me a 5-minute guest spot on the earlier show. They actually had two overlapping shows. If I had played my cards differently, I could have done a guest spot at both shows. After the show, the other comedians, who all had merch were fine with my selling mine. Had I asked ahead of time, I could have included my merch in my comedy set and displayed my T-Shirts and Show Fobs.

Sun May 5 = Didn't get a guest spot at The Houston Improv this evening. All the shows before the last show this evening were sold out with DeRay Davis, so I showed up before the last show. They told me that they could have put me up at the first show. Maybe next time I'm in Houston. DeRay was spactacular to the point that the audience laughter was defening.
- After the show I headed down toward Galviston, spending the night in the Texas City Anytime Fitness parking lot after trimming my beard and shaving my hairs in prep for the beach tomorrow.

Mon May 6 = Today I started contacting the AZ DMV about getting an emissions inspection for my van's registration before the registration expires at the end of the month.
- Because it is forecast to be windy tomorrow, I spent the night near the Galveston Bay at the Texas City Planet Fitness.

Tue May 7 = My first time kiteboarding this trip. The kiteboarding launch-site was not very barefoot friendly off the Texas City levy. Pat launched my 8m kite, guided me out between the rocks and handed me my twin tip board. Such a guy. There were about half a dozen kiteboarders out there. The levy road was closed, except to us.
- After the kiteboarding and after everyone else left, I started my full hour comedy show there on the levy. When the rain came from the north, I drove south on the levy road, out of the rain, to a pavilion where I continued my show. When the rain got to me and the pavilion, I drove further south out of the rain and out the gate, which I had to open and reclose. Good that there was no rain... until later.
- Listening to a podcast today, I learned that it is important to be a happy crapper. So get a colonoscopy if you're over 45 or if you're Black and over 40.
- I heard about Revonext QT5 in-ear monitors with awesome sound, costing only $30, so ordered a set to be delivered to the Sands of Time Campground on
OBX
Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina

Wed May 8 = Here in Houston today I did my meager load of laundry, spent some time at a library and then went to the Joke Joint Comedy Club on the Gulf Freeway for their weekly comedy workshop, then stayed for the open mic that followed.

Thu May 9 = Good day of accomplishments. I drove down to the Sylvin Beach Park for a sun and run. I also did some of my Egoscue exerces there in the sun. I laid my giant towel out on the grass, which was a mistake. It picked up a week's supply of little burs. I picked most of them off imediately... getting more sun in the process.
- It rained hard most of the day, especially in the evening. When I arrived at The Secret Group and stepped out of my van in shorts and sandles in ankle-deep water I decided to do my comedy in the sandles and shorts. We got more rain here in Houston in seven hours than we get in seven months in Phoenix.

Fri May 10 = Today was get my van fixed day. After getting a recommendation from Advanced Auto Parts, I took it to Reliable Auto for the emissions check. Reliable was reasonable and did a good job replacing my spark pugs and wires... but my van was taken appart and undrivable overnight, so I spent the night in it in their driveway. The trick was the rear plugs, which were frozen in place. The shop sprayed a bunch of my Liquid Wrench on the plugs and let it set overnight with me sleeping in the back. To acess those plugs they had to remove the intake manafold, and everything below the windshield including the windshileld wipers and motors and the air vents.
- While at the shop, I used their Internet to do pay off all my credit cards, a monthly ritual.
- Reliable Auto has the most elegant toilet, with esessentially no mechanism. At the top of the tank is a rectangular tray that holds about a gallon of water The lever on the outside of the tanks simply rotates the tray and dumps the water. The small balcock, hanging over the side of the tray refills it.
- Tonight's comedy was expensive. I took Lyft to The Joke Joint watched Dustin Ybara. No guest set materialized for me.

Sat May 11 = Reliable Auto got my van fixed and I gave them a 5-star Yelp review.
- Tonight I saw Fortune Feimster at the Houston Improv. She was good!

Sun May 12 = Today I had to replace the 10A ignition fuse so my AC, turn signals, air bags etc. would work.

Mon May 13 = I lay out in the sun at the Sylvan Park again and made my last appearance here in Houston at PJ's Sports Bar
- I spent the night at a Walmart, heading out of Houston

Tue May 14 = I spent the night in Baton Rouge

Wed May 15 = I spent the night in Jackson, TN.

Thu May 16 = I spent the night at the Lexington, KY Planet Fitness

Fri May 17 = I got my oil changed at Big O Tires and bought a new driver's wiper blade because it flew off.
- I arrived for a delightful visit with my son and his family.

Sat May 18 = I ordered a new Infinity Sound radio for my van since the old one mostly does not work.

Sun May 19 = I went to church with my son and his wife. My grandaughter was excited to show me her Sunday school room.
- Late afternoon, I headed on toward Raleigh, NC and spent the night in Salem, NC at a Planet Fitness.

Mon May 20 = Getting my van inspected for AZ registration has become a major pain.

Tue May 21 = At noon I took my van into Carmedix for emissions inspection,replacement of a steering link, a sway bar bushing and an alignment. No time for a gym visit.
- Cool comedy tonight. I did not know I was going to be available for the Good Night's Comedy Club open mic tonight so did not sign up ahead of time by email. I put my name in the pot for the drawing of lottery spots, was lucky and got spot number two! The audience of 63, mostly non-comedians was awesome. I killed with 2:29 for my three minute set of ?77oldman XLI MinivanKids. Although my set was 2.5 minutes, I exceeded my goals with 7.2 laughs per minute and the audience laughing 45% of the time.
- Then on to Ruckus Pizza and their mixed open mic. I got 15-minutes. It was cool. Afterwords, I had about a dozen different people tell me how they liked my set. I did ?77 Old man xli xxx BasicEconomy Posture MinivanKids Boxes Death Dieing Avalanche T-fobs Anemometer.
- I spent the night in the Ruckus parking lot

Wed May 22 = I had the privilage of kicking off the Oak City Comedy Festival this evening by introducing Matt White, one of the festival producers and the host for this first show.
- I realize that things are never perfect, but it seems to me that the festival was a little loose in organization. Their website and Facebook pages had conflicting and incorect information for some of the shows. Case in point: The Green Monkey was closed when the festival schedule said there was going to be an open mic. The next day, it was about time for the show to begin at Woody's and neigher the list of prepaid audience members nor the list of comedians had arrived.
- I will say, that there were a bunch of good shows and the comedians and audiences had a lot of fun at the festival.
- Spent the night at the Planet Fitness on Six Forks Road in Raleigh.

Thu May 23 = This afternoon I got a haircut at Super Cuts, announcements slips made at Staples and tires rotated and pressure checked at Discount Tire - all near the Raleigh Planet Fitness where I spent last night. This Six Forks Road location has a tree in the parking lot that provides shade until 3pm! - Tonight I was in a fun festival-scheduled open mic at Woody's
- I spent the night at the Cary, NC Planet Fitness

Fri May 24 = Being in the Raleigh area several days, I haven't used my van for extended driving so have had several Low Voltage Disconnects of my LiFeMnPO house battery during the nights. Not too much of a problem, because I have my refergrator so well insulated that it only gets up into the middle 40's before I idle my van for about ten minutes and get things going again.

Sat May 25 = After a good day of comedy festival, I spent the night in the Royal Center parking lot, right next to a railroad. Not too bad since there are no grade crossings nearby for honking trains. It was neat watching Amtrack trains whiz by about 80 mph.

Sun May 26 = My van's right low beam headlight filament burned out so I replaced the light bulb.
- The final show for the Oak City Comedy Festival was at the Sonorus Road Theater. After the show I briefly stopped by Coglins in downtown Raleigh. This is the first place I have seen that was so crowded but with no tables, stools or chairs - just a bar and a shelf along a wall. It was full of people dancing and LOUD music. I appreciated that I had good ear plugs in my van and knew how to properly insert them.
- I drove down and spent the night in Fuquay-Varina (FIEW quay - varEEna)

Mon May 27 = This afternoon I went to the American Legion Post 116 near Fuquay-Varina out by Johnson Pond. There I met Chris Carpenter and his scheduler, Joy to work out some details for my shows there next month on the 8th and 21st. What a neat family-oriented post! We'll be having the first shows (G) in the large room with tables and the second shows (PG-16) in the adjcent bar. Today the post was celebrating Memorial Day with an awesome pot luck, to which they invited me. Good thing it was my treat night! Of course I spent about three minutes plugging my shows. The whole idea is to get people laughing!
- I spent the night, headed toward Newport News, VA, at the Six Forks Planet Fitness in Raleigh, NC.

Tue May 28 = I made it to Cozzy's Comedy Club in Newport News, VA where I will be particitating in their open mic on Thursday. Lorain Cosgrave, the owner, was there and we had a pleasant but brief visit. She had never seen anything like my USB show thumb drives.
- I spent way too much time (about three hours) getting thank you notes composed and in the USPS mail chute to Lorine and Brandy (head of Goodnight's in Raleigh).
- I spent the night at a Hampton, VA Anytime Fitness. The first time this trip that I miscalculated the morning shade and ended up with sun and a hot van at 8am. I moved the van to a shady spot but it never did cool down, even after running the AC for a while.

Wed May 29 = This morning I found that some Anytime Fitness locations do not accept Silver Sneakers, like the location where I spent the night. The guy there, said I could work out one time only. He also let me fill my 6 gallon water container, "One time only."
- What a mess! I spent this afternoon trying to get my van registered. They needed photographs of my registration and inspection report. The dumbest thing they wanted was the location of my van. Their system didn't like the address of the campground where it will be in June, so I gave it the address of the library in Hampton VA where the van is parked right now. That worked, but due to the Northampton Branch Library's poor Internet, I never received a confirmation screen.
- I found a nearby Food Lion where I bought a few things. The manager was really helpful although he did not succeed in finding me fat free pre-wrapped cheese slices. He grasously let me spend the night in his parking lot. The hottest night yet, even in the shade of a tree in the morning. I used my little ceiling fan, a little sprayer and a wet wash cloth around my neck.

Thu May 30 = I spent most of the afternoon at the Main Street Library.
- This evening I discovered I have been date stamping 2018 for the first six months of 2019 :(
- This evening was open mic at Cozzy's Comedy Club in Newport News, VA. It is always a good, supportive place. This was my fourth appearance there in three years.
- After the show I drove across the river and down a Suffolk Walmart. Although I was in the shade of a tree, my van got a little warm in the morning.

Fri May 31 = Today I drove to Nags head on the
OBX
Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina
 where I worked out at the Outer Banks Sports Club, organized my posters for June and spent the night.

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