Wed Apr 1 = The main thing I did this afternoon was to do the final reprocessing of my 2:20 hour Roast Video. The main thing was to eliminate all camera shake from Camera 1. To accomplish this, I had my
The little 10" computer I bought to get me by in Tobago after my Dell XPS died. It's tight, with only 2gb RAM and a 32gb SSD hard drive, but the 128gb micro SD card I have in it helps a little.
playing Camera 1's video about a second ahead of my processing (combining the output of three cameras) 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
. That gave me a heads up for shaking of Camera 1 (thanks, Scott Wait) so I could switch to the house camera which was a steady fixed wide angle of the stage. The whole process took about 2.5 hours. Then Power Director 18 crashed, going to the Produce mode, and I lost the work :( I still have the source files so will be able to do it again tomorrow.
- Toward evening I did a short, heavy, slow legs workout in my home gym, set up a neat stowage system for my van's table post using a mirror clip and a Neodymium magnet, and did a little shopping at Fry's Food, taking advantage of their senior discount.
- To bed at 10:27pm.
Thu Apr 2 = This morning I took a little Internet detour and learned that the new Iron Nitride permanent magnets are stronger than rare earth Neodymium magnets, use cheaper materials, are easier to produce and are more environmental friendly. Somarium Cobal (SmCo) magnets are also stronger than Neodymium Magnets, especially at higher temperatures. Dysprosium has the highest magnetic field strength of all elements and is added to Neodymium Magnets to improve their qualities.
- Today's first big project was to send out emails to my tour venues scheduled through April, to reschedule my shows for the same time next year.
- Fitness-wise I lay in the sun a while, did a quick exercycle ride and a short, slow but heavy arms workout here at home.
- What better to do, hanging around home during COVID-19, today's second big project: I rebooted my computer for a clean slate and reprocessed my Roast Video... for the fourth, and hopefully the last, time.
- I don't know what Windows 10 Focus Assist is but I keep getting pestered with a slide-on dialog box wanting me to use it. I went into the Focus Assist settings and tried to disable the whole thing.
- I went to bed at 10:50pm, late considering my 10pm goal. I lost track of time with my
van project
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
,
making sun shield patters. Sunshields on all the windows will give me privacy and make my van cooler in the summer.
Fri Apr 3 = This morning I perfected and practiced the video portion of my Road Show and started the latest and best version of my 1000 Roast video (with improved audio and no camera shake) to YouTube. Also, to anticipate camera switching, all 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
,
I tested running Windows Media Player two seconds ahead of Cyberlink PD-18's MultiCam record function. It worked great
- Got my 2021 Tour's first booking - Sat Apr 24, 2021; 8:00pm; VFW Post#2330 in Searcy, Arkansas. Thanks, Stephanie.
- New things today were 1) the delivery of my second 5 terabyte Western Digital My Passport portable hard drive; 2) the delivery of my fob shield pouch that makes my van's key fob invisible; 3) Getting all my van's sun shields cut out, needing only to add removal tabs; 4) Printing at my local Office Max of a few copies of Posters B & C for my road tour... if the tour happens.
Please let me know which version do you like the best, A, B or C at contact@arizonalou.com. The schedules for A & B will be easy to read, as they are printed on Ledger-Sized paper (11x17").
- Got to bed at 10:45pm after a 10:03pm short, heavy, slow torso workout.
Sat Apr 4 = Big project today was deciding where and how to shorten my 1,000 Roast Video for my new 16gb Flash Drives.
- For my
van project
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
,
I got the removal tabs installed on my sun shields and tentatively decided on a stowage system for the sun shields.
- To bed at 10:27 after a short, fast light-weight legs workout here at home.
Sun Apr 5 = Today I organized the files for my new Second Edition Comedy Flash Drive, double the capacity of my first edition. There wasn't enough room for the videos I wanted to include, so I shortened both my Comedy-n-Sunset and my Roast videos and reproduce their shorter versions. Now I have an additional 240 mb of free space on the flash drives.
- Tonight was my second Internet comedy appearance. JD Kavanaugh ran a good show. After my appearance I stayed online listening to the rest of the comedians with my cell phone proped up 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
screen and tried to do my monthly blog rollover. As you might imagine, with all the distractions I made a little mess of some of the navigation links and some of the blogging. There's always tomorrow to upload the updates after I fix things.
- As a result of all the fun I didn't get to bed until 11:07pm :(
Mon Apr 6 = This morning I did my semi-monthly grocery shopping at Winco. This afternoon I found a home for some of the clutter residing on my kitchen island, my desk and its return.
In the booking department I sent emails to the six veterans posts I had booked in May, to rebook the same time next year. It took me an average of just a little over seven minutes each.
- I hope to get rid of my little spare tire, going for a weight of 130 lb and see if that does the trick. That would be a BMI of 20, the lowest for the healthy range of my shrinking 5'8" frame.
- Got to bed at 11pm, an hour after my goal, but I did get in a short arms workout and some more of my kitchen island uncluttered.
Tue Apr 7 = I finally got my kitchen island cleared off... mostly, so I'd have space for my big project of the day...
- I took pause before I started cutting up my brand new expensive windshield sun screen. I measured my pattern again in the back window of my van and then attacked the new sun screen with my big scissors. It fit just about perfectly. This completes my cool privacy scheme - and dark because it is black on the inside and reflective silver on the outside.
- Whille I had my
new van
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
backed into the garage, I reconfigured the yellow under-passenger-seat tub which most important feature is the apple juice bottle. You guessed it; I do NOT use it for apple juice!
- Got bed at 10:53pm :(
Wed Apr 8 = This morning I was scheduled to leave for El Paso for my first Arizona Lou's Veterans Appreciation National Tour, 2020 show on Friday. Well, I'm still home, thanks to COVID-19.
- For my website, in March 2020 there were 20.5K Google Impressions (search result page or other siteson the Google Network).
- I made an $80 phone call this afternoon. Saved all that money for the next six months by reducing my expected miles driven with AMICA Insurance, since I am not leaving on my road tour this morning as expected :(
- This afternoon I went out for Hebrew National 97% Fat Free Franks and ended up driving all the way to Peoria for the last four packages that I have found anywhere in these parts.
- There is never time to do everything that needs to be done, but I got a lot done this evening. I did a light torso workout, then a heavy legs workout. Also I got my income tax finished with TaxAct Online for $114 plus a lot of frustration along the way. After next year, due to a continuing depreciation issue, I may change to cheaper and recommended software.
- It is getting tough to maintain my boyish appearance with my shaggy hair. It may have been a little over five months since I got a haircut and I've got to look like my poster photos. This evening I cut my hairs and took a hot bath. and got to bed at 10:37pm.
Thu Apr 9 = Had my booker's hat on most of the day. This morning I made a bunch of follow-up phone calls to April and May venues for my, now defunct, road tour. This afternoon I sent out six emails to the June venues, all for bookings in 2021.
- My trip out today was to the bulk foods department at Fry's. Everything, half price. I spent about $50, mostly on nuts.
- This evening I redid the mounting of the ceiling fan in my
new van
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
so I could position it to the right, more out of the way.
- I topped off the night by doing a short heavy arms workout and trying to re-resolve my checking account, my sprreadsheet having crashed since I did it before. Thank goodness for backups! I didn't even get to first base tonight. Evidently Arizona Federal changed their website. After trying different things for about an hour, I could not get the monthly data in a usable format.
- I got to bed at 10:24pm, which is better, considering I had a headache most of the day and fairly low energy.
Fri Apr 10 = This morning I added two more 2021 tour stops for a total of 9 so far.
I'll be in an online comedy show this Sunday (tomorrow 4/12).
Show is on Zoom Cloud Meeting app.
Link available three hours before show start.
Starting Line Up:
1. Louis Deraville
2. Dan Amaro
3. Joseph Gomez
4. Christina Foreman
5. Liz Frisius
Bull Penn :
1 Arizona Lou
2. Shanna Spies
3. DeVonte Easby
4. Alexander Needles
5. Matthew Weir
The Clutch Hitters:
1. Robert (Electrojock)
2. April Walterscheid
3. Lisa Dank
The "Long Tater Gang" aka the Home Run Hero's:
1. Jake Nelson
2. Casey Judson
3. Andy Harter
And finally the bench:
Eden Nault
KJ Samora
Dustin Hadlock
Kenneth Lion
- I lay out in the sun at noon. For my van, I washed all the windows outside AND INSIDE (first time) using my Karchner electric squeegee. It certainly does a nice streak-free job.
- I got all my credit cards paid off, as usual, with one hitch. A little before bedtime I discovered 16 bogus charges on my Citibank credit card totaling nearly $6,000, probably from a trucker for fuel because all the charges were at Circle K's in Arizona. So there went getting to bed on time. It had to be done and took me a while to dispute the latest one online, figure out the others, close the old credit card and order a new one with two-day delivery. I finally got to bed at 11:05 :(
Sat Apr 11 = Citibank's Fraud Department appears to be broken! On my Master Card account, they honored 15 fraudulent charges totaling thousands of dollars... after repeatedly locking the account for my small purchases due to "suspected fraud." This morning I spent two hours on the phone with them, mostly on hold, to dispute the fraudulent charges since there was no way to do it on their website. They say, "You must notify us... in writing," but do not give any address for doing so. Straightening this out will be my new part-time job... like I need another one. This afternoon I filed a police report online with Phoenix since that is my home, although the fraudulent charges occurred in eight other cities within a three hour drive from Phoenix.
- For my van today I was going to wire in the power supply for my Garmin GPS and Old Shark dash camera, but couldn't find the cigarette lighter socket that is somewhere around here. Instead I found the little convex stick-on mirror that I had been looking for for several weeks, so got it installed on my van's left outside rear view mirror.
Sun Apr 12 = After finding some that were only 14.5gb I formatted and checked all the 16gb flash drives drives for my after-show sales. It appears that 18 of the 60 I ordered do not have the full 16gb capacity. As a result, not all the files I want will fit on those drives. I also finished the index for the newer and larger, 16gb capacity drives, copied the 14 files to eight of the drives, made new labels for them and applied the labels to the back of the drives.
- Van today: I set up test wiring for my Garmin GPS and Old Shark dash camera, using a cigarette lighter extension. In the garage, I permanently installed the convex mirror that gives me an idea of how close my right fender is to the shelves when pulling in.
- Tonight was online comedy, but I had some technical hiccups. Right when I was called to go up for my five minutes, my phone (link to Zoom) shut down. It took me about 20 minutes to decide my phone was not going to revive for the show, download and install the Zoom software 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
,
reconfigure my audience sounds to my office speakers, figure how to get into the meeting room, get online and do my new five minutes on Audience/COVID-19/Eggs/I've Fallen/Out Of Time.
Mon Apr 13 = I lead a simple life, so used my oven for the first time in probably four years. My project: making a base in which to put my
so I can set it down quickly on my desk without having it fall over or having to fool around with its protective cap. After three tries with Kato Polyclay I made a wedge that works pretty well, curing the clay in my oven for two hours at 200° F. Now the printer stands vertically instead of at its normal Leaning Tower of Pisa slant.
- People are certainly nice. I got a phone call from Jess, one of my medical equipment providers and we had FUN, laughing about me, COVID-19 life and my defunct comedy tour. She said I made her morning. Well, she made my morning too.
- This afternoon I resolved my checking account for the March statement. The delay was doing it all over after my Open Office spreadsheet crashed. Also I had big problems importing the data files from my credit union.
Tue Apr 14 = It was a pleasure using my new electronic sewing machine on today's big project: modifying the pockets on 5 pair of pants to accommodate my four-color pen, cell phone, digital recorders etc. Now I can get my sewing machine off the kitchen island.
- At noon I lay in the sun. This evening I did a light full-body workout here in my home gym.
- I took a few things out to my van to organize the packing for my road tour. I was overwhelmed, especially with my kiteboarding wet bin and sun shield storage so decided to wait closer to my actual packing for the tour. Not procrastination... it was delayed gratification!
- Got to bed at 10:29pm.
Wed Apr 15 = I am proud of my kids... especially my daughter right now who is starting a podcast on parenting. It is obvious she has a PR background. I'll share the link when it becomes official.
- Grocery shopping was the main event, after doing my Shopping List Spreadsheet. Then, at Walmart, I found two rare button batteries... and expensive: $6 each. The #386 is for my dash thermometer. The CR1220 is for my 10-second Vicks V966 thermometer.
- My
van project
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
was using my drill and hot glue gun to add studs to the bottoms of my office and pantry drawers to match up with sockets I drilled in the frames. Hopefully they will keep the drawers from sliding open when I navigate speedy left turns.
- I got the dash thermometer working well after I adjusted one of the battery contacts. It is now on my dash to monitor the AC output temperature.
- A little before bedtime I had my weekly protein frosty just before doing a short, slow, hevy legs workout.
- To bed at 11:44 :(
Thu Apr 16 = This morning I made several comedy booking phone calls.
- It took way too long, but I got it just about perfect: the list of files on my new Show Flash Drives. I got the improved on-drive contents files updated as well as the Avery drive labels, which I printed out and applied to the eight 16g drives which I have loaded with the content. These new higher capacity drives, with 2:48 hours of comedy and stuff, will go for $20 at my merch table... when I get out on tour.
- For my van, I opened up its over-head control pannel and am ready to find an ignition-on hot wire to power my wiendshield-mounted GSP and dash camera. Also I cut a slot in my fancy wiendshield sun screen for the GSP and dash cam.
- Near bedtime, I did a short, slow, heavy arms workout, a
poster trim
weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
,
rewarded myself with a little fun and got to bed at 10:17 :)
Fri Apr 17 = I got a bright idea for my website: to have my new stand up comedy appearances be numbered, so I did it. It took a while, but it makes the future appearances on my comedy home page more useful. Now as I add or remove my shows they will automatically be correctly numbered by your browser. Aint I smart?
- Speaking of being smart (??) with some tenacity thrown in, as part of my
van project
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
,
I got my GPS and dash cam turning on and off automatically, never requiring my attention. This all-afternoon project involved testing for the appropriate power source from my overhead control panel. When that didn't work out well, I zeroed in on the power supply to my rear view mirror. It was tight, but I used a couple of crimp-type wire taps that I cut shorter and a cigarette lighter socket to finish the job. Now everything works with no wires showing :)
- This evening I did a short, slow heavy torso workout (my gym equipment).
- It is the first time in a long time that I accomplished my goal of three consecutive days of heavy workouts starting on a Wednesday. The workouts were short, but I still got them in. The bedtime luxury was taking a long hot bath.
- Got to bed at 10:29 :(
Sat Apr 18 = The big thing today was to add a small shock line to the power cords feeding my GPS and dash cam, so when their suction cups come off the windshield their falling will not jerk the cords.
- Got to bed by 10:19. Why do I keep telling you when I got to bed? With this accountability, I'll be more likely to reach my goal of getting to bed consistently at 10pm.
Sun Apr 19 = I slept without my CPAP last night, a weekly event for me. My experiments typically start on Sunday and last for a week. This week I am not using any antiperspirant - only deoderant. I find the antiperspirant is very difficult to wash off and I don't like having pasty stuff in those two places.
- This morning I did some more research on a dip stand (pictured left) to add to my home gym. The thing I most want is a way to do my inverted shrugs here in my home gym. Here's how the shrugs looked in the Dominican Republic on their dip stand.
- Back to my
van
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
for today's big project. I anchored the plastic frame of the under-ed right hand side drawers with a combination of a trip to Ace Hardware and of bolts, T-nuts, custom-made boards and hot glue.
- I vacuumed the area and shifted my Power Block dumbbells and their stands 12" to the left, for almost enough room for a new dip/abs/latts stand that will pretty well complete my gym here at home. I'll plan on ordering the stand tomorrow.
- Tonight was Bonding Over Bombing Internet comedy show put on by JD Kavanaugh. Next Sunday at 8pm MST & PT tune in at Zoom Meeting; URL = https://zoom.us/j/8062433683. Just tell them you're there as a guest of Arizona Lou.
- Got to bed at 10:19pm.
Mon Apr 20 = It didn't take me too long to secure the drawers under the left side of my
van
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
's
bed.
- In the ordering department, I ordered the dip stand for my gym and 13 pounds of Universal Nutrition Gain Fast Chocolate Shake after excessive online research. Mixing up the powders for my new set of 6 Protein Frosties, I ran out of HeavyWeight Gainer 900 and it does not seem to be available anywhere. The 13 pounds should last me about six years, as I will be using only six ounces of it for each batch of 6 frosties. I had to go to Fry's Marketplace to get some dry milk, an important frosty ingredient. They did not have the size I wanted so I grabbed a 3-quart box - 30% of the store's entire dry milk stock.
- I may have found an effective way to set my show sequence in my memory. It is sort of like bit flash cards. I printed out a slip with all the show icons on it and then cut them up into little pieces with one icon on each piece of paper. I've got them in container A on my kitchen island. Every time I go by, I draw one slip out and try to remember the bit that precedes and follows it. Of course I have a cheat sheet nearby to refresh myself. Then the slip goes into container B. I may add a container C for bits that need particular work.
- Got to bed at 10:03 :)
Tue Apr 21 = This afternoon I dusted off my toy drafting machine (first picture), which is more fun than functional, measured my bedroom and exercise equipment and made scale icons of each. I came up with this plan (second picture) for maximizing the space and the mirrors for form, of course not for looking at my muscles and other stuff.
Then I arranged my actual equipment accordingly... except for the dip stand. Since my new dip stand has not arrived yet, I cut a piece of heavy paper the same size. In stead of having a gym in my bedroom, I'll be sleeping in a gym. Not a bad idea with COVID-19.
- I am breathing easier. My windshield-mounted GPS quit working yesterday. It turns out that resetting the unit and updating its software fixed the problem. Thank goodness the problem was not with the wiring I did into my van's electrical system. Now I have the latest up-to-date maps, which still show me on the wrong street :(
- I messed up my computer screens. In an attempt to improve things, all my Windows Explorer windows are white letters with a black background. So far as my desktop, it is black and that's the way I want it.
- I finally got my checking account to balance after a second try for the last two months. The problem was two little errors, DUH. One of the errors was not so little: $870... but it was hiding behind the little one.
- Near bedtime I did a light, fast full-body workout
Wed Apr 22 = With my gym configured like Plan A pictured above, I did a slow, heavy legs workout after my exercycle ride after my noon sun. The only thing that was not in place was the dip stand, which I ordered just yesterday. I have a equal-sized rectangle of heavy paper in its place.
- This afternoon I came up with gym Plan B (below) and physically rearranged my gym accordingly. We'll see how it pans out in tomorrow's workout
Plan B factors are:
+ There is a more direct path to my bed
+ There will be more room around the workout bench
- The bedroom door will not close without moving the rowing machine
- Want to see some miniature fireworks? Put your credit card in a microwave oven for ten seconds. Best to stand it on edge in a ceramic holder. I used the lid of my Stone Wave Cooker. This is what my Citibank card looked like after the show. Citibank deserves worse. This is the card on which they approved 15 fraudulent charges totaling over $6,000 at Circle K's across Arizona... after denying some of my small legitimate charges, due to suspected fraud. Of course I deputed the amount and received a letter from them giving a new minimum balance, saying ... As always we hope to be clear and helpful in explaining your account... Yea, right!, Citibank. If you were telling the truth you would also have given me the revised last statement balance and told where to mail my dispute, since you say it has to be in writing.
- To bed at 10:29
Thu Apr 23 = Trying for as good as it gets, for my home gym: For Plan C, I switched the places of the dip stand and exercycle.
Plan C factors are:
+ There is an even more direct path to my bed
+ The room will feel more open
- There will be less space to use the dresser drawers etc.
- The bedroom door will still not close without moving the rowing machine
- This morning I sent emails, that I started preparing yesterday, to 10 verterans posts canceling my westbound tour stops, to see if they can schedule the same time in 2021. By evening I already had two of them booked for 2021 :)
- Something new while anticipating living in my van when I can go on my Arizona Lou's Veterans Appreciation National Tour is water-flossing my teeth. Here at home I can do it over a sink because it can get pretty messy. Not in my van on tour, so I have started practicing swallowing the water while still getting my teeth clean. A disadvantage might be drinking the nine ounces of water just before bed. That is the capacity of the Water Flosser YXY-80 4, which I purchased last December in anticipation of the tour.
- To bed at 10:37 after drinking a cup of warm milk :( The milk didn't seem to help me sleep any better.
Fri Apr 24 = How do you like your oats? Here are the types of oats with good information about each:
- I got two spare door keys made for my van. Ron of Desert Locksmith was in my neighborhood so came over to make the high tech keys. He has a special CNC-type machine to trace the key patterns into its memory and then mill the pasterns into the key blanks. Not cheap, but Ron charged me a fourth of dealer retail and a third of the dealer special price for old ugly guys like me. Thanks, Ron (602) 301-5243.
- Before he came I turned my house AC on for the first time this season. It ran for 1:30 hours. I'll keep it at 84°. I need to rember to run it some every two or three weeks in the winterto keep it working and the seals lubricated.
- My reward for a slow, slow, short torso workout was... supper and listening to the latest Clark Howard podcasts. What a guy and what an informative talk show - especially with COVID-19.
- Thirteen pounds of Universal Nutrition Gain Fast Chocolate Shake arrived this afternoon from AllStarHealth.com. I will use it in my protein frosties in the future. It will be less chocolaty than I like, but the price was right. I'll use the box it came in to help organize my
van
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
.
- This evening I reprogrammed my yard's drip from every 7 days to every 5 days.
- For my
van project
converting my 2020 Kia Sedona minivan to a mini-motorhome where I will live during my road tours
,
I replaced the plastic head on one of the new door keys with a super-strong magnet. The shaft of the key extended into the plastic head less than a quarter of an inch. Unexpectedly chintzy in my opinion.
- Swallowed all but a few drops of my water floss tonight :) Got to bed at 10:18.
Sat Apr 25 = Tomorrow it is forecast to reach 102° F... but it will be a dry heat! Due to my kiteboarding trips and comedy tours, this is the first time in about 18 years that I have been home this time of the year.
Harbinger Balance Trainer
- This afternoon I got my trip camera bags organized, got some jogging shorts modified to fit me better, ran about a quarter mile in them since I'm not going out and running from my car to stores nowadays, found a home for the new spare magnetic key on my van , revised and printed my Merch Sales Record Sheets, balanced three minutes on my balance trainer, swept, removed some black scuff marks with acetone and mopped the kitchen floor, and prepared the kitchen as a temporary storage location my gym equipment etc. in preparation for the carpet cleaners who will be coming on Monday.
- Water flossing tonight I lost, slopped or failed to swallow only 4cc of water. Got to bed at 10:20, but had to pee several times. Maybe because of the 10 ounces of water I drank while water flossing.
Sun Apr 26 = I spent today clearing off most of the carpeted areas in my house. The most work was the master bedroom (my gym), the stage (my video area) and the office (stuff set out for my road tour). I also prepared for tonight's online comedy show produced by JD Kavanaugh, We All Bond Over Bombs.
- Just before my appearance, my phone did a spontaneous shutdown. JD put me up after I got it going again. After my set, one of the comedians said it was a good one, but the audio was a little broken so they didn't hear everything and that the audio was better last week when I was 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
computer.
Also, last week I noticed that my computer had better video response with less delay than my cell phone. So one of this week's project will be to figure how to keep my computer happy with the output from my stage camcorder.
- Before bedtime I moved the things I needed for the comedy show off the carpeted stage and into my kitchen. Then to bed early for the carpet cleaner tomorrow morning... I wish, but NO, for some reason known only to God (and maybe he's not sure), I decided it would be a good idea to download images of USB connectors to use on my DEFINITIONS web page. You can see the result here.
- Didn't swallow from water flossing and got to bed at 10:43pm then only got up to pee once, and that, after 6:21 hours in bed!
Mon Apr 27 = I got stuck in the kitchen most of the day. The carpet cleaner came early and I wanted to stay out of the way. Robert did a good job and, of course, left with the carpet wet. I had moved my computer and key items into the kitchen where I could work on my website, video stuff, eat meals and drink water while the fans were running to dry the carpet. My FLIR thermographic camera came in handy to see how the carpet was drying.
- Late afternoon I went out to get three paper case boxes from nearby print shops and bananas, Romaine lettuce and bread from 99¢ Only.
- I researched and then ordered an Elgato Cam Link so I'll be able to feed my computer with the output from my camcorder for We All Bond Over Bombs, a Sunday online comedy show. Unfortunately, the Cam Link probably will not arrive in time for next Sunday's show.
- To bed at 10:37.
Tue Apr 28 = This afternoon I stretched my van's comforter out on my nearly empty master bedroom floor and tied the loose quilting threads so they will not continue to unravel. Then off to the laundromat to wash the comforter in their giant machine that will handle a bulky queen-sized comforter. They were closed, so I drove to the East Union Hills Dollar Tree for needed dental floss.
- I set up the little refrigerator in my van, connected to my faithful (I hope) old
.
The time to discover it all is not working is not after I have left on my road tour, whenever that might be.
- Always trying to improve my sleep, I flossed, waterflossed and brushed my teeth right after supper, about 6pm, rather than at bedtime. I swollowed 8 oz of the floss water. We'll see if it effects tonight's sleep.
- This evening, for the first time in about 18 months, I vacuumed the main line and siding tracks on my little LGB railroad. I have not been running my trains because of lack of time and because the engines were not making a good connection to the dusty track. I got my 12-unit train a-goin', with my engine that looks like the one pictured and weighs over five pounds. Staying at home with the COVID-19 situation, I might even have time to take a video of my trains in motion.
- Tonight I put sheets from my closet on the bed because I had stripped the sheets off the bed and the laundromat was closed.
- To bed at 10:06pm :)
Wed Apr 29 = This morning was my trip to the laundromat with the queen-sized comforter I use on the bed/couch in my van. I was impressed with the Papa's Laundry's giant front loading machine. Altogether it cost me about $9 to wash and dry, but my things, including a van toss pillow and sweats, got amazingly clean. I finished drying my pillow and sweats at home in MY dryer since it doesn't have an appetite for quarters.
- I completed the evaluation of my
and concluded it should be good for my next road tour. In the process of the 24-hour test, my little refrigerator got down to 32 degrees and the LiFeMnPO did about three
LVD
Low-Voltage Disconnect. To avoid battery damage, it shuts off the load of my LiFeMnPO battery at 11.5 Volts.
.
I did some remote starts after LVDs and confirmed that the van automatically shuts off after 10 minutes if left alone, but during that ten minutes of idling, adds enough energy to the LiFeMnPO to keep the refrigerator cold for several hours. The maximum charge rate I saw was an impressive momentary 92A when first starting the van with a depleted LiFeMnPO.
- Got to bed at 10:21pm.
Thu Apr 30 = This morning I tried to make a bunch of phone calls to Ohio to the veterans which have not replied to the email I sent them a week ago about rescheduling my comedy shows for next year. I got some no-answers, left some voice mails and got through to three who agreed to schedule shows for next year. That gives six shows westbound in 2021 for, at this point, a total of 24 shows scheduled for 2021.
Home Gym Plans
- What do you do with yourself while you're staying home? Use an engineering approach to arranging your home gym. I assigned points of importance to various factors, analyzed each plan and came up with a total, a rank and percentage of my ideal home gym for each plan.
The numeric importance and factors:
8 Path to the (master) bathroom
8 Path to my bed
5 Access to the dresser drawers etc
6 Bed not feeling crowded
6 Space around workout bench
7 Good mirror view while working out
4 Adjustability of exercycle position
5 Open feel for the (master) bedroom
4 No cluttered view from living room
(53 = 100% perfect home gym)
As you can see in the Gym Plans picture (arranged by rank), Plan E won out with 79%. As you can see by the change in its icon, starting with Plan D, I got the bright idea of stowing my rowing machine on its end to be out of the way.
- I vacuumed my master bedroom carpet to smoothen it out a little from its cleaning on Monday. Later, while I was munching on my supper sandwich, I took the gym equipment from my kitchen and set my bedroom up according to Gym Plan E.
- About 8:00 I did a short, heavy slow legs workout, did a
poster trim
weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
and took a bath. This is the first time this season I took a bath in my master bathroom. In the winter it is too cold in there and the hall bathroom is enclosed and can be warmed up with a ceramic electric heater.
- For my little LGB railroad, I parked the 12-unit train on the siding and moved the 6-unit train from the transverse track to the mainline in order to vacuum the transverse track. Doing this was my reward for keeping my nose to the grindstone before bedtime and, at the same time, avoiding screen time just before turning in.
- Got to bed at 10:14pm. I got a very good night's sleep with only one pee and a maximum sleep of 6 hours, even after swallowing 8 oz of floss water at 5:48pm after supper.
