Tue Dec 1 - Things went like clockwork this morning. I got up without an alarm at 5:35, ate breakfast, and then went back to bed to finish off the night until 8:40am.
- Since my friend Tim was going to bring me home after the surgery, I didn't want my house looking bad, so stowed the sunning stuff I keep by a stereo speaker, cleaned and washed the kitchen counter, cleaned off the kitchen island and vacuumed the house. Then there was enough time to exercycle and take a bath before my Lyft driver was to arrive.
- Tom, the Lyft driver, was right on time and got me to the Biltmore Eye Surgery Center in plenty of time.
- I was there about two hours, although the cataract surgery on my left eye took only about eight minutes.
- Tim brought me home. He dropped me off and didn't even come inside, but I did... to a nice clean house.
- I took it easy this evening, watched a Tonight Show monologue, practiced JUGGLING a little, made version four of my Tour Fact Sheet, laid out the pictures for the back of my Christmas letter and got the front letter ready for its final proofreading.
- I finished off the evening by putting the first expensive eye drops in my left eye.
- Got to bed at 10:40
Wed Dec 2 - I won! Really! From Design A Shirt, my T-Shirt supplier, $100 off on my next order for submitting this selfie wearing their shirt:
- Around noon, Lyft driver Tom, took me to the eye surgery center where Dr Duncan performed cataract surgery on my left eye using a special femtosecond LASER to pulverize the lens (cataract), extracted it and then inserted a special UV-adjustable lens. That means that I will be wearing special UV filtering glasses for the next month or so until they get the new lenses adjusted and fixed. My friend from the gym, Tim, brought me home because I was lightly sedated.
- My comedy at El Charro Hipster this evening was about my surgery. On the way home I did my semi-monthly grocery shopping at Winco.
- Got to bed at 11:45 :(
Thu Dec 3 = Around noon the Internet was down again. Has been down several times the past week. I'm hoping that COX gets its act together.
- Trying to stay ahead of the curve, I took a 1.5 hour nap in the late afternoon and later, a 40 minute nap in my van outside JP's Comedy club.
- Comedy this evening started at Adventurous Stills and ended at JP's Comedy club after I was an extra in a movie there. I sold a T-Shirt, for the first time, using Venmo.
- What a messed up sleep schedule these past two days! Just before going to bed I ate tomorrow's breakfast since I won't be able to eat anything after 2:50am due to the surgery.
- Got to bed at 12:31. In spite of the naps I had a sore throat when I got up to pee about 3 in the morning :(
Fri Dec 4 = First on today's agenda, even before eating or drinking anything, was a Lyft trip to the Biltmore Eye Surgery Center to have the cataract removed from my right eye and replaced by the latest UV-adjustable lens technology. My friend, Tim from the gym, brought me home.
- I used boiling water and a spoon sandwich I made to straighten the temples on the special UV glasses I have to wear. Now the glasses do not squeeze my head above the ears, which becomes extremely painful. The pain does not go away even after a full night without the lasses.
- Due to my sore throat I got a comedian friend of mine, Chris Herb, to substitute for for me hosting the UBOM show tomorrow.
- This evening I ventured out to Safeway for some blueberries on sale and to Office Max for 36 color copies of the back of my Christmas letter, which is the picture page.
- Back home I got 10 Christmas letter/cards printed and stuffed. took me an averate 3 minutes each.
- Tonight's semi-weekly treat was half of a blueberry muffin with a few of those fresh Safeway blueberries.
- Got to bed at 9:35 in anticipation of rising early for a follow-up to this morning's cataract surgery.
Sat Dec 5 = At my 8am appointment, ophthalmologist David Rockwell removed the temporary contact lens from my left eye and said both eyes looked good. My eye pressures were normal.
- My Oura Ring does not connect well with my cell phones by Bluetooth like it is supposed to. However, when it does it ,theoretically, gives me some interesting information. Here's some information I found from the Oura Ring people about sleep and your circadian rhythm:
Look for these positive signs to spot when you're aligned with your circadian rhythm:
You had a full night's sleep (7-9 hours).
You fall asleep in a short period of time (5-20 min).
You aren't restless throughout the night.
You get 20-25% REM sleep. (I should get 1.8 - 2.25 hours, which I usually get)
You get 15-20% Deep Sleep. (I should get 1.5 - 1.8 hours, which I get about one night a month)
You wake up feeling well-rested.
- Since I got Chris Herb to host the Urban Beans Open Mic for me I was able to nurse my sore throat and had extra time, taking a long nap using my CPAP and getting my Christmas cards/letters all done and ready to put in the mailbox.
- Got to bed at 10:05 and had only one pee :) and did my first JUGGLING practice since cataract surgery (avoiding leaning over to pick my balls up off the floor) - five days after the left eye surgery and two days after the right eye.
Sun Dec 6 = Happy Birthday,
George
younger brother who lives Christopher Creek, AZ
.
My little brother is 73!
- Today's big stay-at-home-and-nurse-my-cold project was to get the first Arizona Lou Publicity Kit uploaded to Office Depot. They will print the kit at one of their regional print centers and ship it to the Coolidge American Legion Post. The centerpiece of the kit is this 40 x 60 inch poster. I didn't tell the post, but this is my first five foot poster. Always another milestone.
- Today's trip was across the street out to my mailbox to deposit the bundled Christmas cards. They'll be picked up tomorrow. While I was out and about, I set up the LED projector that is my Christmas decorations.
- I have gotten tired of having people tell me they cannot hear me on the phone with my old Plantronics Explorer 102 Bluetooth headset. I was going to order new one, hoping it would not have the same problem. After extensive research, instead, I ordered a Jabra Stealth. It is slightly larger, but has some pretty good reviews.
- Got to bed at 10:10
Mon Dec 7 = Am I going crazy? I haven't heard my furnace turn on yet this season in spite of the fact that my thermostat says that it has been operating. A little research, checking and testing revealed that I was right. Although the breakers were OK there was no 24 V AC power at the thermostat and no heating, cooling or fan. When I feel a little more energetic, I might crawl up in the attic with my multimeter and check the cartridge fuses and some voltages. This is the first time in its 25 years that the HVAC has not worked.
- For a little vitamin D I walked around the back yard in the sun for 10 minutes wearing special dark UV glasses and a brimmed hat to shade my eyes.
- Speaking of energy, still with a cold, I took a long nap this afternoon.
- Since I can't turn on my HVAC fan for air filtration, I pulled out my old Honeywell HEPA filter system and got it going in my bedroom. It is a little noisy, but maybe it will reduce my cold/allergy symptoms.
- Got to bed at 9:30 with lots of covers to fight off the infection by elevating my body temperature a little.
Tue Dec 8 = First thing this morning, for the first time in about 25 years I removed a third sunscreen on my south-facing master bedroom windows. This additional 22x64" will let in more solar heat, make my house a little more comfortable and save some money.
- I climbed up into the attic to check out the HVAC unit, which runs on 120v, and found that there was no power to it. Then, on the outside of the house, I found its breaker was tripped and would not reset. I had the tech from Arizona Perfect Comfort (602 737-3933) come over to check it out. We looked at some register temperatures with my FLIR thermographic camera at different thermostat settings and then went out to the breaker where I flipped it on. The breaker reset and the AC started up. Problem solved and the tech did not charge me the usual $90 service call. Thank you Arizona Perfect Comfort! Now I can use my HVAC fan and its high performance filter for pure, largely pollen-free air.
- I am applying someting I learned to my bookings and comedy, but you can apply it to almost anything: The Super Mario Effect - Tricking Your Brain into Learning More, a 15-minute TEDxPenn talk by Mark Rober. Make life a game, not a test; focus on your successes and your goal rather than your failures... just like playing a video game Never give up is negative. What did I learn is positive.
- I installed the COX Communications app on my Pixel 4a. Now I can almost instantly tell what is going on with their lousy Internet service.
- There was no mail in my mail box but while I was out, I snapped this photo of my house in all its Christmas color sparkles. A LASER projector behind the Silver Sage keeps a variety of colors and patterns moving around.
- Before going to bed I sent my avails in April, May and August to The Loony Bin Comedy Clubs.
- Got to bed at 10:25
Wed Dec 9 = I got up in time to rush around with breakfast, a
poster trim
weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
and a bath and then right on time to my cataract follow-up appointment with Dr. Dee. Everything with my eyes was as expected. However with my rushing I DID leave a dirty bathtub, beard trimmings etc. that needed to be cleaned up.
- Was it a waste of time? Well, maybe, but while I was updating this blog I decided it would be neat to make the FLIRi7 thermographic camera's background transparent - a five-minute job. The trick, it turned out, was to make the background transparent without also making the white buttons transparent. By the time I got finished it was about 40 minutes, but I developed a more efficient method of making backgrounds transparent (using the GIMP graphics editor).
- After this afternoon's 2-hour nap, I was still very low on energy so unfortunately did not show up at the El Charro Hipster's evening open mic. Yes, I will carry the 4xL shirt with me until I meet up with the gentleman who wanted to buy one. If I rest up enough I should be able to host Saturday's variety open mic at Urban Beans.
- I received an email from AZCMS, our HOA management company as a follow up for a letter they sent. Both communiques appeared poorly thought out, typical of them. They told us to change our autopay to another bank but 1) did not give us the web address; 2) said to set up the payment with the new bank AFTER JAN 1, 2021, but the payment is due Jan 1st.
- With no comedy to go to, I took it easy and got my new Pixel 4a cell phone set up with ANDftp and files to upload to my website in an emergency if I cannot get on the Internet. Also I refined and improved the navigation of all my 2013 blogs... and cleaned up from this morning.
- Got to bed at 10:09
Thu Dec 10 = I didn't do much today except I
put special eye drops in my eyes
nursed my cold
took a long nap
telephoned
Cindy
my younger brother George's wife
made a Feb appointment with my optometrist
practiced JUGGLING
drove about 80 miles to Gilbert and back to pick up the comedy clip board I left there last Thursday
found none of my favorite juggling squishy bead balls at several Dollar Trees
bought a strawberry spread at a Dollar Tree
- Got to bed at 10:22
Fri Dec 11 = Last night I had one of my best yet JUGGLING sessions yet, for about five minutes after my 2:32am pee. I caught quite a few balls: 2 with the 2-ball simultaneous toss and once two of the three with the 3-ball toss. Although I am not ready for three balls, I try them at the end of each juggling session to get used to the timing :)
- This morning after breakfast I, again, tried to telephone an Arizona veterans post that never answers their phone nor returns their voice messages. Then I organized blind emails to Arizona veterans' posts and sent them one through their FaceBook page.
- I completed a Cox Cable survey, pointing out that our area Internet has been down four times so far this month and requested one month credit. We'll see what happens.
- This afternoon I downloaded my checking statement and started checking it off with my check register spreadsheet.
- This evening I enjoyed impulsing and, at the same time, educating myself by adding to my Definitions web page, an astigmatic fan: The line that appears darkest gives the axis for an eye.
This gave the astigmatic axes of my eyes within 7-10 degrees of the ophthalmologist's measurements on Wednesday.
- Got to bed at 10:55.
Sat Dec 12 = I felt pretty good this morning and, with a little rest, should be able to host today's
Sat
Suitable for most families
Dec 12, 2020; 3:30pm;
Urban Beans; 3508 N 7th Street; Phoenix, Arizona Open Mic Varity Show as scheduled. It warmed the cockles of my heart (whatever they are) when a number of my comedian friends sent me FaceBook Get Well messages. You guys are great! Also I got encouragement and an update from Mathieu Cormier, my kiteboarding friend from Quebec. Like me, he is busy and not getting too much kiteboarding in nowadays.
- Damon Zahariades came up with 5 simple things ultra-productive people do every day. I do most of them most days:
#1 Work when you're most productive
#2 Carry a notepad
#3 Break up your day into time chunks
#4 Limit the amount of time you spend on each task
#5 Say "no" more often
Well I probably need to tweak #1, work on #4 a little more and use #5 more... with myself.
- Our Urban Beans variety show was small with seven performers and a scant audience of 14. After the show I sold a Comedy T-Shirt and a Comedy Video Flash Drive to a young couple, visiting Phoenix from Wisconsin for the purpose of getting some stage time at our open mics.
- At the special Urban Beans BBQ, Virginia, one of the owners, gave me my first taste of the vegan's version of a hamburger, made with Lightlifemeat, which contains mostly water, pea protein and canola and coconut oils. It tasted good and like... a hamburger.
- Back at home I found some interesting information about the new RxSight Light Adjustable Lenses (first and only ones available) that I have had in my eyes for a week now.
- Got to bed at 9:59 :)
Sun Dec 13 = This morning I learned that tubas have conical tubing, where as trombones and many other brass instruments have cylindrical tubing (all the same diameter up to the bell). I also learned that there are many types and sizes of tubas. You, too, can learn and, at the same time enjoy music for the season with this video of A TUBA CHRISTMAS.
- Got to bed at 10:32
Mon Dec 14 = Financial woes have invaded my life. For the last three months my check register has mysteriously lost $6 so now it is showing $18 low. Yesterday I looked over everything and found no error, so this morning I made printouts and went through everything with a fine toothed comb. What a waste of time... if I had just noticed: For three months I sat fat and happy (skinny?) letting my repeating Southwest Gas payment of $24 sneak through at $30.
- I celebrated getting things resolved by projecting my budget through February... and going out to buy enough Hostess Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cakes (my favorite Monday evening snack) to last through the next 10 months in the freezer. Did I say that sometimes they're hard to find? Of course I first located them online at my nearest Walmart (10 miles driving).
- Today's creative writing project (which I manage to do about twice a month) was to contact Hostess about their Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cakes. Took about 50 minutes. They sent me an email saying they would mail a letter in response.
- This evening I tweaked my Publicity Kit Instructions and Fact Sheet, then combined both into one PDF document for sending to Office Depot for remote printing.
- Got to bed at 10:02
Tue Dec 15 = Late morning it took a phone call for help, but I opened a Fidelity zero Total Stock Index fund, so will be auto-investing with it each month rather than Vanguard starting next year.
- At noon, for a little vitamin D, I washed the outside and inside of my south and west facing windows. A plus is that I'll be able to more clearly see Saturn and Jupiter without going out into the Phoenix cold (43° F).
- This afternoon Valarie, in Denver from Office Max, was VERY helpful and patient. She helped me figure a system of sending out my Publicity Kits from anywhere in the US to anywhere in the US. This includes, hopefully, getting each kit with instructions, 11x17" posters and up to a 40x60" poster shipped out together. Also I learned how to save time by uploading instructions and posters to their website. Thanks Valarie!
- Today I squeezed in my shopping list, a nap, a trip to the gym for a light full-body workout since I am mostly over my cold and semimonthly grocery shopping at Winco. Big day!
- Got to bed at 10:46 with my new Jabra Stealth phone Bluetooth charging.
Wed Dec 16 This morning I had a mild headache from last night.
- For the third time since the last of November my Reiner-speed-i-Jet-798 date printer lost its sense of time and reverted to Jan 1, 2014 12:00am :(
- Today I compared my new Jabra Stealth phone Bluetooth headset to my older Plantronics Explorer 102. They are about the same size. The Jabra has much better noise canceling and people say I am much clearer than the muffled sound of the Plantronics. After wearing the Jabra for an hour or two with the ear hook, however, it hurts my ear. Hopefully my ear will get used to it.
- I didn't feel I had the energy to stop by a gym, but I did have the energy to do my new Astronaut set at El Charro Hipster. I actually didn't decide to to it until I was already at the venue.
- Got to bed at 10:50
Thu Dec 17 This morning I did my monthly credit cards payoffs.
- This afternoon I took my usual Thursday long nap.
- A voice from the past left me a voice message: my good friend Christian Canese, who shot videos of me kiteboarding in San Carlos, Mexico nine years ago.
- I, again, didn't make it to a gym but I DID make it to two comedy shows where I did my new Astronaut routine. The audience at
Adventurous Stills was very responsive and loved it. I sold a T-Shirt there and received $25 in donations for
:)
JP'S Comedy Club was fun with the same routine, but a little more subdued.
- Got to bed at 11:12
Fri Dec 18 = This morning I got out my two foot LED marque which has been dormant for about 12 years. Thinking it might be neat to use at my comedy show venues, I dusted it off and plugged it in. After a while it showed, "Checking" and gave me the 32mb memory and version number. Next, I don't know if it is supposed to do it, but it popped and smoked. After that all it would do was flash the bottom three rows of LEDs for "CHECKING."
- I thought the LED sign was such a good idea that I spent most of the rest of the morning researching and ordering a no-name one from Amazon.
- Then, in the afternoon, I found a better, three-color sign for about half the cost. Since it was late afternoon the seller in NJ was closed so I sent them an email with my questions: if it is dimmable etc.
- I spent quite a bit of time poking around the Internet for Urban Beans Open Mic announcements and posters - other than mine. I found a number of places that did not give me as the host. I figured that, after two months the situation should be corrected so called Urban Beans, spoke with Nathaniel and sent him the out-of-date links.
- The other day I made a rare find at Goodwill: a new-looking black, rigid felt cowboy hat for $3.49 what was my size, but it had a couple of problems. It was to wide and not long enough for my silly-shaped head so did not fit well. Worse of all, it had no style, with just a plane flat brim.
- After some Internet research, of course, I used a pan of boiling water to steam the hat. Now it has a moderate amount of style and fits perfectly :)
- Here's my first five-foot poster, delivered Wednesday by Office Depot to the
American Legion Post 54 down in Cooliidge, AZ. Liah, there, snapped this picture.
- Got to bed at 10:17
Sat Dec 19 = Today was my usual Comedy Saturday, preparing for and hosting the
Urban Beans Variety Show.
- Here's a picture Liz Frisius snapped during my new NASA and Space opening set. Notice the hat and special glasses to keep ultraviolet light off my un-adjusted eyes.
- On the way home I sopped by the Colonnade LA Fitness for a short, slow 80% heavy workout.
- After dark I set up a tripod for my my two video cameras and my Panasonic DMC-FZ150 Digital Camera and practiced a little for possibly photographing Jupiter and Saturn Monday evening when they will be at their visible closest since 1261, about 780 years.
- Got to bed at 11:08 :(
Sun Dec 20 = It might not have been time well spent, but this morning I decided to correct the verticals on the picture from Leah. It was a good mental exercise reviewing the technique using my GIMP-2 software. Here it is before... and after I further tweaked it this evening.
- My black, rigid felt cowboy hat gradually got a little shorter and no longer fit my head, so this afternoon I redid it. Now it is a little too narrow, but will probably end up being just right.
- Got to bed at 10:48
Mon Dec 21 = This morning, after some more research and a couple of phone calls, I ordered a Royal Sovereign RSB-1510 Bluetooth LED Sign to help publicize shows on my tour.
- I had my first UV light adjustment for the UV light-adjustable lenses in my eyes. They adjusted for astigmatism (cylinder). If things go according to plan, the next time, on Thursday the 24th, they will adjust the power (sphere) of the lens. Dr Duncan is very heppy with the way my eyes are comming along.
- Got the picture up for Saturday's UBOM show (see Sat Dec 19).
- The evening was mostly devoted to astronomy.
- Great Conjunction of 2020 Jupiter and Saturn appeared to be separated by .1° a tenth of a degree.
Pictures below L-R & top to bottom - times are MST and approximate)
Past notes; Graphic to the right shows 1226 view with four of the five visible planets (Mars up high to the left and Venus to the right)
5:35pm Lowell Observatory telescope in Flagstaff, AZ
9:06pm Taken with my Panasonic DMC-FZ150 Digital Camera zoomed to 600 (35mm equivalent) f/11 from Phoenix
Future notes. Graphic is Jupiter transiting Saturn in Feb 7541, the first time in 14,398 years
Video of the entire eclipse with excellent information and presentations from renown astronomers. (2.5 hours)
- Got to bed at 11:30 :(
Tue Dec 22 = This morning I got all the eclipse stuff from yesterday uploaded to this blog from Lowell Observatory etc. This afternoon I phoned
Harold
Harold Dean Hayes, my techie X brother-in-law
about it and talked him into going to my website (no small feat) to get the information he wanted.
- My goLEDgo Ultra Red LED sign arrived. Although Amazon said it was dimmable, it appears to not have that feature. The remote control is weird, with numbers and letters scattered on what appears to be a DVR remote. Their little software DVD is useless for me, and online, I found no way to download the software and that goLEDgo has no web presence.
- Got to bed at 10:57
Wed Dec 23 =
- Do you eat your mistakes? My lunch-time mistake was putting a Hebrew National 97% Fat Free frank in the microwave for 3:33 minutes when it should have been for :33 seconds. This is the somewhat crispy result. Yes, I ate it.
- I got a little vitamin D by hanging around the back yard for 12 minutes in the sun.
- In the mail I received my new health plan card. Since there was a bar code on it, I HAD to scan it and see what was in it. Then I HAD to research the types of bar codes and came up with this interesting information:
- From an email I received from them, I should get my COVID-19 vaccine in distribution Phase 1C. By then they may have another, better vaccine. They started Phase 1A on Dec 17th.
- I got two packages in my mailbox today and they knocked my socks off. It was the end of an almost perfect day, which included making the second batch of my Protein Frosties with my new Ninja blender (this time using its preprogrammed Ice Cream mode), my first heavy gym workout (legs) in over three weeks (thanks to my cataract surgery and a cold), treating myself to one of the Protein Frosties, shopping Goodwill and finding a good tripod... and then the packages in my mailbox:
- The packages: Anne, my daughter, sent me a box of writing pads and a rubber stamp with my logo. They will be perfect for my Thank You notes. How creative and thoughtful.
- The day would have been absolutely perfect if NBC had asked me to appear on the Tonight Show... but you can't have everything.
- Got to bed at 10:19
Thu Dec 24 = Bright and early this morning I went to Horizon Eye Specialists for the second adjustment to the lenses in my eyes, this time by Dr Dee.
- On the way home I stopped by Esporta Fitness gym for my first heavy arms workout in three weeks and Fry's for some on-sale and with-coupon grocery items.
- It was cloudy all day so there was no vitamin D at noon or looking at Jupiter and Saturn after sunset, but I did take an hour nap.
- I updated my show slips. It took longer than usual because some things needed to be reformatted.
- Yesterday I emailed goLEDgo to get the Windows software for their sign I bought from Amazon. There is no model number anywhere on the sign. With some more experimenting with the remote control I got the sign to display a sequence of messages... sort of.
- Due to the holiday, my only comedy this week will be the day after Christmas:
Saturday
Suitable for most families
on Dec26, 2020 at 3:30pm, hosting the UBOM open mic variety show at Urban Beans.
- Got to bed at 10:59 :(
Fri Dec 25 = MERRY CHRISTMAS! I chilled most of the day by myself here at home. I had a little family time by phone with
Cindy
my younger brother George's wife
. Also a nice visit with Anne, my daughter's whole family and Scott, my son.
- Using its weird remote control, I finally got my red LED sign to mostly work like the way I want it to: display a variety of messages with random patterns of switching between the messages. I never did figure how to dim the sign. Now to be patient and wait until the sign at half the price and with more features arrives on Tuesday.
- My trip out was to my little neighborhood Anytime Fitness. There were about five people working out when I was there this evening.
- Got to bed at 11:01 :(
Sat Dec 26 = My Reiner Speed-i-Jet date printer lost its clock settings (went to 1/1/2014 12:00am) for the fourth time in less than a month.
- On the way to Urban Beans for comedy, I looked for Christmas cards at Big Lots who had none and Walmart where I bought 40, all the same, for next year. The cards were a little expensive at 40¢ each, but I didn't have time or energy to keep looking elsewhere and possibly finding nothing. Next year, ahead of Christmas, I'll try to spot what I want and be able to target that location for after-Christmas sales.
- My comedy this week was hosting the UBOM show at Urban Beans - small group, but we had fun. Nathanial was not there so Virginia and I set up the stage and PA system with a little help from Bryan.
- Boy, was I drowsy this evening on the computer. Couldn't accomplish anything so practiced some JUGGLING and cleaning off my kitchen island.
- Got to bed at 9:59 :)
Sun Dec 27 = This morning I got an email from Gold's Gym. They are one of the many gym chains that I go to across the country, thanks to the Silver Sneakers program.
- First project was to organize the elimination of some clutter that has been unused on the back of my desk for years: port switchers for old disk drives and printers, ZPPC pocket computers and all the cabling.
= Like I have started trying to do every day, at noon, I walked out in the sun for 10 minutes in my Speedos reading Arthur Canon Doyle on my Kindle while processing vitamin D. In the afternoon when I got drowsy I spent some time practicing JUGGLING or clearing off my desk or kitchen island. I plan to keep doing those things but not mentioning them every day. That will save me time writing and you time reading.
- I sent a message to Zazzle to find why they sent me a 2" ink pad for a 2.5" rubber stamp.
- After some research I decided to get EaseUS to back up my computer. Hopefully it will take less time and be more effective. I went to bed with it still backing up to one of my external USB hard drives.
- Got to bed at 9:59 :)
Mon Dec 28 = First thing after breakfast I headed to see Dr Dee. We decided that my left eye was OK and to increase my right eye lens strength by .25 diopter because I am not seeing quite as well with it, although both eyes showed 20/20 and no astigmatism. Doing 1/4 diopter with the RxSight machine may not be possible, but we tried by giving my right eye a 20 second treatment. In a week, I'll meet with Dr Tran to see the result and likely lock both lenses at that time.
- About a week ago, when Mary Upchurch, a comedian friend of mine, heard that I had a cold, she said she would bring me some of her special delicious Chicken Dumpling Soup the next time she made a batch. This morning she texted me that she would like to bring me some this evening. So I spent much of the day cleaning and straightening around the house preparing for a visitor.
- About supper time Mary stopped by and gave me the soup. Mary was true to her word; a good gal and made the best Chicken Dumpling Soup I have ever tasted. Thanks, Mary!
- Due to COVID-19 she just handed me the soup at the door and was on her way. At least I have a clean house now.
- I have developed a three-minute JUGGLING skills sequence with each skill building on the previous ones. The sequence includes practicing good form with toss accuracy and ball catching using one and then three balls ball, timing using two balls and a three-ball cascade. This I do at night when I get up to pee and several times during the day. I get plenty of exercise picking up the balls because I drop them a lot.
- Got to bed at 10:59 :(
Tue Dec 29 = My new Royal Sovereign RSB-1510 chasing color LED sign arrived by FedEx; as usual, dropped at the front door instead of being delivered to the back sliding door where it would be safe.
- I set the RSB-1510 sign up beside the goLEDgo sign on my kitchen island and had them both going. The RSB-1510 has higher resolution and three-colors but less contrast. I think I will go with the goLEDgo because it can start a message using a random of about 22 methods rather than only four. That will make announcing my shows with the goLEDgo more captivating; sort of like a camp fire, not repeating for about 22 minutes.
- I was getting a little drowsy a little before supper time so I did a JUGGLING practice session. I caught all ten of the two-ball tosses, I think for the first time :)
- Got to bed at 11:22
Wed Dec 30 =
Shane
My nephew, George's son who is an engineer for a high-tech company
is having fun with his 3-D printer. He designed and printed this Fidget. The gears go up and down the 2.5" columns.
- Comedy tonight was at
El Charro Hipster. I did my Basic Economy set with some enhancements and without some other enhancements that I forgot.
- A few days ago I reduced my daily water intake to 64 oz after doing it accidentally and doing a little more research. Hopefully it will lead to a better night's rest.
- Got to bed at 10:51
Thu Dec 31 - This morning I researched vitamin D and found that direct sunlight at noon (not even thin clouds) is best for maximum UVA (315-400 nm wavelength) which makes vitamin D. Other conditions might still get you a tan, but they have proportionally more UVB (280-315 nm wavelength), which causes sunburn and can cause skin cancer.
- I organized some of the possible 99 messages for my LED sign by purpose and decade. I'll let that idea sit for a while and decide if that's really the way I want it done. I can't let the idea sit too long because I want to have the sign fully functional and automatic for my Jan 15th show in Coolidge in two weeks.
- This evening I used the last of the expensive, post cataract surgery, eye drops. I got by with one bottle of each, so now have two unopened bottles that cost me about $100.
- Since there was no open mic at Adventurous Stills, I went, as a spectator, toJP's Comedy Club's 7pm show. After that show, as I checked in for the open mic, I asked Jim, the owner, who was hosting the open mic. He said, "I don't know yet. Do you want to?" So I did. It was a small group of all comedians, but hey, it was a fun way to spend New Year's Eve.
- The latest skill I thought of for my JUGGLING practice is to open each hand wide as soon as it tosses a ball, to be ready to catch the next one. I discovered that this does not come naturally and requires a lot of concentration. Just give me some time.
- Got to bed at 12:50
Design A Shirt, my T-Shirt supplier, $100 off on my next order for submitting this 
