Sun Jan 1 = HAPPY 2 0 2 3 !
While doing my comedy writing this morning, after 14 years of using Notepad++, I discovered an EXTREMELY USEFUL feature that would have saved me lot of time in the past, had I known about it: Opening a second Notepad++ window by dragging one of its tabs to another location on the screen.
- Still on the Notepad++ kick, I downloaded two instruction manuals for it - mostly complementary. After reading some I made a few changes in my Notepad++: Enabled Multi-Editing ([Ctrl]-Click-Click to add to words to edit at the same time) and Enabled scrolling beyond last line of a file. Options I didn't know were available until I started exploring. I hope to continue exploring this very powerful free open source text editor. This exploration will take some time but will keep my brain active and save me time with my website.
- It is difficult for me to resist a challenge and suspected it was possible to upload files directly to my website from Notepad++. All I had to do was to find and install a nppFTP plugin. It wasn't easy to find the source download, unzip and then find out how to actually get it installed. After accomplishing all that I got an error that the 32-bit version of the nppFTP plugin was not compatible with my 64-bit
XPS
Dell XPS-13 laptop computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
. Like finding a needle in a haystack, I found a guy in India who had made a 64-bit version. I got it downloaded and working, but not quite the way I had in mind.
- Now with nppFTP , I can download, edit and upload files from my website, but have not found a way to upload files that I have pre-modified and tested on my
XPS
Dell XPS-13 laptop computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
.
- Although I tried, at noon I wasn't fast enough to register for the Stir Crazy Open Mic on Wednesday.
- What a dark dismal mostly rainy day. Just as well be in Seattle.
- There was only a mist on the way to Planet Fitness and then to Winco. As I was leaving Winco it decided to rain. By the time I was putting things into my van, it was raining pretty hard. I got home, got my groceries put away and... got dry.
- Got to bed at 11:30 for 8:19 of sleep.
Mon Jan 2 = At noon I managed a couple sessions between the clouds for a good sun session for vitemin D. For a couple hours I aired out the house and reduced the CO2 level from 796 to 459 ppm.
- I discovered
DJ Demers - Creative, deaf, funny but definitely not dumb and mostly clean. Has been on Conan, Laugh Factory and has his own podcast. I added him to my Some of Lou's Favorite Comedians web page.
- I finally pulled the trigger on the Roomba i7+ because I could save $102.50 from Amazon or anybody else at qvc.com.
- I tried something I had never done before with Amazon, trying to get a bargain. I actually ordered it from them and then immediately canceled selecting that "I found it at a lower price elsewhere." They might offer me a concession on the price.
- This evening I had fun doing legs and arms outs and telling people about my comedy show on the 22nd at Anytime Fitness and Mountainside Fitness. The parking lot at Mountainside is always full. It is neat to see them doing so well and to see people interested in being fit. The fans I met back on August 16th, and now my buddies, Ethen, Dic and I enjoyed hamming it up. Also I got these four new fans:
Grant The Wizard, Drew Wert, Wesley W; Mountainside Fitness, N Phoenix, AZ 1/2/23
Graysen Ryan; Mountainside Fitness, N Phoenix, AZ 1/2/23
- After I thought I had accidentally deleted some fan pictures on my Android phone I learned how to restore them from the trash.
- Mail Chimp sent me a report. 26% (123) of the emails I sent out Dec 28th were opened last week. If a whopping 10% if those come to the show, which is unlikely, that will give me 12 guests.
- It took a while for me to find the dimensions of the iRobot Roomba j7+. This evening I spent (wasted) some time reading an interesting PCMag review by Angela Moscaritolo of the robot.
- In anticipation of the Roomba's arrival, I also set some boxes of the same size as the docking station on the kitchen floor to see how it will be to live with the Roomba. With all my furniture and stuff, that is the only place I can put it with the required clearances. As you can see in the picture the carpeting starts 32" in front of the docking station. I hope that will not be a problem.
- I figured how to open up the side of my old Dell Dimension tower computer. More about that tomorrow.
- My prednisone prescription needs to be taken with food so my bedtime dose was with a couple bites of turkey sandwich kept over from supper, some green beans saved over from supper and a Hostess Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake (it was my treat night, ya see).
- Got to bed at 11:30 for 8:17 of sleep.
Tue Jan 3 = I celebrated my 3:23 am pee by taking my last nighttime prednisone of the series. Now I taper off by one tablet each day for five days. The food eaten with this dose was the rest of the turkey sandwich and the rest of the green beans, both saved over from supper.
- Booking wise, I started making a paper list of posts (and lodges) that people have suggested I contact, and using it to create a new task for each post on my Google Calendar, and THEN trying to phone them. That way I have the post information in one place in Google where I can find it. I use my booking format so if things develop I am ready to paste the information to BOOKINGS. Today I scored a record of 128 on The Booking Game - My coming Roomba has gotten me to pack up some things that have been taking up space in a closet, by my desk and on my kitchen floor. I got the old TRS-80 computer that has been in my closet for 28 years and the Dell that has been beside my office desk or sitting on the kitchen floor.
- The old Dell tower got some special attention. It was a multiple-session operation, but I got it opened up, took apart the hard drive that had my data on it, removed the three platters, used a magnetic bulk eraser on them, bent them at a 90 degree angle and disposed them in separate trash cans that will be emptied on three different trash days. That should be good enough.
- Best Buy will dispose of the electronics properly.
- I didn't plan on doctoring my self tonight, but one of the pads on the Mountainside Fitness rotation machine had a snag and snagged my arm ripping off a 15 x 25 mm triangle of skin.
- On this evening's trip I didn't make my goal of giving out 5 tickets at each stop. At Mountainside I got close with four. At Aldi and 99¢ Only I gave out about three each. In addition, for people who were not sure they could go, I gave old show slips with my website on it.
- Got to bed at 11:33 for 8:13 of sleep.
Wed Jan 4 =
- Today I learned to adjust the automatic payments to my HOA, if necessary, BEFORE the first of January so I don't have to go back and manually pay the difference.
- Do the RFID protector sleeves really work? I don't know, but the one that came with my old Global Entry card was definitely not microwave proof. In the microwave oven, in the sleeve, the card produced quite a sparkling light show as it fused itself into the sleeve.
- The Roomba arrived today! Its Clean Base may have some problems. It says its bag is full and thinks there's a clog in its evacuation tube, has communications problems with the Roomba and is not properly charging the Roomba, all new, out of the box.
- Got to bed at 11:28 for 8:19 of sleep
Thu Jan 5 = This morning I adjusted furniture as necessary to allow the Roomba to maneuver.
- While I was making 60 more tickets to pass out in person around town, I watched one of the top-rated (20 minutes with over 60 million views) TED talks, by Brené Brown on "The power of vulnerability." I wasn't finished making tickets so watched 16 minutes by Judy Croon: "The Superpower of Humour."
- This is a sample of the physical show tickets I pass out:
- Big trip. At the E Camelback Best Buy I deposited a bunch of old computer stuff for recycling and passed out seven show tickets.
- Across the street at LA Fitness I did a brief heavy arms workout, ran out of show tickets after passing out the 10 I had with me and then passed out some old show schedules with links to my website.
- Then to downtown Phoenix. At Stand Up Live they did not have the New Faces tickets that I needed but did give me a bunch of courtesy tickets which I may be able to make work.
- Last stop was the nearby EōS Fitness (not the friendliest gym to me), I did a brief light legs workout and gave away five show tickets.
- Got to bed at 11:49 for 7:58 of sleep. I'll be taking a 40 minute nap tomorrow.
Fri Jan 6 = My old arizonaloukiteboarder.com URL is scheduled to be deleted today. I have settled in at arizonalou.com. Don't worry, all the kiteboarding stuff is still on my website. Just click this kiteboarding logo (in the upper left corner of any of my web pages).
- I took my Kia in for the uncooperative driver side sliding door. Naturally when Martin, my service writer tried the door worked correctly every time. He told me to be sure to get it seen BEFORE 60, miles or the, probably expensive, repair would NOT be covered under warranty.
- I parked in the Kia parking lot for about 15 minutes and got some points on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score by working on booking comedy shows
.
- Then on EōS Fitness for a workout and to tell people about the upcoming show.
- It took me about 5 hours to sweep the kitchen floor. I started in the afternoon, researched my new Roomba and determined that it was not working properly. It was giving all sorts of erroneous error messages like its bag was full, not communicating with the base unit and evacuation tube plugged. After more research and a 40 minute phone call to Marco in Guatemala, who suggested doing a mapping run then sending the Roomba out to clean, thinking it might need dirt in the dirt bin, I had the Roomba map the whole house.
- While mapping it attacked my O-Gauge railroad. It had trouble as it climbed across the tracks at various points, made a mess of my signs and railroad workers and turned over a box car. Worst was how it almost got stuck after it climbed onto the top of my two wooden train whistles. It ended pushing one of them under the edge of the couch. After the mapping expedition I tried to designate the railroad as a "Keep Out Zone."
- Next was sending the Roomba to clean the kitchen. It found a "dirtier" area in front of the kitchen counter and gave me the option to designate it for more thorough cleaning in the future.
- I wasn't too smart with the fancy Sangean radio that I got from
Stan
Stanley, my older brother who was a retired as a machinist for Eaton Corporation in Hutchinson, KS until he succumbed to a three-week bout with Myasthenia gravis in March, 2018
.
The radio has three alarms and makes sure I keep up on the news and helps me stay on schedule in the mornings. I have been powering it by a wall wart transformer that was warm all the time and wasted electricity 24x7. I found a replacement, in my stash, of a switching wall wart power supply that runs about 20° F cooler. It has a little RFI that effects the am band, but not too bad.
- Not smart was changing the power supply without installing fresh batteries. The radio lost its time, presets and about everything. I figured it would be a good challenge to reprogram all that. The radio is so complicated (powerful) that I have to get out the PDF instructions to do almost anything with it.
- Got to bed at
Sat Jan 7 = It took 20 seconds to fix my new Roomba after two days to figure what was wrong with it. I found that the green flapper of the evacuation port on the bottom of its dust bin came from the factory pushed the wrong way (first picture) and could not vent properly. I pulled the flap out with a kitchen knife and now everything seems to work OK (second picture)
- Today's project for the Roomba was to clean the whole house. It took about four hours with about five returns to the Home Base to empty the dirt bin do some recharging. It knocked over another box car. It is time to adjust the train's "Keep Out" zone.
- Watching the Roomba work is sort of like watching a camp fire. It is hard to resist, things are slow, you don't know what is going to happen next and you don't want to get too close.
As expected, during the cleaning, I did a little research with the weight of the Roomba's dirt bin:
Empty, it weights about 8.40oz
Roomba thinks it is full at about 8.75oz (.35oz of lint and dirt)
After the Base Station emptied it, it was 8.6oz (.20oz of dirt left in the bin)
Removing and reinstalling the bin would make Roomba think it was no longer full so it would out and do more cleaning
Removing and reinstalling the bin and more cleaning gave 9oz before Roomba decided the Dirt Bin really needed to be emptied (.60oz dirt)
You always get more dirt out when you dump the bin by hand, but that's not why you got the Clean Base
- It was so beautiful today (60° F in my back yard) that I opened a north and a south window. In 3 hours that lowered the CO2 level in the hall from 959ppm to 577ppm.
- It took me until supper time to watch Roomba, organize my day and take a nap to make up for getting to bed last night :(
- After supper I went to EōS Fitness for a workout and got these four new fans:
Adan Hernandez, Michael Lenher, Angel Ramirez; Cactus EōS Fitness, Phoenix AZ 1/7/23
Onur Erzeybek; Cactus EōS Fitness, Phoenix AZ 1/7/23
- Got to bed at 11:29 for 8:18 of sleep
Sun Jan 8 = You gain some and loose some. Today I booked my first road tour show in Florida for 2023: Gainesville in May. I got an email from Oak Island that they were having to cancel their June show.
- Today I set a record score of 164 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- Roomba Report: This morning I had it do the whole house. It took 2:05 for 669 sq ft, charged 1:03 and picked up .6oz of dirt for the whole thing. After it was through, I spent about a half hour adjusting the Keep Out Zones on the house map
- It appears that I was successful with expanding the train Keep Out Zone
- You can control your Roomba from anywhere with your cell phone. From the LA Fitness locker room this evening I told Roomba to clean the north hallway, which it did :)
- Then before coming home I told Roomba to clean the kitchen - mainly to see if the Keep Out zone around the kitchen table was effective. When I got home Roomba was busy doing its job in the kitchen. Then, for the first time, it got totally stuck and couldn't move after it crawled up on the horizontal kitchen table tubes and neither of its wheels could reach the floor. Back to the drawing board for THAT Keep Out Zone.
- Got to bed at 11:12 for 8:17 of sleep
Mon Jan 9 = I made quite a few booking contacts this morning and got a score of 112 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- After a third try, I got word to my otogonyrengologist about possibly accelerating the evaluation of my left ear. The word back, was that we were not in THAT big of a rush.
- The occlusive bandage on my skinned right arm has started to leak a little at the top edge so I put another occlusive bandage over that area. Now I won't have to wear the ugly white cohesive "tape" around my arm to hold things in place.
- This afternoon I officially vacuumed all the carpeting in the house with my high-powered upright vacuum cleaner.
- Then this evening I told Alexa to ask Roomba to clean everything. It spent 2:02 cleaning 660 sq sq ft, 1:01 charging and collected .35 oz of dirt.
- While Roomba was still charging I went out to Safeway for blueberries on a rain check and Planet Fitness for a workout. Before I got back home Roomba had finished charging, gone back to the master bedroom and finished up vacuuming the other rooms.
- Since I was not here to observe it, on the hall bathroom floor I had left some broccoli crumbs and way behind the bed in the master bedroom, a little bit of toilet paper in an area that Roomba had been avoiding. Back home both plants were gone, which means that Roomba past the test.
- Got to bed at 11:05 for 8:43 of sleep
Tue Jan 10 = Today Google sent me a map of my travels during 2022. They included 4 countries, 181 cities, 644 places and 30,550 miles (equal to 1.2 times around the world).
- I worked hard today trying to book shows and got a record score of 166 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- I got the idea from one of my booking contacts to include this hover popup of a
SAMPLE CONTRACT
1) The Venue agrees, barring a catastrophe, to host the Arizona Lou stand up comedy show.
2) There will be no charge or cost to the Venue for the show.
3) The Venue will publicize the show as best they can with word-of-mouth, posters, media etc.
4) Arizona Lou Comedy will provide promotional resources for the show
5) The Venue has put the show on its calendar to avoid misunderstandings and scheduling conflicts.
6) We have watched videos at arizonalou.com and approve of Lou's PG-16 material.
on my Press Kit web page.
- This evening's trip was 50% a waste. The waste of time was going by Walmart to buy a pack of four .35mm Sharpie S-Gel pens. The closest they had was .5mm. Then on to Mountainside Fitness for a brief light full body workout and, of course, to joke around with people and give out some show tickets.
- Tonight I cut down a little 3x5" wooden box as a trial cover for the shunt and wiring for my van's house battery.
- Got to bed at 10:58 for 8:49 of sleep
Wed Jan 11 = This morning I had Roomba vacuum my whole house, observing the order. Roomba started in the living room where its cleaning base is and worked its way around the rooms in a clockwise direction. It picked up .4 oz of "dirt." It took 2:02 to clean the 657 sq ft and spent 2:13 charging.
- I could not find the documentation that my insurance company needed for the sale of
Dahlia
my Phoenix rental house located on Dahlia Drive
in order to drop it retroactively from insurance coverage. So I had to phone the title company and have them PDF the stuff.
- Lots of booking work today - primarily for southern Florida for the first part of May. I got a score of 166 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- On the way to the gym I stopped by a Walmart to pick up the pack of four .35mm Sharpie S-Gel pens that I bought online. They wasted my time and driving, by substituting the .5mm pens that I had bypassed yesterday :(
- At Esporta Fitness I got these three new fans?
Devon Quartullo , Jerome Brooks, Evin Timothy; E 32 St Eos Fitness, Phoenix AZ 1/11/23
- Some of the guys in the locker room had biometric padlocks for their lockers that opened with their finger print. The locks were so cool, when I got home I researched such and found none were too good. I ended up ordering a small one - not too secure, but might be fun to play with. I think I will need to teach it both damp and dry fingers.
- That was the celebration of the ending of my week of Amazon Prime.
- Got to bed at 10:58 for 8:50 of sleep
Thu Jan 12 = I did lots of booking work today and netted a new show and a score of 148 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- This evening's trip was a short one - really short! It was about one block. At the half way point I switched tires: the donut spare for the drivers rear tire because the latter was flat. It wasn't too bad though. The tire was flat only on the bottom.
- Got to bed at 10:27 for 8:43 of sleep
Fri Jan 13 = I only made a few booking contacts so scored 44 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- Today it took Roomba 1:43 to vacuum 643 sq ft (my whole house) and spent :38 charging. As before it started with the living room but took the other rooms in a different order than before.
- This evening I went down to the Tempe Improve to see Melissa Villaseñor. She was funny and kept the audience laughing for 52 minutes.
- For eats, I had a spring mix salad with grilled salmon and, since it was my treat night, a big piece of chocolate chocolate cake with chocolate syrup dribbled around and a scoop of whipped cream. I ate it all!
- After the show I went to the Tempe LA Fitness for a brief slow heavy arms workout and got this new fan:
Dorian McAlpin; LA Fitness, Tempe AZ 1/13/23
- Got to bed at 11:36 for 8:11 of sleep
Sat Jan 14 = Today's big booking project was to sent out contracts for my five California shows in March. I scored 38 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- There was some full sun today until I decided to go out in it at solar noon. Then there were thin clouds for my session.
- This evening's trip had several stops:
99¢ Only for their over ripe bananas at 25¢/lb
Home Depot to look and not find coping saw and saber saw blades
Harbor Freight to buy coping saw and saber saw blades
EōS Fitness in downtown Phoenix for a brief heavy torso workout
Stand Up Live, trying to get more New Faces tickets. They let me sit on a hard wooden stool off to the side, against the stage wall, to see the last of Gabriel (Fluffy) Iglesias. Of course he had the packed audience laughing a lot. The PA wasn't too clear where I was sitting, so I didn't get a lot of the jokes.
On the way home, Joe Cool's ARCO to gas up.
- Starting tonight, my goal is to spend one week getting nine hours of sleep to see if I feel more rested and less tired as opposed to 8.5 hours which I have gotten for the previous two weeks.
- Off to a bad start with the new sleep plan: I'll have to take a 40 minute nap tomorrow because of updating this blog tonight, I...
- Got to bed at 11:26 for 8:21 of sleep
Sun Jan 15 = To not get to bed late tonight, this morning I did my blog (for yesterday). While I was at it (always a good way to spend more time on a project) I added Stand Up Comedy to the Multi-Camera Video Productions section of my Photo/Video Tips web page.
- Practice pays off. Just ahead of noon I spent four minutes clicking and typing imaginary fields to sign up for the Stir Crazy open mic on Wednesday... and, with split-second timing, made it.
- Put it on your schedule and come and see me and others in an excellent show on the west side:
Wed Jan, 2022; 7:00pm;
Stir Crazy; E-206 Westgate Entertainment District; 6751 N Sunset Blvd;Glendale, AZTickets At various times during the day I worked on bookings and contracts, mostly in California and Florida, and scored 61 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- In the fitness department, I programed my new little fingerprint padlock, using certain digits as administrator and others for everyday use. For the everyday use I programed both damp and dry digits.
- Then away for the lock's maiden voyage at Planet Fitness.
- Got to bed at 11:08 for 8:35 of sleep
Mon Jan 16 = Last night, both times when I got up to pee, I went over my 3-minute Stir Crazy routine. I'll be doing a fun act out on posture.
- Mondays and Thursdays will now be my Roomba days for vacuuming the house. Today I planted a sock in the living room and in the kitchen. Instead of trying to gobble it up like some robo vacuum cleaners, my Roomba navigated around it.
- This morning it took me 30 minutes to accomplished the monthly payoff if my six credit cards.
- Today I scored 63 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- After supper I sawed off the bottom of an expensive clear acrylic 3x5 card box to use as a cover for the connectors and shunt for my van's house battery monitoring and charging system.
- This evening I went to LA Fitness for a light workout and Dollar Tree for button batteries for my bathroom scale.
- Got to bed at 11:14 for 8:33 of sleep
Tue Jan 17 = I've made it... I think. I am at the top of an Alexa search... with my two Amazon Echo Dots. I wonder what the result is with other people, so say, "Alexa, Who is America's Favorite Old Man?" or "Alexa, Who is Arizona Lou?" Please let me know what you got at Louis@arizonalou.com.
- After lunch I sent out 488 emails for my appearances tomorrow and Sunday.
- For a little history, on Wed Dec 28, 2022 I sent out 488 emails. 470 (96.3%) were delivered successfully, 169 were opened and 18 were bounced. No one unsubscribed.
- Back to square one for booking a certain veterans' post in Virginia. I was told that John was the person to talk to, so I spent a frustrating week trying to contact him. After finally finding him at the post and speaking with him by phone, he said that Lionel did all the entertainment there. I left a message on Lionel's generic voice mail and scheduled a task on my Google calendar to follow up later. Today I scored 88 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- This evening I watched "The Secret Behind Effective Physical Comedy" at standupcomedyclinic.com
- Got to bed at 11:05 for 8:36 of sleep.
Wed Jan 18 = This morning I went to SimonMed in Glendale for an MRI of my brain. I hope they found something! They were checking on my left ear. On the way to SimonMed, under the auspices of
I picked up Sandra, who had an appointment at the same place a half hour later. She was finished the same time I was finished, so it worked out well.
- On the way home, after dropping Sandra off, I stopped by IEōS Fitness for the first part of a brief legs workout.
- I got home in time to sun a little for some Vitamin D.
- I worked on booking more comedy shows and got a score of 62 for
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- At 4:30 left for Glendale where I went to an LA Fitness to finish the legs workout, and then walked around the WestGate entertainment district and told people about the comedy show.
- I came out about perfect with the 40 mini-posters I had made for the Stir Crazy show. I gave out all but my last poster and had the last four interested people take pictures of that poster with their cell phones or go to my website using the QR code on the poster.
- The Stir Crazy show was great, with an audience of 67, bringing my total audience count so far to 36,370.
- Got to bed at 11:12 for 8:35 of sleep
Thu Jan 19 = I woke up with a headache that lasted all day through bedtime :(
- This morning I impulsed for 1.5 hours and used WinDirStat, a program that displays files, graphically, making large files easy to spot, with my
ICD
little stereo Sony ICD-UX560 voice recorder that I use for taking notes and for recording the audio of all my comedy appearances
#1. While I was "wasting time" to make my life more efficient, I purged icons 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
desktop to remove those I was no longer using frequently.
- Today I booked two additional shows for my tour and scored 137 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- Since my mild headache was still active I wasn't sure it made sense, but this evening I did a brief slow arms workout at two gyms: Anytime Fitness and LA Fitness.
- Back home I had
Roomba
The iRobot Roomba j7+ self-emptying robotic vacuum cleaner I bought in Jan 2023
vacuum the whole house after I dusted the furniture.
- Before going to bed I engaged in a long shot and sent 16 emails out to people at CBS for being on The Late Late Show with James Corden. My chances are about as near zero as you can get, but still thousands of times better than winning the lottery.
- Got to bed, still with a headache, at 10:51 for 8:57 of sleep
Fri Jan 20 = Nine of the 16 emails I sent last night were not delivered because, "Recipient address rejected: Access denied." Looks like I guessed the wrong emails. Today I'll try a new scheme.
- This morning it took
Roomba
The iRobot Roomba j7+ self-emptying robotic vacuum cleaner
20 minutes to vacuum the office. It did the entry, which it considers part of the office. It still had some trouble with the north part of the O-gauge train tracks. I'll enlarge and move that area's KEEP OUT zone.
- This evening I stopped by Mountainside Fitness on the way to The CB Live Comedy Showroom to see Harland Williams - my third time to see him. He did his usual creative crowd work and even managed to get a few jokes in.
- I had a salad and, since it was my treat night, had one third of a piece of chocolate cake which I shared with my table mates.
- Got to bed at 10:45 for 9:03 of sleep :)
Sat Jan 21 = Before lunch I tweaked and timed my routine for tomorrow, Sun Jan 22, 2023 at 7:00pm,
Stand Up Live, 50 W Jefferson St, #200; Phoenix, AZ 85003. I'll be talking about a new year's resolution and Alzheimer's.
- Since there was a freeze warning to tonight, I set the alarm on my Ambient Weather WS-091-C Console to sound when my remote back yard sensor reaches 30.2° F (-1° C). Good news: That will save me from covering my Natal Plums unnecessarily before bedtime and uncovering them in the morning. Bad news: If it DOES get cold I'll have to get up in the middle of the night (probably 2am or so) to cover them. (The low in my back yard only got down to 33.1° F)
- This afternoon's trip was to do some shopping, get a haircut at Sport Clips, pass out show tickets and do workouts, but didn't all go as planned. I did the first part of a light legs workout at LA Fitness and headed up to Mountainside Fitness for the rest. They were closed - some sort of an employee deal.
- In preparation for boring a hole in the sky, I reviewed the controls on the Garmin G1000 with the first video and the transponder operation with second video, which I added here on my Technology web page).
- Got to bed at 9:45 for 8:15 of sleep in anticipation of getting up at 6am to make a phone booking call.
Sun Jan 22 = The booking phone call gave more frustrations with a Moose Lodge in Florida:
John is the only person to talk to about doing a show at the lodge
He is at the lodge only from 8-9 ET every morning (6am-7am MST, Phoenix time)
The lodge does not open until 11am ET
John and no one else answers the phone before 11am ET
No voice mail box has been set up for the lodge phone number
When I finally got someone to answer the phone at 11am ET, Lori explained that John had already left for the day.
- I felt a little better after getting a show booked: Fri May 19, 2023; 7:00pm; Deland Moose Lodge 1126; 1081 N Volusia Ave; Orange City, FL 32763
- I had a slight headache most of the day. Laying out in the sun for 20 minutes didn't help it much, but I figure the tan and vitamin D are a fair tradeoff.
- In downtown phoenix this afternoon I passed out more show tickets to people who were interested as I circulated around the City Scape Plaza, CVS Pharmacy, a Fry's Food Store and did a workout at EōS Fitness. I also got these four new fans:
Luke Gonzales; City Scape Plaza, Phoenix, AZ; 1/22/23
- It was a fantastic show at Stand Up Live tonight with 12 comedians and an audience of about 130. I had 13 gusts there, probably a record for me. Also I sold four T-shirts, including special ordered: orange misprint and and black good print.
- This evening I learned to always go over my routine icons, regardless of how well I think I have my set down because....
- for the set, I got the order mixed up so it was not optimal and completely forgot my Lucky segment, which would have taken me up to my five minutes. I filled the time up to 4:38 with Wrinkled and Voice. Of course the audience completely enjoyed what I did and was not aware of my "mistakes."
Here is the list:
- Got to bed at 11:32 for 8:16 of sleep, which means a :45 minute nap tomorrow
Mon Jan 23 = Had some pretty good booking work this morning and scored 80 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- It took me two tries to resolve my checking account. The first try I let a $20 gas bill sneak by as $30.
-
Roomba
The iRobot Roomba j7+ self-emptying robotic vacuum cleaner
took 1:58 to vacuum my entire house, plus 49 minutes charging. It is still messing with the east siding of my O-Gauge train a little so I'll have to adjust that KEEP OUT area on the Roomba house map.
- My old Goodwill ski jacket is sort of tattered after about 10 years, so I decided to buy a new one. Before going around this part of Phoenix and looking for one on clearance, I checked the Internet and learned that none of the stores around here had what I wanted.
- The two final contenders for the new Men's Lightweight Packable Insulated Puffer Winter Jacket was a down version, by Slow Down and a polyester version, by 33,000ft. Polyester won with an outside zippered chest pocket, waist elastic and the ability to stuff it into one of its own pockets for carrying. Both versions had the requirement of zippered, insulated hand pockets. Some reviews of the down version said that there was not much down. Columbia's Powder Lite Jacket, a third choice, was more stylish but was missing some features... and had a draw string instead of waist elastic.
- Here's how you stuff a jacket into its own pocket:
- Got to bed at 11:17 for 8:30 of sleep
Tue Jan 24 = It took me exactly 20 minutes to make, print out and cut 32 microposters (2.7x4.3") for tomorrow night's
Stir Crazy comedy show.
- I checked and, at this point, there aren't any New Faces Open Mics scheduled at any of the big three comedy clubs here in the valley: CB Live, Stand Up Live and the Tempe Improv.
- Before leaving for the gym I got the bright idea that there must be a recommended way to put on a heavy backpack like my personal item when flying to comedy destinations with my technology, video gear etc. Here are two slightly different approaches:
- Then off to Mountainside Fitness for my
poster trim
weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
, poo and shower. I did not have time to do a workout.
- On the way to the gym I stopped by Fry's Food for a head of Romaine Lettuce and an couple of bananas.
- Got to bed at 10:57 for 8:51 of sleep
Wed Jan 25 = I have been lucky. For the past three nights the NWS issued freeze forecasts. However the lowest it got in my back yard was 31.1 degrees (last night's low) so I did not have to get up in the middle of the night and cover my Natal Plum shrubs.
- Trying to cram the maximum into the three minutes for my Stir Crazy appearance has forced me to think differently and, I think, has improved my set: tonight about
Stan
Stanley, my older brother who was a retired as a machinist for Eaton Corporation in Hutchinson, KS until he succumbed to a three-week bout with Myasthenia gravis in March, 2018
.
- Working on booking shows today, I didn't book any new shows and scored 43 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- This afternoon I phoned Ann Wheat, the Executive Director of
about my annual challenge: She and the staff are going to brain storm for something creative to do with $1K that they would not otherwise be able to do. This is fun and I am glad I can afford to do it.
- I am sure I set a new speed record this afternoon, but I was in too much of a rush to time myself making
Frosties
The The 9oz chocolate/cinnamon protein treat, that I mix up six at a time, which is my weekly reward for doing a heavy legs workout
. I remembered to do it just before leaving for the gym.
- On the way to tonight's comedy show I stopped by a Fry's food store in Glendale and an and an EōS Fitness in Peoria. Of course I told a few people about the show.
- We had a good show tonight at Stir Crazy. Before the show I was interacting with some audience members and one couple said they have been coming to the shows just to see me. The problem is that I did not know about it and did not realize that I had guests there. It turns out that, including themselves, they had six people there for me. As a result I got to do seven minutes instead of the three minutes that I have been doing.
- I did my Middle Child/Stanley routine. It typically doesn't get as many laughs as some of my other routines, which was the case tonight. I will start experimenting with shortening it or eliminating it in future full-length shows. What I learned tonight was that I need to practice a solid seven minutes in addition to practicing three minutes (over twice as long).
Here is the list and a picture of the comedians:
- Got to bed at 10:59 for 8:49 of sleep
Thu Jan 26 = This morning I was going to have
Roomba
The iRobot Roomba j7+ self-emptying robotic vacuum cleaner I bought in Jan 2023
vacuum my house. But first (I hate that term) I needed to move its O-Gauge Train Keep-Out Zone a little to the east. After the bookings, sunning, EōS Fitness and all the other things that needed to be done, I finally got around to moving the O-Gauge Train Keep-Out Zone to the east and doing the vacuuming... by dusk.
- The Roomba DID stay away from the east side of the tracks. However it still crossed the north track curve when doing the entry area so, after Roomba was finished cleaning the house, I enlarged that 1'x1' area to the north and west. The reason I don't want Roomba crossing the tracks is, it tends to have trouble navigating there, there is no cleaning benefit and it will wear out the brush rollers and corner brush faster. We'll see if the map change did the trick on Monday when I have Roomba do it's next vacuuming.
- Booking wise, I booked another tour show in Florida that helped me score 115 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- I won't know if I caused a disaster until tomorrow at this time. For the first time, ever, I dropped one of my electronics in the toilet. It was the little Voice Recorder, Sony ICD-PX370, I use for listing to podcasts while I'm fixing meals etc.
Good news and bad news:
Bad: The instructions say, "The unit is not waterproof" and then list four situations to avoid, one of which describes my situation
Good: I keep it on a lanyard around my neck where I can hear it while I'm around the house
Bad: The lanyard hook is not as good as I thought it was
Good: I had just flushed the toilet so the brown stuff was not in the bowl
Bad: When I leaned over to wipe, the ICD came off the hook and kerplunk
Good: I did not have it playing at the time
Bad: It took a bath in the toilet bowl
Good: I was able to retrieve it within about two seconds
Bad: That was enough time to get water into it
Good: It has a clear plastic, water proof speaker cone
Bad: I don't know about the waterproofness of the rest of the unit
Good: I removed the batteries immediately and dried things off
Bad: I won't know the result until tomorrow after it has dried out completely
Good: My refrigerator's condenser fan puts out warm and dry air at the floor
Bad: Patience needed now
Good: With the battery door open I put the ICD on the floor in front of the refrigerator to dry
Bad: You'll have to wait until tomorrow's blog to find the result
Good: My guess is it will be OK
- At EōS Fitness I got these three new fans:
Bryce McConnaughy; EōS Fitness N Phoenix; 1/26/23
Ronaldo Castro & Noah Trejo; EōS Fitness N Phoenix; 1/26/23
- Got to bed at 10:56 for 8:51 of sleep
Fri Jan 27 = This morning I developed a new way to evaluate my comedy sets. Using pencil and paper, listening to a recording of my set, I jot down each punch line, indented more if it got more laughs. Then, at a glance, I can see which bits need more work or need to be eliminated.
- A full schedule of booking contacts yielded no new shows but did yield a score of 106 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- The Sony ICD-PX370 that I dunked yesterday? I held my breath after lunch as I put the batteries back in and turned it on. The ICD asked me to reset the date, which is normal. After that, it worked perfectly and even had the podcasts I had loaded into it and continued where I had left off with the Rich On Tech podcast.
- I used the nuclear option this afternoon trying to locate the eLink fingerprint padlock that has been missing for several days. The nuclear option was dumping everything out of my gym bag onto my freshly cleared kitchen island. Didn't find the lock, so ordered another on, blue this time, from Amazon. The lock is very small, not very secure but really cool... and I already know how to program and use it.
- Packages day: My new supply of 60 T-shirts arrived this morning. So I completely cleaned off my kitchen island for space to process them. Processing went smoothly and now I have a total supply of 94, having just run out of Smalls. We'll see how well the 94 will fit in my van and how long the supply lasts.
My new puffer jacket arrived today. It is definitely a keeper. Here is my review:
I love the large pockets (9"x11") and the fact that they are inside the insulation to keep your hands warm from body heat. The pocket zippers help keep you warm when you are not using the pockets for your hands
The red-zippered breast gadget pocket (5"x9") tipped the scale for this jacket.
My main complaint is, the zipper has no storm flap, so cold wind can blow through.
The elastic around the wrists and waist is not very effective for a skinny guy like me.
Also the jacket is not quite as warm as I expected, although it only weighs only 14.2 oz, 62% of my old ski jacket, and I am happy with the trade-off.
If the jacket had a stow-away rain hood that tucked into the collar I would have opted for that version.
I don't think you will be sorry if you buy this jacket... unless you are spending the winter in Anchorage.
- It took over an hour but tonight I reorganized the email addresses for CBS TV's Late Late Show with James Corden by moving them from a word processor to a spreadsheet. With a near zero possibility of getting on The Late Late Show, I had a good brain exercise in logic and organization.
- Got to bed at 10:57 for 8:51 of sleep
Sat Jan 28 = I am taking it easy for a few days due to a slight sore throat that I may have gotten at a gym. This morning I did my exercycling at a resistance of 5 instead of 6. Yesterday I did not go to a gym.
- Taking it easy did not stop me from booking tour shows, achieving a score of 129 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- I phoned into the new Rich on Tech radio show with a question about a problem with the Bluetooth headset I use with my Pixel 4a cell phone.
- Since I was taking it easy, my big trip today was going across the street to pick up my one piece of junk mail.
- This evening I sent out 16 emails to CBS addresses and had five come back as rejected.
- Got to bed at 10:38 for 9:10 of sleep
Sun Jan 29 = I met a customer in a grocery store the other day who said that bananas are healthier when eaten green, so this morning I did some research and came up with this on my Smart Stuff web page:
Bananas - Ripe Or Green? Underripe bananas are a great source of prebiotics for gut health and
FODMAP
Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols. The term was first made popular in the early 2000's when Dr. Peter Gibson and Dr. Sue Shepherd created the FODMAP diet, an elimination diet which attempts to improve symptoms in functional gastrointestinal disorders.
friendly, while overripe ones contain the highest sugar and lowest fibre content but are rich in potassium, [antioxidants], Vitamin B6, Vitamin C and Fibre, according to sports dietitian Ryan Pinto.
- This morning I got busy with the above "banana project" and updating my blog so did not get around to my 9:00 booking phone calls until 10:00 :( By the end of the day I accumulated a score of 107 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- As part of my booking, in my Bookings.xls database spreadsheet I searched and replaced all my venue tags with two-letter symbols. VFW became VF, Moose became MO etc.
- At noon I wasn't fast enough to get on Stir Crazy's Wednesday open mic.
- At solar noon I lay in the sun, a day early because it is forecast to be rainy and cloudy the next few days
- After a 1:17 hour afternoon nap, it seemed that most of my cold was behind me so this evening I went to LA Fitness for a brief slow heavy torso workout and got these two new fans.
Mike Hoke; LA Fitness Moon Valley; Phoenix AZ; 1/29/23
Everardo Lugo; LA Fitness Moon Valley; Phoenix AZ; 1/29/23
Mike asked me to make a sign with my hands that he said was the rage of young people now. Of course I had to look it up on the Internet to make sure it wasn't something obscene. Not too bad. It is the Surya Ravi Mudra or maybe the Prithvi Mudra. In Yoga, Unite the tip of the ring finger and the thumb, and you bring together the elements of fire and earth. This mudra represents energy and health, and it provides us with a feeling of balance. It can also help with bringing positive changes into our lives.
- Got to bed at 10:32 for 9:11 of sleep
Mon Jan 30 = Shame on me! I never got around to my joke writing today. The day started with the need to make booking phone calls starting at 8, right after breakfast. I DID book another show that helped me score 107 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- I projected MY budget through March as I logged some future credit card payments.
- I don't know why I didn't do it earlier. It will simplify my life and make it easier. What, you ask? I added an icon to my
XPS
Dell XPS-13 laptop computer with 13.3" touch screen, 60WHr Integrated Battery, Windows 10, Intel 7th Generation Core i7 CPU, 16gb memory and 1TB SSD
desktop for my Amazon orders.
- After supper I went down to EōS Fitness for a light workout. While I was at it I got these new fans:
James and Carry Morgan; EōS Fitness, N Phoenix AZ; 1/30/23
- This evening I sent out 16 emails to CBS in LA. Four were returned as rejected.
- Got to bed at 11:07 for 8:41 of sleep
Tue Jan 31 = Today's booking score was 120 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
for the last day in January, 2023.
- This evening I went to Mountainside Fitness for a brief light fast torso workout, poster trim, shower and this new fan:
Ethan Lawrence; Mountainside Fitness; N Phoenix; 1/31/23
- Got to bed at 10:21 for 7:39 of sleep before getting up early for a booking phone call to Florida; then back to bed and up with my normal 7:47 alarm
