Tue Aug 1 = I drove in two states today: MO KS
- This morning I had breakfast in the Cracker Barrel and updated my website using their WiFi
- Driving to Olathe KS for the night didn't take too long. I got there in time to visit their Planet Fitness for a brief slow heavy legs workout and two new fans:
Jerome Porter; Planet Fitness, Olathe KS; 8/1/23
Mercy Chelanga; Planet Fitness, Olathe KS; 8/1/23
- "Early to bed" was the name of the game at the Olathe KS Cracker Barrel, anticipating a long day of driving tomorrow. - Got to bed at 10:01 for 9:29 hours of sleep
Wed Aug 2 = I drove in four states today: KS OK TX NM
- It was to be my longest driving day of the trip; from Olathe KS to Tuncumcari NM, but I decided I could make it an hour farther to Santa Rosa NM. When I got there there was still plenty of daylight left so I decided to go on to Edgewood NM Walmart for the night, since it is high (elevation 6,700') and would be cool at night.
- On the way to Edgewood NM for the night I had to stop by Clines Corner for five gallons of their $4.199 gas to get me to the Albuquerque Costco tomorrow morning. The sunlight was doing some interesting things with the clouds along I-40 west of Clines Corner.
- At the Edgewood Walmart I bought some Romaine Lettuce and got three new fans:
Jennifer & David Viramontes; Walmart Supercenter, Edgewood NM; 8/2/23
Ray Davilla; Walmart Supercenter, Edgewood NM; 8/2/23
- Got to bed at 11:52 for 8:37 hours of sleep, waking before alarm
Thu Aug 3 = I woke up to a sunny morning, cool temps and the beautiful shade of a tree. My shade calculations last night were right on! I updated this blog at Walmart then headed to the Albuquerque Costco for gas, then on to Payson, AZ to see
Rose Anne
My X wife who lives in Payson by a lake
. Instead of I-40, I took the scenic route through Quemado NM. The miles were about the same and it added only 33 minutes to the drive and NM-117 included some spectacular scenery.
- As you can see here, the Quemado post office and business district have a lot of personality
and four of my new fans:
- The highest elevation I noticed on my tour was 7,632' MSL on Highway 60 about four miles east of Quemado NM.
- Then driving on, it was the first time I ever drove to Springerville. I have stopped there several times to refuel my Cessna 150 because, at 7000' MSL, it meant having to climb less to regain cruising altitude. Today I stopped by the Ace Hardware there for some rubber bumper feet and got the owner and founder as a new fan:
Charles Davis (92); Ace Hardware, Springerville AZ; 8/3/23
- Rose Anne and I enjoyed eating supper together, watching the elk around her place, catching up and sharing the latest scoop on our kids and grandkids.
- I got home to Phoenix a little after dark, exactly four months after leaving.
- I decided to unload my van tomorrow morning when it would be cooler, and save a little money on having the door open.
- I did get the 21" and 42" external monitors working with my
Mac
the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive
... mostly to my satifaction.
- Got to bed here at home in Phoenix at 11:01 for 8:55 hours of sleep. I slept well with my CPAP machine.
Fri Aug 4 = This morning's project was to test and discover that the power supply for my Pro-Form Cardio HIIT elliptical
was bad and configure a replacement before noon so I could use the elliptical after sunning at solar noon. Having not sunned much lately, I only lasted 7 minutes on a side instead of the usual 10.
- I tried this little $1 Walmart headlamp as my van's night light when on tour. At 25 lumens it was way too bright and the CR2032 batteries that came in it only lasted five days. I took it appart, of course, and disabled 3 of the 4 LEDs so, at 6 lumens (instead of 25), the batteries should last about a month... if I do not forget and leave it on when I go to sleep.
- During my trip I got 376 new fans and sold 52 t-shirts.
- Since I was mostly running out of groceries I did my Winco shopping routine this evening and got a new fan by the juice cooler:
Tony Trimble; Winco Foods, N Phoenix AZ; 8/4/23
- Got to bed at 12:25am for 8:57 hours of sleep before my late alarm.
Sat Aug 5 = Today's major project was to create, print, cut and start distributing microposters for my upcoming American Legion shows - my first full-length shows here in my home town of Phoenix. To boot, I'll have a couple of my comedian friends open for me :)
- In the process I got my printer working with the
Mac
the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive
,
learned how to configure the MacBook Computer's TextEdit for regular TXT files rather than the default's RTF format.
- About 4:15 this afternoon I embarked on a 2.5 hour neighborhood excursion to Discount Tire for a rotation, Costco for gas, Motor City Car Wash for an automatic car wash, 99¢ Only for 6 loves of bread and Desert Finalcial CU to deposit some T-shirt cash into my Arizona Federal account. At Discount Tire I got a new fan:
Cedric Robinson; Discount Tire, Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix; 8/5/23
- Got to bed at 11:22 for 8:58 hours of sleep with a reset alarm.
Sun Aug 6 = This morning I got everything stowed from my tour and thoroughly cleaned my little refrigerator for storage in my garage.
- Magnetic Signs problem: The logo signs I use on the front doors of my van want to stick to the paint, expecially a day or so after driving through rain. That doesn't seem to be a problem with the tour signs I use on the sliding doors. Every week, or more frequently, I remove and wipe the signs and the van's paint so the signs do not damage the paint. This morning I washed the signs and scrubbed the backs with mild detergent water, then rinsed and dried them completely. We'll see if this solves the sticky-logo-sign problem.
- Yesterday Jami, my neighbor, brought over the bag of mail she collected for me while I was away and, this evening, I got the important stuff sorted and the junk trashed.
- Got to bed at 11:29 for 9:01 hours of sleep
Mon Aug 7 = This morning with my MailChimp audience, I added some email addresses and removed some that had unsubscribed or cleaned (undeliverable), deleted the audience from MailChimp and uploaded my revised list of 475 (for the Phoenix area). Instead of having them in the order that I received them, this time I put them in alphabetical order. We'll see if it makes things easier.
- I went through some of my paper mail and made sure I had followed up on my citations: the speeding citation from Georgia and the left-turn from Paradise Valley here in Arizona. I put images on my computer that prove I paid, in case their records get fouled up.
- On FaceBook and Twitter, I posted about Sunday's comedy show.
- I drove over to Mesa to see
George & Cindy
my younger brother and his wife (who had a masive stroke) who live in east Mesa, Arizona
late this afternoon. I harmonized with George and his guitar, which he just had fixed up. He says it is easier to play now. It was good to see Cindy laugh.
- I'm sore! Good news from a gym point of view. My glutes are sore thanks to my elliptical and my abs are sore thanks to yesterday's workout.
- Got to bed at 10:59 for 8:48 hours of sleep
Tue Aug 8 = This morning and into the afternoon I did nothing related to comedy:
Did my elliptical
Fixed and ate breakfast
Cut my hairs and did a
poster trim
weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
Got a haircut at King's Barber Shop
Took a bath
Went to Dr. Youssef for my annual physical under Medicare Advantage
Ate a late lunch
Sunned for 8 minutes on two sides
Composed and sent out 475 emails
Set an appointment to establish Dr Veatch as my new PCP (closer)
Re-sewed the pocket dividers on my cargo shorts and two pair of cargo pants
Updated my website pages: Blog, Index, Past Posters and Comedy Classes
- At the doctor's office Stacie checked me in. She just moved to Phoenix from San Franscisco and likes writing comedy, not performing. I gave her my card. I hope something works out. She said she will phone me when she has time this weekend.
- The emails? At 4:11 this afternoon I sent out 475 to fans in the Phoenix area announcing Saturday's show . By 2.5 hours 58 people had opened the email, five, more than once :)
- Got to bed at 11:28pm for 8:30 hours of sleep
Wed Aug 9 = This morning I inventoried and made additional posters for my shows for the next two Sundays.
- This afternoon I spent yet another hour on the phone straightening out the billing mess from my ENT appointment last year, thanks to United Healthcare.
- This evening I told people about the shows and distributed the posters at:
Dollar Tree where I also bought some shampo
Post Office
LA Fitness Moon Valley where I also did a heavy torso workout and got three new fans:
Michael Reynolds, Daniel Galaviz, Jordan Coblio; LA Fitness Moon Valley, Phoenix; 8/9/23
- I had planned a couple of other stops but got tired... or lazy.
- Got to bed at 11:03 for 9:02 hours of sleep
Thu Aug 10 = Before breakfast I drove 1.4 miles to Honor Health's Cave Creek Rd Office for a fasting blood test.
- I finally got the video posted from Salisbury MD. Thank you, Tom Turner of PAC 14.
- This evening I analyzed the laughs for the show, with 5.3 laughs per minute and laughing a disappointing 13.2% of the time.
- I spot checked the EPass tolls for which I was charged from April through July. Totaled about $64. $14 for a tunnel saved me about 10 hours of driving.
- This afternoon I researched Apple's Time Machine so I would understand how it works. Getting things backed up was easy-breezy and now will be done automatically every hour with versioning etc.
- I also got hooked on the Internet and binged by listening to some songs by Janis Ian while looking at the lyrics after reading about her in the AARP magazine. While I was at it, I researched the latitude of Vienna, Austria and found it to be the same as that of Devils Lake, North Dakota. I explored the lake and learned some interesting things about the salty lake, and about Lemna (Duckweed) which they grow there.
- Got to bed at 11:15 for 9:05 hours of sleep
Fri Aug 11 = This morning my new dermatologist gave me my semi-anual skin check and found me OK. I stopped by Mountainside Fitness for a shower on the way.
- Most of the rest of the day I made booking phone calls for February in California. Didn't get far.
- This evening I analyzed laughs for my Parkway Theater show. It was a mistake by using Camera 1. Since it's audio was from the back of the auditorium the audience responses were subdued. I'll have to redo it using the audio from the body mic, which I use for producing videos.
- Techno emergency: This evening My Pixel 4a cell phone would not allow the Type C connector to insert fully, so the phone cannot be charged. Needless to say, I am concerned because this phone is my "work" phone and the one I use with Square to keep track of all my merch sales. I reduce the screen brightness and quit using it because the battery level is at 40% and I cannot recharge it.
- Got to bed at 11:22 for 9:03 hours of sleep
Sat Aut 12 = This morning I trashed about a hundred pictures on my old phone (pictures that were no longer needed or that I had uploaded to my website) to increase the likelihood that I could make a successful wireless transfer to my new phone, even with the old phone's 20% battery level.
- Miguel came over and fixed a leaking drip feed line to the west of the house.
- At solar noon, I Sunned and then rode my elliptical (second time today for the elliptical).
- Most of the day was phone day. I researched phones to replace my Pixel 4a, which I am unable to charge and which battery is swolen. The finalists were the Pixel Fold and the Samsung Z Fold. After careful analysis I ordered, from Amazon, to be delivered tomorrow, a Pixel 7 (not a folding phone)... less than a third of the cost of a folding phone, thinner, lighter and has a better camera without the formatting and other problems with the large screen with the folding phones. It is only a little larger than my old phone and fits in all my cargo pockets :)
- With making lots of tweaks and some interruptions, it took me about two hours to go over my routine for tomorrow's show. I still haven't decided how long I want to go. I think I'll play it by ear. I always worry if they will like my show. I need to get over that!
- Got to bed at 10:07 for 9 hours of sleep - only had to pee one time. I managed that by lying in bed and holding it for 33 minutes in the morning .
Sun Aug 13 = This morning's trip was mostly building up to tonight's comedy show. First stop was American Legion Post 105 to set up my merch and cameras for the show.
- Crunch Fitness, next door was my next stop for a legs workout and 2 new fans:
Bryan Pimentel & Miguel Sanchez; Crunch Fitness N Phoenix AZ; 8/13/23
- Thunderbird Best Buy was next with my Pixel 4a. Dan Johnson was great! He found something in the C connector of the phone and removed it with tweezers. Fixed the phone.
- On the way home I stopped by Planet Fitness for today's elliptical session, then to Hobby Lobby, which is closed on Sundays.
- Back home, I found my new Pixel 7 waiting for me on the front porch. In the box, the phone was half out of its plastic bag and would not turn on because the battery was fully discharged (unusual for a new phone). Hopefully it is not a returned phone. I put the phone on a charger and, by bedtime its battery was at 100%.
- The show at the American Legion Post 105 in west Phoenix went well. It seemed that most of the audience came to see a comedian rather than to laugh, which I am learning to accept. They particularly enjoyed Liz Frisius, my opener with her jokes about her military experiences. Unfortunately, I allowed myself to get distracted by non-listeners so wasn't as precise as I like with my routine. I'll have to work on that.
- Got to bed at 11:05 for 9:02 hours of sleep
Mon Aug 14 = I hardy got out of the house today. I worked on booking a little, and my new phone.
- The Square touchless reader I ordered from Best Buy arrived. With it I should be able to take credit cards with touchless or with a chip, but not with a magnetic swipe because my new Pixel 7 does not have an earphone jack.
- Got to bed at 10:52 for 8:55 hours of sleep
Tue Aug 15 = Google sent me a map of my travels from when it started keeping track:
This link might take you to an interactive version of the map and all the 2,951 places I have visited with my smart phone.
- I spend so much time organizing things so I'll be able to find them when needed that sometimes I hardly get around at using those things - mostly files on my computer. Organizing means combining files with similar information and adding some Apple Aliases (Windows calls them Shortcuts). This morning I made 8-up posters for Sunday's show and also printed some 8.5x11 posters.
- A lot of the rest of the day was new phone (Pixel 7) day. I never did get my Square card reader to pair with either my old or my new phone.
- Because both phones have NFC (Near Field Communication) I will be able to accept touchless credit/debit card payments with just a phone and not need to carry around a Square card reader. Now that is cool!
- To help publicize Sunday's show, to get a little stage time, to connect with my local comedian friends, to socialize and to get out of the house I will try to go to an open mic every day this week, emphasizing west Phoenix since that is where Sunday's show will be.
- After supper, through
Phoenix Comedy Open Mics under RESOURCES FOR COMEDIANS on my Comedy home page, I found a new place,
Bull Shooters. It was awesome, with over 40 pool tables, a sports bar with 12 TV screens and a large room for things like darts abd stand up comedy.
- Chris Herb, the host and a good comedian friend of mine, put me up. Awesome show.
- By the time I left Bull Shooters it was raining outside and everything was really wet. However the streets in my neighborhood were completely dry.
- Got to bed at 11:40 for 9 hours of sleep
Wed Aug 16 = My life got simpler this morning. To pair my Jabra Stealth bluetooth to my new Pixel 7 phone, all I had to do was to hold it up to the NFC area of the phone.
- Another way it got simpler and not spread my resources so thin: Last night, in the middle of the night, I decided to not continue trying to book a Feb/Mar tour for nid California, but spend my energies on my spring/summer tour, developing more material and going to open mics. What a relief! Now I can relax, enjoy life more.
- This morning's project was to schedule and add five open mics for this week, Tue through Sat.
- About 40 minutes AFTER solar noon (due to losing track of time adding shows to my schedule) I lay in the sun. About all I could take was nine minutes front-up and eight minutes back-up.
- Trying to quantify what I do, be more efficient and to be more accountable to myself, I am going to try charting how long it takes to get things done, starting with the above.
- Probably being ADHD and easily distracted, I have found it helpful in tasks to stay focused by timing myself. This afternoon it took me 11 minutes to make 80 more microposters for Saturday's show. That included finding and opening the files. Then I spent four minutes here on my blog bragging about my feat.
- Making my shopping list took 35 minutes, including being interrupted by a phone call and calendar change.
Minutes
Task Accomplished
11
Make 80 more microposters: find files; print text backs; print poster fronts; cut into microposters
35
Shopping List, including being interrupted by a phone call and calendar change
11
Add two pictures to my Fans web page
- File Zilla started working again today, so I didn't even try to go through HostGator.
- I posted on FaceBook & Twitter, my shows for the rest of the week and for Sunday
- Tonight's comedy was at Coop's Bar & Grill in western Phoenix. The 7:00 show started about 8:30. It was an enthusiastic bar scene with the usual distractions.
- Randhal Rosie, here was the host:
Randhal Rosie; Coop's Bar & Grill; Phoenix, AZ; 8/16/23
- Briana Vegas bought the one T-shirt I sold:
Briana Vega; Coop's Bar & Grill; Phoenix, AZ; 8/16/23
- Got to bed at 11:17 for 9 hours of sleep
Thu Aug 17 =
George
younger brother who lives in Mesa, Arizona
phoned today. He is needs an angiogram to take care of his plumbing, similar to what his son had several years ago. Wish him well.
- I added announcements for shows the rest of the week on Facebook and Twitter and timed some other tasks:
Minutes
Task Accomplished
12
Process last appearance: update Lou's Past Comedy Appearances;
upload recording
46
Monthly paying-off of all 6 credit cards
- Today's first trip was a tight one this afternoon. First stop was Crunch Fitness for a
poster trim
weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
, shower and a new fan:
Kevin Delgado; Crunch Fitness, Phoenix AZ; 8/17/23
.
Next stop was Walmart for low-rise socks to use as summertime house slippers so I don't get sking oils on my carpet. Then it was Winco Foods for my semi-monthly shopping. Then home to put everything away and fix supper
- Second trip was to the Wayward Tap House for comedy. I arrived a little after 6:00 when the sign-ups theoretically started. I was #32 on the list and did not go up until 10:00 after the crowd had dwindled to nine, including Alex, the bar tender. It was a good set and good nine.
- By the time I got home and did my nighttime routine, I got to bed at 12:20am for 9 hours of sleep until my delayed alarm.
Fri Aug 18 = This morning I ordered a box of 500 more business cards. These are the ones with cool rounded corners. I wish there was space to include a QR code.
- Helping to keep Amazon in business, I researched and ordered a wireless charging pad for my new Pixel 7 phone. Also I ordered two type C 30-Watt Looptimo Fast Charging Power blocks. One to power the charging pad and another one, if it has enough oomph, to power my MacBook Pro. I ordered a USB-C to earphone adapter, just in case it works with my Square credit card Swipe Reader.
- I guess I did the right things. You see, in the middle of the morning I started hobbling around because I couldn't put any weight on my right forefoot without extreme pain. It was like some foot bones were misaligned when I stepped on the foot. Needless to say I didn't walk around much and when I did I avoided putting weight on that forefoot.
- I iced it 12 minutes through a sock with a freezer pack. Later I was going to go to LA Fitness on my way to do comedy and missage my foot in their hot tub, but decided it would take less time for me to fill my hall bathtub with hot water and do the missage with my old 1/3 horsepower Model J300-B single-jet Jacuzzi.
- By the time I left for the show, my foot was back to normal.
- I drove to the
Backstreet Asia Filipino & Asian Restaurant, way west in Avondale. Jesse Ever, the host, and I were the only comedians there when the show was scheduled, so after he sang a couple songs and told a couple jokes, he let me do an indefinite set so I did almost 17 minutes to a crowd of 30.
- For my supper vegetable, I had a Backstreet salad, with which they comped me. Thank you, Tip!
- Got to bed at 11:07 for 8:43 hours of sleep before standard 7:47am alarm
Sat Aug 19 = It never occurred to me that you can get different keyboards to use on your cell phone until I heard Rich DeMuro mention it on his Rich On Tech radio show, so I downloaded and installed Microsoft's SwiftKey on my new Pixel 7 phone.
- On the way to Mesa I stopped by Mountainside Fitness for a 12 minute heavy legs workout which resulted in a pulse of 77 and a new fan:
Vinny Dimyanos; Mountainside Fitness; N Phoenix AZ; 8/19/23
- At Jarrod's I was lucky and found a parking spot in the small parking lot out back. Also, I was promoted... from Comedian to Street Vendor. Actually not quite; more like a Sidewalk vendor. I set up the little folding table (that I never used after carrying in my van for my entire four-month tour) out on the sidewalk with about 10 other vendors. Didn't sell any T-shirts but did tell some people about the American Legion show tomorrow evening.
- My Yoga comedy set went well, although I left out some punchlines to keep it PG-13.
- After my set I went back out on the sidewalk and got this fine young couple as new fans:
- When I got home, I almost didn't find it. While I was gone, my USB-C to Phone adapter was delivered. Amazon put it halfway under the side gate instead of at the back sliding door as I requested. As a result the pack blew half way accross my back yard. Who knows where it would have blown if the gust had been from the south instead of the north. I tested the adapter tonight and it works perfectly with ear phones, my computer speakers and my Square swipe reader.
- Got to bed at 10:49 for 8:58 hours of sleep
Sun Aug 20 = When I needed to pee for the past week, day and night, I've been reading Pixel 7 for Seniors by Scott La Counte. The book is a little simplistic but covers some features with which I am not familiar. I learned a lot about the camera and all it can do. This morning, on my Fans web page, I tweaked the blurry image of Jermey Gates with "unblur" which improved the sharpness very little, and "magic eraser" which mostly got rid of the power pole growing out from Jermey's left shoulder. For experimentation I can use either my old Pixel 4a or my new Pixel 7 because they both have the latest Android OS :)
Minutes
Task Accomplished
30
Checking statement: download, format & start checking off with statement w some organizing for future efficiency
26
Monthly Blog Rollover, a real challenge with the
Mac
the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive
11
Add two pictures from yesterday to my Fans web page
- At the
American Legion Post 105 comedy show Dan, my Feature Comedian, and I had an audience of three, two who were able to stay until the end of the show. With Dan, that made an audience of four.
- It is easy to get discouraged with that kind of a turnout, but I feel better when I realize, from the comments of the audience members, that Dan and I made a positive difference in their lives. I have to give the post credit for trying.
- The guy bought a T-shirt - my first time to receive payment by Apple Pay. No reader, just my phone :)
- Dan was a big help packing up my merch, cameras etc. That was after he packed up all his stuff. Thanks, Dan!
- Got to bed at 11:05 for 8:45 hours of sleep
Mon Aug 21 = This moring I had my teeth cleaned. Kristen, the hygienist, said my teeth were about 95 clean on a scale of 100. Pretty good. I try to take care of myself, in spite of a cockroach at one point in my water pick's distilled water.
- On the way home I stopped by LA Fitness for a arms workout.
- Amazon delivered (not following instructions) my wireless charging pad and a couple Looptimo wall warts. The warts are high power (30 W), smart, and output up to 22V their USB-C. I did a bunch of tests. These little tykes can run my MackBook Pro. It's good to have spares for it.
- Got to bed at 11:12 for 8:47 hours of sleep
Tue Aug 22 = At solar noon I sunned, up now to nine minutes on a side, with a mostly sunny sky.
- States-n-Dates was this afternoon's project. I outlined date ranges for various states for my 2024 tour.
- North of Uvalde (you VAHL dee), TX is where I expect to spend April 8th, watching the total solar eclipse. I left a voice mail and sent an email as a long shot for doing a little comedy in town.
- Since tomorrow is the last time for the comedy open mic at El Charro Hipster, I posted the event on on Facebook & Twitter.
- I'm so proud of myself... well, I would be if I hadn't wasted an entire evening messing around. I decided I could power my
with batteries and eliminate the extension cord on the floor across my master bathroom door.
I had already measured the elliptical's power requirements: 0 Watts while not in use, 2 W while being used and 3 W when it is changing its resistance level.
- I have had a 10 pack of Duracell alkaline "C" cells in my crisper for, are you ready for this, 24 years since 1999. I had bought them to run my little G-gauge trains. The trains used up batteries pretty fast, didn't go very fast and I had switched to LGB trains that I found at a garage sale. Thus the batteries were becoming antiques there in my crisper.
- It would take six of the "C" cells to get the nine volts ofr the elliptical. How long would they last? Switching to the engineering mode, I did some research and even updated battery capacities on my Facts web page. I figure the "crisper" batteries will last almost a week. Today's high capacity alkaline "Cs" should last about two weeks. Today's "D" cells should last over a month, but I don't have six on hand.
- I needed a battery holder for six "Cs." After looking some up on the Internet, I found one nearby. In my living room on my G gauge train track. A tender for my old engines were perfect, If I could find a way to hook the batteries to the elliptical. Simple, dimple. Easy breezy. It turns out that the barrel power plug I was using with the 120V power supply for the elliptical fit onto the plug at the end of the tender's cord if stuck in just right.
- I plugged it in and it all worked.
I left the tender unplugged for the night to, maybe extend the battery life by a day.
- Got to bed about 11:10 for 8:48 hours of sleep
Wed Aug 23 = I have never USED alcohol. At least that's what I say. Breakfast might have been an exception. I started off with an "old" cantaloupe slice that I took from a plastic bag that had been in my refrigerator for over a week. It's taste had a little kick. Next it was half a grapefruit that had developed some mould on the outside and was soft on the inside. More kick!
- This morning on the way to see my urologist, way over in northeast Scottsdale, I stoped by Mountainside Fitness for a quick
poster trim
weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
and shower.
- I surely like my urologist. Yes, he gave me the option for the customary digital rectal prostate exam. Of course I accepted it. He found everything normal. Also my PSA, at 2.6 was higher than last year but normal for my age. After we took care of "business" we exchanged some jokes and talked about stand up comedy.
- After urology, and on the way to comedy, I stopped by Mountainside Fitness again for a brief slow heavy torso workout to earn the
Frosty
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
that I had already eaten on the way to see my urologist.
- Then on to
El Charro Hipster for the final open mic before they close their doors. It was an excellent show. Cameras everywhere, so I set up my typical 4-cameras (two for the comedian and two for the audience) to record my set. Also Josh Boyle interviewed me. He is making a documentary for the good people at El Charro Hipster. Here's the result:
- Got to bed at 11:28 for 8:36 hours of sleep
Thu Aug 24 = I'm sure glad I opened that envelope from American Sweepstakes. It included a $100 Walmart gift card because I was one of the First Prize Winners of their Quartly Sweepstakes. Occasionally I fill out one of the Walmart Surveys to give them some feedback and also because a chance of winning is infinately better than any lottery.
- Speaking of money, I saved about $40 for a Magsafe charging cable for my
Mac
the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive
by discovering I can power it with a regular USB-C cable with the
in my van.
- This afternoon I made two booking phone calls and scored 19 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- For no apparent reason my left forefoot started giving me pain like my right forefoot did six days ago on the 18th. Again, it was like some foot bones were misaligned when I put some pressure on it. Tonight I took it easy, iced the foot for 10 minutes and missaged it in the LA Fitness hot tub after a brief slow heavy legs workout. The hot tub did little for my foot. I also got two new fans:
Julia Richardson; Moon Valley LA Fitness, Phoenix AZ; 8/24/23
Emil Watson; Moon Valle, Phoenix AZ; 8/24/23
- Lately my kitchen island has been scattered with six "projects" in progress. Today I decided to start getting rid of them one at a time. The easy part was taking care of instructions and boxes from some of my recent purchases.
- Got to bed at 10:10 for 8:58 hours of sleep
Fri Aug 25 = This morningn I spent 2:11 watching Top Gun Maverick - I found it! - the rubberized mesh for my new microphone wind cage... of course, where I had put it: tucked into the tablet-holding lip of my
where I had put it several days ago to help hold the stopwatch I use for checking my pulse after each elliptical session.
- Since I found the rubberized mesh that I had already cut to size, as planned, while I was on the phone with
George
younger brother who lives in Mesa, Arizona
I used the spray adhesive I bought to glue the mesh to the inside of my new wind cage (second picture). You probably remember that this new and improved wind cage was the result of leaving the original (first picture) on the beach after my last beach show in June.
- It took me 1:23 hours (way too long) to process Wednesday nights show (upload 4 videos and 1 audio and add the show to Past Appearances).
- Today's trip was this evening. I stopped by the 99¢ Only Store for more bananas, not noticing that I already had some on hand. Now I had 22; some of which were very ripe, so I ate two and the rest went directly to the refrigerator.
- Then I continued on south for a brief, slow heavy arms workout at EōS Fitness.
- I got home in time to do a little research for installing Parallels on my
Mac
the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive
.
- Got to bed at 10:52 for 8:58 hours of sleep
Sat Aug 26 =
- Checking solar noon today, I got more familiar with the charts and did some figuring of the difference between daylight and night. It varies, but today night starts about an hour and a half before or after sunrise or sunset, when daylight officially starts. The difference is filled with Astronomical Twilight, Nautical Twilight and Civil Twilight.
- At 1:50pm, a little late for solar noon and maximum vitimine D, I lay in the sun 10 minutes on a side. After that I rode my
.
- second time today because I was so excited about my morning routine I also rode it first thing this morning. On my "sun" days, I typically do not ride the elliptical in the mornings. I figure once a day is enough for an old guy.
- It took me 14 years of doing my own website to discover that I could have an image pop up as part as a hover definition, so today I initiated that feature with my
.
- My Jacuzzi does miracles. Nine days ago, along with an ice pack, it helped stop the pain in my right forefoot. Now for my left forefoot: In addition to icing it yesterday and today, this evening I filled the hall bathtub with hot water (from just the water heater pilot light) and got in the tub with the Jacuzzi. After about 10 minutes my left foot was back to normal with no pain. No wonder, the Jacuzzi uses 1/3 horsepower to directly drive a single jet. You do have to be careful where you aim the jet!
- I suspected that I would be waisting my time, but I had to try it for myself. This evening I downloaded and installed Cyberlink PowerDirector 21 on my
Mac
the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive
and, editing the short video from Wednesday, found that it is very fast on my mac but useless to me because there is no MultiCam feature, although the Sync By Audio worked well.
- I went to my local Planet Fitness for a brief slow heavy torso workout, armed with shoes in case the old Sandel Police Guy was there. I was glad to see that he was not working, so enjoyed my workout in my safe sandals. Also I was pleasantly surprised that the calf machine didn't cause pain in my left forefoot. Also I got two new fans:
Max Abe & Karah Harvey; Moon Valley Planet Fitness, Phoenix AZ; 8/26/23
- Got to bed at 11:01 for 8:57 hours of sleep
Sun Aug 27 = This morning's project was to send Cyberlink Support two messages to see if PowerDirector 21 will work with Parallels for my video editing.
- When kiteboarding, hats tend to get ripped off my head, especially by waves. The solution is to have a back strap in addition to the chin strap. Today I added a back strap to my black floppy kiteboarding hat.
- Today I made some booking contacts and
scored 64 on
The Booking Game
a game I devised to score when I work on booking comedy shows
.
- I resolved my check register, sort of. It was low by exactly the same amount as the previous several months. I never did find the error so adjusted it to make everything OK.
- Most of the regular gyms close early Sunday nights so I did my brief fast legs workout at Anytime Fitness, which, at a half mile, also happens to be the closest gym. I got a new fan there:
Samuel Aldama; Union Hills Anytime Fitness, Phoenix AZ; 8/27/23
- I could have headed for bed when I got home, but no! I decided to research self-inking QR stamps to use on the backs of my business cards, and maybe other places. I ended up ordering 1" square one from stampmore.com.
- Got to bed at 11:20 for 9 hours of sleep
didn't have enough umph for changing its level so, using my battery tester, I replaced the lowest 4 with "new" ones (25 years old) from the crisper of my refrigerator.
- I spent the rest of the morning researching cord covers for the cord that is going to be stretched accross my master bathroom door to the
after the C-cells die.
- I also joined Club Twit for $7/month to support Leo LaPorte, the Tech Guy
and his fine podcasts.
Some of his other podcasts looked interesting so I also downloaded:
Ask the Tech Guys
This Week in Tech
MacBreak Weekly
Tech News Weekly
FLOSS Weekly
Hands on Mac
This Week in Space
- For today's gym, since I had a lot going on, I did a brief light fast arms workout here in my home gym.
- Got to bed at 11:13 for 8:57 hours of sleep
Tue Aug 29 = A good balance is hard to achieve. I could spend all my time learning my new
Mac
the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive
and accomplish nothing else or I oculd muddle through with the Mac, trying to get everything done.
- This morning I spent about an hour learning some Finder finesse and text shortcuts. I also found out how to mess up the organization of all my desktop icons, so had to rearrange everything.
- For the first time since getting back home in Phoenix, I refilled my cinnamon/ginger/nutmeg shaker. Next time, if I think of it, I will measure its capacity.
- This afternoon I checked my EZ-Pass account to make sure they were not still charging me bogus tolls. Everything was OK :)
- For years I have been making a joke that bananas are too ripe when you have to cut off one end and squeeze them out like toothpaste. This is the first time I actually ate a banana that way. What a sweet treat!
- This evening's trip started after that banana and early supper with an ice chest. It was the last day for the weekly grocery adds:
Albertson's for two dozen egges at 96¢ a dozen and rainchecks for broccoli crowns and grapes
Automatic car wasn so my van would sparkle
Fry's Food for red bell peppers, sweet potatoes and a rain check for Gala apples
Mountainside Fitness for a brief light torso workout, a
poster trim
weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
, shower, toenail trim
and six new fans:
Luke Preston & Sean Hoolehan; Mountainside Fitness, N Phoenix; 8/29/23
Jack; Preston; Mountainside Fitness, N Phoenix; 8/29/23
Max Jonathon & Mike Cox; Mountainside Fitness, N Phoenix; 8/29/23
- If you're prepared for the worst, things seem a little better when the worst does not happen. My USPS Informed Delivery showed a first class letter from Amica, my insurance company. It made me uneasy because I thought it might be an announcement that my rates were increasing due to the speeding ticket I received the last of April in southern Georgia. It turns out that the letter contained a dividend check for a little over $300 :)
- Got to bed at 10:59 for 8:57 hours of sleep
Wed Aug 30 = I phoned
George
younger brother who lives in Mesa, Arizona
and arranged for me to drive over to visit with him and
Cindy
my younger brother George's wife who had a major stroke
the day before his angioplasty.
- This afternoon, about 4:30 in 110° F weather, I went to LA Fitness for a brief slow heavy legs workout and to missage my feet in their hot tub and then came back home for a late supper.
- At supper I ran out of the pepper/minsed onion/BBQ sauce I use on my sandwiches so after supper I mixed up another 25oz of it. For the BBQ sauce I used Kraft Original. In the future I'l use Hickory flavored, exclusively.
- I have started doing flossing and brushing earlier, figuring that a couple of extra hours of clean teeth will help keep decay at bay. As usual, tooth time is when I watch monologues, mostly from Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show.
- Got to bed at 11:07 for 8:58 hours of sleep
Thu aug 31 = This morning I mostly got organized for this afternoon.
- After an early lunch I fixed supper to take with me. First stop was Prime Eyecare for my semi-annual checkup. They said things are pretty stable with the macular degeneration, eye pressure and the LASER surgery at the lower right of my right eye. The doctor said that I might be more susceptible to glaucoma, which is a deterioration of the optic nerve, so he will be keeping an eye on it.
- I ate an early supper on the way to tonight's open mic at
The Wayward Tap House. I got there about 3pm to make sure I got on the list before #32 like last week. A bonus is that I found a parking spot on the street next door. In the five-car Tap House parking lot, someone had parked their car in an unmarked spot. I could have parked in an empty marked spot but would be blocking the person who parked wrong.
- Other comedians started showing up by 5:30, so next week I'll plan on arriving a little after 5:00
- It was a good show. I was number 5 on the list but went up 4th because no one signed up as #1.
- I sold a T-shirt to fan number 877 and also got fan number 878 (below):
- A valley-wide dust storm hit just before I left for home so I drove a little slower than usual admidts blowing debris.
- Waiting for me in my mail box was the QR self-inking stamp I had ordered from StampMore and the cord channel I ordered from Walmart.
- Got to bed at 11:20 FOR 8:52 hours of sleep
