Wed Mar 1 = Today I stayed in, took it easy, took a nap, gargled with saltwater, rinsed my sinuses and spent an undue amount of time enjoying and publishing the two videos from Sunday (above).
Thu Mar 2 = More time redoing the videos. Camera #1 on the Kax videos from Sunday was all red and too dark (my fault because I had set up its exposure). The other cameras' exposures were just fine.
- It seemed like it took me forever, in post-processing, to read the instructions and figure how to correct that video, redo the multi-cam editing, produce the new video, then to upload the improved versions.
I made the original videos unlisted so if you want to see the difference you'll have to watch them below.
Fri Mar 3 = I finally got the videos from Sunday uploaded to my satisfaction... mostly. I over-corrected with the a cappella group so one girl turned out a little greenish, but that is close enough. I don't have time to do it again.
Below are the two miss-exposed videos
...and below are the color-corrected videos:
- I didn't take quite so easy today. I took Denise shopping under the auspices of
because we were both about out of groceries. Then, at home, I lay out in the sun (actually under a thin overcast sky), took a nap and went to the Green House Open Mic to support George Katkus. He and I were the only ones there. On the way home I stopped by the E Camelback LA Fitness for a 23-minute light full-body workout because I don't want to deteriorate completely. I'm not sure if it was a good idea, because when I got home I had an oral fevor of 100.6° It seems to me that this sore throat is hanging on an awful long time. Also I started taking Loperamide 10mg the recommended once a day instead of every second day.
ATMs: NEVER USE ONE in a store or on the street. Only go to one INSIDE a bank, and then always check for a SKIMMER (This video shows howf)
by looking for glue around the card reader and tugging on it to see if it is loose. Always cover your hand when putting in your PIN.
Sat Mar 4 = At night I keep track of my sleep and wake times and other information on a little dedicated Olympus VN-7200 digital voice recorder. This morning, in preparation for calling my doctor about my cold that seems to be getting worse, I listened to about 134 of the 7200's messages for information to put on my pocket calendar about my sniffles, headaches and sore throats etc. After I accomplished that, I realized that, although I am feeling pretty bad, the current cold has been going on only about five days, so decided not to go to the doctor... yet. I'll wait to see how I feel by Monday.
Sun Mar 5 = Today I took it easy and stayed inside. I phoned my son and my daughter, but it didn't work out for me to talk the my granddaughters. Also I got out my new, refurbished, 2589LMT GPS receiver, got it up and running, updated and loaded with the waypoints (favorites) from mo old 2589LMT. Of course I have a number of questions that remain after reading their online FAQs.
Mon Mar 6 = I had two big projects today. The first was going to the doctor about my cold. Of course that started with getting my information together, the weekly trimming of my beard, taking a hot bath. Ooo, it was hot. I filled the tub with full-hot water almost an hour before my bath, so as the water cooled it heated up the bathroom and increase the humidity. That was a little hard to do since the master bathroom is an open area with no door. It worked out well and saved a little money by heating the bathroom by gas.
- Dr Luis Irizarry (Puerto Rican) didn't have any magic pill, and I didn't expect him to. He found that my sore throat is not an infection, but probably due to the post nasal drip and our dry climate. He gave me an interesting 6-day prescription for a methylPREDNISolone, 4mg, dosepack: Day one, 6 tablets; day 2, 5; day 3, 4; day 4, 3; day 5, 2 and day 6, one. Then you're done.
- This evening's project was to submit for the Pig Pine Comedy Festival to be held in Flagstaff starting September 14th for three days in 2017. Submissions just opened today.
Tue Mar 7 = I am trying to include more audience involvement in all my routines by making comments to various audience members (maybe not good for TV appearances). My first try will be tonight - my first appearance in nine days due to my sore throat.
- Rick Bronson's House of Comedy was my comedy target for this evening. I had an unusually large audience there, of 69 if you include the staff and comedians.
- I found a neat website by Wolfram that will try to identify any image you drag onto its square. Then it gives you an opportunity to help it get better. It is slick, quick and fun. Tr it!
Wed Mar 8 = This afternoon I took Carol in for a teeth cleaning under the auspices of
.
I also processed the audio tracks for three of my appearances. Most of the time is spent getting the audience and PA recordings synchronized. Every time I get a little more efficient. It took me about 30 minutes each for the last two. I finished processing the audio and multi-cam video from last night. The video only took about a half hour.
- I drove over to The Nest for my occasional west-side appearance. The crowd is supportive, but never laughs a lot. Before the show I went around and told people about my T-Shirts and about
which gets all the profit from their sales. Tonight I sold six shirts, a record number for an evening, all cash. That makes a total of nine so far that I've sold at The Nest. Another record for the most sold at any single location.
Thu Mar 9 = Busy and productive day. I washed my van in preparation for the next few days. Although in a rush, I actually had time to clean the wheel covers with the new wheel cover brush I got at Dollar Tree before heading to C & R tire for an oil change. I spent about two hours there because the power steering rack needed a new boot, they could get one and install it while I waited, and then, of course, the van needed to be realigned. Glad I got all that done.
= My comedy involved a 40 mile drive down to Improv Mania in Chandler for their monthly open mic, and then up to Spinelli's Pizza near ASU in Tempe for a 7-minute booked feature. Thank you, Justin Justin Tietjen!
Fri Mar 10 = My van spent the first part of the day at Ken's Transmission for its regular 30,000 mile service. I also took my van to get a windshield chip repaired, covered by insurance. Saved me $20, which may not have been worth the time it to get it arranged.
- This evening I went to The Tempe Improv to see Bob Marley, Greg Freiler and Jay Norton, headliner, feature and host, respectively. Good show!
- Back home, I found Go QR Me, a free QR code generator to go with QR Extreme, a free reader that I have been using on my phone. For example:
This is my website .
This is my online press kit.
Sat Mar 11 = For lunch I joined
George & Cindy
younger brother and his wife who live in Mesa, Arizona
at Tottie's Asian Fusion in Scottsdale, and then went with them to Will our will be known?, an excellent siminar put on by
.
It was conducted by Nathaniel P Nickele, a young attorney who handles wills and estates. The seminar included lots of good information, illustrated by stories of people who did things right, and the messes created by others who did things wrong.
- Back home, I resolved my checking the same day the statement came out online and backed up my
Vaio
Sony Vaio Duo 11 computer with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 10, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
,
right on time, which for me is early.
Sun Mar 12 = What a day! I got up early to go next door so
Ken
my neighbor to the east who earns his living doing auto body work
and I could take care of the laundry list of things I have been wanting to do to my van.
Van Problem
Ken's Magic
Left Front bumper damage due to my accident
Unbolting the wheel liner allowed Ken to get to the gap area. His oversized Chevrolet Tienanmen nuts make the whole thing stronger
Repaint the 2" accident scar in the bumper
Ken's prep (wet sanding w detergent water), priming (with High Build Surfacer/Primer by SEM) and finish coat did the trick. In 2 weeks I'll need to buff around the edges with my McGuire polish, using a microfiber cloth, unless the paint peals.
Rear bumper corner is dented where I backed into a pole
Ken redid my repair attempt with HIS heat gun
Rear bumper is very faded after 2 years
Use Armor All Outlast Trim & Plastic Restorer If that does not work, use a heat gun.
Leak at the top of the back hatch
Ken removed unnecessary spacer washers and properly repositioned the hinges
Back hatch latches hard
Ken adjusted the striker
Back hatch electric latch usually does not work
Ken took the whole thing apart & freed up the mechanism and told me about a hole on the inside above the mechanism where I can spray White Lithium by WD-40 if the problem resurfaces
Rust streak from radio antenna
It took Ken about a minute to buff it out. When I go to
I need to keep oil or grease or WD-40 on the antenna base
I couldn't get the driver's door panel reinstalled properly after replacing the door's prop strap
Ken replaced the broken snap fasteners that prevented to panel from seating properly. Also he put the correct screws in the right holes
- The neat day didn't stop there. I made my 19th stand up comedy appearance at The Phoenix Center for the Arts' 3rd St. Theater.
Mon Mar 13 = This was mostly a comedy day. I contacted some venues for my upcoming road trip and did my improved Airline Bath Room routine at Lawn Gnome and Devil's Advocate. The latter was my 430th stand up comedy appearance.
Tue Mar 14 = I have been working on improving my old Yoga routine and that's what I did for my five minutes at Dos Gringos. Then, at Grand Avenue Pizza I hosted the last half of the show. I started with three minutes of new material about marketing. It went pretty well. Thank you, David Kayes!
Wed Mar 15 = The last few days I have been researching local CPAs for a little help with my taxes this year, since I did a seller's deed in lieu of foreclosure during 2016. This afternoon I met with Donald M Masters CPA. His office is about a mile north of my house.
- This afternoon I phoned Bernadette, my x sister-in-law. We enjoyed catching up with what is going on here and there with her,
Thu Mar 16 = Today I started on my taxes using TaxAct Online, which, for me, seems to be better than TurboTax or the others I looked at. I'll plan on spending an hour a day until I get them finished.
- I also started applying Armor All Outlast Trim & Plastic Restorer to my van's faded rear bumper. I'll do it daily for a week or until I use up the 8oz bottle. If I notice little difference, I'll try a heat gun prn after the week.
- This evening I made my first appearance at Third Space, across the street from Grand Avenue Pizza. As usual, for my first appearance at a venue, I did my introductory Old Man/Arizona Lou/History set. It didn't go over as well as it should have. Possibly because I picked on someone at first and that intimidated the crowd... or maybe they just didn't care for the material. I learned that I need to have two or three routines ready and switch if the first one does not go over well. Other than that, it WAS a good show.
Fri Mar 17 = This morning I took Denise shopping under the auspices of
.
I took my little precision digital scale and a measuring cup, just out of curiousoty, to compare the densities of various types of oatmeal. Here's what I found:
Density w
Old Fashion
Half Cup oz
Cup oz
Old Fashion
Ratio
Type
1.91
3.82
1.00
1.00
Old Fashioned Oatmeal
2.04
4.08
1.07
.94
Quick Oatmeal
2.75
5.50
1.44
.69
Scottish Oatmeal
3.60
7.20
1.88
.53
Steel Cut Oats
2.58
5.15
1.35
.74
AVERAGE
(I created the above chart with an Open Office spreadsheet, saved as HTML, which resulted in 67 lines of well-formatted HTML code. The Van Problem, table for March 12th took 17 lines of my more efficient, but not-so-well formatted, hand-coded, HTML).
- This evening I went to Stand Up Live to see Paul Zerdin, a British comedian and ventriloquist from London who won America's Got Talent in 2015. This 7-minute video shows him at the competition.
Tonight Paul did mostly ventriloquism and was good. He put remote control mouths on two audience volunteers. He had them saying all sorts of outrageous things.
Sat Mar 18 = Today I sprayed my weeds back and front and, for the third day, applied Armor All Outlast Trim & Plastic Restorer to my van's back bumper... and took pictures of it as a baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of the Outlast Trim & Plastic Restorer.
- This afternoon I spent about an hour researching and drooling over Magellan's ultrasonic weather stations. Columbia Weather Systems has little useful information about them online. Another possibility would be one that requires a computer by NewMountain Innovations for $1400.
- Today's big project, spilling over into the evening, was getting this blog updated for the last 10 days (uhg!).
- This evening I determined my comedy routines for next week.
- They say new and novel learning is important for memory and forestalling Alzheimer's. I believe maintaining a website helps me in that department. Also doing stand up comedy. Tonight my new and novel learning was understanding the trend in teaching the old math, the new math, and now the new, new math (Common Core) . This 2:18 video explains it all and is easy to understand.
Sun Mar 19 = Mostly stayed home and worked on stuff, but did venture out to LA Fitness for a full, light, fast legs workout.
Mon Mar 20 = This evening I did my Yoga routine at both Lawn Gnome and Devil's Advocate. Back home, it took me 49 minutes to transfer the ten media files for tonight's appearances to my
Vaio
Sony Vaio Duo 11 computer with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 10, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
.
Tue Mar 21 = Just when you think you're getting some things caught up, something else comes up. I realized that I might need an appraisal on the desert land I repossessed, in case I am allowed a stepped-up cost basis when I eventually sell it, so I spent time today locating and telephoning appraisers.
- Comedy started out tonight at Dos Gringos where I sold a T-Shirt to an old guy visiting from Wisconsin, and continued at Grand Avenue Pizza. I didn't stay for the whole show because I was a little tired. Before I left, though, I replenished my ShirtCase. That allowed me to stay a little longer, supporting the other comedians and socializing a little, rather than doing it at home as I have been doing it.
Back at home it took me 35 minutes to time and upload the 10 media files from my two appearances. I'm getting faster!
- Got to bed early (before midnight) in anticipation for my yoga class tomorrow: research for stand-up comedy, ya know.
Wed Mar 22 = This morning I took a yoga class... researching for comedy. We had about 40 people there. The instructor appeared to be in her upper 60's and was in good shape. I stayed at the gym for a full heavy, slow legs workout.
Thu Mar 23 = I started a new spreadsheet for contacting campgrounds on the
about doing a Friday night comedy shows for them.
- Tonight's comedy was at Cruisin' 7th - my second time there. I'm not sure my style suits the crowd there. I may hang it up after giving it one more try.
Fri Mar 24 = I spent most of the day telephoning OBX campgrounds and scheduling followups.
- This evening I went to a nearby Hobby Lobby and bought a pack of 1.5" wiggle eyes to make brooms look like James Cordon and Regie Watson, then to Winco Foods for some bananas etc., then to Fitness 1 for a heavy, slow arms workout.
Sun Mar 26 = A lot of my muscles are sore... a good thing... after three heavy, slow, workouts in four days.
- Today I worked on my taxes some, washed the van & went to Herberger Theater's Kax stage. Ken gave me ten minutes because there were not very many performers. The ones that WERE there were excellent poets or musicians.
- On the way home I stopped by Trader Joe's for cashews and LA Fitness for a full, light legs workout.
- After updating this blog I ordered a PA system with a stand and a wireless microphone, a microphone stand and mic clip.
Mon Mar 27 = The X-Plan can give your kids a way out when they;re in a bad situation with friends etc. If one of your kids sends a text with the letter X to a member of the family, the person who receives the text will call a few minutes later and follow a basic script.
Danny: Hello? Dad: Danny, something's come up and I have to come get you right now. Danny: What happened? Dad: I'll tell you when I get there. Be ready to leave in five minutes. I'm on my way.
- Tonight's comedy was Lawn Gnome and Devil's Advocate (where I tried some new, offbeat ideas).
Tue Mar 28 = I got up early (the middle of my night) to phone Gracie of the Sands of Time Campground in Avon, NC. We worked out the details of Comedy at the Camp, the show I'll be producing there every Fridays during June. This afternoon I composed and emailed our agreement to her.
- Related, the mic stand I ordered a 12:48 AM yesterday, arrived this afternoon. It was inexpensive and of much better quality than I expected.
- This evening I did comedy at Dos Gringos and The Tempe Tavern - good crowds, both places.
Wed Mar 29 = Tonight was my big appearance at The Tempe Improv. I didn't get as many laughs as I had hoped, but will be able to update the Yoga video on my EPK from back in 2015. It is what it is. At least I will not be overbilling myself!
Thu Mar 30 = This afternoon I updated my future appearances to 17 between today and Apr 26th in 33 minutes, then spent another 50 minutes dinking with it (that is my version of tweaking something without much benefit).
- This evening's comedy for me was a booked 7-minutes at Spinelli's Pizzeria. The audience was not laughing a lot, but Amy Blackwell hit their funny bone with some of her impromptu interactions. Good for you, Amy!
Fri Mar 31 = I got up early (in the middle of mi night) to phone Gracie on the east coast to make final arrangements for my Friday-night comedy shows at the Sands of Time Campground in Avon. Then back to bed.
- This evening I signed up for the Bird City Madness Comedy Brackets, a one-liner comedy competition, Sunday. April 9th. I don't expect to do well, but it should be fun and educational.
ATMs: NEVER USE ONE in a store or on the street. Only go to one INSIDE a bank, and then always check for a SKIMMER (This video shows howf)
This is my website .
This is my online press kit.