I haven't even told you about my big night out in LA at the Magic Castle, where I did a night of stand up. Which, I think went well. I was told that I was the shiny penny there, which is quite a compliment, since I was up with Jeff Garlin and Jeffrey Ross, who are both quite accomplished in the field, what with HBO and Comedy Central shows of their own. So that was quite an experience, made even odder by the red satin vested, pony-tailed waiters, who all seemed to tear a page from the same fashion playbook, from Europe, maybe Italy, circa 1988, from a collection inspired by the look of the students who hung around outside the local modern jazz/clown college. I should mention that I was compelled to wear black tie, a tux and all, so it felt like a real event.

Anyway, that is ancient history by now. Since then I have endured a pregnancy class, taught by a woman who seemed as fragile as a Christmas tree ornament, who held forth in a series of enthusiastic digressions and anecdotes, all of which seemed like they might end in her weeping.

I have also, much more recently, circa yesterday, gotten off a plane from nyc, where I did a three day weekend, and felt kind of like the animated dad in the United Airlines commercial who leaves home and battles a flaming dragon and then comes home, since, among other things, I did a little home repair back east that required me to Sawzall a tank full of deisel fuel, which was difficult, messy and painful, the latter being both because of the smoldering fuel making a caustic fog which made my head throb, but also bits of hot sludge was spattering and hot flakes of metal got on me. Suffice to say it was quite an epic undertaking, which began by hand siphoning off almost 200 gallons of #4 deisel into 5 gallon jerry cans, then removing them, and the tank, all without a spill.

And today, I am off again, this time to Los Angeles. Although I fly often, I was a little shocked to learn of a man who leaves his house every monday, who lives in upstate New York and flies to San Francisco and then drives to Brisbane, a town about thirty minutes south, every week. As in, he commutes from Albany, NY to Brisbane, CA, where he runs a company with a 150 employees. Plus he has a division in Ottowa, so he has to go up to Canada all the time. In some ways it is like my life, only much more intense travel, plus he is far more successful, having cashed out of another fortune 500 company as CEO. It is a mystery why he does this travel, though his wife wants to live upstate, which is part of it, and he said he can't manage his team by video and phone, he has to be there in person. Quite a commute.