Wow. My first blog in nearly a year. A lot has happened, way too much to recap in one capsule of words. So how 'bout I talk about today? I was up real early on this Saturday morning, like 6:02 a.m. Some time during the 7 o'clock hour I decided to pull the plug on my Facebook account. Before I hit the delete button, a line at the top of the page read, "2,241 friends will miss you." Yeah, and I will miss access to the accounts of 2,241 "friends" . . . You're on Facebook. You're a picture on someone's wall. You read personal commentaries. You offer personal commentaries. You play games. You get bored. You log off. I did. This Web site of mine has been up for while now, four years or so. It has Facebook tendencies - you can see pictures of me. You can leave me messages. You can see where I'm going (comedy-wise) . . . This is my home so I'm gonna play here for a while. You're welcome to join me!

I am sitting in the airport in Minneapolis, waiting to get back to Denver after a week-long run in "Ota" land ... That's North Dakota and MInnesota. It's been pretty nice being around here in the summer. My trips to this part of the country usually come in the winter, when it's 40 degrees below zero. The place actually thaws out pretty well!! ... I went to the famous Mall of America. 500 stores, over 4 miles of shopping ... Three bathrooms ... I think one of the mall wings is inside the airport! ... Back to the comedy run. It was an experience. I worked with veteran Dwight York. He's well-known in the region. I first met him at the Great American Comedy Festival. He kept reminding during the week that I beat him at the GACF. Our first show was in Dickinson, ND ... Nice place, but I'm not thinking about moving there. They dine at Bonanza. I didn't know Bonanza still was in business. Decent crowd, good show ... Next stop, Williston, N.D. -- about 125 miles up the road ... Didn't see Bonanza, but Wal-Mart was about 100 yards from my motel. PIcked up some new color cards. (If you know my act, you know what that means!) ... The show was, well, kind of weird. There was a pole in the middle of the stage. I wasn't sure if I should tell jokes or strip. The crowd seemed to like dirty jokes. I don't do dirty so figure it out. Still sold quite a few of my souvenir shot glasses afterward. Turns out they like dirty jokes and alcohol. Then came the drive back to Minneapolis. That's a 630-mile haul. Oops, boarding time ... gotta go.

I'm still in Norfolk, Nebraska . . . what was going to be a one-nighter - or so I thought - has turned into a week-long odyssey that resulted in something I never dreamed about . . . After winning the 'amateurs' title at the Great American Comedy Festival on Tuesday, I took second place amongst the 'pros' on Friday . . . No trophy, but hey, the check $3,000 felt pretty heavy - and really good . . . All the pros had such incredible credentials - appearances on Letterman, Comedy Central . . . Lil' ol' me got to make an impression . . .

OK, I'm tired . . . Finishing among the top three means I perform at the gala Saturday night on a show with David Brenner, Bill Dana and Eddie Brill . . . WOW

OK, so I haven't blogged you people in a while. I'll make this one short and sweet - I WON AT THE GREAT AMERICAN COMEDY FESTIVAL . . . How 'bout that??? . . . A nice trophy and 500 bucks . . . Makes unemployment a little bit easier to deal with! . . . but the night was fun at Johnny Carson Theatre in Norfolk, Nebraska . . . Ten comics, and each one of them was ffffunny as heck! . . .