We almost, but not quite, complete the EOS Aura strength qualification testing on Tuesday. I go play an ice hockey game and get three assists as the team wins, 7-3.
There is a little incident with a police officer. I'm possibly going too fast. The police officer wants me to show him what is in my backpack. I open it up and pull out a paper entitled "Evolving Cellular Automata with Genetic Algorithms". He asks me, "Are you a biologist?" (He probably saw the words "cellular" and "genetic".) After a negative response, he asks to see what is in the other compartments of the backpack. I pull out a Palm Pilot and business cards for the Bullet Racing Team showing me as the data acquisition guy. And the police officer asks, "Do you race cars?" After another negative response, I open up the final compartment of the backpack. I pull out a wallet, several floppy disks, two condoms, and 4 feet of rubber hose. "What's the rubber hose for?" When I answer the police officer with, "It's for a science project", he doesn't know what to do. He finally gives me a brief lecture about the effects of speeding on the rate of accidents and tells me to "slow down".
We do finish EOS Aura testing on Wednesday. After a 7:30pm business meeting, I go to the Frat House and drink a 7-Up – waiting for the 11pm drag show (which usually starts promptly at 11:45). Marisella comes in and we make idle chitchat. She finally says that almost everyone has gone to El Calor (The Hot One) and that today will be dead at the Frat House. I tell her that I will not be going to El Calor because, even though I really liked it when Sabrina took me there, it was a bit crowded and, perhaps coincidentally, I ran a fever for the next week and had to take antibiotics the last time that I went there. I'm in bed by midnight this night.
Thursday, after cleaning up some loose ends at work, I start to suffer PTS again (Post Testing Syndrome). So I go home and drink heavily. Knowing that I will not be going to work on Friday.
Friday I go for a bicycle ride, mow/edge/trim the yard, and do a number of other errands around the house. By the end of the day I am tired. I have decided to skip the Friday night ritual at the Frat House.
Except that Brandon calls. He says that Joe will not be there and that he needs someone to keep him company. Johnnie has set him up with a friend and the meeting is not going well. I agree to meet Brandon at the Frat House and I arrive shortly after 10pm. I try to relieve Brandon of the stress of dealing with Kenny, but I don't do a good job of it. Bob and Jimmy walk in and I go hang out with them and leave Brandon alone to fend for himself.
I leave at 12:45. I am tired. Joe did show up and we had a brief conversation, but nothing of significance. I have agreed to help Jimmy set up his computer so that he can talk (free) with people back in Vietnam. I would agree to anything at this point.
Saturday is a new day! After being satisfied with the results of the qualifying session for the German Grand Prix, I find myself accompanying my bicycle on the blue line train to downtown Los Angeles. (Yes, I do have a bike permit, though nobody asks to see either the bike permit or my ticket on this ride.) Equipped with a digital camera, a cell phone, French bread and cheese, and a wallet, it is a warehouse ride day!
I exit the blue line at Pico and start my grand tour. I, of course, start by heading over to Los Angeles street - the gateway to downtown Los Angeles. I cycle past the King Eddy and take another picture. As well as a cool picture of the Triple Crown of hotels - the Edward, the Baltimore, and the Rosslyn. I make my way past the new St. Vivian Cathedral (I don't like the architectural style at all!), past the Belmont learning center and west of the harbor freeway. Though I have to ride down scary side streets and down a narrow and scary alley, I finally find the shot of Los Angeles that I have been looking for. It is a shot overlooking the Belmont learning center towards the skyline of downtown Los Angeles. And, I find when I get home and download the picture, the frame actually has some barbed wire fencing in it to add to the shot! The streetside mechanics are working on cars today and give me strange looks when I ride by, but I hear a couple of "Puedemos reparar los bicicletas". (We repair bicycles.) I pass, rapidly, with a "No necessito" (I don't need it) and continue. The last shot that I took required a turn down a narrow alley with some gangster-types hanging out. I ignored them, cycled past them at a good pace, stopped, composed the shot, and headed off.
But this set of shots was a diversion from the ride that I wanted to take - a warehouse ride. So I proceed through Chinatown, through Olvera street, and through Little Tokyo towards the warehouse district. I hear a guy say, as I'm riding past, "Do they allow bicycles here?" And I start to think about the consequences. A security guard stops me, pulls out his Ginsu knife (It slices, it dices! It chops, it peels! By Ronco. Only $19.95), and tells me that bicycles are not allowed here. And I do my best Clint Eastwood imitation and say, "Go ahead: Put me out of my misery". I do linger around little Tokyo as I peruse the shops and watch the people shop. I'm doing my own shopping as I'm looking for little Japanese sex slaves. And I find them! I find a Japanese couple, both with dyed hair, who fit the bill. Except that they are both pushing strollers with cute little kids in them. The guy notices me staring at him and his wife (I make this assumption here.) and we exchange smiles and a few trivial greetings about the weather and the shopping. And I head off on my bicycle - knowing that I have to leave or else I'm going to get into trouble.
I make it to the warehouse and industrial district and start zig-zagging my way through the area. If there is a small side street that looks less-traveled, then I take it! I am rewarded with cool sights of loading docks, old buildings, people earning a living, and deserted streets.
I eventually see the things that I came to see and decide that it is time to head for home. A regular person would now go back to Washington Blvd and head west - knowing that there is a blue line train station on Washington and a clean, comfortable train waiting to take you and your bicycle back to Long Beach.
I, instead, head east on Washington. I'm looking for the entrance to the Los Angeles river trail. I can't find it. I take Alameda south for a while and get tired of it. I take Central south for a while and get tired of it. Turning east on a major street. I take Atlantic south. During this trip for home, I've passed signs greeting me into the great cities of Boyle Heights, Vernon, Maywood, Huntington Park, Bell, Lynwood, and South Gate. I eventually hit Rosecrans and take a final turn eastward - knowing that Rosecrans is an entryway onto the Los Angeles river bicycle trail.
When I get home, I am tired. There is no question that this entire ride was a strength ride. There were the hills just north of downtown towards the Belmont school, the hills to get back to the warehouse district, and all of the starting and stopping that were required for traffic lights because I couldn't find the Los Angeles river trail. I am tired!
There is one great picture that I have taken. Taken with the Los Angeles city hall as a backdrop, it is a picture of a billboard advertising "Bad Boys Bail Bonds". And their slogan is "Because your Mama wants you home!"