There are a number of Sundays at TRW as we struggle to show that the Boeing Delta II 115 Hz event is not a problem for EOS Aqua. And with just 24 more days to go before launch. There are also a couple of meetings at the Aerospace Corporation during which I am offered a job without an interview. (I decline saying, "TRW is home".) But by Friday, 3/29, there is enough confidence in the EOS Aqua loads that I take the day off.
In the past few weeks I have found out that there is an acquaintance of a friend who is friends with what's his name and there is an acquaintance of an acquaintance of an acquaintance of the KM. Both of these people keep telling me what is going on in those people's lives before I'm able to get through and say that I don't want to look back and discuss ancient history. I want to look forward.
I start my extra day off by lifting weights, recovering, and starting out for a long ride with the 18 year old neighbor who usually beats me up pretty bad. About a quarter of the way in there is a construction zone where we have to leave the prepared trail and ride on soft dirt (on road bicycles). I end up falling and road-rashing my lower leg and bruising the inside of my knee. Oh well, let's keep going.
During the ride, the 18 year old asks if I'm going to sell my old motorcycle, "Because then you could take the money and buy a faster road bicycle". It is a good idea. But I think that money is already earmarked for development pieces, aerodynamic tweaks, and other bits to get a few more horsepower (and miles per hour) out of the new 2002 YZF-R1. (The fastest production bike on the planet.)
It is a good cranking ride. For the first three quarters of the 40 mile ride my heart rate monitor alarm regularly goes off to let me know that I am above 160 beats per minute and that I should bring it back into range. For the last 10 miles it becomes an "ultra" cranking ride and my heart rate never falls before 160 bpm. "You can go ahead and beep your little battery out, but I'm having way too much fun to even think of slowing down." I look down a few times and see 178 bpm - far removed from my theoretical approximate max heart rate of 180 bpm.
At the end of the ride there may have been some blood. It is hard to tell. But the endorphins run wild for the next few hours. I run errands and buy a Scientific American and an architecture magazine, but the endorphins keep me from digesting what I read. So I go do the physical tasks that I have to do and get a lot accomplished. Later in the day I am able to work on a few Web sites under development.
Brandon and I go to Fire Island and converse with acquaintances and various people. The only real incident is when I'm walking through a dark alley to get to my truck (I don't park in the Fire Island lot because it is too small.) and Brandon calls and needs help getting out of his parking spot. So now I have to go back through the dark alley to help Brandon get out and then go back through it again to get back to my truck. But all is well.
Saturday is a productive day: A 5 mile run, the laundry, lifting weights, a one hour bicycle ride (without the heart rate monitor), and the purchase of some development pieces for the motorcycle. I have to make another trip to Radio Shack to get the right connectors as I'm installing the pieces. Well, I'll have to put the bike back together on Sunday because it's getting late.
I head off to West Hollywood to listen to music. And because the guy that I had the primordial soup discussion with a few months ago (at the WeHo club when he recognized me from my website picture) invited me. I only have two days to go for my month of celibacy. I hope that I make it. Sort of.
Person A, well, that designation has been used, so let's use Person W (for weather), and I have great conversations about learning, evolution, adventures, family, hydrogen, and atmospheric conditions. I ask Person W how far he can see. He misinterprets the question to mean how strong his eye glass prescription is. But I explain to Person W, "Look as far forward in time as you can. And then look 20 years or more beyond that. That is where we should be directing our energy." Person W laughs and smiles with me and understands how silly that I can be. Before I know it the DJ is announcing last call. We leave the club and agree to meet next Saturday for other events.
On the way home, because it is late, I've got my ears pinned back and I'm flying (more or less) towards Long Beach. There goes Silver Lake, downtown Los Angeles (with no late night stop this time), there's the central train yard, the Bell foundry, your Los Angeles River, and, finally, home. I love this city! (This is where Randy Newman's "I Love LA" should come on the radio. Except that I have an ecstacy-induced techno/trance CD on.)
I'm asleep by, well, let's not worry about what time I make it to sleep. But there aren't many hours before the 18 year old neighbor wants to beat me up again on the bicycle. I get up at 7 anyway and lift weights. And, unfortunately, the 18 year old neighbor has to visit relatives for Easter so we don't ride.
I spend the day putting the motorcycle back together, watching the Brazilian Grand Prix, doing paperwork, and drinking. This was the designated day that I was supposed to increase my leptin levels, but it probably won't happen to the extent that we wanted. Oh well.
When I go to take Nopey for a walk on Sunday evening I notice that the truck looks askew. The left front tire is flat. Seeing that I don't need it until Tuesday night's meeting, I ignore it and vow to fix it on Monday night.
I spend the remainder of Sunday evening geeking-out on a self-replicating Excel macro. It's not quite self-replicating because I introduce some randomness into the replication to simulate mutation. I run the macro a few times and get boring results. But then I run it with a higher mutation rate and get a program that I have a difficult time stopping. I have to shut the computer down in order to regain control of the machine. I like the uncertainty of evolution.