Thursday is another bicycle commute day. These days are the most productive because the blood is pumping from the 16 mile ride to work and the blood sugar level is restored via breakfast muffins. I make great progress on models, simulations, algorithms, and presentations. And the ride home is uneventfull and provides another good workout for the day.
Friday after work I lift weights (for the first time since Dr. B and Dr. L finally let me), get a haircut, stop at the liquor store for a lottery ticket, do some grocery shopping, and head for an ATM. At the ATM I run into Person Roy. There is an awkward moment or so until I apologize for not calling. The apology is eventually accepted and we decide that we will get together after the trip to Washington, DC.
Seeing that I am leaving for Washington, DC on Monday, the weekend has to be especially productive. I do the laundry, get out for a good bicycle ride, work on a Matlab routine in support of the Monday trip, mow the lawn, and finally I decide to go rollerblading on Saturday afternoon. This will be my initial use of the new wheels on the rollerblades. I have chosen a peculiarly strange wheel setup with 80mm wheels for the center two wheels and 72mm wheels on the front and back. (This is called rockering the skates and should make them feel more like ice skates. However, the installation manual says, "Rockering decreases skate stability and is not recommended except for advanced skaters".) I have fun rollerblading for almost two hours. The rockering feels good!
I run into a guy who is struggling on rollerblades and I try to help him along. When he stops and rests we have a decent conversation as we switch between espanol and english. We are able to communicate fairly well by switching between the two languages. I tell him that I like the color of his hair. (He has some cool streaks in it.) We agree to meet for rollerblading again either Sunday or next Saturday - depending upon my packing circumstances for Washington, DC. Person J_M agrees and we each skate off in opposite directions.
When I get home I manage to cheer on the neighbors from two doors down as they are packing stuff and moving out. Underneath my breath I say, "Take your three uncontrollably barking dogs, your loud parties, your parking tickets, and the shopping cart incident and get out of MY neighborhood. Go destroy somebody else's neighborhood." I want to say this to their faces, but seeing that I have not spoken with them for almost a year there is no point to it. Just leave and make my life better.
There is a postcard from Person Daniel who is visiting Hawaii. Person Daniel writes, "Wish you were here with me so we could frolic like flaming queens". I couldn't have said it better.
Saturday night I head to Club Asia to meet Brandon. Joe is supposed to show up also, but doesn't. Person W is there and we have a brief conversation. Brandon brings one of his straight friends, Vinny, who drinks too much this night but also has fun. It is a fairly uneventful evening and I am in bed alone by 2:30 am.
Sunday I get out for a morning bicycle ride and work more on the Matlab routine. After lifting weights I am driving to K-Town to visit Person J_VKPI (whose grandfather is in the hospital with a heart attack). We go to see the Austin Powers movie and it is fun. I laugh fairly hard at times - just what I needed. But because I am leaving town on Monday I have to return home to Long Beach to pack and to work more on the Matlab routine. In order to help me south on the 710 freeway I have a Tijuana No! CD playing. (A punk, anarchist band from south of the border.)
Monday I am off to Washington, DC. TRW expects me to come back to work on Thursday morning with a check in my back pocket for $3.7 for the NPOESS system. (National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System) I will try my best to get the check as well as to beat the heat of 92 degrees and 92 percent humidity.