Content-type: text/html Ray Manning

Monday, January 27, 2003 8:22 AM

Super Bowl Weekend


The workweek at Northrop Grumman and the three day Super Bowl weekend merge with a Thursday night ice hockey game. Our team plays well together and we get a 4-1 win. I lay down to sleep near 11:30pm but am interupted with telephone calls and then I cannot fall asleep for quite a while. There is no pattern to the thoughts that keep me awake.

Friday sees a good bicycle ride on the new rear wheel spokes and the wheel performs flawlessly. (Even if I was slow due to the late night ice hockey game the previous night and the lack of sleep.) I continue the Friday off with a couple good hours of yardwork and gardening. A shower and a few errands later finds me laying down for an afternoon nap. The hour nap rejuvenates me and I go lift weights and do some other little chores.

After a long day cycling and working there is only one thing to do - go find a party. I go to a club in Long Beach and hang out and listen to music. I run into Ralph and Mark - the roommate and friend of Person Roy. (Person Roy is not here because, since he just bought a car recently, he'll be working long hours in the lab to help pay for the car.) After midnight a friend of a friend of a friend comes up to me and asks, "Can I take you home tonight?" The "Okay" response that I give surprises the friend of a friend of a friend. I'm in bed after 1am and who knows when I am finally able to sleep.

Saturday morning sees another good approximately 30 mile bicycle ride. There are two strange coincidences on these last two days of riding. On Friday I'm riding along and there is a 3 foot tall stuffed bear tied to a fence. The stuffed bear is holding a heart that says "I love you". On Saturday as I'm going under an overpass where homeless people sleep I see a 4 foot long stuffed orca propped on the cement. Which brings up the question, "What will I see tomorrow? An 8 foot stuffed green dragon?"

Person M_P calls and delays and then cancels the day to see a movie, so I finish waxing the motorcycle and flip through the channels of programming on the television. As expected, there is nothing on. I spend time around the house and decide to stay in and try to recover from a worsening sore throat. I'm in bed before 10pm.

When I wake up on Sunday morning I find 5 voice mails and 1 text message that I missed through the night - I didn't hear a thing. The morning ride takes me up the LA river (the real LA river with the graffiti holding the cement walls together). I keep going until I'm near the "foothills" of downtown LA before I turn around and head for home. (There are no stuffed animals seen during the ride, but I do notice a screw missing from the bicycle shoe so here's another trip to the bicycle store for repair - and another opportunity to say "Yes" to a new mountain bike.) After running more errands and reading the newspaper, I get in a session with the weights before the football game.

It has been another long and confusing weekend. All telephone calls from various people, especially the ~10 calls from Person J_VKPI, are ignored as I need some time to myself to sort some things out.

And, on the pretext of trying to "finish off" the sore throat, I'm in bed on Sunday night by 9:30pm.

A good 5 mile run early on Monday morning starts the week properly.