After the Memorial Day weekend I continue to become more and more irritable. It is time for a break from life. But it will have to wait for a day or so as the resourcescout meeting (in preparation for the big meeting on June 24th) is a productive one of discussions and charts and processes and stuff. I have telephone calls with Person ED_F and Person T_GG before nodding off to sleep at 11:30 am.
I finally find the of the Giro showing Gilberto Simoni and Stefano Garzelli in horror as they realize that Nopesterini is coming up the mountain fast. Andrea Noe can be seen in the background but Nopesterini cannot be seen.
The break from life is intended to be a period of work and working out only. There will be no dinners with friends, no clubbing, no sex, no movies, and no significant social events. It is a time to be alone, reflect on life, regain my composure, and re-energize. Wednesday works according to this plan as I go to work, go home and mow the lawn, run 4 miles, and have a quiet, relaxing evening alone at home. The quiet is only interrupted by telephone calls from Person T* ("You seemed very cold and out of it today. What's going on?") and Person T_GG ("It's 11:30pm and I'm still at work. I stayed yesterday until 3am trying to meet the Friday deadline for the Dodgers.").
On Thursday I'm walking down the hallway of my building at Northrop Grumman and turning into the center hallway. Major Chambers of NOAA/DoD/NASA/Etc yells down the hallway towards me, "Dr. Ray! Dr. Ray!" I stop and go back towards the long hallway and wait for him to get up close. He asks, "Do you have any more of your NPOESS trading cards? People back east keep seeing the trading card that you gave me sitting on my desk and they want them."
"Take the orders for the trading cards and we'll make another production run of them". We talk about other things here also, but it's good to see the trading cards making an impression with our various government agencies.
I get out for a great bicycle ride of intervals on Thursday afternoon - 60 seconds of all out sprint followed by 90 seconds of recovery spinning. I repeat this 11 times until the last all out sprint during which I carry it for 180 seconds. Now I'm done. That's it - I'm going to die now. Just drag the carcas to the side of the road and let the buzzards get it. I have trouble standing in the shower and have to steady myself with hands on the walls - this is what cycling should be.
And to top Thursday off, the 19th stage of the Giro is in the high Alps. The middle mountain pass is covered with and a number of riders abandon the race and a number of other riders (Garzelli in second place and Pantani in tenth place) crash. Both finish the stage with blood and mud all over themselves. Marco Pantani actually sat by the side of the road and received medical attention for 10 minutes before continuing on. This is what cycling is all about - mountain passes, snow covered roads, rain, treacherous descents, and a climb towards the heavens!
Friday is a non-productive day at work. I go home , do the laundry, adn relax before an ice hockey game. We win the game, 3-0, with three goals in the third period after a very close game that could have gone either way (depending upon who scored the first goal). I'm in bed and asleep by 11pm. But then the phone starts ringing: Person T*, Person J_VKPI, and Person T_GG.
I'm awake Saturday morning and on my way to Encinitas with my mountain bicycle. The ex-neighbor lives down there and he has a good offroad ride planned for us. The ride has climbs and descents, sand and rocks, some tricky parts, two river crossings, and some single track riding. It is a good ride! We have lunch and now I'm headed back for Long Beach. Person ED_F calls and says that he'll be at my train station in an hour, "But I'm not even home yet and I need a shower because I'm all dirty and sweaty from the ride".
I pick Person ED_F up at the train station and we go see the movie, "Down With Love". It's a loser - the only redeeming factor that holds my interest being the psychedelic colors and the bright pastels used for decorations and painting. We have dinner, go to a Barnes and Noble bookstore (where I'm interuppted by more phone calls), and head for home.
I wake up on Sunday morning to a room that looks like a hurricane struck it. There are blankets and sheets and towels all scattered about, various pieces of clothing all over the place, water bottles standing around, and um...supplies...laying all over the place. I stay in bed for 15 minutes after the alarm goes off trying to figure out what is going on. And then it hits me, "What the h*#^ did you do this time?"
I get Person ED_F back to the train station and watch the Monaco Grand Prix (an exciting race with the top three finishers within 2 seconds of each other at the flag), read the newspaper, mow the lawn (Yes, the lawn needs to be mowed twice a week right now due to water and fertilizer applications.), and go for a 5 mile run at midday.
This isn't quite enough, so near 2pm I'm heading out for some rollerblading. I skate for about an hour before heading home to work a few little errands around the house. I later walk with and without Nopesterini as he licks his wounds from the horrible defeat that he took at the Giro d'Italia this year. I'm just plain tired from ice hockey, cycling, Saturday night, running, and skating. I'm in bed by 9:45pm - expecting the day to not be finished. But it is.