On Tuesday it is supposed to rain but I ride the motorbike to work anyway. I see the rain coming down throughout the day, but I just put my head down and make a lot of progress at work. Finally I decide to leave a bit early. The roads are wet as I start home but the rain really starts coming down during the ride home. I don't mind the rain so much as I do my helmet fogging up and not being able to see. Eventually I make it home and take off my clothes at the doorway to dry out. I get in a great workout for the abdominals and lower back, have dinner, work on work projects, and finally wipe the motorbike down so that it isn't wet overnight.
Wednesday is a productive day at work and a very productive dat after work. After work I get in a great workout with the weights and then watch a community policing meeting via webcast. (This is one of those meetings with my city councilperson and poolice officers and regular citizens that I would normally attend in person.) Throughout Wednesday I am in a bit of a funk because a friend from the past, let's say Person ABC, is in the hospital and I've just found out that he just found out he is HIV+. (And based on his condition has probably advanced to a full AIDS diagnosis.) I try to resolve his state of affairs with my mental state. I cannot.
On Thursday night I wake up at 3 am and cannot fall back asleep. I get up and surf the Internet for a while and then read. But I see 4:30 on the clock and I am still not asleep. Eventually I do drop off for sleep but then the alarm comes quickly. I drag through Friday at work - but am surprisingly productive - and then leave work early. I mow the lawn and repeat Wednesday's heavy workout with the weights (rather than increase the weights any since I've missed so much sleep). Person T_U and I talk about watching the Olympic opening ceremonies, but since they are tape delayed and I have missed so much sleep, I just head for reading and sleep early tonight.
I have deep sleep on Friday night and Saturday morning - missing a text message in the middle of the night. I start morning with errands - returning library books, getting gasoline for the lawnmower, and stocking up at the grocery store with onsale items - before I start out on the aquarium bicycle ride before noon. During the ride I run into a a Khmer lady and her son and we have a discussion all the way up the Los Angeles river about Cambodia. She's from Siem Reap but she hasn't been back since she left 25 or 35 years ago.
On Saturday night I drive up to Burbank to meet up with my former ice hockey teammates for one of their fundraisers on ice. It's good to see people I haven't seen in a number of years and to talk ice hockey again. I strap on the skates and within the first 10 seconds of being on the ice I realize that no matter how much inline skating that I do, the ice will always be my home. I help a few struggling skaters and then I leave early - getting home at 1:15 am.
On Sunday I'm awake at 4 am to call my friend Tree in Thailand and see how he is doing. After the call I go back to sleep and get out for an extended aquarium bicycle ride in the mid-morning sun. Today I am tired throughout the entire ride (from yesterday's good ride and from the ice skating). And the rest of the day is spent watching the Olympics or doing trivial things since I am wiped out.
Though I drag through thw workweek, I'm fairly productive at work and during workouts. On Wednesday night, excited from being on the ice last Saturday and from watching the Olympic speed skating events, I strap on the inline skates and go do intervals. (It's more like extended surges rather than intervals, but...) It's a great workout and I'm sweating and panting for air as I finish the intervals and warm down for home.
Throughout Thursday I can feel various body parts being sore and stiff from the intervals on the prvious night. If I've sat at my desk for 30 minutes or so and get up, my legs and hips are stiff and it takes me a few steps to regain composure. That was a fun Wednesday night workout! On Thursday night I struggle through a session with the weights, replenish the coolant level on the Ymaha YZF-R1, and relax to start a three day weekend.
Friday starts with trimming a bush way back since the sky is still overcast and there is a threat of drizzle. When the drizzle appears to have ablated I start off on the aquarium ride. Many of the gates to the Los Angeles river trail are closed so I parallel the river until I can get on south of Pacific Coast Highway. Except that the gate to the aquarium is closed too, so I turn around, add on some miles on the north end, andc all it a ride. After running some errands I watch "The Informant" DVD and it turns out to be not so good. I am just wiped out today and spend a fair amount of time on the couch with the DVD, a book about the Apollo program, and the Olympics. I enjoy the cross country skiing as all of the skiiers fall down and collapse the instant they get across the finish line. For a while there are bodies strewn across the finish line and beyond. I love it! When I hear that one of my Khmer friends is sick and going to the dcotor I call him and try to help him figure out what is wrong and what course of action to follow. And then I go to bed to read and sleep.
Saturday starts with a ride north on the Los Angeles river where I don't have to deal with closed gates. Its a good ride though it is earlier than usual for this time of year so there are very few other cyclists out. After a shower I head over to a store in Cerritos to order some dining chairs and then I relax during the afternoon. Late on Saturday I get in a good workout by dropping the weights just a bit and increasing the sets. It feels great! And then I head for clubs in West Hollywood.
At the first club that I go to I run into two co-workers and hang out for a while. Since the music is just okay I head to a second club near midnight. Standing outside the second club is Person B_AIA and we have a discussion until Person T_U arrives. Person B_AIA goes to a different club than Person T_U and I are going to. The music is very good tonight and just before 2 am I meet Person K_J, his girlfriend O_J, and another friend Person S_J. For the next 40 minutes we hang out and dance and hang out more. (And note that both K_J and O_J think that I look like the actor Robin WIlliams. I get that comment a lot.) We agree to hang out at a coffeehouse one of these days and so I'm finally leaving for home at 2:40 am on Sunday morning. I rush on home - taking two transition ramps at 90 mph in the semi-slick conditions due to drizzle - and get the light turned out for sleep at 3:36 am.
On Sunday I'm up near 7 am to watch the recorded speed skating and short track speed skating before starting out on the aquarium bicycle ride. Today I don't extend the ride because it's threatening rain and I want to miss it, my legs are tired from 4 leg workouts in 5 days, and I'm missing some sleep from last night. THough its a windy ride I enjoy it. During Sunday afternoon I spend more time watching winter Olympics events. The ice hockey game between the USA and Canada is one of the most intense games that I have ever seen and I'm on the edge of my seat - being drawn into the intensity. The USA eventually holds on for a 5-3 (one empty net goal) win. Needless to say I'm in bed early for some reading and sleep.
Monday is a productive day at work and a good session with the weights. I stayed at the slightly reduced weights for this workout as I did on Saturday. It's a good workout and hopefully the joints will not be sore.