The first week of June is a blur. I try to have productive days at work but do not. I have high repetition, lightweight workouts after work including a good day of abdominal and lower back workouts.
On Friday I'm occupied all day at work with people needing help and information. It makes the day go very fast. Late in the day a co-worker comes by and we brainstorm about how to close the British Petroleum leak. He's got some good ideas and we refine them a bit and pretty soon we are on the phone with the Northrop Grumman lawyers and filling out an invention disclosure form. (Being Northrop Grumman employees, the company has first right of refusal for any ideas/patents that we have regardless of whether they are directly related to our business.) I get home and go for the aquarium bicycle ride as a last tune-up before Sunday's Los Angeles river ride. After a shower I have japanese food and then do grocery shopping on the way back home.
Saturday starts with a phone to call to Tree in Thailand. It's been a while since we spoke. I lift weights, mow and edge the lawn, and work on cleaning up some of the fallen tree branches (that I'll be cleaning up for months). I try to keep this a very slow day because of Sunday's Los Angeles river ride.
On Sunday I'm out the door on the road bicycle to ride to Griffith Park and the start of the Los Angeles river ride. I register for the ride and fill up on water and then start back down the river - I've missed the official start of the ride by a bit. But I have a nice conversation with a UCLA graduate for a part of the ride and today I feel pretty strong. I complete the 70 mile ride (which becomes almost 75 if you count the extra part I have to ride getting to and from the river) without any serious struggle. After a shower (and some blood where it probably shouldn't be) I watch the MotoGP race from Mugello without my favorite rider because he broke his fibia in multiple places with a nasty highside crash during Saturday's qualifying session. He'll end up missing four races and so his title defense is over.
It's a blah week! I try to be productive at work and manage to offer intelligent and creative help and advice when called for. But when to left to my own, I am un-productive. We are awaiting word from one camp of the DoD and the other camp of NASA/NOAA on our future direction and it is hard to be motivated when we don't know if the current work is adding value to those future efforts.
Throughout the week I continue with the high repetition workouts and abdominal/lower back workouts. I only have a few more of the trying high repetition workouts to go before I increase the weights. Throughout each and every workday and after-work evening I continue to ice my right Achilles tendon which still bothers me from the Boulder running injury on cinco de mayo. This is a long time and I'll be calling the doctor shortly if I still have problems when the anti-inflammatory runs out.
Friday starts with another call to Tree in Thailand. It is raining really hard and I have a hard tme getting a line to start with and then, sometimes, our conversation is drowned out by the rain noise on his roof. Everytime I speak with Mr Tree I miss him more.
At mid morning on Friday I opt for the extended aquarium ride today instead of a planned longer road bicycle ride. I'm lacking motivation today. After a shower I call Terry and ask, "Can I pick up the chainsaw now". And one minute later, after he has agreed, I have to call him back because the battery is dead on the World Wally Car and I cannot pick up the chainsaw. I re-charge the battery enough to get through the day's errands and then put the battery back on the charger. The battery is approaching 7 years old and may not be able to hold a charge anymore. We'll see. Nonetheless, 7 years for a battery in southern California is very good and amazing when one realizes that the World Rally Car does not get driven regularly. In the afernoon I was the Yamaha YZF-R1 and now it almost looks brand new - reflecting the comment I got from a fellow motorbike rider a day or so ago when he told me what great shape the Yamaha looked to be in. Late in the evening I realize that the battery is not going to accept and hold a full charge. Later I get a phone call from Person T_U and he talks about going out clubbing but isn't 100% sure, so I head for bed. I'm asleep before 9:30 tonight.
I sleep in until 6:30 in the morning - good thing that I did not go out clubbing because I needed the sleep. At mid-morning I get in the final high repetition workout with the weights, mow the lawn, and install (though beyond any hope) the battery into the WRC. It does not start. The neighbor's daughter-in-law, who happens to be visiting for other reasons, gives me a ride to the auto parts dealer to exchange my old battery for a new one. And now the World Rally Car should be set for a while (except it probably needs new tires by the end of the summer). After runnign errands I finally borrow the chainsaw from Person T_U and try it out a bit. He mentioned that it probably needs sharpening but I spend 15 minutes cutting branches before I stop for the day (and later sharpen the chain for a productive day of branch trimming on Sunday). And then I relax throughout the rest of the Saturday afternoon and evening.
On Saturday evening I get a call from Person T_U to go see a concert in downtown Long Beaach but I'm laying on the couch and not going to move. I also have a phone call with Person S_Kh but its a difficult call because his phone keeps cutting out. And finally I just head for sleep.
On Sunday I wait until the morning warms up a bit before going cycling. Except that it never does warm up. Thus after trimming and spraying the roses for pests, I get out for the loop ride. It's a good ride and enough for now after last Sunday's long ride. I quickly change clothes and use the sharpened chainsaw to trim up a number of fallen tree branches. The chainsaw works so much better after last night's sharpening with a cicruclar file and soon I'm finished with the major work. After a refreshing shower I cook vegetables and settle in for a very entertaining F1 race from Canada. My favorite driver can only manage 4th with another stricken car, but the race itself is very fun. Afterwards I relax for a bit as it has been a slow but good weekend.
On Monday I increase the weights and drop the repetitions to an intermdieate number of repetitions. I'll only be here for the week. But I feel just plain blah.