On Tuesday morning I wake up with a bit less than a 0.5 degree fever and this confirms what I've felt for a few days - I'm coming down with a bit of something. I struggle through the work day but then have a great session with the weights on the pull muscle group. This is the hottest day of the year, so I actually turn the air conditioning on after my workout to cool the house down. Person Ch_C comes over for a surprise visit and since both of us feel like we're coming down with something, we have a short visit. When Person Ch_C leaves for home I go let the cat back into the neighbors house - I usually delay this as late as possible since the neighbor's house is very warm (if not hot) and I don't want the cat to be stuck in there.
On Wednesday I want to get out for an interval bicycle ride, but I get a phonecall from Person M_Fl and I end up meeting him at 4:30. Since he's broken up with his partner he needs to borrow some money and he brings me some antibiotics since I've been feeling under the weather and can't quite kill off a bit of a sore throat. Person Ch_C pays a surprise visit so Person M_Fl and Person Ch_C get to meet each other. Nonetheless by the time that I get rid of everyone it is too late to go cycling. I guess today is the first day of antibiotics and a rest day.
I have trouble sleeping on Wednesday night (due to a missed day of exercise?). When I wake up I have a 0.7 degree fever. I cannot get the antibiotics into me soon enough. On the ride to work I almost run off the road once and almost hit another car (my fault) - is it the sickness or the antibiotics or what? Throughout the day I have a productive day at work and vary between feeling pretty good and feeling weird. When I get home I do the push workout and manage to lift some very heavy weights (despite being a bit under the weather). And then I go to the Library coffeehouse to meet up with Ruby. We have a good visit and I'm back home for sleep near 10 pm.
On Friday I am dragging. I make it through work reasonably well and sound almost coherent when asked by our new customer some technical questions. I leave work a shade early and get in a good heavy pull workout, mow the lawn, take a shower, perform my CatWatch 2010 duties, and get the backyard watered. And hope for deep sleep to kill off the semi-illness.
I wake up on Saturday with a 1.2 to 1.5 degree fever. Thus the day starts with a wild qualifying session from Spa, Belgium where half of the track is wet and half is dry, then it completely dries out, and then the wet/dry parts of the track are reversed at the end of the session. My favorite driver ends up a disappointing 4th. When the morning is a bit warmer I get out for the extended aquarium ride and do well until the last couple miles where the fever/illness takes over. I spend the afternoon relaxing and resting and hoping to recover. Late in the afternoon I get out walking for 30 minutes and for the first time since it was injured my Achilles tendon does not hurt.
I make progress on some simulations at work on Monday through Thursday. Some of it is just tediously stepping through and finding bugs before moving on to the next one. But it's progress. Each of the nights sees some very heavy lifting with separate push/pull workouts. And each night sees some very deep sleep. My fever is gone and only a slight cough left as we head towards the four day labor day weekend. Person Ch_C comes over on both Wednesday night and Thursday night and we go walking up and over Signal Hill on Thursday before driving around and getting something cold to drink at a place near CSULB. I watch all of the young kids come in and out of the shop and Person Ch_C notes that I am the oldest person in the place and he is second oldest. I'm finally getting down for sleep near 1 am.
I sleep late on Friday morning until 7 am. I let the day warm up a bit before going out for the extended aquarium ride. I'm tired and every body part lets me know. After the ride I run some errands and spend a lot of time on Friday afternoon reading and recovering. Late in the afternoon I get out and edge, mow, and trim the lawn before another cool shower. I'm done for the day. Or am I? Later Person T_U calls and I'm ready to join him at clubs for fun. But near 10 pm when it is time to leave I call Person T_U and tell him that I'm going to sleep because I can barely stand up and keep my eyes open at this early hour. And then I drop off for sleep.
On Saturday morning I'm glad that I stayed in. I had good sleep and feel good. After a few little things I go get the car washed and get out for the extended aquarium bicycle ride. I feel good during the ride and a cool shower refreshes me. In the middle of the day I exchange text messages with Person Cy_V who I have not heard from in a year or two. It's funny that I was just thinking about him and talking about him to another friend recently. In the early evening Person Ch_C picks me up and we have dinner at the Thai restaurant again with a total of ten people. All of the people are nice and it is a fun dinner. And I'm able to practice my Thai language skills again. We leave dinner near 9 pm because we are both tired.
On Sunday I get up early to watch the MotoGP race from Italy. The race is okay but I'm thrown into a huge depression when they announce at the end of the MotoGP race that one of my favorite Moto2 riders, Shoya Tomizawa, has immediatley put on old clothes and go and wash and wwax Person Ch_C's car so that I can try and forget about my depression. After Person Ch_C leaves - excited to have a bright shiny car again - I watch the Moto2 race and see the terrible accident that leads to Shoya's passing. Late in the afternoon I get out for the aquarium ride to de-depress myself. I exchange text messages with Person Cy_V who wants me to attend a rave from 9 pm that goes until 6 am. I think about it and I finally send out a text to Person Cy_V after 10pm that says "I'm fragile and beat and in bed". And I drop off for some deep sleep. When I wake up in the middle of the night I see that I have three text messages from various people that I've slept through.
Labor Day starts with some recovery after the deep sleep. I get out for a mid-morning extended aquarium ride while it is still chilly down near the ocean. This is the fourth ride in four days and now my legs are tired. ANd I'm anxious to start lifting weights again but that can wait until Tuesday as I stick with the pre-planned four days off from lifting. Labor Day itself is very slow and I just relax and read and recover. I want to see and hang out with Person Ch_C but I refrain in order to give him some space and we just have a nice phone conversation in the evening.