Tuesday is another productive day at work followed by heavy lifting afterwards. I'm continuing to work through the reading pile and I finish the second of the four books that I borrowed from the library last Friday.
By Friday I've had semi-productive days at work and increased the weights at home. Though I sleep very well each night from the heavy lifting, I still crawl through the days. Late on Friday night Person Ch_C comes to visit and we talk about a lot of things and enjoy each other's company as we catch up on things since last weekend.
Satruday starts with qualifying for the F1 race in Singapore (under the lights). My afvorite driver makes the smallest error on his qualifying run and has to settle for second position (but still on the front row for Sunday's race). Before 10 am I start out on the road bicycle for the loop ride. Right from the start the pedals are not turning over easily and I'm slow. I get halfway around the ride and I'm dragging the entire way. By three-quarters distance everything hurts - my lower back hurts, my hands hurts, and my neck/shoulders hurt. So I end up just crawling on home. Where did this difficulty come from? I take a shower, finish the third book, and take the mountain bicycle in for a tuneup - there are some broken spokes to be fixed and both wheels need truing. On the way home I drop off the three read books at the library, do some grocery shopping, and then relax. Today is very hot, so I have the house closed up with the air conditioning running. It's all I can do to relax and read after the tough bicycle ride has worn me out.
Person Ch_C comes by near 6:30 and we head for dinner with an intermediate stop at a grocery store. Today we have vietnamese food with a number of other people. Today's dinner is okay but a bit bland. Afterwards the group goes to have frozen yogurt though I just go to hang out with everyone. By 9 pm I'm back at home and preparing for sleep. Except that a satellite launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is scheduled for 9:41 pm, so I share the information with Person T_U and we both manage to see the rocket, the burn out of the first stage, and the second stage burn before the rocket and satellite go out of view. It's a space based space surveillance mission to map out the orbital debris in space. And then I drop off for sleep.
Sunday starts with an eventfull Grand Prix of Singapore where my favorite drivers ends up a close second place. After the race I get out riding on the road bicycle and here's another day where the pedals aren't turning over very well at all. It's still good to get out on the bicycle, but I'm scratching my head as to why the last two days of riding have been so difficult. When I get home I spend a bit of time cleaning the road bicycle up before relaxing. Today is another hot day, so I stay inside the house and relax, read, and watch football games. Later in the evening Person Ch_C comes to visit and we drive down to the beach and walk along the beach. We walk for almost an hour and enjoy the cooling weather. And I'm back at home to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Monday is going to be a hot day! When all is said and done, Long Beach records a temperature of 111F. This is the hottest day ever recorded in Long Beach. I work away at work and try to stay productive and then have a great session with the weights for the push muscle group. Afterwards I spend a few minutes trimming roses and then I head inside where the air conditioning is running. But by bedtime the day has cooled off so that windows can be opened and fans can be used.
The workweek is very frsutrating. There are a number of meetings with the customer technical representatives who cannot compromise. By Thursday afternoon my boss, who is the gentlest person, comes in to my office to vent his frustrations and his voice is raised and there is mass frustration in his demeanor. Later others come to my office to vent. I do not know why everyone chose my office to come and be frustrated unless they finally know how I've felt (about these customer technical representatives) for some time. Needless to say I take out my frustrations with good workouts on each night after work.
Friday starts with the horrible news that another MotoGP rider, Dani Pedrosa, has crashed and suffered a broken collarbone - thus, in effect, ending his title chase. I get results from a bloodtest, stop in at the library, buy an international calling card, and buy a birthday present for Person Ch_C before settling down for lunch. I go to the typical Cambodiatown market to get the calling card and ask in Thai for the card. The first lady points me to a man who speaks Thai and directs the lady in English where the calling cards are. As I'm speaking Thai a few people come to the front of the store to see what is going on and are curious as to why I am speaking Thai and the Thai man and Khmer lady are speaking English. Well, it makes for a lot of smiles. Today is another hot day but still continuing the slow colling trend since Monday's all-time scorcher. Late in the afternoon Person Ch_C comes over and insists on giving me a haircut. So I sit outside and let him cut away and he does a very nice job.
On Saturday morning I mill about the house until it is time for the bicycle ride. I get out for the loop ride on the road bicycle and get caught in two separate rain storms during the ride. I just keep on riding but the second rain is hard enough such that some cyclists have taken shelter under overpasses though I didn't think the rainw as that hard. As opposed to last weekend's two rides where I thought I was going to die the entire time, today;s ride goes well and I'm wondering about the extreme variability. At mid afternoon I ask Person Ch_C for a ride to pick up the mountain bicycle after the tuneup and we make a quaick stop to wash his car first at a powerwash business. When I get the mountain bicycle back it has a rear flat tire and I just say "It wasn't flat when I brought it in". But it feels good to be back on the mountain bicycle as I ride it home and enjoy it.
Sunday is another day of bicycle riding where I feel strong and the mountain bicycle feels good. I manage to catch the MotoGP and Moto2 races from Japan and see a tremendous battle with fairing banging for the final podium position in the MototGP race. And I have a slow day the rest of the day with some football games on the telelvision and some reading.
Monday is a good day at work and I only get a little wet on the motorbike during the rain. After work I get in another good session with the weights.