I get to work on Tuesday and make great progress with some final details and mo co-workers are happy to know we've fixed these last few details and can get to a final review before geenrating results. Person Ti_Ca sends me a text message with a picture that shows a large bees' nest on my front porch. Now I know where the two bees from last night came from. I call the city of Long Beach and it will be my responsibility since the bees nest is not on public property. But the guy says to get some wasp spray, wait until later in the evening, and spray them - killing them on contact. And this is my plan. Until I get home and am stunned with a bees nest that is one foot wide by two feet long and six inches deep. THere is no way I'm going to spray that mess! So I call some people and within an hour - the time it takes for me to go walking and make a quick stop at the grocery store - the bee man is at my house. It turns out he sucks them into a large vacuum cleaner/trap and sells them. And he's finished within an hour and with $85 of mine in his pocket. But worth every dollar. Later I do more web programming as this project is coming up on a deadline.
Wednesday and Thursday are very productive days at work as I'm just about finished dotting the i's and crossing the t's to have the models and simulations ready to start generating results. I have productive workouts after work with a very heavy lifting session on Wednesday and abdominal and lower back work on Thursday. After the days of heavy lifting my right shoulder hurts a lot even with ice and anti-inflammatory. Maybe I should see the doctor for the stronger anti-inflmmatory that I had when I had ruptured L4/L5 discs. Hmmm...But on Wednesday after I've lifted heavy I pull out the long tree trimming pole and start trimming branches that are getting close to eletrical lines or Internet cable lines. This in itself is a good workout as I'm sweating away - making a mess in the backyard - that will have to be cleaned up later. And as I finish the Thursday workout I wash the motorcycle and clean up the roses for the anticipated wild blooms soon to occur.
Friday starts with a mountain bicycle ride to the pier and back. There are very few cyclists or runners out today because it's a Friday and there is some coastal fog. When I get home I edge and mow the lawn and then get cleaned up. I run errands inlcuding a haircut and getting to the library to pick up a book recommended by my brother and on hold at the library. Person Ti_Ca and I do some homework for a bit of time and then he announces "We need to go cut up all of those tree branches". I had told Person Ti_Ca that I would need his help cleaning up the trimmings but I expected it to happen later in the weekend and only with a struggle. We get out and clean up 90% of the branches until I say that we should quit. Person Ti_Ca has pushed me this far to get to 90% as I wanted to quit for the day a while ago. After a brief rinse in the shower I lay down and rest my back. But soon I'm up again and starting to wax the Yamaha YZF-R1. I get halfway through with it and decide to quit since I'm tired, my shoulder hurts, and it wasn't even scheduled in until Saturday. Later in the evening Person Ti_Ca heads to a club with friends as I relax and head for sleep.
I sleep very poorly on Friday night - tossing and turning and waking up in a sweat multiple times. I do not have any nightmares or bad dreams, I just sleep poorly. Thus I text Derrick on Saturday morning that he'll be riding alone today. I watch the rain-delayed and finalyl rain-postponed qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, water the yard and impatiens, and finish waxing the motorbike before I jump on the mountain bicycle and head down to the pier. I run into another cycling acquaintance, Terry, and we ride together for a while until we part ways for home. I have a relaxing Saturday afternoon and hem and haw on Saturday night and finally decide to just relax and watch some movies and not go out clubbing.
I have difficulty sleeping on Saturday night into Sunday morning. I get up well before 7 am and start the Australian Grand Prix where my favorite driver starts from pole. At a convenient break I get on the mountain bicycle and have a good strong ride to the pier and back - seeing Terry going in the opposite direction just as I'm finishing up. After a shower I watch the rest of the race as my favorite driver has some tire trouble and finishes 3rd. Person Ti_Ca and I do homework before he goes off to the gym for a workout and I relax around the house.
On Monday morning I'm in a fog. I stay in bed an extra 15 minutes because I don't want to face the world. When I get on the motorbike it won't start, it won't even crank over. Until I realize that the kill switch got moved to the kill position during the weekend's cleaning and waxing. I take my time getting to work (because I'm in a fog) but I have a very productive day. I keep saying to myself, "I feel weird and out of it", but I keep seeing good progress at work throughout the day. Late in the day a co-worker comes to me for technical advice and I spot some errors in his work as well as giving him some other tips. As he leaves I say, "Let me know how that works out" because he didn't let me know last time I helped him. When I get home my new motorcycle seat is at the front door. I get in a good workout with the weights where I've dropped the weights a bit to try to ease the load on the shoulder and then I install the new seat - almost stripping a bolt in the process. I can't wait to try out the new seat, a replacement for the 11 year old original seat that had two rips in it, in the morning.
On Tuesday through Thursday I just have the most productive days at work as thigns come together on some good results on the models and simulations I've been working on. There are no steps backward this week as everything comes together. I even throw in a 500 run Monte Carlo simulation for tension uncertainty and get ready to spring that on people on Friday. The workouts are good with the reduced weight workout on Wednesday and a mountain bicycle ride after work to the pier on Thursday.
I have another productive day at work on Friday and even take some work home for the weekend - it's exciting to start getting results after a long struggle. When I get home I lift weights, coold down, and then go walking to the ATM and grocery store. As I leave the ATM I see a man looking intently and studying his ATM slip. He's probably just double checking the balance, but my mind wanders to a story. The man is staring at his slip because he doesn't have enough money for the weekend and he's wondering where he's going to get the money for food and other things for his family. (My mind sometimes makes up these stories about people with no basis in reality at all.) And I start getting depressed knowing that there are many people in the world who wonder where money for tomorrow (or even today) is going to come from. I try to shake it off but the concept pervades my thinking for the rest of the evening. Person Ti_Ca goes to a function with his family and I just sit at home becoming more and more depressed.
Saturday is a good day! It starts with a dry qualifying from Malaysia for the F1 race and the rain starts to make it semi-wet. My favorite driver gets the pole with a very good lap in the rapidly drying conditions. I get out for a mountain bicycle ride to the pier and back home and ym legs feel strong throughout. I follow this up with mowing and trimming the lawn and I'm interupted by a neighbor who works at my company. We talk about the downhill ride that our company is on and when we are going to retire. (I remember when I first moved into this house 26 years ago and I found his company badge in the street gutter in front of my house. I didn't know who he was yet because I had just moved in, so I turned the badge over to security. And much later I met him.) After a shower Person Ti_Ca and I do some homework. In the afternoon I get an error list for one of the websites and I just say, Oh leave me alone". But then I look through the list and plug away at fixing the bugs - most are easy to fix even if I'm not in a "fixing" mood today. Later on Saturday I walk over to a coffeehouse and read a book and enjoy a strawberry smoothie - no laptop interruptions and no friend interruptions.
Sunday starts with the pre-race show From Malaysia for the F1 race and the first few laps where there is rain and a drying track. The leaders have already switched tod ry tires and it is time to ride the bicycle and meet up with Derick. I head north on the Los Angeles river trail and meet up with Derrick. We head for the Long Beach pier and see some usual riders and runners and run into our cycling friend Terry. Terry rides with us towards the end of the ride until I head for home.
After a shower I water the impatiens and finish the Malaysian Grand Prix which sses my favorite driver win in controversioanl "team orders" circumstances. I'm happy that he won but scared of the fallout of his ignoring team orders. During the afternoon I do some mild cleaning around the house.
I have another good day at work on Monday as I clean up some final loose ends and start generating all sorts of great results quickly. The team is happy with the results, thus far, and it will be a while for us to sort through all of the results. At home I get in one final session with the weights before taking the New York vacation time away from the weights to give joints and the shoulder a rest. And I start the packing for the trip.