Tuesday is a slow day at work though I acccomplish some test preparations, some documentation, and some fixing of discrepancies in a model and simulation. When I leave late from work, since I'm making up time prior to Wednesday's orthopedic doctor visit, I get home and do some watering of plants and stuff and just relax. Today is an off day since I'm lazy.
I take Thursday off to make it a five day weekend. I start out towards the Whitter Narrows dam on the road bicycle but I can tell from the very start that this is going to be a difficult day. I continue past the Whittier Narrows dam and make it almost to the Santa Fe dam before I decide that I better utrrn around and head for home because the legs aren't lively today. I drag myself down the San Gabriel river trail and just try to keep the pedals turning over since various body parts hurt and my legs are finished. EVentually I get back home after 50 miles of riding and I'm finished. After a shower I lay on the bed for a few minutes and then try to re-hydrate before getting a haircut, dropping off books at the library, and buying the glucosamine. I relax around the house because I'm still finished until the plumber comes. It turns out the supplier has sent the wrong part again but by taking the first delivery and second delivery apart we're able to get what we need. Later Person Ti_Ca intend to watch a downloaded version of "City of Ghosts" but the file is mislabeled and we watch some movie with Mel Gibson in a Mexican prison that is mostly in Spanish. Later I have a teleconference with one of my side ventures and then I collapse into bed.
On Saturday, after a pretty good night of sleep, I do some gardening before heading out on the mountain bicycle for the pier. I can tell that my legs, and entire organism for that matter, is a bit drained. But I stay on top of a good gear and only at the end of the ride do I start tailing off. In the afternoon Person Ti_Ca and I go to a beach festival in Hermosa Beach. Other people have been invited but are busy. It's a boring festival with tribute bands and we happen to be stuck with a Rod Stewart tribute band. I didn't like ROd Stewart's music in the 1970's, why should I like it now? We end up walking around and spending about 90 minutes there before we head for home and have dinner at Souplantation With Dennis. After dinner I continue working through the reading of all of the books that I got from the library.
Labor Day starts with me physically hungover from the last four days of cycling. So I mill about the house and water the impatiens before going out on the mountain bicycle down to the pier and back. I originally wanted to go long on the road bike, but that doesn't happen. My legs are stronger than expected after four consecutive days of riding in hot weather. When I get home I cut the roses back by one-third to promote a second bloom season in 8 weeks and I scrub the new motorcycle tire. After a shower I relax a bit and then Person Ti_Ca and I do homework.
Wednesday is a productive as I turn my attention to a completely different task. I put together a Monte Carlo simulation for a nonlinear system and get it working before day's end. I script the runs so that a 1000 analysis Monte Carlo simulation will be done for one test configuration by the time that I get to work on Thursday morning. It should be interesting to try and interpret the results. I lift the same weights as last week after 6 days off of lifting. The shoulder hurts during lifting but doesn't seem to hurt 30 minutes later. Am I making progress? I finally get tothe Moto3 race from Silverstone where my favorite younger rider gets a very close second place.
I dont have a good Friday at work. I've received a new model and it is not set up well and is cumbersone to strip out the features that I don't need. So I end up working almost the entire day on it and can see the light at the end of the tunnel as the day ends. For lunch we take a summer intern out as he is leaving to start at the University of California at Santa Cruz. And as everyone is talking and giving advice, I just say, "Don't accept it when somebody says you can't do something. Go prove them wrong". When I get home I lift weights and notice the shoulder pain is down more, though still present, and then mow and trim the lawn. Person Ti_Ca is out with a friend so I have a relaxing evening watching movies and looking forward to the Saturday and Sunday rides and F1 race.
That was my Saturday morning and I eventually return a couple of books to the library and do some grocery shopping and watch qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza where my favorite driver gets the pole. Because it is hot today I turn on the air conditioning and do a lot of paperwork around the house, reading, and watching a free HBO/CMAX weekend on DirecTV and then later help Person Ti_Ca with homework.
Monday is a good day. By the time that I have ridden the motorbike to work and pulling into the parking lot I have realized what is wrong with the model and simulation from last week. (I didn't even think about work all weekend and now, just as I arrive at work, the solution to my problem has popped into my head!) I implement the solution and now the model runs well and I get results to be passed along. I also make progress on two other tasks and then quit for the day. Throughout the day there are a number of people who come up to me and tell me and told me that they have heard about my idea to make a counter-offer to Northrop Grumman's non-retirement offer and they are working on their own. What have I created? Everyone is going to beat me to the punch! When I get home I lift the same weights as last week and except for a few instances, the shoulder does not hurt. We'll see how it holds up throughout the night. I help Person Ti_Ca with some homework and then do some web programming before going off to read and sleep.