I continue the good momentum at work on Tuesday and through to Thursday morning. By late Thursday morning and into Thursday afternoon I am burnt out and ready for a three day weekend. I get in good workouts with the weights on both Tuesday and Thursday. But using the same weight levels, Tuesday's workout is a struggle and Thursday's is quite a bit easier. Why is that? On Tuesday after a one hour phone call and after helping Person Ti_Ca with homework, we get into a discussion which turns into an argument. This goes on until midnight when we both decide we need to sleep.
After Thursday's workout I do some web programming and help Person Ti_Ca with homework. I seem to be getting a partial silent treatment and so it is good that he and his sister and another friend are leaving for San Francisco for the weekend on Friday morning.
I thought that I would be tired and sleep well on Friday night, but I don't. I keep waking up. EVentually at 4:20 in the morning I get up and watch F1 qualifying from India (which was recorded a couple hours earlier). And I also go check the MotoGP qualifying from Motegi, Japan where weather is playing havocwith the weekend and where a co-worker is currently visiting. When the light pokes throgh I put on my winter riding shell (or jacket) and take the mountain bicycle down to the pier and back. I'm a bit tired from Friday's ride, but its good nonetheless. And I also notice some chord showing through on the rear tire and need to buy new tires for this bicycle. After a shower I have two big plates of spaghetti and work on websites and prepare some materials for Person Ti_Ca's homework (for when he returns on Sunday). I end up getting down for an almost two hour nap at 2 pm. Hopefully this evening's activities will allow me to sleep well on Saturday night.
When I wake up a bit after 6 am on Sunday the weather looks nice. So I start north on the Los ANgeles river and the farther north that I get the foggier the weather gets and actually starts misting. I'm unprepared for the cold weather but just keep riding north until I meet up with Derrick (pretty much at his entry point). We start back down the Los Angeles river and both of us are tired and we go at a reasonable pace except for some surges and bursts of speed greater than 22 mph. As we get to the pier and turn around we see the tandem-riders from last week and we greet them, but since they are going in the opposite direction this time we continue on our way. I'm glad when my exit comes becomes I can leave and go relax. After a shower I put on warm clothes because I'm afraid the cold, wet weather will contribute to me getting sick. I watch the recorded F1 race from India where my favorite driver wins again despite being on a non-optimal strategy and becomes world champion. I switch to the Lions game and see that they are losing by 6 points with 1 minute to play and consider turing the game off, but I leave it on. The Lions move down the field with three critical plays and with 7 seconds to play they get into the endzone and (assuming they make the extra point), they will win the game. I'm jumping up and down in the living room and yelling so loud that I think the neighbors might call the police on me. But the Lions win! From the ecstacy of the Lions win I check the Internet and see that Lou Reed has died. I start crying uncontrollably and it takes me playing the Velvelt Undergound's (with Lou Reed) "Heroin) many times before I regain my composure. Finally I turn on the recorded MotoGP race from Motegi, Japan where a co-worker has traveled to. I watch the MotoGP race and see a tightening world championship race and I see my favorite Moto2 rider clinch the Moto world championship.
On Tuesday night after a boring day at work I'm yelling and screaming because my favorite Moto3's riders protagonist has been crashed into on the opening lap and I'm starting to count the points that my favorite rider will need. But as he rides in a comfortable third place that would allow him to lead the Moto3 world championship going into the final race, he crashes, remounts, and finishes in 25th place. I am bitterly disappointed but this sets up a three way literally "winner take all" Moto3 race in two weeks time.
On Halloween there are some people dressed up at work and our little group has a little party, and afterwards I stay in my office and work away at borning things. I'm stuck in a big rut right now and can't get out.
On Saturday I plan to ride extra long and I feel good when I start the the ride north on the LoS Angeles river and meet up with Derrick. I'm a bit late because a neighbor caught me before 7 am and wanted to talk about my new bicycle. But I have to leave. Derrick and I have a great ride and he's surprised when I don't turn off at my exit (which would be about a 54 mile ride). Instead I continue to pull Derrick north and eventually I turn around and head for home. Its a 105 kilometer (65 mile) ride. When I get home I wash the bicycle down and trim the roses and note that I have to look at the front end stearing head that is making noise. I watch qualifying from Abu Dhabi for F1 and my favorite driver gets second to his teammate. After a giant plate of pasta I have somewhat recovered from the ride and change both the front and rear tires of the mountain nicycle because both of them are getting old and I want to avoid flat tires in the future. When I've finished I realzie that I mounted the two new tired with e wrong rotation direction. I know this won't effect anything serious for a ride or two so I don't worry about it.
On Monday at work I volunteer to fix up a Monte Carlo simulation to give us the right data in the right orientations. It seems like a streaigh-forward thing to do, yet over the enxt few days I keep chasing my tail on thsi effort. Right when I am about to declare victory, I find something still wrong with the results. Fortunately we don't need the results for a while. I also work on other things, but the chasing of my own tail gets me down over the next few days.