Between Tuesday and Thursday and between meetings over the days, I work on the previously-mentioned Monte Carlo simulation. Its only the transformation of the results that is bugging us and I keep finding things wrong. This continues to hamper me even until I leave work on Thursday for a three day weekend.
On Tuesday and Thursday I get in decent workouts with the weights without any real shoulder pain and on Wednesday I go for a long walk after work. I don't the specifics, but throughout the wek I feel sad and worthless and have trouble sleeping. I struggle through the feelings and bad sleep and hope that weekend cycling makes my problems go away.
On Friday I start riding the road bicycle north on the Los Angeles river and meet up with Derrick. We keep going up and over the Whittier Narrows dam, down the San Gabriel river trail to the ocean, along the ocean, and back north on the Los Angeles river trail. We each end up with a 55 mile total travel loop though we've started in different places. After the ride I get cleaned up and get two fiction books from the library, do some grocery shopping, and wax the Yamaha YZF-R1. By now I'm tired so I lay on the couch and start reading one of the books. After an hour of reading I go out and edge and mow the lawn and clean the roses. After a shower I start laundry and get down for about an hour nap. When I move the clothes from the washer to the dryer I notice that I am having trouble moving and I am warm, so I lay down some more and find that I have a 1 degree fever. A bit later I take an actifed and help Person Ti_Ca with homework. And hope that the actifed knocks me out for deep sleep and to relieve the fever (probably brought on and amplified by overdoing the day).
I sleep poorly on Friday night and when I finally awake (unalarmed) at 6:40 am I can barely move any bodyparts. But I eventually get moving and start Saturday with reviewing the motorcycle roadracing qualifying from Valencia, Spain over the Internet. Of the three classes, two have championship deciding races on Sunday and the two riders that I want to win get the pole position for their races. I take the mountain bicycle for a ride to the end of the bicycle trail and back and feel no effects of yesterday's fever. I run into Michael of Rad Racing and he recognizes me and we chat for a bit. His group starts riding in the same direction that I'm going so we just ride on and continue chatting. Their group keeps saying they are having an easy ride but it's so easy that I stay up with them and carry on conversations even though I'm on the mountain bicycle and they are on road bicycles. After the ride I get down on my hands and knees and wax the rims of the Yamaha YZF-R1 and then have lunch. Later in the afternoon I get down for a 60 minute nap. When I wake up plans have changed. Person Ti_Ca and I were supposed to have dinner with sister and mother, but now we are on our own. We drive down to 2nd Street in Long Beach and choose a mediteranean food restaurant that we have been to in the past and we enjoy our dinners.
I sleep horribly on Saturday night. I keep waking up and feel like I might have a fever though I am only about 0.2 degrees above a typical body temperature for me. I put on the cycling clothes and start north on the Los Angeles river until I met up with Derrick. At that point we turn around and go all the way back down to the Long Beach pier, grab some fluids or gel, and then head for our respective homes. It ends up being about 50 miles for each of us. Though I am very tired, I don't do bad during the cycling. I watch the MotoGP, Moto3, and Moto2 races and my favorite riders, who happens to be a Moto3 rdier, loses the world championship on the last lap. But the other races go in favor of riders that I wanted to win. Late in the afternoon Person Ti_Ca and I do some homework before I relax and get in some reading.
Monday is not a good day. First thing in the morning the motorcycle won't start so I have to roll the bike back to the garage and pull the car out. Fortunately it is Veteran's day and there is not much traffic. But I dread tomorrow if I have to drive. The day at work is not good either because I keep thinking of why my motorcycle would not start, but I do make progress on some recent sticking points. The feelings of sadness and worthlessness are slightly with me today. As soon as I get home I pull the battery out of the motorcycle and recharge it - hoping that will cure the problem. I get in a workout with the weights and feel no shoulder pain - maybe because I am angry about the motorcycle not starting and wondering what is wrong with it. Later in the evening I re-install the battery in the motorcycle after it has charged to 13.2 Volts. The bike starts up and runs well. I wait for an hour for everything to cool back down and measure the battery voltage at just below 13 Volts bt the motorcycle starts right up. THus I put everything back together and button it up and start it once more to be sure. I hope it starts in the morning!
The motorcycle does start in the morning and I ride to work and be productive. There are some meetings that I contribute in and some other work where I make a lot of progress. At the end of the day I ride home and the motorcycle quits running on me about two minutes from work. But it starts right back up and continues on home. This is the odd behavior that I had a couple years ago. I go walking for 45 minutes after work and then I work on some take-home work before helping Person Ti_Ca qith his homework before a later job interview that he has.
Of course the motorcycle doesn't start on Wednesday morning so I drive to work in traffic. People really put up with this mess everyday of their lives? I have an okay day at work and stop in at a motorcycle repair shop to pick up a new battery for my motorcycle. When I get home there are more motorcycle parts that I have ordered online, but I get in a good session with the weights with some lower repetition, higher weights. My shoulder doesn't hurt at all. Of course when I start working on the motorcycle it starts right up (before I have even replaced anything). But I repalce a few parts including the new battery and it starts and feels strong. We'll see what happens in the morning. And I won't get to installing the new front brake pads until the weekend. I'm supposed to go hang out with Person J_V but he gets confused and instead I enjoy some alone time at home as Person Ti_Ca has his late class.
On Thursday morning the motorcycle starts right up and runs flawlessly. I have a productive day at work - probably because I'm not wondering what is wrong with the motorcycle. When it is time to go home I try to start the motorcycle and it won't start at first and throws the error code 19 again. But switching the bike off and back on and it starts right up. Maybe my problems aren't over yet. I go out walking for 45 minutes and grab a shower before driving down to CSULB to pick up Person J_V to go hang out at the Library coffeehouse. I used to come here regularly to read and hang out but I have probably only been here once in the last few years.
Friday is an okay day at work. I get there early because I have a long meeting. So I get some work done and make good progress before the 8 am until 1pm meeting. After the meeting I am wiped out but go talk with people that I owe something to or need to get information from. I get pulled into another meeting until, at 4:30 pm, I say that I cannot take any more and I leave for home. When I get home I lift weights heavy. Perhaps this was a bit of a mistake because the shoulder bothers me a bit for the next couple of days.
Saturday starts with a good ride along the Los Angeles river where I meet up with Derrick and we ride against the wind for half of the ride towards the ocean and with the wind on the way home. Today is a strong headwind down the Los Angeles river but I just put my head down and ride - there's no point in complaining about the wind. Just ride your best and realize it will be somewhat slower. After the ride I get a shower and run some errands and than watch F1 qualifying where my favorite drive gets the pole for the race at the Circuit of the Americas. Afterwards Person Ti_Ca and I run an errand and then I start in to replace the front brake pads on the Yamaha YZF-R1. For some reason, and I remeber this from the last time, the right rotor pair is a pain to get off because the cotter pins are buried deep and the left rotor pair is easy to get off because the cotter pins are easy to get to. (This is not a design feature but just the way they were initially installed at the factory and then how I reinstalled them the last time that I did the brakes.) Person Ti_Ca comes out and helps me with the brakes because he can see I am struggling and he just wants to learn about them. Afterwards I do a bit of cleaning around the house and relax as Person Ti_Ca does homework. Later I help Person Ti_Ca with homework and then I actually work on a presentation for work as Person Ti_Ca goes off to a family function.
I don't sleep well on Saturday night but I'm out the door to go for a bicycle well before 7 am. Today I take the mountain bicycle to the end of the bicycle trail past the pier and turn around and head for home. I can tell that my legs would be problemmatic if I had gone for a long ride, so this ride is perfect. When I get home I rake some leaves, feed the impatiens, trim the roses, take a shower, run some errands, and sweep and clean the hardwood floors. (Actually Person Ti_Ca sweeps the floors and I'm left to get on my hands and knees and clean them.) All of this occurs before 11 am and it is time for the F1 race where my favorite driver goes on to win a comfortable race with some decent battles throughout the field. I relax in the afternoon and do small things around the house before a 4pm teleconference and then a 5 pm teleconference. It turns out both organizations have promised progress by tonight and I ask them when they were going to tell me (who is doing the work)? Thus after the teleconferences I work on two different websites for adoptions and public health information while the Sunday night football game is on in the background. Person Ti_Ca has family duties since his brother is getting married soon, so I'm left alone to be a geek on the web.
I have a good day at work. I help a number of people with some technical problems, offer to coach a co-worker and her co-worker through some issues, and step back and realize the amount of progress I've actually made in the last few weeks (even if I didn't always feel productive or good about myself). But I end up staying late at work helping people. So by the time I get home I'm tired and just cook dinner and watch the football game. No workout today.