On April fools day I don't play any practical jokes on anyone and don't see any played on anybody else. After a lackluster day at work, Person Ti_Ca and I meet up at the car dealer and test drive the used Scion TC that we looked at the other day. We try to negotiate a lower price but are stuck with the original price. Nonetheless we buy the car and will pick it up on Wednesday after work. When I get home I go walking to the grocery store and then just be a vegetable at home.
Wednesday and Thursday are blah days at work as I struggle to understand some weird simulation results and attend meetings. I take some time during the day to visit the company's retirement website and play with some other retirement scenarios and it becomes obvious to me that it is close to time to leave. Just by chance I'm talking with a friend of mine at work and he says to me, "I have to get out of this job that I'm in. I need your job because you are always smiling." So now I note that I have found my replacement when I do decide to leave and this gives me ammunition for use on my bosses who won't let me leave. I have a very heavy session with the weights on Wednesday - possibly approaching my heaviest ever - and I feel no aftereffects in the shoulder. On Thursday I go walking after work and then do some web programming. On both nights I catch the Los Angeles Kings' ice hockey game as they clinch a playoff spot and make their run for the Stanley Cup.
On Thursday night I have trouble sleeping because the inside of my lower left leg - just below the knee - is hurting. I surf the Internet for a while and read for a while and try to figure out why my leg hurts. And then it hits me (literally). On Wednesday when Person Ti_Ca and I brought the new car home, we opened up the hood and I was looking through the engine compartment again. Person Ti_Ca started the car and the next thing I know he's let the clutch out and stalled the car - but not before the car bumped into my left side. This would be 36 to 48 hours ago which is exactly when the pain would be a maximum. While not sleeping I put an ice pack on the leg and eventually get back to sleep.
Friday is a day full of meetings and that gives me an excuse to not be productive and daydream away the meetings. I do contribute when necessary, but I'm not really at work. When I get home I lift very heavy weights again, mow the lawn, trim near the street, and spot water some bare spots in front. There is a First Friday event going on tonight, but I'm not feeling well mentally and so I just stay at home and watch some television.
Saturday starts with a great mountain bicycle ride down to the old yacht club and with an extra extension. Today there are many people at the old yacht club with windsurf boards and kayaks and fishing gear, but I don't know what is going on there. After getting cleaned up Person Ti_Ca go to the bank and to the insurance agent and to the library and to Home Depot. Near 2 pm I finally get tow watch qualifying for the Grand Prix of Bahrain. Later on Saturday night my riding partners start whimping out on me for a Sunday morning ride. And I'm kind of glad because I'm dragging and feel like I need a day off or a short ride for once.
I have trouble sleeping on Saturday night again. But I get out the door before 7 am to go ride the mountain bicycle to the end of the ocean trail and then add in some extra for a good two hour ride. I watch an okay Grand Prix of Bahrain and do some reading and note that my lower back is hurting today. It's a good thing it was a shorter ride. Throughout the day I watch some television and do some reading and do some web programming and otherwise kinda feel blah.
My lower back on the right side is hurting a lot on Monday morning. I struggle through the day and note that it feels good on the motorcycle since the riding position is stretching the back. So I take creative breaks at work to try and stretch the back whenever I can, but it still hurts. I ride on home and lift weights. There is one lift that is hard on the lower back so I don't lift the heavy weights for that lift. Other lifts are okay though I note that the lifts are a struggle today. Afterwards I take a strong anti-inflammatory that I have left over from the shoulder problem and within an hour my back is feeling better. Is it from the anti-inflammatory or the lifting or just time? My neighbor calls me and we talk about the elections because neither of us can find anybody good to vote for mayor in tomorrow's voting. So we both agree to write my name in for mayor.
On Tuesday morning my boss starts out with her presentation. I am supposed to have a majority of this presentation, but we thought that she should go first to set the context for my work. Together we initially had two hours to present and we cut it down to 90 minutes. My boss starts and she is unindated with good questions and time is ticking away. More than 90 minutes into the presentation, the review lead from NASA comes over to me and says that he's going to have to postpone my part of the presentation until a later date. I just say, "It's not a problem at all. It's your meeting". My boss finally finishes just short of two hours and comes over to our team who have attended the meeting to support each other. My boss and I just start laughing at the scenario as she says, "Mine was supposed to be the short part". I'm a bit disappointed that I got nervous before the presentation and practiced it (because I haven't presented in public for a year or so) and now I don't get to go. After work I stop in at home and go walking. During the walk I go vote (writing myself in for mayor of Long Beach) and stop off and buy some groceries. When I get home I trim the roses and spot water the yard and then relax and read on the couch. The strong anti-inflammatory is helping the lower back but it is not fully recovered yet.
Wednesday is a fairly-productive day as I've set up some analysis that my boss and I spoke about the previous day. She's surprised when I show her some raw data, but then she realizes that she shouldn't be. We talk about the data and how to post-process it to draw conclusions from it. When I get home I water the impatiens and have a heavy session with the weights. The lower back is still noticeable but much better. Today is the day that I start to lose a few pounds and I have a good day keeping the fat content and calorie content down.
I'm tired of work and take Thursday off (to go along with our flex Friday and give me four days away from work). I wanted to ride long this morning, but there is thick fog. So I wait a bit and then take the mountain bicycle down to the end of the ocean path and back (and add a bit on also). I see the final preparations being made on the streets for the Long Beach Indy car weekend this weekend. After cleaning the roses and getting cleaned up, Person Ti_Ca comes back with a "check engine" light on in his newer car. I look around everything and ask him questions and see that the gas cap is loose. This can cause the light to be on, but you need a computer to fix it. So after we go to Cal State Long Beachto walka round te campus a bit and take care of some paperwork, we stop by a Khmer mechanic in Long Beach and he resets the light and agrees that the gasoline cap probably caused the problem. The rest of the day is spent finishing my taxes, reading, watching the Los Angeles Kings, and helping co-workers remotely (becasue I checked my work email from home).
On Friday I get out for a mountain bicycle ride near the track for the Long Beach Grand Prix, out near the Queen Mary, and then down near the port of Long Beach. A real mishmash ride today. When I get home I edge and mow the lawn and clean up more of the juniper trimmings. Maybe two more weeks and they will be gone. After relaxing for a bit I go send my taxes off, mail a "Ben is Dead" zine off that I just sold on eBay, get two more books from the library, and pick up a couple of things from the grocery store. In the afternoon I'm going to lay down on the couch and read but Person Ti_Ca wants to wash his car and claybar it. So as he washes the car I spray down the junipers in front to prevent spider mites from attacking and then we claybar the car. It looks better but still needs a little bit of detail work. Later on Friday I ride a bicycle over to a coffeehouse and read for a while. Person Ti_Ca walks over from work during his break. And later I ride home in the dark for sleep.
Saturday starts with a ride up to and over the Whittier Narrows dam and back down the San Garbiel river trail. As I'm leaving the dam a group of three riders passes me and I let them go. But a few miles down the road I'm picking up the pace and eventually reel them back in and lead them for the last 5 miles until I take my turnoff for home. When I get home I clean up the roses and spot water the lawn and then get cleaned up. Person Ti_Ca has gone hiking with family and friends so I do small cleaning around the house. Late in the afternoon my neighbor (of 26 years) calls me and we go to the backyard and see something alive and living in a tree on our border. We get within 10 feet of it but don't want to disturb it. Later as she keeps checking on the animal it decides to move around and she gets a picture of it - its a raccoon. And it appears to be living in the tree on her side of the boundary. And I just say that if it gets scary or has baby raccoons that she might have to call animal control. But we've both seen squirrels, possum, raccons, and coyotes around so we're not going to do anything rash yet.
On Sunday I'm lazy, so I mill around the house fora bit and then take the mountain bicycle north on the Los Angeles river trail. On this ride I cross over to the real Los Angeles river trail that heads towards downtown Los Angeles rather than the Rio Hondo that goes to the Whittier Narrows dam. When I get to the end of the trail I slow down and make a sharp u-turn and hit some gravel and fall onto the ground. My right knee/shin is scraped up, my right elbow is scraped up, and my right hip took a hit but is not bleeding. I have to straighten out the seat of the bicycle and then when I start riding for home I cannot shift gears. Regardless I make it back home spinning in a lower gear than usual, clean off the scrapes, and apply an antibacterial. This is my punishment for being lazy and not riding long on the road bicycle - I would not have been on this trail which is overgorwn with weeds and sometimes dirty. (But provides interesting viewing with all of the graffiti and metalworking shops and yards.) After watching Moto2 and motoGp races and some of the Long Beach Grand Prix, I get restless and ride a bicycle to a nearby coffeehouse to read and work on web programming. I end up jus doing some web programming and no reading.
On Monday I sleep in until almost 6 am and go to work late since I know that a meeting is going to run late. I have a good day at work and make good progress. When I get home I watch the Motoe3 race from the previous day and am disappointed when my favorite rider gets fourth. I go cleant he roses and spot water the yard and don't get in a workout today because I'm lazy. Except that later in the evening I do get in a decent workout for the abdominalsd and lower back as I hope to strech and strengthen the lower back which gave me problems last week. Afterwards I help Person Ti_Ca with a bt of homework before he goes off to another Khmer new year's party.