On Tuesday I'm enthused to get to work and get things started. My simulations have run but I find a problem with them and they have to be re-run. It's okay - we have to get it right. While other things are going on I start doing an ethics and export compliance training over the web for the company. But the web and browser keep crashing and make me re-start the training. So everytime the browser or web crashes I fill out an "incident ticket" with the IT people at the company. If they can be irritating by having online training classes that don't work properly, then I'm going to be irritating and let them know. I've filled out a few "incident tickets" by mid-morning. Later in the early afternoon we get a mass email indicating that the training website is crashing and that we shouldn't try to do our online training until further notice. "Duh, do you think you've got a problem?" Today is a very hot and dry day so I let the afternoon cool before getting in a heavy workout with the weights. This is going to hurt on Wednesday.
During this entire week the temperature is just blazing with highs near 100F even in Long Beach. After work on Wednesday I take the mountain bicycle and do a number of intervals down the Los Angeles river trail. (Intervals - all out sprints for a given time period followed by a recovery period.) I get down to the aquarium and turn back and face a nasty headwind all of the way home. There are no more intervals but I push the entire way. As I ride up to the house Person Ti_Ca is leaving for work and I just drop the bike on the front yard and lay down - I'm entirely beat.
Thursday and Friday at work are good days. I've gone back to a task that I had and let sit for a week because I didn't like or understand the results. But now as I sort through the results I see that they are making sense and giving great results. Sometimes it helps to sit on things for a while and let their thoughts simmer away inside your head. Friday after work I have a heavy session with the weights and mow the lawn. And watch the Los Angeles Kings come out "a-stormin" and win game 7 of their playoff series.
Saturday starts with checking out qualifying for the MotoGP race in France and then a mountain bicycle ride to the old yacht club. As I've turned for home I see Terry riding and I yell his name. Another cyclist stops and looks at me and is trying to figure out who I am. I, at first, think that this rider was with Terry, but pretty soon he says, "I don't know who you are. But my name is Terry." I start laughing - what are the odds of two guys having the name Terry riding near each other when I callout their name? Terry and his friend Kinh and I ride over to the Queen Mary and that area and then we head for home. Kinh is slow as he is just starting back in to cycling, so Terry tells me to go ahead. So I crank along and finish off a nice ride. Near noon Person Ti_Ca sell his old car, buy his tickets for the summer trip, and have a nie Khmer lunch. THe rest of the day is pretty slow except a quick wash of Person Ti_Ca's car and then being ready for Sunday's bicycle ride.
On Sunday I ride to the Whittier Narrows dam and meet up with Person P_C. We ride back to the bridge and we turn around and ride back to the dam. And then I ride back towards home. I catch up to a couple of riders and we have a nice conversation and they ask me about my Slovakian national cycling jersey so I have to share with them the story of my grandparents and visiting my homeland and other facts. Eventually I reach my turn-off and I bid them a good ride and I head for home after about 50 or 55 miles. I do a few errands and then relax with MotoGP from France and the Los Angeles Kings conference final playoff game. Person P_C has taken a job p near Palo Alto so I will probably only have one or two more rides with him before he moves on up there. I also keep bouncing around in my head that today's morning blood pressure reading is pretty high, so I need to take steps to reduce my blood pressure specifically realted to my diet. Late in the afternoon I get down on my hands and knees and clean the kitchen floor.
Monday is a blah day at work. I even have to talk to a lawyer about a case that the company is involved in from a few years ago. The lawyers exercise my memory and ask me to explain some things and some documents. This has been going on for a long time and doesn't look to end soon. When I get home and walk in the door there are vegetables scraps on the kitchen floor. My job of cleaning the floor yesterday doesn't last 24 hours. I leave the scraps there and go walking for almost an hour to let off steam. When I return home I get down on my hands and knees and clean the floor again. I mention to Person Ti_Ca that I am mad, no, I am really really mad, but I let it slide for now because finals are this week and I don't want to upset the finals applecart. Later in the evening Person Ti_Ca and i do homework and then I call an end to the day and go read before sleep.
Tuesday and Wednesday are blah at work but I keep trying to move the ball forward. After work I get in a heavy workout with the weights on Tuesday and every joint is sore. And on Wednesday I go out for a long walk and then watch the Kings' ice hockey game. I'm surprised that the neighbors don't come running or the police don't come as I'm yelling very loud as the Kings score goals and even the series.
On Thursday I have a productive day as the results of simulations present themselves and everything makes sense. Every single thing makes sense. Thus I continue about documenting the work and trying out a new script that will save time later. When I get home Person Ti_Ca is just leaving for work and I can in a horrible workout with the weights. All of my joints are sore so I drop the weights a fair amount and still struggle through the lifts - many things hurt right now. After lifting weights (more or less) I trim the roses and water the lawn and watch a movie and watch the ice hockey playoffs. And hope for good sleep for fun cycling over the next few days.
I don't sleep well on Thursday night into Friday morning. I check the news around the world for a while before I get out for a good mountain bicycle ride to the old yacht club and with some extra miles also. After a shower I drive down to the main Long Beach public library and get more books to read. I also stop off and get some home maintenance supplies and groceries. Person Ti_Ca is just leaving to have lucnh with his sister and to cancel the auto insurance on his old car, so I get out and mow and edge and trim the lawn. When I'm done I have another warm shower and try to catch up on more news throughout the world. In the afternoon I lay down on the couch and read a bit and doze off. When I wake up Person Ti_Ca is getting ready for work. So I pull out some cleaning supplies and go around the entire house and wash the inside of every window. And then I relax after a productive day.
Saturday starts with a good mountain bicycle ride to the end of the ocean trail and with a few miles added in. During the ride I see some of the usual riders and I also somewhat startle a mother duck with 7 or 8 ducklings walking along the bike path on the Los Angeles river. It's a dreary day, but it feels good compared with the 100F weather we had 10 days ago. After the ride I get cleane dup and run a few errands and watch qualifying for the F1 race from Monaco. In the afternoon I clean a few things and organize a few things and oil some of the wood furniture and then do some reading. The Los Angeles Kings' playoff ice hockey game pretty much finishes the day off.
Sunday starts with me riding to the Whittier Narrows dam to meet up with Derrick. Person P_C has moved to Palo Alto (or is moving) for his new job and Derrick is finally done with classes so that he can ride. We have a good ride including ridign with a very fast lady on the second half of the Los Angeles river trail. We run into Terry and we drag him along for a while before I turn and head for home after about 50 miles. I am very tired and hungry, but I get halfway through the F1 race from Monaco before Person Ti_Ca and I have lunch. Today Person Ti_Ca has a pina colada with lunch and pretty much passes out (or takes a nap) the minute we get home. I finish the F1 race and fast forward through the Indianapolis 500 in about an hour. When Person Ti_Ca wakes up we go around and clean the outside of every window. They all look bright and shiny and clear to see out of. Later in the evening Ruby stops by because she has some calls in the nieghborhood and we talk about what's going on in our lives. And eventually I get down for some reading and some sleep.
I'm dead to the world and eventualyl wake up just before 6:30 am on Memoral Day. I mill around for a bit and then go out on the mountain bicycle to the old yacht club. I am so tired today - not just the legs but the entire organism. So at times I spin lower gears and at times I push a bigger gear. But it is good to just ride and see a few familiar faces and some new faces. I get cleaned up and notice a dead mouse without a head on the driveway - probably a large bird got it and dropped it midflight. I run a few errands and check Person Ti_Ca's car and I cannot find the wheel lock that we need to change the brake pads. Eventually Person Ti_Ca and I scour the entire car and find the wheel lock that we need. But today is warm, or is it just me that is physically hungover, so Person Ti_Ca goes out with friends to buy supplies for his upcoming trip to Cambodia and I relax around the house. I am exhausted. It feels good to have the good rides lately, but today I am paying the price and I just need to relax and recover.
During this four day weekend I had wanted to tidy up some Perl scripts from work that interface between optimization routines, Monte Carlo routines, and structural dynamics routines. These scripts were in pretty good shape when I last left work on Thursday afternoon, but I was enthused to tighten them up over the long holiday weekend. It hasn't happened. Between cycling and other house maintenance tasks and reading and relaxing I've left work in the lurch. I'll squeeze the work in on Tuesday, but I'm a bit disappointed but not really. It's an interesting little problem to work out, but it can wait for actual work hours. I haven't quite accomplished the thought process and thinking that I wanted to get done on this four day weekend either, but I'll get there shortly.