I left Tokyo just after midnight on Wednesday 9 July. I arrive in Los Angeles at 6:25 pm on Tuesday 8 July. I then get home, sleep, and go to work and get out for a great bicycle rid on the mountain bicycle. There is a strong wind that encourages me to fight against it for a great workout. And then I relax at home on this 9 July day that has lasted for 40 hours or so because of crossing the international dateline.
On Thursday I have a good day at work and my boss thanks me profusely and explains that my effort today shows how valuable I am to her and why she was so worried when I was away traveling. When I get home I mow the lawn (which has been neglected for three weeks), dump a fair amount of water on the lawn, pull out an old can of primer paint to get it re-mixed, and do a few little other tasks around the house (that had been neglected). I also start wading through all of the mail that has accumulated over the vacation time frame.
At work I have a decent day and then "get the heck out of Dodge" when I can take work no longer. The tankless water heater has been having trouble lately and only producing warm water, so I call the manufacturer up and they are going to send me a new computer board to install. Until Tuesday night, it will be lukewarm showers at best if not cold showers. After the phone call I go for a 40 minute run/walk and then attend to the roses. I have a slow evening as I have the sniffles. I go travel to weird countries with not the most sanitary conditions and I only get sick when I return home?
Saturday starts with an early mountain bicycle ride to the old yacht club and back with a a few extra miles thrown in. The legs feel strong today and its a good ride. After a shower I run errands including buying exterior paint for the trim and a smog check for the wolrd rally car. Near 12:30 pm I meet with a long term care insurance salesman to try and figure out what long term care insurance is all about and how expensive it is. I'm not sure whether it is appropriate for me or not. The rest of the day is slow as I relax and fall asleep for a while. Though I do scrape and paint one exterior window sill and find that the paint doesn't exactly match the current trim paint even though the Home Depot provided a paint match for it. Hmmm.
On Sunday I start out the road bicycle ride strong and jsut keep going anf going until I get to 55 miles. THe last 7 or 8 miles on the way home I'm well over 20 mph and catching and dropping other riders. Where did the extra speed at the end of a long ride come from. When I go to do laundry the washing machine won't work and I notice that the "door lock" light doesn't come on. This is similar to a problem that I had (under warranty) when I first bought the machine and now I'm sure I'll have to pay for the repair. Thus after watching a wild MotoGP race where riders change tires after the sighting lap and start from pit lane, I go to the local coin laundry place to do my laundry. When I get back home I watch some of the world cup game and fall asleep during it - noting that there was no point in having goalies because nobody has a shot on goal. And finally I watch the Moto3 race where my favorite crashes out at the third corner of the race.
On Monday I have the sniffles and a cough, so I've started in on the Thai anitbiotics that I have. Nonetheless I have a very productive Monday and get some good models and simulations going. These efforts should bare fruit by the end of this week. When I get home I water the impatiens, clean up and sand three exterior windowsills, watch the Moto2 race from Germany, and then go back outside to give the three windowsills the first coat of paint. This effort is going faster than I expected. Later I do some financial planning and continue looking into long term care insurance premiums and coverage.
Tuesday is a good day at work as I move forward with the models and simulations. I leave work a bit early to go for an annual eye checkup. I can read the 20/15 line this time. And I finally break down and tell the eye doctor that I will have him make me some reading glasses for late at night or in low light conditions. I've been using cheap store-bought reading glasses in difficult reading conditions for a couple of years now and it's time for a real pair. But I only need them when my eyes are tired, the lighting conditions are low, or when the print is smaller than 4 point font. When I get home I go for a 40 minute run/walk where I feel stronger than last week's run/walk and I do much more running than walking. After a shower I start tearing the tankless water heater board out that has gone bad to replace it with the new one that came in the mail. Though the tankless water heater is 7 years old, the company sent me a new board "as a courtesy" for free. There are many connectors and screws to be undone on the old board and done up on the new board, but after only one screw sticks badly the new board is in place and operating. Though I note that the old board never had an altitude correction chip which the new one has. I wonder what affect that has near sea level?
Wednesday is an interesting day. I make some progress at work. Today we have an employee appreciation picnic/luncheon and I walk over with co-workers. I run into many co-workers who I have not seen for a while. It is good to catch up with them. I also finally see Person Ti_Ca's friend who is interning at Northrop Grumman (and who I semi-helped get the job). After work I ride the motorcycle to the dealer for a tuneup and see many of the mechanics and technicians that I have seen at this dealer for the last 12 years. So it takes a while to get the work order written up. As the manager is writing up my order I stop him and ask, 'Is this Mana?" It's a very old rock en espanol song that I recognize and it is the group Mana. The manager is surprised that I know the song and we remenisce a bit about old times. Person Ti_Ca gives me a ride home at which I start painting the last 3 prepared exterior window sills. Now I have to scrape and prepare a few more, but this effort is going quicker and easier than I expected.
I have a decent Thursday at work and then drive home. I don't like driving in traffic. When I get home I mow the lawn but the edger won't start. I keep cranking and cranking it and using gasoline and other combustibles directlyinto the carburetor, but it won't start. This behavior happened earlier in the year but the edger eventually started. Today it isn't going to go. After a shower I have dinner and relax and then I'm restless, so I go outside and trim two bushes. The neighbor is out so we have a discussion about the world until it is time to go inside and get ready for sleep.
Friday starts with a ride to the dam where I meet up with Derrick and then drag him all of the way downthe Los Angeles river. Derrick hasn't ridden lately and I'm feeling strong, so we're moving along at greater than 20 miles per hour into a headwind. We take a break at the Long Beach aquarium and then head for home. After a shower, Person Ti_Ca and I get an oil change for his car, pick up my motorcycle from the tuneup, and go shopping at Home Depot. WHen we get home we do more grocery shopping for supplies and wait for the washing machine repair man. He shows up early and within 15 minutes or so has replaced the bad door lock and charged me $200. Near 2pm I finally get some food in me after the long bicycle ride. And later I go out and paint two window sills.
I'm hungover from Friday's ride, so I meet up with Terry and Kin and we ride down to the pier and back and add a few extra miles in at the end. I run a few errands, watch qualifying for the German Grand Prix, and prepare two window sills by scraping and filling and priming them. I'm tired and hungover from Friday's ride through most of the day so I take it easy.
I'm still hungover from Friday's ride, so I take off on the mountain bicycle. By mile 5 I realzie this was a mistake because my legs are feeling great. SO I have a good ride and push where necessary and vow to do better next time. I watch an eventfull German Grand Prix, paint two moe window sills, trim some tree branches, try to find where some ants are getting into the house and then relax.
On Monday I make some progress at work and explain models and simulations to people. I also realize that I need to finish the convergence study as the asymptotic results are still changing. I'm tired all day today, so when I get home I work in the yard, clean the roses, water the lawn, and then work on a baseball manuscript for publication.