On Tuesday I start meticulously pouring over a model and simulation that has been called into question (and that we've been struggling with for a while). Just as I'm eating lunch a co-worker comes in and says he did some calculations and can back up my numbers. So now we are getting faith in the models and simulations. I get a call from the eye doctor to go pick up a pair of reading glasses. This will be the first pair of glasses that I've owned since 2000. But on the way to the eye doctor a yellow Hyundai car decides to cross the double yellow line and run into the left side of my motorcycle and my left side. The impact knocks me swerving across a lane of traffic but still upright. I motion for the yellow Hyundai to pull over to the shoulder and at first it looks like he is going to run, but he does pull over. It turns out he is from Kentucky (with a Kentucky driver's license and stuff) but he seems like an honest guy. On the side of the freeway I put my left turn signal back together and note that the clutch lever is a bit askew but should be easily fixable. Nonetheless we exchange information and when I say "You shouldn't cross the double yellow" he says "You shouldn't ride between the lanes". And I correct him that it is legal for a motorcycle in the state of California to split lanes. Well, it looks like my left hand and left knee took the brunt of the impact but at least the motorcycle is okay. When I get home I am able to twist the clutch lever back into the approrpiate position and then, after a 40 minute run/walk, I put ice on my left leg.
The leg hurts for the next couple of days and my left arm/elbow also hurt where the car must have hit me. But I have decent days at work. I've been taking days off from lifting weights since I went on vacation to give the joints extra time to heal. And I've decided that Monday is the day to start back in. In the meantime I have a great, windy bicycle ride after work on Thursday where I can push the pace and get an extra heavy workout. And on Friday after work I just edge and mow the lawn and try to clean up the sideyard a bit.
Saturday starts lazy as rather than a long road bicycle ride, I do some gardening activities before starting off on a mountain bicycle ride. I still puh the pace on the mountain bicycle and end up with a good ride as I run into a few cycling acquaintances during the ride. When I get home I rake the sideyard and clean it up in preparations for future activities. Though I have not figured out what those fiture activities are for a 7 foot y 30 foot strip of land. I take a nice cool shower and grabsome lunch, stop in for supplies, and pickup a book at the library. When I return home I watch qualifying for the Hungarain Grand Prix where some rain throws havoc into the results and it should make for an interesting Sunday race. Since Saturday is fairly warm, I spend the afternoon working through some paperwork and a potential new volunteer activiity that has presented itself today.
I start Sunday being lazy and staying in bed for any minutes. Finally I get up and get dressed to go cycling - I'll just go for a 30 mile rid and call it a day. Except that when I get to the trn point I turn left (north) instead or right (south) and now I'm headed for the dams. Just north of the Whittier Narrows dam I catch up to another cyclist and start talking with him and before I know it I am at the Santa Fe dam. I stop for a water break and turn and head over to the Los Angeles river. As I'm at the top of the Whittier Narrows dam I see my neighbor as he's heading north (away from home). Finally I continue turning the pedals over and get home for almost 60 miles - after thinking I would go for a shorter 30 mile ride. I'm tired and enjoy a wild Hungarian Grand Prix in the wet and then dry conditions. Since I've worn myself outt oday with the ride I relax and read until the weather cools off. Then I go and paint two windows and try to prepare a third window for future painting, but there is enough damaged wood that it takes longer than expected. But it's ready for coats of paint over the next couple of days.
I try to get into the swing of things at work on Monday and Tuesday but find it difficult. I certainly do bring some work home on Monday night and work on it because it involves a fairly intricate algorithm, but I get tired and put it away for a while. And on Tuesday I leave work at noon to ride down to Orange County for another adoptions placements meeting/salescall. The meeting goes very well and there are many people present. But they are certainly quick to get back to us with an email saying that they will not be moving forward with our program. When I get home on Tuesday I paint a window and then lift weights. This is the first time I've lifted weights since June 18th or so as I've tried to give my joints and soft tissue a rest and recovery period. I start with very light weights and promise to increase weights very slowly in hopes of avoiding any joint problems.
I come home a bit late on Wednesday when a meeting runs long. Person Ti_Ca take the bicycles out and we ride to my bicycle store, but it closes at 6 pm (and I thought 7 pm). We continue to ride to a park where there is a free concert. We meet up with Person T_U and his friends and relax to various types of music. When the concert ends Person Ti_Ca ride the 2 miles home in the dark.
On Thursday I can't wait to finish work and start a long weekend. Is this why I woke up before 5 am and couldn't sleep? When I get home I have another light weight, high repetition workout and it feels a bit better and then I do some small garden errands around the house.
I wake up on Friday to go for a long ride but cannot answer the call. I stay in bed a bit longer and
end up going for the two hour mountain bicycle ride to the old yacht club and back home. The pedals that I've
swapped with another bicycle have cured the clicking sound and now I have to figure what is wrong with the older
pedals. As I'm riding along thinking about the start of August, I think about the things that have happened
in July:
I had to leave my vacation and friends in Thailand and Cambodia and return to work
The washing machine door lock broke and had to be fixed
The tankless water heater control board started acting up and required a new board (that I had to install)
The lawn edger decided to not start and had to be repaired
The paper shredder finally decided to die and needs to be replaced
I got hit by a car on the freeway while riding the motorcycle home
I pulled/strained a left calf muscle while running
The stock and bond market had a mini-crash and gave back almost all of the gains for the year
I'm glad that July is over.
After the bicyle ride on Friday I mow the lawn and get cleaned up. I run some errands that include getting the car washed and stopping in at the Subaru dealer to schedule an expensive maintenance for the World Rally Car. When I get home and am looking forward to lunch on this very hot day, Person Ti_Ca has picked up the shovel that I put out and says that we have to dig holes for the banana and guava tree that he wants to plant. I ask for some time to relax, but it is better just to go out in the hot sun and pound away at the hard soil. We get one hole dug and I say that we should wait to dig the second one until we know the size of the hole that we need. (We should have waited todig the firs tone too, but that would have been too logical.) So now I take a second shower of the day, turn on the air conditioning, and relax for a while as Person Ti_Ca gets ready to go to the beach and a party with friends. After relaxing I jump on the mountain bicycle and ride over to the First Fridays "street party" that we have nearby each month. I park the bicycle and walk around a bit just to mingle with people. I meet up with Person T_U and we walka round for a bit and eventually I head for home. THough I do notice a new group calledthe Jesuits that could be good in a couple years time withhard work and practice.
On Saturday I start north on the Los Angeles river on the road bicycle and cross overthe Whittier Narrows dam and the head south. A rider catches me and hold my rear wheel for a while before we have a few words that include from e, "I'm hungover from yesterday's ride and I'm slow." So the othe rider takes off but I maintain a 50 meter or less separation between him and me until he stops at Liberty park. When I yell at him, "Habe a a good ride", it appears that he is surprised that I have stayed close to him without holding his wheel. I get home and get cleaned up nd grab some lunch for later and then start waxing the World Rally Car. It is a hot day and I'm sweating profusely, so I keep saying, "I'll just get these next couple of door panels or areas and then finish tomorrow." Except that I keep doing this and before I know it I have completely waxed the World Rally Car. It only needs a bit of trimwork to look brand new again. I go inside the house, turn on the air conditioning, take a cool shower, and turn into a vegetable for a few hours.
It's raining on Sunday morning. I'm restless inside the house untilI can take it no longer. I put on a rain jacket and go for a two hour mountain bicycle ride. The bicycle and I am completely wet and dirty when I get home. This gives me an excuser to clean the bicycle, clean the roses, and water the impatiens before taking a shower and getting clenaed up. After lunch I work on a little problem from work that has been bugging me and I find the problem and solution very quickly. Later when the sun has hidden behind some clouds I pull out the old bicycle pedals and degrease them and re-lube them. The right pedal feels good afterwards but the left pedal still appears to have a problem. I'll ride them once and see if the clicking sound returns and decide what to do from there.
On Monday I work on debugging things that make the results not quite right. I look for typographical errors as well as physics-based errors but cannot find any. I'll have to continue on Tuesday. When I get home I eat dinner first and relax a bit before lifting weights again. Afer lifting weights and working on two windows, I drag a few of the neighbors outside to watch the International Space Station fly overhead for 8 minutes as it crosses directly above Long Beach at 205 miles of altitude and about 17,000 miles per hour of velocity.