It's a blah week. It's made even worse when I have a hard time sleeping on Thursday night and have a 2 degree fever on Friday morning. In any event I still get up and go to work and struggle through the day. At the end of Friday's workday I lift weights with a great workout, clean the roses, and get down on my hands and knees and clean the kitchen floor.
Throughout the blah week I've had some good workouts with the weights and did a core/abdominal/lower back day. And I'm lazy on Thursday after a meeting keeps me late at work, so I just go home and relax.
On Saturday I stay in bed until 7 am. I finally get up and take care of a few things before jumping on the mountain bicycle and going to the old yacht club andback home. At one point some lady, who is participating in a walk to end Alzheimer's disease, lets her pitbull on its leash make a lunge for my feet as I'm pedalling past. I can only turn around and yell at her, "Idiot! Stupid idiot!" When I get home I wash the mountain bicycle and then grab some lunch. I meet up with Person Ti_Ca and a number of Cambodian friends at a park for Kim's birthday party. I introduce myself around and lament that Person Ti_Ca has never helped me to learn to speak Khmer. Afterwards a number of people comoe voer to the house and play the card game (where the rules seem to change every hand). But I just relax on the couch with some silly movies on the television.
Sunday starts with a road bicycle ride where I head north on the Los Angeles rvier trail to the WHittier Narrows dam. When I get to the dam I keep going north and almost get to the Santa Fe dam before cooler heads prevail and I decide I better head for home. Today I am pretty fast down the San Gabriel rvier trail and end with a 50 mile ride. After the ride and some cleaning of the roses and impatiens, I watch the MotoGP and Moto3 races from Asutralia.
On Monday I get to work and read an email that indicates that I have to cover a test because somebody else is being re-assigned. The test is supposed to be completed in one day (for a test that would usually take 2 days). The test article is not reay yet. I don't even know what it looks like. And I'm not familiar with it. After getting the facts I tell my boss that we're violating every standard and process and good practice that we have. He only says, "I'm tired of being yelled at so this is the way it will be". I will always do my best but I'm not going to risk breaking something during the test just because somebody wants it to finish in one day. By the time that I go home, after a fairly productive day, I've still not received word on the test article whereabouts or status not have I seen the paperwork and procedure that we are going to run to. When I get home Person Ti_Ca has more friends over for more card games and mingle with the friends for a bit and then go lift weights. I increase the weights and throw in an extra set for a super workout. And then I relax with the Moto2 race from Australia.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and THursday are long days at work as we're testing the unit that was just handed off to me on Monday. We make great progress on two of the axes - the test article behaving very similarly to the simulation results that were also handed to me. Since we work late, I don't get in workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday and instead help Person Ti_Ca with homework and buy a Halloween costume. (It has probably been 30 years since I actually paid for a Halloween costume.) On Thursday afternoon we are ready to start the thrid and final axis of testing when somebody notices that a bolt is missing. There is no way you can get in there and there is no way the bolt came out during testing. So it must not have been installed when we started. Sloppy workmanship! Nonetheless we have to stop testing and have the resposnible people depressurize the unit, take some pieces off, install the bolt, re-install pieces, and the repressurize the unit. This will take all weekend and we won't resume testing until Monday. I go home on Thursday and have a heavy session with the weights and wash the Yamaha YZF-R1. And then I relax from all of the stress of the unit handoff and testing and bad assembly job.
I wake up on Friday with another 1 degree fever after difficulty sleeping. THis is getting tiring. I lay in bed until until 7:30 and then get ready to get out the door on the mountain bicycle just before 8 am. I plan a slightly shortened ride but it doesn't work out that way. I get down to the yacht club and then add on some extra distance at the end. ANd I've also stopped to see if two riders who are fixing a flat need help and I point them to the Long Beach Bikestation in case they have a problem. After the ride I edge and mow the lawn and clean up the roses. Later I go to to a coin dealer and see just how much money I lost (or got ripped off on) from some gold commemorative goins that I bought more than 20 years ago. It turns out that I was dealing with a shady firm and a shady man, but how was I supposed to know many years ago when it was harder to investigate someone's background? But it's a learning experience and I would bet any amount of money that the firm that I dealt with many years ago was just a "boiler room" looking for people to cheat (as in the movie "Boiler Room"). Fortunately it was only a few thousand dollars and I should probably just liquidate the coins and forget that mistake in my life. Later Person Ti_Ca and I go get an oil change for his car and it looks like he'll be needing a nw battery soon. Late in the evening I try to put the finishing touches on my Halloween costume for upcoming parties.
On Saturday I want to ride long, but I stay in bed for an extra hour. Instead I get out for a mountain bicycle ride and ride with a guy named Mundo from Mexico. We talk about various things ntil he turns around and I keep going. Today the legs feel strong and pull some riders the entire length north on the Los Angeles river against a moderate headwind until it is time for me to exit and go home. They thank me for the pull - which is always nice to do. I grab a shower and my friend Person W_HK has to cancel our lunch plans. SO I relax a bit and then clean/wax the rims of the Yamaha YZF-R1. It mus have been a long time since I waxed the bike and rims because the rims are dirtier than I can ever remember. But now they lok bright and shiny. I finish up my Halloween costume and later in the evening go over to Frank and Jeanine's house for their annual Halloween party.
I stay in bed for an extra 20 minutes on Sunday morning and then out on the road bicycle. I keep playing tag with this group of three riders up the Los Angeles river and taking turns pulling and being pulled. We make the turn at the WHittier Narrows dam and then continue down the San Gabriel river at a very rapid pace until they take a break at Liberty park. I continue on to the ocean and ride with a couple of other groups - one going very fast that I have to drop off of and another that I can pull along.Eventually I make it around the big loop for a 57 mile ride. When I get home I spray the road bike down with Simple Green and rinse it off and then dry the bike so that it looks very new. After a shower I start in with Moto3 and MotoGP races and then do some easy cleaning around the house.
On Monday I have a decent day at work making progress in my tasks. I also get piled on with some more work and I feel slightly overwhelmed and wonder how I am going to accomplish this amount of work to my high standard of quality. When I get home I work off some stress with a heavy session with the weights. Though the weights are the same as last week, I struggle just a bit - probably due to the extra day off and the cycling.