The week of work is just horrible! On both Tuesday and Wednesday the networks that we use to transfer files and perform simulations over are so slow, that it takes me 8 hours of work each day to accomplish 3 hours of real work. I fill out IT help tickets in the hopes that they will recognize the problems with the netowrk and fix them. I email my boss and say, "If I have to fill out one more ticket, I'm going to ask who's paying for my waiting around because it's taking me 8 hours to do 3 hours worth of work". When I go home on Tuesday I am so mad and frustrated at the entowrk at work that I go walking and try to calm myself down.
Without hearing a word, the IT help people have "closed" my help ticket by Thursday morning. I notice that the network is running at its standard rate and I make progress on work. But today is filled with a number of meetings that interrupt my work flow and rhythym, but I do the best that I can. At the end of the day I have been walking all over campus to attend meetings, so I don't get in a workout at night. Instead I have another 50 minute conversation with Person T_U who is struggling with some of his friends' financial decisions and I keep saying, "You've offered your best advice and they have to live with the consequences of their decisons in the future. But you have to say NO to them if they ask you to bail them out".
It is raining on Saturday morning and I'm getting irritable that I won't be able to ride today. I keep walking outside to see if it looks like there is a break in the clouds. Finally when I see a break, I jump on the mountain bicycle with a water-resistant jacket and start riding. It is dark and by the time that I am halfway down the Los Angeles river trail it is raining pretty hard. But I am rewarded with a big flow down the Los Angeles river which is pleasant to watch and listen to and there is a very pretty double rainbow. In fact, I cannot recall a prettier rainbow in my life. I keep riding and everything is wet except when I get to the eastern end of Long beahc - past the pier and headed towards the yacht club - it looks like it hasn't rained at all. Everything is dry. I get to the turn around point and head for home and get caught in a few more raindrops just as I get home. After a shower I hear nothing back from Person W_HK about lunch, so I get to the library to get two books, do some grocery shopping, watch qualifying for the US Grand Prix, wash the mountain bicycle (though I had just washed it last week), and I spend a few more minutes digging another 6 feet of trench for the sprinklers.
On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I make a lot of progress on some difficult tasks. Finally on Wednesday, when I've spent the entire day trying to figure out solutions, I get a solution towards the end of the day and email my boss to the effect that "OMG - I just found the solution and I can script it so that is becomes easier for all of the other events that we have to analyze. But I'm going home now". I have great workout with the weights on Monday and Wednesday and even increase the weight levels of Wednesday. These are the heaviest weights that I've used since May and I'm taking my time getting back up to those levels so that I don't run into anymore joint or shoulder pain.
Saturday is an incredibly productive and restless day. I start with a two hour mountain bicycle ride to the Long Beach yacht club and back home with a slight extension. Then I mow the lawn, trim the edges, and clean up the roses. My yardwork is done soI take a shower and get to the ATM and do the gorcery shopping. Now I'm dragging so I lay down and don't fall asleep but rest for 30 minutes unitl Person Ti_Ca decides it is time to do homework. We work away for more than an hour and than stop. I go to to lift weights (heavy again), do some maintenance in the garage, and try to straighten up some of the garage. Near 5:30 pm I get some dinner of pasta and the I'm restless again, so I go back into the garage and finish off straightening up the items that I wanted to clear up. Some of the items are very old, so I strip them down to parts that might be fun to work with in the future and I toss the rest in the trash. After 7:30 I just relax and talk with some friends on the Internet.
Sunday blooms very foggy and I consider what to do about riding. Finally I put on a shell and go riding. The first half of the ride to the dam is in thick gof and I have to keep wiping my cycling shades so that I can see. When I get near the dam the weather clears up and is bright and sunny. As I slow down to make a sharp downhill turn their are other riders coming the other way and it turns out it is a group that I rode with last week. They say to me , "We're riding the loop the opposite way today" and we fist bump and wish each other luck. Today I am tired from previous activitiesover the last few days and take the Del Amo turnoff to end near 40 miles. I also note that the weather is clear and sunny into until I et within two miles of home and it is wet and foggy again. I watch both the MotoGP race from Valencia and the F1 race from Brasil throughout the day and then make the mistake of reading through the Internet and finding out who the Moto3 world champion is (though I don't knowthe final results of the race). I ruined it for myself.