Tuesday through Thursday are reasonable days at work though I lose all motivation by Thursday at noon and just "run out" the day. I get in good runs on Tuesday and Thursday after work with a Wednesday session with the weights sandwiched in between. On Wednesday evening Person Ti_Ca go see the movie, The Big Short, about the global banking crisis and economic meltdown of 2007 through 2009. I read the book and enjoyed it and the movie is pretty good also.
I start Friday with a road bicycle ride up to the Whitter Narrows dam and back down the San Gabriel river trail for 40 miles. I feel strong during the ride in cloudy and cold conditions. After a shower I run a mess of errands and pick up new library books and stop in at two banks for financial matters. When I get home and put everything away I polish the windscreen and headlights of the Yamaha YZF-R1, relax a bit, then start in on hard-pruning the roses for the winter. (I'm late this year as I usually get it done right near the new year.) At mid afternoon I get down for a two hour nap and fight off a left leg cramp (always the left leg).
Late on Friday Karl arrives from Florida on his way to Korea for work. Karl barely gets in the door before I usher him back out so that we can pick up Person T_U to meet up with Person Ti_Ca and other friends for a night of clubbing. We hit two clubs where the music is decent and we run into a number of friendly people. Finally at 2 am we head for home. The light is going out for sleep at 3 am on Saturday morning.
I get up early on Saturday morning and go get a blood test. I've put this blood test off a number of times but it just fits my schedule today. On the way home I get the World Rally Car washed and I fill it with gasoline. And then I put it away in the garage to stay clean. Karl has taken this window of opportunity to go swimming at a local fitness club, so I wait for him to go grab breakfast or lunch before a bicycle ride. We have a good bicycle ride and relax for a while before watching some football games and then having a Japaense dinner. Karl levaes at 8:30 to catch his flight to Seoul, Korea and I get down for reading and sleep near 9pm.
I get out the door before 7 am on Sunday morning for a raod bicycle ride. At the beginning of the ride my legs are willing but my heart isn't. I finally see Luis and Gustavo (a latino father and son) riding again and Polish Ted. I make it to the Whittier Narrows dam and start cranking down the San Gabriel river trail and end up at 40 miles for the ride. After a shower and a quick trip to the grocery store I am restless. I clean both bathrooms (minus the floors), clean my offie floor, and sweep the sriveway of rain and leaf debris. And then I relax for a bit with some football games before doing some more house cleaning. I get down for a nap in the late afternoon and then relax with some telvision viewing before heading for sleep.
It is a busy and hectic week at work. There are tests that we are setting up for as well as another developmental test where we just keep playing with test parameters until we get the response that we need. Fun tests! But some people are sick this week so I have to babysit all of these tests. In order to keep the stress level down I go running after work on Tuesday and Thursday and lift weights (a bit heavier) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm trying to keep mixing up the workouts and give bodyparts a day of rest between workouts.
Saturday starts with me riding north on the Los Angeles river to meet with Derrickat the Whittier Narrows dam. We turn around and head back to the beach with me pulling above 20 mph the entire way. We pick up another rider for the last bit and challenge each other. Derrick is tired since he hasn't ridden for a while so we take a longer break at the aquarium than usual. And then disaster strikes. As we are riding north to go home Derrick touches my rear wheel. At first I think I'm getting a flat. But then I hear an impact behind me and Derrick is on the ground. He has scrapes on both knees, his hands, face, and is bleeding from above his left eye. A third cyclist, Ken, who had tagged on with us stops and we get Derrick to stay down for the longest time until he is coherent. The bleeding stops and we move Derrick to the side of the road and keep him down and asking him questions to determine if he has a concussion or not. We get hm to sit up and then when he's ready to stand, his legs start cramping from resting in the cold weather after riding hard. Derrick is recovering and he and Ken walk over to an exit to the Los Angeles river while I ride home and go get my car. I pick Derrick up and give him a ride back to Montebello. I finally meet Derrick's parents though it is not the nest circumstances. But his parents are gratefull that I got Derrick home. When I return home Karl and I go have lunch and relax a bit. Later in the afternoon as Karl is dropping off from jet lag (He has tried kava root extract but says it doesn't work for him. He must be using it wrong.) I say we have to either go ride or he can take nap. So now we are off on a bicycle ride, my second of the day, and we ride to the end of the bicycle trail along the ocean and back home. We make it home just before darkness falls. We gather Person Ti_Ca and his friend Steven and we have a good Italian dinner and then head for home. Person Ti_Ca and Steven and Dennis go out clubbing while Karl and I relax and soon Karl is dropping off for sleep. I get down for sleep near 11 pm.
On Sunday morning I see Karl off to the airport and jump on the mountain bicycle for a ride. I start out a shade slow but then the legs feel good and I start cranking quite nicely. It's a good ride though by the end I am feeling mentally burned out from riding if not physically burned out. After a shower I do some quick grocery shopping, cook vegetables and rice for lunch for the week, vacuum my bedroom, clean the bathrooms, and clean the stove. And then relax with the two football games.
I wake up without the alarm at 4:35 am on Monday morning and decide to go to work to get finish off a nonlinear model. Monday is a productive day as we get started with a test and I manage to "pull a rabbit out of the hat" and get the nonlinear model to "match" the test data. It's an impossible task that I luck into. By the end of the day I am feeling excited about the effort, but I'm mentally tired and need to get home. When I get home I work the abdominals and lower back and then get down on my hands and knees and clean the kitchen floor. And then get into a simplify mode (after reading a business article indicating that most people have 30% more crap than they need). So I decide on a plan of action to start gathering older clothes and items to donate to Goodwill.