I start Tuesday expecting a long road bicycle ride, but I wimp out and just ride the mountain bicycle to the old yacht club and back to home. It's a shame because I feel extra strong today and I should have gone for the longer ride. At home I adjust two sprinkler heads to make sure that they are free flowing and then grab a shower. I ride the bicycle to the liquor store for supplies and try some Python coding for a couple of experimental algorithms that I was thinking about last night. I take a break to go trim the roses a day in adavnce of usual and then try to set up the new Google Universal Analytics pages for various websites. The instructions are super-cryptic and not intuitive at all, so I'm not sure that they are set up properly or not. I do a bit of motorcycle maintenance and then spend the rest of the day playing with the experimental Python algorithms and watching Netflix and other shows.
On Wednesday I get in the longish road bicycle ride and feel strong throughout despite a wind that changes directions regularly. Back at home I mow the front lawn and trim around a couple of sprinkler heads that need short grass around them to fully water the lawn. After a shower I relax for a bit. In the afternoon I have a phone call with a Long Beach Human Tarfficking Task Force (LBHTTF) intern who is working on her PhD in sociology. I show her the draft website that I built back in early 2019 when the LBHTTF expressed an interest in their own website. And soon I'm on the schedule (along with the intern) at the next LBHTTF core team meeting to show them what we have and how to add and find resources. And then I relax the day away.
I start Thursday with a run/walk but the left hamstring decides to be a bit uglier than "acceptable" and I spend more time walking than I would have liked. Nonetheless it is an hour run/walk to get the day started. After a shower I work on the LBHTTF website to install cookies and to start the conversion to Python (from Perl which the 2019 version was built in as I was just learning Python at that time). I make some good progress and will continue the conversion over the next few days. And then the day slows down and I entertain myself with some random Python problems to learn from and some Netflix and some television.
Near midnight on Thursday there's a burst of rain and it's fairly heavy at times, but it is short-lived. Nonetheless Friday morning shows some wet pavement and very windy conditions. I still get on the bicycle and ride to the old yacht club and back again and get in a good workout battling the wind. The light, carbon-fiber wheeled road bicycle would have been tough to handle in today's wind so I'm glad I took the mountain bicycle. I trim the roses and get in a warm shower. Even after the shower I'm feeling chilled, so I put on sweats and wear them all day until 4pm. Today's there's rain for a fun F1 qualifying from Imola, Italy and rian for a fun free practice 2 for MotoGP and Moto2 in Portimao, Portugal. At 4pm I get on the motorcycle to ride to CSULA to meet with my team at 7pm - in the interim time I work on some Python for a website. We have a good meeting and make good progress. And then I rush on home and speeds above 90 mph and get ready to read and sleep.
I wake up on Saturday feeling like my sleep was horrible even though my FitBit says it was better than usual. Hmmm. I do not get out cycling this morning and instead work on more Python for the website and then lift weights.
Whether my sleep is good or not, I get on the road bicycle at 6:15am for a ride up the Los Angeles river trail. I continue past the Whitter Narrows dam and get to a turn-around point. From there I crank along and get home for an eighty kilometer ride. After a shower I ride the mountain bicycle to the liquor store and then trim the roses. I watch a fun and unpredictable wet and dry F1 race from Italy and see good battles throughout the field and some weird strategies to conclude the race - in my favor. For the rest of Sunday, with my legs tired, I relax and dont get much else done.
I start Monday slow by reading te news and the markets. Before mid-morning I get in a workout for the abdominals, core muscles, and lower back. After a shower I take off and run errands that I've been putting off and pick up food for a late lunch. At home I watch the MotoGP race from Portugal.
I'm out the door on the road bicycle at 6:17 am and get in a good sixty five kilometers. I feel strong throughout. Back at home I get a shower and get over to the grocery store and run into Person S_K. I haven't seen Person S_K for years - approximately since she broke up with her longtime boyfriend. We catch up and it turns out that she is going to retire near the end of the summer. When I get home I trim the roses and work on some experiments in the garage and then come back inside to read the news and markets and watch the Moto3 race from Portugal. It's an incredible battle between a five rider break and there is no predicting who will win as the last lap starts. I love Moto3!
I start Wednesday expecting to mostly walk since the left hamstring has been threatening me lately. Once I get fully warmed up I start some running and there are no ill effects from the left hamstring. So I go about a normal run/walk with the running being greater than 50%. And I end up with a good eighty minute run/walk. I cool down and then mow the front and backyards and then weedwhcak the sideyard. After a shower I read the news and markets and then watch a shocking Moto2 race from Portugal. Rain comes at the two thirds distance and many riders crash and are eliminated for a red-flagged restart. There's a surprise winner and the championship leader, who was well down the pack before the rain hits, ends up on the podium to luckily extend his championship lead. For the rest of the day I review CSULA materials for my team and an EXPO session that I was dragged into moderating. (Thus I'll have questions to ask the various teams if they finish their presentations and there are no questions from the audience.)
I get started a bit late on Thursday but have a strong ride on the mountain bicycle to the old yacht club and back to home. I trim the roses and grab a shower and work on more CSULA stuff. I have a slow afternoon and then have a good visit with the acupuncturist where she sticks needles in me, cups me, and uses a power massager on me. And then I return home to work a bit on a website before reading and sleep.
I start Firday early and work on standardizing the Long Beach Human Trafficking Task Force website and on making it easier to modify in the future. During a break I buy groceries for the weekend and then have a good session lifting weights. I'm not ready to increase the weights yet, but soon. At 1pm I have a CSULA Industrial Advisory Board meeting and participate and toss out some ideas related to enhancing the students to be creative, think differently, and potentially become involved in start-ups. I get a break and watch some Netflix and then have my Zoom meetings with my students. We go over their PowerPoint charts and presentations - the charts are looking great and I keep after them to devote 5 minutes per day for the next week on their specific presentations until they are smooth and without awkward stutters. I think they understand my adice and we'll see if they take it to heart.
I've laid out for a long Saturday morning ride but it isn't in me today. Instead I do my minimal ride down to the old yacht club and back to home. (My minimal rides these days is two hours as opposed to a few years ago when it was just over one hour.) As I approach home I feel disappointed in the ride that I did not get out longer on the road bicycle. Thus I pull out the ladder and long sawpole and trim the tree branches that are getting close to Internet cable lines and electric power lines. This is semi-hard work since I have to keep moving the ladder and my arms are extended above my head as I saw very high branches away from electric lines. After an hour of trimming I believe things are clear enough and put everything back into the garage. I have a nice warm shower and then relay thoughts to the CSULA team about a few little details and potential EXPO audience questions. This is the first year that I have provided the students with potential audience questions (and answers) and I get the sense that they deeply appreciate this action. Later in the day I watch Moto3/2/GP qualifying and get ready for a fun Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
I start Sunday on the road bicycle and I swear it takes half of the ride to really get going. But I crank along quite nicely for the last half of the 65 kilometer ride. I grab a shower and eat a quick snack and read the news. Before noon I ride the motorcycle to the CVS and get another Covid booster (and practice my Vietnamese language with the nurse). I fill up the motorcycle with gasoline for Thursday's ride to CSULA and then watch an intense MotoGP race. Two intense battles hold everyone's attention - the battle for 1st and 2nd and a separate battle for 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Afterwards I start reading through the CSULA presentations and getting questions ready since, somehow, I got roped into being a session moderator and I should have a few questions ready for each presentation just in case there are none from the audiences.
I sleep an extra hour on Monday morning. When I get up I read the news and markets and look through Medicare plans before I call a representative and sign up for anything. At mid-morning I get in a good session with the weights where I've added an extra rep for each exercise (with no pain). Then I weedwack around the roses and rake up dead leaves and debris. I grab a shower and walk to the grocery store and CVS pharmacy to run some errands. At home I watch a very wild Moto3 race where there are multiple passes for every poisition on every lap and a stunning "last corner, ride around the outside" pass of two riders by the eventual winner. I check in for a bit of the Kings' playoff game - the first time they've made the playoffs in three years.