I'm out the door on the road bicycle for the extended loop ride near 6:15am. Today I spin a higher gear for a while until I start cranking along. And have a very enjoyable ride. I trim the roses and see that the rat traps that I've set to catch a critter that is possibly trying to live under my house are all set off. Actually, two of the older versions are set off and are empty and the newer version is completely missing - probably attached to the critter somewhere. I reset the older traps near the same crawl space vent and we'll see what happens on Wednesday morning. I grab a cooling shower and the automated script is running to perfection, but something is still not quite right. I can't seem to duplicate the great results I had a week ago before I started modularizing the code. But its time to go and I ride the motorcycle up to the maxilofacial surgeon in record time - there's no real traffic. He sees me and examines the scars from the surgery and he's extremely happy with how things look. I tell him that I see my prosthodontist on Thursday and well see what we can come up with for the missing five teeth. I again thank this doctor for asking me last time, "Are you going to harm yourself?", and he's happy that he did the right thing. Except that I tell him I've cycled 300 kilometers and ran 27 kilometers in the last week - and that is the way that I harm myself. Beat myself up! And he smiles and just says, "There are many worse ways to harm yourself than that. Just keep doing what you're doing". As I leave the medical center on the motorcycle I've never had to pay for parking because I can squeeze the motorcycle between the entrance gate and curb and when I exit I ride on the sidewalk and then leave the facility. But there's one attendant who always sees me coming and gives me a great spot which is out of the way of traffic, protected behind traffic posts, and is close to the elevaor. Today as I'm leaving I motion for him to come over (because I can't go backwards against traffic) and I hand him five dollars, touch his shoulder with my hand, and say, "Thanks for always taking care of me". ANd he gets a big smile on his face an djust says, "Look out for traffic because the cars cannot see you. Ride safely". And I'm on my way. He's given me the same advice that I always give to my CSULA students or anyone else who rides, "Remember, nobody can ever see you". I get home in record time - because there is no traffic. I stop for wine ont he way home and soon I realize that the permutations are quite working right in the modular code. I fix this, try some runs, and it looks promising. Thus I launch a run that will take a couple hours to ru to verify that this is the problem. Later I just relax and look forward to a Wednesday bicycle recovery ride and a big mountain stage in the Tour de France while watching political shows (but not really listening).
On Wednesday and Thursday I just feel down. I don't know why. I get out cycling on Wednesday for the typical recovery ride and on Thursday I for an hour run/walk (instead of lifting weights as I might usually do). I watch an exciting Tour de France stage on Wednesday and the British Open on Thursday. On Thursday I see my prosothodontist and I know the plan, but he describes it to me and we agree that is the plan. He also says, "You paid for permanent implants and you cannot have them. You know that. So we'll adjust the bill that you already paid in full for permanent implants". I'm not worried about the money - it's already spent. But on both days I just feel down and hope that a long morning bicycle ride on Friday morning and another mountain stage in the Tour de France and Fp2 for F1 from Hungary will lift up my spirits. (On both Wednesday and Thursday I still work on code and the permutation problem in advance of a potential CSULA senior design project. But that doesn't bring me out of my downer either.) Later on Thursday, as I've been reading a book about early rock years, I pput on a youtube mix of oldies from the 1960's and 1970's (and possibly the 1980's). It makes me think about the creativity and the different sounds and songs that bands played that still appealed to a mass audience and this makes me feel a bit better. ANd then I go to bed to read and sleep per my usual "sleep enhancing procedure".
I'm out the door on the road bicycle near 6:15am on a Friday - a Friday that is supposed to be very warm if not hot - and after I get warmed up I come up to speed. There's the detour right near the El Monte airport which has changed from a week ago and now takes me through some neighborhoods. But I find myself back on the bicycle path and go past the El Monte dam but I take the Live Oak cutoff and avoid Arrow highway. This past week, or maybe last week, a bicyclist riding at night was run over and killed by a motor vehicle. Out of honor and courtesy to the rider, I avoid Arrow highway and take Live Oak to the San Gabriel river trail and head for home. I don't feel particularly strong today, but I keep cranking along and I end up with a few sprints on Del Amo to beat red lights for a total near 100 kilometers. It's hard to say if the detour, which required me to backtrack a bit, made up for the cutoff of Live Oak versus Arrow highway. Regardless its a super ride and I'm very tired when I get home. I grab a quick cooling shower and go to the grocery store for supplies and a bottle of wine. And then I sit back, let the permutation runs continue, and watch a bit of the British Open golf tournament, the full FP2 for F1 from Hungary qualifying, a bit of a David Geffen Netflix special (which ties in with the older 1960's and 1970's music that I recently listened to and a book that I just finished), and then a brutal mountain stage of the Tour de France. It's an enjoyable day despite me being hungover from the long, hot bicycle ride and the wine.
On Saturday I get out for a cool mountain bicycle ride as he morning fog has rolled into Long Beacch. I get to the old yacht club and just go about my business despite many events starting to set up for today/tonight. At home I grab a shower and ride to the grocery store for some supplies and then watch an interesting F1 qualifyung session where the rain comes and goes and comes and goes. And seeing tha tmy last long permutation is running from my automayed script, I watch the final mountain stage of the Tour de France. Tomorrow I can process all of the permutation data. But today is a slow day and I watch part of a Netflix movie that was suggested to me and, before the movie had finished and is an unrealistic Hollywood representaton of events, I've emailed my friend a link related to "The Truth of...." where it explains all of the rrors of the movie. Ad I hope that this strikes a chord that we cannot ever ever trust anything from Hollywood.
I start Saturday physically hungover from Friday's ride, but get out for a mountain bicycle recovery ride. I enjoy today's ride because there are a lot of runners out but they are well behaved. At homme I grab a shower and meditate, as usual, and then ride the bicycle to the grocery store. There are two people ahead of me in the express lane and I tell the cashier, who recognizes me, "I'm paying for these people's things also". There's some debate, but I'm not taking NO for an answer and the cashier knows me. I get thanks from both parties and one is Cambodian so I can speak some Khmer with him on the way out of the store. At home there's an interesting F1 qualifying from Hungary where it has just rained but the high track temperatures mean that dry tires will work because the wet spots will dry quickly. It's a jumbled starting grid for Sunday's race! I then start the Tour de France mountain stage and though there threaten to be wild battles, order is restored and this year's Tour de France will probably quietly end tomorrow. I've been told that I need to watch the move "Grand Turismo" and it is very unrealistic and when I give my friend feedback on it I soften the feedback as much as possible and try to describe the difference between a simulator and artificial intelligence. And later I clean the kitchen and bathrooms and note that I again bleeding from arm. I do not lnow where this came from and did not feel it.
Sunday was going to be a day off from running or cycling but I wake up at 5am and cannot sleep. Thus I'm out the door for a sixty minute run/walk before 5:30am. After a shower and meditating, I take the motorcycle to get gasoline, get cash from the ATM, pick up supplies from CVS, and drop off two library books. At home I watch the F1 race from Hungary which is a close and strategic race but did not get the results that I wanted. I spend some time doing ome comparisons of "before fitness subroutine" runs of the permutation pronlem and "after fitness runs". There is probabibility involved, so I look at the results and vow to re-look at them later. The final stage of the Tour de France, a time trial outside of Nice where the Tour de France has never before ended outside of Paris, and it is a letdown with no unexpected results. Later I look for the IndyCar race on NBC or Peacock but everything is related to some senile old guy who decide he isn't going to run for president anymore despite overwhemlingly winning his party's nomination.
I have a fairly bad day on Monday. I'm tired and sleep in until 6:15am. I then go to work on exploring and finding the differences between the "before fitness subroutine" permutation code and the "after fitness" runs. They are different enough to suggest that one of the global variables is messing things up. Thus I spend a lot of time debugging. At mid-morning I get in a session with the weights and since I haven't lifted for almost two weeks, most of the lifts are more of a struggle and/or with less repetitions. But it's still a good workout and get the blood pumping and sweat pouring out since today is a hot day. After a cooling shower I find Sunday's IndyCar race to watch and I already know the resuls but the race was pretty boring anyway. Today I'm just feeling sad and down and don't really know why. So I watch some Peacock or Netflix or television programs but I'm not really following them. Later I take the permutation code and convert the inputs into an Excel worksheet so that it is is easier to change parameters and run again. By the end of the evening this is working and I'm feeling better except that there seems to be an extra loop in there. It's okay - I'll find it tomorrow. And I follow my standard practice of flossing, waterpiicking, brushing my teeth, putting on the flouride gel (which is required after radiation), and closing up the house before reading in bed for a while and going to sleep.
I'm enthused to get on the road bicycle on Tuesday morning and it takes a couple of sprints along Del Amo boulevard to make the green/yellow lights before they go red. I continue on for the extended loop ride and cranking along nicely. By the time I get to the final leg going north on the Los Angeles river trails towards home, I'm feeling tired. So I'm down a gear today and spinning just to get home. I trim the roses and bring a few new blooms into the house, have a cooling shower, make a trip to the grocery store for supplies, then come home and read the news and markets. It's still only 11:30am by now and I don't really feel like debugging that potential extra loop in the permutation runs, so I just find a few other things to do and watch some television news ad eventually have lunch near 1pm. I still don't have the images and interpretations of the non-contrast CT scan that I took two weeks ago, so I send off an email and it turns out the imaging center at Torrance, an affiliate of Cedars Sinai, has not forwarded the results to my main oncologist at Cedars Sinai for examination and explanation. So that will dangle over my head for another few days.
I start Wednesday near 6:15am for a recovery mountain bicycle ride. My legs feel tired throughout despite a surge or two. What is wrong with me with being tired? After a shower I go to the smog check center for the World Rally Car and get there but realize that I've forgotten my wallet. So I turn back home and get my wallet and eget the smog check done. The owner is Cambdoain and we speak some Khmer and he says, "I saw you hear a few minutes ago" and I have to tell hime that I forgot my wallet. Since he hasn't been back to Phnom Pen for five years I tell hime about the many unfinished skeletons of building wrapped in [;astic as well as the nasty traffic in Phnom Penh. I tell him, "Everybody used to ride a motorbike in the city and now everyone has a car". My car passes the smog check and I put the cetificate in the mail on the way home. At home I work a bit on the permutation code and then start setting up recording features for Olympics events that I want to see - like the men's and women's cycling time trials which will already start this Saturday night.
On Thursday I reset the alarm for 6:15am and sleep late. I check the permutation runs and they are proceeding nicely. I read the news and markets until abut 8am when I go out to trim and mow the lawn and then trim the roses. The roses are still in a semi-dormant mid-summer stage, so I only get a few good bloms to bring into the house. I do not feel good about myself on this day and I do not get in any workut (besides the gardening). And I watch a lot of the DOdgers' game and a Netflix seris about land swindlers. I go so tlseep hoping tat, despite not having exercised today for the third time this year, that I will be able to sleep well.
I have a normal pattern of sleep on Thrsday night into Friday morning and I'm out of bed at 5:35am on a mission. I get dressed and start north on the Los Angeles river trail on the road bicycle. I zigzag my way through the detours near El Monte - which have changed since last Friday - and contnue on to Arrow highway to the Santa Fe dam and stop for an energy gel. Then I start cranking south on the San Gabriel river trail. I'm starting to lose energy, but a rider passes me near South street north of my Del AMo cutoff for home, and IU grab his rear wheel. After a while I pass him and tow him along. This back and forth of towing continue all the way down to the end of the trail where I say to the other rider, "Thanks for the tow". He responds with a, "Thanks to you too". And I finish the conversation when we split directions with "I hope we get a chance to ride again". He was the stronger rider today but I had already done seventy kilometers when we started our back and forth towing. I finish the ride without incident for a total ride length of 120 kilometers. After a quick shoer I go to the super makret for supplies and get back home to watch an inconclusive FP2 for the F1 cars at Spa, Belgium. It's now 2:30pm and I havent eaten anything since 6pm last night, so I prepare some food and try to find some Olympics events to watch. Today I have no leg cramps or other bad effects from this long ride. Just before 3:30pm I get a text from George, who is really Jorge, the electrician that I have been playing voice tag with. He's coming over now. IU explain the situation and he inspectcs the old fixture and the new fixture and soon both of my kitchen lights are working fine. He suggests switching to LED lights and I'll do that. Just before he leaves I ask him about my bathroom light which is flickering and he says its an incandescent ligt about to fail. Just pull it dow without twisting and take it to Home Depot for an LED replacement. Jorge asks for $85 for his work and I give him $100 (por cervezas). I've always been nervous about replacing incandescent light bulbs with LED light bulbs because I was told there was an incompatibility between the two, but I'll give it a try. And I still have the old blown up kitchen fixture which is only half blown up and could possibly be repaired as an extra spare. I'll think about that or else rRecycle it.
On Saturday morning my legs are sore from Fridays long and hard ride, but I get on the mountain bicycle and spin for a while until I'm loostened up. Then I continue with a typial "recovery ride" down to the olf yach club and back home. During the ride I hang out with some Korean riders and w give the typical "I hope to ride with you again". After a shower there's a weird and mixed up wet qualifying session for F1 deom Spa, Belgium. Later I watch the women's Olympics time trial race with super weird helmets and bicycles and where one USA rider falls three times in the wet conditions (over the slippery white painted street lines on the corners of the roads) and her mechanic falls when he is trying to give her a new bicycle after her third fall. It's a wild race but fun to watch. Later the mens time trial race, again with super weird helmets and bicycles but cautioned by the women's race, has only a few falls and is fun to watch. In both of these races I don't have anyone that I'm up out of the chair yelling and screaming for, but they are fun nonetheless. I check out the Dodgers' game where they just can't seem to be that team from Houston. And finally the permutation runs finish and I'll process the results and tabulte them on Sunday. My new phone arrives, a Pixel 8, and I'll set it up on Sunday morning.
My legs are still stiff or sore from Friday's long ride, hard ride and Saturday's recovery ride, so I just walk to the grocery store for some supplies. One of the cashiers, who I have nt seen for a while, doesn not recognize because I've lost so much weight and we have a long discussion, since there are no customers in line, abut her battle with breast cancer more than ten years ago. At home I synch up the new phone with all of my old accounts and apps and it occurs fairly seamlessly. Though some common accounts, like Outlook, have to be moved manually. Because the legs are still sore I lift weights today and it is a good session - the bench press repetitions coming back and only the shoulder exercises being a problem (from the rotator cuff tears of the bicycle accident in September 2022). Afterwards I trim the roses, get a cooling shower, and watch a dry Belgian Grand Prix where it is exciting with the various strategies employed but my favorite drivers not doing as well as I had hoped. At mid afternoon I keep playing with my new phone but also process all of the permutation runs and tabulating them against prior runs.
On Monday my legs are still tired from Friday's long, hard ride. Nonetheless I try another mountain bicycle recovery ride to the olf ycht club and back to home. At home I get cleaned up, meditate, take the bicycle to the grocery store for just a few supplies, and then work on mobile phones. I get the old Pixel 4a factory reset to send back for a $58 credit. And I gothrough the new Pixel 8 apps and make sure that they are all up to date and will authenticate properly. I have two email addresses through Mcrosoft Office or Exchange, of course, which do not work yet. But I have time. Later I take care of paperwork and changing expired passwords at government sites that I use. And give some thought about the permutation runs which have been summarized and how they will fit in to the CSULA project (if picked up).