It's approaching my birthday and I check the weather and today seems to be the coolest day for the next week or so. Thus I start out on the road bicycle north on the Los Angeles river expecting to do my "one mile for every year old that I am" today. I get past the El Monte airport and everything feels good - maybe a weird sensation or two from the left knee that lasts a few pedals strokes. I get up near the Santa Fe dam and face a headwind the entire way back to the ocean - stopping once at a park with a trash bin for an energy gel. I'm glad to get to the ocean and now can just deal with a sidewind and tail wind on the way home. I end up at 120 kilometers, slightly more miles than years old (in American miles). After a shower I see the retired schoolteacher's family's car in the driveway and I get up my gumption and walk over. I get introduced to the niece and nephew who are generously offerring to take the retired schoolteacher to Ojai for a second try at living there. The niece and nephew are incredibly nice people. But for the hour or so that I am there I am glad that I am not going to live in Ojai with them. Neither will shut up and keep talking about all of these arcane things. Maybe they mean something to the retired schoolteacher, but not to me. Regardless I give the niece and nephew what bills need to be paid, find her passport and driver's license and insurance card and we gather all of the important papers. And I finally take leave with, "I road 74 miles this morning and I have not had anything to eat yet". Thus I am allowed to go home and steam some vegetables and have them on a plain Indian nan with some oil on top. Iread the news and markets and ice my knees though I'm not feeling anything from them. And just relax the day away. Today I turn on my air conditioning for the first time this year since the entire year has been fairly cool (and I'm skinny now and the heat does not effect me). But I realize I may have to use the air conditioing for the next few days as it should be fairly hot. Later I work on the Markov chain model and get some super results. So now I just have to finish the writeup, which is complete except for today's super results, and send it off to my friend.
I wake up on Wednesday morning with some new ideas for various Markov chains. I quickly write them down and then go do a recovery ride on the mountain bicycle to the end of the beach trail. Still skipping the peninsula part of the ride to keep the recovery ride five kilometers shorter. The legs feel strong and there are no weird sensations in the knees, but I ice my left knee the minute I get home. After a couple of items around the house I ice the right knee for a very short perid of time (despite it never having any difficulty). After a shower I ride the bicycle to the grocery store for supplies and then start working on my newer ideas on the Markov chain (and while icing the left knee a lot and the right knee just a bit). By noon I've made some progress on the newer Markov chains, but I'm ging to hold up a final writeup until I get the optimization working for my friend. MM friend will not get to this for a while, so there is no hurry. Today the Dodgers' game starts a bit after 1pm PDT time and I can watch the game with steamed vegetables and garlic nan and Coca Cola. I go back and work on the Markov chain details and make progress though I am not finished yet. The options for the Markov Chain are: 1) User defined breakpoints for categories; 2) Automated breakpoints based upon a user-defined set of breakpoints; and 3) An optimization algorithm-derived set of breakpoints. For all of these options, the Markov chain can 1) Select a random number with a bin cxategory; or 2) Choose the mean. These will all be programmed with results given for my friend in a few days. Later I just relax and be a vegetable after I've fixed my UniBox "offline problem" which was probably caused by excessive heat. The UniBox was very hot to the touch before, but now is more realistic and does not lose connectivity like it did before. I'll run this configuration for a month and then, assuming no problems, give a good-bye to my DirectTV subscription of 25 years.
I start Thursday, expected to be hot today, with an 81 brisk walk. I immediately put ice on the left knee and trim the roses and set up items to do some bathroom cleaning. After a shower I ride the motorcycle to CVS to pick up an item and then get back to coding. I'm really close to having a very generix Markoc Chain running before I tie an optimization algorithm around it. I keep having these good ideas as I sleep or cycle or walk and have to write them down as soon as possible so that I can try them before I forget. I get out a straight edge knife to scrape the soap scum off the glass shower doors, then wash them with Bar Keeper's Friend, then rinse them, let them dry, and then Windex them. The whole process takes 45 minutes but the glass shower doors look brand new after 18 years. OMG - they look so good that I keep finding excuses to walk all of the way to my back bedroom to admire the glass doors. I get the Markoc Chain code into a stable and fixed consideration and cal it version 3.0 and save it in three places (i.e., my desktop, a memory stick, and on Google drive). Not I can promote to Version 4,0 (experimental) as I wrap an optimization algorithm around it.
Friday is usually my longest ride, but since I did my 120 kilometer birthday ride back on Tuesday, I just cycle about 80 kilometers on Friday. And I immediately ice the left knee at home before cleaning and degreasing the chain or even putting away my cycling clothes. After a shower I drive to the grocery store to pick up heavy items and run into the John, the guy from ican.org again, who loves my car and wishes he bought one back in the day. I've checked out the California Disabilities Network via Charity Navigator and found that they got a 92 out of 100 rating. So I've donated to them through my Fidelity account and let John from ICAN know that they can see the donation within a week or so (because it takes time for Fidelity to check them out and then send out the money). I get home and pull out some cleaning equipment to clean the bathroom tile (to go along with the bright, clean shower glass). I read the news and markets and find another charity, that I believe in. But they are not listed on Charity Navigator. So I send them an email saying that I can contribute once they are "rated" by Charity Navigator. IU sit down and start to code the optimization part to go with the Markov chain code. I've code these optimization algorithms many times and know what to do, but it just takes time and may not be finished today. I take some time to scrape soap scum off the tile with a razor blade (as I did with the glass) and then apply a glas cleaner/vinegar mixture and scrub and rinse to get it super clean. Again, I know how to get it all clean and shiny, but it will take a day or two to finish the complete tiled shower and seat. Throughout the day I stretch and ice the knees and watch some television.
After the extra long early birthday ride on Tuesday and good rides on Wednesday and Friday, I decide to just spin on Saturday. I take the mountain bicycle to the end of the bicycle trail and head back for home. I certainly bump up a gear when I have a tailwind, but otherwise just spin. And immediately put an ice pack on my left knee to go trim the roses and neighbor's sidebush pushing into my driveway a bit. I scrub the shower a bit, but I don't have my special vinegar mix so I do the best that I can and will re-scrub tomorrow with vinegar combined with glass cleaner. After the shower I pick up more heavy supplies at the grocery store and get to the ATM and get a big peace sign (i.e., a sign of solidarity) from another World Rally ar driver whose car is a few years newer than mine. Of course I return the peace sign. At home I work on the optimization part of the Markov chain code and it functions, though it has some numerical problems that I have to debug. I take a break to chop up vegetables for today's lunch as well as removing the rotts from the new vegetables that I just bought so that they can go into our organic trash bins for pickup on Monday. The rest of the day is fairly slow with solf golf and the Dodgers' game and other mindless activities. Throughout the day I put ice packs on both knees and do my regular stretches though I skip the one stretch for quadriceps since I think that might put too much stress on my knees.
I get out for a good strong recovery ride to the end of the ocean trail and back to home. A road bicycle rider goes past me but he doesn't get too far ahead and seems to be keeping that distance of 100 meters or so. So I kick it up a gear and catch back up to him but ride 20 meters behind him so that he doesn't know I'm there. Its good to push a little bit even on a recovery ride. Today I ice both knees, grab a shower, and again discovered ideas to try while sleeping or cycling for the Markov chain code. So I work on that for a bit and think I need to rescale some variables and also offset from zero since the design parameters are both negative and positive and bad things happen if you divide by a value close to zero. I relax with some golf and IndyCar race from Portland and have a slow day. I have three doctors appointments in the next couple of weeks and I'll be telling them to block out all of December and January from appointments or prescription refills because I'll be out of the country.
I have a very boring Monday. I have a struggling sesion with the weights on Monday morning and grab a shower. Later in the day I ride the motorcycle down for a visit with my primary care physician. Everything looks good and he's glad that I had the RSV vaccinne (which I had back in 2023 but forgot about) and a very clean colonscopy. He says I'm pretyy daring because he wouldn't want to be awake and watching what was going on during a colonoscopy. But that's another appointment down and ride the bike like a maniac on the way home. And finally get into bed a bit early to read and then sleep.
I'm out of bed early enough on Tuesday that I put a light on my bicycle to ride. I go out Del Amo and I finally run into the Saint John Bosco cross country team and coaches. So I turn around and talk with the coaches and we share experiences. I usually see them on Tuesday's (mostly in August and September) and so I have to re-introduce myself ad the coaches remember me. I ride slowly with them and they are optimistic because they have a lot of last year's sophomores back for the next two years. Finally I get far enough north that I have to wish them luck and turn back south. I spin for a while but once I get to Del Amo I start driving like a crazy cyclist. There's a rider behind me and he takes a turn pulling for a while but then he starts to lag and I give him a friendly, "I guess it's my turn again". And I drag him all the way to the ocean where he goes south and I go north and we both thank each other for the tows. It seems like a slight tailwind is with me along the ocean trail and up the Los Angeles river trail so I'm just going wild with the speed passing other cyclists as if they are standing still. Finally I get to Del Amo at an almost all-out sprint and turn off and head for home. At home I immediately ice my knees and trim the roses and gather everything together for a little adventure. I grab two blueberry muffins at a satore and then head to my favorite coffee/tea/juice cafe to try out my laptop in foreign surroundings. I bought this gaming name laptop for the GPU chip to make my Python code run faster but I've never used outside my house. So set up and trim away at the bluebarry muffins even though we are not supposed to bring outside food into the cafe. I get the laptop ready for mobile activity on different WiFi networks and surroundings and make the font bigger (globally) for my old eyes and note that my Dropbox is not synching. Thus I have to backtrack and do some work from the past few days on what is avaiable. I enjoy the the few hours I spend at the cafe as it is not as crowded as usual. And figure I have to delete Dropbox from this new laptop and re-install it. On the way driving home I pick up some supplies including garlic nan and very very spicy habaneros peppers for future consumption. I put everything away and go back and try to make the various device versions of my code consistent so that I can work on any device, though I don't re-install Dropbox on the laptop yet. It's approaching 5pm and I've only had two flueberry muffins the entire day but I'm not that interested in eating. Though I should to get in a decent recovery bicycle ride on Wednesday and mow the lawn. Later I watch some of the Dodgers' game and see the Dodgers load the bases with nobody out and Shoe Ohtani lines into a triple play to end the inning. And the Dodgers go on to lose by one run again.
I start Wednesday with ten minutes of extra sleep and then I am dressed and ready for a recovery mountain bicycle ride. It's a good ride that I still cut short at the end of the ocean trail just to err on the cautious side. At home I mow the backyward with an icepack on my left knee. Then I trim and mow the front yard and trim a few stray branches from bushes that are dieing or not supposed to be there. I continue to debug the Markov chain code and can't quite ge there. It's time for the Long Beach Human Trafficking Task Force meeting and its a good meeting. Afterwards I steam vegetables and eat them on a bed of garlic nan while watching the news and markets on television. In the afternoon I keep debugging the Markov chain code and adding enhancements. But the optimizer keeps making too big of a step and stepping across breakpoints which causes problems and I don't know why. And I check out the Dodgers' game again and hope for no triple plays against us.
I have a bad Thursday. I get out for a good 82 minute walk though I am not ready to add in running yet. I trim the roses, grab a shower, and read the news and markets. Later in the afternoon I ride the motorcycle down to the prosthodonist. But throughout the day I just feel sad and depressed and bored and not good. Maybe a long bicycle ride on Friday morning and MotoGP and Moto2 FP2 sessions from Austria will help me feel better.
On Friday I start out north on the Los Angeles river trail spinning away as usual to get the ;egs warmed up. I feel good and just use my usual gears and climb hills as usual. I get up to the Santa Fe dam and turn back south. A few kilometers down the road another cyclist passes me and sayd "Good morning" and I say "Have a good ride today" as I expect him to ride away. He gets to about 100 meters ahead of me and then it seems like the distance stays the same for a number of kilometers. As we approach the Whittier Narrows dam on the way south I've put in a surge and when we're climbing the dam I'm right behind him. We both continue south and he pulls away and I stay 30 to 40 meters with him the whole time. I don't need the tow and I don't want to make it look like I'm going to tow him along either. We continue like this and he knows I'm back there because he turns back and sees me a few times. Finally he gets to the park where I smetimes stop for an energy gel (on longer rides) and he signals for a lef tturn and I speed up and ride past him and say "Have a good ride". And I continue on home with the knees telling me that they are there, but I don't have any pain. I finish with 100 kilometers and ice both knees immediately after the ride. I grab a shower and read the news and markets and pay bills and then watch FP2 for both MotoGP and Moto2 from Austria. I ice both knees a bit throughout the day and try to decide what to do. I originally thought I might go to a club and hang out with some good music since I haven't been up to my favorite clubs since AUgust 2019 before the pandemic. I keep bouncing back and forth between "go tonight", "go tomorrow night", or "don't go at all". I watch the summary of the Russia/USA summit and neither leader offers up anything of substance. What did I expect?
At 8:30pm I take a shower and dress in black pants, a black shirt, and a black tie with dark green patterns. Wearing a tie to the clubs? I like to throw peple off as I did in Thailand. I take my time driving to the club because I have not driven at night for a long time. On a surface street I'm stopped at a red light second in the lane. The light goes green and the first car goes (not shooting off the light nor lagging) and then I start proceeding when I have to slam on the brakes as an unlit cyclist cuts across my path against his red light (and after the first car has already gone). I fortunately don't hit the cyclist because I am paying strict attention to my driving but I immediately look in the rear view mirror to see if I will get rear-ended. But I don't. And I continue onward cautiously and park. Parking at the carwash is $20 and the attendant can barely driving a standard tarnsmission so I stick around as he cannot find reverse. So I walk ver and tell him "You have to push down on the gear shift lever to engage reverse" and he find reverse but stalls the car two more times backing up ten feet. I check out the first club and I get on the dance floor and I'm dancing alone when a group of five people, both men and women, motion for me to join them and we trade fist bumps and shoulder taps and dance for a while. One of the men has an infectious smile and I want to say something, but I don't. They later go upsatirs to sance to hip hop music which I don't like so I walk over to the second club. This club has bought another neighboring property and has stairs throughout the three or four adjoining properties that it now spans. So whenever I am walking around I am extra cautious with my footing. The ,usic is good and there are some cuties that I smile at or make a motion towards but I make no inroads. Not a problem - I am enjoying the music and dancing amongst the crowd. Finally I stop back in at the first club maybe hoping to run into the infectious smile guy but he's gone. One of the "exotic" or "erotic" dancers comes up to me - we had smiled at each other a few times on my first visit - and we dance for a few minutes and get some hugs. But I'm not looking what he/she is looking for. I call it a night and walk to my car and drive home cautiously even though there is no traffic. Maybe a maximum of 80 mph this time. And then I read for a very short time before turning out the lights for a handfull of hours of good sleep.
On Saturday I sleep in until 6:30am and get on the mountain bicycle. As I start riding down the Los Angeles river the slight mist gets a bit heavier and though it is not full fledged rain, its heavy enough that I have to finger wipe my cycling shades, but not heavy enough to be dangerous. By the time I'm getting home the rain/mist has pretty much disappeared. I put an icepack on the left knee and trim the roses and then sit in the garage with an extra ice pack on the right knee. All preventative. After a shower I drive the car to the grocery store because I'm buying heavy stuff and return home for MotoGP/3/2 qualifing from Austria. I feel much better after I eat lunch but still relax with some Netflix and news and other little things, And have a quick check on the Dodgers' game before heading to bed a bit early for reading and sleep.
I sleep very well on Saturday night into Sunday morning and wake up two minutes before the alarm goes off. I'm out the door on the mountain bicycle for a second recovery ride before 6am and I still just go to the end of the ocean trail (rather than the end of the peninsula which would add about 5 kilometers). It's a ride and I ice both knees immediately afterwards (and throughout the day) but look forward to giving the legs a day off on Monday when I'll probably only lift weights. After a shower I read the news and watch the MotoGP Tissot sprint race from Saturday afternoon and then I switch between golf and the Dodgers' game with lunch being extra cheesy bean and cheese burritos (with added tomatoes and jalapenos). The rest of Sunday is slow.
Monday is a slow day. I wake up a bit late and read the news and markets. At mid-morning I have a decent session lifting weights and grab a shower. I then walk to the post office to send off a package of the retired schoolteacher's mail to her niece and nephew to deal with. I also include a list of accounts that the schoolteacher may or may not have had that she was supposed to fill in back in February. Which she did not do. I watch a very wild and exciting Moto3 race from Austria during lunch of steamed vegetables on a wheat bread bed. Afterwards I clean the hardwood floors and kitchen and bathroom floors. Today, like the rest of the week is going to be, is hot. So I use my air conditioning again. I think this is the fifth day this year that I've used it. And I relax with the Moto2 race from Austria, some Netflix, and the news and lay out my cycling gear for a Tuesday morning ride.