The week at Northrop Grumman is characterized by some good tests now that we understand the unit undergoing test. The team gets into a good rhythm and finishes the last two axes of testing quicker than expected. We'll grab the Gigabyte of data and try to make sense of it in the near future.
Seeing that I am approaching 8 weeks of good lifting since starting back in, I figure it will soon be time for a few days off to give the joints a chance to rest and recover. Thus for the entire week I just drill the heck out of every body part that I can for this final week. I even increase the weights and though the early part of the week is a struggle, I feel the strength coming back and the size coming back as I approach the end of the week. Is is not recommended, but I get in heavy sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights following days of testing. On Thursday after lifting I wash and wax the car very quickly as the dusk approaches.
On Thursday night I make calls to the arrestee (to see how his court hearing went), Person S_BC, Person C_T, Joe, and Person T_U. It is a three day weekend coming up and I want to line up some fun!
Friday starts with the (almost) 30 mile loop ride. I intend to extend to the 40 mile ride over the Whittier narrows dam soon, but not today. I crank along on the ride and pull along some guy for the entire stretch down the San Gabriel river trail. He doesn't even thank me for the pull when we split ways. After a shower, refueling, and the laundry, I work a bit on the mapping program for ResourceScout. I'm working this on the sly and hope to spring it on the other principals on Tuesday if I get it finished.) Near noon I get out and edge, trim, and mow the lawn - including the side yard that only gets cut twice a year. And then I wash down the garage door and driveway that only gets washed down twice a year. A cool shower is followed by a 90 minute nap in two segments. When I wake up it takes me some time to regain consciousness.
Later in the evening I get in a good session with the weights as I approach the end of this cycle. Only Joe decides to go out clubbing with me, so he drives over to my house as we drive up together. And though I missed Joe's desperation call for final directions to my house, he finds it anyway.
Joe has beent o my house 10 or 20 times. And everytime that he is getting ready to exit the freeway he calls me and says, "Hurry, Ray, is it Atlantic exit north or south?" And after I tell him that it is north, he says, "I just barely made it that time." Um...couldn't he call me a few minutes before he gets to the exit and has to make the turn? Or couldn't he remember after all of these times? Well, that's what makes life with Joe interesting.
Joe and I hit two clubs - the usual club and the herd, clone club. Though the music is better at the usual club, we end up spending more time at the herd, clone club. Joe introduces me to the DJ at one of the Long Beach clubs that I occassionally go to. I want to ask him if he could start playing more modern music, like something made in the last year or so (instead of 5 year old stuff). But I just let it go and tell him that I'll be at "his" club on Saturday night when he is spinning. There is one offer that is coming my way but by giving a non-chalant and clueless look on my face I am able to avoid having to deal with it. At the beginning of the evening Joe has told me that he feels something coming on in his throat, so at 12:45 am on Saturday morning we are leaving and heading for home. I actually read for a few minutes before turning off the lights for sleep at 1:45 am.
Saturday is a good day of bicycle riding in the warm sun, a lot of small errands around the house, and some significant work on a ResourceScout mapping capability. Hopefully the principals will be as excited about the addition as I am.
Person C_T comes over near 10:30 pm and we head out the door to go to a club in Long Beach. Joe is already there and greets us and eventually we run into Person T_U also. The music (from the previous night's DJ friend of Joe's) is okay even though it is a couple years old. But better than the 5 year old stuff that he sometimes plays. Person C_T and I greet a few people including Person T_U's friend, Person Y_J, who had the very warm hands last time. Tonight he is just drinking too much and doesn't feel warm (like he has consumed other substances that mess with one's body temperature). At about 1am Person C_T and I decide to take leave and call it an early evening.
I'm up at 7 am on Sunday to go for a walk and buy the newspaper (and other groceries at the store). Person C_T leaves for work near 11 am and I work more on the mapping and actually finish it. It is ready to be shown to the principals on Tuesday night. It's a quiet day, but I work the abdominals and get out for another long walk in the afternoon. The MotoGP race from Qatar is close, hard fought, and exciting and I enjoy watching it. And later I actually watch some football.
But I'm tired today so the VCR is programmed to record the 9pm start of Desperate Housewives as I am in bed right near 9 pm. As I'm laying down I realize that the arrestee has not returned any of my 3 phone calls. I hope that this does not mean that his/her hearing on Thursday resulted in incarceration of some sort.