On Monday I leave work a bit early. I grab the car and take it over to the dealer for a tuneup and then I inline skate back home. After a quick walk to the grocery store I lift weights - continuing with the high repetitions, low weight sessions. This one hits the "pull" muscles. I decide to continue this high repetition, lower weights routine as I gradually build up the weights. This will give the muscles and soft tissue and joints a chance to gradually get stronger. As opposed to the rapid buildup in lifts that I pursued after being sick to show that I was going to make it back, this time I'll take my time.
And then I relax. I catch Person Dan_SF on the phone as he's going to see a movie and we have a brief conversation and agree to talk again soon. But he invites Person C_T and me to come visit sometime soon.
On Tuesday I leave work a bit early to go pick up the car at the dealer. Except that my neighbor interupts me as I get home and she has a dead battery in her second car. So I go pull the old battery out and put it into her new car for her to exchange at Sears (where she bought the previous one). As she heads off to get a new battery, I skate over to the dealer, pick up the car, buy a few groceries, and get in the "pull" muscle group weightlifting session. As I'm cooling down the neighbor returns and I go over and install her new battery for her. At first the car doesn't start. But then I realize that I've left a black plastic protector on the ground terminal and I start laughing. Of course it's dark and I couldn't see it - or at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. When we correct the problem the car starts right up. So I gather my tools, shop light, and extension cord and go home for dinner. I like helping people!
On Wednesday I receive two voice mail messages from "Tri City Something". (I couldn't quite make out the last word. The messages say, "Your Mother is ready to go now. Please come and pick her up." Seeing that my Mom has been dead for almost 15 years, I wonder if it is really the cemetary asking me to take my Mom out for some fresh air. I don't bother returning the calls because it's obviously a wrong number.
On Thursday I leave work a bit early after a productive day. Why are these last few days before holiday shutdown relatively productive? After lifting weights and going for a long walk, I stop at Quiznos to pick up dinner. I meet up with a nieghbor at 6:20 pm and we walk over to the police station for a neighborhood meeting. I don't know why, but I know everyone in the room (or they know me by my first name) and I even see the cito councilperson looking at me as if she knows me. (Recall that I did attend her first election kickoff meeting and spoke with her about quality of life issues at that time.) The meeting focuses on a shooting that occurred the day after Thanksgiving on our street during a loud and raucous party. It was far enough down the street that I didn't hear the party or the commotion. The police tell us that our 4 block square neighborhood is a great neighborhood and that they rarely have problems. But we have to stay diligent about the safety of our neighborhoods. And I speak up and try to steer the conversation towards quality of life issues such as noise, barking dogs, and code enforcement. It is a good 100 minute meeting and, hopefully, our neighborhood group with grow and strengthen.
Friday is a short day at work, but I am still productive. And I manage to move around some artwork in my office to make way for new art to be brought in early in 2006.
On Friday I pick up at Person J_VKPI and we head to the first club in West Hollywood to party. We get there in time to get a wristband (so that we don't have to pay an entrance fee later) and then we walk over to a second club. We hang out there for a while as Person J_VKPI makes me keep going to different bartenders to get him additional pineapple slices for his apple martini (because he's too shy to ask). Later we go to another club and hang out as the crowd picks up. Finally we head back to the original club after 11:15 pm as it starts to get crowded. Person T_U joins us after a while and we mingle with the crowd and enjoy the night. There are two offers that are to be made, but by occupying myself in conversation with Person J_VKPI and Person T_U I am able to avoid having to deal with the offers. Person J_VKPI and I leave at 1:50 am. I drop him off and head for home - making it home with only one traffic delay. I read in bed for a short while before turning off the lights for sleep at 3:45 am.
On Saturday I get out for a reasonable aquarium ride. The ride starts out in warm sun, goes through hazy clouds near the ocean, and ends up in the sun at home. Today is a slow day, but Person C_T comes over later and we spend time together.
On Saturday night I go to light a fire in the fireplace. When I open up the gates and screen I find a dead bird on the floor of the fireplace. It must have fallen off the chimney into the fireplace and was not able to get out. I continually say, "Oh I am so sorry" as I pick the bird up with the fireplace shovel and gently place it in the trash receptacle outside the house.
On Sunday I'm lazy in the morning and just stay in bed until almost 9 am. I blame it on trying to get extra rest in order to avoid getting sick. Near noon Daniel comes by and Person C_T, Daniel, and I go driving around San Pedro and Long Beach - taking pictures and seeing stuff that we don't normally see. We have a late lunch on Christmas day at a Mediterranean restaurant where a majority of the women are in the traditional Islamic head coverings. And Daniel takes his leave for the day. Person C_T and I do yoga together and then relax before Person C_T heads back home to do laundry and get ready for the week.
As I'm turning out the lights after reading I note that there are a few tears dripping onto the pillow. I'm thinking about things that I shouldn't be thinking about. But the tears are not enough to relieve the stress right now.
Monday turns out to be a wet and drizzly day. Thus I lift weights in the morning for the "pull" muscles, work on an evolutionary algorithm, and get out for very long walk. I've managed to get the sorting, the reproduction, and the mutation for the evolutionary algorithm finished and I just have to add a few options before trying it out on some more dynamically rich problems. At the end of the walk I rent the DVD "Along Came A Spider". It has a fair amount of twists and turns, but I figured out who was in on the kidnap plot in the first minutes. I don't know how or why, but I felt it. Later in the afternoon I go out and lfit weights again - again hitting the "pull" muscle groups. Twice a day workouts for the same muscles are not supposed to be done, but I need to beat myself up rigt now to get out of a constantly near tears state. Afterwards I go for a walk and drop the DVD back off at the store.
Throughout the evening I keep jumping between watching the final Monday Night Football game on ABC, working on the evolutionary algorithm, and listening to music. I find some discrepancies in the evolutionary algorithm and now have it fully functional such that there is not a significant amount of inbreeding. I finish off the evening with the newspaper in bed before dropping off to sleep.