Content-type: text/html Ray Manning

Monday, March 20, 2006 9:00 AM

March Rolls On


Monday and Tuesday again yield productive days at Northrop Grumman as the Thursdat deadline looms. Monday and Tuesday nights are taken with good sessions with the weights as I increase the weights again.

On Monday after the session with the weights I meet with the tile guy doing my bathroom. He claims that he has run out of tile. But I show him a box of completely unopened tile and he wonders why he didn't see the box. Later I walk 30 minutes over to Los Cerritos Elementary School to meet up with Person T_U and to listen to five candidates for mayor discuss their plans. Because I know that my councilperson will be at the debates, I've prepared a letter for her describing the plans and capabilities of ResourceScout as well as giving her the start to the Long Beach bother her much, so I just give her the letter and she gives me a hug. I rejoin Person T_U and we listen to the candidates. Afterwards we start heading for home as Person T_U walks one block home and I walk 30 minutes. Person T_U offers a ride, but I decline. Later I get a phone call from Person T_U saying how cold it is and offerring me a ride home, but I'm almost home anyway.

On Wednesday and Thursday I have more productive days at Northrop Grumman as well as with the weights. This week, rather than take Wednesday and Saturday off from the weights, I decide that I need a bit more work. Thus I hit the heavy weights again on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

On Wednesday night I geek-out and produce a great new mapping capability for ResourceScout (as well as for the coty of Long Beach's crime map). There's more work to be done, but the mapping is getting to the point of being a real "wow factor" for our solicitation of business.

On Thursday I again hit the weights pretty hard. Later in the evening Person M_C contacts me and I agree to pick him up at Los Angeles International airport and drive him to his house that he is selling. He's made an offer on a condo in Oakland and has to sell this house.

I'm up ealry to lift weights before work. It's a good workout though just a bit more difficult than usual because I had no day off on Wednesday and because I tend to lift better in the afternoon than the morning. I stay at work until 6:30 pm and head over to pick up Person M_C. We have a tough drive down to Orange County and we stop off at Costco and Souplantation before I drop Person M_C off at the house that he will be selling shortly.

On Friday night (i.e., Saturday morning) I wake up in the middle of the night and have a totally out-of-character dream for me. In the dream I am at a horse racing track and placing bets on horses. Well, I've only been to a horse racing track once in my life (to see the Police in concert in 1983) and I'm not a gambling person at all. I wonder what this means?

On Saturday I get out for a morning walk and a trip to the grocery store before I hit the weights. It's a tough session, but I make it through and get a day off. Even hitting the weights pretty hard recently produces no joint pain. At midday it looks liker ain, so I skip the bicycle ride and edge and mow the lawn. I squeeze this in even though there is no rain. I relax a bit and then decide to go cycling anyway. It is a very very windy ride, but I just pedal along and have fun. It's the aquarium ride and as I'm heading back towards home a cyclist going the other way gives me an enthusiastic, "Hello! How are you this afternoon?" I smile back and then turn and yell to him to come and ride with me, but he's too far gone and the wind drowns out my voice. Oh well - I could use an enthusiastic cycling partner right now. After another shower I relax and then make dinner for Person C_T and myself.

Person C_T has picked up Thai food on the way over, so we eat Thai food and my dinner will be eaten throughout the week. We start in on a comedy movie about waiters, but we both decide to skip it after the first 15 minutes because it is ranchy comed with harsh language (and neither of us are into that). Instead we watch another movie about an older lady undergoing a divorce unknowingly starts dating her tharpist's son. It's kind of interesting. But we're both tired and we're immediately ready for sleep when the movie is over.

On Saturday night I toss and turn quite a bit in the midst of bouts of sleep. I, again, have a weird dream that is out-of-character for myself though I don't remember it now. I wonder what this means?

As Person C_T sleeps, I'm up near 6 am to watch the tape of the Malaysian Grand Prix. It's an okay race. It's interesting to see which teams will have problems because of the 100F temperatures. And there are a number of engine and hydraulic problems throughout the weekend and the race. At midday I get out for a very very windy aquairum bicycle ride. It's even windier than yesterday. When I return Person C_T is ready to leave for the weekend. So I grab a quick shower, do some grocery shopping for the week, and paint some trim. I'm apporaching the very end of any work that I can do on the house - professionals have to be called in for everything else.