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The first week of August is a good one. I try to be productive at work and then come on home to lift weights and go walking afterwards. On Thursday and Friday of the first week of August I finally start eating better (meaning less food and better quality) and I'm rewarded with more energy. On Friday I leave work a bit early to lift weights, go walking, and do the laundry. And after dinner I even wash the motorcycle.
On Saturday I get out for the loop ride and see veyr few riders or walkers or runners down the Los Angeles river, many along the ocean, and a moderate number up the San Gabriel river. After a shower and some food as I watch the chaotic qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, I get out and wax the motorcycle and then wax the wheels also. Near noon I lay down for about an hour nap. And later in the afternoon I work on abdominals and lower back and get out for a 40 minute walk. Both Person C_T and Person T_U call - Person C_T is visiting friends in San Bernadino and Person T_U says that we should go check out a new club in Long Beach. I surf the Internet and find free passes for the new club so I print one for myself and another for Person T_U.
I arrive at the club a bit before 11pm and run into a number of acquaintancs throughout the night. Person T_U arrives after 11:30 pm and I get him the free pass for free admission. We hang out, listen to the music, and speak with Person D_V (Person T_U's ex), Person T_T (who gets my phone number because we haven't spoken for more than two years), Person W (who also gets my phone number as I tell him, "If you happen to see a good job at your new place of employment related to evolutionary programming, then please call me"), and Person H_V. (I go back and look at the diary and realize that Person T_T and Person H_V are duplicated, so I'll have to clear this confusion up shortly.) When the club closes at 2 am on Sunday morning a crowd assembles outside and conversations continue. Finally I decide that I have to leave and am able to get to sleep before 3 am.
On Sunday I am a bit lazy, so I watch the Hungarian Grand Prix in the rain. It's a wild race with changing conditions, many different tire changes and choices, and varying strategies. Never in a million years could anyone have guessed the final podium makeup and, thus, it is an entertaining race of missed opportunities by many drivers. Afterwards I get out for a sunny aquarium bicycle ride.
As I'm riding through the country club area of Long Beach towards the Los Angeles river I stop at a stop sign simultaneously with a white minivan. The white minivan waves me through and I notice that it is my city councilwoman. So I yell (in a friendly voice), "Hey Councilperson Gabelich. How are you?" She takes notice, smiles, and waves back at me. She apparently recognized me despite the helmet and cycling clothes.
On Sunday afternoon Person C_T visits and we go down by the ocean and go walking for an hour. We walk along the pedestrian path to the pier and wander aimlessly. And later we relax until we are both overcome by fatigue and call it a week.
On Monday and Tuesday I increase the weights a bit and find that I am struggling. Maybe it is because I've been trying to eat better and less. But after the weights sessions on Monday and Tuesday I mow the lawn and go walking, respectively. And then I relax and rest for the big day on Wednesday.
On Wednesay I wake up and start out on the "one mile for every year old" bicycle ride that has become traditional. (Note that I missed this ride last year because I was sick and the previous year because I was on an airplane for the Czech Republic.) I start out the ride and it takes a while to get into a good rythym up the Los Angeles river. But soon I'm cranking along over the Whittier Narrows dam, north of the dam to get up to the required mileage, and down the San Gabriel river trail for home. This is a great ride because there are very few riders, there is new pavement at the northern end of the San Gabriel river trail, and I make the traffic light at Rosemead Blvd and San Gabriel Blvd. This latter fact means that there are 42 or 43 miles of continuous riding without having to stop for a traffic light or for anything else. I end the 49 mile ride feeling spend but good.
I take a longer shower than usual, grab some chocolate cake and nonfat milk for the post ride meal, and head for Northrop Grumman - arriving near 10:30 am. Because it is mid-morning there is not a lot of traffic so I cruise on the motorcycle above 90 mph until I see a CHP officer. I slow down to 80 or so until the threat subsides and resume the 90 mph cruise to work.
I arrive home near 6:30 pm and Person C_T is grading papers and starting dinner. I've just had an orange, some fruit bars, and cranberry juice, so I eat a few bites of the pasta and save it for another time. Person C_T and I grab reading material and head to the Library Coffeehouse to read. I have papers on force-limited vibration testing, genetically-evolved coverage stragies for unmanned aerial vehicles, and some neural network papers. I get through two of the stack before we decide to call it an evening and collapse for sleep. We have not even touched the entire birthday cake that Person C_T has brought over.
Thursday and Friday are lazy and boring days at work. And days of struggle with the weights afterwards. Though there are no sore points on the body from the 49 mile birthday ride, maybe I'm a bit hungover from it and that causes me to struggle with the weights a bit. After the sessions I work on cleaning the garage, laundry, and grocery shopping. And then I relax for a fun weekend.
On Saturday I get out for the aquarium bicycle ride. Afterwards I continue on with three hours of bush trimming, cleaing out underbrush, mowing the lawn, trimming the lawn, and laying down fertilizer. After a shower and some lunch I am tired and I get down for a 90 minute nap. When I wake up and regain consciousness I head down to the ocean and get in a good inline skate. When I get home there are many phones calls from Person C_T announcing that people are coming over to take me out to dinner and then go bowling afterwards. The arrival time is 6:30 pm. They arrive shortly before 7:30 pm.
We head to a restaurant (Person C_T, Person L_M, Person E_M, Person J_U, and myself). For my birthday dinner I have french fries and diet Coke. This is lookd upon strangely, but I'm not hungry. Later we go back home to try and decide what to do and Person T_U comes over. I don't want to go bowling ("...because I've cycled for an hour, worked in the yard for three hours, and skated for an hour.") We end up just sitting around inside the house and outside until 11:30 pm when everyone takes leave and I head for sleep.
On Sunday I buy the newspaper and read before getting out for the aquarium bicycle ride. And then I spend 45 minutes cleaning up the roses. After a shower there is auto racing to watch from Denver (CART) and Kentucky (Indy cars). I leave before the races are finished because...um...well...it isn't Formula One or MotoGP.
I go buy cycling hsorts, 50 lbs of weights, and pants at various stores before I put on shorts and go out inline skating again. I cut a few minutes off the skate today because I'm tired and because the wheels on my skates are getting so worn that they are approaching the dangerous stage. I should have bought new wheels when I bought the cycling shorts and weights. At the end of the skate I watch some volleyball players play and return a phonecall with Person T_U to make sure that his car battery is okay (that has been acting up lately). He decides to replace it on Tuesday.
The remainder of Sunday evening is spent relaxing, finishing reading the newspaper, and catching up on other reading.
On Monday I am very tired and actually fall asleep for 20 or 30 minutes at work. When I get home I work on abdominals and the lower back and then work on the roses. Working on the roses I'm n my hands and knees and I get all dirty and muddy. I like playing in the dirt. I spend Monday night working on a Perl web crawler.