Content-type: text/html Ray Manning

Monday, September 25, 2006 9:00 PM

Fort Wayne and The World (Really!)!


On Tuesday I'm up a bit after 5am and I pack up my stuff to ride the bicyle to work. It's dark these days when I leave from home, so I have a light on the bicycle handlebars and another on my left ankle so that traffic can see me.

The ride home is great. I approach one of the intersections that is a traffic disaster. Seeing that a lot of people are turning right and there is not way to bypass this traffic, I go in between the far right lane and the middle lane and go to the head of the line. Except that the first vehicle, a large truck, is not turning right. He sees me coming in his mirror and just as I approach the very front of the line, our light goes green. Now I know that I only have to make it to the top of the hill ahead of the truck because, odds are, there is a backup just beyond the top of the hill. So I give the truck driver "The Look" - which says, "Let's go!" So I jump out ahead with a great sprint and after a few seconds starting up the little hill I'm shifting up a gear and gaining more speed and I don't dare look back. But after a few more seconds climbing the hill I'm shifting UP ANOTHER GEAR and soon I'm moving quite nicely and easily make it to the top of the hill ahead of the truck. And lose myself in the traffic ahead. It's a great bicycle ride home.

After Wednesday's session with the weights, Thursday is another bicycle commute day. This set of rides is uneventful, but I feel great when I'm back at home (and prior to running off to another ResourceScout meeting). During the work day on Thursday my trip to Fort Wayne is delayed again until next Thursday. Seeing that I have been productive for the last few days at getting onorbit models and simulations running, I decide to take Friday off and stay away from work.

On Friday I'm up near 5:30 to go walk/run and get this day of errands started on the right track. I manage to get through my entire list of errands and workouts. I struggle a bit with the weights today because it is the last high repetition workout with the most weight - and I'm just a bit tired. During the evening I relax in the cool weather as I jump between books to read.

On Saturday I'm lazy to start the day so I just perform some errands and things around the house. Just after 10 am I finally get out for the aquarium ride. It's an eventfull ride as three things separate it from typical rides. 1) There are a large number of cute and volunterious (see next paragraph) people out cleaning up the Los Angeles river (And I want to thank each and every one in a special way for cleaing up the river.); 2) The police are arresting two people near the bicycle trail at Pacific Coast Highway (where a fair number of homeless people hang out); and 3) There's a guy taking a bath with soap and water using one of the irrigation pipes (but at least he has his pants on for now). But it's a bright sunny ride. When I get home I change clothes and clean up the roses and give the bicycle a quick spray down. And then some reading and relaxing finish off the Saturday afternoon.

volunteering their time to make the world a better place.

There is a three way discussion between Person T_U, Joe, and myself in deciding the plans for the night. Joe wants all of us to go to a club in Long Beach, Person T_U wants to go to a house party in Los Angeles and then hit a club afterwards, and I just want to hit ths clubs. Person T_U and I end up going to the house party and Joe does his own thing. Though I don't know the hosts of the party, I bring a bottle of wine and introduce myself and say, "I can't show up to a party emtpy-handed". I'm not at the party for 15 minutes when somebody sneaks up behind me and says, "No ice hockey players allowed". It turns out it's a player who was just joining the ice hockey team that I played on as I was leaving. And, of course, I use the wrong name towards him and he corrects me, laughs, and says, "Many people call me Kyle. Do I look like a Kyle?" The party is fun with lots of nice people and a guy who wants to talk to me about global warming and motorcycles. Eventually Person T_U and I decide not to go clubbing and just call it an early night. Thus I'm in bed by 1:30 am to read before turning out the lights.

On Sunday I'm a bit lazy again - going grocery shopping and reading the newspaper before going cycling. But it's another good ride where I have my shirt off in the warm morning sunshine. After the MotoGP race and 250cc race from Australie I get out skating. It's just a relaxing skate as there aren't a lot of people out today.

Just after I've finished dinner Person C_T comes over to visit. We watch some Sunday night television and then call it a day.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are productive days at work and after work with good sessions with the weights. Tuesday was supposed to be a bicycle commute day, but I had trouble sleeping on Monday night and drove instead - the motorcycle dealer unable to find a single stator for my motorcycle within the United States. This is getting pathetic!

On Tuesday I search the Internet for fun things to do during my upcoming trip to Fort Wayne. Because ice hockey season has not started I am unable to attend a Fort Wayne Komets game. But there's the Corn Maze and Farm Fantasyland Festival as well as the Appleseed Writing Project. Yes, this is going to be fun.

On Thursday I'm out of bed at 4:20 am to go walking/running before work, to work on abdominals with the weights before work, and to acclimate myself to the east coast time zone that I'll be working in for a while. On Thursday I get to Los Angeles International airport to find that my flight has been cancelled. Thus begins my journey. I ask the customer service representative, "You cancelled a flight to your own hub because of a mechanical issue and didn't repalce the plane with another? To your own hub"? The point is made but I get on the next flight about an hour later. And just miss my connection in Chicago to Fort Wayne. Now neither United nor American can get me a seat, "But you can go standby", on the next flight that doesn't leave for 5 hours. Thus I take the bull by the horns and get a rental car in Chicago and start driving to Fort Wayne. I call me secretary and tell her to cancel the Chicago to Fort Wane flight, get a refund for the flight, and tell United that they are paying for this rental car. We'll see how that turns out.

It is a nice drive through Illinois and Indiana - reminding me of the first time that I drove to California from Michigan (going the opposite direction, of course). But it seems like the area that had construction 27 years ago still has construction. I listen to the radio in the car and change stations quite often as the music is just horrible. I am a bit surprised that I only hear John Cougar Mellencamp's "Pink Houses" only twice during the trip - thinking that it is a requirement in Indiana to play the song at least once an hour on every station. Later I hear Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and enjoy it because I probably haven't heard it in 15 years. "Okay, that was cool". But then I hear it playing on another station within 15 minutes and I think, "Don't they have any music moe modern than 35 years ago?" After a nice drive I make it to Fort Wayne and stop in at my hotel. But the reservation was made at the wrong Marriott, thus I ask the manager to transfer my reservation from the other Marriott to this one (with workout facilities) with no penalty. That is agreed upon and then I ask for the same rate as the other Marriott gave me. We negotiate back and forth and come to a reasonable rate. Is this day done yet? No.

Because the rental car is very expensive as a one-way rental, Avis has suggested that I drop this car off and then just pick up my regular reservtion at Fort Wayne airport. Okay, its a ten mile drive and I perform the exchange and drive back to my hotel with a convertibale Mustang. But before I return the one-way rental I fill up the gasoline tank. Because I've been sitting so long in the airport, on the airplane, and in the rental car, my legs are stiff and I stagger around the gas station to pay. And I look back and note that there are two Indiana highway patrol officers in the station and I'm wondering if they are going to ask me to perform a sobriety test because I'm staggering around like a total drunk! As I'm taking my clotes off I reach into my pocket and wonder why I have an extra set of keys in my pocket. I have forgotten to give the keys to the one-way rental back to the Avis customer representative. Oh well, I'll get them out there tomorrow - I need sleep.

On Friday I give the keys to the hotel attendant and ask them to have their shuttle bus driver drop them off at the Avis rental car counter. Done! We have a semi-productive day at work until we discover some small pins falling out of the sensor and some paint chips flaking. This is not good. After a full day at work we decide to let the vendor work on Saturday morning to decide a plan of action.

On Saturday morning I get in a good weights workout to go on top of the weights workout that I squeezed in on Friday afternoon. And we have as 11 am meeting where we realize that there will not be any value-added to my attendance until the middle or end of the next week. Thus I rush for the Fort Wayne airport to grab a flight for Chicago and on to Los Angeles. Of course there are weather delays and after spending 4 hours in the Fort Wayne airport, we finally leave. And, why did I think otherwise, I've missed my flight from Chicago to LAX. But United finally does something right and they've automatically bumped me over to the next flight. The next flight, which the gate attendant claims is oversold, has many many empty seats and I'm able to get an emergency row, aisle seat to spread out on.

And, why did I expect otherwise, my luggage does not arrive on this flight and will not be in for three more hours. After having the attendant agree to deliver the luggage to my house, I return some phone calls and Person T_U says, "I'm going out tonight and you should too". Thus I drive directly from LAX to a club in West Hollywood. Actually I try to get into one club, but the line is long and I move on. I walk past the herd/clone club and head for my favorite club. I have not even got inside the club yet and I can tell that this is going to be a fun evening because I can hear the great music. Ths I hang out with Person T_U and other acquaintances. The music tonight is very very good except for a slight lag between 12:30 and 1 am. I make friends (acquaintances) with a few people but I manage to avoid, at the last minute, any offers that might be coming my way. After 2 am Person T_U leave the club nd talk on the sidewalk for a while as people wander past in droves. And then I'm walking to my car but only get 20 meters before someone is calling me back - it is a former ice hockey teammate Person E_Ice. We have another discussion with Person E_Ice introducing me to his friends as, "Here's our superstar player who decided to retire because he got hurt. Where's your entourage tonight? Usually you have a group of cute boys and girls with you." And Person E_Ice wants me to come back and play some more, but I'm having too much fun without ice hockey at this time. Thus I head for home and drop off to sleep near 3:30 am on Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning I buy groceries, pay bills, staighten up paperwork from the trip, and arrange for luggage delivery from United Airlines before I get out for a mid-morning bicycle ride in the rapidly warming sun. The luggage arrives just before 1pm and the travel bag has damage - is it worth chasing United Airlines over? Sunday afternoon is spent with MotoGP and 250cc races from Japan and doing paperwork at home and relaxing. I don't know what day or time it is, but I feel okay and just go with the flow.

On Monday I go walking before work and pick up the motorcycle. This is the longest that I've been off a motorcycle in 12 years. It's great to be back! Work is a short day and then I have a very good session with the weights before watching the taped "Desperate Housewives" and part of the Monday night football game.