Content-type: text/html Ray Manning

Monday, October 30, 2006 9:00 PM

End October Please!


The first week is a blur! There are some days of walking before work. There are some days of good heavy lifting sessions. And there is one day of no exercise at all. All effort is expended on looking at data from the recent test failure in Fort Wayne. Throughout the week there are a few phone calls from Person C_T, Person T_U, and Person J_VKPI. Person J_VKPI had not spoken for a few months and we catch up on things.

On Saturday I get up for ane arly morning walk and then walk to a neighborhood where we're having an October Paint Out. Sponsored by the city councilperson's office, a number of volunteers show up to paint a retaining wall. Surprisingly the retaining walll does not have graffiti when we start. After finishing the wall I head out for the aquarium bicycle ride in the warm sunshine - I even take off my shirt for this ride. Afterwards I grab a quick shower and run some errands before watching qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix (on tape). Late in the afternoon I get in an hour nap and then relax for the rest of the day.

On SUnday I get out for an early morning ride. This gets the day moving and gets the muscles over their soreness from painting the wall (an dall of the stretching and twisting and bending). I stop by the liquor store on the bicycle, ride into the liquor store, and buy the newspaper on the way home. After a shower I watch the Brazilian Grand Prix and then Person C_T comes to visit. We return his unused brake pads, buy windshield wiper replacements, and look at carpeting and shutters at a Home Depot. Afterwards we take a nap. I manage to get in a heavy session with the weights before installing Person C_T's wiper blades and see Person C_T off for the weekend. The remainder of the evening is pent catching up on the newspaper and preparing for a long week of work.

On Monday I'm at work before 6:30 am because it is going to be a busy day. I get some work accomplished before the telecons and meetings start. During the day a vice president of Northrop Grumman and I are emailing back and forth and, wanting to be warm and friendly, I ask if he did anything fun during the weeknd. And I volunteer that I went cycling both days and watched the Brazilian Grand Prix. When he says (among other things) that he went to the Los Angeles Kings-Anaheim Ducks ice hockey game, I put a potscript on my next email that says, "Don't even both talking with me if you didn't cheer for the Kings". And I start getting worried when he doesn't respond for about an hour. But later he admits to cheering for the Kings and all is okay again.

After work I get out for a long walk before working abdominals and lower back with the weights. At the end of the walk I stop into the grocery store for a few items and the cashier sees me listening to my iShuffle and asks me what I'm listening to. I energetically tell her, "I'm listening to techno. Trance. Ecstacy music." A number of people around me hear what I say and the cashier tries to deflect the answer with a comment like, "So you've been told". But I'm on a roll so I continue with, "This is what they play during the afterhours parties until 4 or 6 in the morning." And now a lot of people are staring at me wishing that I had not interrupted their little lives in line at the grocery store.

Tuesday is an upsetting day at work because of recent developments related to the sensor failure. I almost relieve enough stress with a very heavy workout with the weights (as I approach my heaviest weights again) and a 40 minute walk. I certainly fall asleep and sleep well until I wake up in the middle of the night and am bothered by events at work. Eventually I fall back asleep and get up (late) at 6:15 am.

On Wednesday I try to "right the sinking ship" at work related to recent developments. I have help from NASA personnel and I start feeling better. But then a separate incident where my manager doesn't know what he wants and wants us to read his mind and then raises his voice when we can't read his mind get me upset again. I leave work and have a nice visit with my dentist. She likes the work that I am doing (on my teeth) and we have other cool discussions about clubbing and kids and politics and health. I get out for a 40 minute walk after work and then read email. Only to discover that a former ice hockey teammate has been involved in an incident and no longer exists. (The summary follows. The details are disturbing and none of us know what happened to drive him to this.)

three-hour standoff with authorities in the 4400 block of Jones Boulevard, near Flamingo Road.

a mile from his apartment, at around 11 a.m., said Jose Montoya, spokesman for Las Vegas police.

how much money was stolen from the bank.

of his getaway vehicle, and the standoff began around noon, Montoya said.

discovered that the suspect had shot himself to death, Montoya said.

On Thursday I leave work early to meet the termite inspector for an annual checkup. As he works away I clean up paperwork. When he leaves I have another great heavy session with the weights before heading to a ResourceScout meeting.

On Friday I stay away from work. I go see the eye doctor in the morning. Thus my teeth are fine (from Wednesday), my house is fine (from Thursday), and my eyes are fine (from today). After the appointment I get out for a sunny and dry bicycle ride before making it home in time to dial into a telecon at work. (I may not be at work today but I promised that I would call in to the standing 1:30 telecon.)

After laundry Person M_Fl stops by and I show hm the work on the house and we have a nice visit. It has been more than 2 years since we saw each other and so we have a lot of catching up to do. We watch a television program as we get up to date and Person M_Fl is leaving near 8:30 pm. For the rest of the evening I relax and do some reading.

Saturday starts with me painting a bedroom wall. After breakfast I get out for a nice sunny ride down to and around the aquarium. I then go off and buy a new Palm Pilot to repalce the one that died recently. By the time that I've finished installing and synching the Palm, it is time for a nap. After the nap I get in a very heavy session with the weights and this feels good. No, it feels great! There's a lot of grunting and groaning during the session, but it feels great!

After many phone calls with rapidly changing plans, Person C_T, Person L_M, and Person E_M meet at my house to go bowling. We're celebrating Person L_M's birthday. All of us have fun even though our scores are not very good. I end up getting three strikes but my inconsistency wastes the strikes. After bowling we return to my house until after midnight when Person E_M has to leave. Person C_T and Person L_M stay for the night.

On Sunday morning I'm up for a chilly bicycle ride down to and around the aquarium. When I return Person L_M has already left - her girlfriend wanting her to come up to her apartment as soon as possible. Person C_T hangs around for a while until it is time for the MotoGP race from Valencia (and the 250cc race). The race weekend is a disaster! My favorite 250cc rider falls on Friday and breaks his femur and tibia. (I send him an email saying, "Get better soon. Please come back and challenge for the title in 2007.") My favorite MotoGP rider, after climbing out of a huge hole during the season championship chase to lead, falls early in the race and hands the title to a USA rider. In true sportsman spirit, my rider wholeheartedly congratulates the new MotoGP World Champion even though he must be absolutely gutted.

After mowing the lawn Person M_Fl comes over to kill an hour before he heads off to a party. We just catch up more on the last few years and have the football game going in the background.

On Monday I get in a very very heavy session with the weights after a frustrating day at work. As 5 pm rolled around I left the meeting that I was in and said, "I'm going to go pump some iron". I'm threading a fine needle here as I want to lift heavy for growth and strength and to relieve stress, but not so heavy that that stress causes me to get sick.

On Tuesday, after sleeping very very deep, I'm a bit disoriented and feeling like I'm coming down with something, but I get out for a medium length walk before work. Tuesday is a fairly productive day and I rush home to work abdominals and lower back. But I stop off at the store for supplies and see a ChiChi that makes my knees go weak. After staring at the ChiChi from behind for a while, I stand next to the ChiChi and inquire whether the energy drink that he is looking at is any good. I eventually select a differnet flavor with, "I'm not a grrapefruit person", and head about my shopping. After relaxing for a bit I've baked some chocolate chip cookies and been invited to a haunted house near Person T_U's house. I decline the offer, but later think better of it. So I sneak over to Person T_U's house and give Person T_U and Person D_V (who's visiting) some chocolate chip cookies. We hang out there before heading for the haunted house. But there's a line and by the time we are ready to go in I need to go home. So Person T_U and Person D_V go in and I walk to my car to drive home.