New Year's day starts off with a cold bicycle ride as Person C_T does yoga. Afterwards we go searching for food and find a lot of places closed for the holiday. But we go to a Lebanese restaurant that we've been to before and have good quality food and conversation. Person C_T leaves in mid-afternoon and I just relax, lift weights, and try to get ready to go back to work.
The Tuesday morning motorcycle commute is good because there are few drivers on the road and because the preload, rebound damping, and compression damping adjustments that I made make the front end of the bike feel very good. Now I have to work on the rear end settings. The day is fairly productive and I get in a good session with the weights after work. When I walk over to Vons to buy more milk, there's a guy who keeps giving me the eye. But I just smile back and continue on my way since January is to be a month of celibacy.
On Wednesday night I do a 60 minute walk/run. Afterwards I grab dinner and watch the premier of "Dirt" (on tape). It might be another television show to watch (along with Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal). After the show I note that my legs are already stiffening up from the walk/run (as I try to egt running again).
Thursday is a productive day at work. After seeing the hole in the firewall closed up last December and not allowing me to stream "productive" music at work, I find an open hole. Thus I have streaming techno and trance music again to make the days at Northrop Grumman productive. After work I get in a good session with the weights and head off to the year's first ResourceScout meeting.
On Friday I learn that I have messed up our conversion at work to 9-80 workweeks. Thus I have three hours worked this week that I will lose. So I leave early. I install Norton anti-virus at home, do the laundry, get over to the ATM machine, do some grocery shopping, get in a session with the weights, drop the lawn mower blade off with Tanaka-san for sharpening, and go walking for 40 minutes. I've used the extra three hours wisely!
With all of the Friday activity I sleep very well on Friday night. I certainly wake up a time or two, but the sleep is deep and I have no trouble falling back asleep.
Saturday starts with a cold and windy loop ride (plus additional miles). On the upwind stretch going north on the San Gabriel river trail I see a lot of cyclists going south (downwind) at a fast pace. I want to caution them to save some energy for the wind-battle going back home, but I just mind my own business and enjoy the ride. After phone calls with Person T* and Person C_T I pick up the sharpened lawn mower blade from Tanaka-san and play with his friendly dog for a few minutes.
On Saturday night I have offers to go bowling, play ice hockey, and other undisclosed activities. But I just stay at home and watch the football game and read and relax.
After a very cold Sunday morning bicycle ride during which I crank along nicely around the aquarium, I relax and watch the football game. Person C_T comes over and we go furniture shopping as I buy a new sofa and chair for the living room. Afterwards I rope Person C_T into helping me move some furniture from my bedroom to the spare bedroom so that I can finally finish my bedroom (with new baseboard and carpeting). And then the day ends early as my eyes are tired. But then I wake up near 1:30 am and cannot fall back asleep. By 2 am I am up and surfing the Internet and stuff. (I've only missed two days of lifting and had two good bicycle rides each day. Why can't I sleep?)
Monday is a productive at Northrop Grumman (despite the missing sleep). After work I get in a great workout as I increase the weights a bit but throw in an extra set for each exercise (to make sure that I sleep well tonight). I get in a 40 minute walk before I remove about a third of the remaining carpet. About 90 minutes into sleep I'm having a very vivid dream and there's a knock at the door. I wake up and cannot tell if the knock at the door was in the dream or in real life. I wait for a few minutes to see if there will be another knock - at this late hour it could be any number of my night owl friends. But I don't hear another knock and just assume that the knock was part of the very very vivid dream. I wake up another time or two during the night, but the sleep is extremely deep tonight and I vow to make my workouts more intense to prmote the deeper sleep. But what do I do on days off from lifting?
There are good workouts on Tuesday (weights), Wednesday (walk/run), Thursday (weights), and Friday (weights) as I head for maximum lifts again. Whereas other weeks are filled with telephone calls, this entire week only sees phone calls with Ruby, Person T_U, and Person C_T.
On Friday I'm at work for a 6 am teleconference with the east coast. Thus I leave work a bit early, get in a good session with the weights, go walking for 40 minutes, pick up a few groceries, and grab a quick shower. Contrasted with the entire week with very few phone calls, during the workout and walk I've missed 5 phone calls. I start a fire in the fireplace and relax. Person M_Fl drops by unexpectedly and we have a nice visit for an hour or so. I call it an early night and I'm in bed to read before 10 pm.
Saturday is very cold! Thus I get out of bed and do some minor housecleaning and remove the last of the carpet/tacks/strips. By 8am on Saturday there is no more carpet in my house. I do the laundry, stop by the ATM, and do some grocery shopping before heading out for a bicycle ride near 11 am. Today it is very cold and very windy, but my legs feel good and I blow past a number of people who seem to be struggling with the cold and windy conditions. But I do look forward to a warm/hot shower after the ride. As I'm coming home on my street I see Person S_P setting up for her open house at the end of the street. We have a brief chat and she tells me to come back later. A couple hours later I'm heading for a Home Depot and I stop in and visit with Person S_P. It's a slow day at her open house and we have a nice 40 minute chat before I continue on my errands.
Saturday evening is slow though I have phone calls with Person T_U and Person C_T. There's another fire in the fireplace and I watch the football games, do some reading, and some other work that has to get done.
Sunday is another very cold day. I read the newspaper to let the sun warm the day up enough for a bicycle ride. On his way to a haircut Person C_T stops by and we have a nice visit. When Person C_T leaves for a haircut I head out the door for the aquarium bicycle ride. On the way out I see Person S_P putting open signs for another open house and we wave at each other. And on the way home I see Person S_P again and we wave at each other. The rest of the day is consumed with watching football and doing little things around the house.
Late in the afternoon I get in a very good session with the weights and then do things needed for my trip to Washington, DC. Early in the evening I start feeling "flushed" in my head as my head feels very warm or hot (despite the house being a bit chilly). When I look in the mirror I see that my ears are bright red and they are hot to the touch. What's going on here?
I get good deep sleep on Sunday night and have trouble getting out of bed on Monday morning. Because it is Martin Luther King day, there is not much traffic on the freeway to work. And it is the coldest morning of the year. Thus, what is the windchill factor from 35F and 105 mph on the motorcycle. Actually it is only my fingers that get that cold. Maybe it is time to buy some winter riding gloves and give the roadracing gloves a few months off each year. Monday is not very productive at work, but I get in a great session with the weights after work and make more preparations for the trip to Washington, DC.