Tuesday starts with another cold motorcycle ride to work. Except this time I use winter gloves. I cannot feel any cold coming into my fingers, but i can't really feel the clutch, the front brakes, or the throttle either. Thus I take the ride to work a bit slow until I get the feel for the gloves. Now you know why I prefer the thin cold road racing gloves.
Early on Tuesday there is a telecon with our customer, our subcontractor, and many government agencies. I get into a big argument over the telephone with one of my Northrop Grumman co-workers regarding success criteria for a test. I keep dwelling on, "If the pre and post signatures macth well, if the visual inspection shows no damage, if the electrical performance is within specification, and the optical performance is within specification, then you have a succcessfull test regardless of whether modes shifted during exposure to the launch environment." My co-worker will not buy this and after we go back and forth for quite a while with a number of people supporting my position, my co-worker finally says to me, "I'm right. You're wrong." Well, I guess that's scientific and technical reasons for why I'm wrong.
Needless to say I have a great workout with the weights when I get home. These are very very heavy weights and I'm sure that I will sleep well tonight.
On Wednesday I get up early to lift weights before heading to Los Angeles International airport. I meet up with two co-workers and we have a nice airplane ride to Washington, DC. In fact, we arrive 35 minutes early because it is the captain's birthday and because we have a heavy tailwind pushing us the entire way. After we get settled into our rooms we head out for dinner and my two co-workers pick out a Thai restaurant for dinner. My co-workers are impressed when I am able to toss in the very few Thai words that I know to the hostess and waitress. And now the problem starts.
The waitress that we have is the cutest ChiChi and I have a hard time not staring at her. As she take our orders I keep watching the ChiChi and have to reel myself back in to compose myself to order. I continue to...um...stare at the ChiChi throughout dinner as I try to plan my next move (in the presence of my co-workers). In the end I just leave...but work on plans.
The Thursday meeting, the one that we dreaded because the agenda was never clear and there have been problems, goes very very well. We present the facts that we have and get concurrence from all concerned parties. You did what? Yes, we received concurrence from all concerned parties and now we just have to implement our plan. During the meeting a few of the people come up to me and say, "Fun meeting the other day, huh?" - referring to the telecon where I argued with my Northrop Grumman co-worker. I just start laughing because there is nothing else to do. But I note that these guys, technical experts themselves, are on my side in the debate. After the meeting we walk back to the hotel and I want to take a detour upstairs to the Thai restaurant and give the ChiChi my phone number. But, in the end, I do not. Thus we rush back to Dulles airport and grab an earlier flight that gets us to Los Angeles near 10 pm. (This time we have a nasty headwind and we were 20 minutes late.)
On Friday I keep some of the east coast hours and get out for an hour long walk/run. After a nice warm shower I watch Tuesday night's "Boston Legal" and then do errands out in the warming sunshine - cleaning up the last of the carpet rolls and trimming the roses. When it has warmed up enough I head out on the road bicycle. It's a warm but windy ride where the wind beats me up on two of the ride's legs. But two wheels is always fun!
On Friday afternoon I rent the DVD of "Prey (sic) for Rock and Roll" and watch that as my neck gets sore. Is my neck sore from the bicycle ride and having to fight against the windy conditions or from an awkward position on the flight home on Thursday? The DVD is very good and I can identify with the lead character when she says, "I went to see X play in Hollywood. And right then I knew I was hooked on punk rock." Though for me it was the Ramones who did it. During the Friday evening I miss a phone call from Person M_Fl and Person T*.
On Saturday morning I get out for a walk before doing small errnads around the house. When it has warmed up I get out for a good loop bicycle ride and even enjoy the legs of headwind riding. Because it is a high tide there is standing water underneath one bridge. I just assume that it isn't very deep but it is. And I get my feet, ankles, lower leg, and...um...saddle splashed with cold water. And these body parts get colder as th chilly wind hits them during the ride. After the ride I put on old, dirty clothes and clean up a bush or two in the front yard of weeds before I have a nice warm shower. After workingaround the house I walk down to the open house near the end of the street to visit Person S_P. Another neighbor comes by and we have a long three-way conversation about the history of the neighborhood, retirement, education, and other interesting topics. later Person S_P introduces me to her boyfriend, Person S_P. Well, we can't have two Person S_Ps running around, so we'll use Person SB_P for the boyfriend. Person SB_P is nice and personable and he and I have a long separate conversation about schools and houses and neighborhoods. As I'm leaving, the three os us agree to go inline skating or something one of these days.
Near 5 pm I get down for a nap. At first it doesn't seem like I'll be able to sleep, but then I wake up about 90 minutes later. It takes me a while to get my bearings back, but I finally gather myself together and return the phone calls that I've missed from Person T_U, Person K_J, Person C_T, and Person T*.
At 9pm I head out the door to go to one of the ice skating fundraisers. As usual, I try to find people who are struggling along and give them some pointers to help them enjoy the ice skating. I succeed as a number of people thank me at the end of the evning for helping them. One lady is enthusiastically struggling along and, it seems, is always on the ice being picked up by her friends and/or me. At one point I say, "You've almost used up your limit of 25 falls". And her friends and her have a good laugh and continue on. On the way home there's some construction on the I-5 southbound, so I'm dropping off to sleep near 1am.
On Sunday morning I do the laundry and start reading the newspaper before heading out for the aquarium ride. After three bicycle rides, the ice skating, and Friday's run/walk my legs are getting tired and they look forward to a couple of days off. As I'm watching the football games my throat starts getting more and more sore and now I realize that maybe the neck pain, which more recently also involves pain in the jawbone and teeth, was maybe the first signs of illness coming on. Thus I try to relax, drink extra fluids, and stay warm on Sunday during the football games.
Late in the day Person C_T comes over to pick up some things and we have a nice discussion about things. By the time that Person C_T leaves I don't have the energy to lift weights (not that I had the energy anyway with the sore throat, etc). Phonecalls with Person T_U, Person J_T, and Person Joe end the day.
I'm at work on Monday and Tuesday a bit after 6 am - on Monday to get an early start and on Tuesday for and east coast teleconference. After work I have very heavy sessions with the weights - Monday being a push day and Tuesday a pull day.
On Wednesday the most that I can squeeze in, or have the inclination to do, is a workout for the abdominals and core strength stabilizers.
Thursday isa long day at work followed by a great, heavy workout with the weights. As I'm struggling to make a lift I feel a little pop in my neck and I hope that this is not going to be serious. Though my neck hurts on Friday, I leave work early after a productive day of testing at Raytheon (a subcontractor) and get in a great, heavy session with the weights. Shortly thereafter Person M_Fl comes over and we watch television for a while to give his traffic a chance to dissipate. Though my neck is sore, it doesn't appear serious and/or debilitating.
Saturday starts with a good hour long walk/run. After the run I spend some time on computer maintenance as I finish running Norton anti-virus, run a spy cleaner and an adbot cleaner, and finally I defragment the hard drive. By now I can go make noise in the neighborhood, so I edge and mow the front yard. During the afternoon bicycle ride there is a strong wind that gives me a good workout. In the last couple of miles I feel a few drops of rain. After the ride, as I take a shower, the drvieway pavement is dry. By the time that I have finished the shower the pavement is wet. Perfect timing for the bicycle ride.
On Saturday evening I spend time watching independent films with a heating pad or ice pack on my lower back. I am so physically hungover. And starting to cough again.
Sunday has a slow start, but after reading some of the newspaper I get out for a reasonable aquarium bicycle ride, do more cleaning up of the roses, and sit on the back porch with my feet soaking in warm water and isopropyl alcohol while reading another section of the newspaper. I'm wiped out, so other than a few errands and some trim work around the house, I have a lazy afternoon. I watch a DVD called "Shanghai Panic" and its a bit disappointing, but interesting nonetheless. Late in the afternoon I get in a very heavy with the weights (and feel my neck trying to stay in balance) before I declare the weekend over. I just relax, listen to music, ignore phones and emails, and use the heating pad when necessary.
Monday is as productive as can be expected. I keep coughing away throughout the day. And notice the taste in my mouth that one gets sometimes when one has an infection of some sort. But I have no fever at all. After work there's a great, heavy workout right that makes the entire day worthwhile.
On Monday night, as we approach the three year anniversary of Nopey's death (on Wednesday), I swear that I hear noises similar to those Nopey made when his tail would brush against the trash bag. Once or twice I go and investigate the cause of the noises, but find nothing. Instead I just say aloud, "Oh Nopester".