On Tuesday I enjoy work because a co-worker brings her 8 year old daughter in and they both come to my office and play with all of my toys. It is fun to interact with and play with a kid again. After work I get out for a 45 minute run and then eat healthy food for dinner.
On Wednesday, after a reasonable day at work, a great heavy session with the
weights, and as I'm finishing up a walk, something dawns on me. Four good things have happened
in the last week or so:
1) I quit eating junk food and have been minimizing my fat intake since last Thursday
2) I met Person T_M
3) I redicovered the joys of playing with kids and watching kids learn
4) I looked up to the bright pretty moon on Monday night and after a period of reflection, spontaneously
burst outloud with, "Oh God, please teach me to love".
All of these things have bouyed my spirit over the last week or so and put a permanent smile
on my face.
Thursday starts with an almost 40 minute run because there is a ResourceScout meeting after work. I ride the motorcycle though it is supposed to rain. Today I am at a contractor's facility trying to get a badge and they won't give it to me. So i walk outside the door and a gy stops me and wants to talk about my motorbike. We have a nice little conversation and I give Person T_X my phone number so that maybe we can go ride or something. I note that during the 10 minute conversation Person T_X looks familiar, though I cannot picture from where. The rain holds off until I am halfway home - then there are a few drops that get the motorbike and me wet. And 15 minutes after I get home the rain starts coming down steadily.
Friday is an off day and starts with rain. I manage to go run for almost 40 minutes early in the morning and not get too wet. After that I do the laundry, do some grocery shopping, and visit my acupuncturist (who I have not seen before Christmas). After that it looks like it will not rain anymore. So I get out for the aquarium (i.e., down the Los Angeles river trail, around the aquarium, and back up the Los Angeles river trail for home). It's a very windy ride and at times I feel that I am leaned over 20 degrees to fight the wind. But I just keep plugging along and I enjoy the ride. When I get home a be able to read the history and see old photos of my Los Angeles river. Afte the ride and a shower I struggle to fend off cravings for bad food. But I manage to get through them and eat a healthy mix of vegetables and complex carbohydrates and low fat.
On Saturday I sleep in a bit late and get out for the aquarium bicycle ride near mid morning. When I return home I mow and edge and clean up the yard. By now I am down to the breaking point on blood sugar, so I toss a frozen pizza into the oven while I take a shower. The pizza provides a reasonable mix of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to bring the blood sugar back up and keep it fairly stable. After some reading and a few little errands I drop down for a 90 minute near 4 pm.
On Saturday night I go over to Person T_U's house to meet up with Person Ar_P and Person T_M. We hang out for a while before we meet up with Person J_VKPI and head to a club. We have to stand in line in the rain for a while to get into the club and we finally enter after midnight. The club has a weird mix of people on a Saturday and inconsistent music. All of us agree that we like Fridays at this club better than Saturday. At the 2 am closing we leave the club, drop Prson J_VKPI off at a friend's apartment, and continue home. Both Person Ar_P and Person T_M spend the night at my house to avoid driving back towards San Diego.
Sunday blooms gloomy with more rain and overcast conditions. Person Ar_P, Person T_M, and I have a nice breakfast and then they head back towards San Diego. I go out walking during a break in the rain for 50 minutes before relaxing. Now I'm dozing off, so I hit the weights for a good heavy session to re-energize. During this session, though I struggle due to lack of sleep, I feel my back aligning and being in perfect position. Perhaps this latest round of acupuncture in conjunction with the lifting and the low fat diet is doing the trick.
On Monday a USB turntable arrives from Amazon. This will allow me to play my vinyl records and create mp3 files via the USB port on my computer. It's an easy setup and pretty soon I am recording and exporting mp3 files of the Rolling Stones "Their Satanic Majesties Request". I choose this album because I haven't heard it for 20 years. It was meant to be the Rolling Stones answer to the Beatles "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Over the next couple of days I'm sent back to when I first heard the album and I appreciate the psychedlia involved. I am so enthused! I am so excited! And, of course, the second vinyl record that I convert is Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
On Wednesday I kick off the bicycle commute season by riding the mountain bicycle to work in the morning. When my secretary sees me in my cycling clothes she says, "That's quite a change from yesterday". (Since I wore a suit and tie the previous day.) In the afternoon I take the bicycle on the train as it is getting dark before I'm able to get home. I need just a few more minutes of daylight for full bicycle commuting days.
The rest of the week is a blur of semi-productive days at work and very productive workouts.
On Saturday I get out riding early in the morning. There's still dew and moisture on the pavement, but it's a good ride. I've got new (really old) psychedelic music on my mp3 player and I've gobbled up lots of roadway before I know it. Later I get the car washed and there's a few drops of drizzle as I drive home - so the car immediately goes into the garage. After other errands including mowing the lawn I get down for an almost nap. I don't know if I fell asleep or not but I feel refreshed a bit later. I go out walking early in the evening and try to rent "American Gangster" at the store, but they appear to be out. So I just catch up on reading and watch some television before calling it an evening.
On Sunday I get up and get out the door for a run. Or an attempted run. I don't make it halfway through the intended run before pain in the right hip causes me to walk a majority of the distance. On the way home I stop in the grocery store for the Los Angeles times and other supplies. I take the morning to read most of the newspaper - this being the first time in 2008 that I've bought the newspaper. Near noon, when it is bright and sunny, I get out for the loop ride and find myself cranking along quite nicely into the wind along the San Gabriel trail. I only run out of steam during the last couple miles of this ride. Here's another afternoon where I get down for a nap and I'm not sure if I slept or not. But I feel refreshed. So I get in a quick workout for the abdominals and indulge in chocolate cake - this being the first cheat day since I started eating clean about 2.5 weeks ago.
Monday is a blah day. But after work I get in a good session with the weights (with slightly reduced weight but increased repetitions), a long walk, and I put a claybar to most of the World Rally Car. I'll get the rest on Wednesday night.