Tuesday starts early because I wake up just after 4 am and cannot fall back asleep. Thus I am out of bed before the alarms goes off at 5:30 am and I'm heading out the door for work on the bicycle (for another bicycle commute). Today is performance appraisal day so I have an interview with my boss. I get a good review and a good raise this year. But then the boss brings up the "Can we resubmit your paperwork for a security clearance? Were you denied before?" And I quickly squash this with, "You don't want to do that." And he lets it drop. The security clearance came up because there are good opportunities around that require them. But not for Ray.
The bicycle commute home is eventfull in a psotiive manner and restores my confidence in people's consideration. The first event sees a lady pull in front of me and block the path that I'm riding on. She immediately rolls her window down and says, "I'm sorry", as I maneuver around her vehicle, hop a curb, and continue on my way. But I yell back to her, "It's okay". The next two events find people blocking my path again and both go out of their way to make room for me.
On Wednesday I have a non-descript meeting with two of the bosses marked "Discussion" on my calendar. It can only be extreme good news or extreme bad news. It's good news. They cannot give me a promotion this year but they give me stock options instead. I'm in a bit of shock because I didn't think stock options were a choice right now. But I take them and we end up spending more time talking about old rock n roll bands rather than the job.
Friday starts out chilly but dry. I've completed the 26 mile loop ride just a bit after 8 am and continue on with washing both bicycles and finishing outting the claybar to the World Rally Car. By now I'm busted on blood sugar, so I buy some groceries and stop in at Subway for lunch. I continue working errands and until late in the afternoon when I try to get down for a nap. Except I don't quite fall asleep. Regardless, I'm rested and go lift weights and head for clubs in West Hollywood. I finally meet Person R_CT (who is either a bit shy, tired, or not interested) and I run into Person T_U, Person D_B, Person J_J, and others. Tonight I wear all bacl and tie (wth black and greens in it) and I get a lot of looks, smiles, questions, and other responses. We're there until closing time and beyond and then I rush on home to turn out the lights at 3:11 am on Saturday morning. It should be noted that a big pickup truck and a white Mercedes were racing each other and playing chicken with each other and cutting each other off and slamming on their brakes on the way home. It would be appropriate if they both crashed and did not hit anyone else.
On Saturday I'm out the door for the aquarium ride a bit after 7 am. I follow this up with a shower, the laundry, grocery shopping, another stop at Subway, picking up "American Gangster", and a visit to the ATM. After lunch I put the claybar to the Yamaha YZF-R1 and then I clean up the carnation bed. Late in the afternoon I watch "American Gangster" and enjoy it. And then I call it an early evening to help with the night's time change.
By 10:40 am on Sunday I've backed up the hard drive on the computer at home, waxed the rims of the Yamaha YZF-R1, worked on the abdominals, gone for the aquarium bicycle ride, and taken a nice, relaxing, warm shower.
After a long, cold winter it is great to kickoff racing season again. Today's viewing includes the MotoGP and 250cc motorcycle roadraces from Qatar. Afterwards I work the abdominals again and go walking. Halfway through the walk I bend down to tie my shoelace - why is it always the right shoelace that comes undone? When I stand back up there are 5 seconds where I think I'm going to be facedown in the bushes - the dizziness taking over. I actually put my head back down between my knees and slowly stand back up. I guess the combination of low blood sugar and lowered blood pressure almost got me.
On Sunday night I have trouble sleeping - I wake up near 2 am and cannot fall back asleep until 4 am. It's not the cause, but I also receive (and do not answer) three phone calls between 3:15 am and 4 am. I get out of bed at 5:40 am and enjoy the cool motorcycle ride to work in the dark (due to the time change). Instead of the day being lost from lack of sleep, Monday is a very productive say. And I continue the production after work with a great heavy lifting session for the "push" muscle groups and a 50 minute walk afterwards. I then switch out a new DVD player for the old one and call Person T_U to let him know that he can have the old one (since his died over the past weekend).
Tuesday is another productive day at work. I spend all day working on a script for a vibroacoustic analysis. As I'm on a teleconference and it is almost time to go home, I accidentally delete the script. It takes me a while to realize what I have done. But it's done. I can only go home, have a great heavy workout with the weights (for the pull muscle group), go walking for 40 minutes, and start to re-create the script. Since it's always easier to re-create a script rather than create it for the first time, I'm 95% done by the end of the night.
On Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning I wake up at 2 am and cannot fall back asleep. I toss and turn and surf the Internet for a while but I don't get back to sleep until 4 am. When the alarm goes off at 5:40 am I realize that today isn't going to be a bicycle commute because it's dark out (due to the time change), it's cold, and I haven't slept well. But I get up, unpack the clothes that were already packed for the bicycle commute, and go to work. And I have a very productive day. At 4 pm I leave work and jump on the mountain bicycle for the aquarium ride. Even with the lack of sleep I feel good.
On Friday I get to work early, have an un-productive day, and leave work a bit early. I mow the lawn, have salad for dinner, and have a great workout with the weights later in the evening. And then I get cleaned up to go party.
I grab a wristband at the first club and then head for the second. The music at this second club is very good, so I stay almost until midnight listening and wandering around. Just before I'm going to leave I have aconversation with Person R_U who just moved here from New York. Because Person R_U seems nice I give him my phone number. I head back to the first club and find many many acquaintances present here tonight including Person J_J, Person D_B, Person T_M, Person Ar_P, and Person R_CT. Person T_U doesn't make it tonight, so I'm on my own. Though the music is not as good at this first club, I still enjoy myself. Late in the evening I'm tired, so I sit down next to Person R_CT. He's been having lots of fun lately and so he flashes his smile regularly. As we are sitting there he puts his hands around my biceps/triceps and says, "You're really buff. You should come over." I had been assuming based upon the previous meeting last week that there wasn't any interest, so I'm a bit surprised by this comment but manage to encourage Person R_CT with, "You know my number." After the club closes I wait around for a bit for traffic to dissipate and then head for home - noting that there are three closures on tonight's drive home: the 100 southbound ramp, two left lanes on the southbound 5, and two left lanes on the southbound 710. Nonetheless I make it home near 3 am on Saturday morning.
On Saturday I'm out of bed a bit after 7 am for the aquarium bicycle ride, the laundry, and a stop at Subway to replenish the blood sugar (eaten during the recorded qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix). In the mid afternoon as I'm starting to doze off I look out and decide that I should trim some tree branches. Southern California Edison trimmed the brnaches getting near the electrical power lines, but they don't do anything for branches getting near other lines. Thus I find myself standing on a ladder with a long pole saw going after branches that could threaten other lines to the house. I've created a real mess and I'll clean it up later because I'm tired. The rest of the day is spent staying awake and relaxing around the house. Tonight I'm heading for sleep well before 9 pm with all phones on silence mode. Thus I miss Person R_U's text message related to sushi.
On Sunday I get up early and head out for a bicycle ride in the strong winds. When I get to the Los Angeles river I check the wind and head against he wind going north (so that the homebound leg will be with the wind). This is a wise decision as its a very strong wind and it's better to fight it going out rather than coming home. After the ride I watch an eventfull Australian Grand Prix and then install a couple replacement electrical switches (with the power to the house disabled).
Sunday afternoon continues to be chilly and very windy, so I stay inside for most of the day. I do go drop off a DVD player with Person T_U (whos DVD player died last week and I happen to have an extra one). And later I get in a very heavy session with the weights with three one rep sets (in addition to a pre-pyramid). I'll probably be sore with these push muscles tomorrow.
Monday is unproductive at work because there are so many meetings. When I get home I get in a very heavy session with the weights for the push muscle group and then I go walking for an hour. This isn't quite enough, so I start cleaning up the downed branches in the backyard. When I am tired I go back inside the house and lookup some workout records. I have not had more than three days off from the weights since I got back from Thailand in early December. It's soon time for a week off.