Wednesday is not a productive day at Northrop Grumman. When I leave work I hit the abdominals with some good exercises, cool down with a shower, and head down to the Library coffeehouse to read. With the exception of a phone call or two I work down my reading pile. Near 10:30 pm as I'm headed for home I drive by a club. The club looks dead - no lights on, no people in the parking lot/entryway, and no cars nearby. Thus I drive on past and head for sleep.
I take Thursday off from work. I get the car washed and start in on putting a claybar to all of the painted surfaces. I stop in the middle and mow, trim, and edge the lawn. And then I trim some bushes in the front yard. A cool shower helps me refresh myself. After some relaxing I get in a good workout with the weights, grab a shower, and head off to the ResourceScout meeting.
Friday starts with the aquarium bicycle ride. After the ride I finish with the claybar on the World Rally Car. I get cleaned up and go visit my acupuncturist. In addition to the usual spots I ask for some help with my right shoulder.
Late on Friday night I get in a good workout with the weights, get cleaned up, and head for clubs in West Hollywood. I hit the two usual Friday night clubs with good music at the second club before I head back to the first club before midnight. I run into various friends and acquaintances and make do with the herd/clone music. As the 2 am hour approaches somebody pulls me onto the dance floor for the last glimpses of techno/trance music. (This club ends up playing about 20 minutes of techno/trance from a few years ago as they approach closing time.) I excuse myself to use the bathroom (before the drive home) and expect to hang out with Person X_X when I return. But Person X_X is gone. I hang out for a while and then head for home. The lights for sleep go out at 3:30 am on Saturday morning.
On Saturday I'm out of bed at 6:30 am and notice some bruising where the extra shoulder needles went in during the visit to the acupuncturist. But the shoulder does feel better. I start the day with laundry, watching qualifying for the inaugural Grand prix of Valencia, and then get out for the aquarium bicycle ride. As the day goes on I start getting more excited as the men's marathon from the Olympic games is to begin. The marathon does not disappoint me as the field starts off at world record pace through five miles as the announcer keeps saying, "They can't keep up this pace in this heat or there will be bodies being picked up along the road as we go." But they keep the maddening pace up through 10, 15, and 20 miles as the lead group thins. A final surge gets the winner to the line in 2:06:32 - beating the previous Olympiv record by nearly 3 minutes. In more than 85F heat!
Sunday is a quiet day with the F1 race from Valencia, a bicycle ride up the Los Angeles river, more relaxing around the house, and a good workout with the weights. I turn down offers to go to the Sunset Junction street festival and a pool party to catch up on the previous night's recordings of some Olympic finals in track. And finally I collapse into bed to end the weekend.
Monday is another unproductive day at work. I spend all day in meetings, getting called to more meetings, and being pulled out of meetings to go to other meetings. When I get home I have a very good session with the weights - the shoulder not hurting very much at all. Was it the acupuncture, the anti-inflammatory, or the IcyHot rub? Afterwards I have a cool shower and relax by watching some of the Democratic National Convention and reading.
On Tuesday and Wedneday we don't have our act together at work. I may have to ride down to San Diego to witness some testing, but we don't have our act together. I work off stress with very good workouts with the weights. The shoulder only hurts a bit. On Wednesday night I check email from work to see if I should just ride directly down to San Diego. Instead I see a meeting has been called with all of the heads of state to discuss the vibration test (and probably why we can't get our act together). I can see that Thursday is going to be a rough day.
On Wednesday night I wake up at 2 am and cannot fall back asleep. I toss and turn, get up and surf the Internet, and go back to sleep and toss and turn some more. The disaster at work, arguing with my health insurance company about paying for a routine cancer screening procedure, and another small issue with a new friend are keeping me awake. (I guess.)
I get through Thursday and the expectedly disastrous meeting is cancelled, re-scheduled, and cancelled again. We have a substitute meeting with rational people though it still goes on for 90 minutes. When I get home I have another good session with the weights with an extra repetition thrown in as I approach the end of the week at this weight level.
When I get to work on Friday I hear that the meeting that was cancelled was actually held in my absence. Nobody else seemed to have received the cancellation notice. Maybe I was dreaming, but I go check my calendar at work and see that the cancelled/re-scheduled/cancelled meeting is not on my calendar.
After working sort of hard on Friday I go home and mow the lawn, trim the roses, and water the roses. I relax for a while and then get in a great final workout for the week with the weights. That's six good workouts in six days! A nice cool shower gets me ready to party!
I go to two clubs before deciding which one to stay at for the remainder of the evening. The herd/clone club is very crowded so I go back to it. Person T_U joins me and we run into a number of acquaintances throughout the evening. At one point somebody pulls me onto the dance floor and besides making quite a scene, I try to communicate in spanish over the noise (because very little english is spoken by my dancing partner). I return to the calmness of hanging out with Person T_U until he takes leave. I hang out a bit longer and it is now approaching the 2 am closing time when Person S_X starts hanging out around me. As the club closes Person S_X walks with me to my car and I give him a ride back to his car (where his friend is waiting for him). Person S_X gets my number and says he'll call on Saturday. I rush on home and notice extra traffic (because I'm leaving at 2:10 instead of 2:20) but I still end up turning the lights out for sleep at 3 am on Saturday morning.
Saturday starts with a text message from Person M_FL at 5:55 am. He comes over to visit before his 8 am shift start. We have a nice visit and it gets my day started. I do the laundry and some grocery shopping before heading out for the aquarium bicycle ride. Its a good ride and I feel strong and crank along quite nicely - where did this come from after only 3 hours of sleep? The rest of the day is spent relaxing and figuring out plans for Sunday.
Sunday starts refreshed from very deep Saturday night sleep. The aquarium bicycle ride goes very well and the legs feel great. Today I read the Los Angeles Times but find it lacking in information and depth. Near noon I get in a great session with the weights as I increase the poundages a bit. After a cooling shower I drive over to hang out with Person R_CT. Because we are both tired from prior days' activities we end up just hanging out and taking a nap. Eventually I head for home and watch the 250cc and MotoGP races from San Marino. It is a great set of races as my favorite rides get 2nd and 8th in the 250cc race and first in the MotoGP race. But this day is not done yet. There are two short and one long phone calls with Person W_HK. And then I try to finish reading the Los Angeles Times before bedtime.
Monday starts slowly with some grocery shopping - I'm at the store well before 7 am when nobody is there and I can stock up onthe items that are on sale for Labor Day. Near 9 am I head north on the real Los Angeles river trail up to the Bell Foundry and find the legs strong and willing for the third day in a row. After a shower I spend some time tracking Hurricane Gustav (and the upcoming Hurricane Hannah) on the television and on the Internet. I spend a fair amount of time converting some of my google maps over to the new AJAX API that google suggests. When i van take it no longer I get in a great session with the weights and then go walking for 40 minutes. Because it is fairly warm and humid I'm dripping with sweat when I return. But a cool shower refreshes me and gets me ready to relax for the remainder of the Labor Day holiday.