Tuesday is a very good day. As I'm refueling the Yamaha YZF-R1 I strike up a conversation with a guy, Person JR_P, refueling his vehicle and buying ice for the day. He rides an older CBR600F4i and we talk about bikes. I offer to sell him the YZF-R1 when the new model comes out so I give him my phone number for future use. Though I have a few meetings I put my head down and make good progress on a couple of problems at work. When I get home I have another great heavy session with the weights - today for the "pull" muscle group. After getting out walking for 40 minutes I sit back down to enjoy yesterday's "Boston Legal" and then I work on my work stuff. Late in the evening I have another conversation with Person JJ_P and then I head for sleep.
On Thursday at work, towards the end of the day, I receive another stupid beyond belief email from a vendor that is acting like a 3 year old kid. I can take it no longer. I forward the email to my colleague and my boss and add, "I'm gonna scream. I'm going to effing scream". And then I go home. I can take it no longer. I have a great session with the weights, go for a 30 minute walk, and then get cleaned up for the ResourceScout meeting.
On Friday I get a bit disoriented as it rains in the morning and prevents a morning bicycle ride. Thus I catch up on a few items at home and pack up the DVD recorder for return to the manufacturer. (The first JVC DVD player that I bought four years ago lasted one day before it quit working. It was returned to the store and replaced with a Panasonic that lasted until this day and is doing duty with Person T_U. This JVC DVD recorder lasted two days. Thus I will never ever ever have a JVC product in my home again.) Finally near noon I make an escape to get in a bicycle ride. It's just the aquarium ride but the clouds threaten rain but hold off. After lunch I mow, edge, and trim the lawn and relax a bit. I'm drained today due to lack of blood sugar and all of the activities but I get a shortened weights workout in. And then I relax until it is time for sleep.
On Saturday I wake up and take vital signs and then go back to sleep. I sleep until almost 8 am. I guess that I needed the extra sleep. The day starts with an aquarium ride to get it in before the rain arrives. After a shower, the laundry, and some grocery shopping I watch an exciting qualifying session for the Brasilian Grand Prix. Sunday's race will be very interesting. Because the day is dreary and threatening rain I tend to have the doldrums and don't get much accomplished.
On Saturday I do everything proper to insure a deep night of sleep. I have freshly laundered sheets, I've taken a 40 minute walk early in the evening, I've kept the bedroom windows slightly open to get cool air into the room, and I've taken some kava root extract.
On Sunday I wake up refreshed after the deep sleep. I go out walking in the morning and get fully drenched as the rain starts slowly but steadily during the walk. But it's good to get the blood pumping after the healing sleep. The Brasilian Grand Prix is wild as there is a two minute downpour just before the race starts, bright sunshine for most of the race, and more rain in the last 6 laps. The world champion is not determined until the last corner of the last lap. Because it is so tight both teams are shown celebrating in the garage until they realize that they have lost and there are some shocked looks on their faces as they look back at the race monitors to see that their driver has lost the world championship. What a great way to end the season! After the race and post-race interviews I get out for the aquarium ride and hook up with four inline speed skaters on the way back home on the Los Angeles river trail. Two of the skaters are very fast and just go! But I stay with them on the soft mountain bicycle tires as long as I can and then it is my time to leave the trail and return back home.
On Sunday afternoon I go back and watch the last ten laps of the Brasilian Grand Prix, the chaos at the end, and the odium ceremony (where the winner of the race has lost the world championship after his team incorrectly told him that he was world champion). Besides the excitement and chaos of the last laps in the rain, you can see the devastation in the race winner's face and eyes. How can he stand there with his national anthem playing and not completely break down? Afterwards I get in a great session with the weights - enthused and energized by the chaos of the race's last few laps.
Monday is almost a productive day at work. Almost. But then I leave near 3:30 pm to go visit the dentist. Whereas my last visit to the dentist saw my dentist disappointed in how I had done (when I was away in Thailand and Fort Wayne), this visit is good. When I get home I have a good session with the weights, watch "Desperate Housewives", and then work on ResourceScout programming.
On Monday night and into Tuesday morning I have trouble sleeping. I wake up a time or two and cannot fall back asleep, there are text messages that come in in the middle of the night, and finally it starts raining and that keeps me awake. Finally I get up at 5:15 am and drive to work - the first time that I have not ridden the motorcycle to work since June (when the motorcycle was getting a tuneup). At work I get a flu shot, make progress on work, babysit a customer's technical representative, and finally leave work early to go vote. There are four people in line ahead of me and the polling workers cannot find any of their names. But they find my name and I vote and then thank the polling workers for volunteering their time. By now there are 15 to 20 people waiting to vote. When I get home I turn on the television and fire up an Internet connection to follow the election returns. I also get in a strength-based workout for the abdominals and then relax with election returns.
On Thursday there is another community meeting related to improvements planned for the nearby park. They want to take away parkland to build a community center even though there is a boys and girls club and a YMCA on the neighboring corners. There is discussion about the location and look of the building and finally I raise my arm and get called on by the citycouncilperson (who knows me) who is running the meeting. I start slowly but build, "We keep saying that we don't have the money to build the community center and yet we keep talking about it. What ever happened to plain old open green space? You took away open space to build the boys and girls club on the corner. You took away open space to build the YMCA. And now we're trying to take away more open green space to build a communit center that is redundant with the boys and girls club and the YMCA? Why not use the money to improve the tennis courts, basketball courts, and playground? Fence off a space for a dog park? And have a nice open green park that is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accesible, smoke free, and alcohol free?" When I finish my two minute speech there is applause from the audience. The citycouncilperson looks at me and say, "Oh Ray, you're just being difficult". But the point is made and I hope that I've rallied some support to derail a project that we have no money to build and will just eliminate green, open space.
On Friday, as I'm getting worried about the logistics and planning for building the preschool, the project leader comes to visit me and now it is looking much better. On Friday I come home a bit early, get in a good workout, have a conversation with Person JJ_P to delay meeting until Sunday (at his request), and then relax. I also burn DVDs of the men's and women's marathon from the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing and note that this Sony DVD recorder is doing well.
On Friday night into Saturday morning I have very deep sleep. I guess I needed a bit more rest. Thus I do laundry first thing in the morning and then go cycling in the bright sunshine of mid morning. It's another beautiful ride with bright sunshine, ocean breezes, and a good cadence. Afterwords I start in on cleaning the exterior of all of the windows in the house. Before I know it I'm coming to the last window and then I'm done. A refreshing shower takes me to the noon hour. There have been text or voice messages this morning with Person M_Fl, Person JJ_P, and Person J_VKPI. (Person J_VKPI emerging after another multi-month period of lost contact.) Person M_Fl comes over on his lunch hour just after I've finished washing the insides of all of the windows. We hang out for a bit. And then Person JJ_P announces that he is going to visit near 6 pm tonight.
At the last minute Person JJ_P has to cancel due to last minute business committments. It's okay becasue I am tired anyway. I relax for the evening and end up in bed for reading and sleep just a bit after 9 pm. In the middle of the night the blinds flapping aay wake me up. It is very windy and I enjoy laying in bed for a while listening to the wind blow very hard. And then I fall back asleep.
Sunday morning is cold and windy so I care for the roses before waiting and waiting and waiting and finally getting out on the bicycle near 9:30 am. It is nasty windy today and there are times that I'm almost knocked off the bicycle from sidewinds and other times when I'm just cranking away to maintain any sort of forwward speed. Thus it ends up being somewhat like an interval workout. As I'm cooling down and heading for home along Del Amo I se a guy walking along that I give an eye to. The eye gets returned so I eventually turn around and strike up a conversation. Person J_U seems nice and gets my phone number. I invite him to join a group of us going out in a few weeks when my former tennis doubles partner from Florida visits. Or just go out walking. Late in the afternoon Person JJ_P comes to visit. We hang out and eat pizza and just veg out in front of the television. A bit too soon Person JJ_P has to leave to drive back home.
The best that I can do on Monday is a heavy workout for the abdominals after watching "Desperate Housewives" from the previous night.