The first day back from vacation sees me waiting a bit in the morning for some warmth to ride the bicycle. Having been in 90 degree weather for the last two weeks makes 50 degree weather absolutely freezing. But I feel strong due to a few lot pounds, some rest for the legs, and dealing with the silent treatment from Person Ti_Ca. Towards the end of the ride an old twit in a PT Cruiser opens his wondow and yells at me, "Ride on the sidewalk". This sets me off since I've done nothing wrong and I just respond with"F$ck you!"...pause..."F$ck you" with no hand gestures at all. After a shower I run errands and return home. I start in on a bottle of wine and other substances and start cleaning the couch, cleaning the bathrooms, and soon I am down on my hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floors and kitchen floors. This is what wine does to me - it makes me want to clean the house. Eventually Person Ti_Ca comes back from his errands and the silent treatment is still being upheld as it is approaching 20 hours.
As the morning warms up I get out for the long ride to the pier and back. Today the legs feel strong again and there is no shouting macth with anyone. After I get cleaned up Person Ti_Ca and I go to universal studios and ride a few rides and walk around. Afterwards we go to Sunset Blvd for Mexican food and then we drive home. During the drive there is more conversation but I am having trouble staying awake during driving, so I ask for silence to concentrate on the driving. And this probably kicks off another silent treatment period.
I wait for the weather to warm up a bit before going cycling to the pier and back on Saturday morning. I continue the momentum by mowing the lawn and doing some extra winter cleaning. After a shower I have a teleconference which goes horribly - they want to go back to square one and change the name of the corporation, redo the web pages, redo software rights, and etc. I just listen in silence thinking, "I remember saying back in July that we would spend money for this process and end up with crap". And here we are 6 months later with crap and headed back towards square one. When the all ends I go to a mall, park a long way away, hit some targeted stores, and get the heck out of the place. And then do some grocery shopping on the way back home. On Saturday night I watch my Detroit Lions lose another football game and just relax - pondering the fate of various projects that I have going on that are all going horribly.
On Sunday before Christmas I cannot answer the bell and stay in bed until almost 8 am. When I get up there is the threat of rain so I don't go out cycling - I've had three good rides in the last three days. Instead I run an errand for Mr Karl and then perform annual maintenance on the lawn equipment. When I'm done I ave a slow afternoon cooking vegetables for the week. In the middle of the afternoon I return a phone call from my brother and we speak for more than an hour. It's the first time we've spoken on the phone in 15 years and we agree to talk every couple of month or so. Later I get out for a 35 minute walk and call it a day. I'm just tired and I hope for a few good workouts in the next few days.
I wake up in the middle of the night leading up to Christmas eve and hear rain falling. I stay awake and enjoy listening to the rain fall (even though I need a new roof on the house in the near future). When I wake up it is still raining so I do some grocery shopping early on Christmas eve to avoid crowds and then lift weights. It is the first time I have lifted weights in three weeks so I drop the pounds and enjoy the workout. In the afternoon I do some web programming and then get out for an hour walk as the day turns sunny. And later in the evening I fix a few other web program bugs that people have found (as a normal course of development).
On Christmas day I exchange text messages with a number of people before getting out on the road bicycle for about 35 miles. During the ride I feel very strong and crank along quite nicely. Throughout the day I just relax and maybe watch some television - it's a slow and boring day.
On Wednesday there is some drizzle in the morning so I lift weights and go for a long walk late in the afternoon. In between I'm told by Person Ti_Ca that I have to go with him to stand in line at the DMV. But we are lucky and it is less than a 30 minute wait.
On Thursday I start north on the Los Angeles river trail and make it to the Whittier Narrows dam before turning around and heading for home - I don't cross over to the San Gabriel trail because there is construction there and I don't want to deal with the detours. After lunch Person Ti_Ca says that I have to go with him to the DMV again - this time to trransfer the title of his car from his sister. But I'm saved the wait because his sister wants to read the documents and sign (with her husband) and then we can mail the title transfer in. But we do have an argument over car insurance and when Person Ti_Ca finally gets hold of his insurance agent, his agent says the same thing that I've been saying for a week. But, of course, there is no apology or acknowledgement that I was right.
Friday starts with a ride to the pier and back. Today is very cold in the morning but I feel strong and enjoy the ride. After grabbing a shower I take Person Ti_Ca's car in for an oil change and then we both go buy a new screen door for the front of the house - the old one having been fixed and cobbled together so many times that it has now given up the ghost. I spend a couple hours in the afternoon installing the new door to functionality and it looks nice. I'll have to install a small trim piece and the return mechanism on Saturday because I've run out of motivation.
On Saturday I'm lazy so I don't go out cycling in the morning. Instead I finish hard-pruning the roses. As I'm finishing the effort the rain starts pouring down - I'm glad that I didn't go out cycling. And I think of the neighbor across the street who I saw leave for cycling with his friends and wonder how his group is dealing with it. Since it's raining I get in a workout with te weights and then run some errands. Today is going to be a slow day and I hope for a break in the rain later so that I can get out walking. The weather agrees with my plan and I go walking for an hour and then relax at home and stay warm.
Since it rained on Saturday and it is cloudless on Sunday morning, the morning is very cold. I start out for the bicycle ride to meet up with Derrick and I can't feel my ears or fingers after a while. Derrick has a brand new composite bicycle and I'm jealous, but I tell him of my plan to get a new road bicycle soon. As we're riding another ride says to me, "I like your bicycle", since it is a classic lugged steel Italian bicycle with limited edition Olympic Campagnolo grupo. And this makes me want to keep this road bicycle. Decisions, decisions! But Derrick and I have a great (if cold) ride and then I watch football for most of the rest of the day.
On new year's eve Monday I get out for a ride to the pier in the cold weather and then run a few errands. Person Ti_Ca has gone to universal studios again with his family and I have declined the offer. Instead I wwork on paperwork and start sorting through piles of reading material that I have had laying around for 15 years or so. I separate the piles into immediate discard piles and a final re-read pile. And I go to sleep at a reasonable hour and don't hear any fireworks or gunshots to ring in the new year.
On Tuesday it is very cold again with no sun but I go riding on the mmountain bicycle at a reasonable time. As I'm heading back towards home I hear my name yelled out and it's Derrick. So I ride with him back to the lighthouse and we talk for a bit and then we both head north on the Los Angeles river. There's a persistent headwind so Derrick just rides at my pace and then continues on when I turn off for home. On New Year's day I watch my one college football game for the year - the Rose Bowl. I don't have a horse in this race since it is Stanford against Wisconsin and I cannot be enthused about it because it is college football. But I relax and watch the game anyway.