On Wednesday I have a decent day at work though I'm told that there may not be a bonus this year due to the new rankings policy. I'm disappointed because my boss keeps telling me how much he relies on me and values my opinions and expertise and knows that I will always come through, yet the rankings indicate no bonus. At one point my boss says, "We'll make it up next year" and I tell him "There won't be a next year". Regardless I work away at things on my to do list. I leave work early and go back up to Cal State Los Angeles to meet up with one of the teams. Two team members and I take the measurements necessary to build a model and simulation of the vehicle that they are planning on testing. I just work through a logical measurement strategy and after a bit both students understand what I'm doing (though they may not know the next steps). I fight traffic home on the 710 freeway that has no carpool lane (that would make a motorcycle rider's commute easier) and then relax.
I'm lazy on Thursday and just get out for a short walk. On Friday after work I lift weights with the same weights as Moday and Tuesday and struggle with them. What the heck is going on? And then I mow the back yard only and pick up the leaves dropped from the big tree.
On Sunday I finally get out of bed near 7 am and go ride down to the old yacht club. This ride to the old yacht club is a good "standard" ride because it has equal parts of the ride in the north, south, eat, and west directions and "negates" any wind. And it is scenic because it goes along the Los Angeles river and the ocean. And, provided the runners and skaters stay in ther lanes, provides a chance to see and watch runners and skaters go past. After enough times you recognize some of the people who are out regularly. When I get home I line trim some over-growing grass and then clean the bathrooms and get a refreshing shower. When I check the Internet I see that the world's oldest cyclist, who lives and rides in Long Beach, has died at age 106. I text some friends and I text back that I want to be like him but make it to 111. Person Ti_Ca spend some time detailing and repairing paint chips on his car and cleaning it up and taking a survey of what needs to be replaced. Later we do some homework. And then I get some time alone to relax as Person Ti_Ca goes off to a birthday party or something.
At work we are supposed to run an enhanced version of the test that we ran just before Christmas. Except that the builders of the unit start becoming sissies and get scared of the test that we want to run. So they put a hold on the test and we re-think and come up with a better and more precise version of the December test that the builder cannot possibly reject. In between the sissy emails and stuff I work on a new software tool to help our funtional area and then I leave work early. When I get home I go for an almost hour long walk with a stop in at the grocery store for some supplies. And then I watch a recorded version of State of Affairs from Monday night and work on some Cal State Los Angeles stuff.
There is light rain on Friday morning but I go out on the mountain bicycle for about a two hour ride anyway. It really isn't raining but I get wet from the wheel spray and the standing water on the roads. After a quick shower and some food, I get on the motorcycle and head up to Cal State University at Los Angeles again. Today there is no parking pass for me, but it is the same attendant from two weeks ago who didn't know how to handle me on a motorcycle, so he gives me the free day pass and I agree to have the volunteer coordinator call him. I go visit the volunteer coordinator, who I am expecting to be a man based upon the name, and am shocked when it is a woman. She sees my shock and I apologize and we talk about her background (Armenian) and I mention that my grandparents came from Czechoslovakia and he says, "Almost neighbors". So she has forgiven my faux pas though I apologize at least once more (maybe twice) for assuming that it was a man's name. I meet with two teams and the one team is performing drop tests on a vehicle. There are many things going wrong as they are setting up for the tests and so I explain the rigor that we need to add for personnel safety as well as to run a good test and to get good data. I'm trying to explain Nyquist frequencies and accelerometer sensitivity settings and vibration modes and many other things throughout the day to the team. In the end we perform a number of good drop tests and will go analyze the data. As I'm leaving there is a bit of rain for the ride home but I am pleased because I think I have shared my knowledge and experience with the team in ways that they will understand and remember. I hope. I spend the rest of the day just relaxing because I'm tired from the cycling and the running around for the drop tests.
I have a bad nightmare on Saturday night and then keep waking up every hour or so until my alarm goes off. I amtired and hungover from the last two days or riding, lots of up and down at work and Cal State University Los Angeles, and work in the yard. So I tkae the mountain bicycle out down to the old yacht club with a few detours since they have the path along the ocean torn up for improvements. But it's a good ride. I get cleane dup quickly and get a haircut and get lunch for the Super Bowl. Person Ti_Ca and I do homework for almost two hours after whcih he says, "It's good to do things together". So I say, "Well, that bush in the frontyard needs trimming and we could be finsihed with it in 12 minutes". It's a little struggle, but Person Ti_Ca does help withthe trimming and finish in 15 minutes (plus or minus a bit of extra cleanup that I do). And then I just do a bit of cleaning around the house until the game comes on. I set up a laptop so that I can watch the footballanalytics real-time winner prediction as I watch the game.