Content-type: text/html Ray Manning

Monday May 29, 2017 8:02 PM

Memorial Day Weekend


On Tuesday through Wednesday I am still a bit blah, but get in one good bicycle ride and another good session with the weights. School is winding down towards final exams in early June so I put in extra time for both classes. I continue to clean up the house and even prepare some chemicals and electronics for an enviromentally friendly recycling effort this Saturday. There's some ice hockey to watch and I finish the touches on the website for Los Angeles county next Monday and the data parsing tool. And I put together an update to my living trust that I have to get notarized and put into the safety deposit box. Little things that need to get done.

I have a super Thursday! I get out the door on the road bicycle near 6:30 am and, once I get warmed up, feel strong. I continue north past the Whittier narrows dam and hit a turnaround point and head back home. But I'm not just griding home - I'm cranking wildly home. I keep passing many other riders and my legs feel great. Finally, safe at home after 48 fast miles, I wipe down the bicycle and get a relaxing shower. I read a bit of news before re-loading the energy supply and then running errands. There are sales on Gatorade and I want to get more books from the librabry, so I do these errands before school. We have a good atmospheric sciences class and then I stop in at another supermarket to get more supplies before edging and mowing the lawn. I'm not tired yet, but decide to stand down and relax with a warm shower. It has been a productive day!

I have a super Friday! I start with a two hour mountain bicycle ride to the old yacht club and with a few extra miles thrown in. Afterwards I fertilize the lawn and trim the curb area to get the lawn looking neat. There are no phone calls, so I go out and trim the roses and bring some fresh cut roses into the house (as always). I finally grab a quick, warm shower and relax for a bit. There are Cal State Los Angeles emails to answer and I take care of them and then go clean and lubricate the garage door hinges. And finally I chop and cook vegetables for the upcoming few days - usually this is a Sunday event, but I'm out of cooked vegetables from last week and so I get started early. It is still before noon, so I take a few minutes to catch my breath and relax a bit more.

I dont know what happens to the rest of Friday, But I am awake early - before the alarmgoes off - on Saturday morning to get on the road bicycle. Today is it is a windy day, but I keep cranking along strongly anf finish a super 48 mile ride. I get clean up, do some relaxation exercises, then take chemical and electronic recycling devices to an appropirate facility, get the car washed, and do grocery shopping on the way home. As is now expected between now and November, it is a celebration of F1 and/or MotoGP qualifying and races and an exciting Spanish F1 qualifying event. I cannot wait for the race in Sunday. In the afternoon I relax and do some small tasks around the house. There are things on my list of things to do, but I keep putting them off.

I'm greeted on Sunday morning at 6 am with a knock on the front door and the doorbell ringing. At first I just ignore it, but then realize that my neighbor has been sick recently and may need help. I throw on some clothes and it's a young lady asking "Is this the facility?" I tell her it is two doors down where the wheelchair ramp is at the front porch. There's a group home for disabled people that opened up two doors down quite a while ago. I am tired but I take the mountain bicycle out for a loop ride and have a serious crank down the San Gabriel river trail as I stay up with a road bicycle rider. When he turns to go down Pacific Coast Highway I say to him, "Have a good ride" and he looks a bit surprised that I've kept within 10 meters of him the entire length of the trail. I continue on with a good ride and can look forward to giving the legs a couple of days of rest after four intense rides in four days. There's an exciting Spanish F1 race with a close finish and decent battles throughout the field. I cleanup the roses, send reminders to my group project of the expectation for this Wednesday, and try to read/review one of the CSULA project final reports.

On both Monday and Tuesday I have good workouts with the weights as I decide to increase the weights a fair amount (which, of course, drops the repetitions for each exercise). I continue to work on a new format for some non-profit websites throughout these days and get to my atmospheric sciences class for examination number 3.

Wedensday is a slow day since I do not sleep well and I get out walking in the morning, continue working on the new format website, and then go to class. The class drags on and I amhappy when it is finished and we do not work on our team projects. But I do confront a team member who has provided, in handwriting a very good treatment plan, but has not sent it to me to have it typed up and incorporated into the rest of the group's comments. By the time I get home I have his email and go aheead and type it up.

I also sleep poorly on Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Why is this? But I get out and ride for two hours on the mountain bicycle. As I finish the ride I run into a Stickboy cyclist and stop to talk with him. It turns out he is waiting for my Philippino neighbor and some other riders to go watch part of the Tour de California race up near Glendora. I keep thinking about the SAtickboy and his smile throughout the day. After working on a Statement of Work for an upcoming project, I go to class and wander around campus a bit before class starts. There are booths and music and I win a set of candy at a math competition booth. As I'm hanging out with fellow students, I see a Stickboy playing flute in the band. So I wrap my phone number around the andy and give it to him when they take a quick break with a quick, "Call me", message. AM I out of control? I get my exam back and I've missed some questions that I thought that I had so maybe I lost track of the numbering on the answers. Nonetheless it is a good grade. When I get home, after a stop for supplies at the grocery store, I wash the Yamaha YZF-R1 and polish up the windscreen with the headlight polish that one is supposed to use on car headlights. The bike is ready for a coat of wax and waxing the rims (if only I had enough wax to do the job). Later on Thursday I mess around with some demograhoic statistics and provide some business acumen to some teammates who think that just because we can do the job means that we will get the job.

On Friday I am lazy. I do not go cycling. I wax the rims of the Yamaha YZF-R1 with the very last of wax that I have left. I work on websites for a bit and then get in a great workout with the weights. After getting cleaned up I buy more wax, go to a coffeehouse to work on websites, and then pick up grocery supplies on the way home. Near 4pm I go over to Long Beach COmmunity College for a science fair and run into my atmospheric sciences professor. But I also give out my business card to two other professors involved with crime/GIS/GPS mapping and underwater robots. And later I run into a guy that I saw at the food court many weeks ago and I say, "I know you". He smiles and then remembers me. We talk a bit and I get introduced to his friends and I give him my number to "Have some lemonade". I get home before 7 pm and relax for (hopefully) a long road bicycle ride on Saturday morning.

Satturday starts with a storming road bicycle ride. I battle a headwind all of the way to the dam but also note that I am up one gear more than usual. I continue on towards the Santa Fe dam and continue to pass riders continually as I'm having a good day. When I get to the Santa Fe dam I take a 1 minute break and then start back towards home. I pick up a few riders and drag them along until one rider decides that he wants to outsprint me and "show me who the boss is". He keeps upping the speed above 25 mph but I stay with him and keep letting him know that I am still there and I'm not necessarily working too hard. Back to the Whittier Narrows dam we split up and I continue n at a furious pace down the San gabriel river trail - picking up riders who hang on for a bit and then drop off. Except for one rider that I drag 10 miles down the trail and he never offes to pull even once. But at least he thanks me for the pull at the end. I get home and see that the time for this ride is more than 10 minutes faster than usual for a 56 mile ride. Throughout the data I cook good food for the upcoming week inlcuding vegetables, rices, and hard boiled eggs. And occasionally I will go out and wax sections of the World Rally Car. I'm supposed to work on websites and some population demographic work today, but no matter what I do I cannot seem to get any blood sugar (i.e., glucose) to the brain to make this happen. Late in the afternoon as the heat subsides I go trim the roses, but I am not very productive after the ride and the cooking and waxing. And I'm in bed at 8 pm to read!

I wake up on Sunday morning hungover from Saturday's ride, but get dressed and start out on the road bicycle anyway. Just past the Whitter Narrows dam I run into another rider who I think I've ridden with before. I drag him along and stop at my designated turnoff point as he continues on to meet up with his friends. I turn back towards Long Beach and crank away quite nicely and am very happy to arrive home after about 48 miles of riding. I get lceaned up, buy supplies from the grocery store, and then watch a very interesting MotoGP race. It seems that everyone is on different combinations of front and rear tires so the first part of the race is very strategic and the end...well, it doesn't go the way that I wanted. But THAT'S WHY WE LOVe MOTOPG, you never know what will happen until the checkered flag flies.

I don't know what happens to Monday but I run errands, watch a Moto2 race, and get in a decent workout with the weights. I ride up to my former workplace and have lunch with some former co-workers and go look at he satellite that we were buidling when I left. The co-workers all seem to be doing very well even if they are very busy. I'm blah on Tuesday and go walking in the morning and work on schoolwork and other stuff before going off to class. I eventually get down on my hands and knees and wax the gold rims on the World Rally Car and watch most of the playoff ice hockey game. And I put together some notes that I got "volunteered for" at LBCC to talk about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields of study on Wednesday.

Wednesday is a great day! I have a two hour mountain bicycle ride including four sprint climbs up a hill that we sometimes go on. I relax a bit and then do the three hour STEM panel discussion. I start the discussion with some questions for the students that I have to raise my hand affirmative to, namely 1) Were either your grandparents or parents immigrants to this country? and 2) Are you a first generation college/university student? As I'm asking these questions I've stood up from the panel table and walked around the room and smiled at students or given them light touches on the shoulders as I say, "I was in the same boat that you're in right now". I try to exude confidence and enthusiasm and afterwards I have a number of students and professors thank me for my attitude and the lessons and points that I made. And the mathematics professor says that I should be a motivational speaker. Regardless I feel satisfied and rush on home to have dinner and work on websites until my energy is gone for the day.

I'm anticiptaing a very long road bicycle ride before class on Thursday, but I wake up at 1:30 am and cannot fall back asleep. Eventually i get up and work on a website for a friend and manage to get back to sleep for an hour or two. When I wake up I go for a 45 minute walk and mow the lawn before getting cleaned up to go to class. I see friends at the Viking food court but I "kinda' ignore them to do some reading. Leslie and Jay walk my me out to my motorcycle and we talk for a bit and then I go home to take the lawnmower apart and see what has gone wrong. I get all of the auxiliary pieces off and drain the oil and then see a giant hole/crack in the crankcase. Well, this lawnmower is finished but I want to ttake it apart and try to figure out what went wrong. But I'll do this another day. I go inside and clean up my computer since it has been running slow and watch game 7 of the ice hcoeky semifinals - there is nothing like a game 7 ice hockey game! Unfortunately in the second overtime the team that I did not prefer to win scores the winning goal.

I sleep well on Thursday night into Friday but am lazy. I take the mountain bicycle out for the same ride was Wednesday with four sprint climbs up a hill along the way. After a shower I return two books and get two new books from the library, recycle cans, do some grocery shopping, pick up a Togos submarine sandwich for a later lunch, clean the roses, and spot fertilize a few spots in the front yard that may need some encouragement for growth and greening. I pay some bills and stay away from all web development into the early afternoon to give it a break and to try and come back with a fresh mind on the challenges (either later tonight or tomorrow).

I'm lazy on Saturday and watch qualifying from Monte Carlo first ting in the morning and then walk to th grocery store for supplies. i think about lifting weights, but in the end I get on the mountain bicycle and go for the loop ride. It's a good ride with some riders pushing me a bit and I finsih strong and am glad that i did not skip the bicycle ride in favor of lifting weights. After a shower I start to completely dismantle the old lawnmower so that I can recycle the recyclable parts and toss the other parts into the general trash bin. Hopefully Ill finish this off on Sunday before the trash pickup on Monday morning. I'm supposed to do the semi-annual washing of the windows today but the weather is a bit cool (meaning the windows will take longer to dry) and I'm lazy, so that task will have to wiat for a few days or so.

On SUnday I am very lazy and watch a strategic, if a bit boring, F1 race from Monaco where my favorite driver wins. Afterwards I do some web programming and make a lot of progress. Soon I'm out cleaning up the roses and bringing fresh cut roses into the house. And then I have a good workout with the weights. I start watching the recorded Indy 500 race and when I catch up to the recording, I take a break to do more web programming and manage to figure out the remaining issues. I believe that I have a good, solid base and format to work the rest of the website into a minimum viable product (MVP) to try and sell around. After being satisfied with the results, but knowing I have more work to do, I watch the last 50 laps of the Indy 500.

On Memorial day I start north on the Los Angeles river trail on my road bicycle. My pace is decent but not great. I just keep cranking along and pass a number of riders but don't catch up to riders that I see in the distance that I should probably catch up with. I reach my turn-around point and head south. I keep cranking along and catching up to riders and finally one lady decides to stick with me and even pull ahead for a short distance. After a short while I re-pass her, tell her "Good pull!", and then continue to pull her along until it is time for me to take my turn-off for home. It's 48 miles but it isn't my best. After a quick shower I grab the laptop and head for a nearby cofeehouse to work. I run into Nicholas, who works at the cofeeshop, and we have a long conversation since he is on is break. He will be attending NYU in the fall and I express as much excitement as I can for him. (And I'm a bit disappointed that he will be leavng the area.) I work on websites and get some intricate Javascript/Perl interface working and the go grocery shopping and go home. Except that as I am grocery shopping these new grocery shopping carts are awkward and I bang my shin really hard into the bottom of the cart. When I get home I immediately put ice on my shin where it has impacted the grocery shopping cart and I manage to mess up the intricate Javascript/Perl interface and this, in conjunction with Nicholas soon leaving, throws me into a slight depression. I can only hold on to the rest of the afternoon and hope that the first game of the Stanley Cup finals in ice hockey and some other small accomplishents around the house can propel me forward. Later in the night I take my socks off and see the the right second toe is all black and blue - the opposite side of the bruised shin. I almost recall stubbing my toe at home in the recent past and I claim that this is what happened and that it is nothing serious.