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I spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday going to through the paces of life and getting back into the swing of school starting - both the classes that I have at LBCC and the volunteer mentoring at CSULA. Both of my LBCC classes are online classes. I miss the interchange and discusions with students and professors, but these two classes coincidentally were only offerred online this semester. But I get into the swing of watching videos, reading, doing assignments online, and taking quizzes online. Person W_HK has come back to visit but we just do our own independent things for the most part since I am adjusting back to school. And I continue to mix up workouts between running, cycling, and lifting weights.
On Friday I get in a decent 48 mile road bicycle ride though I get tired in the last 5 to 8 miles. But just north of the Whittier Narrows dam I see two very large coyotes hanging out and rummaging through the bushes. When I climb to the top of the dam I see another cyclist and we both notice that we have both been watching the two coyotes. I get cleaned up and pay the fence people for the completion of the gate and fence. And then I jump on the motorcycle to get back up to CSULA. We have two different prodctive meetings and although there is chaos, as expected, at the beginning of a new project and new semester, I can see progress being made even if the students do not see it yet. I rush on home but Person H_HK and I are on different schedule and Person T_U wants to go out clubbing, but I spend a quiet evening at home.
I wake up early on Saturday and get supplies from the groery store and work on school homework and quizzes. Person W_HK is going to hang out with a friend, so I bid him farewell and have a good workout with the weights with an extra set thrown in. Do I now increase the weights for next week or take a week off and let the joints recover. I do one homework and work on an online class and then watch the super wild, rainy, misty, drying, and raining tough climb up the Alto de l'Angliru of the Vuelta a Espana. What a wild and super race that leaves tingling up and down my spine! I continue the slower Saturday afternoon with a little bit of cleaning of the house and relaxing. I enjoy these days with emotional/mental/physical stimulation from the bicycle race along with studying at my own pace and other errands around the house.
I start Sunday with a mountain bicycle loop ride. The chain is starting to skip cogs so I probably need at least a new chain soon. But when I get home I wash the bike and degrease the gears, chain, and derailleurs and we'll see how it rides next time. I start in on homework and complete two learning modules before watching a wet and fun MotoGP race from Italy. And then I go back and more or less complete the homework activities for the school week (which ends on Wednesday for this class). Later in the evening Person W_HK and I go eat Thai food at one of the better Thai restaurants in Cerritos.
On Monday I start out with a run/walk where the left calf threatens to "pop". So I cut the effort short by a few minutes. After a shower I grab the laptop and go to a coffeehouse to meet a person from the Long Beach Historic Society. We're working on both a laminated paper map and a web-based map to provide to realtors. As I'm waiting for my contact Person T_U walks in. So we hang out a bit and I introduce Person T_U to my contact when she shows up and then Person T_U leaves us to our business. We discuss the process and I'm a bit disappoited that my contact, Jacqueline, doesn't have the exact boundaries that are needed for the maps, but we both have actions to take. I go back home and have lunch while watching a wet, crash-fest Moto3 race from Italy - a fun race because riders are constantly "having moments", some riders who crashed got back up and end up scoring points and nobody looks injured. After lunch Person W_HK and I drive up to UCLA so that he can check out his apartment (ready in in ten days) and we can get measurements of the apartment. We both note that the apartment has no cross-flow ventilation and it is very hot inside. After the check I drive down Westwood boulevard and see how things have changed since I went to UCLA. And we go t a few used furniture stores with a tape measure so that Person W_HK can get an idea of what he can fit into his apartment on his budget. And finalyl we sidetrack over to Playa del Rey for dinner so that we can avoid the rush hour home. We intend to have Chinese food but end up eating Mediterranean food. We take our time to give traffic time to die down. When we get on the road it is a smooth ride home. And it has been a long day, so I head for sleep early.
I start Tuesday a bit lazy but get some homework done. At late morning I have a good heavy session with the weights and I show Person W_HK some exercises to do for his abdominals and lower back since he has been having lower back pain in the mornings for the last few months. And I spend the rest of the day with some wine, doing more homework, doing some CSULA background work, and watching a very wet Moto2 race from Italy with a surprise winner.
Wednesday starts with a good road bicycle ride up to the Santa Fe dam and back home for 56 miles. I feelstrong until the end I dra a bit. And again I see two coyotes - but this time medium-sized coyotes running along the Los Angeles river. After getting cleaned up I continue on with school homework and start in on next week's assignments. One class has assignments due on Wednesday and one class has them due on Sundays, so they are spread out to give me time to pace myself. Later in the evening Person W_HK and I driveover to the local Japanese restaurant and eat dinner.
On Thursday I start with a run/walk that turns into more of a walk because my left calf really threatens to pop at any time. After a shower I ride the motoryclce up to downtown Los Angeles and start negotiating with parking lots for a good rate. Finally I find one who will let me stay until 6 pm for $7. I walk over to the JW Marriott for the Women in Tech hackathon which is supposedt to get girls/women involved in STEM subjects. But it turns out that there are more men than women at the hackathon. And the event is completely disorganized. I just find a quiet place and work away on ym own things and don't really help out any teams unless they ask for help. And, besides not have Red Bull at a hackathon, it is a horribly disorganized event. Near 5 pm I rush on home on the motorcycle and work on some other things for Los Angeles county that might actually pay.
On Friday I am out the door near 7 am to meet up with CSULA students on two different fields trips to a waste/plastic recycling plant and to a plastic injection molding site. (These are appropriate since our project involves cleaning the oceans of plastic and finding a market for them.) I ride on home and get in a good workout with the weights as Person W_HK goes to hang out with a friend. After a cleaning the roses, a cooling shower, some grocery shopping, working on homework Linux assignments, working on a website/Javascript for a Los Angeles executive director, and answering CSULA emails, I am tired after 4 pm. I enjoy contributing to help students learning during my retirement but I also need my own learning time and my own alone time. By 8:30 pm I am climbing in to bed to read a very old book that I've had for a long time (and read at least once before). I need to have some external, fun reading to go along with the serious school and volunteer reading.
On Saturday I don't know what "it" is, but I don't have it today on the road bicycle ride. It's a constant struggle for the 56 mile ride. Though I do note that only two riders went past me the entire ride, I just don't have it. I get home and have a cool shower and watch a fun qualifying session from Singapore for the F1 race. Person W_HK and I go run errands for Person W_HK as he gets ready to move into his apartment near UCLA on Tuesday. The afternoon is spent doing homework and fixing Person W_HK's website. I'm almost finished with the week's homework and computer lab activities with a few days to spare. After homework I go out and trim a couple of bushes and pare back the junipers in front. I grab another cooling shower and Person W_HK and I go have a nice dinner to end the day.
On Sunday I'm still tired from Saturday's struggling ride but I get out on the mountain bicycle for two hours for a recovery ride. After some last minute homework, I watch a disappointing F1 race from Singapore. It's wild because of the rain and drying conditions, but precessional and the top three drivers are eliminated in a first corner crash. Later I work on websites and even watch the Indy Car race. And later Person W_HK and I cook pasta and enjoy good conversation.
I sleep late on Monday as planned. When I get up I turn off power to part of the house and change out a failed switch and than water the roses. At mid morning I get in a good session with the weights. Afterwards I get down on my hands and knees and clean up the bed around the carnations. The rest of the day is fairly slow with some reading for classes, some advanced financial modeling work, and watching the Detroit Lions on Monday night football. Person W_HK is out having dinner with a friend so I get some solitude after helping him with his website and other preparations for moving to UCLA tomorrow.
I start Tuesday with a good two hour mountain bicycle ride. Unlike Sunday where I was hungover from Saturday's ride, today I feel strong and crank along well. At 10 am Person W_HK is packed up and we start driving up towards UCLA with a stop at a furniture store on the way so he can purchase a desk/table that he saw the other day. Surprisngly, everything goes smoothly as Person W_Hk decides on some furniture and arranges the delivery, we unload Person W_HK's stuff into his apartment, and his bed shows up right on time at 1 pm for us to carry up to his apartment and to get set up. We oth say goodbyes and then I head for home to miss traffic - noting all along the way the environment near UCLA that I lived in for 5 years. When I get home I relax and take care of some errands and do some cleaning around the house.
I sleep horribly on Tuesday night and am (almost) glad when the 5:50 am alarm goes off. I get out of bed and start my day with some homework for my two classes, some grocery shopping, a MoneyGram transfer, a good session with the weights where I've increased the weights near their maximums, mowing the lawn, and finally trimming the roses. I cool down with a shower and do laundry and a bit more homework. And then have a non-productive, vegetative state afternoon.
I sleep horribly again on Wednesday night. I don't go out cycling and this turns out to be a wise (lucky) decision because it starts to rain when I would be halfway through my ride. Instead I work on school homework and a special mapping exercise that I've wanted to do for a while. At mid morning I work the abdominals and lower back and grab a shower and continue work for the 2pm meeting today with the executive director of a Los Angeles county government agency. The meeting is a bit of a disappointment because it is unclear what we need to do or how I fit in. But we both agree to go away and think about it a while at the same as we work on a very short term project. I stop in at Chipotle and grab some food on the way home and then watch a few minutes of the football game before getting bored and going and doing more homework. I'm trying to stay on top of these two classes and not get bogged down just because they are online classes.
I sleep deep on Thursday night and stay in bed an extra 15 minutes before jumping on the mountain bicycle for a two hour ride. I run into a casual cycling acquaintance and I ask and am told about the grim situation his partner is facing with his fight against cancer. When I get home I water the roses and then do some Javascript programming related to yesterday's meeting before getting on the motorcycle and riding up to meet with the CSULA students working on the ocean debris collection/sorting/melting project.
I finally sleep well on Frdiay night and start Saturday with some homework. At mid morning I get in a very heavy session with the weights and I'm feeling sore a few hours later already. After a shower I get out to Home Depot, get a flu shot, and pick up lunch for later. When I get home I go through the entire house on my hands and knees cleaning the hardwood floor. And then I replace all of the felt padding underneath most of the furniture to prevent the hardwood floors from being scratched. Late in the afternoon I've lost momentum and just relax and do nothing for a while.
Sunday is a blah day as I'm hungover from Saturday's heavy weights workout and all of the moving furniture, getting up, getting down on my hands and knees, and moving around to clean the hardwood floors. So I get out for almost an hour walk in the morning, but that is it. I watch an exciting MotoGP race where one of the riders, who broke his leg 23 days ago, comes back to run second for the longest time but fades to fifth place at the end. I get some school reading and school homework done as well as some work for Los Angeles county. But a blah day!
I get up on Monday after a great night of sleep in cool conditions to get in a very good 48 mile bicycle ride. It's good enough to get me back into things. When I get home I trim the roses, grab a shower, read part of a chapter for school, and complete the week's assignments for another class. I watch a reasonable Moto3 race which has been shortened due to scheduling concerns after heavy fog blanketed the track. And later I do a bit more reading for a class and get ready to do the software laboratory exercises for the class.