On Friday I wake before 4 am and cannot fall back asleep. This is the typical "jet lag" that I get when returning from any of the asian countries. Just waking up a couple hours early hardly counts as jet lag. Nonetheless I take advantage of the extra hours to lift weights, do some laundry, pay some bills, grab breakfast, do shopping at the Home Depot, Trader Joe's, and Vons, and then go for a good loop ride on the mountain bicycle. When I get back I take a quick shower and go to Subway to grab lunch for later. I've accomplished all of this before noon so it has been a productive day thus far. In the early afternoon I plant some impatiens and carnations and then work on learning Python that I started back in Bangkok a few days ago.
On Saturday morning I'm out of control despite having trouble sleeping throughout the night. When I wake up I get out for a fast 30 mile ride on the road bicycle. After a refreshing shower I cook vegetables for the week, hard prune the roses, make some phone calls, write some donation letter recipts (for the non-profit), do some dusting around the house, and finally get down to relax with the football playoff games.
I make a mistake on Sunday by not going cycling because my legs are tired. Instead I lift weights and plant/tend to flowers before watching the two playoff games. After the games I continue converting a web site from Perl to Python and continue to make good progress thoug, as expected, I get stuck and bog down at times.
Sunday's "no cycling mistake" becomes apparent on Monday morning as the rain is falling. I should have ridden on Sunday morning and then lifted weights today. I get up at 5 am and continue with the Python work. Conveniently I run out of steam as the rain has stopped and the pavement is drying. Thus I take the motorcycle out for a wet ride to go to the ATM for the non-profit. I just miss the rain and make it home fairly dry. I work a bit more on the Python and then go walking with a stop at the grocery store. I work more on the Python and have lunch and then lift weights. After a shower I work more on the Python and by the end of the day I've made some serious progress on the web site and on learning Python. As noted, I keep alternating "keeping moving" with coding throughout the day.
I get through Tuesday's heavy rains unscathed. I get in a good session with the weights and hope for clear weather for cycling on Wednesday.
I get in good bicycle rides on Wednesday and Thursday. The weather has cleared up nicely and it helps me avoid going stir-crazy. I continue to work through my list of things to do after the long vacation. And I go visit the dentist who, as usual, talks my ear off. But this time she must have had extra coffee because she is out of control. But I can put up with that for one hour every six months since she is a great and helpfull dentist.
I'm up early on Friday to have juice/coffee with someone that I met at the Civic Innovation Summit back in October or November. And then I ride the motorcycle up to CSULA to attend an off-semester Python training class. This class and the one next week were coincidentally being offered to the students just as I am voluntarily trying to learn Python.
On Saturday I struggle through a long, windy road bicycle ride. I know that I am not ready for the longer rides yet, due to the flu back in November and missing a lot of cycling days on vacation, but I make it through the ride today with many body parts hurting. After a shower I drop two old suitcases off at Goodwill and then go home. At noon, Person Ti_CA and I have scheduled a phone call - the first voice interaction that we've had in 18 months. It's a good conversation with no hard feelings or anger at all. I leave it up to Person Ti_Ca when we could talk again. And then I'm a vegetable - both in terms of food and my energy level - for the afternoon as football playoff games are on the television.
On Sunday I start the day with a missed call to Myo in Thailand and a decent mountain bicycle ride. On today's ride it is still windy from the Santa Ana conditons, but I push when I can and recover when I need to. After a shower I sweep the hardwood floor and start dismantling my bed for a carpet cleanup in the next few days. The NFL playoff games are on and they play in the background as I make progress on cleaning up the house and getting it ready for the carpet cleaners and other people. And, at the break between the two games, I go rake leaves to remind myself of raking leaves as a kid during football season in the midwest.
On Martin Luther King day I wake up and read the news for a bit before running errands. When I try and start the WOrld Rally Car it barely cranks over and starts. I think that I am going to be stuck somewhere when I shut the car off, so I get some tools and drive to my favorite autoparts store for a new battery. I change the battery in the parking lot and return the old core to the dealer. As I'm finishing up the installation a blind man comes and stands right at the front door of the autoparts store where I've changed my battery. An attendant comes out and knows his name and repeats, "Oh you're looking for a lady in a Toyota?" I see the lady in the Toyota and point her out. It turns out that the blind man is a mechanic and is fixing the lady's headlights. Very cool! I continue on to Home Depot, a CVS, Vons, and then I hit four different MoneyGram outlets before I can finally pick up a money order, not cash, for the designated amount. MoneyGram is horrible! I get home and lfit weights to work off the MoneyGram frustration and then rake some bare spots and plant new grass. The neighbor has asked if I wanted his extra dirt, so I make quite a few trips over to his house to pick up dirt to lay on top of the new grass seed. Finally, as I'm losing energy, I water the new grass seed and get a nice warm shower. The rest of the day is spent working on websites and preparing for Tuesday.