I get out for a decent bicycle ride early on Tuesday morning, trim the roses, and water the roses for our continuing hot spell. Near noon the air conditioning repair people come. They say that both my AC compressor and furnace are on their last legs. I'm a bit surprised because it has only been 14 years since I installed them brand new. (After talking with a few other people they confirm that this is a bit short but not out of the ordinary.) Instead I have the repair people top off the refrigerant, give me a new filter (which isn't even the right size because my unit is so old (14 Years! Really?), and have them replace another part which is looking extra bad. I just want AC right now and I'll deal with a new AC/furnace in a year or so. Later I make progress on another online article that I'm writing about baseball statistics and sabermetrics as was shown in the book and movie "Mneyball". A recent Medium article has sparked my interest back to baseball as opposed to the recent football neural network articles that I wrote.
I start Wednesday with a long walk. Today I run into the lady down the street with the two black dogs (I've forgotten her name.) and we end up walking for 50 minutes together and talking about the neighborhood, non-profits, unions, and other things. As I peel away to the grocery store to pick up supplies, she says, "This has been a most enjoyable discussion. And I'll want to talk to you again soon about setting up a non-profit". And I just tell her to knock on my door at anytime and I'll help out. When I get home I edge and mow the lawn. Though it is only 9 am I am sweating like crazy - the monsoonal flow bumping up the humidity. After a cooling shower I read the news for a bit and then start the laundry, water the impatiens, and start cleaning the hardwood floors. I take my time cleaning the floors because it is so hot and humid, but by noon they are finished and I am feeling good because I've already accomplished a lot today.
On Thursday I get out for a good road bicycle ride and take care of a lot of little things related to non-profits, the house, Person Ha_KY's upcoming visit, and At some point I get on the motorcycle and get down to the main Long Beach public library branch and quickly find four books to read. When I get home I start reading and I'm a third of the way through one book by the end of the day.
I start Friday being lazy but get out for a decent long walk. After checking the news and markets for the day, I get in a decent session with the weights and note that my shoulders don't hurt as much as recent lifting sessions. After another cooling shower I finish preparations for Person Ha_KY's visit and relax.
On Saturday I get out for a good road bicycle ride and cool off and check the news. I get a text from Person Ha_KY indicating his flight has arrived early so I rush to our meeting point and pick him up. On the way home I show him the progress on the construction and park projects in the neighborhood and we grab Japanese lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant. After a bit we go home and go for a bicycle ride with Person Ha_KY wanting to move his seat up very high as he tries to rehabilitate his new artificial knee. We ride for a bit over an hour and head home so that he doesn't overdo it on his first day here. Near 6pm we take Uber to the Long Beach Twsited festival of punk rock. The music isn't great so we walk downtown and grab dinner. And later we go back to the festival for 30 minutes of music before taking an Uber home.
Person Ha_KY sleeps late on Sunday and we eventually get out for an almost two hour ride. We're slower than usual as he rahbs his knee, but he's enjoying being out on a bicycle again. After each of our rides for this visit Person Ha_KY ices his new knee immediately upon returning home. We have pizza for lunch and watch the German MotoGP race and then go to our favorite coffeehouse to work - Person Ha_KY works on the report for his recent work trip to Canada and I work on k-means clustering/classifying algorithms. On the way home we stop in at our favorite Thai restaurant and enjoy the food.
On Monday we get out riding a bit earlier and we make two hours of riding. During the ride we move Person Ha_KY's seat down and everything continues to feel better for him each day. When we get home we have pizza and watch the Moto3 race from Germany and then I head off to see my dentist while Person Ha_KY goes swimming. When we meet back up we head to a coffeehouse on retro row in Long Beach and work a bit before going to a Mexican restaurant for dinner along with Person T_U.
Tuesday starts with a good bicycle ride though we shorten it up a bit snce Person Ha_KY is "feeling something" in his knee and we don't want to push things beyond what we've already done. Of course he ices the knee when we finish the ride and then we go have Chinese food for lunch and drive to a nearby Tesla dealer. Person Ha_KY has wanted to see the new Tesla Model 3 in person and we see it but we cannot arrange a test drive today. We head back to our favorite coffeeshop and work away at things - Person Ha_KY at reports for work and me at a white paper for a potental grant related to child abuse. At 6:15 we start driving home with a stop at the grocery store for dinner supplies. I cook dinner while Person Ha_KY works away and we enjoy salad and pasta and garlic bread along with the recorded mountain stage of the Tour de France. Later Person Ha_KY wants to watch a move and I atch along though I keep dropping off to sleep. Eventuall the movie ends and Person Ha_KY wakes me up and I go to bed for sleep.
We're up early to get Person Ha_KY to the airport for his 8:30 am flight home. I then get the car washed, go to the ATM, and get some additional supplies from the grocery store. I relax for a bit and then go lift weights and start clay-barring the car. This is like a "super wax" job where the claybar removes the dirt and oxidation and leaves the paint super smooth and glossy. By 12:15 I am about halfway finished with the car and I call it quits for the day. I'll get the rest of the car - the less important vertical surfaces - tomorrow. After a cooling shower I do laundry and catch up on news and eventually watch another good mountain stage of the Tour de France.
I start Thursday with a good road bicycle ride. I feel strong throughout. When I get home I finish the claybarring of the car except for a few details and the front spoiler. I'll get those on Friday or Saturday. After a cooling shower I watch a very exciting and strategic mountain stage of the Tour de France and then catch up on small little things around the house. Near 6:30 pm Ruby and Joseph come buy and we go have pizza and talk about the "white paper" that I put together about preventing child abuse and we talk about tomorrow's meeting with a potential partner.
I don't sleep well on Thursday night into Friday morning. But I get out and walk for an hour before getting cleaned up and riding the motorcycle to Culver City to meet with a potential collaborator along with Ruby. We have a great discussion with Ben of sidebench and see where we can work together. Since I'm within a few blocks of where I used to live when I went to UCLA, I ride past the apartment where I spent my 5.5 years at UCLA and see that it is now an upscale apartment building. Some of the same businesses are present from more than 30 years ago but there is a Thai restaurant on my major corner that was not there - that would have been dangerous if it was there when I lived there. When I get home I finish detailing the World Rally Car and take a quick shower to cool down. And send out two emails to follow up on today's meeting.
I get out for a good road bicycle ride on Saturday morning though there is a decent headwind on the way home. I change clothes and trim a few tree branches and then get a cooling shower. There is an exciting qualifying session from the German Grand Prix that I watch. The grid should make for an interesting Sunday race. Near 3 pm I jump on the mountain bicycle and ride down to the Long Beach entertainment area and listen nearby to the Sun Soaked electronic dance music (EDM) festival. I listen for about an hour and then ride on home.
I'm physically hungover from Saturday's two bicycle rides and being in the sun for the EDM festival, so I get out walking on Sunday morning all of the way down to the library to return to books. I take the long way home and stop off at the grocery store for supplies and trim the roses before a cooling shower and the F1 race from Germany. All is going well until my favorite driver crashes out on a damp track while leading. I rush on up the Thai restaurant to meet with a non-profit group and shock the people and the waiters/waitresses that I can speak Thai. I keep trying to reinforce that with a non-profit you have to keep all of the rcords, documents, and books straight or else you will get suspended very quickly. After about two hours the meeting breaks up and I rush on home on the motorcycle to relax. It's a slow Sunday afternoon and evening. I promise to be productive on Monday.
I start Monday with a 40 mile road bicycle ride. I'm wiped ou when I get home and keep trying to drink as much cold water as possible. I do some reading and some other trivial things.