It was gray and cold this morning when I rolled out of bed. The Sandias were crowned with clouds that buried the slopes underneath in shadow. It was an ideal day to shut down, and I did for a while.

I had purchased ingredients for some goulash, though, and that was my best prospect for a warm, healthy meal moving into mid-morning, so after I arose, it was time to cook. I made a decent sized batch in a 12 quart pot, and then proceeded to eat (what seemed like) a third of it. It is the one item I make that I want to largely consume right after it’s done, so it is a good thing I make a good amount of it. I probably had three good-sized cereal bowl helpings of it before I divvied up the rest of it into portions for the week.

I didn’t want to do what I ended up doing midday, but I needed to.

The clouds were fairly receded to the west around 3 PM, but the Sandias remained committed to their gloomy, icy, wintry posture for the day under the clouds, and a pretty chilly breeze pushed east-southwest across the area, suggesting that my couch was where I really should be. But I’ve been wrestling with a few signs of late that helped push me outside. Light-headedness. Chest tightness. A fat mid-section. And a blood pressure reading on my wrist monitor the last few weeks that surprised me.

So on went the tight elastic undershirt (that made my belly feel truly like a spare tire wrapped in spandex) and jogging shorts and sweat pants and a running pullover, and the old jogging shoes, and a thick black beanie. And soon I was at the parking lot of the Dion’s at Academy and Wyoming, stretching in brisk and invasive breeze. The sky was golden in late afternoon light from the west, but the air was still hostile. The track around the Academy was mostly empty.

And I crossed Academy and turned right onto the dirt and gravel trail, and started huffing and puffing as I headed east up the hill.

I huffed ad puffed and jogged and walked up and around to the corner of Harper and Ventura, and then I took the same course back to my truck. It took me half an hour. I felt like hucking a few times along the way, in part because of the goulash I had overloaded on this morning, and in part because I am in horrible shape. I sputtered and spit. But my body moved.

The day rounded out well after the jog. I finally cooled down ad thawed out. I went to Walmart and got back in my truck just in time to hear that the Patriots had come back and beat the Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game. I was in time to hear Brady drop and F-bomb once, and then in a short time later, a second time, to describe his feelings after the game. I’ve deemed him “F-Bomb Tom”, since he seems delighted to challenge broadcast conventions. He is the best quarterback of all time, after all.

Terraforming Mars

Brian and Ron came over, and we played a game of Terraforming Mars- an exceptionally designed and balanced game of players competing as corporations to make Mars inhabitable for humans. After 4 and a half hours of play, the final score separate the first and the last place player by 4 victory points. I was amazed at that.

The margin of victory.

And at Brady’s F-bombs on live radio.

And how fat my stomach felt in that tight sports shirt.

And how out of shape I have become.

And how high those two blood pressure numbers are.

And how good that goulash is.

And at how late it is now. Goodnight.