May I just say

that it was hot when we drove down the mountain, and then it was hotter. But the historian heroically hooked up the swamp cooler, and life looked better from that moment on.

Here's how I would summarize our Idaho sojourn:

• we saw lots of new places in and around the Island Park caldera
• I slept like a champ, most nights, and averaging out the sleep got at least 8 hours every night--sleep worth noting! Huzzah!
• read 10,000 books, or a lot of them anyway.
• ate mostly healthy food, and 
• got my writing groove on.

Now that I am back in my regular house, I am happy to contemplate

• having the coolness, due to swamp cooleritude
• eating mostly healthy food, but especially Mexican food--that's healthy, right?
• reading another 10,000 books
• sleeping like a champ (I hope I hope I hope I hope)
• writing two hours every day.

That's right. Two hours. Every day. It is good. You turn off the internet and you write. You pick up something you wrote yesterday or the day before, and add some more to it. You free write something using a topic or prompt or idea you thought of. But the main thing you do is you write words, and you do not do internet "research," which sometimes turns into internet "shopping," as in you buy a book you need because you need to know something. For your poem. NO. You turn the internet OFF and you write words. For two hours, and that is a promise, the people.

After I have written two hours, I plan to watch lots of movies. I consider seeing movies to be part of my purpose in life, which could be considered part of my job. And, therefore, since it is my job to see the movies, you can count on me: I will see them. I will see all the movies.

A whole hell of a lot.

Although there is some dispute as to the ins, the outs, the what have yous, apparently Michael Phelps, in full training mode, eats about 12,000 calories a day.

Twelve. Thousand. Calories. A day.

What does 12,000 calories look like? Here's how it breaks down:

• for breakfast, a large bowl of porridge;
  
• three doorstep-sized sandwiches of white bread, butter, fried egg, fried onion, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise;
  
• a five-egg omelette tastefully garnished with parsley;
  
• three slices of French toast liberally sprinkled with sugar;
  
• three pancakes topped with chocolate chips;
• two large cups of coffee;
• for lunch, 1lb (that's a very large bowl) of pasta with tomato sauce;
  
• two large ham-and-cheese sandwiches with more lettuce, tomato and don't forget the mayo;
  
• four bottles of a proprietary high-energy sports drink;
  
• for dinner, another pound of pasta;
  
• a large cheese-and-tomato pizza;
• another four bottles of the same proprietary high-energy sports drink.

Here's an article in The Guardian that explains all of this in more detail, as well as how nauseous the reporter became when he attempted to eat all of this in a feat of gonzo journalism.

(got this link via dooce.)