Losing a part of me

Category: Friends

  • Day 815

    Okay, change of plans: I am flying to Dallas this morning and not waiting until next Saturday. Why? My wife is having trouble with something that I can help her with, and nothing else matters. You do not mess with my family. She and I have had our issues, but we are working on them and doing very well with that… but even if we were still having trouble then I invite you to reread the italicised sentence: You do not mess with my family. Someone is about to find out that they have messed with the wrong f.cking Jew.

    Yes, I continued to stress-eat the last few days… there were a lot of moving pieces that I needed to put right before I could actually make that change to just get onto the airplane, including (but definitely not limited to) asking my very good friends who are taking care of Princess Sophie to pick her up yesterday and not Friday. I had a hundred other things that needed to get done as well, none of which I could do while waiting on hold with American Airlines for nearly two hours trying to change my ticket. I then went nuts getting things done, all of which had to be put on hold while two friends came over for a cigar (one of which was picking up the Princess, the other picking up something that I thought I had another week to get to him). I had banking, shopping, paying bills, sending invoices, and all of that before I packed for a three-week trip. Yes, I was stressed. Oh, and it did not help that I felt that I needed to eat more because there was food in the fridge that would spoil otherwise.

    And now I’m at the airport waiting to board. I hope to sleep on the plane, but even if I don’t, I slept pretty well last night. I am excited to see Leslie, and I am girding for the fight to defend her. Do not mess with my family.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 800

    I had a great day yesterday but for whatever reason I did not sit down to write. Oops.

    I continue to sleep very little but am not at all tired throughout the day. That might have something to do with how much coffee I drink when I am here… or it might just be because of the air. Either way, I am relaxed and happy on four or five hours per night.

    My fitness watch battery is at 5% and I will be happy if it makes it through one more day. If not, then I will have a couple of days without measurements in the app… but I will still be walking and aiming for 15,000 steps per day. I will continue to eat smartly. I am still hoping to be very happy with my weight when I step onto the bathroom scale Wednesday morning. As it is, the Hawaiian shirt that I could not wear Monday seems to be a bit more comfortable today. I promised someone I would send them a picture of myself in it, which I was able to do this morning, so I see that as an indicator that I’m doing well. The scale will tell the numbers, but more importantly the way my shirts and sports jackets fit is more important.

    I am meeting my steps goal every day without a problem. As was the case on my last visit here, the only vehicles I have been in are taxis to and from the Hotel Nacional with friends. To be honest, I did take a cab back alone that night, but it was late and I wanted to see a friend before their shift ended. I made up for it by walking another few thousand steps before turning in.

    It is amazing how many Jews I have met on this trip, which is to say that I have met at least six of them… including one native Cubans who is with the local Chabad house. I confess it never occurred to me that there would be one! Last night at dinner the guys at the next table were from Tel Aviv and we had a great conversation. They asked me why I wear my kippa here instead of a hat. I told them that had I been wearing a hat then I would never have met most of the Jews that I have met. Havana is a very safe city and Cuba is very accepting of all religions (while not condoning any one of them), but if someone does not like the fact that I am Jewish (and Israeli) then I like knowing… and if they confront me then I’ll happily handle that situation. In the meantime, I was able to light my Shabbat candles in my apartment last night. I was alone, but as I lit them I know that I was with all of the people I pray for, and with the whole Jewish nation. There is n irony to being able to do this freely in a country that is so poor and the people are oppressed… just like we have been so many times.

    It is another gorgeous day and I am enjoying my second day cup of coffee at my buddy‘s bistro. In a little while I will head out for my day. I have to stop by my apartment because I took my laptop bag to bring him some things, and do not want to have to carry it all day. I will then set out to enjoy the rest of my day. It is the Sabbath, and I will take it easy… but if that were the only definition of the day then this entire week has been Sabbath!

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 785

    My weight did not go up or down this morning. That is what happens when you cheat and indulge in a couple of rolls after dinner, and then a couple of yogurts later in the evening. Still and all, I am glad that I did not gain weight from it.

    My weight loss buddy sent me pictures from the Mayan Riviera in Mexico last night. I am so happy for her. I am also counting down the days until my next trip… we are into single digits.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 783

    I did not expect to lose weight this morning. I was discouraged last night, and I had not one but two rolls with avocado butter and strawberry jam after I had already eaten my dinner. I was expecting, following the trend of the last few weeks, to actually gain more weight. Fortunately, that was not the case; in fact, my weight gain from yesterday was reversed. No more, but also no less. I can live with that. I am going to try to do better today, starting with not buying more rolls. The next bread that I will buy will be for the Sabbath prayers Friday evening.

    I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to every reader who reaches out to me after a bad day. You really do help tremendously!

  • Day 776

    After four straight days of gains (totaling 6.6 lbs.) it was a relief to see a serious drop on the bathroom scale this morning. I lost 2.8 lbs. from yesterday, which brings me back down below that dreaded 270 lbs. mark. Phew!

    With that said, I was not very good yesterday. I had a chicken shawarma pita for lunch (which is not the worst thing in the world), and two protein bars in the late afternoon. There is a saying about idle hands being the devil’s whatever… I arrived at the area where I was meeting my buddy in the evening 45 minutes early, and I parked in front of a supermarket. I went in to pick up some nuts but came out with dried mangos and a bag of party mix, and indulged both while I waited, and then on the 45-minute drive home. I was kicking myself for this, and because of it was not expecting a good result from the bathroom scale this morning. While luck really has nothing to do with it, I am nonetheless using the phrase ‘I got lucky.’ While I do have to get into my car (where the two bags are waiting for me) today, I will not be opening them.

    I thought I slept pretty well last night, with my fitness watch clocking 8h4m of sleep. With that said, it only gave me a sleep score of 50, citing ‘poor recovery.’ I wonder if I don’t get better sleep when I take a melatonin gummy shortly before bed. I will try that this evening and see what happens. I was back from Toronto yesterday by 10:00pm but did not really get to sleep until midnight. This evening, I only have to drive to Mississauga to pick something up and will most likely head right home. The only plans I should have after 7:30pm are to walk my puppy and to smoke my cigars. Hopefully, with a nice and relaxing day planned, I will be able to get a very good night sleep tonight.

    Once again, I want to thank my readers who reached out to me over the last few days for their caring and support. It meant the world to me when my spirits were low, and I have not forgotten now that my spirits are higher.

    Have a great day!

  • Day 762

    My bags are mostly packed and I went out for breakfast. I was supposed to meet a friend but he was a no-show… very irregular for him, and I am a little worried. With that said, I know he had a meeting last night where he had to make a speech, and he might have been out very late. I know I will hear from him when he wakes up and he will be extremely sorry. In any event, I had my last breakfast, and have one more meeting with another friend from 11-1, at which point I will grab a taxi to the airport. As much as I hate leaving Havana, I am looking forward to being home for a little while.

    I missed my steps goal yesterday by 500 steps, but only because I ended up walking home after midnight. I was at about 2000 steps by the time I went to bed, so I still hit it. I also had way too much to drink (thanks to my buddy the restaurateur who kept pouring, and then the person who wanted to meet with me to learn about cigars who kept ordering) so I was not really concerned by the steps by 11pm. If I have not lost weight this trip it is because of those two days of alcohol, the pasta I’ve been eating (most meals here involve pork or seafood, and my religious beliefs supersede my weight loss), and the little chocolates that most cafes serve with a cup of coffee. Having said that, I am not worried. If I need to redouble my efforts when I get home then I will.

    Have a great day folks… I’ll see you tomorrow in Canada!

  • Day 761

    After missing the mark (only by one measure) the previous day, I shot through my fitness watch’s steps goal yesterday, surpassing 20,000 steps for the second time in a week, and for the third time since I got to Cuba. With that said, the soles of my feet are feeling it a bit today. It is nothing like it was a week ago, but I am still going to take care to not overdo it too badly today. The goal on the watch is 17,420; I will not force myself, but expect if I do not surpass that, I will still come close.

    I have not been eating entirely smart, but I still expect that I will not have gained weight during this trip. I know the pair of shorts that I am wearing today felt much tighter last Sunday when I first put them on, but that could be all in my mind. In 48-hours I will know for sure when I step onto the scale Thursday morning.

    As I had planned, I did my cigar shopping yesterday. While the selection is abysmal, I still found a couple of very good boxes of cigars to take home with me. I am not disappointed! What did disappoint me was that the Partagas store (behind the Capitolo) was closed. I am told that it is going to be reopened and that they are simply rebuilding it. The store certainly did look like a construction site when I walked by, so that is certainly plausible. In the meantime, for my second trip in a row I ended up at the La Casa del Habanos in Plaza De Armas. L found two boxes with a lot of age on them which is rare and difficult. A good cigar gets better with age which is why I have a few boxes in my humidor at home that have been there for a couple of years. The two boxes that I am bringing back are from 2017 and 2018 respectively, meaning they are absolutely ready to smoke right now. I am excited to crack them open, although I will not be doing that to smoke them in the winter… they will either wait until spring, or else for a day when I am invited to a friend’s indoor lounge.

    What else did I do yesterday? I took my laundry in to be washed, lest I find myself out of socks and underwear. I took them in early in the day hoping they would be ready in the afternoon, but because of a misunderstanding (on my part) they needed to dry overnight. I am never inflexible in Cuba, but I did need to take one pair of socks which I took home straight away and hung from my fan so that I could wear them today. Owing to the damage I did to my feet on my first day, this is my first Cuba trip ever that I have run out of socks. My sandals have stayed in the room the entire time! In a bizarre twist, it is also my first Cuba trip that when I packed my suitcase, I only packed the socks that I thought I would need for working out, hence the need to do laundry. It is not the worst thing – I will have much fewer clothes to wash when I get back to Canada. I spent some time talking with the tourist friends I met who were going home yesterday, exchanging contact information so we can stay in touch. I had dinner with a friend who reminded me of the truth of what I call Cuban Standard Time, which is to say that she was ninety minutes late. No matter, that gave me ninety minutes to people-watch in Parque Central.

    We had old clothes for dinner! Okay, that needs some clarification: One of the most popular Cuban meals is called ropa viella, which is really shredded beef. It was delicious! We ate at a restaurant a minute or two from the Capitolo called Paladar Kilometro Zero – all of Cuba is measured in distance from the capital, and that is where it starts. The food was amazing and the musicians were fabulous, playing instrumental Cubanized versions of many American and European standards. I always appreciate a good saxophone, and this guy could play!

    After I dropped her off, I met a couple in the bar across the street from her who were speaking English. They are a married couple, he from New York and she is local. She is a tour guide, and we had a great conversation. As has happened several times this trip, I offered them a cigar and they insisted on buying me a drink. I eventually walked back to my buddy’s cafe and ended the evening there.

    My plans for today are very simple and uncluttered. I have two oligations: I have to collect my laundry, and I am having lunch with Johnny. After that…? I dunno. Until then? I dunno. I am going to walk back to my apartment to drop my computer off, and then I will likely walk around the old city for a few hours. Oh, and I am sure that throughout the day I will drop in on a couple of friends where they work to say hello.

    I am both pleased and shocked by how advanced my Spanish has been. Five years ago (or even two!) I was breaking my teeth to understand and to be understood… and I would avoid being alone for any length of time with people who did not understand English. This past week I have spent many hours with several individuals and groups who did not speak any English, or if they did, I did not trouble them with it. Yes, functioning entirely in Spanish is a bit tiring for me, but I did not realize until the past couple of days how it (my Spanish) has advanced. I am really happy about that, and will continue to work on it.

    As for food… I will continue to be mostly good, without restricting myself. I will continue to eat and drink moderately, and I will get a lot of steps in (without overdoing it). If my weight on Thursday is exactly what it was the morning I left Canada then I will be extremely happy, but I am prepared to be as much as 3-4 pounds heavier without getting too down about it. Whether or not that happens, I will be back on the treadmill by the weekend.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 754

    I surpassed all expectations yesterday and am quite proud of myself for it. I ate a healthy breakfast, I went for a jog (which after 1 km in the heat and humidity turned into a power-walk), and I had a healthy dinner. I did a lot of walking, surpassing 25,000 steps! I had a single alcoholic beverage (a rum that was offered to me by a cigar roller friend as we smoked his creation, so I could hardly refuse). All in all, it was a good day. Had I brought my bathroom scale (which I ended up not doing) I suspect I would have been happy with my number this morning.

    I did get taken by a teenager who offered to convert my money at a decent rate. My usual guy was not available, so I tried to convert fifty dollars. The guy disappeared, and I am now $50 poorer than I was. The way I see it, it was my charitable donation to the Cuban economy. While I am usually careful with money, in the grand scheme of things that money was about 30-minutes of work for me… and three months’ salary for him. I was thinking that if I come across him again, I can hold my head high… he may think he got one over on the stupid turista, but in truth he just proved that I am much more of a man than he is. It means I will be able to buy three fewer cigars than I would have. Put in that perspective, I came out okay.

    When I did connect with my brother, we sat with a couple of friends of his for a little while and talked. The guy is from South Florida and works in technology, so we had a lot to talk about. The four of us would end up having dinner later.

    I told Johnny that I would go for a run while he did what he had to do; we went back to my apartment so that I could give him some real money to convert for me, and then he left to do his thing and I changed into my kit. We agreed to meet at 2:30pm at another friend’s café. I hoped to jog five kilometres but decided to pull up at 1km because of the conditions. I ended up walking along the Malecon to the Hotel Nacional, making about a 4km distance. I took a break there, reviewed my stats (6m45s for the jog, and under 9m30s per kilometre walking). I used the restroom, looked in at the cigar shop, and then headed out to walk back – another 4km. I took a cold shower (I miscalculated how far in advance I have to turn the water heater on), and then went to meet Johnny.

    The Conde de Villenueva hotel is absolutely magnificent… and it is currently closed… as is the cigar shop which is one of my favourites. Johnny was able to hook me up very well though – he has friends who were able to arrange for us to meet the senior torcedor (cigar roller) there. Raoul replaced my friend Reynaldo when he moved to Mexico, so I was not sure about what I would find. I was pleasantly surprised not only by the stock but also by the quality of the custom-rolled cigars. We sat for an hour chatting, smoking cigars, and drinking coffee and then rum. After enjoying one of his cigars, I asked him to make twenty-five of them for me for next week to take home. Yay!

    While neither Johnny nor I had eaten lunch, we had one more stop to make before heading to the restaurant in Calle San Rafael to meet Dennis and his wife for dinner. We popped in at my buddy Osiris’ restaurant and spent an hour talking with him and his wife. It was wonderful to see him (as it always is), and we promised we would meet him for lunch today (which we will do shortly).

    Dinner was at a Turkish restaurant, and I had a Doner Kebab. I had asked for the plate, but there was a miscommunication, so I got the sandwich instead. No great loss. It was quite good, and while all four of us were exhausted, we stayed there until 11:00pm chatting. I introduced Dennis to cigars, showing him how to properly enjoy it. In fact he enjoyed it so much that he enjoyed a second one! Johnny told him that he was getting a Master Class from me; I told him that he might be getting a class from a master, but it was really a primer. Master Classes are not for beginners!

    When we finally got up and left the restaurant, we said our farewells and exchanged contact information. Johnny and I will meet Osiris today, but Dennis has already flown back to the USA. I walked around for another ninety minutes or so before finding my way back to my apartment… after tracking down (with some difficulty owing to the late hour) some bottled water to take back to the room.

    As I prepared for bed, I realized that I was hungrier than expected. Not only had I skipped lunch, but by now the sandwich I had for dinner was nearly six-hours in my rearview mirror. I decided to have a protein bar so that I was not uncomfortable trying to sleep. My buddy Lyle had recommended the protein bars I brought, and he was right about how good they are. I lay my head down to sleep satisfied after a very complete first full day in Havana.

    The decision to come to Cuba was made because I needed to clear my head and get away from the usual grind. I wanted to relax, do a lot of walking, see my friends, smoke my cigars, and be beholden to nobody. In those respects, yesterday was a perfect day. What will today bring? We’ll see… it started to rain shortly after I finished my breakfast, so I brought my laptop into the smoking salon of the bistro, and here I sit. The Internet is down (welcome to Cuba), so I will likely have to wait until later in the day to publish. In the meantime, the rain seems to have stopped, and I am going to walk back to my apartment, drop off the computer, and then head out to see my buddies for lunch. After that? Whatever I want.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 745

    I booked my airfare yesterday and it is confirmed. One week from today I am waking up at way before the sun does and I am heading to the airport. I have never flown to Cuba through the US before and I do not know what to expect (what with them pulling me aside for in-depth inspection every time I fly into the country) but I do know that barring unforeseen changes or delays, I will be landing in Havana shortly after noon, and will be spending the next ten days in that wonderful city. I have been there dozens of times, but I do not know what to expect. I have heard so many terrible things about Cuba’s current situation, and I am worried about what I am going to find when I get there. I am hoping it is not as bad as some people are saying.

    While I was not great with my food intake yesterday, I was very good with my activity. I jogged 5km on the treadmill – my first full 5km jog without stopping or slowing to a walk in quite some time. I am going to try to do the same (or better) again today. I am not sure about the exact distance because of a discrepancy between my fitness watch and the treadmill, so I am going to figure out how to calibrate the two as well. However far I jogged, I spent 39 minutes running on the treadmill. The settings I use are a 3% incline and a pace of 4mph, so simple math tells me that I would be about 2.62 miles, which is only 4.22km. I guess I am not running as far as I thought. Today’s calibration should take care of that.

    After the massive gain from a couple of days ago, I am now down nearly a pound from Friday. If I can be disciplined today, then I should be able to lose another few ounces tomorrow morning. This may sound strange but knowing that I am planning to calibrate my watch will incentivize me to make sure I get in a good run this morning! Who knows? Maybe I will go longer than I have been going. I stopped running yesterday because my watch read 5km, but I probably could have gone another few minutes easily.

    Eduardo is coming over for a cigar in the afternoon. I am looking forward to seeing him. After that? I am thinking of doing some work on my computer… It has been acting weird, and I am thinking that wiping it and starting from scratch might be a fun project to get rid of gremlins and take my mind off things at the same time.

    Okay, I am going to change my outfit, then pull the treadmill down and hit the virtual trails. Have a great day folks!

  • Day 744

    Yesterday was another bad day… but at least my overeating was in the afternoon, and I was done by 5:30pm; the previous day it had been in the evening and is why I gained so much weight. I dropped a very small amount this morning but down is always better than up.

    One of the cigar groups that I am a member of is having an event this evening so I will drive up there for a few hours. I still need to occupy my mind which has been racing off the charts the last week. I might need to ask my doctor to increase the dosage on one of my medications. We will see. In the meantime, I did not sleep enough last night… but according to my fitness watch I did sleep deeply. If only I could fall asleep and stay asleep.

    Today is another day, another struggle. Hopefully I’ll get through it mostly unscathed with regard to my eating.