Brainstorm!

Because I'm a 56 year-old guy who needs to exercise to stave off death for some limited number of years, I'm doing a bunch of things for my health over the summer (and hopefully beyond that). I mostly like to ride bicycles, but sometimes it's too hot for that and sometimes I need a change of pace. Since we have a pool in the backyard, swimming seems an easy alternative and you can do it when it's too hot to ride.

Swimming is really good for you but is unbelievably boring; once you've done it enough that you're over your fear of drowning it's deathly. Listening to an iPod is impractical, so I'm considering buying a couple of piranhas to keep me moving.

I know that sounds impractical, but I know I'm on solid ground here, so to speak. When I was in business school I took a class taught by a famous management consultant (yes, such a thing exists) who told us about the challenges of keeping fish fresh once it's been caught, since some fish are caught several days from shore. Now they have processing plants and freezers, but back then they put the fish in holding tanks. These kept the fish alive but sluggish, and sluggish fish, like sluggish people, don't taste so good.

So someone came up with the idea of tossing a couple of predator fish in the tank. Sure enough, they lost a few fish, but the vast majority that remained were active and tasty. The same principle applies here. I've seen piranhas and I know they can give a nasty bite, but they're much too small to actually eat me. So I figure a couple of them in the pool will keep me swimming vigorously. Plus, it'll keep the neighborhood kids from sneaking in to use our pool. Win-win, as far as I can see.