Let's talk about pleated pants...later.

Gym cardio details:
-- Calories burned: 350
-- Miles: 2.5
-- +2 raquetball games

So what's the deal with diets these days? I was power walking on the elliptical-hiking-stair-climber machine tonight (second time this week, nearly a world record for myself) and was thinking about dieting and the recent Atkins diet craze. Someone else mentioned the Atkins diet to me earlier in an email (to be exact: "As long as you don't start discussing your Atkins diet..."). Let me set the record straight: I don't diet. I think the Atkins/South Beach diets are full of it, although I admit I have seen results from it. But it really can't be healthy limiting your diet to a small portion of what's available on today's menus. I mean, look at me! I'm six feet tall, a strapping 155 pounds, and I eat more carbs than anything else (mmm...pasta). Surely it doesn't have to do with the metabolism that I inherited....

Rather than dieting, I think the following things make my life healthier (yes, I am an authoritative source for this type of information):
-- Exercise: About six months ago, I realized in how bad shape I am. I had to jump out of a cab and SPRINT to a Broadway show in order to get there in time to take full advantage of the front-row seats that we won through a ticket-booth lottery drawing. At the first half intermission, I could hardly stand up because my legs were pulsating with pain due to the exercise I forced them into. The next week, I went out shopping for running shoes and was determined to begin preparing my legs for the next time I was late to a show. Six months and a few hundred dollars in gym fees later, I'm starting to work out, though only twice this week. This is something I should do more of, but at least I'm trying.
-- Cutting fast food from my diet: Not only is it nasty and not supporting local economies and individual entrepreneurship, but it comes from the worst sources (Read Fast-Food Nation). Kind of like the Papa John's pizza I ate for lunch today....
-- Cutting soda from my diet: I don't have much a sweet tooth for soda, and the sugar is terrible for your body. But the Sprite I had at lunch today sure did taste good.
-- Limit the amount of food I eat on a daily basis: First of all, I think that breakfast is huge. If I eat a nice big breakfast (like a massive bowl of oatmeal), I can tell that my metabolism is in full force because by lunchtime, I'm starving, even if all I do is stare at a monitor and move my fingers for a few hours. I try to have a big lunch and limit my dinner to something small, although more often than not it's the other way around. But starting tomorrow, it's in full force....

So maybe I'm not so healthy afterall. Okay, I admit it, I'm a hypocrite.

Gym cardio details:
-- Calories burned: 520 (FWIW)
-- Miles: 4.5

Last night was kind of entertaining. Across the street from my hotel in Wilmington, Delaware is a restaurant/bar with live jazz every night of the week. We also got our hands on some free margarita coupons, which spelled trouble for our group. Tuesdays are "Salsa" night, and there was supposed to be some free salsa lessons, but not enough girls showed up (in fact, no girls showed up :( ), so I guess they decided to go straight into the music. After some tasty dinner at the restaurant, the salsa band started up and rocked the house. Not being a salsa master (along with the rest of my group), I just enjoyed the music and the drinks. I did manage to get one cha-cha dance in, though. It's been a while since I've done that, but it was fun....

Gym cardio details:
-- Calories burned: 390
-- Miles: 3.30

Slept in until around 10:00 this morning (don't blame me, I didn't get to bed until around 3:00am!). Played a bit more online poker, then joined Paul, Cathy, and Amy (visiting from DC/California, but a likely resident in a few months) for brunch at noon. We hopped on the subway and checked out Rue de Crepes, known as "in outdoor cafe in Paris indoors, in Chelsea. The mushroom crepe was outragously good, as were the desert crepes. Service could have been better, but I'm not high maintenance about asking for things twice.

Afterwards, we walked up to Time Square (Broadway) to try to get lotto tickets for "Wicked" and then "Avenue Q". We did not succeed at either, but I was able to buy a new cooking book from William-Sonoma and finally got a beard trimmer after bargaining for a 50% discount while thawing out near Broadway. Today was a COLD one!

After sleeping in until noon today, I got hooked on online poker (Texas Hold'm), but not with real money. I get sharpen my skills so that next time I go to a poker party, I'll be razor sharp :) .

Went to Kuma Inn for dinner, awesome French-Asian fusion food in the Lower East Side. It was a hole-in-the wall with a great atmosphere and great food. The owner/chef came out to greet us and talk about his food with us. His mother taught him about cooking Phillipino food as he grew up, but his educational background was in French cooking. So his food is a mixture of French style with mostly Asian ingredients (Phillipino, Japanese, Chinese, etc.). The sake was to die for, very smooth and fresh tasting.

We went to "Teany" after dinner, a tea cafe with about 150 types of teas (gotta get the "teany chino"). It's owned by the singer Moby. Came across the bar "Pianos", which someone from work had told me about before. It was late and crowded. On Houston, found a few hip-hop clubs, which I might have to try out sometime.

Other places to check out: Candle Cafe