Changing My Eating Habits!

On Saturday night, I put on the pants to my black suit that I bought a little over a year ago.  It was a bit tight and I realized, "damn, I'm really starting to let myself go aren't I?" Actually, I know I'm not as thin as I used to be in prime and I haven't had six-pack abs since high school.  And it's been easy to notice that my belly is definitely larger than what I think is ideal.  Anyway, when I measured myself after putting on those pants, I was a big 34.5" around the waist! :'( Granted I had just finished eating a large meal, but still...I felt very fat.  On Monday morning just a couple days ago, I measured 33.5", which is probably most accurate.

On the scale, I still weigh 177 lbs, which is close to what I've weighed for the last few years.  Nonetheless, my waist still seems too large for my taste and with my single-forever lifestyle, I need to look my best if I'm to attract any honies.  I've been known to be able to eat a lot in my history, being given nicknames like "The Bottomless Box."  So now I'm starting to really watch and control my portions.  In the past, I'd usually do 2 or 3 big meals throughout the day: Lunch around 2pm, Dinner around 7pm, late meal around 12pm.  After doing some research on eating habits, I'm now trying to split up my meals and eat every few hours: Breakfast in the morning, Lunch around 1pm, 2nd part of Lunch around 4pm, Dinner around 7pm, 2nd dinner around 10pm, maybe an after midnight snack if I'm still hungry.  I think the key is to just control how much I eat at any one time and not overeat even though I may be eating the same amount of food throughout the day.  Either way, I'm gonna give it a try!  So far it's been challenging to stop when I'm not completely full but still satisfied, and I do look forward to the next meal only being a few hours away!  I seem to have a ton of leftovers in the fridge now too, lol.

As for exercise, I haven't let up on that too much.  I still lift every 3-4 days and play basketball on the off days.  Unfortunately, my lower body just can't sustain the pounding from playing ball on back-to-back nights, so there are definitely days where I don't hit the gym at all (I think overall I'll go to the gym just 4-5 days a week).  Thus, I'm getting ready to explore the world of P90X, something my friend Matt has had great success with recently.  However, I probably won't do the whole 90-day program at once since lifting and basketball are still more important to me.  What I plan on doing is P90X workouts on the off days where I don't go to the gym at all.  That way I'll be constantly doing something active everyday, which is important with my sedentary job at IBM and playing all those StarCraft games at the computer. :)

So we'll see how it goes.  I measure 33.5" right now around the waste and I guess the goal is to lose an inch or two and just feel slimmer!  And hopefully date some cuties as a result!

Lindy's at Redline: My Death Wing Experience

The owner of the popular "Lindy's on 4th" restaurant in Tucson, that has appeared on shows like Man vs. Food, opened a another restaurant called Lindy's at Redline.  Like the original Lindy's OMFG challenge, there is a food challenge at Redline called Death Wings.  The wings are made with Lindy's Death sauce, which they claim comes from a small $200 vial that is pure ghost pepper extract.  The challenge is to eat 12 of these wings with no sides or drinks and finish in 30 minutes or less.  Here is a picture on Facebook of their menu.  FYI, most really spicy dishes are made with Habanero peppers that rate 300,000 Scoville heat units.  The ghost pepper is over a mllion Scoville.  As of this blog entry, there is no one who has completed this challenge, but Redline has only been open for less than 6 months.

I am one for spicy foods.  I absolutely love spice and have a pretty high tolerance for it.  I wasn't about to jump head first into the challenge, but I was very curious to sample how hot these wings were.  Lindy is no slouch when it comes to his food challenges, so I wasn't about to take this one very lightly.

My friend Teqas and I went to Redline to sample the wings.  We figured we'd see how the test drive goes, then decide if we want to buy the car another day.  There to support us were Wes, Jonny, Jen & Jon, Aaron, Ryan, Sam, and Vanessa.  Not many of my friends are into spiciness, so I was happy to have Teqas attempt these wings with me.  We ordered the dozen and signed a waiver before receiving the wings.  I found the last of the five lines of the disclaimer to be quite amusing, basically stating "I am not inebriated or trying these wings as a drunken dare."  Our server said no one had ever ordered the Death Wings in the few months she had been working there.  She wasn't even aware there was a waiver process.

The wings arrived and you could instantly smell the spice on them from afar.  The wings came with 2 plastic gloves that Teqas and I each took one of.  Wes also wanted to try a wing and took one before Teqas and I even realized.  After one, he immediately started yelling how hot they were and looked to be in pain.  I let Teqas try his first wing and then I tried mine.  At first taste it seemed really typical of any other hot wing I've had, but seconds later it hit me.  I was overwhelmed with hotness in my mouth and couldn't stop drinking my Guinness (I chose Guinness for it's thick, milky texture).  I was sweating and even almost started crying.  There was a table near us who were watching us try these wings and laughing in shock at how much pain we were in.  After the first wing, I honestly felt that I couldn't eat anymore, the pain was just too intense.  I kept thinking, wow, there are 8 more of these fuckers and it's all just gonna go to waste.  Teqas gave it some time and eventually tried another one.  Our friends passed us some ranch from the regular wings they had ordered.

About 10 minutes later (what for me felt more like half an hour), I felt like I was ready to try another wing.  I took a different approach than just eating the wing off the bone.  I used a fork to wipe off excess sauce and pry all the meat off the bone first and make a little pile of chicken.  I poured some ranch on it and then put it in my mouth.  The second wing was much easier and the ranch certainly helped.  I continued to work my way through wing #3, wing #4, and finally wing #5.  Teqas was also trying to put 5 wings down.  Jonny was the one who tried the 12th wing.  After the fourth wing I was really hurting.  I stopped drinking my beer but I was constantly sweating.  I am not one who sweats easily, but I soaked an entire napkin with my sweat.  I mustered up whatever strength I had left and put down the fifth wing without any ranch.

These wings were unlike anything I have ever had and I have had tried some really hot foods.  Teqas ordered a bowl of vanilla ice cream while I continued to chug down beers and water.  The ice cream tasted so great.  However, after I had finished just 5 wings, I began to shake.  It was like I had the shivers.  I never felt like I was going to die, I just felt pretty uncomfortable lol.  My friend Teqas' stomach started to feel upset and actually he didn't feel right for the rest of the night, not being able to pass out until 6am.  My stomach felt some burn, but a couple hours later I felt fine.  And to answer your question: Yes, the morning after I certainly had firebutt.

I don't know if I could ever attempt the challenge.  Considering how painful it was to get through not even half a dozen in what felt like an hour, a full dozen in half the time would probably leave me feeling like hell.  We did consider strategy and this is how I would approach the challenge:
1. Start by drinking at least a pint of warm milk before you get to Redline, preferably as close as you can get to before the challenge starts.
2. When the wings arrive, spend all your time peeling the meat off bones with a fork and/or knife and make a big pile of chicken meat.
3.  Down all the chicken meat in one fell swoop.
4.  Pray that you don't die 15 minutes later.

I'm really proud of myself for finishing 5 Death Wings.  After how badly we reacted after the first wing, some of my friends were saying, "One and Done!"  But Teqas and I rallied and we finished the entire plate.  Although I had to resort to scraping off extra sauce, ranch, and beer, I honestly feel like I accomplished something great.  Lindy's Death Wings are the hottest thing I've ever tried and I can now say that I finished five of them with pride!

Seattle: Round 2

A bit late on this entry 'cause I've been busy/lazy ever since I've been back, but time to write a blog about my recent trip to Seattle.  Actually, I had been wanting to go to New Orleans for the longest time and found some friends who at first wanted to, but then decided they wanted to go Seattle instead.  I obliged and visited the city with them for the first time since I visited Mike DEEE 4 years ago.  This entry won't have too many pictures because I didn't take many blogworthy ones, sorry!

We stayed in downtown Seattle at the Silver Cloud Hotel on Broadway.  We got the hotel by using Priceline's negotiator and this pick was the result of inputting $150- a night and 3.5+ stars.  It turned out to be a pretty good deal when we crammed 6 people into one room.  Yeah, 6 people trying to sleep in 2 queen beds.  Don't worry, I was okay with my trusty "no-sex wall" of pillows.

I got there on Thursday night to be greeted by the ladies (Jen, Vanessa, and Deanna) who got there a day earlier.  I quickly found the closest bar and caught the last quarter of the Heat-Mavs game: the game where the Heat blew like a 15-point lead in the last 5 minutes...UGH.  Anyway, the girls (who were dubbed the nickname DJV, which I then evolved it into DeJaVu) had met some guys from the pool at the hotel the night before and were planning on going out with them that night.  LOL, WTF.  How come they couldn't have met 5 girls at the hotel instead of 5 guys?  Figures...  Actually, these guys were pretty chill Hispanic Americans and I got along with them just fine.  We ended up going to Cha Cha Lounge that night to play Never Have I Ever, a game I DOMINATED because I am just that cool and exciting.  FYI, the winner is the person with the least number of things they have done and gets bought a shot by the loser, the one who's done the most.  We also stopped by Unicorn, a dive-ish and smelly bar and Havana, a nightclub which actually had some decent Big Band music to dance to.  Jen's boyfriend Jon would arrive later in the night.  I ended the night with Seattle's finest late night drunk food: Cream Cheese Dogs!!!

The next day, the 5 of us went to Pike's Place, the popular fisherman's market.  We ate lunch at the Pike Place Bar and Grill and it had some good clam chowdér (IT'S CHOWDA! SAY IT RIGHT!), but nothing else was really great.  I would later learn that we should've gone to the Crab Pot instead.

Vanessa's boyfriend Ryan arrived later in the day and at night we started at a piano bar called Chopstix.  Okay, so truth be told, I had actually considered moving to Seattle to find love.  Why Seattle?  Well, Seattle has a very strong asian population.  So I believe that girls that I'm typically interested in (e.g. non-asian and mostly caucasian) have to grow up with so many asians around and consequently they become more accepting and attracted to asian men.  If you've ever interracially dated yourself, you'd understand how challenging it is to overcome the interracial barrier.  So at this bar Chopstix, I saw this cute blonde with an asian guy and said "OMG! That could be me!"  Lol, this wouldn't get old the rest of the trip either.  After Chopstix, we headed to Pesos with some of Jon's friends.  One of them asked me, "So why are you on a trip with these other couples?"  Well, it wasn't initially planned like that, it just turned out that way.  I honestly don't care who I'm with on a trip as long as their good company and we have fun.  I guess I've just grown out of the phase where I need to be constantly hitting on girls and hooking up with them (e.g. 2010; lol, that phase went by quick).  Friday was kinda weird and a little drama-ensuing when Vanessa, Ryan, and Deanna literally ditched us to go another bar.  I was in the bathroom at the time this happened.  Jen knew they had ditched her when they were M.I.A. for several minutes, but she had faith, "Out of all the ones who left, Andy will come back." I did and she was happy that I wouldn't just ditch my friends like that.  Me?  I honestly don't care if people ditch me.  I figure if you wanna hang out with me you will, otherwise, go ahead and do your thing!  Although I did find it odd that you would coordinate a trip with your friends and not hang out with them there.  Apparently this is not totally uncommon...to each their own I suppose.  We eventually got home that night but Jen was super-hammered and ended up puking when we got back to the hotel.  Jon was taking care of her and I was craving more Cream Cheese Dogs, so I went to go pick up a bunch for everyone. :P

Drama aside, on Saturday we went to the Mariner's game against the Rays.  Props to Jen and Deanna for making it to the game given how hungover they were.  The game was a good one: 3-2 Rays and a save for my boy Farnsworth! However, I was extremely disappointed to see Evan Longoria leave the game. :( After the game, Jen and Deanna had to go back to the hotel and get some rest and recuperation, but the rest of us stayed around the stadium area to do some more drinking...like in the beer garden at the Pyramid brewery.  After the beer garden, we found Swannies 'cause we were planning on watching the Stanley Cup game.  The TV's weren't easy to see from the table we were sitting at, but it was still a good time.  The evening rolled around and we went to this bar called Double Header.  Very interesting because we actually got thrown out of the bar in a very polite fashion.  Apparently the bartender could "tell" when a group of people have had too much to drink and kindly asked us to leave.  I just don't know why he did it 'cause we were a majority of his business at the time and weren't causing a ruckus.  Oh well.  We walked back towards Qwest Stadium (it's right next to Safeco) and the U2 concert was going on.  My friends tried walking into the concert without any tickets (I pussied out) but they were denied.  So then it was on to Slugger's Sports Bar for another drink and then finally heading home.

Sunday was my last day in Seattle and I wasn't about to leave without having some asian food.  We went to Boom Noodle (Vietnamese) for lunch and I was very pleased with the Tokyo noodle bowl.  We kind of took it easy this day...checking out the local parks, the girls did some shopping, and we had ice cream at Molly Moon's.  Matt and Pamela, I recommend this place for you two since you two looooooove desert.  My friends asked me what I wanted to do on my last day and I honestly said, "I just want to catch the NBA game."  And so we did and I watched Miami take a 2-1 lead on Dallas. :) The rest of the series was very disappointing for me obviously, but 'grats to Dirk for finally winning a championship.  He really earned it.  We went to the Oddfellows building for some late-night dinner at Tin Table.  We also learned that they had ballroom dancing which looked kind of fun but I guess the couples weren't into that.

That pretty much wrapped up my Seattle trip, which was my kind of vacation.  Not big on doing a whole lot of sight-seeing.  I just like to experience the food, culture, and lifestyle, relax a bunch and hang out with my friends.  Next up is Vegas next weekend for Kassie's 25th birthday!

Speed Dating...FAIL

My friend is trying to establish a new speed dating service in Tucson.  Last night was his first event held at Gentle Ben's.  I decided to sign up, not necessarily expecting anything, but hoping to at least meet some new people.  I got there a little before the event was to start and had Wes, Teqas, Jonny, and Ryan there to support me.  However, the host (my friend) was nowhere to be found.  He arrived 30 minutes late only to notify everyone that the event had been canceled since half of the expected participants did not show.

He offered to refund me my money and instead I just had some food and drinks at Ben's before heading back to my place with my friends where we enjoyed plenty of hookah and Wii.  So instead of meeting anyone, I met zero people and went back to my place to drink, smoke, and play video games.  LOL, awesome! :) That totally sounds about right.  My friend said he'd try the speed dating event again in a month or two, but I'm skeptical now that he just doesn't have his shit together.  Oh well, at least I can honestly say I tried!