Year 2, Day 280: Poker and Ikea

Worked out today, going six and one quarter miles in sixty minutes flat. I came home and had a snack, but despite my protestations, Emily and I join an old friend of ours in a trip to Ikea. Now, I like Ikea and all, but I think that should be used for team-building exercises. That store is so out of control I'm not sure where to start. First of all, the layout is an ADD nightmare. I said to Emily that if that the Internet was organized like Ikea there wouldn't be any Internet millionaires. People are falling over with sensory overload and distraction when they enter the store. They don't know what to think. Is this all the chairs? What am I looking at? What will I see? Will I have a chance to come back before I am sucked into the vortex of meatballs and lingonberry sauce? There is no doubt that Ikea are geniuses at selling meatballs and lingonberry sauce—and I know they make lots of money—but I bet they could make more if they arranged the things more according to the way Americans like to see things. Like all the frozen food in the frozen food aisles. All the bread in the bread aisle. No, using the grocery model, Ikea has a different MEAL on display in every nook, corner and cranny of their store. So you're basically trying to find pasta not in the pasta AISLE but being used in a pasta MEAL. That's just CRAZY. After they've sucked you into lunch (or dinner), you go to 'housewares'. I was surprised that the meatballs were surprisingly not bad for you—I thought they would be loaded with bread and sugar but they have 9G of fat, made of beef and pork and very low in carbs. After housewares there's the 'do it yourself warehouse' and then MORE FOOD. I tell you that Ikea was more like a workout than my workout. I was exhausted, $200 poorer and carrying a frozen batch of meatballs.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean
Heritage Flakes
Banana
Blueberries
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Postworkoutsnack
1 Small SLice Balthazar Bread
1 Hard Boiled Egg
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar

Lunch: Ikea
Poached Salmon Salad
Mesclun Greens
Lemon Slices
1 Swedish Meatball (No gravy, no lingonberry sauce)

Mid Day-Preconference
1 Small Pear
2 Handfuls Heritage Flakes

Poker/Dinner
Almonds & Cashews
Pistachios
Boston LIte Popcorn

Chinese Food:
Kung Pao Chicken
Moo Shi Pork (+2 Pancakes)
Szechwan Pork
Beef with String Beans
Shrimp & Lobster Sauce
Boneless Spare Ribs

For the last two poker games I have gorged on nuts AND lost a lot of my money at the table. That is not good. But on the other hand there is no doubt that we have made the card game healthier over all. On top of that, we did get the order down by over $20 from last month. One of the players was worried that wouldn't be ENOUGH—but they were wrong. Everyone had seconds (including me) and there was still some left (that I ate while others were eating ice cream). At least I avoided the ice cream. And I know that no matter how bad I did, it's still just a bad night at dinner. I know I'm not doing myself any harm, and more importantly, I don't have heartburn when I go to bed like I used to. And that was constant—I mean every single Thursday night it was with the Tums. For more on that go here http://sobediet.blogspot.com/2006/02/day-341-poker-game.html