duality

Now I'm not a particularly big fan of football, but when one of the partners that I work for invites me to play in the office's newly formed flag football league, I found myself having a hard time saying no. To be honest, I haven't played flag football since high school, and I didn't fare particularly well then either. But you know what, it's moments like this that slap you in the face and make you sit up and pay more attention to your own health and well-being. But when we took to the field for the first time on Friday, the slap in the face was more harsh than even I imagined. Out of shape and with no athletic skills or conditioning, I found myself gasping for air after only a few plays and eagerly self-benching myself so that others could get a chance to play. Oh, man am I out of shape. My elliptical machine has really built up a fine patina of dust over the last few months from disuse. The guilt is starting to take its toll on me, so I think I'll be popping some fresh D-cell batteries into it (yeah, seems kinda silly that an exercise machine couldn't be self-powered, right?) and putting it through its paces soon. Maybe next week's game I can actually stay on my feet and not collapse from exhaustion.

But as they say for every force, there is a corresponding opposite force to keep things in balance. And so with this renewed pledge to exercise and get into shape, comes a desire to stuff myself silly in the most extravagant way possible. And so I have reconvened the Carnivore Club, a ragtag collection of similarly meat-centric folks who take no shame in eating as much food as they can, to return to the fantastic Brazilian steakhouse Espetus Churrascaria in San Francisco. If you're a meat lover and haven't been to a Brazilian steakhouse, you have to try it. You know how you go to a normal steakhouse, order a steak, and while it tastes great when you first dig into it, by the time you're finishing it the meat has cooled off and it's not so tasty anymore? Well at a churrascaria, you get smaller slices of beef off a large skewer fresh out of the kitchen and brought right to your plate, so every bite is a nice hot and tasty experience. I can't say enough about it and I can't wait to go back there next week. But I leave you with a few Carnivore Club Rules, or in the spirit of Pirates of the Carribean, they're more like guidelines.

Rules of Carnivore Club

#1. You do not talk about Carnivore Club.
#2. OK, you can talk about it a little but only when recruiting others.
#3. If someone says “stop” or turns over the red card, the food stops coming.
#4. One man (or woman), one plate. Nobody shares from their plate.
#5. You finish what’s on your plate. Unless it’s nasty.
#6. No soup, no salad. Unless it’s got meat in it.
#7. Dinner will go on as long as it has to.
#8. If this is your first night in Carnivore Club, you have to eat.