Slumdog Millionaire

This movie is an independent film that blew up the box office and award shows. It has been nominated for over 30 major American awards. It was an unexpected success, the story of two brothers growing up in poverty in India completely on their own, as adults one is on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

The movie is a series of flashbacks while Jamal (one of the main characters) is on the show. It shows all the struggles the boys went through trying to make it on their own as children and the crazy path life has taken them on and Jamal's ultimate quest to find the girl he fell in love with as a child.

This movie will take a viewer through a series of emotions and is extremely interesting, its been a while since i have seen a movie that is this interesting and such a wonderful story.

Hidden Treasure : Culinary Cafe

Delray Beach is home to every kind of restaurant in every price range that one could ever want. You can go for months without ever eating at the same place. Atlantic Avenue is the ideal spot for a restaurant and its almost guaranteed success if something opens up on the ave. I was reading Atlantic Ave Magazine December issue and saw an article about a new restaurant called the Culinary Cafe. The article sold the place, it featured a three page spread about the restaurant and featured several pictures of what they had to offer, all looked mouth watering.

Instantly I couldn't wait to try it! I googled the address and saw that it wasn't on Atlantic Ave and actually was a in a small plaza on Federal Hwy with a locksmith and a pancake house, not exactly the kind of plaza you would expect to find a swanky eatery, and probably a poor decision that is hurting business. The focus of the restaurant is on fine wines and specialty dishes and that combined with the reasonable prices makes it worth the trek from the Ave.

The deal that drew me in was their happy hour tasting menu... Every Friday and Saturday from 4:30 to 6:30 they offer a glass of wine, and a sampling trio of menu items. This is a great value at $14.

My experience to say the least was amazing, everything was delicious and the chef even came out to make sure we were enjoying our food. We took advantage of the happy hour special. The trio included fillet mignon, seared scallops, and tuna tar tare. In addition we ordered the foie gras, which is a specialty item and is VERY pricey, however it was only $15 here and was very tasty! Everything was prepared exquisitely with extra attention to detail and flavors.

The atmosphere was great, but the location is a drawback for this fabulous place. Just like the title implies this is a hidden treasure that deserves a try. I've since been back twice and its was equally as good each time.

Best Gyms in Delray Beach

I've been training for a triathlon for about two weeks now and I decided that I should probably join a gym. Living in sunny Florida I thought that I would be fine working out in the great outdoors, but that hasn't been working out for me so far. I have been pretty good about getting myself to workout but I find myself making all sorts of excuses as to why I can't work out on a specific day. Whether its that its dark, to cold or hot, raining, etc... I realized joining a gym wouldn't be such a bad thing.

I started researching gyms in my area and narrowed it to three different gyms, Level 5 Fitness, CrossFit, and Palm Beach Gym. Since they all offer a free trial period I took advantage of it and tried them all out. They are all very different gyms which specialize in different areas, so I reviewed all the gyms in order to decide which one was the best.

Hope this helps in your choice...

Level 5 Fitness : When you first walk in this is your typical mega gym, its huge inside and has several of every machine. They offer lots of classes and because there is so much to offer here you rarely ever have to wait. It has a very clean and friendly atmosphere. It is also relatively inexpensive, memberships start at as little as $20 a month. The only drawback is that it is a very corporate style gym, in that you don't recieve very much personal attention.

CrossFit : This gym was my favorite, it is VERY intense, and not for the weak. You train in groups and are in competition with the other people you work out with, this makes you work even harder. Here you get lots of personal attention and they specialize in interval training and teach ways of healthy living. It is very pricey though, it costs roughly $150 a month, but I think its well worth it.

Palm Beach Gym : This was my second choice, it is a very small community gym, you get to know everyone who works there. This is more of your traditional gym, they have your typical machines and offer a wide range of classes. The drawback to this is that you may have to wait for a machine or the classes may not be offerec at times that are convenient for you. It is pretty cheap at $45 a month.

Fun Fitness Watches

Working out usually isn't the most glamorous thing, and wearing a masculine fitness watch doesn't help. Thankfully the consumer world has finally brought us fun, girlie, athletic watches. Now you can keep track of your workouts with a funky watch.

While it looks girlie they spared no details of the typical fitness watch. Most come with some combination of a compass, a day counter, alarms, altimeter, and weather trend indicators. With all these cool features they all still cost under $150, which is a great deal for these great looking watches. They are also all water proof! This makes these watches great for any type of training.

I have the Puma Cardiac watch and I love love love it. It makes my life so much easier, I wear it while I train in the pool, when i go to the gym, bike, etc... its been a huge help, it monitors my heart rate and has a lap counter for while I'm swimming.

Below are the watches from the picture and where to find them:

1. Freestyle Shark Classic $55
2. Nooka New York City Zub $130
3. Fila Pilot $45
4. Alessi by Karim Rashid $85
5. Nixon Groove $80
6. Puma Cardiac $130

Triathlon Plan

The plan I decided to follow through with to keep up with my NYR is going to include but not be limited to 3 hour long workouts a week. My goal is to participate in a triathlon in the fall so I will train in all 3 areas of a triathlon; biking, swimming, and running.

Biking:
*Ride at least 10 miles at a moderate pace.
*Carry my bike up and down the stairs to my second floor condo.

Swimming:
*Swim for 1 hour
*Intervals of intense to moderate pace.

Running:

*Jog at least 1 mile, and add to that as my endurance builds

This plan should be easy to stick too. In addition I walk my dog 3 times a day around my neighborhood, it is about 3/4 mi distance, I will power walk instead of just strolling to get more exercise into my daily routine.

New Years Resolution

Similar to most of America, my new years resolution was to get myself into shape. Ideally I would like to participate in a triathlon in the fall. I realized last night that it is already the second week of January and I really haven't done any sort of physical activity, or started a workout regime. Not a good start to my plan, so...

Feeling motivated I decided that I would take advantage of Tuesdays being my day off and start biking. I woke up early and took a 15 mile bike ride, i rode from my condo to A1A at Linton Blvd in Delray Beach, then rode 7 miles south to Palmetto Park Road in Boca Raton. I took Palmetto to Federal Highway and rode that all the way back to my starting point. After the ride I felt great and decided to put together a fitness plan to help myself stay on track and continue being motivated. I decided that I would have to do at least 3 workouts a week in order to get into shape. During high school i was an athlete and when I got to college I didn't continue playing any sports and became pretty lazy. With this NYR hopefully I can get into the mode of living an athletic lifestyle again.