Just my luck. I have a vice, and it isn't even sexy. I drink Diet Coke for breakfast.

Actually, I don't just drink it. I quaff it, swig it, guzzle it. Let the aroma of brewing coffee welcome others to their day; for me, there's no eye-opener like the crack of a Diet Coke can. I love how the can's cool body feels in my hand, the way the nectar bites my mouth, the little buzz it gives me.

If only it weren't so embarrassing.

Oh, how I envy the coffee people, basking in the glow of their socially acceptable habit as they parade to work holding their briefcases and Starbucks travel mugs or supersized plastic-foam Dunkin Donuts cups.

The coffee achievers drink their beverages without shame, gathering openly in shops - coffee shops - created just for them. They take their coffee breaks and eat their coffee cakes - and me, I'm an outlaw, forced to shrug an apology should anyone catch me taking an illicit sip.

Like smokers and cell phone addicts, my drug is something to hide, something that indicates a person slightly out of control. Maybe I should get a small paper bag. Then people would at least think I was having a beer.

Such is my problem that I can't even enjoy a continental breakfast. Oh, look, there are the thermoses with regular and decaf coffee and hot water for tea, and the pretty pitcher with O.J., and the various milks and soy products, but where's the ice-filled bowl with cans of Diet Coke?

Oh, sure, I could rant and point out the obvious - how Diet Coke is just like iced coffee with Equal, and no one says anything about that - but it wouldn't help: When something looks wrong, it looks wrong, even if it feels soooo good.

You know what really hurts? Even as I'm desperate to make Diet Coke acceptable for breakfast, other foods are trying to shed - yes, shed - their breakfast reps. The orange juice people kicked it off with their ``It's not just for breakfast anymore'' slogan, and others have followed: The Ohio Poultry Association says ``Eggs are not just for breakfast anymore'' and Cinnabon insists ``Cinnabons are not just for breakfast anymore.''

And guess what? Limes and grapefruit aren't just for breakfast anymore. What's next? Breakfast's not just for breakfast anymore?

But even as the traditional breakfast foods are fleeing the morning meal, leaving an obvious hole, the soda people are sitting idly by.

I called the Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta, assuming it would like a little marketing help, but it turns out people are in denial down there. When I told one publicist that I was writing about the fact that I drink Diet Coke at 7 a.m., she said, ``Great!'' A second publicist also didn't see a problem, even when I likened the morning soda to drinking cocktails before 5 p.m. ``I drink it myself in the morning,'' he said.

Their minds obviously had been addled by caramel coloring.

Unsure where to go, I headed over to the vending machine, dropped in three quarters and waited for my prize to drop. I cupped it in my palm and sneaked back to my desk unobserved.

It was 8:30 a.m. The day was off to a good start.