Here we go again

Its a new year, so its time to try and quit smoking again. Let's just say that day 1 is not off to a good start. Let's see what has already pissed me off today in the 2 hours I've been awake:

• Forgot my damn lunch at home
• No WSJ this morning
• Red Line was late and is slow as hell going from Porter to Harvard
• Getting stuck behind really really slow people

I feel like I've overdosed on rage-ahol today. Argh.

Government FAIL 101

All I had to do was read the first sentence of this article and my blood started to boil.

Members of Congress are increasingly turning to virtual townhall meetings--conducted by telephone--in an effort to reach more constituents while avoiding the potential that informational meetings might be disrupted by angry and persistent questioners or protesters.

We Americans vote for politicians to represent us in Washington. Its THEIR JOB to listen to their constituents! And now they're afraid to listen to those same folks who voted (or didn't vote) for them? WTF?!?

If you ever wonder why folks are so fed up with the government and consistently give Congress an approval rating around 15%, this is why. Politicians don't really care one bit what their constituents think; for them, politics is a career, not a privilege.

Excuse me while I go puke now.

A Few New Buzzwords for 2009

The most excellent satirist Iowahawk has just penned one of the best posts of all time. Its a wonderful goof on the recent STUPID article in the L.A. Times spinning unemployment into "funemployment". The 'hawk has delivered a few new buzzwords that should now be a part of every gen-Xer's vocabulary:

• Funemployment
• Relax-cession
• Starve-cation
• Pro-stitution
• Pro-verty Lifestyle

If you're over there, check out some of his other great posts. Iowahawk is invaluable.

BIP Exclusive!

Must credit Bachelor in Porter Square!!!

Yeah, so there was a truck idling and flashing lights around my apartment all night. Was it a gas leak? Did a water main break? Is there a sewer leak?????

No - it was just the Somerville public works folks painting bike lane icons on the road. At least, I think these are bicycle icons. They're pretty bad. But the road paintings are still fresh as of 10 minutes ago. This is what I call citizen reporting!

Why Blog?

In the age of Facebook and Twitter, why should I even bother blogging? In the case of Facebook and Twitter, you've got a known audience. However, blogging about random stuff on blogspot just gets lost in the ether of the Intertubes.

Which, actually might be a good thing.

I guess, if I actually wanted readers and commenters, I could easily get this site indexed by google and compile status through technorati. However, I think I'm content just letting this blog exist in the dark, unoccupied alleys of the Internet.

Nuthin

Ya know folks, its been many moons since I've posted anything here on my blog. The only reason I can submit is "Nuthin." That pretty much describes what's been going on with me for the past 5 months.

I'd really like to update this thing more often, but I'd prefer to actually have something to say. And as of right now, I've got nuthin. Absolutely nothing.

I took a look at my posts from early January and I've realized that I've failed at every task I had planned to do this year. But, that failure lays solely on my own shoulders. Its time for me to get back on the gravy train and get everything back into gear.

What's For Dinner?

Honey Mustard Turkey Tips with a side of Green Bean Almondine. Man, I love the ready-to-go meals section of my local Shaw's. Its a lazy bachelor's dream come true.

While buying this earlier tonight, I figured some vegetables would be the healthy thing to do, so I picked up the green bean almondine. The problem, though, is that I have no idea what an almondine is. So, for any other cuisinely-challenged folks out there, here's what almondine is:

Almondine is a culinary term indicating a garnish of almonds. The French term is amandine, but the 'almondine' spelling is probably more common in America.

I feel so much smarter now. Don't you?

Quit: Day 1 (Take 2)

So, my first try this year lasted all of 2.5 days. Then I fell off the wagon. I am a bit disappointed, but I'm not going to stop trying. The more I continuously try to quit, the easier it will be.

I'm happy that I've proven to myself that with the help of my nic gum, I can actually quit. I still need to learn how to make it though the anxious times, and I just need to learn how to deal with anxiety in another fashion. I'm going to keep on trucking.

I made it all the way through work today, but didn't make it through the evening at home. I need to learn some more self-discipline, and I need to find other ways to occupy my independent time. I'm not sure why, but tonight I just fell right off.

Tomorrow, I'm going to get up, and give it another try. Just gotta keep on trying. I usually look for things that are an easy success - and quitting, I've learned, certainly will not be an easy success.

Quit: Day 3 - Failed

Day 3: Failed

I'm really not sure what happened to me today. For some reason, I've been really high-strung and nervous all day long. When I left my apartment this morning, I just kinda felt strange - I turned off all my heat and moved over some old newspapers just in case the ice/snow started to leak through my roof. Once I got everything ready to go, my mind was just somewhere else and I ended up checking that my doors were locked about 4 times before I finally left! INSANE!

I made it to work just fine - albeit I was soaked and frustrated that I had to trudge through 6 inches of water in the curb at every street crossing. I even made it through the morning just fine.

However, for some reason, after lunch, my anxiety just shot through the roof. I started chomping 2 pieces of gum, but I still was extremely anxious. I kept wondering to myself:
- "Is my cat going to freeze because I turned off the heat?"
- "Is there water streaming through the tiny crack in my ceiling?"
- "Should I go home and check?"
- "Why am I being so crazy?"
- "Trust yourself - stuff is fine!"

I finally ended up heading out in the afternoon to finish the day working from home. Even when I got back here and realized that everything was just fine, I was still incredibly anxious and nervous, for no reason. The gum couldn't calm me down. Twittering couldn't calm me down. There was just no one around. I just had to get my mind off everything!

So, I broke down and had one. Booooooo! I'm disappointed in myself.

So, tomorrow, its time to climb back out of my hole and try again. It sucks, but I guess it may be a game of 2 steps forward, 1 step backwards for me. Maybe I was crazy thinking I could just do it on my first shot.

No use in bitching about it - I've just gotta get up, dust off, and do it again. Practice makes perfect.

Do You Believe It?

YES! That is my brand new MacBook Pro.

I've finally switched to the Dark Side. (Or, as most people would say, I've finally seen the light!)

I haven't treated myself to anything new for such a long time. I'm pretty easy going, and I don't really have a lot of *stuff* -- I just don't need that much stuff to make it through the day. I really don't generally buy myself much of anything. Its not that I'm cheap - I just don't like wasting money on things that I'll never use. I tend to get buyer's remorse very easily.

So far, I really like this new computer. I've never had my own personal laptop - I've always felt weird using my work computer for personal stuff. So, last week, I just decided on New Year's Day that I was going to go buy a new computer. That's a big step for me -- I NEVER make impulse buys. :-)

And, maybe I did buy this too soon. According to ONN, Apple is going to introduce a new revolutionary MacBook -- the MacBook Wheel!

Quit: Day 2

Well, so far I've made it through most of day 2 without a smoke. Its been tough - there are so many times where my brain just wanders off and all I can think about is getting away and having one. That's why I think, for me, quitting is much more psychological than physical. My threshold for physical annoyance is somewhat high - I can deal with all the little aches and pains without much complaint.

The largest hurdle for me, so far, is overcoming my independence and lack of self discipline. I've got my own apartment, so there's no one around to help me keep my mind off having a smoke. So far, my constant Twittering has worked, and I'm also hoping that I can keep my brain occupied by blogging. There's not really anyone I want to turn to for help - and I think I'd like to convince myself that I can do this on my own. I'll keep my fingers crossed and just hope I can continue to find the strength to fight off the desire, and keep those smoking thoughts out of my head.

I do have to say, I certainly feel much better today than I did yesterday. In fact, I haven't felt this good for quite some time now. My workout at the gym today can only be described as so-so. I haven't really gone consistently for about 2 or 3 months, so before I can have a great workout, I have to get my body back up to speed. I did a 2.5 mile run/walk on the treadmill today in about 25 minutes. I'd like to have that down to 20 minutes!

Anyways, I've got to figure out something else to blog about now. Enough about my problems, let's find something fun to talk about!

Funny!

I've always had a horrible time trying to convert our English measurements in to the Metric System. But, thanks to this nifty guide from xkcd, I'll never have problems converting again!

Quit: Day 1

Well, so far so good - its 7:00PM and I've made it through most of the day without a smoke. I've been chewing this gum - I've been CHOMPING on it all day. I'm on my 6th piece so far.

So, how do I feel? Well, I'm still just really itching for a tiny little lung snack. But, I know that if I break down, I'll be so incredibly disappointed in myself. I'm hoping that I can keep my mind off the smokes tonight by making a bunch of blog posts and some twitter tweets (man, I really hate that term!).

I've noticed that my sinuses are slowly starting to feel better, and that I'm a bit more hungry than usual. I've been eating healthier today, so I figure if I do eat more often, as long as I keep the calorie count low, I should be fine. For food tonight, its another Shaw's Marketfresh a la carte dinner - meatloaf and some pasta salad.

Yummmmm. I'm hungry. Time to eat!

Quit: Day 0

So, tomorrow I'm officially going to try to quit the smokes, again. I picked up some Nicorette gum today, which is what I used last time I tried to quit the habit. Those little pieces of gum seemed to work pretty well. My problem, was that I was not committed, nor did I actually try that hard.

This time, I *think* I'm more committed to stopping, and I think I have a better plan to actually quit. For me, its mostly psychological - most of the time when I want a lung snack, its because I'm bored, or I just need to escape the current situation. I never really feel like I *need* one, but I always enjoy the break from the current situation.

The other reason I failed is that I don't have any sort of peer support. I'm a very independent guy (sometimes too independent) so I prefer to do things on my own, and accomplish tasks independently. I'm horrible at asking for help - its just one of those general personality traits that I can't get rid of.

So, what this really means is that I'd like to quit the smokes on my own - but a little help on the side may actually be appreciated. I haven't told anyone I'm quitting - I just decided the other day that now is the time. I'm just going to give it a shot.

My plan is to use my blog and my Twitter account to document my day, my cravings, my accomplishments, and my failures. So, if all goes according to plan [fingers crossed] I'll be blogging and tweeting my day. I'm thinking that I'll be able to use my Twitter account to bitch and moan to the world about my cravings, or, hopefully, lack of cravings.

If you'd like to follow along, feel free to drop a comment here, or check out My Twitter Feed. (Man, I can't believe I'm actually doing this - its nuts!!!)

Can I do it alone? Or do I need encouragement? I don't know - its all uncharted territory for me. Let's just dive in and see how it all goes!

Bachelor Tip - Fresh, Fast, Tasty Dinner

One of my favorite recent discoveries is the prepared foods section at Shaw's. Its near the deli / fruit / vegetable section, so its not really a place I'd typically visit on my bachelor trips to the supermarket.

What I do know, is that you can grab freshly prepared steak tips, teriyaki chicken, turkey tips, plus some veggies and potatoes all in one place. Then, when you get home, you can just throw them in the microwave and - BAM! - you've got a tasty dinner in about 3 minutes. When you're done, you can just toss out the containers and there's nothing to clean up.

I'll give you bonus points if you use plastic silverware to consume your tasty meal - then you won't have to worry about doing any dishes at all!

UPDATE: Tonight's meal, pictured above, was chicken cordon bleu with a side or corn. And yes, it was yummy!