March 2007 Archives
As I have mentioned, I am once again trying to quit smoking.
This is the third REAL attempt I have made. The first time I used Welbutrin, which sort of helped, but when I ran out, I went right back to smoking. The last time I used the patch and it went rather well, I just trusted myself too quickly and one cigarette after Thanksgiving dinner lead to ten and soon after me smoking regularly again.
This time I am using the patch once again. I started 5 1/2 weeks ago on the patch. The first week I was on the patch I still was smoking on occasion, but nowhere near my normal pack plus a day level. Four and a half weeks ago I had my last cigarette.
The plan for the patch is to do 6 weeks on Step 1, 2 on Step 2 and 2 on Step 3. I'm pushing it a bit since I smoked the first week and haven't actually hit week 6 yet, but this morning I stepped down to Step 2. I was out of Step 1 patches and buying another week of Step 1 patches just to hit their pre-determined set of rules didn't sound like fun. I just want to get past the patch and get the nicotine out of my system and start living a smoke-free life.
We will see how it goes, but so far, not so bad. Now, I switched to the Step 2 only a few hours ago, but still, at least there wasn't an immediate issue. Just have to take it one minute at a time and hopefully it will be just fine. And for those times when it is not, just have to remember why I am doing this.
So, this past week or so has been good times for me and my car.
On Wednesday of last week, I brought my car in to Direct Tire down the block from the office in Natick. While there, the car got two new tired (which I have needed since last summer, oops!), an alignment and an oil change. Well, let me tell you, my car runs AWESOME now. It's great to be able to drive and not be worried about your car slipping due to bad tires and the alignment just makes it feel like a brand new car.
On Thursday, I checked my mail and what did I find? The title to my car! My car is finally paid off. It's been 5 years in the making, but now I have one less bill to pay each month (and it was a big one). This will definitely help in the moving towards buying a house plan.
Lastly, yesterday I found out that not only did I pay off my car loan, but I overpaid it. I found this out when I checked my mail and found a check for the overpayment. It's always nice to get a check you were not expecting in the mail :)
So, all in all, things with my car are in great shape. The drive to NY this past weekend was nice and easy and worry free :) Now I just need to make sure to keep up on the car, which should be a lot easier now that I have been to Direct Tire once. For me, it's just getting past that initial nervousness, then I am just fine going to a place again and again.
Well, it's not as ugly out there as it was yesterday, but it's definitely not the 60 degree and sunny day you hope to see for St Patrick's day, especially when it's on a Saturday.
Unless something changes drastically in the next little bit, my plan for now is go see the Hockey East final (UNH vs BC, go UNH!) over at the Garden tonight and then I may sneak out for a beer or two afterwards. Much different from the year's past when I would get in to a bar before noon and not leave until they closed :)
Small possibility I will wander over and see Scott over at Hennessey's for a drink or two before the game, but most likely not, I really need to catch up on housework :)
Whatever you are doing today, make sure to drink plenty of water and be careful, the streets are slippery!
This should cross post to my Vox Blog
Oh my! I am a bit relieved this morning. I went and bought my tickets for Robert Randolph & The Family Band this morning and afterwards was poking around My Ticketmaster.
One of the bands I have listed in the favorite bands section is Ozomatli. When I clicked over to their name there was a show in my area! Ozomatli is coming back to tear the Paradise up on April 21st.
Last time I saw these guys at the Paradise, I think I lost about 5 pounds. It was packed, hot, and off the hook. These guys are a band you cannot miss if you enjoy a good time (and who doesn't enjoy a good time?). The tickets went on sale 2 weeks ago, so I am relieved that I was actually able to get some. So, now, go get yours and come ready to party!
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Curt Schilling's Official Blog
Gotta love network hops that look like this:
5 0.so-2-0-0.XL2.BOS4.ALTER.NET (152.63.25.58) 2.112 ms 2.056 ms 2.082 ms 6 0.so-4-0-0.XL2.SFO4.ALTER.NET (152.63.55.66) 623.154 ms 626.211 ms 625.662 ms
From CNET:
TiVo goes live with Amazon Unbox partnership
Just went and got this all signed up for and sent the first video to my TiVo. Hopefully when I get home this evening, I will have Little Miss Sunshine sitting on my TiVo waiting for me to watch. Super easy to get this set up and one click downloading to order, so the interface is pretty easy. It would be nice to be able to make a queue of some sort though.
Pretty good terms for a rental too. You get 30 days to watch it, but once you have started it, you must watch it within 24 hours. Also, if you sign up now, you get $15 in videos for free.
Biggest disappointment so far? This isn't something that I could just do as part of my Netflix subscription.
More once I see the other side.
I just really do not know how I ever used a computer before Quicksilver. It's just so integrated in to my daily life now, it's confusing that a computer was usable before this.
So, after getting home much later than I would have liked last night, I continued my cleaning momentum. I got four loads of laundry done (the joys of an empty laundry room) and cleaned out another drawer from my filing cabinets.
The amazing part of cleaning the filing cabinets is just what I have kept (and moved MULTIPLE times) over the years. I found bank statements and cancelled checks from an account I had when I was in High School. I graduated high school almost 14 years ago and I still had stuff from this account. Just plain scary.
I've got one more filing cabinet drawer to do tonight. After that, I can go through and file the stack of paperwork sitting on top of the filing cabinets (and probably toss a whole bunch of that as well). The sad part is I have 2 two drawer filing cabinets. Once all this cleaning is done, I am going to have 1 to 1 1/2 of the 4 drawers full. Guess it will be time to start saving stuff up again :)
Apple released version 7.1 of iTunes and version 7.1.5 of Quicktime today. Go grab em!
For a long time, I had always said I was going to quit smoking when I turned 30. It had been a personal goal and something I had always said I would do. And I did. On my 30th birthday, I finished the pack of cigarettes I had and then took a shower, threw on a patch and was done with smoking. Sadly, a few months later on Thanksgiving, I figured I was cured and I could have one cigarette after a great meal prepared by K and I would be fine. Half a pack later that night, I was on my way back to being a smoker. By January I was smoking full time again and didn't have any real plans of quitting again any time soon.
That was 18 months ago today (yes, that means today is my half birthday). Well, I am happy to report, that today I am 15 days in to attempting to quit again. I started on the patch 2 Sundays ago, but was still smoking occasionally over the first week. Now I have been completely smoke free for just over a week. I've had a few hard moments, but I just keep in mind the reasons I quit when the nicotine fits hit and I have been able to get through them. That and packs and packs and packs of gum (regular sugar free, not nicotine gum). The most impressed I was so far was being able to actually stand outside with people smoking and not immediately steal a smoke from my friends. The biggest issue thus far was after all the cleaning yesterday and kicking up lots of cigarette smoke created dust, I was hurting pretty bad. But, I have made it through and hopefully I will continue and this will be the last quitting attempt. It's the third serious attempt I have made over the years and am hoping this one keeps up.
Wish me luck!
Last night, after watching Sweep The Leg over at Hennessey's for a bit, I jumped in a cab to head home. Normally, I would catch a ride or walk, but it was late and cold and I was too tired to walk.
So, I am talking on the phone and the guy pulls up in front of my place and I go to hand him a $20 and ask for $10 back. A HUGE tip on a $7 cab ride, but I am always nice to cabbies and it was probably a slow night, so I know he will appreciate it. He says he has no change, can we go to the store down the block. I say the store is closed and I am not giving him $20 for a $7 ride. I tell him I am getting out, its his own fault. He starts to attempt to bargain with me in his broken English and since we all know I am way too nice, I say fine. So, we drive over to the 24 hour store which is 5 mins away. I jump out of the cab and go in and buy some gum (which I needed anyways, more on that in the next post) and come out. He drives me back to my place, I hand him $8 (why I still gave him a tip, I do not know) and head inside. A rather frustrating end to what had been a fun night up until then. That will teach me to trust anyone besides my friends over Green Cab. Green Cab ROCKS and if you are ever in Somerville or Charlestown and need a cab, you definitely should call them.
How fuckin stupid of a cab driver do you have to be to not carry change? Can someone please explain this to me?
Yesterday, I decided I really needed to start cleaning out some of my junk. I sometimes forget just how much of a pack rat I am until I see some of the piles laying around the house. The sad part is that I am even better at hiding things than I really noticed.
I started off yesterday just trying to clean out one pile of stuff next to my desk. I had a bag of random stuff and then a few piles. Well, that quickly spiraled out of control. I ended up going through those piles, as well as 2 drawers in one of my filing cabinets and my desk shelves. All in all, I think I threw out about 10 bags of garbage (and that was just from one small corner of my apartment).
I tried to pull away very hard from my pack rat ways and just get rid of stuff that I knew I did not need any more and was holding on to for that "one day when I may need it again". All in all, it worked out pretty well. I got rid of lots of stuff and freed up a bunch of space. The two filing cabinets drawers pretty much got completely emptied. There was stuff from 2 and 3 jobs ago still sitting in them. I also found some ATM receipts from the mid 90s. Along with all sorts of other junk.
It was liberating to get rid of so much stuff. And thanks to my new shredder, I was not too worried about the bank statements and whatnot which bit the dust. I have some more stuff to shred tonight (the shredder automatically shuts off after too much work) and still have 2 more drawers to go through, but it is getting there slowly.
The big goal right now is to keep the momentum up. I still have a ton of this kind of stuff that just needs to get tossed. The three main areas right now are the rest of the filing cabinet, the hallway closet and the bedroom. The bedroom mainly is clothes I need to get rid of. I have a ton of laundry built up that needs to get done and sorted in to keep and give to charity piles.
The one catching point for me right now is a lot of the junk is computer and electronic equipment. Since we have dumpsters and not city garbage picking things up, I may have to do a little research in to the best way to get rid of this stuff. But, since I have a ton of it, I think I may just call a company that picks this stuff up and pay them. It may be easier in the end.
If all works out, I hope to have the house "trimmed down" by mid-month. Will be a nice way to start the spring.
to your question. You should come up to Boston on the 25th and see PT and go to the game on the 19th. Then after the show (it's a 6PM show, they need to open the club for the dance crowd by 10ish), we can go throw back a pint or 12 :)
