Day 455 - Almost 100 days without blogging!

Wow. I can't believe it's been almost 100 days since I last posted an update. Sorry to all you faithful followers (yeah right)!

So since this started out as a quit smoking blog, I'll start with the fact that I'm still a quitter! I never did go back to smoking. Who wants to go through all of that more than once?!?!?!

In other news, since my last post, we found out that we are expecting our second child in September. It was really nice this time around to not have to quit smoking while pregnant by the way. Double whammy on the hormonal thing with the first pregnancy, but I didn't have to deal with that this time! =)

Because I don't really even think about the fact that I used to smoke anymore, I do believe I won't be updating this blog in the future. I think it served it's purpose as an outlet for me, and I hope that by leaving it out here in cyberspace I can help someone on their own quit journey.

I am starting a new blog here:
http://stewartx4.blogspot.com/

This will be our family blog and will be used in much the same way as this one, with the exception of me constantly talking about quitting smoking. That’s not exactly my focus anymore, so I’m moving on. Won’t you join me? =)

Day 252 - Year in Review

This has been a pretty big year for me...........

I started going back to church regularly in January!

I quit smoking in April!

I lost 15 pounds (then gained it all back when cycling season ended)!

I stopped speaking to my sister!

I managed to make it through several rounds of layoffs at work!

I stopped going to church regularly when summertime hit!

I flew to Dallas for 7 Rangers games with my family (the look on Jackson's face when we're there is just priceless)!

I made it to two OSU football games!

I refrained from killing my husband when OSU lost the Bedlam game!

I started going back to church again!

I started speaking to my sister again! =)

I lost a friend to cancer!

Indeed 2009 has proven to be an important year in my life. As always, I have had times when I've done nothing but whine about EVERYTHING going on in my life. But in the end, I can look back on this year and say that I've truly learned from my experiences. Considering everything that has happened this year, I can look at some situations and think "will this really matter in 10 minutes?" I am still a work in progress, as we all are, but at least there is progress. However small it may be, it is measurable, and that is what matters.

I'm not going to make a New Year's Resolution, because I think that's just cheesy sounding. But I will set goals for myself in the coming new year. Now that I have kicked the smoking habit, it's time for me to become serious about getting in better shape. I need to eat a little better and exercise a little more. When something comes up and I miss all of my scheduled workouts in one week, I need to jump right back in the next week rather than just throwing in the towel and giving up becuase I'm 'too busy'! My parents always told me that people make time for the things that are really important in their lives........and that's the truth.

What will be important in your life in 2010?

Here's to the new year!

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 237 - Another angel has joined the kingdom of Heaven!

My friend, Stephanie Bradley, has joined the kingdom of heaven after a long and hard-fought battle with cancer. She was, and will continue to be, a wonderful spirit. I believe with all of my heart that God put her on this Earth to accomplish something. She apparently has fulfilled her duties and has been called home to Him. I'm not entirely certain what her purpose was in life, and I'm sure that we're not supposed to know....after all, that's what blind Faith is all about. But I do know what Stephanie meant to me:

She isn't the reason that I quit smoking, but she was my motivation. We found out that her oral cancer had metastasized to her lungs in April of this year, and my last cigarette was on April 24th. I had already made the decision to quit, but had not yet committed to a date or made a plan of how I was going to accomplish this goal. Once Stephanie heard that I had decided to quit, she reached out to me and offered her support. This is a woman who has never touched a single cigarette in her life, now suffering from cancer that has spread to her lungs, giving me encouragement! Wow!!! How could I continue to play Russian roulette with my health when Stephanie had done nothing to harm her body and was now suffering from such a horrible infliction? This was the turning point in my life where I decided that the addiction to cigarettes was not going to control me any longer. Thank you, Stephanie, for being a constant reminder and a source of encouragement during my journey to quit smoking.

Other than being a great friend and a source of joy, Stephanie also brought my relationship with God back into the forefront of my life. Watching the way that she and Warner handled the situation with which they were dealt made me realize that I wanted that same strength and peace in my own life. It was amazing to see them in action. Although I cannot imagine how hard it was for them to put a smile on their faces, they did it each and every day. I never once heard a single negative comment about their situation. I took a step back and looked at my own life and how I have a tendency to make the smallest thing into a major deal. Is this really who I want to be? The answer was no. I wondered how it was that these two were able to make it through these past 2 years without just completely falling apart at the seams. I mean, I can be brought to tears sometimes just by coming home from work and realizing that the sink is full of dishes and that I forgot to start the dishwasher the night before! That seems extremely petty when you’re constantly faced with the positive attitudes of close friends who are going through such an ordeal. I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point along the way, I realized that Warner and Stephanie had something that I didn’t at the time; an inner peace and otherworldly strength that can come from none other than a close personal relationship with Him. Once I had this epiphany, I made a vow to myself and my family that we would re-prioritize our lives around God and make Him the forefront of our daily lives. I wish I could say now that I have done this completely and without effort, but I can not. Often times the best and most rewarding things in life are not attained easily. But I can say this; I will strive each and every day to become a better person and servant of the Lord, and I have Stephanie Bradley to thank for that.

We will miss you dearly my friend, but I am comforted to know that you will no longer suffer as you have. You are now safe in His arms; rest in peace.

Here’s to constantly being a work in progress,

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 229 - When debate turns into a fight!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I really truy hate politics. I've never been one to sit down and debate the merits of this candidate versus that. I do my research at election time, make the best decision that I can given the choices, and then move on down the road.

I'm not saying that those who choose to engage in discussion over politics are somehow doing something wrong, I just don't enjoy it.

Why?

Because I have never seen a single political "discussion" that didn't turn into an all out brawl (unless you count the discussions I've witnessed between my husband and brother-in-law, but those don't count because they agree on most, not all, political and polarizing topics).

I don't agree with my husband on everything. We even disagree on a few very polarizing and important issues, but we've managed to be able to either work through a discussion, or leave that particular topic completely off limits.

I guess what I'm trying to get at people is that we can have healthy debate in this country without going at each others throats all the time. Why is our initial gut reaction always to lash out at someone who holds a different opinion than our own? I'm not saying that I'm perfect....far from it in fact. But when I see something that needs fixing, I try to fix it. And the nature of some "discussions" I have seen as of late need fixing. =)

Let's all start working towards being part of the solution rather than constantly contributing to the problem.

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 228 - So ridiculous!!!

I just ran across the following article:

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/34288353/ns/sports-golf/

I really wish I could have been looking in a mirror while I read this to see my changing facial expressions.

For example, this excerpt:

"Thankfully, Tiger, you didn't marry a black woman. Because if a sister caught you running around with a bunch of white hoochie-mamas," one parody suggests in song, she would have castrated him.

Seriously? We are all human beings! We don't react differently to situations based on the color of our skin! And the fact that they used the term 'hoochie-mamas' shows their level of intelligence.

Then some blogger stated that if Tiger had cheated on his white wife with a BLACK woman, that the whole situation would be "barely a blip in the blogosphere". WHAT? This has made major news because he's extremely famous and he cheated.....not because of WHO he cheated with.

Then a 26-year-old black woman from NYC said that she doesn't care that Tiger's wife and mistresses are white because he's "quote-unquote not really black". Just what is the definition of black anyway? And more importantly, why does it matter?

This same woman stated later in the article that she would have thought twice about voting for Barack Obama if he had been married to a white woman!! Really? Well it's nice to know that people are out there voting for the Presidency based on who is married to whom!!!

This article is a disgrace to the human race and frankly these people should be ashamed of themselves.

I really hope that one day we as a human race can rise above this, but unless something changes drastically, it won't happen.

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 215 - Oh the things our children can teach us!

Sorry I haven't blogged in almost a month. Shame on me! I'm not going to type up a bunch of excuses here though.....just didn't get around to it.

Not a lot has happened since I last blogged. I've been out of town for work twice (YUCK!) and accidentally sat at the bar where smoking was allowed in an Outback steakhouse at the airport in Cincinatti (open seating and everything else was full). It really was awesome to sit and smell everyone's nasty smokiness while trying to eat my dinner. Even when I was a smoker I didn't appreciate others smoking while I was tyring to eat. So gross!

Anyway, Jackson's behavior has been just terrible for the past few weeks. Probably because I was out of town and he's trying to punish me. It could also be because he hasn't been feeling well for a few days.

But even with all the crankiness and attitude problems, kids can still find time to teach their parents a few things.

On the way to work this morning, we drove past a construction site. The following is our conversation regarding said construction site:

Jackson: "Mommy, what is that?" (pointing to the construction site)

Me: "It's a construction site."

J: "What does it do?"

Me: "It doesn't do anything, but the tractors and big trucks dig up dirt and rock."

J: "Why?"

Me: "So they can build the foundation for the building that they're putting in."

J: "Oh, I remember, and Jesus is our foundation!"

Me: (slightly surprised as we have never really discussed this with him in detail) "Yes he is."

J: "So did God move all the rocks to build Jesus for us?"

Me: (smiling proudly at my 3 year old) "Yes he did."


This conversation opened my eyes again to the fact that if we put God first, He will make sure that everything else just falls into place. Life will still be hard, but we will have the ability to handle anything because of Him.

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 186 - Halfway to a Year!

So day 182 was this past Friday, October 23. This day was significant for two reasons.

1) I took the Professional Engineers licensing exam in Edmond. I will find out in 12 weeks if I passed.

2) Marks 6 months of being smoke free.

When I left the testing site for lunch, I didn't realize it, but I had just reached a major milestone. Not in my profession, but in my personal life. 182.5 days is half of 365 days. So basically I've been smoke free for over half a year at this point.

I never would have thought it was possible, but I did it. It feels amazing!

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 172 - Disgusting Display!

Well I just overheard a co-worker griping about his wife to another co-worker. There are two things wrong with what I just heard:

1) Never ever complain about your marriage to people at work. That's what friends are for. And I know this guy was not simply confiding in a friend, because he blabbed all this in the middle of a congregation of cubicles to at least two listeners (not to mention those who were unintended recipients such as I). I really do not need to know about the goings-on of everyone in my office.

2) The subject matter that he was complaining about just got my blood boiling. You see, he and his wife just had a baby about 3 weeks ago. He was back at work 4 days after the baby was born, which I thought was a little bit strange, but you know, I'm not going to judge. Well apparently he has to go out of town next week and his wife is upset about it. She is a stay-at-home first-time Mom and is mad that her husband has to leave. He told his "buddies" who sit near me that she started reading him the riot act when he informed her of the trip last night. He even used a high-pitched voice when describing the things that she said.

Let me just tell you something here mister! Your wife is on an emotional roller coaster from hell and doesn't know top from bottom right now. What she needs is support you moron!! Yes, you are right that she shouldn't be complaining about a business trip when you are the only one working and supplying money to pay the bills. But she is at home BY HERSELF raising your child. Does this not count for something? Instead of supporting her and loving her, you come to work and blab to everyone about how she "went psycho" on you last night. I'm sure she would be extremely pleased to hear that you did such a thing.

I am truly disgusted at how some men and women treat their spouses. Everyone has arguments and no marriage is perfect. But all disagreements stay at home! A marriage is a private sanctuary where one should feel safe and loved. It's not a discussion point over coffee and doughnuts at work.

Here's to my husband who makes me feel safe and loved.

God Bless,
The Quitter.

Day 168 - Columbus Day

Well Happy Thanksgiving to all you Canadians out there, eh!

I find it a bit comical that Canada's Thanksgiving holiday falls on the same day that the United States celebrates the founding of the Americas by Christopher Columbus. It made ME laugh anyway.

So I haven't updated in awhile, and for good reason. I was on vacation. I had 9 whole blissful days without work. It was wonderful. That being said, it does feel good to be back in the swing of things and into a "normal" routine. I am now convinced that even if I could be a stay-at-home Mom, I would most definitely have to do SOMETHING. Sitting around the house all day doing nothing but planning meals and vacuuming is not for me. I would definitely need a cause of some sort. But I'll stop blabbing on about that since it's not likely to become an issue anytime soon.

Well the PE is in 11 days. I have mixed emotions about this one. On one hand I am terrified and wish I had another month to prepare for the single most important test of my life. On the other hand I am so glad that it is close to being over so I can quit worrying about it. I mean, seriously, it's not life or death.....it's a test. At the end of the day, it's just a test. If I pass it the first time, then that's just great. If not, well the world is not likely to stop spinning on it's axis. I will just take it again (maybe).

My only problem now is going to be pushing through the next 11 days of studying without burning myself out.

Here's to passing this silly thing the first time!

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 156 - Packing, Shopping, & More Packing

Let me start off by saying how excited I am that my little family of three has the opportunity to go on a week-long camping trip. My husband and I are both able to take vacation and we can afford the 5th wheel and the truck to haul it down the road, because lets face it.......that is how I camp. No tents and sleeping bags with 2 A.M. trips to the port-a-john....not happening. Call me spoiled if you must, but that is how I roll! (am I getting too old to use that phrase?)

Anywho, so now that all that "thankful" stuff is out of the way......on to the griping. You knew it was coming, right?

It is absolutely insane how much time it takes to get ready to go camping for a week. Especially if you are going to be 3 hours away from home and at least 1 hour from the nearest Wal-Mart. It's not like it's convenient to run up to the store when you realize that you forgot the mayonnaise. Without mayonnaise, our sandwiches and hamburgers would be ketchup and mustard only......I wouldn't be able to make my famous chicken salad and cracker lunch........and there would be no homemade ranch dressing. Now I don't know how things are at your house, but when we run out of homemake ranch dresing at my house........RED ALERT.....THE SHIP IS GOING DOWN!!!

And can you imagine running out of toilet paper in the middle of the night........

Me to Todd: "Honey, I need some toilet paper and we're out"

Todd: "Okay, let me get dressed and run to the store"

Me: "Right.......I guess I'll just sit here and wait on you.....FOR 2 FRIGGIN' HOURS!"

Okay, so now you can see how important it is to remember to pack EVERYTHING. Hence the existence of "The Spreadsheet". Yeah.....I said it.......I have a spreadsheet that contains a packing list for camping. Some people like to make fun of me for it........"Oh look at how anal she is with her dorky spreadsheet.........what a nerd!" Keep talking people.........because I'm going to be laughing my dry fanny off when you're hanging over the toilet to drip-dry for two hours while your hubby makes a 2-hour toilet paper run because you didn't use a list when you were packing.

So needless to say, this week has thus far been fairly busy making preparations for the trip. We did a much hated work night grocery trip last night. Tonight we plan to catch up on laundry and begin packing our clothes. Thursday night is "last call" as we will be leaving Friday after work. If it doesn't make it into the camper either Thursday night or Friday morning before work......it doesn't go on the trip. You can imagine how Thursday night will play out...........I will leave that to your imagination

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 154 - Captain Random

So we just went to the final home game of the season for the Texas Rangers this past Saturday night. The whole weekend was a blast. I just love those little getaways!

However, it makes it hard to come back to work on Monday.

I truly do wish that I could quit my job and be with my child until he starts school. It's so hard. I guess I kept thinking that it would eventually not be a big deal, but I was wrong. People kept telling me that it would get easier, but they were wrong too. It isn't any easier to drop him off now than it was on my first day back at work!

Don't get me wrong here......it's not that I don't want to work. It's just that I would much rather be the one raising my child. It is the single most important thing that I will ever do, and I'm stuck with only having 4 out of the 14 hours that he's awake 5 days a week. Am I the only one out there that thinks that is absolutely ridiculous?

Day 144 - Just me rambling

Some people have pointed out very lovingly that I have not updated the blog in awhile....so here goes.

Last Thursday while doing my normal bike route with my Mom, she fell and broke her ankle in three places. We took her to the emergency room where they informed us that she would not be going anywhere that weekend (we were all supposed to go to Texas together for some baseball) and that she would be having reconstructive surgery on Friday. So I picked my Dad up at the airport Friday morning and we drove straight to the hospital where we met my Mom in the elevator as they were taking her in for surgery. We got to talk with her for about 60 seconds and then that was that! Her surgery went well and the doctor said she could be back on her bike in 3 months if all goes as planned. I couldn't stop myself from informing him that his platitudes meant nothing considering that we don't usually cycle in January because it's friggin' cold outside. Whateva' Doc......thanks for nothing. Can you tell I'm a little bit upset over losing my riding partner? Well I am! It sucks big time. And I hate it that my Mom, who is a very active person and doesn't do well with relying on others for everything, will be down and out for 8 weeks. But I know that she'll keep a positive attitude and be ready to go again in the Spring. And just think how much stronger she'll be with all that stainless steel or titanium or whatever the crap they used to fix her.

So in the meantime I had to decide if I was still going to haul Jackson down to Texas for the weekend. Todd had to go no matter what because he had to entertain clients at the game on Friday night and then fly to Houston Monday morning and be gone until Wednesday. I decided that being away from him for 6 days was just silly considering that I had already purchased the plane tickets. So we hopped on a flight with him at 4:30 Friday afternoon after the surgery was over and I had already made sure that my Mom was okay.

Then we had a seriously craptastic time in Texas. We flew into Dallas at 5:30 and went straight to the ballpark. Just as gametime was approaching, the Heavens opened up and it began to pour. I'm talking some serious rain. We couldn't even see the stands in right field from the third base side. It was a ridiculous amount of rain. They ended up postponing the game around 9:30 that night and we went to Dad's apartment feeling good that they had made Sunday's game a double-header because we had tickets to that as well. So no big deal. Well then it rained all day Saturday. Todd got up at 6 in the morning and rode over 60 miles in the Tour de Cure in Fort Worth....crazy man! Jackson and I pretty much sat around and did nothing while the rain came down. We awoke Sunday to more rain and headed to the ballpark anyway around 10:45 for the noon start time for the double header. Yeah......you guessed it.....another rain delay. They ended up delaying the game until 5 o'clock. This was awful because Jackson and I had to catch a flight back to Tulsa at 7:30, so we had to leave the ballpark at 5:30! We got to watch 1-1/2 innings before leaving.

I was not in the best of moods when we got the airport, but my dear son lifted my spirits on the plane ride home. He was talking up a storm and everyone around us kept commenting on how cute he was. That always makes a Mom smile! Then when we landed, he did what any good 3-year-old will do from time to time.....he embarrassed the ever-loving crap right out of me! We were in the fourth row so we were among the first people to de-plane in Tulsa. While we were walking toward the door, the flight attendants were going ga-ga about how cute he was, and the pilot opened the cock-pit door to give Jackson a high-five. J marched right up there, slapped his hand with gusto, and immediately turned to me and announced (very loudly) "Mommy, I just pooted"! I couldn't help but laugh as I asked him "well, what do you say?". He turned to the pilot and said "excuse me". At least he's polite about passing gas in public!

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 136 - No yelling at the POTUS!

While the President of the United States was giving a speech to a joint session of Congress regarding health care reform, some moron yelled "you lie". This was in the middle of a sentence and could be heard on the broadcast.

I am outraged that someone would show such disrespect to the President. We have freedom of speech in this country and you are free to speak your mind, but at the same time, I would think that a member of Congress would have enough respect for the office of the President to not shout at him during one of speeches and call him a liar! Seriously?

Republican, Democrat, or Independent.....doesn't matter. RESPECT THE OFFICE!

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 130 - College football season has arrived

Let me just first start out by saying that I am so excited about this college football season. Don't get me wrong, I love EVERY college football season. But this year, my team, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, have the highest pre-season ranking in school history. This is very exciting and I look forward to seeing if we can live up to all the hype (fingers crossed)!

Now, I do have something negative to say about the start of the college football season. This time of year always brings constant ridicule for me. I am the lone OSU fan in a family full of OU fans. While my family trades friendly banter with me each year starting in September, some other types of ridicule are not so friendly. Such as those morons at work (and other places) who seem to need to make themselves feel better by bashing another person's favorite team. To those people, I ask this question....."Do you feel better now"?

Why is it that we as humans cannot simply root for what we like/believe in without bashing the opposition. Let me make myself perfectly clear here.....I am an OSU fan, but I also root for OU and TU, because these are universities in the state that I reside and I want them to do well. The only time I EVER root against OU is when they are playing OSU. And by God, I have that right because I attended OSU! Those residing in Oklahoma that take it upon themselves to root against and bash the other universities in this state make me sick. If you are an OSU fan, do not hate OU! And if you are an OU fan, what is it going to hurt if OSU has a good season and makes it to a bowl game? Seriously! And for that matter, I don't root against Texas when they're playing a team outside the Big 12 Conference. I want all teams in the Big 12 to do well.

I guess what I'm basically saying is that people need to grow up and take a long hard look at themselves. If we spent half the time "building up" our own passions rather then "breaking down" others, the world would be better off for it for sure!

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 127 - No perfection here!

Well I've been sick for over a week now and I'm frankly getting tired of it all. Sore throat, runny nose, sinus headache from Hades, and the ever-present inability to pop my ears and relieve the mounting pressure in my head. I was in the garage yesterday and thought for a split second about taking my husbands power drill to my head in hopes that it might work. That's how bad it is and I don't know how much more I can take before I go completely ballistic!!!!

Okay, now that I feel better about that little nuisance.............

The stress over the upcoming PE is driving me insane. I have to pass this stupid thing the first time. Nevermind that tons of people I know had to take it more than once. I have to pass it. Have to have to have to!!!! This pressure is coming from nowhere but right here, in my OCD/Perfectionist brain. And it's not just that I'm a perfectionist. I don't want to go through all this crap again. The studying and worrying. It sucks with a capital S (see previous post on calculators to get a feel for my current state of mind)!

And the icing on the cake (mmmmm.....cake!) is that my whole "I didn't gain weight when I quit smoking" post is a bunch of hoopla right now! At the time, I hadn't gained any weight. Apparently, no one informed me that my huge butt would have a delayed reaction to quitting smoking (by about 130 days)!!!!!

I can't eat enough these days. It's ridiculous. Now granted, I'm only up 2 pounds, but that's how it starts. Before you know it I'll be at the fat-girl store (Lane Bryant) buying new dress pants because my rear now needs two area codes instead of one. I hate food and exercise. It's a bunch of crap.

However, the important things are that (1) I am eating a ton of fruits and vegetables, so at least I'm not loading up on the wrong foods...unless you count the 1-1/2 cups of chocolate ice cream per day, and (2) I haven't even wanted to pick up smoking again.

I suppose ending this post with a 'God Bless' would be a little silly as I seem to have gone off the deep end. But I'm going to do it anyway, because you know what..........even Christians aren't perfect and have bad days and need to let off some steam. So there!

God Bless,
The Quitter.

Day 121 - This is so scary!

Tobacco to kill 6 million next year, report says
1 in 10 deaths globally is due to tobacco use, American Cancer Society says:

WASHINGTON - Tobacco use will kill 6 million people next year from cancer, heart disease, emphysema and a range of other ills, the American Cancer Society said in a report issued on Tuesday.

The society's new Tobacco Atlas estimates that tobacco use costs the global economy $500 billion a year in direct medical expenses, lost productivity and environmental harm.

"Tobacco's total economic costs reduce national wealth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) by as much as 3.6 percent," the report reads.

"Tobacco accounts for one out of every 10 deaths worldwide and will claim 5.5 million lives this year alone," the report said. If current trends hold, by 2020, the number will grown to an estimated 7 million and top 8 million by 2030.

Over the past four decades, smoking rates have declined in rich countries like the United States, Britain and Japan while rising in much of the developing world, according to the nonprofit research and advocacy organization.

Some other findings from the report, available:

--1 billion men smoke — 35 percent of men in rich countries and 50 percent of men in developing countries.

--About 250 million women smoke daily — 22 percent of women in developed countries and 9 percent of women in developing countries.

--Smoking rates among women are either stable or increasing in several southern, central and eastern European countries.

--The risk of dying from lung cancer is more than 23 times higher for men who smoke than for nonsmokers and 13 times higher for women smokers.

--Tobacco kills one-third to one-half of those who smoke.

--Smokers die an average of 15 years earlier than nonsmokers.

--Nearly 60 percent of Chinese men smoke and China consumes more than 37 percent of the world's cigarettes.

--50 million Chinese children, mostly boys, will die prematurely from tobacco-related diseases.

--Tobacco use will eventually kill 250 million of today's teenagers and children.

--Nearly one-quarter of young people who smoke tried their first cigarette before the age of 10.

--Occupational exposure to secondhand smoke kills 200,000 workers every year.

"One hundred million people were killed by tobacco in the 20th century. Unless effective measures are implemented to prevent young people from smoking and to help current smokers quit, tobacco will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century," the report predicts

Day 116 - Ruminating

The great Western disease is, 'I'll be happy when... When I get the money. When I get a BMW. When I get this job.' Well, the reality is, you never get to when. The only way to find happiness is to understand that happiness is not out there. It's in here. And happiness is not next week. It's now.

~ Marshall Goldsmith ~

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.

~ Denis Waitley ~

There are times when it is hard to believe in the future, when we are temporarily just not brave enough. When this happens, concentrate on the present. Cultivate le petit bonheur (the little happiness) until courage returns. Look forward to the beauty of the next moment, the next hour, the promise of a good meal, sleep, a book, a movie, the likelihood that tonight the stars will shine and tomorrow the sun will shine. Sink roots into the present until the strength grows to think about tomorrow.

~ Ardis Whitman ~

God Bless,

The Quitter

Day 114 - Calculators and Atrocities

So I had to purchase a new calculator to use on the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam in October.

It's not enough that they make you take a test to get licensed after torturing you in school for 5 years. To add insult to injury, you have to become familiar with a new calculator. Well that's just craptastic! I have had the same graphing calculator (TI-85) since I was a sophomore in high school. That's 12 years that I've had this same calculator (wow....I'm getting old). I'm not trying to sound like a super-nerd here, but seriously, a scientific mind gets used to using the same calculator and that scientific mind feels naked without said calculator! In short, it sucks big time and I am not happy about taking the PE exam sans clothing (metaphorically speaking of course).

So I finally opened my new "approved" calcualator this morning and noticed something that really hacked me off (more than having to get a new calculator in the first place). There are two user's manuals! Yep......you guessed it.......one in English and one in Spanish. I know that this is not a new concept, but it just made me mad. I probably paid more for that calculator because they had to print two manuals instead of one. We are in the United States of America people! Learn the language or get the heck out of dodge!!!!!

If I were to immigrate to a new country, I wouldn't expect that country's people/government to bend over backwards to make sure I am all nice and cozy and can read calculator manuals. I would do everything I could to assimilate into that culture.....and that starts with learning the friggin' language!!!!!!!

Am I lacking compassion here? Absolutely, but at this point I really don't care.

And while I'm on a roll here.....let's talk about the discrimination that's at work here. I think it is unfair to the Chinese, Arab, Korean, Japanese, German, French, Italian etc. immigrants that are now citizens of this country who do not automatically get consideration when it comes to users manuals (at least in this story). Does Casio think that only Spanish speaking American immigrants deserve special treatment? This is an atrocity and a prime example of discrimation in America at it's worse [obvious sarcasm - but I thought I'd say it because I don't want anyone to think I'm a crazy left-wing nutjob or anything]. =)

In other news, have a wonderful day!

Disclaimer: no calculators were harmed during the creation of this blog (although it was tempting)

Day 112 - Some people make me crazy!

Still no smoking. And by the way, that is the last time I'm going to say it. I am a non-smoker now. I will only give an "update" on smoking if I fall off the wagon (which isn't going to happen because I have will power baby)!

Anyway, we had a great birthday party for J yesterday. Can't believe he's 3 already. Time to start thinking about having another one............

On to my title theme of people making me crazy........

Can I just say that there are certain people on this planet that I would just like to smack upside the head with a cinder block? I mean SERIOUSLY!

Okay, that feels a little better.

In other news, I am currently studying to take the PE exam in October. This has only made me want to commit suicide once in the past 3 months, so I consider it a success thus far. =)

Seriously though....things are going great and life is good.

Here's to not worrying about what everyone else thinks and living your life to its fullest potential.

God Bless,
The Quitter

Day 105 - Great weekend

Day 105......and do I really have to say it?

Okay....I'll say it....I'm still smoke free.

We had a great weekend and got tons of stuff done. The only thing that didn't get started, much less completed, was sorting through little mans toys. His birthday party is this Sunday so we were going to try to clear some floor space in anticipation of some new toys. The past two birthdays we have come home loaded down with more toys than he ever plays with. It's ridiculous when you stop to think about it. But at the same time, it's nice to know that all these people love our child enough to want to come to his birthday party and show that they're glad he is alive. Maybe we should do a "toys for tots" birthday party. I should have written that on the invitations actually. Maybe this would be giving my child the shaft? Who knows? I'm done worrying about it though. Okay I'm rambling now.

So we got the garage cleaned out yesterday. It looks great (I give it a week before it's trashed again), but I "tweaked" my back during the process of moving stuff. I"m not sure when or how it happened, I just know that when all was said and done, my back hurt. It was worse when I got out of bed this morning, and I am not liking it. But I'm glad the garage is clean.

Well I just read back over all this (I always do to check for mistakes) and I just realized that I wrote two paragraphs about nothing that anyone would ever want or care to read about. Oh well......I guess the point of having a blog is to write about whatever you want to write about, and I was a pretty boring person this weekend. When I started this blog, it was to show people the human anguish that is evident when someone quits smoking. Good thing for me that it didn't really succeed because I really haven't had that many problems with it. Sorry that you no longer get to read about the horrors of my life without cigarettes, because I must say that I am much better off now than I was 105 days ago. =)

God Bless,
The Quitter