Update from Beautiful Boston

One weird observation about this place is that I feel like this is a town that thrives on being cold. This seems like a great place to visit on the fall or winter. I don't really know why, but I just always imagined Boston as being perpetually September and October. Perhaps that's the baseball fan in me, where the only times I ever saw Boston was when the Red Sox were in the playoffs the past 10 years. Probably.

Anyway, after one day of mild exploration, and some major hotel chillin', I'm feeling a little bit more comfortable here. All I could think about yesterday was how "out of my comfort zone" I felt when walking around here. This is probably still true, but at least now I have a game plan today.

I think I'll take the grueling journey across the street to the oldest public library in the universe (or something like that) today. They say it's one of the "must-do" things while here, and since I'm already so close and it's (probably) free, count me in. I'm also thinking about going over to the prudential center and hitting up the observation deck. All the online reviews said it was cool and also a "go for it" on your Boston to-do list. This is also just a hop skip and jump from my current location. Buuuuut, It's. $14 a person...might do it anyway. Bethany can come with us to that and we can see the city in the evening or at night, because it's open until like, 10:30 or something like that.

Thought about going to the aquarium, but it's like $23... And Bethany can't come because they (for whatever dumb reason) close at five o'clock?!?!
That's dumb, bro. That's real dumb. It would give me an excuse to take the T, which I'm interested in doing, but, I'll have to find another excuse. I could do that without Bethany and it would be cheaper, but she said she'd be jealous if I did, so maybe I'll just leave that one off...

Okay so I'm sitting in a bath robe, Bethany had just delivered egg and cheese croissants me, so I think I'll go eat now.

Goodbye, from Boston!

Well, I'm Here

Okay, I'm here. Now what? I mean, I've got this whole city at my fingertips, and I don't expect anyone to honestly tell me what I'm supposed to be doing on my "vacation" but I really don't know what to do. Evie and I are going to take a walk and see what we find, but I don't have a plan.

One problem I have here is that it's cold. Really cold. Like, below 70 degrees, cold. That sucks.

We got free wifi in the room for some reason, so that's cool except we left the laptop at home. So, I'm blogging from my phone!

Another fun story, first thing I did last night upon entering the hotel room was pick up this bottle of Pino Noir that was on the desk. It wasn't until later that I noticed that everything is on sensors and the room gets automatically charged when you pick anything up, so we're probably getting charged for that. Dumb.

I'll leave you with a couple pics. See us later.

Shipping Up to Boston

Alright alright, today is travel day.  Travel day is my most favoriteist day of the year.  I just love flying.  I'd love to be like George Clooney in Up in the Air, just flying and flying and flying.  I just love it.

Anyway, I like the fact that I know in advance that today I will be making memories that go into the long-term memory bank instead of just the short-term one.  Knowing that is just the best feeling.  And I like how at the beginning of this post I wrote that "Travel day is my most favoriteist day of the year" as if it's promised that I'll travel no mater what.  That's not true, but it's sort of always been that way, hasn't it?  There is always some sort of traveling being done, throughout life.

I like that I remember most, if not all, of my trips that I've taken since being an older child.  I remember all the cool places, and even the not as cool places I've gone.  That's how I know that today, I'll be putting memories into the long-term bank, because I remember going to Green Bay and buying football jerseys for school clothes in 1996, for cryin' out loud.  I remember shit pretty easily.

So we're going to be in Boston, and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss out on the certain things you're supposed to do when in Boston, so I was trying to think of all things Boston that I knew about.  So while there, I gotta eat Boston cream pie, eat Boston baked beans, and drink Boston lager.  I hear you're supposed to eat clam chowder while there, and that's fine.  I like a good chowder.  That's all I came up with.  There has got to be more stuff than just that, right?  Seems kinda weak.

Well if you think of anything else boston-related, please let me know.  I'll be there, so if you need me to grab you anything, like a discounted Ray Allen jersey, or something, let me know.

Safe travels...to me!!!

I Quit: I Ran Outta Patches

I ran out of nicotine patches the other day.  Each box is a two week supply, and my two weeks ended on Tuesday.  I've had a nicotine-free body since then.  It's not horrible, but it's not great.  Yes. I'm worried.

Doubt is slipping into my head, doubt that I can really live without nicotine.  I have no idea why, obviously I'm smart enough to know that I can physically go on living without it.  But there's just some sort of pacifier effect, I think, that I'm missing out on.  I'm just used to having it, to soothe me.  I mean, c'mon, how hard is it to just not smoke?  Just don't do it.

I didn't buy more patches, even though the program said I was supposed to.  I screwed it up again.  Well, as long as I never go back to smoking ever again, I'd say it was a huge success.  As of right now, I'm a non-smoker,  and a non-addict.  A former addict. No, that's no good, I can tell I'm still addicted, it's just more manageable now.  Feels good to say that out loud, though.  But there is that idiot part inside of me that is giving me an excuse to go buy cigarettes, or bum them, because I didn't go through the program correctly.  "It's not my fault, it's the patches that I didn't buy/want to pay for."

God I hope I'm smarter than I think.

It's especially tough at work, where there's boredom, which causes the need to kill time, and this used to be done by smoking on the smoke deck.  Now I have no reason to get up and walk, which gets old fast.  Sometimes I go and stand out there anyway, and it helps a little.  stretch out the legs, get some fresh air, stuff like that.  I don't know, this is tough, and I now have an excuse to let myself fail.  But that's the easy way out.  I will try.  I will try to do this.  I want to feel like I'm above the average failed quitter.  I want to move on from this.

Okay, that's all.  I'm super tired.

Vloggerated: I Quit pt. 2. Me, Talking

So I recorded some video while at work last Sunday, and I now present you with that video.  This is the most traditional "Vlog" I've ever done, and I gotta say, I don't think I like it.  What's more egotistical than sticking a camera in your own face, talking into it about yourself, posting it to the Internet, and expecting people to think it's cool?  Nothing?  Perhaps, but I did it anyway because I was bored.  So, here ya go.  Enjoy.

Post About What I'm Going To Post About

www.bloggerated.com  your source for useful information/useless information.  Lets face it, sometimes it's a real crapshoot.  But this time, I promise to deliver the goods.  No no, not this one, I mean in the future.  Not on this post.  No, this is just filler.  Thanks for stopping by and reading, anyway.  And while you're here, why don't you check out some of these fantastic sponsors that have been so kind as to provide you with today's blog post.  Check out these links on the right side of the page, and right below this post below the commehts section.  Much appreciated. 

Right, so this is one of those posts where I'm going to tell you what I'm going to write about in the future.  Why is that?  Well I don't have much to say right now, but I will in the near future.

On the 29th of this month, I'm going to fly to Boston, Massachusetts with a 15 month old "lap child."  Last time I flew, and I suppose this time as well, I've had a hard time finding someone who has written about what their experience was like flying/traveling with babies.  I am here to fill that gap, you guys.

Yeah, so we're flying United, and I can't wait to see what it's like.  I've flown Delta and American the last two times I flew, and they were both pretty good.  Delta wins because they have Biscoff cookies, which are the greatest things ever handed to a passenger on an airplane.

Anyway, I'm putting you on notice, United airlines.  You are being put to the test here, and if you fail, everyone will know about it, because I'll tell on you!   Also, lookin' at you, Westin Copley Place.  Spotlights on you, too, buddy.

See ya soon. 

I Quit: Test Your Might

So, right, where have I been?  I've been busy, that's where.  Things tent to get hectic around here around the 4th, because my parents like to come visit, and we usually do stuff all the time.  This year is no exception, and we've been mighty busy for sure.

One thing I was busy with is not smoking, which by the way is going mighty fine, if you ask me.  Well, mostly.  I did have the one cigarette.  You see, when my step dad comes to town, he likes to go hear some good music and grab a few drinks.  What better place to accomplish that than in Nashville, Tennessee, right?  So anyway, on Sunday night, we headed out to Broadway to catch some music, probably at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.  That's exactly where we ended up, but first we took a stop at The Wheel, another lesser-known honkytonk.  Anyway, this place is alright because you can smoke in there, which was a plus for me in my smoking days.  They have plenty of room to move and nice, clean(ish) bathrooms and a fine beer selection.  We grabbed a couple seats at the bar and ordered a shot and a beer.  After the shot, he pulled out his Camels and I couldn't help myself.  Oh, how I wanted one.  It was right there.  Just one, how could it hurt?

Now, it was this "just one" mentality that torpedoed my previous attempts to quit, and I am well aware of this fact.  But since this time quitting ain't my first rodeo, as they say, I'm better prepared to make it happen this time.  So, knowing that having one is what was the beginning of my downfall last time and I'm better prepared for it now, I know that going for it would be a bad idea, right?  

Nope, I smoked that shit.

I had an expectation of what this cigarette would be like.  It'd be like when you're dying for a smoke, and you're not trying to quit, and those first few drags will be sweet, sweet nectar, relief form the agony of nicotine withdrawals.  Nope.  It sucked.  It was terrible.  It was just horrible.  You'd thing that experiencing this awful smoke would make me butt the thing out right then and there, but no, I finished the thing, because I thought it might improve over time.  Nope.  It just sucked.  And we spent the rest of the night downtown, and I thought about smoking, but didn't because I knew I had a better purpose than that, and it wouldn't be worth it in the long run or short run.  

So, I'd say that it was a successful night.  I'd say I passed, but I didn't get an A.  I got a C+, but I still passed, damn it. And for some reason, I'm having a real hard time this morning.  I think I got a defective patch on, or something.  Ah well, perhaps I'll stop talking about it and see if that helps.  

See you later, dudes.