Boo

A guy at work has a daughter in the Scouts. We've done more than our fair share to help the troops. I enjoy a Tagalong from time-to-time and we can just include the money spent on cookies in the discretionary budget.

Sorry to hear about your friend Linda. Smoking offers nothing of value but will eventually take everything.

And in other news...

Bumping this one as a reminder to be patient with the process. We spent years feeding our addiction and conditioning our minds with cigarettes. The good news is: I don't even remember the last time I craved a cigarette. Not smoking is no longer a challenge. Smoking a cigarette is unimaginable at this point in my quit. And my "Quit Day %" is only around twenty-percent now. Viewed in the proper perspective, we can undo decades of damage in a comparatively short amount of time.

Release the prisoners. Put the rest of the citizenry under lockdown. I have days where I don't know if I'm going crazy or if the rest of the country has lost its f***ing mind.

Great job Kate. Congratulations. Celebrate, you've earned it.

Little Larry had a lot of energy and a double-neck guitar. Just stand back and watch him go.

The struggle is real. With a curious little one in the house, I'm catching myself mid-swear a lot these days. Fu....fundamentals, yeah that's what I was going to say. That guy is full of shiiii....bologna. Doing my best to not pollute the little gal's vocabulary before she even starts talking.

Finally got tired of being a slave to the cigarette. My every waking hour was dominated by getting my next fix. The cigarette was the captain of the ship, I was just along for the ride.

A man goes downtown and picks up a prostitute for $20. He goes back to the same street corner a couple of days later and yells at the hooker: YOU GAVE ME CRABS! The prostitute responds: What did you want for $20, lobster?

Stopping one cycle of self-destruction builds momentum towards stopping other types of self-sabotage. Quitting smoking, committing to the process and following through with it, builds newfound strength and confidence that has tremendous carryover to other aspects of your life. Earlier this morning I was listening to the latest episode of "Starting Strength Radio." One line Mark Rippetoe said that really hit home was: "if you can change your physical existence, you can change any aspect of your existence." You can quit smoking Steven. I know you can do it. Everybody here on the Quit Train knows you can do it. Now it's time for Steven to know he can do it and the only way to get there is to commit to the process and get it done.

Maddie is going mobile. She still rolls a lot to get from place to place. She's still doing the inch-worm move but has added more arm movement. She has transitioned from an inch-worm to more of an army crawl. The little gal is also holding herself up in a plank position now. Miss Maddie is setting the wheels in motion to start crawling any day now. The girl is a mover. We lay her in the same spot in her crib every night. Where she ends up during the night is anybody's guess. The other night I went in to check on her and she had her head against the footboard with her bottom up in the air and her knees tucked beneath her stomach. Speaking of sleeping patterns, it's not uncommon now for Maddie to sleep up to ten-hours uninterrupted. The early morning routine has been pushed back so the little sleepy head can get her rest. All-in-all, Miss Maddie is doing great. The second round of teething has been more difficult than the first. The two front teeth on the bottom came in easier than expected, the top ones seem to be bothering the little gal more. Teething rings and chilled banana puree go a long way in providing some much needed relief. I'm not sure if her little plush toy giraffe is going to survive this round of teething. There has to be a limit to how much gnawing and drool one stuffed animal can take.

One of my all-time favorites. Donnie at work, not so much. It's not that he didn't like the movie, he just gets tired of hearing "shut the f*** up Donnie" all the time.

YOU'RE MOTORING! Song was released over thirty years-ago, and it's still damn-near impossible not to sing along with that chorus.

"You ain't gotta read between the lines, you just gotta turn the page."

Little trip down memory lane...I still remember the first Valentine's Day card I sent the Horny Toad.

I'll throw my estimated 55,590 coffin nails on the fire.

Welcome aboard Ace. Good call on giving up the smokes. That's a key point. Smoking is always a personal choice; always was, always will be. Congratulations on one-week smokefree.

Doing well. Physically, she's back to normal. Mentally, she's still sorting some things out. She recognizes that she was hallucinating, but the hallucinations were so strong she's still in the process of sorting out what actually happened versus what she thought was happening. Mom is in good spirits. She has even had a few laughs about some of the things she thought and said during that period. Mom gave my nephew a good scare when she kept asking about the new baby and telling people he's a father now. The boy is 22 years-old and enjoying being single.

"I'm here live, I'm not a cat" is my favorite line of 2021 so far.

Congratulations on eleven months of freedom. Prepare the lido deck, IQ is coming in hot.

Me and a couple of the guys at work turned a garage space that we weren't using into a gym. Nothing fancy, just the essentials: power rack, deadlift platform, flat bench, pull-up bar, barbells and plates. Now, when I take a little pause for the cause at work, I can get in a few sets. More of the guys are using the equipment everyday and a bit of healthy competition is getting the boys motivated. Stumpy, who works in the warehouse, is one to keep an eye on. He's short and built like a tree stump, thus the name. Stumpy is a stout young man and can move some serious weight.