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Nicotine Quiz Blog Week 1: Mouse from the ashes edition.

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 31, 2009 . 1:53PM

Tracking my moods these last few days, I’ve been tracking the fifty kinds of bad I’ve felt. I don’t know if cataloging the times and places I want to smoke is really all that therapeutic. A little self talk to the tune of “dude, you seriously suck at most things you do. The least you can manage is to quit that expensive, health-harming habit” tends to be more useful.

Although the one thing about nicotine replacement therapy, if you wear a patch 24 hours – which I do, I’m having horrific nightmares, like the one where my parent’s house from 12 years ago is, during the summer, turned into a dorm for military school students, and my dad bitches at me when I eat some Cheerios. Or that other one when my girlfriend was traded out with an entirely different woman (one I’ve never met) and I was the only one who noticed.

At least I got my Logitech MX Revolution back – I found the receiver inside a PC I sold a week earlier, then I had to have my mom give me back the rest of the mouse from her garage. Then, I had to order a magic-special-eight-volt adapter from Logitech and wait a week. But damn, I missed the scroll wheel.

College started today, and I can smell a cigarette being smoked a mile away. Hey, wait, when was I able to smell?

Twitter Updates For The Week

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 28, 2009 . 11:59PM

• Michael Collins was assassinated 87 years ago today. #
• oh, i missed that wotc is bringing back dark sun. I am/was a huge fan! #
• i throughly enjoyed the first episode of dexter season 4 #
• woot: i hate you when all you do is try to sell me monitors when i have no money #
• (because i really want one, actually two) #
• so, x200/x200s vs. tx2 vs. 1810t. #
• dide, this thing http://bit.ly/yCDYf
  is teh awesome. i've been thinking about it. #
• my first trackback/pingback spam on blog.inexactitu.de – what's the protocol? should i be flattered? #
• Pre-ordered Snow Leopard – Need to do a clean install to free up some room. #
• Waiting at FedEx to pick up my replacement itouch. #
• hey, i just found out what black irish means. #
• times i've reached for a cigarette since i woke up today: about 400 #
• newegg, i have why-do-you-put-neat-things-i-want-on-sale-when-i-am-broke-related rage issues with you #
• watching OZ, i've seen the cast of, um, everybody else's show. #
• i treat oz like a fanfic: like that time Angel from Dexter killed Hurc from the Wire. #
• according to the box of stuff in my house, i was baptized on may 12, 1991 #
• my digital photos are a mess, again/as usual. thinking about standardizing with picasa. #
• i am so bored and f'd up quitting smoking that i organized our two first aid kits into one today, and organized my now defunct lighters #
• ups doode is late today #
• In d&d terms, I was NG and now I'm CN since I quit smoking. #

Nicotine Quit Blog: Day 2, High Fructose Edition

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 25, 2009 . 9:50PM

This patch is not made of real sugar.

Regardless of what I’m doing, I feel like I ought to be smoking while I’m doing it. Hopefully this will pass before I snap off a finger off and try to light it.

Nicotine Quit Blog: Day One

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 24, 2009 . 9:33PM

Okay, so I’m not having the best day. Besides having zero focus, I’m fighting intense urges to run amok (a term I think is from Thailand or Malaysia, I believe). I didn’t trust myself to eat until after 4 PM.

In the “things that aren’t shaking out quite how I thought they were,” my guts aren’t agreeing with the fantastic sandwich I made or the entire pot of processed cheese dinner product. Also, I wasn’t expecting to be all jittery and energetic.

The patch itself is weird. I understand that lighting leaves on fire and huffing on the fumes isn’t exactly natural, mind you, but I haven’t had a single drug prescribed to me since Bill Clinton’s first term. Initially, it was uncomfortable and I had a slight burning sensation.

I guess that says something about nicotine itself, how its more poison than not.

Nicotine Quit Blog: Day Zero

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 24, 2009 . 1:51AM

So, tomorrow, I’m stopping smoking.

Today, I went over to target, bought a first week of nicotine patches (no point in buying too many at once) and a hundred pack of nicotine gum.

this is a picture of a patch and how it works

I plan on quitting smoking as of when i wake up, this morning: Monday, August 24.

Hopefully, this won’t be nearly as bad as I remember nicotine withdrawl – I’ve been a smoker since 1996, and i’ve only been off the butts for six months. I guess thats why I doubled up on the nicotine replacement theraphies:

I smoke around 25-30 Marlboro Reds @ .8mg/cigarette.

That’s around 20 to 24 mg of nicotine per day for me. That means that between my nicotine patch, i have a whole 2 doses of nicotine gum *just in case*

I guess nicotine therapy addiction is better than smoking, at least according to our friends in congress and Auto Tune The News.

Twitter Updates For The Week

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 21, 2009 . 11:59PM

• hey, hector is on twitter. did you know that 95-96% of twitterari have less than 100 followers? #
• Ipod isn't working – broken most annoyingly. Good thing I carry 3 devices that play mp3s on me. #
• I missed you, NFL. #
• A thought as I lay here, not sleeping: in canada, is the tobacco brand Parliament known as Congress? #
• Lincoln tunnel. #
• @jessicaames yup, waiting in line at white castle as we speak #
• @whirringblender I've had luck about 70% of the time. In a related thought, I'm selling an xbox neon sign. #
• 42nd and Madison, NYC: Peoplewatching with my mom and sister. http://mypict.me/nSoi #
• @jdotames this is the last time I don't take you with me to NYC because you get all weird about it. #
• read "stalin's ghost" today, it was pretty good. #
• 94 degrees currently in Philadelphia. I'd rather it be 9 or 4. #
• starting david mcullough's truman today. what a weighty tome. #
• sixteen dollars for my mx revolution's power cord, which i unfortunately lost. #
• hey, i might hit up the zune HD preview at the best buy in the northeast this sunday – anybody wanna come along? #
• hey, andy reid, do we have some "marvin harrison" labeled money anywhere? #

My unemployment beverage schedule.

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 21, 2009 . 4:32PM

0800-1300: Sleeping
1320-1500: Coffee (Foldger’s French Roast)
1500-1700: Wawa Iced Tea
1700-1720: Chocolate Milk
1720-1900: Propel (Berry)
1900-2100: Pepsi
2100-0100: Whiskey & Pepsi
0100-0400: Whiskey
0400-0800: Sleeping

Twitter Updates For The Week

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 14, 2009 . 11:59PM

• At luke, tony's with @jdotames and ny brother in tow. #
• having a day off, then I'm working on Monday on my innumerable projects! #
• Watching Bad Boys – the acting is tremendous. #
• Beat Neverwinter Nights. #
• Just got a haircut and a kickass straight razor shave. Am no longer hobosexual. #
• I'm @natmechanics for karaoke, but not for karaoke. #
• Last day of summer classes. Thank god. #

Twitter Updates For The Week

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 7, 2009 . 11:59PM

• Playing Nightmare on Elm Street, the 1989 MS-DOS top-down semi-adventure game. #
• I am not making it to Friday working for Sprint, that I'm sure of. #
• The people in my store smell of yesterday's fried food. #
• @jessicaames with how long he spent in college, I hope he wore a helmet. #
• i just made coffee darker than Dick Cheney's soul. #
• @justinmcekroy the princess prolly sat on your tubes and now the big trucks are all backed up #
• Just 5 more days until my Amazon wishlist blackout (this is where I'm not allowed to buy myself anything on it because of birthday 08) #
• Man, the store is packed! And musty. #
• Just can't commit to OS X, even though that's all I use for coding and school work. #
• Gershwin and calculus. What a combo. #
• lifehacker makes me want to get a new desk and do all sorts of neato organizing things to it #
• @aarondfrancis IKEA is dangerous when you live in sub 400 square feet, as I'm sure you know. #
• Am ill #
• Onion bagel + seafood salad = breakfast of win. #
• Playing through Neverwinter Nights again. Dude, I love that game. #
• Mathing it up. #
• Thing I say the most in center city: "I don't carry cash" #
• 4 twitter applications later, i'm abitchin' on the web. #
• i wonder when i can talk @jdotames into making a podcast with me #

Confessions of an almost-former Sprint Employee

by Zacharias @ http://inexactitu.de . August 2, 2009 . 9:38PM

Really, I don’t have a lot to say that isn’t common knowledge: Sprint’s brand is seriously tarnished, customers are leaving in droves, and there’s a lack of “groundbreaking devices” that “change the wireless game.” Sigh, I’ve been hearing it from Sprint’s own customers in quite a few forms for more than a year now.

Last week, I put in my notice, deciding to be a professional student and freelance developer. It’ll be nice to focus on promoting and developing my personal brand in lieu of defending a damaged one.

In the meantime, I’d like to encourage those who continue to work for Sprint. The vast majority of care, retail, and support staff are definitely customer-centric and well motivated – I think that in the longer-term, Sprint will become more of a contender with folks like that working towards that goal.