The Thoughts of a Frumpy Professor

............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Still Thinking



Ash Wednesday is next week, the start of Lent.  I want to commit to some solid course of action about my pipe.  I have actually three different mindsets I keep vacillating between:

1.  Get rid of the pipes and smoking entirely for Lent.  In the back of my mind is the thought behind this is that I should take a hammer to all my pipes, lighters, and accessories.  I should even flush all the various pipe to tobaccos I have down the toilet because if I complete Lent successfully, I should be able to quit forever.   

2.  Another part of me wants to give up my current, fairly heavy consumption of pipe tobacco for Lent, but smoke in the fashion I envision would be safe and non-controlling.  Namely, I would like to smoke one afternoon a week, usually when I go to visit my elderly father-in-law.  This side of me is admittedly enamored still with the "romantic" notion of pipes and pipe smoking being fun and enjoyable.

3.  A third part of me wants to basically say "to hell with it" and just continue to smoke my pipe as often as I wish, with the  notion that I will STOP contemplating quitting or reducing my consumption and just live fully as a committed pipe smoker for the rest of my life.  In some ways this may be a "defeatist" attitude... but it also is a freeing one as well, for I can go back to thinking about other things and worrying about other things instead of the damn pipe and pipe tobaccos. A major goal I would strive for if I did select this, is to more embrace the activity and find a way to quit all the worry.

I have to figure out a way to firmly commit to one of the three ways.  Yet, I have not yet been able to do so.  There are pluses and minuses to each route.

PipeTobacco

Thursday, February 27, 2014

I Want and Don't Want

Part of me truly wants to stop smoking my pipe.  The side of me that wants to reduce my risks and the side that wants to run a 10K race.  Another part of me wants to smoke... I like it and enjoy smoking a pipe.  How do I get into a clear, single-minded vision about this?  

PipeTobacco

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Sorry

I am truly sorry for having been away so long.  Work pressures and a sudden illness in my sister have kept me so tied up with just getting through the day that most days I did not get home until late in the evening.  Still, I should have written, and for my lack of doing so, I apologize.

Things on both the work and sister fronts are not much better at the moment, but they have stabilized enough that I have a more predictable (although incredibly harried) schedule.  This predictability should allow me to resume more regular posting. 

One thing that has been on my mind during this time is a desire (and admittedly a great fear of trying and failing) to give up my pipe for Lent.  If I were to do this and be successful, I might be able to give it up for good.  But, I do not know if I have it in me at the moment to do it.

PipeTobacco

Friday, February 07, 2014

Happy Birthday Mom

Today my Mom would be 86 years old.  I miss you, Mom!  Very much!  Happy Birthday!

PipeTobacco

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

CVS - A Health Care Company?

B*llsh*t!!!!   This is the most incredibly Orwellian load of doublespeak I have heard in a decade!  CVS is a drug store...  a damn drug store.  CVS's announcement today that will stop selling tobacco and is now calling itself a "Health Care Company" is so idiotic and inane.

Most folks today consider tobacco a "drug" so it seems to me a drug store would be the APPROPRIATE store to sell a LEGAL drug of that sort.  I might argue whether tobacco is a drug, but the idea of CVS stopping it because it is into "health" is nonsense, pure and simple.  

CVS is pulling out tobacco because tobacco is unpopular and being demonized and the company wants to earn a bit of publicity and free ad time to boost it's profits.  CVS is simply a STORE that happens to specialize in selling drugs amongst a helluva lot of other stuff. 

I bet that within 5 years when more and more places begin selling marijuana as more places are legalizing it. CVS will start selling it.  Health Care Comany, my *ss!  I am glad I have never frequented our local CVS... Such a stupid company.

PipeTobacco

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Cold is Mostly Over

Unfortunately not the weather, but an illness I acquired.  I had a heavy fever and sore throat and congestion the last several days.  It made doing anything other than the minimal at work and my walk virtually undoable for me.  Fortunately, I now feel about 90% back up to snuff.

PipeTobacco