Boo

Welcome aboard Patricia. Good call on giving up the smokes. Right back at you.

Putting Christmas decorations up is always fun. Taking Christmas decorations down is a pain in the ass. To everything there is a season...I guess.

It was a quite day in the neighborhood. Then Nolan Ryan showed up and all hell broke loose.

We're glad to have you here. Welcome aboard the Quit Train Carla. Quitting smoking is one of the best things you will ever do for yourself.

We made it through 2020. I guess I can take this one off of my playlist now...

When they say it's not about the money...it's about the money. I hope the Cubs don't go the Marlins route and go into full fire sale mode. I thought it was bad for baseball when Florida did it and it would be even worse to see a storied franchise like the Cubs do it. The day "investment groups" and those sabermetrics guys took over baseball was a bad day for America's game.

Good job John. Congratulations.

2020 is over. Time to move on.

Reminds me of that old Lewis Grizzard joke... Bubba and Earl see a dog licking himself. Bubba says: : Dadgum, I wish I could do that! Earl says: Bubba, that dog would bite you.

Top-shelf quit. Great job DD.

Happy NOPE year everybody. NOPE!

Baptism by fire alarm. You were tested. You passed the test. Good job.

Fatherhood. I have six-months of on-the-job experience under my belt, but there's always something new to learn. Always room for improvement. Following the lead of a six-month old really keeps you on your toes.

Seriously...what are you waiting for? Here's that guy who played Mutt Williams in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to offer a bit of encouragement...

Nice. That is seal of approval worthy...

Recovery is as important as stress in the process. Active recovery works best for me. If I feel a bit sore and tired following a hard workout, I'll take the next day and do some light exercise and mobility work. Listen to your body. If you need to take a day off, do that. Better to take a day off than miss weeks due to injury.

Hall of Famer Phil Niekro passed away yesterday. Niekro won 318 games in his career. Struck out 3,342 batters. Niekro racked up 5,404 innings pitched. The numbers are impressive, but what I really remember about Phil Niekro is how nice he was to me when I met him. It was 1982, I was eight years-old. My dad took me to a Braves game at the old Fulton County Stadium. Phil Niekro signed a baseball for me, I still have that ball in a plexiglass box. Most of the guys on the team would sign an autograph, but Niekro took time to talk to me for a while. He asked me if I played baseball. I told him I had just joined the Dixie Youth league. I explained that I had tried to throw a knuckleball a few times but I always put them in the dirt. Niekro laughed and said: "I still put some of mine in the dirt." Phil asked me: "you doing well in school...behaving yourself?" I hesitated and answered: "for the most part." He laughed and said: "all you can do is all you can do right?" Thirty-eight years later and I remember that conversation like it was yesterday. Rest in peace Knucksie.

Slow and steady wins the race Sunshine. My advice, you can take it or leave it, is this: don't fret over numbers on the scale. Focus on behaviors, e.g., diet and exercise. The numbers on the scale will work out if you're doing the right things; for some the desired numbers happen relatively quickly for others it takes more time. Step-by-step is the best way forward. I'm a bit fluffier than I was before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Time to get back to eating clean.

Great job Layla. Congratulations.

Just roll with it. We developed a physical addiction to nicotine and spent years conditioning ourselves to believe that the cigarette held the answer. It takes a little time to unwrap all that. There will be contradictory thoughts (I don't want to be a smoker, but I sure could go for a cigarette right now). Memories of smoking tend to get whitewashed once we quit; we paint some rosy picture of smokebreaks while conveniently forgetting those times standing in a cold rain to get our fix. That sense of grieving a loss, most of us experienced that to some degree. These are all normal parts of the process. You're in a transitional phase right now, things feel a bit wonky. The thing about transitions is they are temporary. What feels weird today will become your new normal in time. Remember the one incontrovertible rule for a successful quit: DON'T SMOKE! As for the other stuff, buckle up and try to enjoy the ride.

Merry Christmas to all of my fellow Train riders. Hope you all find a bit of peace and joy this holiday season.

Dean Martin's Christmas album is underrated...