Joe and Jamie’s Blog

We’re going to Newport, Rhode Island.

We decided on this because it’s a lot closer for us to get to since we didn’t want to blow most of the vacation money on gas. I booked our 8 day stay at the Newport Beach Hotel & Suites just 2 miles from downtown Newport. It looks lovely and has received great reviews. It’s a historic old hotel, which I will have to do some more research on; I typically just wing hotels and see how it turns out. The hotel just finished renovations in May for many upgrades to all the rooms, which should be nice. The hotel’s front yard is a park with a beach in front of that. I can’t wait to wake up with an ocean view.

Here’s some pictures I took off their website.

All photos show above are copyright Newport Beach Hotel & Suites, the Newport Hotel Group, and the photographer.

This next photo I took off Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, Google Earth’s competitor. I love Google Earth and all Google’s products, but Microsoft Virtual Earth has the Birdseye View feature which renders the photo so much clearer and lifelike, and also it gives it the feel of flying around the place in a helicopter, not the straight down look of a satellite. Google does have street view though, which is just amazing.

I didn’t zoom in all the way because I wanted you to see the surroundings. Go to MSN.com and on the top search bar click on Maps and then do your search and play around with the Birdseye View.

Back to the topic now.

I will take thousands of pictures like I do every vacation. I promise I won’t post them all, but a bunch of really good ones scattered throughout many posts.

Jamie and I are having a tough time deciding where to go for our summer vacation. We want to go someplace new this year. We narrowed it down to Rhode Island or Virginia. Last year we took a trip to Boston after making a stop in Cambridge, Mass. The Delaware shores and Baltimore where among the list this year, but we for some reason are settling more towards the shores of Rhode Island or Virginia Beach, the more touristy areas since they tend to have more to do.

My friend Jay just recently posted some pictures of his Memorial Day tip to Point Judith, RI. He has been to Block Island before and recommends it. You can see some pictures he took and if you take a gander at the comments he has more from older posts.

Basically we need your help. I want to book the hotel this weekend before prices go way up and nothing is available. Right now Hotels.com is running a special on a free $50 gas card if you book more than three nights between now and Labor Day. We’re planning to go July 17th though the 28th if that helps with the decision making.

Today is day four of no smoking. Jamie and I haven’t touched one since after diner on Sunday. Like they say, the first three days after you quit are tough, then it’s just breaking the habit after that. I would have to agree with this. The first day was horrible. My body wanted one so bad, but my mind was strong enough to remember I was trying to quit. The first night was even worse. I couldn’t sleep or get comfortable at all. Everything irritated the crap out of me. Jamie and I have been fighting a lot over absolutely nothing at all, lovely side affects. Good thing we have been dating for almost four years and can get past this.

I believe this is all a mind game. If you can just push aside your habits and think before you act you won’t pick one back up. You don’t need any of those smoking cessation drugs/patches/gum. Jamie tried to use those last time, but I feel the issue is that you are satisfying the craving by either chewing some gum or the patch. To me, you want to get rid of those urges, not satisfy them, that is what makes it harder and takes longer to quit because you aren’t getting the nicotine out of your system. Granted yes if you have no self control then by all means a patch or gum is much better than the actual smoke. I told Jamie to not get them this time and see if she can do it. So far she has, and I think it’s because she didn’t use that stuff that she is doing so well this time.

Anywho, figured I’de just fill everyone in on how we are doing. I have been in Vermont for work for the past two days so nothing exciting going on at all. Later.

Jamie and I quit as of today.
[claps, applause, cheering, other supportive noise]

Sunday night was our last one, sometime around 6:00 pm or so. No this wasn’t a mother’s day gift, we decided awhile ago that the weekend that school ended we would stop. I am stopping mostly for the wrong reason, but hey the important thing is that I am stopping. I basically can’t afford the $150 a month per person. Yup that’s right $300+ a month down the drain, well more like down my lungs. With the recent gas prices it’s just stupid to continue on such an expensive habit. Also come June 3rd, New York State is increasing the cigarette tax $1.25, bringing it to $2.75 of tax per pack. Right now I pay on average $5 a pack depending on where I get them. That extra $1.25 (if it isn’t more at the store level) is an extra $75 I would have to shell out each month for the both of us. Let’s put this in perspective again. $375….that’s my car payment!! I could pay it off twice as fast when I quit if I wanted. See more here on the cigarette tax increase for New York State.

I’ve quit before cold-turkey so it won’t be an issue for me, but Jamie may need some assistance breaking the urges. I won’t ever pick it back up as long as Jamie doesn’t go back to smoking like last time we attempted to quit. She kept sneaking them in there claiming she had to cut down first (which I will admit she did, but still).