Okay, here I go!

As of this writing I have yet to take my first pill. But, I did want to tell everyone what is going on.

I had an appointment with my Dr. this morning and he prescribed me Chantrix. Now let’s take a look, shall we?

Chantix is a trade name for Varenicline. Varenicline is a nicotine blocker. It targets nicotine receptors in the brain, attaches to them, and blocks nicotine from reaching them. By activating these nicotine receptors, it is also believed that CHANTIX causes less dopamine – compared to nicotine – to be released.

So, what are the side effects, you might ask? Well there are some side effects as with any drug.  Here’s what CHANTIX says:

Some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions while using CHANTIX to help them quit smoking. Some people had these symptoms when they began taking CHANTIX, and others developed them after several weeks of treatment or after stopping CHANTIX. If you, your family, or caregiver notice agitation, hostility, depression, or changes in behavior, thinking, or mood that are not typical for you, or you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, anxiety, panic, aggression, anger, mania, abnormal sensations, hallucinations, paranoia, or confusion, stop taking CHANTIX and call your doctor right away. Also tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems before taking CHANTIX, as these symptoms may worsen while taking CHANTIX.

Here’s what I say:

If at anytime I should feel the want or need to disembowel myself or anyone else using a spoon and a handkerchief, please discontinue use and notify a doctor immediately!

Now for some numbers. Apparently this product has worked for several people and according the study 44% of CHANTIX users quit compared to 30% using Zyban.

I will be posting my progress here but also @NathanHoxsie on TwitterTwitter and @NathanHoxsie on FNBored

For years I have been a smoker and it has been a long and nasty row.

I have been instructed to create a list of the “pros” and “cons” of smoking. At first the natural reactions was to think “there aren’t any pros, are there?” So, I have decided that the “real” first step is to stop bullshitting myself. If I am willing to lie to myself and then stupid enough to beleive it I have lost the battle before it has even begun.

Below is a list of the PROS to smoking for me.

• It tastes good.

Now before you get out your torches and clubs and call out the lynch mob I know it smells bad and it is harsh. But it MUST taste good or I wouldn’t like it. I have heard people say silly things like “Find a ash tray and lick it, that’s what a cig tastes like.”. That is complete nonsense. Now I cannot nor will I try to sit here and tell you it’s like eating a waffle or drinking a mocha latte. But it does have an earthy kind of soothing almost sweet taste. Man, I’ve been smoking waay too long.

• It makes me feel good.

Again this one of those thing that not even I can believe. It make me feel like shit. Every time and yet I am somehow comforted by the idea that I am smoking.

• It passes the time when I’m bored.
• It sometimes gives me a “buzz”

Those are the best of the best that I can see, for me.

Some of the reasons Psychologists say I and others smoke:

• No particular reason, but the cigarettes are handy
• To reduce a feeling of anxiety or nervousness
• To calm down when upset or angry
• To socialize with other smokers
• When feeling restless
• As relaxation
• To take a break from work
• While having coffee or tea
• When having a drink with friends
• To satisfy an urge to smoke
• After a meal
• After sex
• To pass the time while waiting for someone.
• When driving in the car
• When feeling depressed
• When drinking beer, wine, or liquor
• To celebrate something
• To think about a difficult problem

Now here are the cons to smoking:

• Health issues
  • Smoking is extremely dangerous to my health
  • I have all but lost my sense of smell
  • It bothers me to be dependent on cigarettes
  • Smoking gives me very bad breath
  • I would have more energy if I did not smoke
• Cosmetic issues
  • My cigarette smoke leaves an unpleasant smell
  • I have nicotine stains on my fingers.
  • I am getting wrinkles from smoking.
  • My teeth are discolored from smoking.
• Social issues
  • I am losing contact with my non-smoking friends
  • My second-hand smoke is dangerous to those around me
  • My cigarette smoke bothers other people
  • Sometimes I litter when I discard cigarette butts
• Financial issues
  • I spend too much money on cigarettes
  • I burned holes in my clothing

I have decided that smoking has had it’s stranglehold on me for the last time! I have made an appointement with a doctor on 7/28/10 and I will write what I learn here.

I have created a group on FNBored.com and you can follow me there also http://www.fnbored.com/xsmoker and my Username is NathanHoxsie

Thanks for reading and please comment me for support I will need all the help I can get.

Check out @Angyshere she is losing weight and telling of her times at #FNBored. Angela can be found at AngysHere.com

Okay, so you ask what do you “do” at work? Well i would love to say “nothing” but I can’t

I am a “Materials Mover II”. That basically means I am a truck driver and a delivery guy. My partner (J.J.) and I fill the truck in the picture with freight that needs to be delivered to the campus and, well, deliver it.

Here is how it works. Lets say the football team orders 4 pallets of Gateraid. The delivery company takes the pallets to our warehouse (pictured left) and we load it in our (much smaller) truck so we can navigate the Oklahoma State University Campus.

Sometimes the pallets are “F”ed up and we have to break them down and restack ‘em.

We also pick up items from campus. We have “surplus” tickets that each department sends us to pick up old, outdated or unwanted items. Computers to chairs anything they don’t want anymore we go and pick up. Then every couple of months the University has an auction to sell the surplus items

In a nutshell……that is what I “do” at work

Feel free to ask questions or just comment.

Hello everyone. If you’ve ever been here then you will notice a new bar at the top of the page when you scroll. it is an @Apture bar. It is the easiest and most useful tool I have found. I use it on all my sites. Like @FNBored FNBored.com and FNBored.info and of course here @NathanHoxsie blog.

Apture is easy to use, easy to install and very configurable and did I mention it’s FREE. Check them out at www.apture.com and give them a try. Be sure and tell them Nathan sent you from NHoxsieNHoxsie.com

Try it out here…now. Just scroll down a little and use the Apture Bar to share this post.

Sorry about the loop there

NathanHoxsie: @AngysHere what are you doin’? http://ow.ly/18aqKN

NathanHoxsie: Holy Sh!t…that’s what you get after you shoot the sh!t http://ow.ly/18aqKP

By: Leah Kuehn, Spears School communications intern

Oklahoma State University Spears School of Business professors and outside colleagues have proven a definitive link exists between the profitability of service firms and the hiring of employees who are driven to please and satisfy customer needs.

“Although this relationship seems straightforward, it’s a little more complicated than you might expect,” said Tom Brown, OSU professor of marketing and one of the study’s authors.

The study, titled “Employee Customer Orientation in Context: How the Environment Moderates the InfluenceInfluence reviews of Customer Orientation on Performance Outcomes," was co-authored by Spears School marketing faculty Brown, Alex Zablah and John Mowen.  New Mexico Military Institute President Jerry Grizzle and University of Tampa marketing professor James Lee also contributed to the project, which was recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

“The study results revealed that the profitability of service firms is enhanced when they are able to recruit and retain customer service employees who are intrinsically motivated to satisfy customer needs, but only when the service firm itself is characterized by a climate which supports that intrinsic motivation,” Zablah said.   “Likewise, service firms which implement policies and procedures intended to improve customer satisfaction will achieve higher profit levels only when they hire employees who are internally driven to satisfy customers.”

The study began several years ago as an effort to understand when customer-oriented service workers lead to positive outcomes for companies.  Brown said the study examined the “personality variable” of employees, which suggests something innate exists within a person’s psyche making them want to provide service and help others.

“What we hadn’t found prior to the project was a really strong link between this inherent customer orientation and actual worker performance as rated by supervisors,” Brown said.

The colleagues conducted research in 38 sites of a mid-sized casual dining restaurant chain to search for the missing link.

Brown said the company’s employees were unlikely to exhibit high degrees of customer-oriented behaviors if the service climate wasn’t customer-oriented and positive, an atmosphere which varied from site to site.  He said workers embodying customer-oriented behaviors were constrained or stifled if service climate was lacking at the store level, no matter how strongly they possessed those traits.

After unearthing the root problem to their questions, the colleagues went a step further by producing the study’s previously untested, bottom-line finding.

“We were able to go from a service worker and his or her degree of customer orientation and track it all the way through to the profitability of the organization,” Brown said. “Not surprisingly, what we found was that stores with workers performing more customer-oriented behaviors were more profitable.”

Zablah said that while the study’s implications for service organizations are clear, they are more easily said than done.

“Hiring the right people is not enough to improve profitability,” Zablah said.  “Investing in a customer-oriented climate is not enough to improve profitability. Both the right people and the right climate are needed for service firms to benefit from investments aimed at enhancing customer satisfaction and ultimately profitability.”