A minor

It's been almost a month, and I still don't have much to say. I've been busy with work, travelling a lot more than usual: two nonconsecutive weeks in Dallas for the company's leadership development program and a quick trip to New Orleans for a day-long meeting. I've enjoyed it all, though - learned a lot, gotten a better feel for various advancement opportunities (including, but not limited to, my current "carreer path" in retail operations management), and made some great connections (including at least one real friendship). I've applied for two positions and have a third area to pursue as well, so hopefully I'll be offered a promotion of some sort in the not-too-distant future.

In other news, I bought a pack of Eclipse cigarettes for my once or twice a day bad habit. The silver strip on the cellophane says it all: "THE FUTURE OF SMOKING IS HERE" - I kid you not. But they are different, primarily heating the tobacco instead of burning it (kind of like a hookah with its coal, etc, but without water) and thus drastically reducing secondhand smoke, lingering odor, ashes, etc. However, in 2000, the American Cancer Society cited the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's independent study of Eclipse cigarettes, confirming that, "um, smokin's bad. You shouldn't smoke, mkay?" You can read more on Wikipedia.