Faith and Whiskey

No this post is not about me turning to God to keep me off the booze. So don't close this thinking I'm gonna start preaching about forgivness and turning to Jesus then ask for money. This is going to be an update on my progress of staying sober for financial reasons...

So, last Thursday I got out of work during what was probably one on the most stressful weeks I've had in my life. And I said to myself, "Self, I know you're trying to save money and I know most your spending reviolves around alcohol, but I think a beer and a burger at a local establishment might do you some good." Well, not being one to ignore my own advice, I jumped on the train and headed to McDunna's. Upon my arrival I realized I was one of 3 people in the entire bar. So I sat down and ordered a Guinness. (seen here)



After that one, well, I thought when my food gets here, I'll have one with the burger. I mean, who in their right mind doesnt was a burger with their beer? (This is the second one)



Ok, so now I'm two beers and one burger down. And the bartender says, "One more before you go?". Not this guys been good, had some conversation as a good barkeep should, so why the hell not? (You can see number three being poured in the background)



Now, I'm three guinness in...and the table next to me seems like good conversation. So I pull up a chair. The three of us start debating about the best shots. They're partial to the "Lunchbox" I like tequila, whiskey and Jagerbombs. So we have one of each and continue to debate the topic. At this point I call in an expert witness, we'll call him Dan (because thats his name). So Dan arrives and quickly reminds me that my favorite bar in the city, Faith and Whiskey (OHHHHH THAT EXPLAINS THE TITLE!!!) has $1 domestic bottles and...wait for it...LIVE BAND KARAOKE!!! Oh, and it's right next to McDunna's...go figure.

So I down two of these, to bring out the rock star of course...



And we head to Faith and Whiskey. Where I proceed to spend $15 on dollar beers, but hey I saved money. And jammed to some REO Speedwagon's Keep on Lovin' You!!

Seen here...



And woke up feeling like this guy...



So, needless to say, Faith and Whiskey is still hands down no questions asked my favorite bar. And I need a different approach to saving money by not drinking.

-JB

Day #4

So, day four was the hardest so far. I'm sure it will only get worse. I came home from work and opened the fridge to grab a bite to eat and all I noticed was a bottle of Bailey's. I ran to the grocery store to grab stuff for lunch and coincedentally the sandwich stuff is across the way from the booze section.

This is where I start to ask myself why I'm doing this cold turkey. Why not just tone it down a bit? That's a good question that I really don't have an answer to. Tonight is going to be a big challenge, I have a networking event to attend!

Day #3...

No booze on day two, and no tremors or signs of withdrawal. Although I did have a Gatorade, two pops, 7 cups of coffee and 12oz of DayQuil...oh, almost forgot to ask, does the alcohol content of NyQuil count against me?

Well, that went well...

Yeah...so I had two drinks last night saying farewell to a dear friend. And on to day two of my attempt at being sober!!

It's really easy, you know. I go out with a friend to say goodbye and grab a burger and he comes back with a vodka lemonaide for me. I can't say no! This is the goodbye dinner...WTF? So I only had 2. I figure that's a lot better than what I would have done before.

Sorta Sober

Not really sure how to say this, but I think I'm gonna take it easy on the booze for a few weeks. I know what you're saying..."this will never last, why bother?"..."Dude, your blog is called 'Where's my beer?' and you usually write drunk? I'm confused." Well my reasons are stricly financially driven. I don't have a drinking problem, and I have never really let my drinking interfere with my work. Yeah, I probably carry an extra 10 pounds for all the beer I drink, but I'm ok with that if I can go out and get drunk ever now and then. But an empty bank account is worse than an empty pitcher.

So, this is how I see this going. I am going dry for 3 weeks. Starting today, January 17th, 2010 until February 7th I will not have any alcohol. At that point I am going to slowly reintroduce myself to booze. I will continue to go out, but I will take a lesson from Chad Ochocinco and drink cranberry juice or tonic with a lime so it looks like I'm drinking.

This way I can still go out and have fun and be with my friends in the scene, but it will cost me 1/4th the amount of money. Instead of $8 for a vodka tonic it will cost $2 for a juice or a pop.

I will continue to update the blog with great stories of my drunk friends and my sobriety and the challenges of not drinking...

Wish me luck!!