What are you giving up for Lent?

Today is Ash Wednesday, ushering in the Lenten season of reflection and repentance. Tradition holds that you are supposed to give something up as we contemplate our human foibles.

I have lots of them.

Every year I attempt to give up cursing. And every year I fail miserably. In fact, I've already gone off the rails several times this morning. Not a very auspicious start to my Lent.

But I'm not insane. For several years, I have actually pondered the possibility of giving up coffee for Lent. Thankfully, I've quickly come to my senses and realized that's not going to happen. Really, I don't think I could physically do it.

I give up beer every year, and that does not seem to bother me at all. Coffee, however, is another matter. It is literally the second thing I do every morning, right after I flip on my portable radio that is always tuned to KYW.

Yes, the coffee maker goes on before I open the laptop, even before I visit the bathroom. And these days as I grow older that is no small feat.

Actually, there is a part of me that would like to give up some of the online world I spend so much time trolling every day. Maybe I'll stop Tweeting, or posting on Facebook.

Unfortunately, work precludes that.

So cursing it is.

We'll see how long that lasts.

The over/under is about an hour.

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