murphzlaw1

...you have completely misunderstood where I was going with the sharing of my life. My point was that since I've quit smoking, and if I make some other small changes to my overall health, I WILL live long enough to own the house. meh.

I want to share something I posted in the Mod area, when the question of how my quit-smoking program was going came up:

I threw away my last pack the day I quit. No point having them around if you're not going to smoke them. If you're keeping a stash in "reserve," what's the point? When I quit smoking, I quit. I didn't stop for a while, until things got rough. Things have been rough. I found other ways to cope with stress. Keeping a "spare pack" around is just silly. If you get off the nicotine...and then get stressed out and you smoke "just to get thru the stress," what are you really doing? You're reinforcing the habit. You're going back to the nicotine addiction. I don't need that. I never kept a spare pack. I threw them away, and kept them away from me.

yeah, my last smoke was on Sept 24. Today is November 17. 53 days.

sounds absolutely amazing. I wish i wouldn't have had to work so I could have partaken in some of the activities going on this year.

/point /laugh (I can get away with that cuz Devon knows I like him.)

Well, it's not a mandatory feature. It's run by a private individual. It is NOT a feature of ulc.net. Mdtaylor does this on his own time, out of his own pocket. If you don't like the restrictions he's laid down for this service that he provides to everyone, for free, then you certainly don't have to partcipate.

Oh, I don't know about that. I still get fierce stage fright when I perform weddings. heh. well. of the 3 I've done so far. Altho...word must be spreading. I did one for a coworker back in april...and now another co-worker's daughter (who I've met once) wants me to do hers next year..I must be doin something right!

congratulations, and welcome aboard

3 weeks today. The Quit Now coach called me thurs night. Thursday was supposed to be my "quit date." The day of my last cigarette. So I called them back, on my way to work. "Hiiii! how are you! How was day 1 without a cigarette???" "pretty good, that was back on Sept 24." "ohhh.....you quit early??" I think I floored her. She didn't know what to say. It was amusing. in other news, I noticed that I have sorta replaced Nicotine with coffee. Even the bad coffee here at work is still better for me than smoking LOL I will say it again, it's been tough, but I'm really starting to get confident that I can actually stay "quit." A question was raised last week. "How long does it take to be considered a "non-smoker?" I didn't have an answer...but I would guess it'd be more along the lines of "months" or longer.

Thanks, Mike. Much much appreciated!

^^^this

Queen.

So some of you may remember a former admin here, Sotik. This, of course, is going back YEARS. Anyhow, about a year ago, he found a dog that had been dumped in front of his mailbox. Bad case of mange, other issues. He spent quite a bit of money in vet bills, etc, to make this dog healthy. Now that the dog is healthy, he says it's time for her to move on. He didn't want to just dump her in a shelter. He's looking for a good family to give her a home. http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/pet/2641915745.html (basic ad) http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/pet/2641461870.html (advanced ad, more info!) https://www.facebook.com/#!/bettyTAP her facebook page! (details everything this poor girl went thru) Of course, ordinarily I wouldn't post this here, but due to the circumstances, I'd like to see if we can help them out. Spread the word, ya'll. Thanks!

heh. I suppose it could be said that I quit smoking out of spite. People expectin me to die from lung cancer or somethin. I'll show them! I'm pretty pleased with my progress on this. My official quit date is supposed to be Oct 13. I don't know how I'm gonna tell them I will be smoke free for almost 3 weeks at that point LOL I guess it really helped that I had already been working myself up to it by the time I actually even called them to start the program. Really, I made it a focus. "okay, you're gonna quit, you need to start pacing yourself...slow down the smokes...go for a drive without taking them with you..." things like that. Of course, not smokin in the car is the worst, because that's a HUGE habit. Run to the store? smoke! go to get the kids from school? smoke! go to work? smokesmoke. comin home from work? smokesmokesmoke. So yeah, I started my focus there. We already didn't smoke in the house. Was just a chore in gettin the smokes outta the car. But it's going well. I DO still want smokes, but I think it's not as severe. It's more a "boredom" thing now. I finish my work, I'm sittin at my desk, and I wanna go out for a smoke. Just gotta push through that, and I'm good.

2 weeks tonight.

I was going to try them, but it's still nicotine. You know? Trying to get over the nicotine by replacing it with another way to inhale nicotine. I am off the patches, too. I was supposed to wear them for a while, but...they turned out to be unnecessary. No smokes, no patches. I did go back to caffeine, tho, by way of Lipton Raspberry tea. and I had a root beer the other day. I deserved it. 11 days without smoking.

I found another trigger today: working on computers. My router had some issues and wasn't communicating with the computer. Couldn't get online. Fought with it for about an hour. By the time I figured it out....oh lordy did I want a smoke. I didn't, tho.

extremely agitated at this point due to work conditions, both on and offline. changes need to be made, the next day or two will determine what those changes will be. Still haven't smoked, tho.

Tonight is the 1 week anniversary of my last cigarette. I have started not wearing the patches. No noticable difference. Maybe just a teeny bit antsy, but nothing I can't overcome. Still have the occasional urge to run out and smoke, but I haven't caved. I'm pretty pleased.

wife relapsed, had a bad night at work. so she caved. which, is okay. she doesn't want to use the patch. Her choice. I'm doin all right. Again, it's when I'm bored that I have the strongest urges. doesn't seem to be a need for the nicotine, as much as "okay, I'm bored, and at this point I'd usually go to the garage and smoke one.."

Wife has also quit at this point, she's been off smokes for 2 days. She is NOT using the patches. Just stopped smoking. I'm on day 5 without smokes, but am still on the patch. At this point I feel I could probably not use them and be okay, since I appear to have broken most of the habits that went along with it. Altho when I get bored I still have the urge to go outside and have one. But I'm doing better than the first couple of days.

she's on her last pack right now, she swears. That, kinda, did also cross my mind. If I "document" the process of quitting, from a long time smoker...maybe it'll help a bit for others. But really, it's for me. Something for ME to read if I get tempted. "Hey, look what you've worked for. Get past this urge and move forward." Also: CO and O2 levels back to normal: 100%. Sudden death risk lowered: 100% . Taste and Smell senses regained: 100% Standardization of Respiratory Function: 79.81% Elimination of physical dependence of nictoine: 34.21% New Tracking: Improvement of blood circulation and skin hydration, and dissapearance of premature wrinkles: 11.4% (this info from the "Quit Now!" app on the droid market, by Eagin.net)

CO and O2 levels back to normal: 100%. Sudden death risk lowered: 100% . Taste and Smell senses regained: 92.36% Standardization of Respiratory Function: 61.57% Elimination of physical dependence of nictoine: 26.39%. BUT! I don't think that last one takes the patch into account. Doesn't matter, still didn't smoke. Thanks, everyone. I'm glad I have a decent support group. To be honest, I wasn't really sure about posting it on the forum at all. But, you guys have been part of my life for so long..it seemed to be the thing to do.

Most of the way thru day two, no smokes. So..uh..44 hours? This. **. Blows. I just had dinner. And I'm off tonight. So usually I'd go out and have a smoke with the wife after dinner. She's out there now. And I'm sitting here fidgetin like someone ....who REALLY wants a cigarette. boingboingboingboing.