Mr. Babe has one of those ride-on gas mowers. Why, I don't know, because we don't have a very large lawn. We have no front yard, because it's all driveway, and half the back is the stupid pool. Actually, I think he just likes riding around on the stupid thing, like it's a ride at a carnival.

My Becky has a pair of flip flops in every color imaginable. She has probably as many shoes as SB has. She has a huge closet in her bedroom but with all them shoes she can't even close the closet doors.

Beth, if you get to come to Jersey this Summer bring your daughter with you. I think her and Bec would get along great. Aren't they the same age?

That's a nice thought, but I go on vacation to get AWAY from her.

Plus, she went to Ocean City, MD Memorial day and she's going to Myrtle beach in a couple weeks. She'll be all vacationed out.

I believe Becky is 1 year older. Nicole is 23.

Well that is to bad I would've love to have met her. Yea Bec is 24.

I hope Nicole has a great time in Myrtle beach. I'm going there in July for a couple days.

I had a niece that lived in Myrtle Beach, (the one who recently miscarried). Her and her husband actually moved back to Baltimore because insurance is too much down there and to have the baby here. They kept their apartment there until July, so they'll go back there for one last visit, so Nicole's going along.

Nicole might tag along on one trip, who knows. If I ever get back to New York, maybe.

Nicole has the same fetish with flip flops. She'll find some on sale, and say, "Look how cute. Only 3 for $10.00". I say you know what's cuter, the sight of you packing your bags and moving.

I'm such a mean mom..haha.

Can someone using Firefox please tell me if this site is loading up or is giving an error?

loading up - couple of guys with binoculars.

Cool, thanks - must be my browser hiccuping...

No problem, JG

Okay, reopening my browser fixed the stupid error. Didn't want my client to see his site f-ed up. Thanks again...

I'm beginning to think Firefox ain't all that good. I can reload this site about 10-12 times before I hafta close out my Firefox window and reopen it. I don't have the same issue with IE.

It's still 1000000% better than IE

I told you a hundred million times not to exaggerate.

I don't know why the whole browser thing became such a big deal. Html, javascript, etc etc keep coming up with optional features that gives a lot of freedom for the browsers to screw up stuff. Why not limit it to a small set of features that will and should work alike in all browsers

Jesus Christ, $8 for cigarettes?

As of today, I'm rolling my own; $2 for an ounce of tobacco and 40 papers. (Did I mention the patch didn't work?)

Damn, LLC. I just ordered mine. Gasoline, heat, electricity, I can only cut back so much. Cigarettes have now become a luxury.

My mom said that during the depression, her dad used to buy cigarettes a few at a time. They were called "loosies" and you could buy them one at a time. He always used to take her with him to the store, and then give her one of his pennies to buy a candy.

You should consider growing tobacco in your garden

Well, don't be discouraged. The patches did help for the most part. My advice would be, if you get any urges early on while you're wearing the patch DON'T GIVE IN. It'll start with "Well, I'll just smoke one today, and then resume wearing the patch tomorrow." Once you do that, you'll do it a few more times, then you'll do it every time you get a craving, and before you know it, you'll be back to your regular number of cigarettes per day. I probably would have been successful if I had more control.

Like I said, they did help a bit. When the patches came in the mail, I spent about an hour staring at them. I didn't want to put it on... I wanted so badly to go buy one last pack, smoke it, and then start off fresh the next morning by putting the first patch on. But, after some deliberation, I gave it and put it on. Within an hour, I didn't even want a cigarette anymore. Then, I experienced something I hadn't experienced in a while--being able to watch TV and not want to smoke a cigarette every time I saw someone light up.

There were only two triggers for irrational cravings... The first was smoking marijuana, as I like to enjoy a ritual cigarette after a joint/bowl/bong/whatever. But I don't see you having a problem with this.

The one you may have to think about is hanging around people you usually smoke with. Once I had relapsed for the first time, when ever I was around my friends, I would want a cigarette, even if they weren't smoking. That's probably the hardest thing.

So, yeah, they'll help you out, but there is still going to be the occasional craving here and there. Honestly, just fight them off. Like I said, if you give in just once, you're substantially hindering your ability to make the patch work. I'd say 50% of it is psychological, so just stay strong.

When I saw cigarettes for $8+ in Chicago I laughed.

I don't know why anyone would smoke in the first place, and add $8 a pack to that...

Let's see $8 x's 365 = $2920 a year.

Damn, I thought those advertisements for other shows during shows (where people walk onto the screen and whatnot) couldn't get more annoying. I just saw one where a guy walked on screen, PAUSED THE TV SHOW DURING SOME DIALOGUE and advertised the other show. Then unpaused and walked off.

Thanks, LLC. I know it's not going to be easy, but I really have to give it up. I sit there and think, "How stupid is it to be a cancer survivor and SMOKE?!" Rationally, I know that, but the urge is tremendous. I have cut down a lot over the years, mostly because there are so few places you can smoke.

I urge you to try it again. When I filled out the survey, and they asked how many years I had smoked, and I wrote "27", it had to be one of the most depressing things I had ever written. I picked up the habit in college, and thought it would be easy to kick. Boy, was I wrong.

I really do need to. I'm going to give the patch another shot, but the New York State quitline makes you wait three months, so I may try to do it cold-turkey before then... But if I had a dollar for everytime I've gone cold-turkey, then I could actually afford cigarettes at $8 a pack.

I'm almost tempted to adopt the method my friend's mother used to quit: sit down in front of a fire, and smoke as many cigarettes as you can in a chain before vomitting profusely. A tad ridiculous, but she hasn't smoked a cigarette since, and that was somewhere around 15 years ago.

Well, when my mother-in-law was caught smoking by her mother, her mother shoved the cigarettes up her nose. My m-i-l smoked for 55 years, so it obviously wasn't a deterrent.

My former boss swears by hypnosis, others I know used acupuncture. I can't think of too many things that I wouldn't try.

My dad has tried the hypnosis, with no positive results, unfortunately. I'd be surprised to find a technique he hasn't used. He is now 51, and has been smoking since he was about 15, so, you know, you're a bit far in at that point. I just hope I never actually make it that far without quitting.

I do, too. It's a horrible, dirty, and now expensive habit.

Indeed. At least now that I am rolling my own, it's only two of the three.

Best of luck to both of you LLC and SB. This is a huge undertaking.

Boy, expensive is right. I saved about $120-$140. per month that's the good news. The bad news is this past year I put it toward filling my gas tank.

Anyway, whatever way works for you, good luck!!!


TIS

I wake up in the middle of the night and light up a ciggie. That's proof of how bad I am.

25 years for me, and I know it's taking its toll. I shouldn't get out of breath checking the mail, even living one flight up. What's "funny" is... while I know it's a full-on addiction (I don't know about you kids just yet ) but sitting at my computer 10+ hrs/day, I'll just practically chain smoke w/o even realizing it. That's the habit part. When I go to my folks' (who think I'm still quit from years ago ( )) I don't really think much about it at all. Well, I do chew Nicorette on family functions to curb urges. Maybe one every couple hours (in the same span of time I could smoke almost half a pack unconsciously!)...

What I need to do (short of actually quitting), but find hard to do, is to force myself to leave my current "smoking locations" to make it more inconvenient. Like, step outside each time. Location, location, location! It's not just about real estate -- it's the same for perpetuating bad (and good) habits.