Quit Smoking AGAIN...

...perhaps this will be the last time I'll need to.
I smoked for 20 years, which is more than half of my life, and I'm really ready to quit and put my health first.
So far, I've been without a smoke for 10 days, and while I occasionally feel I want to smoke, a combination of nicorette and cinnamon sticks helps satisfy those urges. The nicorette obviously provides me with the nicotine my body has become so addicted to, while the cinnamon sticks make a nice roughly cigarette sized substitute to hold on to and suck on, etc.
I'm not planning on following the recommended treatment plan for nicorette this time, as last time it just left me addicted to the gum, and I then had to use the patch to get off the gum. At that time, those were the main nicorette placement therapies available. Now I could see myself going through a cycle of addiction to various nicotine products... the gum... the patch... commit lozenges... that little puffy inhaler thing that's available by prescription only... back to the gum, etc. But I'm not gonna let that happen. I'm already working on weening myself off nicorette by substituting regular gum for it when I can. I will probably always need something to hold in my hands and/or stick in my mouth, tho. And I don't mind that... as long as it's not cancer causing.

WHDNTD

Do not try this at home...

Where you live linked to life expectancy - Yahoo! News

Where you live linked to life expectancy - Yahoo! News:
"Where you live, combined with race and income, plays a huge role in the nation's health disparities, differences so stark that a report issued Monday contends it's as if there are eight separate Americas instead of one.

Asian-American women living in Bergen County, N.J., lead the nation in longevity, typically reaching their 91st birthdays. Worst off are American Indian men in swaths of South Dakota, who die around age 58 — three decades sooner.

Millions of the worst-off Americans have life expectancies typical of developing countries, concluded Dr. Christopher Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health."

Interesting article...

Anna Nicole's Son Dies, Daughter Is Born | Anna Nicole Smith : People.com

Anna Nicole's Son Dies, Daughter Is Born | Anna Nicole Smith : People.com: "Anna Nicole's Son Dies, Daughter Is Born

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2006 08:00AM EST

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2006 04:20PM EST UPDATED

By Stephen M. Silverman

Anna Nicole and Daniel Smith Photo by: Lisa Rose / jpiAnna Nicole's Son Dies, Daughter Is Born | Anna Nicole Smith
Daniel Smith, the 20-year-old son of Anna Nicole Smith, died suddenly in the Bahamas on Sunday, three days after the former Playboy Playmate gave birth to a girl, according to a statement from Smith's attorney.

Reginald Ferguson, assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, tells PEOPLE Daniel was visiting his mother at Doctors Hospital when he was found in her room at about 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

'He was found in a condition of non-responsiveness,' Ferguson says. 'I am not certain who made the alarm, and doctors were called in but he was pronounced dead.'

Ferguson says police officers were called to the scene, but there was no evidence of foul play: 'There were no signs of violence to the body and there has been no sign of any unusual activities in the room that he was in.'

An autopsy was being performed Monday afternoon and police were awaiting its results before determining a cause of death. Despite some newspaper reports, 'We have no information about a heart attack at this time,' Ferguson tells PEOPLE.

Daniel Smith, who often appeared on his mother's E! reality program The Anna Nicole Show, was in the Caribbean nation where his mother, 38, gave birth to a girl on Thursday, her lawyer, Howard K. Stern, said in a statement.

A statement posted on Smith's official Web site, annanicole.com, reads, 'On Sept. 7 Anna Nicole gave birth to a healthy 6 lb., 9 oz. baby girl. Her son Daniel was in the Bahamas with her to share in the joy of his baby sister when he passed away suddenly on the morning of Sept. 10.

"We have yet to learn the cause of death but do not believe that drugs or alcohol were a factor. Anna Nicole is absolutely devastated by the loss of her son. He was her pride and joy and an amazing human being. Please do not make any press inquiries at this time so that Anna Nicole can grieve in peace."

Daniel's father, Smith's ex-husband Billy Smith, tells TV's Extra of the death of his son, "It's so sad. I hated that it happened. He was so young. I'm sort of in shock right now." According to Extra, Billy Smith had not seen his son since Daniel was two years old and last spoke to his ex-wife in 1996.

Smith, who earlier this year won a U.S. Supreme Court decision to claim her stake in the will of her late husband, billionaire J. Marshall Howard, has not publicly named the father of her second child.

This is just one of those things that make you go... hmmm... too bizarre... and too sad. To bring forth into this world a new life, and then just three days later, to lose your 20 yr old son at your bedside. That's wrong on so many levels. As if it's not bad enough that Anna Nicole lost her son at such a young age, for her to have to grieve that loss at such a time when she should be free to celebrate the birth of her new baby girl, is so unfair. One could harshly state that in place of her son, Anna Nicole has now gained a daughter, as if that should some how be a comfort to her. As if it was somehow in God's will. But in all fairness, no one life can ever be replaced -- only lost.

"And that's today's 'Couricosities'..."

From Katie Couric's Blog -- submitted proposal's for her nightly sign off.

My personal favorite --

"Thanks for watching. I'm Katie Couric, and I am not just for breakfast anymore."

... lol

"And that's today's 'Couricosities'..."

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/09/08/couricandco/entry1987509.shtml

Bad Cats (Funny) and what they do when you leave them alone!

In 2000 the group PETA produced a funny video about "Bad Cats" and what happens when you leave them alone. The idea was to draw attention to the need to Spay and Neuter cats to control the feral population.