Day 100, TGIF?

Super quick post...

It has been sooo insane today that not only did I not post until four in the afternoon I will be working this weekend. Hope I can knock out some good work quickly in the peace of the apartment and salvage something of the weekend.

Ninety days smoke free!

Day 100, One Down...

One major project down and untold more to go. But hey, it's good to feel a sense of accomplishment after so much stress.

Maggie pointed out that there is a disconnect between my post title and the number of days quit. Let me explain. The title refers to the number of days since I started this whole quit smoking thing and took my first half milligram of Chantix. I end each post with a recap of the number of actual days quit, which is ten less. (I quit the tenth day into the Chantix program.)

Ninty days smoke free after having started Chantix one hundred days ago.

Day 99, Happy Hump Day!

I am working feverishly to complete projects in advance of my train trip to Seattle via Portland but I foresee a "train wreck" in the office while I am gone. Company policy is three weeks paid per year and they want you to take them but to date I have taken three days. It’s so hard to get away with so much going on all the time.



Eighty nine days smoke free today!

Day 98, The Down Side...

The down side of such a long weekend is the work is virtually piled up to my eyeballs. I can get pretty stressed out when it's so busy. In the past my smoking would take a big hike to "counteract" the stress. How silly, huh? Now I am trying to focus on the tasks at hand and not get to distracted by what what comes next. Not heading outside for my little breaks really helps with the productivity, too.

Thanks to Chantix and a boatload of willpower I am eighty eight days smoke free today.

Day 97, This Is A Test...

I trust we all survived the holiday with our quits intact.

I for one had the most difficult challenge to date. Having been invited to Thanksgiving dinner I could not really complain about the timing which seemed odd to me. Two o'clock is a good time for dinner which allows you to nibble and pick all day and into the evening. But my host decided dinner would be served at six o'clock. Six came and went as sides were baked and wine was poured. Finally, we sat down to the very tasty and much appreciated meal at nine o'clock. (N I N E!) Everyone, six in total, enjoyed a full and proper plate piled high with everything "Thanksgiving." And upon finishing the last morsel five of the six of us pulled out packs of cigarettes and lit up in unison! It was quite a sight to behold and believe me after such a meal I really could have smoked one but I stuck to my guns and enjoyed the company and another glass of wine.

Today marks 87 days quit and $653.00 saved according to the Chantix GetQuit support page.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you are enjoying the company of family, friends, and loved ones this Thanksgiving day.

Day 92, Hurry, Hurry, Hurry...

Yet another brief post 'cause I am trying to get enough done that I can take the whole weekend off. I imagine you are all busy preparing for the big holiday. Fortunately I have been invited to a friends home so I am down to bringing a couple of quick appetizers and a bottle of wine for good measure. Although the assembled guests are all smokers I am confident I will be fine. Have a great Thanksgiving with family, friends and loved ones!

Today marks eighty two days smoke free and $615.00 saved.

Early Communication About and Ongoing Safety Review: Varenicline (marketed as Chantix)

This was posted on the FDA site today. Early Communication About and Ongoing Safety Review: Varenicline (marketed as Chantix)

Day 91, Ugh...

Very quick post today. When it rains it pours and I have far too much to do if I want any sort of break for Thanksgiving. It has been ninety one days since I started the Chantix thing and I have been smoke free for eight one of them. I'll be honest; I don't always like it but I am stubborn and am not giving in to the occasional desire. Hope everyone's quit is going well!

Day 90, Like a Wednesday

I get both Thursday and Friday off so today is almost like a Wednesday. And a couple of friends invited me to Thanksgiving dinner so I'm going to enjoy a proper meal instead of the frozen TV dinner I was planning. Of course I'll have to endure a bunch of filthy smokers but I am sure it will be very nice.

A couple of nice round number to report today: 80 days smoke free and $600.00 saved.

Fighting World Hunger With A Mouse Click, Web Site Gives 10 Grains Of Rice To World Hunger Per Click — And That’s Adding Up - CBS News

Check it out. (I believe the server is getting hammered after the broadcast so be patient.)

Fighting World Hunger With A Mouse Click, Web Site Gives 10 Grains Of Rice To World Hunger Per Click — And That’s Adding Up - CBS News

Day 87, Happy "Fly-day"

The local paper mentioned that today is the busiest day of the year for San Francisco International. Although I will be staying home for the Thanksgiving holiday I know many people are traveling to meet family and friends. "Safe Travels" to all those poor souls who will be battling the transportation system this Thanksgiving.

I am wrestling with a decision today. My normal routine, and I do seem to love routine, is to drop by the old watering hole for a beverage and the pleasant company of the local regulars. Today there is an informal company function after work which, if I attend, will nudge me out of my routine. What to do? Either way I will be free of the need to plan my evening around smoking.

I realized GetQuit stopped asking if I have taken the Chantix as directed, to which I answered no for the last six of the twelve week program. Now it just asked if I have smoked as though it was an option. Ha! Today marks seventy seven days smoke free.

Day 86, Add Another One...

Last night was my second Movie Night. As I mentioned last week I elected to watch "Naked Lunch," primarily an adaptation of the novel. David Cronenberg wrote the screenplay and directed the film and did a surprising job given the difficult sources. (As anyone who knows of the author, William S. Burroughs, or has read the damn thing can attest.) I especially enjoyed Peter Weller's performance as Bill Lee. I cannot recommend this film if you are not a fan of "Beat" lit or history of the period. After two weeks on this theme I think I'll take a departure. Any suggestions?

Add another one - according to GetQuit today is seventy six days smoke free and $570.00 saved with a 7-day average urge of 2.8 out of 10.

Day 85, We're All Quiters Now...

It's official. My dear friend D has also quit smoking. She is the last of three of us. Tom went first and has been quit for something like six months. He went the Chantix route too. Then I did and now D reports she has finally given them up. (Tom and I were hardcore smokers and had been since our college days. D was not as faithful to the craft.) Now when she returns from Korea we can plan our antics around more than "where do they allow smoking." Yes, there are places in San Francisco that you can smoke. Think prohibition and speakeasy's.


Today marks seventy five days smoke free.

Day 84, What A Day!

I am pretty tired after a four and a half hour conference call first thing this morning. Can you imagine how I would have reacted to being forced to sit at my desk that long before I quit smoking? I might have "gone postal." Now I have to get back to real work after loosing the first half of the day.

Today marks seventy four days smoke free and $555.00 saved thanks to Chantix and a whole lot of willpower.

Day 83, Back to Work...

Finally it seems to be getting easier. Up until this past week and especially weekend I experienced a near continuous yearning for a smoke. Of course the physical addition is long past so it must be the habitual part still tugging away at my. But that seems to have lost its grip somehow because this weekend I really was not all that bothered by it. Saturday was rainy and gloomy all day - a reminder of what's to come. Thankfully Sunday surprised us with a pleasant blue-skied sunny and nearly warm day. The only disappointment of the day was the Colts game.


Thanks to Chantix and stubbornness I am seventy three days quit, $548.00 saved and my 7-day urge to smoke is down to 2.8 according to GetQuit.

Now back to work!

15 Minute Lunch: Strap in, shut up and hold on. We're going back.

O.M.G. - I just had to share this:

15 Minute Lunch: Strap in, shut up and hold on. We're going back.: "link"

Day 80, Up and At'em

Yet another Friday has thankfully arrived. Where did the week go? I had trouble sleeping caught between two competing dreams. Not vivid Chantix dreams but crazy none-the-less. In fact one was set in the same place as one of my more memorable Chantix dreams. Go figure. (The other was a work dream. You know those kind? When you start having work dreams it's time to look for change. I've had them all week.) When I saw the clock was near 5 AM I decided to start the day early. On the way in to work I reluctantly paid $3.63 a gallon for gas. And this was a cheaper neighborhood place, not one of those gotcha right off the freeway, highway robbery places. Ouch! Bend over!

Well, I checked in with GetQuit and I am TEN whole weeks smoke free today. This may actually stick, huh? (Too bad that $525 I've saved is going straight to some damn Saudi and fat cat Big Oil executive.)

Top oil executive was paid on average $144,573 per day.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Day 79, Thursday is "Ugly Betty" Night

I decided to make Wednesdays "movie night" to help get through the cold gloom of winter. Routine comforts me so having that to look forward to should help. Yesterdays selection was Drugstore Cowboy a critically acclaimed film which I forgot how much I enjoyed in the past. There are a few parallels for me personally, too. One, it was set and at least partially filmed in and around Portland Oregon where I will be enjoying an all too brief weekend next month. (Very excited about that.) In fact, I understand the hotel I will be staying in was used as a location for the film. The subject matter is not for everyone, though. It deals with addiction, something I realized about myself back on Day 24

I realized that although I thought cigarettes were a close, constant, reliable companion I was in fact a freaking drug addict. A (partially) socially acceptable addict but a damn drug addict none the less. Really! Who wants to be a drug addict? Cigarettes did not make me attractive or desirable or calm my nerves or relax me or any number of other reasons we thought we smoked. They owned me and I paid for the "privilege" with money and my health.

I also really enjoyed the Great American Raconteur William S. Burroughs who plays a small role, rather a caricature of himself. Still, you gotta love "Old Bull Lee." In his honor I think I'll watch Naked Lunch next week.


Thanks to Chantix I am sixty nine days smoke free and $518.00 saved one day at a time.

Day 78, How Time Flies...

Here we are again, the middle of the week. While I have been bemoaning the pace with which the days pass, they seem do so more quickly with the coming of winter. Fortunately, thanks to Chantix, I will not be held up in an enclosed apartment stinking to high heaven of cigarette smoke nor will I be one of the huddled masses standing outside in the cold rain puffing away. Ha! Something worth celebrating.

Sixty eight days smoke free and (conservatively) $510.00 saved to date.

Day 77, Daylight "Savings?"

How was every-ones first day on "daylight savings?" It was odd for it to be o-dark-thirty by six. Despite continued urges and tuggings I am hanging in there although I wonder how I will fair during the oncoming winter. Each year I get into a bit of a funk after a month or so without seeing the sun shine. Yes, we have moderate weather; it never gets terribly cold. The trade off is that gray, fog and rain sets in for long protracted winters.

Sixty seven days "free" and $503.00 saved thanks to Chantix and a lot of willpower.

Day 76, Blue Monday...

The weekend came and went far too quickly. I ended up working half a day Saturday and was thoroughly lazy the rest of the weekend. We enjoy unseasonably warm weather but that didn't help my mood. And boy did I have urges to smoke. But I am begrudgingly remain Chantix and cigarette free - sixty six days now.

Day 73, Happy Friday!

Wow - where did the week go? I know, I sound like a broken record but really...

For some reason, this morning I was thinking about how habitual I am as I wake and prepare for work. And how that has changed since Chantix and I quit smoking. My Lord, I would get up at three in the morning for some water and a smoke. Then at six for a smoke while watching the morning news to catch the forecast. Then after showering and dressed still waiting for the weather forecast. Then in the car on the way to work. That would be four cigarettes before work at seven in the morning. Can you imagine?

Sixty three days smoke free and $473.00 in the 401(k). Have a great weekend everyone!

Day 72, Nothing to Report...

Posting later than usual as I have nothing to report aside from my continued progress Chantix free. Sixty two days smoke free now and aside from the occasional tug doing just fine. How's everyone else this first day of November? (Can you believe it - November already?!)