Day 86

Holy shit. It's getting close to day 100!!!!

So you'd expect someone that hasn't smoked for around 70 days to be completely over the whole smoking vibe? Well actually I still miss it.

Today I was looking for something that required a new battery and discovered the remainders of the last pack of tobacco I ever bought. Don't get me wrong I knew the pack was there because I put it there back on the 24Th of Feb. The point is I've never looked at it since. I've not touched it, not thought about it not even looked in its direction until today. So why did it give me a twinge when I saw it? Truth is it's probably so dried out that it's worthless.

On the other blogs this week folk have mentioned the price of Champix. Here in the UK prescriptions for any meds cost a flat rate of £4. I've never liked that whole vibe about the fact that a ridiculously expensive cure costs less than smoking, but, it does. Yep. Like it or lump it Champix is a cheap alternative to cigs. Can I also point out that I stopped taking the prescription half way through.

The good weather is also trying to make an attempt to become permanent. Somehow it's easier not to smoke on a sunny day.

So now we head in to a new week. For me I'm going to meet the folk from my parent company in Europe that I've been criticising for the last three weeks. This week they head for the UK to see what I've been up to with their training materials. How do I tell them that I started again from scratch? As far as I understand it smoking is obligatory in their country so maybe I just have to offer them a cig before I introduce them to my new materials.

Good luck to Poet and Kath who are stopping smoking as we speak. Good luck to Zoe who has an exam to get behind her. Well done Peets who is just quietly getting on with the whole non smoking thing.

Speak to you during the week folks.

Stay hooked....

T

If only

If Not smoking doesn't work out for you:

Scientist, and man who know's what it's about, Dr Angram Philchpott has categorically stated, so it must be true, that certain things that at first were thought bad are infact good for you.

Things like smoking, which are generally accepted to be fatal, infact make you look cool. "If a person is at ease with oneself, then that alone decreases the risk of heart attacks and stress related illnesses. I'm more relaxed if I know I look cool, so therefore smoking is good for me."

Drinking is also good for you according to the good doctor. "Drinking 12 pints a day of your favourite alcoholic drink builds up your resistance to the effects of the drug Alcoholiseptum, the active ingredient in alcohol. The more I drink the less effect I feel, so therefore the less it feels like I've drunk, and the clearer my head will be for work tomorrow, see? More is better for me."

"Fried food," he continues "is a healthier way to eat for sure. No bacteria can survive 170-200 degrees of heated oil, yet it thrives on salads and cold meat platters. And the fat build up in your body gives you great insulation in the winter, so no hypothermia like the salad brigade will be getting, and you save money on clothing so you can spend more on fags, booze and takeout!"

Studies are still continuing as the doctor attempts to prove that eating raw chicken is a good idea, not going to the toilet for a straight week is not bad for you and sleep deprevation is a positive thing and should be treated as such.

We await his conclusion on the study 'Seat Belts: Needed Or Not' when he is discharged from hospital next month.

Sometimes you just need a break. More of this nonsense at: http://www.thespoof.com/search.cfm?tag=Smoking

Proper blog at the weekend

T

Quitzits

Yep....they are called quitzits. Once you know that you can search on that term and you'll find that the acne that is driving me nuts is one of the not so well kept secrets of giving up smoking. Giving up smoking that is and not any medications.

Lots of people suggest that these nasty little gits are the results of the badness (not sure if there is any chemical definition for this toxic nastiness)escaping however I prefer the rationale that: Smoking drys your skin. Over the years your skin starts producing more and more oils to defend itself from your constant assaults. It then takes a wee while after you've stopped for your skin to calm down on the over production hence the spots. For some folk they can last up to a couple of months (but no one seems to be harmed by them so not like cancer or emphysema or anything like that that you get with smoking)

This astonishing peice of research was yet another happy outcome of my favorite stalking software that I've spoke about on several posts now. As well as giving you the numbers that go to your blog and what locations they are from it also has other stuff like how they got to your page i.e. Google or blogger etc. Once you know how they got to your blog you can even find out what the search term that got them there was. Someone got to my blog via a google search for Chantix spots. Cool.

Even better I then tried this search which led me to quitzits. Even even better a search for quitzits led me to this blog which is fantastic and makes me feel distinctly uncool. Unfortunately this guy quit back in 2008 so it doesn't update but it's the best non smoking blog I've come accross. i also cut and pasted the video below from it. It's a bit on the long side but well funny. Enjoy the vid then go to the blog...



The blog is at: http://quittingsmokingagain.blogspot.com

Day 79

According to the counter it's 65 days quit.

If you want to get stroppy and hold that one against me on day 27 it's 53 days quit. That's two months in any ones book. That's a guy who in January was chain smoking 40 a day who now doesn't smoke. Anyone who has spent time with me will tell you that's not possible. I didn't even want to quit. Go read day 1. For me smoking doesn't go away it just gets easier to ignore. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

This weekend I was looking out to the Irish sea in the setting sun thinking that I would love to have spent that sunset with a cig. I would have it's true. I missed that beautiful peaceful cig as the sun went down that told me that all was well with the world. Especially in the quiet of the evening. Apparently the sunset was even redder with the Icelandic volcanic ash. I feel sorry for those who have never smoked as they have no idea what I'm talking about and probably never will.

The 'never have smoked' will also have completely missed out on the joys of a rasping cough every day or the joy that is knowing you're ill but not wanting to raise it as you're symptoms match those of a smoker so will be ignored. Yep, never having smoked means you've missed out on so much.

For every smoke I miss, and there are a couple I'd pay to get back, there's 100s that were just cigarettes. I could describe moments where even non smokers would want to smoke but, what's the point? As recently as two months ago I was dying of a self inflicted poison. I'm not now.

When I got home tonight I went for a beer in the pub. The bar maid was talking to a punter about giving up. I listened to patches versus Carr and cheered them both on. Who cares what works? Just as long as something does.

In middle Ireland there's a rush on red bull according to Zoe. Caffeine's not all bad you know. I'm with you're sister however in that coffee is the best way to take caffeine. 100 Coffees may give you a heart attack (need proof of this)but missing just one in the morning can have the same result.

In the past two weeks this site has been accessed nearly 300 times according to my stalking software. I'm truly global in that we have visits from UK, US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Finland, India and Russia (Finland, India and Russia didn't really hang around but they were here).

Poet and K! Think you guys have to get tough on yourselves this week though you're doing pretty well. Don't know how it came about but my wife has a saying... Some days you eat the bears, Some days the bears eat you. Next week guys...Eat those bears

Quittin smoking is just so 2010. Don't miss out.

Sorry it's a short post but I'm just back. I'll update during the week.

Stay hooked.

T

Ups and downs

Hi folks

Another quick update.I've got a long weekend this weekend so you may wonder what's happened when there is no update on either Saturday or Sunday until Sunday night.

Now that the snow has finally stopped falling, the threat of major flood has diminished and sea tides have calmed to a suitable level I can get into what I call 'the season'. What is 'the season'? Well, this will make me sound older than the hills, the season is the time of year when I escape the city every weekend and go to a caravan in the far south of Scotland for some R&R. Don't worry, even close friends can't figure it out. You have to be 70+ to own a caravan don't you?

Well here's the deal: When you go to the caravan you forget about what you should be doing. At the caravan there's no decorating or monthly shop. There's no pressure to fill the day. If it's calm you could swim or fish. If it's not looking so good you could head for the pub. Ireland's only a couple of hours away if you fancy the ferry (you can see it from the coast at Port Patrick, Ireland that is not the ferry).

The only stress with the caravan was that it was a confined space that I wanted to smoke in. My wife hated me smoking, I hated the argument because if it was wild outside then I wanted to smoke out the window whilst she wanted me to go outside. This year I don't smoke. (Still feel I had a moral high ground that I lost). It makes me realise how many things in life change when you properly stop.

Lots of people limit where they smoke in the house. Weirdly a lot settle on the Kitchen as being the only room to smoke. Wrong! If there is one single room that you must never smoke in it's the kitchen.

People will marry a smoker thinking that they will change. Good luck with that...

Cigarettes are perceived to be dirty (ash etc). It's hard to imagine something more scientifically clean than cigarette ash. Any nastiness has been incinerated.

On the other hand: There was a thin (Pompeii like) film of ash over everything in my office always.

The office still smells of smoke and there were nights when I still smoked that it stank the whole house out. I like the smell and even I noticed it.

As a smoker I had got to the point where I wouldn't even consider leaving the house without having had two cigarettes. I reasoned that the benefit wasn't just mine but also who ever I was meeting. I'm not the brightest in the morning but without cigs I can actually mobilise faster.

When anything needs done you wont have to wait 'two minutes' till I have a cig.

I can go to meetings and training courses without stopping to smoke first. (More important than you think)

Yep being a non smoker has more benefits than you think. Retaining your smoking roots also endears you to smokers who, thinking about quitting or not, want to know the secret so they can use it at some future point.

Even my spot problem is clearing up and my skin is beginning to recover. When you've done this much self harm you probably don't deserve the benefits that come with stopping, but they come along anyway.

Don't quit quitting folks

Just quickly

Hi folks

Just wanted to do a very quick update. Zoe is still alive and in the world of not smoking so jump over to her blog and wish her well. Think she might be getting all anti smoker on us though. But, if it works, go with it I say. I also missed the fact that Peets has been on and updated. 13 days smoke free and sounding like it's going well. That's a fantastic achievement.



I really just wanted to let Poet and Kath know that I've got everything crossed for them. Good luck guys. If I can do it you can.



Finally, in a fit of messing around I've added a couple of those google ads that you see everywhere. The idea is that it might be money for nothing although I suspect that it's really a clever ruse to get us all to advertise but that actually very few people make anything from it. Anyway I mention it because I'd like you to let me know if it interferes with the site. If it does I'll take it off. Actually a couple of them look quite interesting but I can't click them because I think they pay by click and I'd get accused of cheating so I'll have to rely on you guys letting me know if they contain anything worth looking at.



Looking forward to hearing from everyone at some point through the week. Good luck to Poet and Kath.

Day 72

OK so I've got a blog that, even within one week, reaches across the globe. If I could just reach people from Russia and China I would have an audience from every major land mass on earth. 55 pages of advice and info on giving up with champix not to mention links with Allen Carr and 5 permanent followers (although poet is now following twice). How irritating is it then that a search for 'trying to quit smoking with champix' brings up a link to 'has anyone ever tried champix?' before my site? How the hell does that work?

After a pretty rough winter, one where even the older folk were admitting that it was worse than what they grew up with, today the sun shone and the temperature got up. Only one week ago we were screaming about snow at Easter and yet today I was out in a t shirt. The next few weeks are going to be all about nursing the plants and trees out of the snow damage and into the spring and summer. Love it. Only thing is it used to be great to do a bit of grass cutting and then stop for a smoke to review what you've done. It seems somehow less rewarding when you don't get a smoke at the end.

In just a few hours Poet and Kath will wake up to the world of non smoking. Guys I wish you all the best. It's worth pointing out that most people seem to find it a bit easier than I do. I'm really looking forward to hearing a success story from you guys. Look at Jason who got in touch yesterday. He only waited 8 days to stop but is now 5 days off the cigs. That's pretty impressive in any ones book.

So this is it folks. The sun is coming out and this year I'll not be the pale smoker that I always was. This will be the first year in living memory that I don't need several cigs and an hours worth of coughing to clear my lungs sufficiently to go about the day. I'm looking forward to it.

As always..If anything comes up I'll update you but otherwise I'll speak to you all next weekend.

It's a great week to be a non smoker.

Day 71

Day 71!!!! How the hell did that happen? Who could have predicted that 71 days after starting this blog I'd still be off the cigs?

This is a big week for Poet, Kath and Zoe. Within the next seven days each of them will attempt to go 24 hours without a cigarette. For Kath champix is making her feel sick. Although this wasn't a side effect for me it's the most common side effect of Champix and I believe it can be beaten with nothing more than something to eat prior to the pill. I believe that the act of chewing somehow stops the sickly feeling.

For Poet life might be a bit more complicated. There is some debate whether vivid dreams are a side effect of Champix or of giving up smoking. I didn't get them this time but they were the thing I was worried about. When I tried to give up with patches a few years back I had problems with dreams. I can't speak for Poet but with me it wasn't just bad dreams. We're talking day mares where it became difficult to work out where the dreams stopped and reality started. Poet, I hope everything is OK. The only plus point is that I didn't have dreams every night.

As far as Zoe goes... I'm hoping that the reason she hasn't updated her blog is because she's got a few nights out to get through this weekend. It will be interesting to read her observations on a few beer ridden smoke free nights. No pressure Zoe but Poet and Kath are on your case now so you got to get back to blogging.

From the stalker point of view I'm pretty impressed with my first weeks results. In just seven days this site has been found by: several UK locations, Ireland, Canada, Australia, finland and the US. To be fair the visitor from Finland was probably an accident as they left without vieing any pages. Pretty impressive though. Wish Jo and her friends were still here as she was somewhere with a 4 hour time difference.

For me giving up is now more about staying stopped. It's 57 days since I stopped and 30 days since the last puff of a cig I ever had. It does get so much easier to stay stopped but it's also surprising how often I get an urge to smoke. It's not a daily urge or weekly urge or anything like that. It's just an urge that creeps in when you least expect it. It's almost like a death. You think you're over someone then, in three years time, you go to do something and they are right back with you.

This week I've been working with someone that I've never worked with before. It's been good because we've hit it off and had a good gossip. Although we've never worked with each other we work with a lot of the same folk. The funny thing is that she had no idea that I had ever smoked and only discovered when I made a joke about doing my best work with an ashtray on one side and a beer on the other. It was a casual remark but it's the first time ever that I've found someone who was surprised that I smoked. Most are surprised that I dont.

2010 is fast becoming the year of giving up. I haven't really mentioned it here but another of my addictions is that I like to go for a couple of beers every night on the way home. Let's keep things in perspective. I never had more than three beers and then went home. Thing is at home there would also be cold cans in the fridge. Because money has been really tight, at the start of this year I've had to cut out the nightly visits to the pub. At first that was saving me some money but latterly has just meant that I need more beer in the fridge.

Everybody has a challenge to meet whether it be their weight or their fitness or whatever. For me the next big challenge is drink. Unlike smoking though I don't want to stop drinking. I want to moderate what I'm doing. So now I'm going to be keeping track of my drinking on here as well if no one minds. The aim is that over the next two weeks I'll cut out the weekday drinking. Only once that works out can I decide what to do about the weekends.

This blog should carry a health warning really. Following this on a regular basis could be seriously good for your health.

Zoe also mentioned setting up a chat room for restless smokers. Personally I think that would be a great idea and I'd set it up myself if I knew how. The only thing is that in the early days it might be very quiet. For what it's worth if it could be done and you could get some docs behind it, it could be one of the most successful sites on the web. If anyone has any ideas how to get something like that up and running give me a shout.

In summary folks. Kath, Poet and Zoe stop smoking this week. I'm going to cut down on the drink and you (the reader) are going to figure out how to make a chat room work. I'll probably blog again tomorrow but in the mean time.....

Stay hooked

A cautionary tale about cyberstalking

Hi Folks

Just a quick bit of geeky stuff I wanted to share with you that has nothing to do with smoking (or not smoking).

It's the Easter weekend and cold grey and miserable where I am. As a result I've spent a bit of time on my PC. This is never good as it often results in my aimlessly wandering about the net installing would be must have gadgets and gizmo's that, often as not, slow down or just plain kill my old PC. Will I ever learn? Hell no. I like it and for every 100 bad applications that I either download and delete or that try to delete me I usually find at least one good one that becomes part of my 'default installation' and that I recommend to friends who think I'm dead computer savvy as a result.

Results have included:

VLC media player that can play just about any media you throw at it
CC Cleaner that completely, forensically, removes your browsing history
AVG Anti virus. As irritatingly intrusive as Norton but free
Vistamizer. All the good bits of Vista, and now windows 7, without Vista or windows 7 (slows your start up though)
Divx and Xvid. Not quite sure what they do but if you struggle with a movie file one of these badboys will sort it out
Yahoo widgets. You probably shouldn't but you sooooo will want to. (Slows start up to a crawl)
Adaware. Kills tracker types dead
NCH Software. A variety of free stuff that helps with things like CD burning and web cams.

All of the above are free and, by my reckoning, essential. But now try this. Google analytics. It's something they used to sell that has now become free. It monitors your web-site and reports on things like how much traffic you've had and even where in the world it's from. I discovered this on Saturday and installed it straight away. By Sunday I had fascinating stats telling me what pages people had viewed, how long they spent on the site and even where in the world viewers come from. Fantastic. Wish I'd had it from the start. Today I spent a bit more time working with the various reports and found that I could find out how you got to: http://tquittinwithchampix.blogspot.com/
It showed me what site you had linked from like google or blogger. But, and here comes the stalker bit, there was also a site whose name i recognised from here. It was their personal blog. On their blog site they had a link to this site and someone, who viewed their site, must have clicked that link.

Of course I followed this and got to someones personal blog. I then felt guilty because if they had wanted me to go there they would have invited me. Suddenly I felt like a parent must do when they discover their childs diary.

Anyhow, no harm done, but be aware that when you access a site via a link, that link can work it's way right back to you. Can I also thank you for linking my blog from yours.

Having said all that. Install it, it's mad fun.

And by the way if anyone would like me to link their site from this one they are more than welcome. Just send me your URL and you can sit below Allen Carr and the NHS.

Speak soon

Day 65

Hi Folks

If you forget about the sneaky cig I had on day 27 it's now gone 50 days since I smoked. If you take it from day 27 then it's still fast approaching 40 days without a cig. Gone are the days when I spent every minute wrestling with the demons in my head. Nowadays it can be up to eight hours before I think about smoking. It does still hit me at some point most days but I can cope with that.

How's it going for Kath and Poet? They are just starting out at this and I wish them all the luck in the world. We've also been visited by Peets who quit on day 9 of Champix and, reading between the lines, is possibly still considering whether he might just manage a sneaky one. If you are thinking about a sneaky one or worrying that you'll never stop missing smoking then it's probably time to use the link to Allen Carrs book at the side of the page. I know, when Kelly sent it I slagged him off a wee bit, but he does have some stuff that might get your head where it needs to be when it comes to staying stopped. I actually do know someone who quit using his method alone.

This is also a big week for the blog. Why? Well despite having almost no online presence, despite the fact that even people who know about the site can't find it unless they type the exact terms, the counter at the bottom of this page says that we're going to have 100 hits any moment now. I'm chuffed with that. Unlike most people I don't have an online life. I'm not a technophobe, quite the opposite, but, and I'm maybe showing how unhip I am when I say this, I'm not on Bebo, Twitter, my space etc. The last time I even thought about doing something like that was friends reunited. I got put off a bit by all the spam they sent me and have avoided it ever since. To this day they still send me emails.

So this is my online life and 100 individual ISPs have found this site. Ok between work , home and the laptop three of those ISPs are mine. Two probably originate from the wife and the same again from my mum. But it's still a lot of folk discovering a diary about smoking (or not smoking as the case may be). It would be nice to get an update on how everyone is getting on. We started with Jamie T, then Kerry B, then the mysterious Jo with the time difference. Thanks to Jo we gained Kelly and Allison. Then Kerry Homes joined and most recently Poet, Kath and Peets. If all of us do well then we've cost the tobacco industry thousands already. Scary thought.

I'm not going to get too excited by all this discovery though as I posted a question on training zone on Friday night and it had been read almost 70 times by Saturday night. Now that is online presence.

This week!!! well I've got my head down working on some stuff that my parent company in Europe (where smoking is often mandatory but somehow safer) want my UK employers to implement. It's a great lesson in cultures. In the parent company when they introduce a change they just introduce it. They get their workers together, a few hundred at a time, and tell them what's changing and the workers just go with it. When they ask us in the UK to do the same, we create a project, appoint a team to work on it full time, and report daily on why it's the wrong thing to do. Where I work there is a drugs and alcohol policy with random testing. At our European HQ the vending machines have measures of wine amongst the options. You cant see the 'no smoking' signs in their pubs for smoke. We get arrested for ignoring them in our pubs. It makes us seem more up tight and yet, when you deal with them, it seems that us Brits stress them out more than they do us.

Why am I telling you this? Because I'm having to get all creative and clever about training material to impress them. Traditionally that should involve a marked increase in smoking on my part. But not this time. So what will be the effect???

Stay hooked to find out.