Category Archives: My Life

One Year

One year. ONE YEAR! I have made it one full year smoke free.

At 12:15pm on 2/22/12 I started with my V2 ecigs and now, a year later, I couldn’t be happier about the results. Let me tell you about it.

It has been a great year, but there have been some challenges along the way. In spite of those challenges I would recommend switching to anyone who smokes.

Now, when I say “smoke free” that’s not technically 100% true. Over the past year I have bought, as closely as I can remember, about four packs of analogs. When my kit arrived I had three or four analogs left which I smoked over the course of my first two weeks. I also bought a pack there in the beginning as a kind of crutch. As anyone who has smoked can attest, one of the worst parts of smoking is the urge to have a pack with you at all times. You are planning to buy one before your last pack is gone. So I bought one “just in case”. I smoked some of them, even though I quickly had come to hate the taste. That pack lasted me over the next few months. My next (and last) two packs were purchased due to power issues, one of the downsides to ecigs, which I’ll describe later. The first time was pure user error – I forgot my charger at work on a Friday. An ecig battery without a charger is about as useful as a car without gas. You ain’t goin’ nowhere. The last time was when my charger, for some reason, didn’t seem to want to charge. But that has been it for the past 365 days.

Before I weigh in with all the positives, let me be honest and describe a few negatives.

  • Power – as I mentioned above, when you are out of power, you are out of luck. You need to have enough spare batteries, and the means to charge them, to make this work. Which leads me to the next negative.
  • Standardization – There isn’t any. The number of configurations is amazing. It makes finding something that suits you easier, but that is countered by the incompatibility of one setup with another. There are three major components to any ecig system, the battery (or power source), a place to hold the liquid, and a heating element to turn that liquid into vapor. The parts are not interchangeable from system to system. There are inside threads and outside threads, and threads of different sizes. There are containers of different sizes and heating elements that require different ohms and watts and things that make you think that you need an EE degree to operate. That’s before you even start talking about DIY mods.
  • Availability – Currently the majority of ecigs and accessories are purchased online. While the option to purchase ecigs from retail stores is increasing rapidly, there is nowhere near the options that are available for analogs. When you can find items you are faced with the standardization issue and quality that can be all over the map.

The overwhelming positive is the utter lack of desire for an analog cigarette. As long as I have a charged battery and a filled cart I have never thought, “I’d rather have an analog instead.” Of course there are many more positives.

  • I feel better. Reputable ecig companies make no claims about the health benefits of switching from smoking. I certainly don’t have the medical background to say that I am healthier, but I can tell you with out a doubt that I feel better. The first thing that Cindy noticed was that my persistent coughing had stopped. I noticed that I didn’t tire as quickly. In short, I just feel better.
  • I Smell. Wait, that didn’t come out right. I can smell things again. That can be good and bad, especially when you have an eight year old boy living in the house. I am still struck by this when I smell a freshly mowed lawn or orange blossoms.
  • Things taste so much better. That may not be the best thing for a fat old guy like me, but I sure do enjoy tasting food again.
  • I’m a rebel! It’s kind of fun to vape in a store or restaurant. I’ve received some strange looks, but in the entire year not one person has said a word. That was probably the hardest thing to overcome, vaping away in the aisles of Wally World.
  • Variety – For the most part I stick with my menthol flavored liquid, but I love trying all of the many options that are available. Fruit flavors, food flavors, more flavors than you can imagine, and even a few that are too weird for me.
  • $$$ – One of my prime motivations for switching was financial rather than physical. And the savings have been tremendous. I wasn’t the heaviest of smokers, probably a little under a pack a day. Even my cheep-o brand was costing me $25-$30 a week. When I realized how much that added up to in a year, I was motivated! I have a spreadsheet that tracks my costs and calculates my savings. I don’t have it here at home, but the last time I updated it my projected savings for the year was about $850. That’s huge.

That’s my first year wrap up. If you are a smoker and your looking for a way to stop I really recommend giving ecigs a try.

Going forward I want to continue to educate others, and work to keep the government from doing anything stupid with regards to vaping. As I wrote in my comments to the FDA,

The positives of electronic cigarettes are many, and I ask that you cautiously and honestly consider their benefits when adopting any policies related to their use. Please do not regulate them out of existence, or make them difficult to obtain or less attractive to use. I don’t want to go back to smoking, and electronic cigarettes have made that possible.

On to year two.

Cross-posted from My Vapor Life.

This Time It’s Personal

On February 22nd I get to celebrate my first anniversary of being smoke free. That was the day my electronic cigarette starter kit arrived. I had try to quit before, on my own. That didn’t work at all. Switching to ecigs has worked, and it’s worked amazingly well.

So, leave it to the government to want to screw that up.

Section 918(b) requires that the Secretary of HHS, after consultation with recognized scientific, medical, and public health experts, submit a report to Congress examining how best to regulate, promote, and encourage the development of “innovative products and treatments (including nicotine-based and non-nicotine-based products and treatments)” to better achieve the following three goals: (1) Total abstinence from tobacco use, (2) reductions in consumption of tobacco, and (3) reductions in the harm associated with continued tobacco use.

Many people will react with a “so what?” Well, it’s government regulation, and we already have enough of them, and this time it’s personal. Here is what V2, my distributor, has to say on the subject:

This added regulation could have a negative impact on the availability, accessibility and cost of V2 Cigs and other e-cig brands’ products.
But you can make sure that your opinion is heard!

If V2 Cigs electronic cigarettes have made a positive difference in your life, please share your story with the FDA. Ask them not to implement additional regulations which would limit your ability to obtain V2 Cigs.

Read the notice of public hearing on the FDA website. You can click on the blue Comment Now button in the upper right corner of the FDA’s site to submit your comments through Wednesday, January 16, 2013.

Your opinion matters! This is your chance to make a difference for the entire electronic cigarette industry. Visit the FDA Website today and encourage your friends to do the same. Together, we will be heard!

Quite frankly, I don’t trust the government to get this right. Some of the advantages of vaping include

  • Being able to vape where you can’t smoke.
  • A near endless variety of flavors. Everything from tobacco and menthol flavors, to coffee, chocolate covered cherry, fruits, mints, and some that I wouldn’t even want to try. I mean, I love bacon, but I wouldn’t want to vape it.
  • A big, big money savings. Of course the government is going to want to tax these products even more than they want to regulate them.I saved nearly $1000 so far. I’m sure the government wants a part of that. A BIG part.

All of this is on top of how much better I feel. Ecigs are not marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking, but the pure fact is I feel 100% better since I switched. I can breath easier, walk further, do more without feeling exhausted.

If you’re a smoker I do encourage you to give ecigs a try. I suggest V2 (Use the code MyVaporLife at checkout for a discount!) because that’s what worked for me, and I’m an affiliate. You can also search for ecigs, but I urge you to do your homework. There are a few scams out there. Be very cautious with “free trials”.

Here is the comment I left at the FDA site:

I am a 57 year old male, and I don’t know when I started smoking, other than it was sometime in my thirties, but I do know when I quit – February 22nd, 2011. I had tried to quit previously on my own, using the patch, and with gum. None of those methods worked.
On 2/22/11 my electronic cigarette starter kit arrived. Since that time I have smoked two and a half packs of regular cigarettes – the half pack I had left when the starter kit arrived, one when I was still starting with the e-cigs, and the last one when I forgot my battery charger at work. All of that was within the first month, so I can honestly claim to have been smoking free for more than 10 months.
I can personally tell you that I can breathe easier, exercise and work around the house without getting so easily winded, taste and smell better, and I greatly enjoy the nearly $1000 that I’ve saved. I am convinced that e-cigs have improved my quality of life and that I would not have quit any other way.
I urge you to take a thorough and honest look at the science, and to include in your evaluation the positive impact electronic cigarettes have for so many people. In my office alone four (out of five) smokers have fully replaced traditional cigarettes with electronic ones.
Most of all I urge you to NOT remove or regulate the positives that I, and others, find so attractive about e-cigs:
• The variety of flavors that are available
• The low cost relative to traditional cigarettes
• The ability to vape whenever and wherever I want
• The ability to use a product that has, in my personal experience, allowed me to stop smoking
In my opinion, removing these incentives will do greater harm than good. I am convinced that should e-cigs become harder to obtain, or less attractive to use, I would in all likelihood return to smoking. I am sure I am not alone in this belief.
The positives of electronic cigarettes are many, and I ask that you cautiously and honestly consider their benefits when adopting any policies related to their use. Please do not regulate them out of existence, or make them difficult to obtain or less attractive to use. I don’t want to go back to smoking, and electronic cigarettes have made that possible.
Thank you.

Cross posted at My Vapor Life.

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My Geeky Side

Did I ever tell you I’m a gamer. If not, let me reveal my geeky side.

I grew up when Pac-Man and Asteroids were taking the place of pinball machines at the places we hung out. I dropped quarter after quarter chasing ghosts through a maze and blasting big rocks in to smaller ones.

I played text adventures on my Commodore 64 and games on my first PC.

I like to play online games. I’ve played some of the casual, Facebook kind of games, some strategy type online games, and some of those games where you do something and nothing happens for two days. I despise those. I had to stop the Facebook games when I realized I was more concerned with my crops than the height of the grass in the yard.

But one of my favorites has always been WoW. I tried it on my stepdaughter’s account years ago, and added my own account a couple of years back. I only have one level 85 so far, but a big reason for that is that I’m a bit of an altaholic. It’s only in the last six months or so that I’ve really settled in.

One of the things that I’ve always wanted to try was running a guild. Not any guild, but a casual, drama free guild aimed at the more mature among us. As I wrote on my Geezer Gamer site:

Geezer Guild is a World of Warcraft guild on the Greymane server. It’s aimed at players who are not tweens, teens, or twenty-somethings. In other words, those who remember when Pong was amazing and new, and who dropped quarter after quarter into Pac-Man and Asteroid machines.

That doesn’t mean we won’t accept younger players, but we will be focusing on players who have been playing since before Y2K (and who remember what that meant).

Additionally, this is going to be a friendly, social guild, and a learning guild. That doesn’t mean we can’t do some serious damage in game, just not to each other.

If you’re interested, drop me a note at lakelandjim at gmail dot com or whisper Patreaquila, Breekhouse, Deekayeagle, or Blueagle in game.

School Starts Back Today!

It’s the day that kids hate and parents love, the beginning of a new school year. And to be honest, kids are looking forward to it too. It’s tomorrow and the days after that they dread.

This is going to be a very interesting year for us. We are heading in three different directions. One is in High School, one in Middle School, and one still in Elementary School.

Sleep patterns (including mine) have to change and some other habits need to be modified. Time to get ‘em moving.

A Rare Wednesday Off

Normally, I’m a Monday to Friday kind of guy. It’s one of the many things I like about my day job. Every 5th week I have to work Saturday, and typically get the following Monday off. I worked this past Saturday, and this week I asked for Wednesday instead of Monday as my day off. More about why in a moment.

I could probably count on one hand the number of Wednesdays I’ve not been at work over the past five plus years, and yet this is the second time this month. Independence Day was just two weeks ago and the office was closed.

Anyone who is accustomed to working Monday to Friday and having a two-day weekend, a day off mid-week is a bit disconcerting. I worked six days last week, Monday to Saturday. I was off on Sunday, worked Monday and yesterday, off today and then I’ll work two more days before I get my normal two-day weekend.

So, why did I ask for Wednesday off this week?

In just over five weeks the Republican National Convention will be held at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Nearly 4,500 delegates and alternates, around 15,000 credentialed media, and other visitors whose numbers will approach 50,000 will be in the Tampa Bay area the week of August 27-30. They will be traveling from their 16,000 rooms in 105 hotels on 400 motor coaches to the Tampa Bay Times Forum and the adjacent Tampa Convention Center. 1

To help pull this off, around 7,500 volunteers have been recruited. I am one of those volunteers, and tonight is our orientation. I am really looking forward to being involved with this convention. As of now I don’t even know what my role will be. I’m pretty sure my job won’t be escorting Mitt Romney, his VP pick, or other speakers to the stage. If they go with my talents I’m sure I’ll be standing in a hallway somewhere, pointing, and saying, “the public restrooms are that way.”

My dream job would be to work with the “Special Media”, those who, “do not fall into a category represented by the Congressional Press Galleries.” It would be great to meet some whose work I’ve only read online.

I’ll know in about 12 hours just what my role will be. I’ll share it with you, if I can, tonight. Until I leave for Tampa there’s still a yard that needs mowing. I’ll get on that now. Enjoy your Wednesday. I know I will.

Notes:

  1. 2012 By The Numbers Fact Sheet ↩

Getting Sporty

It’s certainly no secret that I’ve been a real slacker when it comes to posting here. There are a few reasons, but burnout probably leads the list. Not “I don’t want to write anymore” burnout, but “I’m tired of writing about politics” burnout. What’s odd is that I’m still just as politically engaged, and totally invested in making “The Won” “The One and Done”. And maybe burnout’s not the right word. It’s more a case of political writer’s block.

I’m hoping that I can clear my head by writing on something different. With that in mind I set up bRight & Early Sports.

My hope is that by writing about something other than politics I can get all of my writing jump started.

That’s my goal. And, I like sports. Let me be clear, I’m not a sports expert, I’m a fan. And not the kind of fan who knows every player, schedule, and stat. I’m the kind of fan that likes to sit on the couch with the remote and click from Baseball to NASCAR to Golf. There will be a bit of nostalgia thrown in too. Please, click on over and check it out.

Follow up to Consolidation

Twelve days ago I wrote a post titled Consolidation. I mentioned that I have control over 5 hosting accounts, 11 domain names, and 20 associated sites. I’ve spent the past week making a plan of attack. Over the past few days I have been in the process of implementing that plan.

ProCleanExtreme, Spot-Trot, and ValetsPlus are gone. This site, bRight&Early, is moved to one of the other hosting accounts. It went smoothly, didn’t it? I bet you never even noticed.

The only “move” that still needs to take place is Blogs.4Bauer.com. I’ll do that this weekend. That will reduce things considerably – two hosting accounts that are paid up for quite a while, and just a few domain names. The domains will hang around until it’s time for them to be renewed. What is odd about all of this is that I didn’t really spend a lot of time or effort on any of the sites. I just always felt as if I should be.

So, why am I doing all of this?

Well, part of the reason is to clear out the clutter. There was a lot of clutter. It was also done to make way for a few other projects that were already in the works.

The biggest project is helping with my county GOP’s executive committee web site. I am excited about doing that work.

That brings me to the last bit of news. I made a big deal about quitting smoking last July. I did really well for a long time. Really well, considering that I didn’t do anything other than put them down. No pills, no gum, no patch. It worked until our one car died and the stress of dealing with that situation gave me the excuse I needed to start back. There wasn’t a plan “B”. Working in an office with four other smokers didn’t help.

Fast forward to late 2011. My boss tried electronic cigarettes that he found for sale at the local flea market. He had some success, but the quality was poor, to say the least. Some time before Thanksgiving one of my other co-workers tried V2 brand on the internet. Next my boss, then my third and forth office mate ordered kits. They’ve been very happy with the results. I ordered my starter kit which arrived last week.

I’m sharing my story about switching, along with e-cigarette information at My Vapor Life. If you’re looking for information, or just want to follow my progress, I invite you to take a look

We now return you to your regular blog which is already in progress.

The Day Ahead

Here’s a look at the day ahead for me:

Fun day for Jim

Got a call at work on Monday telling me the laundry room was flooding. Rushed home, shut off the water, examined the carnage. As I suspected, and feared, our water heater that is (was) older than Dick Clark had decided to pull a Julian Assange and then retire. The good news, if any, was that I found a practically new water heater on craigslist for $50. Not that I have an extra $50 laying around, but you do what you have to do. The bad news? I have to put it in myself.

I don’t talk about it much, but my boss and job are awesome. A quick text and I was able to get the day off to play Curly. The new (used) water heater is about twice as tall as the old one. The pipes are not. I get to change that today.

I hope your day is more fun than what I anticipate. I’ll let you know how it goes.

A Brand New Me

I mentioned on Saturday that, “I am even more of a Geezer today” and I hinted there would be more later. It’s later.

You see, I turned 56 on Saturday. I didn’t run out and buy a new Testerossa (not that I could afford the key fob for one. Besides, a classic Mustang or ‘Vette would be more to my liking). No, but I did change something. Me.

From the time I started shaving I’ve had at least a mustache. Yes, it was the 70′s, but it wasn’t any great fashion statement, I just never was very good at shaving the real estate between my nose and upper lip. After a while it just became natural.

Even into the 80′s and 90′s I always wore the ‘stache. I’m no Tom Selleck. Heck, I’m no John Bolton, but having a hairy upper lip was as much a part of me as hazel eyes and a strange sense of humor. It’s not that I chose not to shave it, I didn’t even think about shaving it.

Over the years I would occasionally grow a beard. Not all the time, but off and on. Until the last 10 year. Now, I don’t even remember the last time I didn’t have a full beard. Some time it would be neatly trimmed, and other times it would be needing to be trimmed. One theory (and I’m pretty sure this is accurate) is that I was just to lazy to shave. I never did care for it much. I didn’t even have a razor anymore!

I changed that on Friday.

New MeAt least I bought the razor on Friday. Then, I nearly chickened out. Friday night, Saturday, most of the day on Sunday – the razor sat, unused, in the bathroom. Finally, Sunday afternoon I took the plunge. After ten years of the beard, it was gone.

I look in the mirror and don’t even recognize myself. I think I like it, but it’s a big change. I sure don’t remember that second chin being under there. At least it’s cheaper than a sports car.

Geezer Gamer

You probably know I’m an old geezer. You may not know I’m also a gamer. I love playing online games, and I’ve created a blog for gamers like me who aren’t tweens, teens, or twenty-somethings — GeezerGamer.

My latest post takes a look at Star Wars: The Old Republic. I was invited to the latest round of beta testing, but my system wasn’t quite up to the task.

FYI, I am even more of a Geezer today. More about that later.