Well, Dave has lifted the veil of silence. He's been quitting smoking for the last three weeks, so maybe he's been, umm, distracted. Sounds like he is having a tough time of it--reading between the lines, he still seems to have the urge. But he's a longtime smoker, so it's understandable I guess. Hard for me to know what he's going thru, since I have never smoked more than a puff or two (tobacco) my entire life. But I understand that it's hard.
http://www.kfog.com/Blog/Blog/ViewItem.asp?Entry=2252&id=35
Dave's friend Larry is a damned fool. Other reasons to quit smoking: (1) so you can capably walk 5 miles again, have the energy to maybe walk to work once in a while; (2) to reduce the odds that your family will have to watch you wither into a cancer-ridden husk; (3) to save, in a modest estimate of three packs a week, over $100 a month.
I smoked from roughly summer '93 to Sept. '96. I was fortunate enough to have never gotten physically hooked on the nicotine, so when I quit upon moving to SF (that is, upon realizing I'd double my chances of finding a roommate if I were a non-smoker), I didn't have much difficulty. So I can't empathize with the difficulty in quitting. I can, however, reiterate the value in trying.
I agree with you in principle, Gaz, but will point out that I CAN still walk 5 miles, or more, and do on a pretty regular basis (walking a golf course, which I do at least once a week, turns into about a 5 mile hike, and my course is very hilly). A couple years ago some friends and I were camping up in the Sierra's and hiked 4 miles up to a lake at about 9 thousand feet. After I beat them all up the hill, one of them mentioned that he was amazed I did so well going up the hill, considering I smoked. The anti-smoking lobby has done a great job in portraying smokers as weak and dying, which, though partially true, is blown out of proportion. It's not quite "Reefer Madness", but it is scare tactics.
