It’s been fun, but life marches on.
Time to take a breather.
Good luck, and thanks for all the fish!
A Darkship Bleg
NOTE: This post has been stuck to the top for the time being. Newer posts are below…
Unstickied 6/5/2016 5:03 PM
I do not do advertisements. This blog is where I put up pretty pictures and occasionally post caustic comments on current catastrophes (YSWIDT?). But it has come to my attention that someone I know and love (though she doesn’t know me from Adam) is unwell and could use a little support.
Sarah Hoyt is a scifi author of no little renown, an immigrant and naturalized American originally from Portugal. The stories she writes are topnotch to say the least. She has a blog, According to Hoyt, which you might find entertaining.
How can I help, you say? Well, she has no Kickstarter, and doesn’t beg. She might possibly be mortified by what I’m doing here, so let’s keep it on the down-low, OK?
I’m a firm believer in combining good deeds with entertainment, and since she is an author, I can think of no better way to help her out than to put up links to some of her books. There are others, equally good (did I mention she’s an excellent writer?), but these are the ones that stuck with me the most. The links are to the Kindle versions but feel free to buy the paperback or hardback versions- hell, buy all three!
I am a proud Usain. You can be, too!
One favor- if you do buy one of the books (though you really should buy all four), drop her a note on the blog, and tell her I said to ask her to send you a copy of her famous audio file of her saying “Moose & Squirrel”. Perhaps she will send you a copy.
“Life is Change, how it differs from the rocks…”
Changed the blog theme again! Yay me!
Extra credit if you can name the source of the quote in the title…
New Clothes
We have a new look! I have, after much turmoil and soul-searching (nah, it was an impulse decision), changed the blog from its backwards eighties look to a new, shiny Eighties look! Yay me.
Hope ya’ll like it.
Happy New Year Ya’ll!!
An Unpaid but Sincere Endorsement
Those of you who know me know I have smoked for most of my life- I started at 13 in the ‘olden daze’ when it was frowned upon but not all that hard, at least nothing like it is today. At one point I was quit for a dozen years. I slipped, started back, and was back to two packs a day within a month, where I have remained for the past 15 years an addict of a decidedly nasty habit. Ms. JW is close to a 3-packer, plus she likes menthol, which I understand makes the habit even harder to lose.
About a month ago we began an experiment- we both switched over to the new E-cigs. She got the full rig- 3 rechargeable batteries, a little USB dongle to recharge them, and the cartridges to go with them. I went with the disposable, being the suspicious sort. Basically these things work by heating a gelatine compound which contains nicotine and you inhale the vapor, thus duplicating the act of traditional cigarette smoking.
The things are fantastic. No smoke. No smell. No ashes or ashtrays. No cracking the car window. No offending those around you, or toddling off to some ‘smoke hole’ to enjoy your little habit. Plus at least for now they’re not taxed to hell and back so the equivalent of a carton of cigs costs between 5-15 dollars. You also have a selection of strengths of nicotine content which allows you to begin tapering that off, all without losing the little routine of having a smoke, which is a big part of the habit and where many who wish to quit get tripped up.
Like I said, both my lady and myself have been using these for around a month now, and the big test came with the ice storm this week- our shipment was delayed… we were gonna be ‘outta smokes’! Only those who have the habit know how non-trivial that little scenario is… so we both bought a pack of our old cigarettes to hold us over.
THEY WERE HORRIBLE. Nasty taste, smelly smoke, frigging ashes everywhere, smoke leaving a deposit on anything close by… In other words, in almost no time at all, with no freaking withdrawal or suffering, we have both lost the desire for traditional burning tobacco. Yes, there’s a habit still there, but one I can see tapering off to nothing after a time.
Sense of smell and taste has come back. No more coughing or trashy mouth in the morning… no more mess. We’re both completely sold, and I have an utterly clear conscience uttering the praises of a pretty nifty scientific advance. We get ours here, but a little time with Bing will find any number of people selling these things.
I would suggest that any of you who smoke out there jump on this before the government notices and comes along with taxes and restrictions to screw it all up- it really does allow you to have the pleasure of smoking (and to you non-smokers, yes, it IS a pleasure) with almost none of the downside.
Remember…
Tomorrow is Talk Like A Pirate Day!
