RE: Possible solution to smoking cigarettes
Congrats to y'all.
I was a 2-3 pack a day smoker for 40 years and quit this year on Earth Day (4/24/08). I've been using the nicotine patches. I have less than three more weeks to go on Step 3 and then I'll be done.
In January, Maryland slapped another $1 of tax on each pack, so that even the el cheapo brands were close to $5 pack. I feel like a fool saying that with all the evidence of how I was wrecking my health and shortening my life with cigs, it was the $$$ issue that finally got me to quit. But I guess whatever works is a good motive.
I'm 5-1/2 years away from retirement (at 62), and paying off a pile of debt. I want to buy a small class C motorhome in which to fulltime when I retire. But I before I can save any money towards that, I have to pay off the debts. So if I kept flushing close to $200 per month down the toilet for cigarettes, my dream of spending my golden years summering in the Adirondacks and wintering in the desert would stay a dream, and never become a reality. Not to mention that even if I managed to buy a motorhome, I might not live to enjoy it very long.
My employer's healthcare plan paid for the patches. So I did it, picking Earth Day because I'd be doing nice things for my internal bodily "environment", the air in my apartment and personal vicinity, and Chesapeake Bay (into which my street-flung butts would no longer be swept).
The patches helped with the physical cravings for nicotine, but I needed to find a way to deal with the psychological/emotional desire to smoke. So I created a little mantra: whenever I found myself thinking "I want a cigarette" I immediately countered that with "No - I want a MOTORHOME!"
The power of the RV is amazing. :)
Leenite
RE: Info on Wind Generators (work-camping)
The CBS newsmagazine "Sunday Morning" did a story on wind turbines in Texas a few weeks ago. Here are a couple of links at the CBS News website:
Video of the program:
hhttp://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4205615n
Story (text) on the subject at CBS News website:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/02/sunday/main3563344.shtml
Good luck - hope some of this helps.
Leenite
