Quitter

You know, I've tried repeatedly to quit smoking, and finally realized that I couldn't force myself to quit, and that I'd quit whenever I got so disgusted with it that I just couldn't do it any more. I think I am finally getting to that point.

I quit smoking in my car some time ago, and I decided several days ago that I would no longer smoke in my house. That immediately cut down my cigarette intake from around a pack a day to just five or six a day. And you know what? I haven't missed it much. In fact, when I've gone outside to smoke today (four times so far), I haven't even been smoking the entire cigarette. I get pretty grossed out about halfway through and put it out each time.

I'm used to smoking while I'm at my computer, and thought I would really miss it, but I haven't missed it at all for the most part. I'm not feeling any withdrawals or anything.

I think I'm on my way to finally becoming a nonsmoker! Even if I do continue to smoke five or fewer cigarettes per day, or perhaps just smoke socially on occasion, I'll consider that a victory.

No big surprise here, either.

I've liked Edwards ever since he ran with Kerry in 2004:

	John Edwards Score: 37	Agree Immigration Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Social Security Line-Item Veto
-- Take the Quiz! --

A little inspiration

Last night I attended a benefit dinner for Planned Parenthood. It was a huge event, with nearly 900 attendees, and it was a really great evening. Getting to hear both Sarah Weddington and Cecile Richards (daughter of Ann Richards) speak at the same event was priceless. Cecile gave a fantastic speech, and is definitely her mother's daughter -- she demonstrated great poise and a wonderful sense of humor when her microphone was mysteriously cut off in the middle of her speech.

Both of these women are so inspirational, and one thing Cecile said really stuck with me. I can't recall her exact words, but she was talking about her mother's lack of patience for anyone who chooses to just sit around whining about the current state of affairs. She essentially said that her mother's philosophy was that if you aren't willing to get up and do something about it, then you should just be quiet, because whining isn't going to change anything.

Amen to that! I need to step up my efforts to find a position with a non-profit (preferably Planned Parenthood or a similar organization). I really want to do something that I'm passionate about, and something that makes a difference, and sitting around wishing for such a position isn't going to make it happen.

In other news, we got our first real cold front of the season overnight! I was awakened in the wee hours by loud gusts of wind and then thunderstorms, and when I got up this morning to take the recycling to the curb, it was still windy and very cool! We've gone from temps in the low 90s to temps in the 50s, and I'm loving it. Fall weather is my favorite! Sadly, we're supposed to rapidly get back up into the 80s this week, but at least fall seems to finally be on its way.

No surprise here. :)

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Too close to home

My office mate received word today that a woman she used to work with at a different law firm had been missing since Friday. She was last seen walking to the bus stop after work and was not heard from again. She worked at a law firm in the office building directly across the street from ours.

At the same time, we heard that a woman's body had been found on the UT campus this morning, about two dozen blocks from our office.

Sadly, it turned out to be the missing woman, Linda Judd.

Assuming she was abducted on her way to the bus stop, that means someone snatched her literally right outside my office building, and in broad daylight, no less. It's always heartbreaking to hear about something like this happening anywhere, to anyone, but when it happens so close to home, it's really unsettling. I felt nauseous when we found out that the body they'd found was hers. That could have been me or any of the women I work with, so it feels personal, even though I didn't know this poor woman personally.

I've been considering doing this for some time now, but I think I'm going to go ahead and do it -- I'm going to get a concealed carry permit. Whoever did this is still out there, and that really pisses me off.