[Overpaid Slacker]

One pack, found under the couch on Sunday while cleaning.

Actually what made it that much easier was having to clean the patina of cigarette smoke off of everything in the apt -- every piece of electronic equipment, every tchochke, everything. I went through about half a gallon of Windex. Yuck. Wish I could get one of SNL's "lung brushes" to get that crap out of my body.

I understand where you're coming from, and you have every right to be proud of having quit smoking. However, I don't want a "streak" to mean anything to me, so if I have a smoke after not having had one in 6 months, it's not a disappointment; there's no shame.

I'm more concerned with wanting not to fire up than wanting to "say" X+1 more days in the streak. I want not to smoke out of respect for myself than out of respect for a streak.

I respect that you haven't had a smoke in such a long time; no doubt. My point is, and has been, that I've stopped smoking and broken a pattern of addiction; but I haven't "quit" in the idiomatic sense of never ever ever having a smoke again. I expect that I will have a cigarette now and again, so to me a streak is not a relevant metric.

The best thing for me, to guarantee that I will not slip back into a pattern or practice of smoking, is to get on the bike and start the very long road back to some level of cardio/respiratory fitness. It's so difficult for me to build any "lungs" that, once I do, I don't want to sacrifice what I've worked so freaking hard to achieve just for a smoke.

JP