Roxy Bisquaint

How freaking cool is this? Electronic cigarettes with no smoke and no tobacco. That video shows an older model, but now they make ones that are smaller and actually look like cigarettes. They use a battery and an atomizer to heat up a nicotine cartridge and you inhale the vapor. Awesome. Well, you'd have to be a smoker to appreciate it, but I think it's way cool. I had no idea these things existed.

I think their claims of being able to use them anywhere are a tad unrealistic. I can only imagine what would happen if you puffed on this thing in a shopping mall or something. It doesn't matter that there's no tobacco and no smoke. There would be pitchforks and torches over the sight of the water vapor being exhaled. But what I'm *hoping* is it'll work as a true substitute for cigarettes. I'm not so worried about being addicted to nicotine. Actually, I'm not worried about that at all. It's the smoke that's bad, not the nicotine itself.

And since I am always impulsive with the credit card late at night, I went for it. I was going to get the white one because it looks more like a real cigarette, but then I thought puffing on something silver could be kind of cool. So here's what I ordered:



There are apparently several companies making them. NJOY wasn't the cheapest, but seemed to be the most well-established. And from what I read, this product skirts the edge of legality. So I figured when inhaling something that isn't FDA approved, reputable is better than saving a few bucks.

I should be getting it in sometime next week and I'm looking forward to trying it out. I'll keep you posted in case any other smokers out there want to give it a go.

You know there was a time where I actually sat down with checkbook and bank statement once a month to reconcile my measely checking account. If I was off by $1.23, I'd actually go back through, recalculate all my checks and deposits and withdrawals and figure out where I'd screwed up. I had an obsessive need to make sure the bottom line in my checkbook was accurate and also that I'd made the mistake and not the bank. Thank God those days are over.

I don't have to care about $1.23 anymore (can you even imagine?) and I haven't kept up a checkbook in years. There's just no need. All my finances are online through the bank. I very rarely even write checks (usually just when some neighborhood kid comes around selling fundraiser stuff). I don't get receipts at the bank machine. I never use a debit card (I stick everything on a credit card and pay it at the end of the month). I don't bother to track my money at all. When it's time to pay bills, I log in and see what I've got. And thanks to overdraft protection, I don't even have to forecast ahead to make sure there will be enough money in checking for when bills are scheduled to be paid. If there's not enough, the bank automatically transfers it over from savings. Simple.

Or maybe it's too simple. Maybe this is why I suck at math now.