JENY Webmaster - A Quit Plan Diary

[Jaz-Michael King]

Hi all, I'm Jaz, I'm the Webmaster for JENY and I smoke like a chimney. I'm not particularly interested in quitting, but I would like to cut down quite a bit, and I've never really seen any program that interested me or seemed like it could hold my attention.

However, Dr. Crespy showed me some literature from http://www.smokesignals.net and the cool cigarette box and the tapered, gentle cut down plan piqued my interest. I mean, what self-respecting Webmaster doesn't want his cigarette case talking to the Internet?

So, my kit came today and I'm going to try and document my experience over the next few weeks or months. The plan comes with a chart that shows my habit which I'm going to try and post here also.

http://smokesignals.net/images/croppedFaceplateWithHand.jpeg http://smokesignals.net/images/robinImages/img01292004/mailman.jpg

[Jaz-Michael King]

So, my kit arrived. It contained the cooler-than-cool Internet-ready cigarette case, an easy-to-follow manual, some pamphlets and a CD-Rom that is already doing double duty as a coffee cup coaster.

The case took less than five minutes to set up, I had to set the time and pretty much that was it. Then, I registered for a profile on the site. My instructions so far are to do whatever I want today, which is good, because I'm playing with it like a loon, then the next seven days are my baseline days. I'm to smoke normally for seven days starting tomorrow.

At the end of seven days I connect the cigarette case to my phone and upload my week's cigarette consumption. Then, the site will return a quit plan to my case and start advising me when to smoke.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, which will be my first offical count of how many I smoke a day. I think it's about 30, but I really don't know. I'm up from 6ish til about 1ish every day, and I tend to smoke a lot at night at the computer, so I may be in for a surprise.

[Scott Crespy]

Hi Jaz,

Thanks for evaluating this technology and sharing with us your experiences. I hope you find what you are looking for with it, let me know if I or other members of the community can help in any way.

Your friend,

Scott Crespy

[Jaz-Michael King]

Filled out a short questionnaire online, how confident I am, how I think my friends will react, whether or not I quit when I'm sick, that sort of thing. The Web site surmised the following:

"Your score indicates moderate levels of nicotine dependence. This suggests you are able to exercise reasonable control over your smoking. In the past, you have probably found you could give up nicotine for brief periods for example, when you were sick only to start again when triggered by some situation you associate with smoking. In your case, it is not all about the nicotine -- it is also about the habits that keep you hooked on cigarettes."

The box has started its official baseline count today. I'm up to eight. I have to say that even at this early stage, I'm much more conscious of reaching for a cigarette now that I know it's being counted, and have probably missed one or two because of this.

[Jaz-Michael King]

Not much to report yet, still smoking away while I create my baseline. Consumption is down, I'm definitely smoking less but I think it's just because I've been incredibly busy. Today I've only smoked eight and it's five o'clock. Been in meetings all day.

I will say that the mere knowledge that I'm being counted is affecting me somewhat, when I reach for the pack and instead it's a big silver device that knows I'm smoking... it's definitely slowing me down a little.

[Jaz-Michael King]

So I just checked my personal email for the first time in a long time and realized that the company that sent me the device has been sending me "Quit Tips" every day since last Friday.

Yesterday's tip was "keep a diary of your days". Ha!

Todays:

"Every smoker has them- hidden barriers lurking in the background. Even now when your eagerness to stop is high, there may be certain situations that you already know could get in the way of success. Just as you list your reasons for quitting, write down the barriers that you can identify now. Just knowing they are there gives you more control in overcoming them. The idea is to "expect the unexpected" and to prepare yourself for things popping up that might otherwise derail you. Include on your list the people who depend on you, who may present hurdles you cannot control."

Needless to say, I'm not doing any of this.

[Jaz-Michael King]

Still building baseline, will be uploading tonight. That means tomorrow we should have graphs!

[Jaz-Michael King]

Today's Allotment: 13
You will quit: Wednesday 2/2/2005
Tomorrow's Allotment: 16
Only 44 days to your quit date!


So starting yesterday (Sunday), my device began its miserly cigarette distribution plan.

I'm not sure how the math works, but I only get 13 today? From a daily average of 23? Not happy about that. At least tomorrow I get 16. Still, I was anticipating an allotment of around 20 for the first few days.

This first chart is my consumption history from the baseline week. Each red diamond is a cigarette.

This second one will compare my daily actual use versus scheduled use. Today I've already had to cheat (smoke before my scheduled time) three times on the drive in. I hope it learns more about me before I get disenchanted.

[Jaz-Michael King]

My cigarette case now has a display that lets me know how long I have to wait until my next scheduled ciagrette. When I started the above post, I had 27 minutes to go. Now I have 20. A watched pot...

[Jaz-Michael King]

I just got told that...

Measure Your Success in Money Saved:
In your smoking life, you have spent $38,626.13 for186,150 cigarettes over 17 years.

[Scott Crespy]

The American Cancer Society has launched QuitLink an Internet-based clinical trial. If you or any of the visitors to this discussion are interested in this online resource, we would be interested in having you share your observations about how helpful it is with us (for more information: http://jeny.ipro.org/showthread.php?t=228). Scott Crespy

[Jaz-Michael King]

"Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Jaz was smoking because excess is what Christmas is all about."

Well, I was hoping the device would recorrect and start giving me a slightly higher quota, but no joy. I'm basically living by the device from 9-9, anything before 9am and after 9pm is simply unmanageable. However, I have cut down. Not sure how, but I did.

Your Average Daily Consumption

Week1 23
Week2 19

The big problem is that, for example, today's allottment is 18. Very doable. Tomorrow? Only nine! I can't smoke only nine cigarettes tomorrow. Simply ridiculous. So I'll end up smoking in between allotted cigarettes and that way I just lose track, even if I only want to smoke 18 tomorrow, I'll screw it up because I won't be able to track what time it is vs. how many I've smoked.

Obviously the lack of all night computer fests slowed me down this week, but still, an average below 20 is good news.

Click the following thumbnails to view the latest charts.

[Jaz-Michael King]

Time just flies by when you're chewing your nails down to the quick and chewing more English toffee than your mother would even let you look at, let alone eat.

So... although I thought I had missed a week it appears I missed two. Looking at the numbers, it must have been my subconscious restraining me from posting the abysmal scores from the week before last. Happily, this past week saw a small reduction in the daily average, which may be due to me getting to bed earlier now the holiday season is over. Which is ironic because I'm smoking as I write this and it's midnight. No rest for the wicked.

So here's the updated daily averages:

Week1: 23
Week2: 19
Week3: 19
Week4: 19
Week5: 16

Evidently I had a few weeks of non-compliance there, but I anticipated it both because of the holidays and work load lately. Which is the reason I haven't posted in a while.

Also, the device gives me some strange quotas. One day it gives me 20, the next it gives me ten! I can't do that. So, I lose count and instead of smoking, say, 15 that day,I end up completely ignoring the thing and smoking 25. Ah well.

Whichever way you cut it, I'm down from 23 a day to 16. Kinda.

Graphs are attached. As you can see, I've been trying to get to bed by 12 or 1 at the latest each night, which helps a lot. Speaking of which, I need to go sleep.

[Scott Crespy]

Way to hang in there Jaz. For those of you who find yourselves smoking more while driving in a car, you may want to read a recent article: Quitting Tobacco: Driving or Riding in a Car … Without Smoking (http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/10_8.htm) from the National Cancer Institute.

Scott Crespy

[Jaz-Michael King]

Having some trouble with the device, and I may need to reset it or something.

It's been a while since I uploaded, my current status according to the Web site is

Week1 23
Week2 19
Week3 19
Week4 19
Week5 20
Week6 19
Week7 17
Week8 15

But I cannot get the past two weeks to show up. Soon as I do I'll post the real numbers.