Kybo

[Athan]

What? Four hundred days?  Already?  Seriously?
My oh my how time flies when you're quitting with friends.
Yessireebob, flying indeed.  Why it'll be five hundy in the blink of an eye, before I can even think of something witty and profound to say.
In short, I. Quit. With. You. Today.  !

[Athan]

Day 394

Today would have been my sister's 54th birthday.  It is hard for me to believe she has been gone almost three years.  As much as I miss my sister, I just can't imagine what it must feel like for my parents, brother-in-law, or my nephews.  Tonight I will call my mother on the phone and try to make her day suck a little less.  Then, I will call my brother-in-law and try to distract him for a little while.  Then I will call each of my nephews and tell them how proud their mother would have been of them for what they have achieved since she has been gone. 

My sister spent her 51st (and last) birthday in the hospital fighting breast cancer.  She was pretty far gone by then and we all knew she didn't have much time left.  Those were somber days that will stick with me until I take my last breath.  I now have nobody left that I can share some of my most cherished childhood memories with.

Watching my sister suffer and waste away in the hospital was the kick in the ass that I needed to give me the strength to finally quit tobacco.  It still took me well over a year after my sister passed before I could build up the mental strength to start seriously thinking about quitting.  Only a true addict can understand how difficult it is to battle that inner demon that always wants you to put off quitting for one more day.  But, I finally did it and I have my sister to thank for giving me that final push that I needed.

And today I dedicate my Day 394 to my sister.  Happy Birthday in heaven, sis!   

I read that slack-jawed punched in the chest eyes watering at the conclusion. My heart aches for you Kybo.  Got 5 sisters and can't fathom the loss of a single one. Privileged to have been part of your quit thus far.

[kybo]

Day 394

Today would have been my sister's 54th birthday.  It is hard for me to believe she has been gone almost three years.  As much as I miss my sister, I just can't imagine what it must feel like for my parents, brother-in-law, or my nephews.  Tonight I will call my mother on the phone and try to make her day suck a little less.  Then, I will call my brother-in-law and try to distract him for a little while.  Then I will call each of my nephews and tell them how proud their mother would have been of them for what they have achieved since she has been gone. 

My sister spent her 51st (and last) birthday in the hospital fighting breast cancer.  She was pretty far gone by then and we all knew she didn't have much time left.  Those were somber days that will stick with me until I take my last breath.  I now have nobody left that I can share some of my most cherished childhood memories with.

Watching my sister suffer and waste away in the hospital was the kick in the ass that I needed to give me the strength to finally quit tobacco.  It still took me well over a year after my sister passed before I could build up the mental strength to start seriously thinking about quitting.  Only a true addict can understand how difficult it is to battle that inner demon that always wants you to put off quitting for one more day.  But, I finally did it and I have my sister to thank for giving me that final push that I needed.

And today I dedicate my Day 394 to my sister.  Happy Birthday in heaven, sis!     

[Skolvikings]

Day 376

Congratulations to the 27 members of the April '18 Kings and Queen of Quit for completing their first lap around the sun together.  Kudos to CritRocket, BigSlim, Vertex, FoodBuzz, ehilt623, nybowhunter21, Bottledair, Athan, Patti, skolvikings, Tiz226, Matttt25, Morgan, Mark Enstrom, Mack213, Mkane2008, Tennesseejed, johnbaxter, Doofus, gwhits, Goody, JGromo, Numb, Candutch, ExNuke, and chris2alaska.   That is quite impressive all around. 

Thank you for letting me quit with all of you every day!   

Damn proud to quit with you sir!

We need to have a BBQ cook off, you will wipe the floor with me but it shall be delicious

[kybo]

Day 376

Congratulations to the 27 members of the April '18 Kings and Queen of Quit for completing their first lap around the sun together.  Kudos to CritRocket, BigSlim, Vertex, FoodBuzz, ehilt623, nybowhunter21, Bottledair, Athan, Patti, skolvikings, Tiz226, Matttt25, Morgan, Mark Enstrom, Mack213, Mkane2008, Tennesseejed, johnbaxter, Doofus, gwhits, Goody, JGromo, Numb, Candutch, ExNuke, and chris2alaska.   That is quite impressive all around. 

Thank you for letting me quit with all of you every day!   

[Skolvikings]

So what do you call a man who quits, faithfully posting every day, without fail, for a year?
He's got a northern pike mounted on the wall and it's mouth no longer holds a can.
His name is Kybo.
And he's the shizzle.

And I am damn proud to call him my quit brother..... Shizzle for Nizzle.

[Athan]

So what do you call a man who quits, faithfully posting every day, without fail, for a year?
He's got a northern pike mounted on the wall and it's mouth no longer holds a can.
His name is Kybo.
And he's the shizzle.

[kybo]

Day 325

As some of you probably know every one hundred days I stay quit I allow myself to spend the money I saved from not chewing on things that I probably wouldn't have bought if I was still chewing.  My original plan was to spend the money on completely frivolous shit.  But, so far I can honestly say that the stuff I have bought isn't really frivolous.

The first $400 I saved I spent on a kick ass smoker/bbq grill.

The second $400 I saved was spent on a rear tine tiller.

And I am happy to say that the next $400 I saved I just spent on a security camera system.  My wife and kids went to my in-laws on Saturday and I took advantage of the situation by staying home by myself and getting all three cameras mounted outside and up and running.  A year ago I would have a had a giant chew in my lip the whole time they were gone.  But, the new me didn't even think about chew or the fact that I wasn't thinking about chew.  I like the new me, and I like the security cameras too.  I can only imagine how much nice shit I might have had by now if I had never started chewing 35 years ago.

After I got the camera installed the dog and I even had some extra time to take a nap in our favorite old chair.   

[Athan]

Day 312

The last of our April '18 group hit the 300 day mark today.  I would like to send out a huge congratulations to the other 28 members of April '18 that made it to the third floor.  300 days is quite impressive, but the fight isn't over. 

Although the study I linked below focuses on smokers, I think it is still somewhat relevant to smokeless tobacco users as well.  The statistic in this study that really hit home for me was, " individuals who achieved one year of abstinence, had a probability of relapse of 47% at three-years follow-up."  Wow!  This is saying that roughly half of us that make it to one year will cave before we make it to three years.  I say, "challenge accepted!"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2577779/

I'll take that challenge with you brother and I know of 27 other people that will do the same.  PTQWYT

Challenge accepted.

Challenge accepted.

[Skolvikings]

Day 312

The last of our April '18 group hit the 300 day mark today.  I would like to send out a huge congratulations to the other 28 members of April '18 that made it to the third floor.  300 days is quite impressive, but the fight isn't over. 

Although the study I linked below focuses on smokers, I think it is still somewhat relevant to smokeless tobacco users as well.  The statistic in this study that really hit home for me was, " individuals who achieved one year of abstinence, had a probability of relapse of 47% at three-years follow-up."  Wow!  This is saying that roughly half of us that make it to one year will cave before we make it to three years.  I say, "challenge accepted!"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2577779/

I'll take that challenge with you brother and I know of 27 other people that will do the same.  PTQWYT

Challenge accepted.

[chris2alaska]

Day 312

The last of our April '18 group hit the 300 day mark today.  I would like to send out a huge congratulations to the other 28 members of April '18 that made it to the third floor.  300 days is quite impressive, but the fight isn't over. 

Although the study I linked below focuses on smokers, I think it is still somewhat relevant to smokeless tobacco users as well.  The statistic in this study that really hit home for me was, " individuals who achieved one year of abstinence, had a probability of relapse of 47% at three-years follow-up."  Wow!  This is saying that roughly half of us that make it to one year will cave before we make it to three years.  I say, "challenge accepted!"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2577779/

I'll take that challenge with you brother and I know of 27 other people that will do the same.  PTQWYT

[kybo]

Day 312

The last of our April '18 group hit the 300 day mark today.  I would like to send out a huge congratulations to the other 28 members of April '18 that made it to the third floor.  300 days is quite impressive, but the fight isn't over. 

Although the study I linked below focuses on smokers, I think it is still somewhat relevant to smokeless tobacco users as well.  The statistic in this study that really hit home for me was, " individuals who achieved one year of abstinence, had a probability of relapse of 47% at three-years follow-up."  Wow!  This is saying that roughly half of us that make it to one year will cave before we make it to three years.  I say, "challenge accepted!"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2577779/

[kybo]

Day 303

It is so hard for me to believe that it has already been over 300 days since I gave up nicotine.  It seems like just yesterday that I made the decision to finally just quit.  There have been a few ups and downs over these first 300 days.  I lost a few friends to the big guy upstairs, lost a chunk of my arm to melanoma, I tried a few new beers along the way, listened to some good music and drank a few more good beers, spent some of the money I saved on a new BBQ grill, listened to some more music, and made some delicious BBQ!  I also discovered that I could mow the grass without a chew, go fishing without a chew, drive my truck without a chew, watch my kids play sports without a chew, etc, etc, etc.   

I did all of that without tobacco of any kind!  On to the next 300!  IQWYT!     

[Athan]

Day 296 of freedom!

I am actually a little more "free" today than normal.

I always keep an extra pair of dress pants in my work truck just in case I need them.  I normally wear jeans in the office unless I have a meeting.  In the last 15 years I have had to put those emergency dress pants on maybe 3 or 4 times due to impromptu meetings or me just forgetting that I had a meeting.  Last week was one of those times.  I got a phone call Thursday morning and had to leave for a meeting.  Luckily for me I had those dress pants in the truck.  I washed the pants yesterday and forgot to put them back in the truck this morning. 

My Assistant is in D.C. this week and my Secretary is at the hospital with her ailing mother.  So how does my day start today?  I get to the office and hit the bathroom first thing as usual.  Only today, the zipper on my Duluth Ballroom Jeans decides to throw a couple teeth and pop completely off the track.  Zero extra pants in the truck today and I am the only one in the office.  I just tried for 30 minutes to get that damn zipper back on track.  All I managed to accomplish was knocking a few more teeth off the zipper.  So, here I sit at my desk with the barn door slightly ajar wondering how long it is going to be before someone comes into the office and I have to go out and talk to them.

My junk isn't hanging completely out, though.  I managed to find a handful of tie pins in our promotional room and I currently have those sort of holding the barn door closed.  Of course, that means that I have these shiny little green pins on the crotch of my jeans which will obviously draw everyone's attention to the last place I want them to look.  And it took me forever to get those damn pins in place and I am not sure what I am going to do in a couple hours when I need to piss again.  But, at least I am 296 days free of nicotine!

Gives 'walking the dog' a whole new meaning.  And then there's that cliche' about closing the barn door after the HORSE is out...

[kybo]

Day 296 of freedom!

I am actually a little more "free" today than normal.

I always keep an extra pair of dress pants in my work truck just in case I need them.  I normally wear jeans in the office unless I have a meeting.  In the last 15 years I have had to put those emergency dress pants on maybe 3 or 4 times due to impromptu meetings or me just forgetting that I had a meeting.  Last week was one of those times.  I got a phone call Thursday morning and had to leave for a meeting.  Luckily for me I had those dress pants in the truck.  I washed the pants yesterday and forgot to put them back in the truck this morning. 

My Assistant is in D.C. this week and my Secretary is at the hospital with her ailing mother.  So how does my day start today?  I get to the office and hit the bathroom first thing as usual.  Only today, the zipper on my Duluth Ballroom Jeans decides to throw a couple teeth and pop completely off the track.  Zero extra pants in the truck today and I am the only one in the office.  I just tried for 30 minutes to get that damn zipper back on track.  All I managed to accomplish was knocking a few more teeth off the zipper.  So, here I sit at my desk with the barn door slightly ajar wondering how long it is going to be before someone comes into the office and I have to go out and talk to them.

My junk isn't hanging completely out, though.  I managed to find a handful of tie pins in our promotional room and I currently have those sort of holding the barn door closed.  Of course, that means that I have these shiny little green pins on the crotch of my jeans which will obviously draw everyone's attention to the last place I want them to look.  And it took me forever to get those damn pins in place and I am not sure what I am going to do in a couple hours when I need to piss again.  But, at least I am 296 days free of nicotine!