Scribblings

Smoking in public places & New Jersey

What is up with this state?

Don't get me wrong. I used to smoke a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. I smoked until I found out I was pregnant with my first child, Billy. I saw this commerical on TV that gagged me out. There was a little fetus in the womb, smoking a cigarette. And the line went, "Every time you smoke, so does your baby." I read some information about it and learned that every time I took a puff of a cigarette, the placenta would contract and no oxygen would get to the baby's brain. Have enough puffs of the cigarette and that would be how many times the baby would be deprived of oxygen. No way was I going to smoke after reading that!

Ironically, I have smoke induced asthma attacks. When I am exposed to cigarette smoke, I have a lot of trouble breathing and I start wheezing. It seems really ironic to me because I was such a smoke stack. Anyway, for several years I couldn't go to a restaurant and eat out because I couldn't tolerate the smoke. Good thing fast food restaurants had drive through windows.

There was a lot of controversy in Maryland when the first ban on smoking in public places was passed. Oh boy, restaurant and bar owners raised a lot of hell about it. They were afraid they would lose business but it turned out the opposite was true. Now non-smokers could eat or drink in comfort and they did. It felt great to be able to go into a restaurant and sit down to eat and to be able to go into the mall and not worry about wheezing. Tobacco is a crop of some of the farms in southern Maryland. I don't know what kind of hit the farms took but I sure was glad smoking was banned.

When we moved from Maryland to New York, I was a bit worried. I was sure I would have to give up restaurants and malls again. I was very happy to learn that on Long Island, smoking was banned in public places and in federal buildings. What a relief!

Okay, so now I am spoiled. I move to New Jersey and I just assumed they have a law against smoking in public places. They don't. They have the rather silly smoking/non-smoking sections. I call them 'silly' because sometimes there's just a low wall separating the sections. I mean, where do they think the smoke is going to go? It sure isn't staying around the smokers. It drifts. And I choke sometimes.

Even Ireland has gotten into the act. Once again, the pub owners are having a fit because they think a ban would hurt their business. However, there was a poll conducted and it turns out that more people say they will go to the pubs once they are smoke free.

So why hasn't New Jersey gone smoke free in restaurants, malls and other public places? It's not like NJ is a tobacco state. If NY can do it, why can't NJ? I don't have answers to those questions. I don't know that any answer would make much sense. I was daydreaming again about retiring to Ireland and of living in a little stone washed cottage and breathing nice clean smoke free air.

I guess I am not in a great mood because I don't feel very well. Kristin has been home sick a couple days and Billy and Heidi have been hacking. Now I am feeling very tired and achy. I think I'm getting it too.

We had a wonderful visit with Linda and Little T yesterday. And we heard from Michele. She had an ultrasound that showed that she is almost 4 months along. She's at about 13-1/2 weeks. The baby is looking good right now. I am so relieved and so is TB.

Blogger Seeds:

On this day in 1898, the first American car is sold. What kind of car do you drive? What is your dream car?

I drive a Toyota Sienna van, my favorite vehicle! It is roomy, handles easily, and is very reliable. Before that, we had a Ford Taurus station wagon. It was nice but had lots of problems, particularly when it got older. Before that, we had a wonderfully reliable red Chevy Nova. The only drawback was that it was too small for our growing family.

I don?t exactly have a dream car. I?d like a nice big car like a Lincoln Continental but I wouldn?t want to drive it. Maybe have a chauffeur?

What?s on ? right now?

What's On your blog Right Now? Happy Wednesday!!!

Well, it's not too exciting. I have a premade template. There is the text of the journal. On the left, there are links to other favorites of mine, links to my archives, and links for some webrings I belong to. If I knew much about design, I'd try to do something with the template.