I’ve known about the Wayback Machinefor a while, but for some reason, I never visited the site – until today. It was such a strange feeling seeing what Bloodforge looked like back in 2001, and being able to see how it progressed over the years (the site was up since 1999 actually, but there is no record of that in the archive).

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Today I was reminded exactly of why I hate flying.  A couple months ago, I purchased a ticket to fly to Krakow, Poland.  I live in Cincinnati, and it is not possible to have a direct flight into Poland.  The best you can do from CVG is a one-stop flight.  I really wanted as few stops as possible, so I paid $1360 for a ticket with only one stop ( Chicago ). I could have saved myself $600 on the ticket and bought a multi-stop ticket for around $700, but I just wanted the trip to be as quick as possible.

Well, about 8 hours ago I show up at the airport, do the check-in, go through security.  However, the departure time never really approaches, because every 20 minutes or so the flight gets more and more delayed.  I had about a 100 minute window to switch planes in Chicago, and pretty soon it becomes apparent that even if I get on the plane to Chicago, I will miss my flight to Poland.

The “manager” at the American Eagle ( the regional partner to the Polish airlines partner – American Airlines ) that is handling the flight to Chicago is not very helpful.  He keeps repeating that it is not their problem, since all these delays are due to weather and not some mechanical failure ( as I’m talking to the manager, I can see through the terminal window how Delta flights are departing and landing – something he claims is not possible to do right now ).

At this point, I’m told that I can either fly to Chicago and I’m “on my own” ( whatever that means ), or I can try to reschedule my flight tomorrow. Since the thought of sleeping in the airport terminal in O’hare is not very appealing, I decide to switch my flight to the next day – what else can I really do? I end up with a flight to Chicago, then a flight into Warsaw, and the ( 6 hours later! ) a flight to Krakow. I’m now arriving a day late, on a trip that will take 13 hours more than my planned trip.

I realize that certain weather conditions can wreck havoc on flight schedules. But I’m not buying any of this BS that the airlines have absolutely no control over this aspect of flying. I’ve flown many times in the past, and it is standard practice to have a flight arrive, people leave the plane, then the new flyers board the plane, and have the plane take off in like 45 minutes. Basically, very little – if no time at all – is factored in for delays due to weather. The airlines could easily fix this problem by allowing more time in between arriving and departing flights. But that would hurt their bottom line, and they prefer to shift all the blame to the weather ( thus escaping any liability ) instead of actually admitting that their scheduling is messed up.

I really think we need a new system that requires airlines to allow for more time between arrival and departure. Don’t make it mandatory, but if the airline decides that they want to continue their current practice, require them to compensate the passengers $20 per hour that their flight is delayed, and something like $100 per added stop to their travel plans. If airlines couldn’t simply blame everything on the weather, I’m sure they would very quickly arrive at some solution that would improve the status quo.

If you leave comments on my blog for the sole purpose of providing links to your own blog, those comments will be removed.  I have no problems with people linking back to their own site in a comment, but if you do that, at least attempt to stay on topic.

It has been 6 days since my nJoy Electronic Cigarette Review (Part 1). My biggest complaint in that review was the price of the refill cartiges.  Thanks to some help from very kind people at the e-cigarette-forum.com, I found out that e-liquid (smoke juice, whatever you want to call it) is actually available for purchase.  A couple sites that offer it, such as ePuffer and e-cig; however, both were out of stock (after researching this some more, I found out that e-cig.com has temporairly suspended shipping due to the Olympics and tightened secuirty for sending liquids - they're based in China).  Well, fortunately, we have eBay, and I was able to purchase my very first bottle of the liquid.

My smoke juice refill station

I've taken a picture (courtesy of my brand new Nikon D40 ) of the whole setup.  Basically, refilling was pretty simple.  I just put on some latex gloves, took out the little filter-like things and put some liquid on them.  I tried not to put too much, because I certainly don't want to be drinking the stuff as it could possibly leak through the little hole.  Just make sure you do this on something that doesn't stain, as this stuff doesn't look like it would come out easily.  Granite countertops worked just fine for me.  After refilling the cartiges, I just wiped off the mouthpiece and placed the refills into the little cases that they originally came in.

As for the electronic cigarette itself, I've found that the high nicotine cartiges work best for me.  Keep in mind, I'm not all that into nicotine - I've gotten poisoned from patches before - but the medium and low refills just don't have that much at all.  Also, the claim that these things last as long as a pack of cigarettes is rather silly.  I go through more than one of these per day, and I didn't even smoke a pack of cigs that quickly.  Theoretically, I suppose it is possible for these to last for that long, but it would just not be enjoyable to try to get that last puff of smoke from a cartige (something that does seem to work is flipping the filter insert around when smoke starts to decrease, but it still doesn't last too long after that).

When I started this little adventure, I had about half a pack of cigarettes left.  I've basically cut down to 1-2 cigs per day, and I ran out of smokes two days ago.  I haven't really had the need to buy another pack, as this electronic cigarette is doing its job for me so far.  I have noticed that my smoking habbits are slightly different than before with the electronic cigarette, however.  Whereas before I would generally smoke at some intervals (like once every 90 min or so), I find myself taking a few puffs of this cigarette every 10-20 min.  So, basically, not as much at once, but since this doesn't burn out, there's nothing I need to "finish".

In a week and a half I'll be going to Europe for a couple weeks for vacation.  I don't have a charger for this thing that works with European plugs + voltage, so I'm kind of hoping that I can take this thing on the plane, and then I can use my spare battery for the trip back.  While abroad, I'll just buy my cigarettes over there. I feel kind of comfortable doing that considering how easy it was for me to basically cut down (and maybe even stop) smoking real cigarettes in the last few days.  Also, my favorite cigarettes are sold everywhere over there (L&M Lights), and I can't find these anywhere where I live in Cincinnati.

from left to right: Marlboro Ultra Light 100, pen, nJoy cigarette, pencil

A week or so ago I ordered the nJoy electronic cigarette.  I've tried to quit smoking before, and although I had no problems stopping (apart from the 1-2 day nicotine withdrawl), I've always felt like starting up again because the thing I was really addicted to doing was the action of smoking.  Well, over lunch one day I heard someone talking about electronic cigarettes, so I decided to look it up.  The fact that these seem to be relatively harmless (no tobacco, tar, carcinogens, etc) was very appealing, and I could fulfill my desire to actually inhale something. In the past, I've tried nicotine patches (I actually got poisoned from one), but as I pointed out before, the thing I miss most when I stop smoking is the actual action of smoking, not the nicotine itself, so, needless to say, the patch didn't work.

After doing some reading online, I decided on ordering the nJoy cigarette and a pack of medium refills. The first thing that really struck me was how big this thing was.  I've taken a picture of the device with some things to compare it to, since I didn't really find that anywhere online before I placed my order.

I've gone back to my cigarettes a few times, mostly out of habbit, but I can see myself quitting smoking actual cigarettes by using this as a replacement.  It, in my opinion, is a suitable alternative to smoking if your addiction was to doing something with your hands and inhaling smoke.

My biggest complaint with the nJoy cigarette is the price of the refills.  Although they try to make it slightly less than buying regular cigarettes, it still seems like a ripoff.  Basically, the refill consists of the mouthpiece, along with some cotton (or plastic fibers, I'm not sure what it is) soaked in their nicotine-containing substance.  There's really no reason why we shouldn't be able to purchase a bottle of this substance and do our own refills this way.  There would be several advantages to doing this, such as being able to adjust the taste ourseves, and of course the price.  Since there isn't too much liquid in each refill, a bottle should last for a very long time, and it could come out to be significantly cheaper than paying $25 for a week's' worth of refills.

** UPDATE ** - nJoy Cigarette Review Part 2