Hello friends:

For today, I thought I would be a bit lazy and use as my post an excerpt from a comment I posted on "The Grumpy 'Old' Man" blog today. If you wish to check out his very high quality, insightful blog, please click on the link on the left hand column from this blog.

My elderly father-in-law and I made an afternoon out of it yesterday and we polished off a sizable part of a fifth of whisky... whisky & cokes tend to be his favorite. It was a helluva good time, and I am feeling the remnants of that celebration a bit this morning.

However, the reality is that it is all good! The harshness of the hangover is the yang to the pleasure of the previous drunk. I think only those people who can drink like fish and not have a hangover are at risk for alcoholism. If I (usually with my father-in-law) tie one on, we enjoy the hell out of that afternoon and evening, but the bill (of the hangover) that arrives in the morning keeps us both aware of the costs and hence we only indulge sporadically. It is a balance... as are all things in life, including physiology. Science gives a name to this balance.... homeostasis. Life is meant to be a homeostasis

In another of Jonathon's posts (he is the GOM from above), he spoke of the rough feeling he has from having smoked too many cigarettes while drinking. I never much took to cigarettes because of that exact feeling you describe.... the power is pleasant when you inhale, but cigarettes give you a cloudy, congested, rough feeling in your lungs.... I never much cared for that feeling. When I inhale pipe tobacco, I get an even more pleasant, sharper kick in the head, but my lungs continue to feel nice and clear. That is one of the primary reasons I smoke a pipe...and have done so since I was a young lad of eight.... it feels better in my lungs. Additionally, I like the flavors and odors more, and I like the history and image of smoking a pipe as well.

I am going to have to close here for today, I need to go and take my nearly daily 5 mile walk.... not bad for an old geezer, if I do say so. I am thinking of ramping it up to 10 miles a day after the semester ends, but I will see how that goes.

PipeTobacco