Seriously, wouldn't a bullet be quicker?

I was a smoker. For almost 25 years of my life. I know the addiction, I know what it feels like to try to quit when you're not ready. Yet, I am still amazed by the news I heard today. Some guy started a fire in an apartment complex because he was smoking. No, he didn't fall asleep, he wasn't drunk, he didn't even leave it unattended. No, he was smoking while using an oxygen mask. Yeah. The guy's lungs are so messed up, presumably by (or at least worsened by) his smoking, he was probably warned that oxygen was flammable, and he's smoking.

Now, yes, I was a smoker. I was addicted and continued to smoke despite knowing the dangers. But the truth is that it was the fear of the oxygen mask that made me quit. Cut 20 years off my life, BFD, at least I'm enjoying life. Costs $5 a day, so my mortgage is a hell of a lot more. Then one day I saw some woman struggling to make it through Smith's, hauling her oxygen tank with her, on her motorized cart and still exhausted from the ordeal. And it occurred to me I could have to live like that for the last 20 years of my life. Oh, I want to live to be 130, but only if I'm going to be able to enjoy it. I do not believe in life for life's sake, sacrosanct above all else regardless of the conditions of that life. Now, hopefully my siblings won't take that to mean they can pull the plug the first time I need a hemorrhoid removed, but if there's no chance of recovery with any reasonable quality of life, ciao bella.

More on cops & robbers....

First, a little note from Alex about the social strata in Wendover :

This is getting too easy.

In the Tribune today it was reported that the wife of the Chief of Police for the city of Wendover was arrested for selling drugs at the club where she strips. I knew Wendover was a classy place but I had no idea it was so efficient as to combine its police force with its entertainment industry. I wonder if the Chief asks for his paycheck in dollar bills. Christmas at the station must be easy, they already have the entertainment and the Chief can go to the evidence room and get his wife's stuff to give her as her present.

Like I said, that was easy.

Alex Rossi

On the other hand are the residents in a Rose Park neighborhood who are furious over the police shooting of one of their neighbors. They argue that it was unjustified because the police still have not confirmed that the man had a gun. According to the news report I saw (channel 2, I think) the police had been called to the area on a report that someone was waving a gun and threatening someone else. When the police confronted the man he charged at them yelling something like "you're going to have to kill me" while reaching into his pocket. Umm, does the phrase "it really doesn't matter if he did have a gun" mean anything? I don't know about you, but the one time I had a couple cops pointing their guns at me I froze, moving only my lips enough to say into the phone "Tell them I'm not the burglar". I didn't whip around, pointing the phone at them and saying "What the hell are you doing, the stupid burglar left 20 minutes ago." Unless the facts were reported incorrectly, the guy got what should have been expected.

Not the brightest bulb in the string.

Not a vehicle I'd like to be behind going up Spanish Fork Canyon.