Well, I had to come here today & give a piece that happened last night. Well, I'm not sure when it happened but it happened sometime yesterday. But there will be a smoking ban in Chicago starting January 16th, 2006. Which means there will be no smoking in most public places like train platforms & condominum lobbies & hallways & restaurants that do not have bars. Other places include the following: arcades, aquariums, galleries, libraries, museums, bingo facilities, convention facilities, theaters, hospitals/nursing homes, schools & universities, common areas in residential buildings & trailer parks, polling places, public elevators, retail stores & shopping malls, public assembly/meeting areas, sports arenas, grocery stores, gymnasiums, & all city vehicles & facilities. Smokers that have to smoke outside will have to stay at least 15 feet away from the entrance of any building where smoking is prohibited. But bars & restaurants with bars will still be allowed to have the smoking still going on till July 1, 2008. The thinking behind that is that if you want to allow smoking in your bar, you would have to spend at least $6500 or more for an air system that would make the air in the bar as clean as or cleaner than the air outside. Which is quite funny. This air system does not exist; yet. And if it did, it would be years before all the bugs were worked out & tested. So basically, every bar & that will soon have to abide by the no smoking ban. Here is where I come in. I am so very happy for the smoking ban. As an ex-smoker, this is great news. Since having kicked the habit, my nose is much more noticeable to smells; especially cigarette smoke. Now, if I walk by someone who is smoking, I gag on the smoke. I used to not. But it is a small price to pay. I am happy with this new law. Maybe it will get those who have been wanting to quit to stop. I know there are a lot of people not happy; especially the smokers. Their complaints is that there will be no place to smoke. Yeah, they can come out to the suburbs but you know what is going to happen, the suburbs will jump onto the bandwagon. Soon, you will not be able to smoke anywhere in a public place. Which will make for healthier air & not kill our ozone layer anymore than it has. Yes, I am one of those that is supporting this change. But here is the kicker; there are some smokers that are happy with this. Why??? I would like to know.....
Enough of my rantings now. We shall move on to better & pleasant items to talk about.
My son will be going to the doctor on Saturday morning for his 4 month checkup. We will find out how much he weighs..... Kind of looking forward to that. At his 2 month checkup, he was at 13 lbs 4 oz. Anyways, we are supposed to be getting a lot of snow today. But it hasn't started to snow yet..... Just waiting now. That's all for now.