Michele of A Small Victory is begging for "a huge bottle of tequila" to help her get through Day XV of not smoking. That could be a mistake. A friend of a friend once tried to wean himself from alcohol by taking up cocaine. He soon became a cocaine-addicted alcoholic. I used to wonder how anyone could possibly have thought that that was a good plan, until I mentioned the story to my (college) students one day. One of them pointed out that since he was already an alcoholic, he was no doubt drunk when he devised the plan. That must be it.

Be careful, Michele: if the liquor doesn't work, you might end up trying the same method again and turn into an alcoholic cocaine addict with a three-pack-a-day habit.