Ah, the joys of politics and townhome living...
As in politics, good things and bad things come from downsizing into a townhome. In politics, electing a Democrat as President, but failing to elect enough Democratic Senators can stall some programs that would benefit everyone, as we are seeing now. On the other hand, we have a Democratic President, which is far better than having TPG as President.
As some of you know, my wife and I recently downsized and moved into a quad townhome in a different suburb of the Twin Cities. We like it very much, and will like it even more in the winter, when snow removal is no longer my responsibility. On the other hand, our building has four almost identical townhomes, so we share walls with two other units.
On the good side, the walls are very well insulated, so there's no noise from our neighbors, nor from our dogs, who enjoy the occasional barking fit. We asked. Nobody has heard them, so that's good.
On the downside, however, we discovered that, as smokers, the smoke in our unit can leak into a neighbor's unit, through the downstairs utility room. Not good, as our neighbor explained a few days after we moved in. What to do? We certainly don't want to annoy our neighbor, so we said we'd figure it out. Apparently the adjoining utility room to ours isn't adequately sealed at the top of the adjoining wall, which is crowded with ductwork and other potential leaky areas.
So, the solution was for me to not smoke in the lower level at all. I decided to do that the day the neighbor complained. In fact, I'm not smoking inside the townhome at all any more. The next day, the neighbor reported no detection of smoke or odor, so that solved the problem, despite it being somewhat inconvenient for me. She is happy at the solution, and I'm only mildly inconvenienced.
On the other hand, I have been looking for a reason to cut way back or quit smoking. Since I can't smoke indoors any longer, I've found that I have cut back by default, and am smoking far less, since I have to get up and go outside, rather than absent-mindedly lighting up. So, I'm smoking 2/3 less than previously. I suspect that, during the winter months, I will be able to stop altogether, since going outdoors when it's below zero isn't an optimal thing. But, I will not subject my neighbor to it, so...
So, in 2022, we can, if we wish, elect some more Democrats to the Senate, and increase our majority in the House. In 2021, I can quit smoking, so as not to annoy my neighbor. Both are things worth doing, I think. Every annoyance comes with an opportunity to benefit from it.
Further, the district we moved into has Republican representatives in both houses of the State Legislature here in Minnesota. That will be a good stimulant for me to get more politically active to try to correct that issue, despite and due to my annoyance at having Republican representation.
GOTV 2022!
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He had tried the patch, the pills, hypnosis ... the works. But he hadn't tried baby sister!
We were on his sailboat and I told him I absolutely would not come if he was going to smoke in the cabin. A few nights after I got there, I caught him standing on his bed, smoking through the port hole. That's when I learned of his struggles. He wanted to quit but hadn't been able to. So I gave him 2 choices: cut back or quit cold turkey. He opted to cut back. I kept his cigarettes in my purse and he had to ask for them. A few nights later, I caught him going through my purse. That was it. I told him cold turkey for him. Smoke 'em up because once they're gone, they're gone.
The sailboat was anchored in a bay in a very small town. Everyone in town knew him, since he had been there for several weeks. So I went to the bars and stores and told them not to give or sell him any cigarettes. They all agreed.
The first few days were horrible. I thought he was going to die. He had what's called quitter's flu. He said he needed a cigarette. So I told him that I'd google what I should do, and if any site at all told me to give him one, I'd go and buy some. Not a single site said to give him one. I did buy him some Lifesavers, which at least gave him something to put in his mouth. And he got addicted to them. He kept a handful of them in his pocket all the time. But he did quit smoking!
After he quit, I'd see him walk up to young couples smoking at the bar and give them a little speech. Then they'd douse their cigarettes. I sort of wonder if he was telling them what he wouldn't tell me.
I didn't know at the time that the damage was already done. He died of stage 4 lung cancer that had gone to his brain, exactly 10 days after his 62nd birthday, and about 4 weeks after I'd gotten off the sailboat. I went to be with him in the hospital as soon as he was admitted. I stayed with him until the end. It was only then that I realized he had quit for me, so that I wouldn't have to breathe in the smoke while I was with him. He knew he was sick and knew it was not treatable, no matter what he did, but he never told me and quit anyway. And he looked the picture of health when we were on the boat together.
All this to say good luck to you! I'm probably a militant anti-smoker. After all, it did kill my favorite brother/sibling (yeah, I liked him more than my sisters) and I keep thinking he'd be alive today if he hadn't smoked.
Good for you for being considerate of your neighbors! We've had plenty of neighbors who just wouldn't have done anything to try to help things out. And good for you for planning to quit smoking! All the best to you!
Keep us posted on how it goes. 
