Man...smokers are gross. I mean, smokers themselves are nice enough, I guess. But the act of smoking is de-fucking-sgusting. Granted, this is coming from a guy who smoked for nearly 12 years (>33% of my life) and was smart enough to quit 4.5 years ago. And I know people say reformed smokers are the worst at casting stones. But still. That doesn't make me wrong.

A coworker asked me if I could take a look at her home-entertainment DVD player since I am in the IT/TechSupport/VoodooBlackMagic/if-it-plugs-into-the-wall-then-obviously-we-support-it department at work. (At the office, I have seriously been asked if I can "try to fix" a water fliter system in our company kitchen as well as countless fax machines and one industrial-sized paper shredder, among other things...but I digress). Anyway, I simply saw it as another opportunity to pull something apart and see what makde it tick. The best part of that is 1)the thing was already broken. so I couldn't be held responsible if it remained broken after my surgery and 2)it wasn't even my thing in the first place! So I wasn't out any $$ if it stayed dead. That's a win-win situation if ever there was one.

So, she brought the errant DVD player into the office in a messanger-style bag that just reeked of smoke. I mean, I smelled it as soon as she walked in the room with it. I put it (the bag, not the coworker) on my lap for 10 seconds to take the player out, and I still smell that ashtray smell even after giving the bag and player back to her. Yuck. Upon opening the player up I was hit with another wave of ashtray smell. Who knew electronics could absorb smells like that? Certainly not me.

So let this be a lesson to you kids. Smoking is fucking foul. Trust me.

-gary