Now that smoking has been banned in so many places, I enjoy visiting casinos that also ban smoking. Motor City in Detroit was always one of my favorites because they had an entire non-smoking floor.

One thing concerns me about second-hand smoke, though. We are constantly told that it is dangerous (and I certainly find it annoying). I have asthma. When it was diagnosed, doctors tested me and asked numerous questions about whether I smoked, whether I worked with chemicals, etc. Not one asked me whether my father smoked when I was a child - and he died of a heart attack at age 40. Ans yes, he smoked a lot - at least 3 packs a day.

So what gives? Is this like Al Gore receiving the Nobel Prize for peace - not for science? Do they just tell us that second-hand is harmful, but then they don't seem to care about it when we develop asthma?

I hate everything about smoking. I hate the smell it leaves on my clothes and in my hair, I hate the way it forces me to reach for my inhaler, I hate the way it took my father at so young an age, and every time I see the price some of you pay for cigarettes I am reminded that they were only 35 cents a pack when I swore never to use them.

I have cut down on donuts, too. I have definitely reduced the number of times I smear them in someone else's hair or clothes. ;-)