In defense of the smoke-break...

A few years back I was a smoker. I worked about an hour away in Albany, NY and lived in Lee, MA. My work was pretty stressful; I was working in sales at the evil-K. I had been promoted after my many years floating around branch-to-branch, city-to-city and state-to-state. Starting out in the confines of the Computer Services Department, eventually moving on to the floor and machines, I had moved into one of those cozy offices without the security and storage space of the ever-changing Kinko's apron. I had been a smoker before Albany – Wolf Rd.; but I had cast the dirty habit aside once I started massaging. I took my work, stressful and demanding, very seriously and the smoke break was the un-official Kinko's way to get away from the madness of the copy world. We'd congregate out back and take in a few coffin nails over angst and toner dust and just release the day. Yes a dirty habit, but what a soul-saving break. I wasn't one of those hard-core smokers; I gave up smokes time and time again for years at a time only to be tempted by the break. When in Albany I vowed to smoke only in the state of New York. Hey, that worked! My breaks at work and occasional bar-crawling nights with co-workers really limited my cigarette in-take.
Now I'm in a very different field---or should I say fields. I work part-time and hold three positions. I keep myself on-top projects and work via emails and phone calls. It seems that I am always at work even when I'm not physically there. It's not stress like manning the front counter at the evil-K; it's the modern-day hazard of being in constant contact. I've got 8 email addresses, a home phone, a cell phone, two desktop computers, a laptop and a PDA I hardly ever use. My evenings at home usually involve me with my Outlook open checking my hotmail account, watching TV, IMDB-ing or wikipedia-ing what I'm watching and debating with my husband. Sure I eat healthier, I go to the gym 2 or 3 times a week and I haven't touched mind-altering substances in ages; but I'm never "OFF". I am constantly on-the-job and seem to not even notice until I start checking emails on vacation. I hardly leave my desk at work, even to eat, and have found myself staying 10 -15 minutes overtime just forwarding files to myself to finish at home. In the olden days, Kerrie, Frost, Jessica or Mike would wave me away from my desk of work to release over a few coffin nails and a bit of venting.

Y'know I sometimes miss my SMOKE BREAKS…..