The huge drugstore chain CVS has announced it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products by October of 2014. There are two possible reactions to this news: #1, "Duh," and #2, "Why wait?"If you read between the lines of all the excited reports, it's not because they don't want people to get cancer or emphysema or any of the hundred other monstrous diseases smoking causes, but because the move will give CVS a "competitive edge" over other pharmacies in forging "stronger alliances" with hospitals, insurers, physicians and and over-the-counter drug manufacturers, making even more money in the long run. Still, it's a good thing. And every day until October, we can expect to hear about it non-stop, with stories in the newspapers and on TV and on the Internet about what great people they are over at CVS. That's the American Way.
Now I have a similar announcement, albeit one that will impact far fewer people. Okay, just me. I will lose 15 pounds and start exercising daily, weight-lifting and running (after that hip replacement surgery) too. I will accomplish this by October of 2014. Since this is only February, today I get to lay about the house and polish off that giant bag of Swedish Fish I bought to get me through the recent snowstorm. I may even drive over to the CVS and buy a pack of smokes, even though I don't smoke. In fact, I'll stock up for after next October, when I'm in shape and they don't sell them anymore.
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