The future looks bright.

So, as far as Bill 60 goes, we might be in pretty good shape.  It's still up in the air but it looks like the government might make a law that separates us from tobacco legislation. Here's hoping.

During a recent consultation with the Dept of Health and Wellness it appeared that the government is open to the fact that ecigs have to be legislated differently than tobacco. The meeting went well and we left hopeful.

Some interesting stuff coming up in our future. Starting to spread the joy a little bit and are going to start to wholesale our exclusive juice vendors to other brick and mortars. As well, we have decided to bring in a whole new juice line, Mad Mikes. 

Just getting the lab set up now and with a little luck we should be shelving it in a couple of weeks.

And another thing...

Got a tattoo the other day. 

Really didn't intend on getting one, was at the tattoo shop to talk to the artist about painting my car. Once there he said, "Are you sure you don't want a tattoo? I have time right now." 

Well, I just happened to be carrying around the graphics for a tattoo that I had been thinking about for a few years now. So I pull out the pic.

"Oh ya...I can do that in an hour or so."

I am really starting to sweat, I was not prepared. I mean, I don't give a shit who you are, tattoos hurt. Like HELL!

Not sure if I was hoping it would stall him but I mentioned that I wanted the little reaper to be holding a guitar instead of a scythe. He was quick and had a sketch in a few minutes. I was cornered.

It's a bit angry right now, but I think it turned out pretty good. He still has to shade some more white and put The Boy's birth date in there.

...and again.

Coming up on my 5 year vape'aversary.

A lot has happened in 5 years. Some sadness, some failures and some successes.

I think I might try blogging again. Sorry...may not fill in the blanks.

Mad as hell and not taking your shit!

So, like any good greedy government, ours has decided they are going to try to ban electronic cigarettes under the guise of saving the children.

The bill as submitted by the Liberal Minster of Health is here.

It went to second reading and was sent to the Law Amendments Committee for input from the general public and interested parties.

I and others spoke. In person, out loud. I know, I was completely traumatized. I can type a mean letter, but I shook like a leave when it came to reciting it. This was my submission.

Madam Chair, members of the committee:

My name is Eva Campbell and I am co-owner of the End Vapor Shop in New Glasgow and Truro.

I thank you for allowing me to speak today on the matter of amendments proposed to the smoke free places act. Bill #60

Electronic cigarettes must not be defined as a tobacco product because it, quite simply, is NOT a tobacco product and in fact is in direct competition with tobacco. That being said, I submit test results that indicates that the eliquid we and other vendors sell has no tobacco content.  As the bill is presently worded, it is clear that the honorable minister of health is not aware of the obvious distinction between tobacco flavors and flavored tobacco. 

Looking at the list of 4000+ chemicals and known carcinogens in traditional tobacco cigarettes and comparing them with the 4 ingredients in the eliquid (none of which are tobacco by the way)  I personally concluded (albeit, not scientifically) that you really don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that this is  safer alternative. But you don’t have to take my word for that, in recent years, there have been an overabundance of scientific research that proves just that. And my business partner will supply you with that information. 

As vendors and a consumers, we welcome sensible regulation of the electronic cigarette industry separate from tobacco. In fact, we already self regulate, in that we refuse to sell to minors. We require proper labeling of the ejuice, child proof bottles, proper safety certifications on all our hardware  and independent lab testing of the liquid by a Health Canada accredited testing facility. I submit also our suggestions on regulating electronic cigarettes as a separate entity from tobacco.

What I and others object to is electronic cigarettes being labeled as a tobacco product. Aside from the fact there is no tobacco present in the liquid, we view traditional tobacco as a direct competitor to our industry. I personally object to the Honorable minister of health’s attempt to redefine tobacco to include something that is absolutely not a tobacco product.

This is like saying, we will be banning apples and by the way the definition of apples will now be extended to include... staplers. I am thinking Webster’s may take issue with that. 

I am perplexed as to why the Honorable Minister of Health thinks we need anything else besides age restrictions for entry to vape shops. That alone would obviously negate the concern that we would be marketing to children. Now, I am not a drinker so I was aghast to learn that this was not a requirement for the NSLC stores, which openly displays bubblegum flavored vodka and Caramilk cream liquor. (what’s more kid friendly than a chocolate bar?)

Flavored ejuice is just that...flavored. It consists of propylene glycol (flavorless), vegetable glycerine (flavorless), may or may not contain nicotine (also flavorless) and food grade flavoring. Even tobacco flavored ejuice is just that….tobacco flavored, not flavored tobacco. The distinction must be made and I think this is where the Honorable minister  of health is confused. Take away the flavoring and we are left with flavorless vapor. People don’t even drink flavorless water anymore.

Vapers may start off with a tobacco flavoring, but most quickly find  the flavor of tobacco objectionable. After all it was never the taste of a cigarette that got us hooked. The majority of our customers are over 40 and enjoy having a variety of flavors available to them. 

Clearly I am not a child. However, I enjoy vaping fruit and candy flavors. Tobacco ‘flavors’ (not to be confused with tobacco that is flavored) in no way appeals to me. Saying that flavors only appeal to children is ludicrous, unless you contend that all Canadians upon reaching the age of 19 exist on cream of wheat and water? I did not think so. 

Removing the flavorings from ejuice will effectively shut down the legitimate industry and send those consumers into either the black market or worse, back to smoking traditional tobacco. Today I can tell you I will never  smoke another tobacco cigarette, as long as this is an available alternative. 

Not letting the public see their choices in delivery systems (which incidentally look nothing like cigarettes) and prohibiting point of sale marketing would be crippling to our business. Again, this is not a cigarette where all you have to do is light the right end and go. People benefit from hands on demonstration of the product and instruction on care, use, proper handling of the device.

It is distressing to me that our honorable minister of health has brought forth this bill without the slightest understanding as to what this product is or how it works. Please, stop calling it tobacco. There is no more tobacco in this than there is in the coffee you drank this morning.

All I am asking is that before you jump on to this particular band wagon, you avail yourselves of the research that is available and make an informed decision about the inclusion of electronic cigarettes in Bill No. 60 and the proposed changes to the amendment. Please consider what this will do, not only to the dozen or so strictly vaping businesses in Nova Scotia that will inevitably be shut down, but also how this will affect the thousands of Nova Scotian tax payers that will lose this ability to continue on with this safer alternative to traditional tobacco.

This bill is old fashioned slight of hand designed to make it impossible for any MLA in the house (regardless of their affiliation) to vote against it. It’s battle cry? THINK OF THE CHILDREN AND GET RID OF FLAVORED TOBACCO ONCE AND FOR ALL. Then in the fine print it exempt the only flavored tobacco that anyone is even aware of. In reality it is a direct shot across the bow of anyone who tries to compete with big tobacco.

I am NOT a smoker, this is NOT tobacco and must not be lumped into the same category. I suggest that you remove mention of electronic cigarettes from this bill. If the Honorable minister of Health  would like to propose sensible regulation on electronic cigarettes as its own consumer product separate from tobacco, I am sure we would all be open to that.

The only thing this bill, as presently worded, will accomplish is the destruction of the most effective form of tobacco harm reduction to date and serves only to protect traditional tobacco from its only real competition.

Thank you for your time.

Until this legislation (Bill 60) was introduced, I and pretty much everyone I have spoken to was only aware of one flavor of tobacco and that would be menthol. Thanks to the liberal government I (and any kid that watches the news) am now aware of watermelon cigarillos. Sounds like the LIBERALS are the ones now marketing flavored tobacco to children. Great job!

So, after 49 people spoke (most against the bill as written, except of course the tobacco companies, they were all in.) what do you suppose they did? Removed all mention of flavors, including (yes, I said including) flavored tobacco.

Now the oposition is fighting to get the bill either thrown out entirely or to have menthol tobacco included in the ban. The Liberal majority government is digging in its heels.

What does this mean for our shop? We can't let anyone under 19 in the shop let alone sell to them. (not a problem, I hate kids) and we will no longer be able to 'vape' in public. Big deal.

We may not have won the entire war (that will come later) but we let the government know that we are not going to take their shit lying down.

GREETINGS FROM THE BITCHCAVE!

Living back out in the area where I grew up. I could throw a baseball and probably hit my old house. (I can so, shut up!)

Living next door to my oldest BFF, Kimmy. She is my landlady...I will get into that later, I don't want you to hate me too much right away.

Her man built her a deck for the back of the house and I went over to see it and 'oo' and 'awe' over it. Ten minutes later we were measuring for mine. ;-)

 

What deck would be complete without protection from the vermin of this earth? I like the outdoors, just nothing that lives in it. So the bitchcave went up seconds after the last nail was hammered in.

Now here I sit, on my new deck gazing at my Dad's trees. Life is good.

Here are some pics of the construction.

At one point we thought we were gonna have to take the gazebo back because it was too big....but ended up MacGyvering it. ;-)

Pretty damned proud of myself.

Mother's day...

After 23 years I can say, I am thankful that I was a single mother. Looking at the man he has become? 

I made that! Just me, TBF had no hand in it. 

It's one of my super powers.

Our second location is now open!

The business is going so well, we opened at another location.

SHOW GIVE ME THE MY MONEY!

Thanks to all the drug cartels out there, I am limited on how much of my own money I can have access to at any given time.

At least that is the bank's story and they are sticking to it. Its all about the money laundering laws.

Pretty bad when the biggest issue with running a business is getting access to your OWN money.

Daily, weekly, monthly, per transaction limits would boggle your fuckin' mind. Pretty bad when you have $30k in the bank but you can't pay your vendor because you exceeded your daily EMT limits.

Ask the bank what you can do? No, you can't get higher limits even though you have ten times the amount in the bank. Their suggestion? Get a credit card with a $10k limit. Can you say 'money grab'?

Read my lips. I DON'T NEED CREDIT, I HAVE MONEY, GIVE IT TO ME!

FAT CHICKS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

If you are a fat chick, do not buy a Chrysler. The guy at the dealership tried to charge me for a fat chick seat belt extender.

"Ya, I don't have any in, I can order one for $61"

"Excuse me? Uh, Ford gave me one for free."

"I don't know what to tell ya."

As I march my fat ass through the showroom, "I guess you are telling me that you don't sell cars to fat chicks!"

I went home and purchased one online for $17, pretty much the cost of shipping.

As fat chicks, I think we should boycott Chrysler.

A little gift to myself for my Vape'iversary!

Deep Thoughts.

I don’t know what’s better about e-cigs – not getting cancer or annoying non-smokers by not getting cancer.

Not exactly a criminal mastermind.

So, we got 'robbed' at the shop. Just thinking about it, I am shaking my head.

Dude comes into the shop and says he ordered a battery online from one of our friends in Saskatchewan, Mitch. Okay, we know the guy well. This guy says the battery is dead and Mitch directed him to us. 

I figured, I would take the battery back and have Mitch just send me a bat when he sends me my next order of juice. Unfortunately, I am out of batteries but they are expected within a few days. I tell him its not a problem, come back in a few days and I will fix him up.

The guy pokes around for a bit while I am texting back and forth with Mitch. He knows of who I speak and we make arrangements to make this dude happy.

So, Bunny is manning the til and she is ringing up a lady, after she leaves, dude leaves. As soon as he does, Bunny asks if I seen her blue setup. The lady immediately comes back and says that she waited for the dude to leave to come back to tell us that dude pocketed Bunny's setup.

Bunny is ready to string the guy up and chases after him. He is long gone. I just chuckle and text Mitch that his little friend lifted some merchandise. He chuckles and sends me the dude's name and address.

Bunny is flipping out and I am still just chuckling, looking at all the expensive things he could have taken, he lands on a $12 battery that is about a year old.

We call the police and give them his name and address. We don't want to press charges, just want him served with a protection order, so he will never return.

But Bunny has other plans. She too has his name and address.

He went out one night for smokes and never came back.

Okay, so not for smokes, but Norman went out one night and never came back. Its been about a month now so I am pretty sure he is not coming back. He might...but there has been two blizzards since he left so I really don't hold out much hope.

That being said, I guess I miss him. Maybe not him personally but I have decided that I need something else in the house with a heart beat.

Something else 'alive' in the house.

I thought about an iguana but someone said they get five feet long or something crazy. This is a trailer, not gonna play. 

Then I thought of a chameleon. Interesting, found this pic even and was making plans to get it. I was convinced and I planned to call him Fluffy. Then I investigated the care and feeding of the chameleon...gross and gross. Basically said I would be living with live bugs........on purpose. Not happening.

So, cat it is. Put out feelers, and on of my FB friends said she had kittens. So I said, 'Ya, whatever, bring it.'

Then she says she has two left, one boy, one girl. Then she ends it with "they are brother and sister".

WELL FUCK! Brother and sister? Really? "Just bring them both."

Really? You can't just show up at an orphanage and take the brother and leave the sister behind. I guess they can be company for each other when I am not around which is a lot of the time.

The life of Riley.

After moving from the 'cave' ... a long story, I moved into a trailor owned by my oldest best friend, Kimmy.

I really am living the life of Riley but before I give you the particulars I just need to say, "Don't hate the playah."

I pay less rent than the cave, I have no neighbors above or below me. It is peaceful.

And...that is just the least of it. Kimmy (my landlady) is not only my best friend but she is also my housekeeper, laundress, chef and valet. She cleans my house, does my dishes, does my laundry, cooks me dinner and even starts my car in the morning and cleans off the snow.

I get free internet and when I told her I didn't want cable (I download my tv shows for free) so wasn't going to get a phone, she brought one of her cordless phones over. I kid you not.

Will I ever move?

Sure....kicking and screaming.

It amazes me still why I never married that man.

So, TBF won the lottery. I know, you are saying "There is no God." So you think maybe he spread the wealth to his son? Not a freakin' chance.

The Boys coworkers from TBF's shop looked upon him in pity and said, "Dude, too bad yer mom didn't win." Even they knew he wouldn't see a dime.

So today the boy is 23. I could not be more proud of him and took him yesterday to buy new work clothes and boots. TBF says to him, "New gear? What's the occasion?"  Mind like a steel trap, that one.

Quick thinker that he is, he sends his daughter to MacDonalds to pick up lunch and as a birthday honor, he allows The Boy first pick from the assortment of cookies. 

The man is generous to a fault.

UPDATE: New Information: Turns out the daughter bought lunch, TBF didn't even pay for the cookies. Pitiful.

Decisions, decisions.

So, I got Norman fixed. Was it revenge or did I just want to prepare him for his inevitable existence as an outside cat without the wrath of the Landlady who has female cats? Revenge. Totally.

I wake up at 3am and Norman is on my shoulder staring down at me with his eyes wide and his ears back. I know he wants me dead. He just hasn't figured out how to accomplish that and still get fed.

He wants me dead.

Was suckered into taking yet another cat into my home. I just got rid of a dog, but this cat had a sad story and it was living in someones basement. I had just moved to the country so I figured I would take it, turn it into and outside cat (I don't believe any animal should be allowed to shit IN your home) and if it ran away? It was God's will.

So I get this cat. Its a Russian Blue...pretty and it appeared to be quite lovable. His name was Mandu. (Get it?)

I get it home and it is one of those 'never leave you alone' cats. Rubbing up against your leg, mewing sweetly and generally making a nuisance of himself. I am sitting at the desk, surfing the net and Mandu is exploring. He finds his way under the desk and is rubbing against my leg which is my queue to reach down and pet him, right?

So I reach down and am petting him when all of a sudden he chomps down on my hand. I scream but he does not let go, he has a death grip on my hand. I look down and he is looking at me with crazy eyes, his ears flattened to his head. 

WTF, DUDE?

I have to literally kick him (which is not an easy task for a fat chick) to get him to let go. He finally does and as I tend to my wounds, he is sitting in the corner, growling at me.

This is when I rename him Norman. (fucking psycho)

Ya Ya Ya...I know.

I know I have said this a lot over the last few years. But seriously I do intend to blog more. So much has happened over the last few years since I quit smoking and started vaping. I thought I could catch up but it looks like I will just have to carry on from here.

I have moved again....the previous pictures of the apartment that didn't work out. Well it would have worked out if the landlady had not (after only 5 months) started talking about raising the rent, substantially. I could see where this was going and I think I was already paying too much rent for what I had. Anyway....onward. Moved back out to the place where I grew up. In a trailor, all by my lonesome.

Opened a vape shop in town. Doing well. Film at eleven.

Close but no cigar, yet.

So I had to drag all my work shit over to the new apartment. The unfinished apartment, I might add. But at least they have the bedroom done (sans floor) so I can work  in the morning. This should be fun.

This will be the first time in 5 years that I had to actually commute to work. I will have to actually put pants on and leave the house.

I believe by the end of the week I will be truly traumatized.

Walls going up!