I mentioned last week that I'd gotten a lot of response to my self-imposed soda ban, but last Thursday, just as the feedback seemed to taper off, I got an e-mail from a reader. From Bellevue, Wash.

Then I got another one. From Birmingham, Ala.

Then one came in from New York City.

Just as I was about to loudly exclaim, "New York City?" I got an e-mail from fark.com.

Fark.com is a Web site that picks up online news items and provides its readers links to those stories and a place to post feedback. The e-mail explained that fark had picked up my online diary and post- ed it as one of its daily links - and I was pleased to see that my story was designated a "hero" story, as opposed to "stupid," "weird" or, worse, "asinine."

Hence the geographically scattered e-mails.

But they didn't stop coming. In fact, over the next three days, I received more than 70 notes from strangers, and the bulk of them were either from people who drank a lot of soda and had quit or from people who drank a lot of soda and wanted to quit.

As of Monday night, the fark link had garnered 33,500 hits and, of the 90 topics for that day, ranked fifth in number of postings received.

The point of all these numbers isn't horn-tooting (trust me, a huge chunk of the other 90 stories that day were far more interesting than my goofy little soda diary).

The point is that, apparently, soda abstinence is a subject some people take very seriously.

Given the availability, omnipresence and tastiness of soft drinks (and take it from me, they're available, omnipresent and extremely tasty), there's plenty of potential for people to consume too many of them. And if they're consuming too many of them, they're probably aware of that fact. And if they're aware of that fact, they probably want to quit or cut back.

So on this 23rd day of my soda-ban, I'm going to attempt a constructive experiment.

I could not have quit for 23-going-on-30 days had it not been for the fact that so many people had read about it. If it had just been me trying to exercise a little self-control on my own, I'd probably have given up during the first week.

So I'll extend that same incentive to anybody who wants to try it on.

If you feel like giving up sodas for 30 days, send me an e-mail with your name and contact number.

If I get a lot of willing participants, next week I'll list all the names and, odds are, everybody on the list will find it a lot easier to start their self-imposed ban.

If I only get a few responses, maybe I'll write about the individuals who reply.

And if I don't get any replies, well ... hopefully this time next week not many people will remember that I asked.

But if you're reading this and you're thinking about trying to curb a little cola (or even coffee, if you're a java drinker who thinks you can handle it), drop me a line. There's nothing like a public vow to strengthen one's resolve.