I second the Meetup thing, there are so many things on to suit every interest, the event I went to a few weeks ago I found out about through there. It's really nice to have something completely separate from family and the rest of your life. I also wonder if you're religious whether getting involved more in church stuff (assuming it's church, could be mosque/synagogue/whatever) would be a good route to meet more people and develop your network further?
Stopping smoking is a great thing to do, well done!
