Friday wrap up

As yet another week comes to an end the time has once again arrived for my weekly glimpse into life in the House ‘o’ Estrogen. I never really know from week to week how long this post is going to be; life is kind of funny that way: You never know exactly what is going to happen and when. So without any further ado, let’s dive headfirst into this weeks events.

Jeff Gordon got a much needed win at Charlotte this past weekend to give him a bit of a pad in the points lead for the NEXTEL Cup Championship. Ryan Newman looked to have the race won, but a blown tire and subsequent crash later and Gordon gets the win. Halfway through the Chase and Gordon has a nice 68 point lead over teammate Jimmy Johnson.

For as long as I can remember I have hated/loathed/despised the Dallas Cowboys. Why? Because they are usually a pretty good team and most people hate the teams/people that are good at what they do. In the 80’s everyone hated my Niners. Why? Because they were very good at the game of football. So it gave me no end of delight when the Cowboys took their home field against the New England Patriots on Sunday and by the end of the game had been handed a 48-27 beatdown by the Pats. Memo to all NFC team fans: IMHO the next Super Bowl champions are going to come from the AFC. Dallas was undefeated coming into this game and got their asses kicked by the Patriots, and in a big way. Romo and company actually had a lead in the second half of 3 points, but Brady and his team put that shit to rest really quickly and ran off a 27 -3 scoring run over the last 3 minutes of the game. Dallas was outclassed, outplayed, and out scored in a major way. I am a NFC team kind of guy, but I am harboring no illusions about either one of my teams being able to beat the Pats or the Colts. I love my teams, but the AFC is the dominant conference.

My beloved Seahawks lost to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night, thereby running their record to 3-3 on the season. At least this time they managed to put some points on the board and avoided a shut out. Shaun Alexander only got 35 yards on 14 carried and the ‘Hawks running game looked pretty ugly. Hasselback threw for 362 the most he has had since December 2004, but it was in a come from behind situation all night along. C’mon Seattle, you guys have got to do better than that if you’re even going to think about the post season. On the positive side of my NFL weekend, my beloved Niners had a bye week and didn’t play. Which is good, at least they didn’t have a chance to lose a game that way.

I recently bought and quickly read a book called “The Heroin Diaries” which was written by Nikki Sixx, the bass player and chief lyricist of Motley Crue. The book is a no holds barred, unflinching look at one year in his life as a rock star. And it dives head first into his addiction to what ever was placed in front of him. And the book took me right back to the times when I would be locked in my room with a glass pipe full of methamphetamine, and a pile of meth on my dope tray for good measure. And it reminded me that I NEVER WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT LIFE. Fucking EVER!!! I was instantly reminded of the depth of my self loathing, the complete lack of self esteem or ethics that was such a part of my life at that time. And it gave me a new perspective on my life in recovery. Things happen in this life for a reason, and my buying this book and reading happened for a reason. If you’re in the grips of an active addiction and have the chance to read this book; do so. And don’t read it with the intent of glorifying drug use because there is NOTHING cool about doing drugs, nothing at all. Read it and relate your own experience to it. Relate your own depression, self loathing, loss of self esteem and complete powerlessness over your chemical addiction to what was written in the book. And if you’re in recovery buy this book and read it. Read it several times. I am on my second time through it, and I never want to have to live that life ever again. For you who don’t have a really good understanding of the impact that chemical dependency has in this country check out this little stat: 1 in 5 people in this country are affected by drugs and alcohol. 1 in 5. That is a lot of people by anybodies count. If you know someone that is suffering from the disease of chemical dependency and you love them; help them get the help they so richly deserve. Nobody deserves to die from this disease, nobody. And make no mistake here; the person doing the drinking/drugging is not only hurting themselves, but they are also hurting those around them. Addiction is a lot like a bomb. When the bomb goes off it does incredible damage to its intended target. But there is also collateral damage that is done to the objects around the site of the bomb strike. In this case the collateral damage is done to the friends, family, and loved ones of the chemically dependant individual. I have dedicated my life to helping those people who have the disease of addiction, and that also includes helping their friends, families, and loved ones. I do this because I can only keep what I have by giving it away. I have been given a new life, and it is my responsibility to share how I got it with anyone who needs that information.

The Colorado Rockies are in the World Series for the first time in team history. They got there by winning 20 of there last 21 games, and by sweeping aside the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS, and then the Rockies broke out the brooms and swept aside the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. Mrs. Sheldon has a brother that lives in Denver so the Rockies have been a bit of a family favorite this year in the baseball playoffs. I am pulling for the Red Sox in the ALCS, but I am leaning towards the Rockies to take it all.

I was in the font office at work the other day putting in a request for a larger desk as the one I currently have is a bit too small for me. My supervisor Mark said “That’s a good idea, ‘cause you aren’t going anywhere.” I asked him what that meant exactly, and he told me that I was doing a fantastic job and that management wasn’t going to be sending me to another part of the facility for quite some time. And that faithful readers is what I call job security. I was initially quite angry when I was transferred to the adult facility back in late May, early June. But the fact of the matter is I am truly thriving where I am at. And it was really cool to hear that management was pleased with their decision. I mean think about it; I am coming up on my 1 year anniversary of becoming a counselor and I have the responsibility of having a group of 8-10 (sometimes more) patients, all of the paper work that brings, and all of the treatment planning that brings. And I am doing it at one of the largest, oldest, most affordable treatment facilities in the nation. And I am doing well. I keep waiting for management to find out who I really am. Maybe they already have, and that’s why I am where I am. Life is good at Sundown.

So Yahoo is going to TRANSITION 360 into another service. According to Yahoo it will have better blogging capabilities, and be integrated with other Yahoo services. This is supposed to happen by the year 2008. According to Yahoo they will keep blog content, friends list, profile pics, and help make the TRANSITION to the “new product.” Do ya wanna know what I think? I think it’s cool for them to do that. Do ya wanna know what is bugging the piss outta me? All of the whining I have been reading about the bugs, and losing 360, and on and on and on. I have a few questions for y’all out there: How much do/have you paid for the 360 experience? (Costs for the internet don’t count people…) Is it a Beta program? Does change really scare you all THAT MUCH? Don’t get me wrong now I have some issues with page loading times, but I have not had that many problems with bugs. Sure from time to time I have to post my blast twice for it to save, and Yahoo has eaten a couple of my posts. I fought back by doing my posts on Word and copying and pasting. That way if Yahoo eats the post I can just go back and try again. Quite a few people on my friends list have gone indie or switched to another service. I am not blogging enough nor am I a good enough writer to warrant paying for a site of my own. I have a MySpace page, and a Blogger page and a Mash page, and a Facebook page. And where do I spend most of my online time? 360. Why? Because it gets the job done for me. So I will be sticking around to see how this “new product” works out, I will still only be posting once a week at least for the foreseeable future. And I can tell you that when the “new product” comes out one of two things is going to happen: If it is a good service and worth the wait I am going to have a nice chuckle at those who have bitched so hard about the Yahoo experience. And if it flops I am going to have my other places to post my blogs. And here’s the important part, at least for me: I am not going to let any of it cause me to piss and moan and bitch about bugs, slow page loading times, and the myriad other complaints I have read on these 360 pages. I am going to continue doing what I do wherever and whenever I have the chance to do it. That’s how I roll people.

And now it would seem that Mrs. Sheldons and my computer has been infected with a nasty virus. Everything was running just fine until I sent her a flower from the Facebook site. Methinks that Facebook is not going to be seeing any visits from Mrs. Sheldon and I for quite some time. We will be purchasing a Norton Anti-Virus soon, and hopefully we can get back to having a safe and healthy computer.

And that’s it for another week. Thanx for hanging in there with this post, hopefully I didn’t bore any of you too much. I am going back into lurk mode, and commenting when I feel the need. Or if our computer doesn’t blow up. Thanx for listening everyone…

The Heroin Diaries: Must read for addicts in active addiction and for those in recovery also.

I recently bought and quickly read a book called "The Heroin Diaries"which was written by Nikki Sixx, the bass player and chief lyricist of Motley Crue. The book is a no holds barred, unflinching look at one year in his life as a rock star. And it dives head first into his addiction to what ever was placed in front of him. And the book took me right back to the times when I would be locked in my room with a glass pipe full of methamphetamine, and a pile of meth on my dope tray for good measure. And it reminded me that I NEVER WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT LIFE. Fucking EVER!!! I was instantly reminded of the depth of my self loathing, the complete lack of self esteem or ethics that were such a part of my life at that time. And it gave me a new perspective on my life in recovery. Things happen in this life for a reason, and my buying this book and reading it happened for a reason.If you're in the grips of an active addiction and have the chance to read this book; do so. And don't read it with the intent of glorifying drug use because there is NOTHING cool about doing drugs,nothing at all. Read it and relate your own experience to it. Relate your own depression, self loathing, loss of self esteem and complete powerlessness over your chemical addiction to what was written in the book. And if you're in recovery buy this book and read it. Read it several times. I am on my second time through it, and I never want to have to live that life ever again. For you who don't have a really good understanding of the impact that chemical dependency has in this country check out this little stat: 1 in 5 people in this country are affected by drugs and alcohol. 1 in 5. That is a lot of people by anybodies count. If you know someone that is suffering from the disease of chemical dependency and you love them; help them get the help they so richly deserve. Nobody deserves to die from this disease, nobody. And make no mistake here; the person doing the drinking/drugging is not only hurting themselves, but they are also hurting those around them. Addiction is a lot like a bomb. When the bomb goes off it does incredible damage to its intended target. But there is also collateral damage that is done to the objects around the site of the bomb strike. In this case the collateral damage is done to the friends, family, and loved ones of the chemically dependant individual. I have dedicated my life to helping those people who have the disease of addiction, and that also includes helping their friends, families, and loved ones. I do this because I can only keep what I have by giving it away. I have been given a new life, and it is my responsibility to share how I got it with anyone who needs that information. Thanx for listening everyone....