2017 Catch All thread

[Rowand44]

Congrats Steve! It's funny that you mention that because after my week of New Years binge, I've basically decided to cut myself off from booze until Mardi Gras down here(last weekend of February). Every year I generally cut myself off for a month or so just to get my body right and kill it in the gym for a bit. I'm also really freaking strange when it comes to alcohol, cause I go hard and I mean hard when I go out on Saturday nights but I also rarely drink(well football Sunday's I do) outside of that and unless it's a holiday or something I never drink during the week which completely shocks most people. It really is quite astonishing how different your body will feel.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Rowand44

[iamshack]

Steve, that is quite mature of you! Congratulations on 52 days!

 

I find that my alcoholism tends to be contained when I am at home. If I am out and about, particularly with the guys or down on the Strip, watch out. But at home, I generally can have a nice few ounces of bourbon and call it a night. Or often my wife and I will have a late lunch with friends over at Twin Peaks (my kid loves the place, and I don't find it so bad either) and I will have a few Knotty Brunettes.

 

It seems as though the devils of my worse nature are brought out by my male co-conspirators and the thought of table games or sports gambling.

 

For a dude living in Vegas within 5 miles of the Strip, I think I do fairly well.

[BlackSox13]

So confession time.

 

Today is day 52 of my sobriety. Some random combination of an always-brewing controlled alcoholism plus lots of nights where wife and kid were in bed nice and early had me drinking like a mad man. I came to a point where it just had to stop yay those days ago, and needless to say life is pretty good.

 

Anyone else out there ever struggle with booze? I just always wanted 10 after I had one and kept finding reasons to have that one which led to the 10 and so on. While I was a high-performing gentleman prior to quitting drinking, I think I'm only now starting to realize the very real benefits of not drinking the massive amount of booze I was consuming on a most-of-the-time nightly basis. I'm pretty stoked.

 

Anyway, likely TMI for an internet message board, but y'all's my peeps!

Congrats to you for taking it upon yourself to control the booze and not let it control you. I would imagine the wife must be happy about your accomplishment so far. Sounds like you've got it well under control Steve.

 

I didn't really struggle with booze but did heavily binge drink on the weekends. So much to the point I wouldn't crave a beer all week until Friday came around and then it was on all weekend long. Lost my desire for that lifestyle when I got into my late 30's and the hangovers started lasting two days after I last drank. Getting lit on a Friday night would destroy my entire weekend and a few times I still didn't feel all that great for work on Monday. My wife laughs at me now because when we first met I was 35 and she would be amazed by how I could sit down with a case of beer or a bottle of Jameson and knock it back like nothing, but now I when I drink it's two or three beers/shots and that's good for me. Glad I slowed down when I did because I have wicked digestive issues and my doctor told me is likely from all the alcohol I consumed on the weekends for so many years. If only I had learned moderation sooner, lol.

 

 

[RockRaines]

Congrats to you for taking it upon yourself to control the booze and not let it control you. I would imagine the wife must be happy about your accomplishment so far. Sounds like you've got it well under control Steve.

 

I didn't really struggle with booze but did heavily binge drink on the weekends. So much to the point I wouldn't crave a beer all week until Friday came around and then it was on all weekend long. Lost my desire for that lifestyle when I got into my late 30's and the hangovers started lasting two days after I last drank. Getting lit on a Friday night would destroy my entire weekend and a few times I still didn't feel all that great for work on Monday. My wife laughs at me now because when we first met I was 35 and she would be amazed by how I could sit down with a case of beer or a bottle of Jameson and knock it back like nothing, but now I when I drink it's two or three beers/shots and that's good for me. Glad I slowed down when I did because I have wicked digestive issues and my doctor told me is likely from all the alcohol I consumed on the weekends for so many years. If only I had learned moderation sooner, lol.

Its funny, I had digestive issues actually in my early/mid twenties because of drinking, and thats also when I met my wife. I would polish off a fifth of bourbon before going out sometimes like it was nothing. Sometimes before work I'd drink a 6 pack of beer driving home from vernon hills and then drink all night at work. My doctor reviewed my habits (I was honest) and simply told me I wouldnt have a stomach if I continued that much longer. Nexium saved me from my GERD and my ulser cleared up. I stopped any type of brown liquor for almost 10 years. I'm back into bourbon (whenever I drink again) but only to sip.

 

My favorite thing was grab a 2 liter of coke and a fifth of Jim beam black and just kill it while pre gaming. So dumb

Edited January 14, 2017 by RockRaines

[Kyyle23]

My dad used to drink heavily every night. When I was young, he would finish a bottle of liquor(when I was young it was Grand Marnier, he moved onto Jonny Walker red, then black) and a -case- of beer a night. And every morning he was up before me and was an extremely successful businessman. To this day I can't understand how he could do it, I am wrecked for days drinking like that on a Saturday much less every day of the week. It's also a big part of the reason why I drink very sparingly

 

Good luck Steve, if you are quitting completely or if you are just taking a break and figuring out where you stand with alcohol.

[RockRaines]

My dad used to drink heavily every night. When I was young, he would finish a bottle of liquor(when I was young it was Grand Marnier, he moved onto Jonny Walker red, then black) and a -case- of beer a night. And every morning he was up before me and was an extremely successful businessman. To this day I can't understand how he could do it, I am wrecked for days drinking like that on a Saturday much less every day of the week. It's also a big part of the reason why I drink very sparingly

 

Good luck Steve, if you are quitting completely or if you are just taking a break and figuring out where you stand with alcohol.

Functional alcoholism. Thats the hardest thing to kick. I started traveling as a salesman when I was 23 and that definitely contributed. You just get used to the extra coffee etc I guess. My brother in law quit because of his alcoholism and he always asked me how I can be successful and have a family and drink (when I was bad a few years ago), I said thats the worst part. I almost had no reason to stop.

 

Good for you dude. I'm betting your genetics are prone to it, so it takes serious balls to not drink.

Edited January 14, 2017 by RockRaines

[BlackSox13]

Its funny, I had digestive issues actually in my early/mid twenties because of drinking, and thats also when I met my wife. I would polish off a fifth of bourbon before going out sometimes like it was nothing. Sometimes before work I'd drink a 6 pack of beer driving home from vernon hills and then drink all night at work. My doctor reviewed my habits (I was honest) and simply told me I wouldnt have a stomach if I continued that much longer. Nexium saved me from my GERD and my ulser cleared up. I stopped any type of brown liquor for almost 10 years. I'm back into bourbon (whenever I drink again) but only to sip.

 

My favorite thing was grab a 2 liter of coke and a fifth of Jim beam black and just kill it while pre gaming. So dumb

Oh man, I've read about GERD and it sounds like it's no picknic. Good for you on getting things under control when you did.

 

The first Gastro doc I went to told me after describing the plethora of problems I have that I have IBS and to come back and see him if they persisted. Yeah jackass as if chronic migraines, insomnia, constipation, digestive inflammation, pain and sciatica are just magically going to go away. So I went to a different gastro doc and he said IBS is nothing more than a blanket statement acknowledging there is a problem but don't know what exactly is the cause. Come to find out I'm now allergic to eggs ( never was before) and have a histamine intolerance so I have to eat foods that are lower in histamines along with taking anti-histamine OTC meds to help.

 

I had been suspecting a histamine intolerance and in November when my wife were eating at the Marriott downtown before going to watch a few bands play live, we ordered room service. I had some Salmon dish with toasted French bread ( forget what it was called, something French) and about ten minutes after I finished eating I felt like I had just taken a hit off a joint except I noticed my equilibrium was off when I got up to take a leak. Bounced off the dresser and stumbled towards the bathroom and that's when my wife got concerned because she knew I was sobor. About an hour later I was fine and we went to the show and had a blast. That's when we knew and started eliminating certain foods and things slowly started getting better.

 

My gastro doc wants to do an endoscopy to make sure there's no damage to my stomach and small intestines but that's going to have to wait until the funds are available so in the mean time I do whatever I got to do and take whatever I got to take to keep the pain and inflammation reduced to a tolerable level.

 

I'll say this, it really sucks getting old and I'm just middle aged.

 

 

[Steve9347]

Its funny, I had digestive issues actually in my early/mid twenties because of drinking, and thats also when I met my wife. I would polish off a fifth of bourbon before going out sometimes like it was nothing. Sometimes before work I'd drink a 6 pack of beer driving home from vernon hills and then drink all night at work. My doctor reviewed my habits (I was honest) and simply told me I wouldnt have a stomach if I continued that much longer. Nexium saved me from my GERD and my ulser cleared up. I stopped any type of brown liquor for almost 10 years. I'm back into bourbon (whenever I drink again) but only to sip.

 

My favorite thing was grab a 2 liter of coke and a fifth of Jim beam black and just kill it while pre gaming. So dumb

You and I had very similar habits. Just kicked the Nexium this week.

[Steve9347]

I have a 45 to 60 minute commute home. I'd taken to getting a 6 pack and enjoying it on the ride home. How f***ed up is that?

 

Glad to have the old noggin squared away.

[southsider2k5]

Good for you Steve. Way to take control of things.

[Bob Sacamano]

I have two speeds: 0 and 100. And my 100 can get bad, real bad. So nowadays I am actually sober except for maybe one night a month give or take. Personally I think to each their own but you (I) have to know what kind of drinker you are. Personally I was one that would be out till 4am if I started.

 

This is me too man. I don't drink very often but when I do, I drink way more than I should. It's also hard being 25 and trying to cut back significantly when you have friends that want to go out all the time. I don't have the money to be a "bar every Friday and Saturday" kind of drinker that my older cousins and most of my friends have become. Having a gf to spend time with on the weekends definitely helps me not drink because she's never been a drinker. I also think about the potential hangover the next morning and that makes me not want to go out.

Edited January 16, 2017 by soxfan2014

[Chisoxfn]

Ecco those sentiments. Good for you guys who have recognized a problem and taken it by the horns to correct it.

[shipps]

http://patch.com/illinois/palos/john-grana...parents-verdict

 

I don't know how much publicity this story has been getting across Chicagoland or perhaps even nationally but this has been surreal to me. For those unfamiliar, back in September of 2011, a kid from Palos Park, my hometown, plotted with his friends to kill his parents. Granat paid his three friends (1 driver, 2 killers) about 36,000 in cash to take part in the murder. Once the parents went to sleep the two killers went in their bedroom and whacked them with bats and stabbed them until they died. They disposed of all the evidence at the kid Wyma's house. Granat left Wyma's house and 4AM and was pulled over with a broken taillight on the way home and he had bleach in his car. He called in the murder at 7AM and the cop that pulled him over responded to the murder call. John was arrested that day. The other three kids walked free for another 4 weeks and were arrested four Sundays later. I was sitting in class the Friday before the other three kids got arrested and Wyma ditched his class came in my class to talk to his friend. He was saying "John could never do that. He loves his parents so much. His lawyer says he'll be out soon." Two days later the kid gets charged with a double murder. There's plenty of gruesome articles on the patch where the kid Ehab gave his full account of what happened for a lenient 40 year sentence.

 

It's just crazy how things happened.

 

I went to school with Granat from 6th grade until senior year when he got locked up. He was a total weirdo. He would just kind of sit in the back of class, never said much and kind of awkwardly laughed at stuff. He was translucent pale and probably 140 pounds as a 17 year old. I would guess he was on the spectrum. I was friendly with him but he was kind of a wallflower so I wouldn't really deal with him. In 8th grade, he started acting out a bit and I had some random encounters with him. Nothing crazy but he started hanging out with the tough crowd and was always doing weird stuff with money. His parents owned a construction company and always had cash hanging around the house. He took some girl shopping at the mall and spent over a G on her. We were like 15. She then ignored him and never gave him any attention. He would buy his friends lunch almost everyday. He was always good for five bucks if you were in a pinch.

 

Anyways, 8th grade was probably the height of my troublemaking times primarily because one of my best friends from baseball named Dan (now a homeless drug addict tragically) was a huge troublemaker and his single mom was helicopter nurse working 24 hour shifts so we did whatever we wanted. It was at this time I'd see Granat out every once in a while. If there was a big fight or someone had alcohol, stuff like that. I never had rides anywhere and he only lived a couple miles away so I'd go over there Dan's all the time and Granat would be around there. We had Presidents Day off so I just rode over to my buddy Dan's. Dan invited this gangbanger Hamza (now dead ironically) over. Hamza was like, "Hey I have John Granat coming by I am going to sell him two bottles of Captain Morgan. We just have to hang out with him for a half hour and then I am going to take liquor back" So Granat comes over and sits with us for a bit awkwardly while we watched Goodfellas. They exchange booze and alcohol and John says he's going to leave. Right when he does, Hamza goes, "Give me that liquor back or I'll beat the f*** out of you." Granat just stares at him. Hamza cracks him in the face. Granat keeps staring. Hamza hits him again. Granat keeps staring. Hamza takes the booze forcefully and tells him to leave. Granat, now bleeding, tells Hamza "You'll regret this. You don't know what I am capable of." Hamza just started laughing at him and pushed him to door taunting him. I felt bad for Granat but I wasn't about to piss off perhaps the toughest kid in my then mostly-prissy school. I remember thinking it was pretty crazy that such a weak kid was just eating shots and wasn't crying, wasn't fighting back, wasn't running or anything. I never really thought of anything until the murders happened.

 

I am just rambling but the whole ordeal and memory put things in perspectives for me. That day will be 10 years ago next month. Of the four kids who I was with that day, one will be sentenced to 100+ years in jail, one was shot to death in a drug deal a few years ago, one has been off the map for years as a heroin addict and then there's me just wasting my valuable work time on a Sox forum.

 

I actually enjoyed this rambling. Whats messed up though is that Granat wasnt really capable of anything personally considering the fact he had to get his friends to do the killing. What a p****, I hope he rots in jail forever.

[shipps]

Yeah it's interesting that everyone keeps calling him a cold killer and mentally distorted but wouldn't he just handle this himself if it were that way? This kid always had money thoug and I guess it's probably easier to just throw money at the issue than actually deal with it.

 

Shipps you may have heard about this being local but later that same school year my friend's dad killed his wife and then killed himself. We were two weeks from Prom weekend. The girl who set everything up had me collect the money from my group of six friends. I told my buddy I'd be by at 4:30 to pick up the money and he said cool. I show up to his house and there had to be ten Cook County sheriffs there. My buddy got home from school, immediately realized something was wrong and went upstairs. Checked his parents' room and there was no one there. Checked the rest of the house and nothing. Went back to his parents' room and tried to check the bathroom but he couldn't open the door because the dead bodies were propped up against it. My guy walked into his parents' dead bodies as an 18-year-old boy. He supported his dad 100%, never really mourned and just went on with his life.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/patch.com/illi...e?client=safari

 

Wow this one I dont remember but we hadnt moved out to the burbs until 2013 so if I heard about it I wouldnt have paid as much attention. Why do you think your friend sided with his dad? That is crazy.

[Bob Sacamano]

http://patch.com/illinois/palos/john-grana...parents-verdict

 

I don't know how much publicity this story has been getting across Chicagoland or perhaps even nationally but this has been surreal to me. For those unfamiliar, back in September of 2011, a kid from Palos Park, my hometown, plotted with his friends to kill his parents. Granat paid his three friends (1 driver, 2 killers) about 36,000 in cash to take part in the murder. Once the parents went to sleep the two killers went in their bedroom and whacked them with bats and stabbed them until they died. They disposed of all the evidence at the kid Wyma's house. Granat left Wyma's house and 4AM and was pulled over with a broken taillight on the way home and he had bleach in his car. He called in the murder at 7AM and the cop that pulled him over responded to the murder call. John was arrested that day. The other three kids walked free for another 4 weeks and were arrested four Sundays later. I was sitting in class the Friday before the other three kids got arrested and Wyma ditched his class came in my class to talk to his friend. He was saying "John could never do that. He loves his parents so much. His lawyer says he'll be out soon." Two days later the kid gets charged with a double murder. There's plenty of gruesome articles on the patch where the kid Ehab gave his full account of what happened for a lenient 40 year sentence.

 

It's just crazy how things happened.

 

I went to school with Granat from 6th grade until senior year when he got locked up. He was a total weirdo. He would just kind of sit in the back of class, never said much and kind of awkwardly laughed at stuff. He was translucent pale and probably 140 pounds as a 17 year old. I would guess he was on the spectrum. I was friendly with him but he was kind of a wallflower so I wouldn't really deal with him. In 8th grade, he started acting out a bit and I had some random encounters with him. Nothing crazy but he started hanging out with the tough crowd and was always doing weird stuff with money. His parents owned a construction company and always had cash hanging around the house. He took some girl shopping at the mall and spent over a G on her. We were like 15. She then ignored him and never gave him any attention. He would buy his friends lunch almost everyday. He was always good for five bucks if you were in a pinch.

 

Anyways, 8th grade was probably the height of my troublemaking times primarily because one of my best friends from baseball named Dan (now a homeless drug addict tragically) was a huge troublemaker and his single mom was helicopter nurse working 24 hour shifts so we did whatever we wanted. It was at this time I'd see Granat out every once in a while. If there was a big fight or someone had alcohol, stuff like that. I never had rides anywhere and he only lived a couple miles away so I'd go over there Dan's all the time and Granat would be around there. We had Presidents Day off so I just rode over to my buddy Dan's. Dan invited this gangbanger Hamza (now dead ironically) over. Hamza was like, "Hey I have John Granat coming by I am going to sell him two bottles of Captain Morgan. We just have to hang out with him for a half hour and then I am going to take liquor back" So Granat comes over and sits with us for a bit awkwardly while we watched Goodfellas. They exchange booze and alcohol and John says he's going to leave. Right when he does, Hamza goes, "Give me that liquor back or I'll beat the f*** out of you." Granat just stares at him. Hamza cracks him in the face. Granat keeps staring. Hamza hits him again. Granat keeps staring. Hamza takes the booze forcefully and tells him to leave. Granat, now bleeding, tells Hamza "You'll regret this. You don't know what I am capable of." Hamza just started laughing at him and pushed him to door taunting him. I felt bad for Granat but I wasn't about to piss off perhaps the toughest kid in my then mostly-prissy school. I remember thinking it was pretty crazy that such a weak kid was just eating shots and wasn't crying, wasn't fighting back, wasn't running or anything. I never really thought of anything until the murders happened.

 

I am just rambling but the whole ordeal and memory put things in perspectives for me. That day will be 10 years ago next month. Of the four kids who I was with that day, one will be sentenced to 100+ years in jail, one was shot to death in a drug deal a few years ago, one has been off the map for years as a heroin addict and then there's me just wasting my valuable work time on a Sox forum.

 

I do remember this happening! I'm 25 so I was 20 in college at that time. I just remembered being disgusted with the story.

[RockRaines]

I actually enjoyed this rambling. Whats messed up though is that Granat wasnt really capable of anything personally considering the fact he had to get his friends to do the killing. What a p****, I hope he rots in jail forever.

Wow, says a lot that only one kid really made it out alive of that group.

[Iwritecode]

Wow, says a lot that only one kid really made it out alive of that group.

 

So the moral of the story is, don't be friends with Rabbit.

[Harry Chappas]

Stagg seems like a weird school in that it is a collection of just about every type of community. I look at Shepard in Alsip kind of the same way.

 

I would think it would be easy to fall into bad habits there.

[StrangeSox]

WWII and atomic history nerds might like reading over this. It's a transcript of secretly recorded captured Nazi Germany scientists as they learn that America has used a nuclear weapon on Japan.

[southsider2k5]

WWII and atomic history nerds might like reading over this. It's a transcript of secretly recorded captured Nazi Germany scientists as they learn that America has used a nuclear weapon on Japan.

 

It is amazing how many times they state that they (The Germans) didn't really want to win the war.

[StrangeSox]

It is amazing how many times they state that they (The Germans) didn't really want to win the war.

 

I know that at least Otto Hahn wasn't a member of the Nazi party and tried to shield people from Nazi persecution. But ultimately they still stuck around Germany doing physics for the Nazis, even if their hearts weren't fully committed to the Nazi ideology.

 

FWIW the "engine" they're referencing is the attempt to build a nuclear power plant. Germany didn't devote too much effort to researching how to build a bomb because their scientists made a critical early error when they calculated the cross-section of uranium. It lead them to believe that you'd need so much uranium to have a nuclear explosion that it would be so large that they 1) couldn't possibly supply enough uranium and 2) wouldn't be able to realistically transport the thing anywhere.

 

e: and there was almost definitely some post hoc rationalization for 1) their work under the Nazi regime 2) Germany's failure and 3) their personal failures at the physics of the matter.

Edited January 24, 2017 by StrangeSox

[bigruss]

Fascinating read, a perspective I don't I ever expected to see.

[StrangeSox]

PBS's Secrets of the Dead had a show about a similar instance where Britain bugged an estate where they were holding a bunch of captured Nazi officers.

 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/bugging-hi...ll-episode/947/

 

People blab a whole lot about things they probably shouldn't when they think nobody is listening.

 

Another Nuclear Nazis link: When did the Allies know there wasn’t a German bomb?

 

And if you're interested in the early history of nuclear physics and the Manhattan Project, I strongly recommend Making of The Atomic Bomb.

Edited January 24, 2017 by StrangeSox

[Steve9347]

PBS's Secrets of the Dead had a show about a similar instance where Britain bugged an estate where they were holding a bunch of captured Nazi officers.

 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/bugging-hi...ll-episode/947/

 

People blab a whole lot about things they probably shouldn't when they think nobody is listening.

 

Another Nuclear Nazis link: When did the Allies know there wasn’t a German bomb?

 

And if you're interested in the early history of nuclear physics and the Manhattan Project, I strongly recommend Making of The Atomic Bomb.

Fascinating.

[BigSqwert]

This feels so liberating....