Jump to content

BearSchlong

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    4738
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by BearSchlong

  1. My life is changed. Just went through my first full week of large client meetings, happy hours, dinners. . . Heard every single word without difficulty. Had conversations with people on airplanes and didn’t have to read lips. The best $1500 I have ever spent, period. Btw listening to music on flights with hearing aids and Bose over the ear noise cancelling headphones works well. I had no idea how deaf I was until I could finally hear. The kicker though is listening to music at a low level through the hearing aids and still being able to have a conversation with my wife who is in the next room.
  2. Back on track. I’m a hairy dude and this combo keeps my back under control. Nose hair gets this.
  3. DFW has been such a shitshow today. First weather, then no pilot, then need more gas to fly around the weather that just pushed through. Question for you pros who sit up front, is the “more gas” a pilot or dispatch initiated situation, or is it a function of IBM Weather Channel AI Algorithms? All I know is I’ve been sitting on this RJ145 for 2 hours, at E24B. This morning in Baton Rouge there was a ground stop at DFW so they let us off the plane for breakfast.
  4. Yesterday my team and I spent a mind-bending 6 hours with the CIO of a southern state discussing IT systems architecture. Then, happy hour with 25 people at a downtown bar. I was the last one to leave because I was networking, brainstorming, collaborating, and moving the business forward. It did not even register in my mind that I was in a bar, other than the club sodas I drank. All the youngsters prepared to go out to do some partying in earnest (SEC!), and I announced, “I’m going to see some friends” and grabbed my phone, hit google, selected a meeting at random, grabbed my rental car, and headed out, hoping for the best. It was birthday night. After a half-dozen strangers greeted me with hugs, I sat down at a table, and someone set a solo cup of Hawaiian Punch and a plate of fried chicken, potato chips, and birthday cake in front of me. The next hour was magical. Julius celebrated 31 years, and he told us stories of his repeated trips to rehab. A dozen people spoke with gratitude about his patience, wisdom, and willingness to help. His sister and brother-in-law commented on their persistence and faith in his eventual sobriety. The old timers focused their context to the newcomers in the room. They quoted the BBOAA. They did it right. That damned AA miracle happened again, and now I’ve got friends in yet another city. Showed up at the airport at 5am today and my team was talking about their shenanigans. They were tired but sober, and not suffering hangovers. They asked me what I did last night and I told them “not much.” Such is our society.
  5. I put Beto in my junk mail a long time ago and I get crickets from the GOP. I’m a marked man after giving to the dems last cycle. I probably get 5-8 emails a day judging by my quick glance before deleting that folder’s contents. It’s all one big grift. Never giving another dime. Identity politics are all about solidifying beliefs, not changing minds.
  6. They can only target by zip code now for statewide elections on cable/ YouTubeTV. And the ads are designed to piss you off enough to make you get out and vote. Beto is spending all his money on getting young people to the polls. My daughter’s company buys about $600M a year in ads and she says the only time you’ll see a strong mixture of ads is in close races. She spent all last week buying for AOC.
  7. Nope. I’ve had hearing tests at several pretty high end audiology places and was more impressed with Costco than any of them. Had multiple people recommend them as well, software engineers at work. High end places wanted $6K, and consumer reports even said that the Kirkland brand is just an OEM of the exact same model for about $5K less. The test and the fitting session were an hour each. And I have an hour scheduled for 3 weeks out for fine tuning and to address any fit issues that may arise. Plus I figured it was a low risk event, if I eventually need a specialist or better tech then so be it.
  8. I got mine from Costco this week. Philips brand. Went to the Costco on Richmond, Chaz the audiologist did a great job with the hearing test, telling me about the pros and cons of each brand, style, color, etc. The minute I walked out of the soundproof room I felt like Superman. I’ve needed them for about 30 years, but hitting 50 finally eliminated my vanity and ego enough to where I was willing to pull the trigger. Just played golf and could hear the guys in the other cart from across the fairway, in the wind. Integrates with iPhone reallly well, the tech has come a long way. Best $1,500 I ever spent.
  9. Except my aggy corps turd son was actually in Poland for 5 months, handing out NATO weapons to Ukraine, so be careful with that broad paintbrush.
  10. My FIL gave Elvis the tour of the FBI crime lab in DC and true to his word Elvis comped him for concert tickets the rest of his life. Hershel walker is a dumb motherfucker.
  11. Catches slab flounder in Louisiana/ realizes that Oct 15 - Dec 1 flounder season in LA is closed. Gorgeous morning though. Literally the very first day in the history of Louisiana that it’s illegal to keep a flounder.
  12. My CSB about NYC and Broadway is that I’m very close friends with Terrence McNally’s brother, and am actually going with him to see a community theatre version of his brother’s play Frankie and Johnny next week. Great documentary for theatre buffs starring my friend, Nathan Lane, Edie Falco, Tyne Daly and others. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/terrence-mcnally-every-act-of-life-documentary/10986/
  13. I do. My late great grand sponsor was sober there for 50 years til he passed. IIRC my friend and fellow conference board member Tim B. may be a good contact. I will pm you his information this morning. Damned good AA there, the west Texas kind where they don't fuck around. My sponsor is from there too.
  14. You’re only as sick as your secrets. The 5th step is incredibly powerful. Recovery isn’t for people who want it, or need it; it’s for people who do it. Everything else is mere tourism.
  15. Good luck. More will be revealed. All I have is my experience.
  16. Here is my sponsor face. But it only works on guys who ask me to tell them what I see.
  17. My advice? Pick someone other than a friend to sponsor you and help you with the steps for the first time. Someone hard, someone objective and unaffected who will not cosign your bullshit, because until you work the steps and start making 9th-step amends, that's pretty much what you have. Example - I'd been sober about 5 years when I called my sponsor with some trivial bullshit. And this guy is gentle, spiritual, a real mensch. About 2 minutes into my whining he interrupted me with “How long have you been sober?” uh, 5 years. “Go start acting like it” before he hung up on me. That did more for me than dozens of meetings because it was his way of telling me to grow the fuck up in a meaningful and productive context. Oh yeah, I have that skill now. Learned in Alcoholics Anonymous. My current sponsor and I have lunch most Fridays at Lubys, and yesterday he found me trying to rationalize some decisions one of my own sponsees recently made and he said “I am gonna stop you right there, I'm a litigator, and I get paid to advocate for people who made certain decisions, youre doing exactly that” and I took his point. In short, your job is to grab the shovel and dig, your sponsor’s job is to shine the flashlight into the hole. There's a fine line between helpful objective witness and asshole, and if I'm being honest I err on being gentle because I know alcoholics are their own worst critics. I try to help people inventory the good as well. But above all I have to be unaffected. I'm hearing a 5th step tomorrow, and I know there is going to be some gnarly meth-related subject matter like prostitution and exploitation involved and my job is to help this guy find ways to make amends and move forward, otherwise he is doomed. I've heard just about everything weighty, including wrongful death and prison gang stuff and those men have found successful serene long term sobriety once they faced their character defects. Honest, open-minded, and willing. That is all I have to be.
  18. My in laws own an AAMCO, and their product comes with a great warranty.
  19. Please, get a sponsor. As time passes, your mind will quiet.
  20. Not knocking Austin, that place is hot. Just commenting on price differences.
  21. I can be in the gulf or the farm in an hour, the airport in 20 mins, and my overhead is really low. West end of Beaumont is really lovely for the price.
×
×
  • Create New...