Getting into the mindset

Right now I am getting into the mindset to quit smoking.
I have been asked to assist in a new bog. Here is my latest adventure

4 Days Until the Day I Quit

The Smoking Challenge

Sometimes I am just amazed at my oldest daughter. One of the gifts I received this year might be the most thoughtful gift I have ever recieved. My daughter is now 11 and of course in school she has learned how bad smoking is to you and the dangers of smoking. I am not sure how she came up with this stuff but when I was opening presents this year for Christmas she had wraped a package and what was inside made me feel a lot of emotions. All at once I felt happiness, love, pride, and most of all Fear. She had made this present from her heart that was for sure and the first thing I saw was a note,

Dad, I love you but this present is for your daughters.

So I continued on though a small package. The next thing I saw in the package was a Contract already signed by my Oldest Daughter and a Scribble Mark from my youngest. There was a space on the contract for me to sign. This Contract said that I would try to quit smoking on Monday, January 7, 2008. On this day I will allow my daughter to throw away all my cigarettes, Lighters, Ashtrays and anything else she believes causes me to smoke.

After I read though it I noticed that there was a pen in this little package and some 3x5 cards. There were little things on the cards that my daughter wrote. "Dad, I want you to see me Graduate from High School." and "'Dad, I want you to see me go to my Prom.' 'Dad, I want you to see me get married.' 'Dad, I want my children to know you.' 'Dad, we Love you.'"

This brought the tears, I quickly grabbed the pen and signed the contract. I am looking forward to January 7th, 2008. I feel it is going to be a great year.

I wonder if she read this Blog!

Health benefits of Marijuana

Most people use products that are more damaging to the body with out any thought to what they are doing to the body just because they were raised to think it is safe. Although heavy use of marijuana is not safe it is a lot safer than most of the common used drugs in today's market. This is article one and I am going to compare the effects of two popular pain killers, Marijuana and Aspirin. Lets start with the history of Marijuana first. Marijuana can be traced back for thousands of years to almost every culture in the worlds history. Up until the Marijuana was prohibited by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 the US Pharmacopoeia listed cannabis as the drug of choice for over 100 different diseases. This reference was the reference used by doctors since 1820. Cannabis was added to the US Pharmacopoeia in 1870. Since recorded history Marijuana has never been found to cause death by overdose. The History of Aspirin is not so long and distinguished. Aspirin patented on March 6, 1889 by Bayer who also had the trademark for Heroin. Aspirin causes an average of 500 deaths per year. This is from a Medication that is used for pain and heart disease. Now that we understand the history of the two pain medications lets look at the legality of both While Marijuana does have side effects and is know to assist in over 100 diseases without causing any deaths it has been prohibited by the US Federal Government since 1937. Marijuana side effects include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch); difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate, anxiety, and panic attacks. THESE SIDE EFFECTS DO NOT LAST AFTER THE MARIJUANA WEARS OFF. There have been research results that indicate that Marijuana can cause respiratory irritations among heavy marijuana users if smoked. This can be easily solved by switching to vaporized marijuana or taking marijuana orally. Marijuana has not been linked in any research to lung cancer. While marijuana is prohibited in the US, with minor side effects and multiple benefits to the drug, any age child can go to a store and purchase aspirin over the counter. The effects of aspirin can be very dangerous. Heartburn; nausea; upset stomach; rash; hives; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue; black or bloody stools; confusion; diarrhea; dizziness; drowsiness; hearing loss; ringing in the ears; severe or persistent stomach pain; unusual bruising; vomiting; Reye syndrome. In the book, 'The Science of Marijuana' by Dr. Leslie Iversen of the Oxford University Department of Pharmacology said "Tetrahydrocannabinol is a very safe drug," she said. "Even such apparently innocuous medicines as aspirin and related steroidal anti-inflammatory compounds are not safe." So if safety is your concern, cannabis is clearly a much better choice than aspirin. By eating it or using it in a vaporizer, Marijuana would be the wonder drug, Safe and effective.

Marijuana might be good for you

The United States Government has done research on Marijuana in the past and has thrown out many research topics because they prove the benefits of Marijuana. There have been Studies funded by the US Government that have encouraged the citizens to question the current laws. Growing up in the 80's during the Reagan years hearing Nancy talking about saying no to drugs made me very scared to try Marijuana. I also thought that all Marijuana users were worthless and lazy and would become a burden to society. After going to the Netherlands and trying Marijuana because of chronic pain I realized, "this is not that bad." When I came back to the United States of America I decided it was time I did a little research on my own about Marijuana. I soon Found out that US Veterans Affairs Scientists did research to find out if excessive use of Marijuana as a teen would damage your life. They did this by surveying twins were one was a heavy user of Marijuana and the other did not use Marijuana more than 5 times. They Found, "Marijuana use had no significant impact on physical or mental health care utilization, health-related quality of life, or current socio-demographic characteristics." (Eisen SE et al. Does Marijuana Use Have Residual Adverse Effects on Self-Reported Health Measures, Socio-Demographics or Quality of Life? A Monozygotic Co-Twin Control Study in Men. Addiction. Vol. 97 No. 9. p.1083-1086. Sept. 1997) adparams.getadspec('c_billboard1'); The Government provided funding to Federal researchers to study the effect of THC on Cancer induced rats. These rats were treated for Leukemia and lung cancer with canaboids and THC found in Marijuana that increased their life span and decreased the size of the tumors. (Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Sept. 1975. p. 597-602) In 1994 federal researchers studied rats again by giving them massive doses of THC to look for cancer and other toxicity in the rats. Reasearch showed that the more THC the rat received the fewer tumors grew. (NTP Technical Report On The Toxicology And Carcinogenesis Studies Of 1-Trans- Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, CAS No. 1972-08-3, In F344/N Rats And B6C3F(1) Mice, Gavage Studies) Again in 1997 research funded by the federal government came close to proving Marijuana can prevent cancer. This research followed 65,000 patients for close to 10 years to study the effects of Cigarette smoking, Marijuana Smoking and Non-Smokers on Lung Cancer. This showed that Marijuana smokers did not have an increase in chances to get lung cancer and also showed that they were at a lower percentage to get lung cancer than non-smokers. (Sidney, S. et al. Marijuana Use and Cancer Incidence (California, United States). Cancer Causes and Control. Vol. 8. Sept. 1997, p. 722-728.) Over a year ago the federal government gave Donald Tashkin funds to research Marijuana use and Lung Cancer. This found again that those Heavy Marijuana users had a decrease risk for Lung Cancer. (Tashkin D. Marijuana Use and Lung Cancer: Results of a Case-Control Study. American Thoracic Society International Conference. May 23, 2006.) Over the years the federal government has tried to teach that Marijuana was the most dangerous drugs available with lies and deceptions. The federal Government has been giving grants to research the dangers and hazards of Marijuana but have ended up proving that Marijuana is not only a great medication but that it is helpful to prevent cancers.

Stops come quicker than I thought...

First thing I want to say is WOW!!! Special price for single parents... Babysitter for a max of 1.5 hours while I work out. Sign me UP... The YMCA great system. New Building.. Huge Free weight section... Signed up... Now I figured since I got set up on my first stop I would go ahead and start working on my second stop. Lacrosse... Great Game, unfortunately there isn't much demand for it. I have posted a request for any information on an adult league on craigslist.org... Reply already. Not sure how much its going to cost and not sure how competitive it is but hey I am going to call about it tonight. Its for adults but I guess there are some high school kids on it as a request from the highschool coaches. No problem when I played in Europe I played with 12-49 yr olds. it made the game more fun... I just need to make sure that the practice's and game's wont interfere to much with daily life. I am also looking into finding a Girls team that my daughter can play on so I can assist the coaches. BTW... I want to make sure you all know that I am not unhappy I am just realizing that as you get older life goes faster. There have been a lot of, "I will do that when life slows down" moments in my life. My goal is to keep up with life stop waiting for the right moment life is passing me by and I need to move along with it... My friends are great, my family is great, and the community that helps with my kids are great... We will catch up with life and enjoy every moment.

First Stop

I am calling this my first stop. This is not because it is my number one priority. This is just something that I know will keep my stress level down and help me feel good about myself. I will start working out atleast 3 days a week. A couple of years ago I was working out 6 days a week and watching my diet. I loved it... I was so happy all the time... I was never stressed even though this was also the time I had the most stressful job I have ever had. My main goal is to get back into the same routine I had back then but right now I am going to shoot for 3 days a week for the next month and then see how I am managing it to see if I can add another day. First objective... Find a Gym I can afford...

Day to Day

I remeber one year when I was younger I got really upset at my father. I was probably 5 or 6 years old. I asked him one Christmas day, "Dad, when is the next Christmas?" of course he replied, "in one year." Well this made me upset because I remember that the year before we had 2 Christmas'. It was horrible, so much happened in the course of one year back then a year was almost eternity to me. My father actually believed I could wait a whole year for Christmas again. I was thinking about this incident earlier today after thinking about how fast a year goes by now. A lot has happened in the past couple of years and it actually seams like the past 2 years have gone by without me sitting down to relax at all. I have gone from enjoying every moment of life doing the things I love and seeing the people I care about as often as possible. Now, I catch myself saying things like, "I don't have time," a lot more these days. I have gone and stopped going to the gym because I need to rush home after work and make dinner or do laundry or study for a promotion... I can't go to my Uncle's this weekend because I need to catch up on my dusting and vacuum the bedrooms. It finally comes down to the point of Stress and depression. I can not remember the last time I went to the Gym for an hour so I can bust a few sets without worrying about where are the kids and when can I see them. I have not set foot on a Lacrosse field in two years because the games interfere with dishes and bathroom cleaning. I haven't gone out for a beer with the guys because I need to learn this new software. I haven't been to college because I need to study for promotion. I haven't gone for a motorcycle ride because I need to read a story to the kids. This week I realized these are all things that have made me happy in the past. These are the things that made me wake up and say, "I LOVE MY LIFE." With all of this in mind what are we all missing out on in our lifes that will make us happy? What can we do to add these to our schedule? I am going to make a plan to get some of these things in the priority I want them back in my life... This is Dru's Blog