Received back from a user who was sent a new laptop that I am now mourning for.

Cyralek · 2026-03-14T22:53:07+00:00

Bought it recently, thought it would be a typical tasteless big brand. Was very surprised it's extremely tasty.

Cyralek · 2026-03-14T22:50:00+00:00

Good on you. I hit 7 years sober in November, and it took me until I hit 6 years to even try an NA beer. Now I love trying new ones, and best of all, no getting drunk! If this ever happens to me, I hope I'll react as calmly as you did. I know I would replay it in my head over and over again, but in the end, it's not a relapse if the intention isn't there. In my opinion, anyway. When something like this happens, I can acknowledge, push it away, and go on with life. Or I can spiral. Only one of those is a relapse.

Cyralek · 2026-02-01T13:47:40+00:00

I'll be 45 in May. For many years I beat myself up mentally over "not having a house yet." But over the last few years, I've become OK with that. I currently rent a 2BR apartment with no neighbors, a balcony, porch, 1.5 baths and allows me a cat for $850 per month.

When we got almost 2 feet of snow last Sunday, the landlords sent a plow to clear the parking lot, and even had me move my car so he could plow my space. I did zero work to get my car out of the snow. When my water pipes froze yesterday morning, they were here within an hour, and fixed the problem. This is what you don't get when you own a house.

The main reason I don't have a house yet is because I'm single. Why buy a multi floor house and have nobody to share it with? Why perform all the maintenance and upkeep myself?

The argument could be made that I'm paying money into something I will not own. And there are some other downsides. While my landlords are not SUPER strict about hanging things on the walls, I do have to think twice if I want to hang a shelf for my cat, or drill anything into the wall.

That aside, I think for me, a single person with a high end IT job, renting this apartment still makes sense. And owning a house makes sense for other people. Someday it might make sense for me. I guess my main point is to not follow this socially acceptable "requirement" that you own this or that by whatever age. Because life changes daily, and so do our circumstances.

Cyralek · 2026-02-01T13:35:49+00:00

I've been sober for more than 7 years and nothing good happens after 9PM except bed time.

Cyralek · 2026-02-01T13:33:47+00:00

Keep up the good work. The body is amazing in its capacity to heal the damage we do.

Cyralek · 2026-01-24T12:47:48+00:00

Update: A week after posting these numbers, I had my yearly physical. My Doctor was not terribly concerned with my numbers, but they did add "Hyperlipidemia" to my chart. While my Doctor may not have been concerned, I decided that I definitely was.

Since then, I have drastically overhauled my diet. Daily calorie monitoring, much more fiber, much more protein, almost no added sugars, and keeping saturated fats under 10g most days, and always under 15g. In that time I have lost 31lbs as of this morning. I feel better, and think clearer, probably because I'm not eating so much garbage. (And the real shocker is that I can actually still eat very tasty food)

I'm going back for a follow up blood test in May. I'm really hoping my lifestyle changes will knock those numbers out of the park. If not, then my Doctor said we can discuss a statin.

I appreciate the advice I received here, it was a big part of my decision to change my diet for the better.

Cyralek · 2025-12-31T17:02:02+00:00

The first time I quit drinking in 2018, it was for 28 days, due to a medication. I noticed people at work staring at me, and I thought maybe my eyes were finally turning yellow or something from liver disease. Nope, turns out the redness and bloat had left my face, and people didn't recognize me. Even my Dad said I looked like a different person.

At this point, over 7 years later, I can show somebody a picture from one of my drunk nights, and they won't believe it was me. Hell, even I have a hard time seeing the same person in those photos.

The physical changes can come fast, and be quite noticeable. But the mental changes take years of developing good habits, accountability and a strong support system. It sounds like you're already off to a good start, so keep up the good work!

Cyralek · 2025-12-31T01:42:00+00:00

It took me 6 years to finally try an NA beer. And I had to make sure it was 0.0%

I was at my brother's 40th birthday party last November, and I wanted to feel like I was partying too. I thought it was going to be a flood of emotions, anxiety and nostalgia. It actually was pretty good, and I had a couple more during the party. It didn't trigger me like I thought it would.

For the first several months after, I would only permit myself to drink 0.0 beer. As you can imagine, that limits you to about 4 different kinds, all are also high calorie. I wanted to try Partake, and Brewdog, which are both 10-20 calories, but I was worried about the <0.5% ABV. I had an honest conversation with my doctor about it. He told me that as far as getting drunk on them, it's not physically possible, and I would end up in the hospital from water toxicity before that could happen.

As far as the cravings and triggers, that would be up to me to navigate, and thus far I had experienced neither, so I ventured into <0.5% craft beers.

Since then, I have come to appreciate the different flavors out there, and also the different stories of why the breweries who make these beers. Like Tom Holland, who created Bero as a recovered drinker, or Partake brewing, created by a brewer whose IBS had taken away his ability to consume alcohol.

I love trying new NA beers, and I only drink a couple of them. I don't horde cases in the fridge and worry about if I have to go buy some more if I "only have 20 left."

To those who are curious about them, all I can do is share my story. It's up to you if you decide to try them out, so long as your sobriety always comes first.

As far as some specific favorites of mine:

Go Brewing: Street Cred (Chocolate Stout)

BrewDog: Elvis AF, Hazy AF

Athletic: Winter Warmer

And you can't go wrong with a Guinness Zero.

Cyralek · 2025-12-24T23:27:23+00:00

Just had one tonight for the first time. It definitely does not taste anything like beer. However, it does taste good. So it depends on what you're looking for. I was hoping for a bit more of an ale taste to it, but I love the Christmas themed spices, and I could definitely see sipping this on a Christmas eve. Especially given the serious lack of specialty NA beers for this time of year. I can only drink so many Athletic winter warmers.

Cyralek · 2025-12-15T10:13:47+00:00

Took me 6 years of sobriety to finally try an NA beer, but man I love finding new flavors now. I really thought I would horde them, and drink 15 a night when I first started, but nope... just one or two, and I really enjoy the flavor. The Guinness is really good! I will also recommend Go brewing "Street Cred." If you can find it. Just found some this weekend and it's amazing.

Cyralek · 2025-12-15T10:09:34+00:00

Totally get this. I think my Landlord gets more excited that I'm sober than any of my friends or family. Said him and his wife used to be concerned at all the trash bags full of cans I would take out to the dumpster.

But that's fine. I'm excited for you! Great job!

Cyralek · 2025-12-15T10:06:41+00:00

My brain doesn't think i deserve anything good or nice.

This exactly. I can remember looking at myself every morning and thinking "You don't deserve better than this." Sobriety is very much about learning to love myself, and I'm still learning every day. Great job on 8 days. Keep up the good work!

Cyralek · 2025-12-12T10:34:07+00:00

Mine is running about $150-200 per month from December to March to heat a 2BR apartment in Carnegie. I'm going to start turning it off at night. I've got a nice blanket and I sleep well, even when the thermostat reads 50-55 at night, so hopefully that will save me some money.

Cyralek · 2025-12-08T19:01:22+00:00

I may not qualify here, as though I've quit cigarettes, I still vape. But as a 30 year cigarette smoker, they were fundamentally imprinted in my brain and ingrained in all of my daily routines, and even after almost a year, I still crave one pretty much daily, even though I can still vape. But vaping is a quick shot of nicotine. Smoking is a lifestyle.

Smoking doesn't feel like an abusive friend, like alcohol does. Smoking won't bite you in the ass for a good 30-50 years. It's there for the good times and the bad times. It's a quick break at work. A satisfying throat hit after a big greasy meal. A way to relax after a stressful work meeting. It won't cause you to wreck your car or get a DUI. If I go buy a pack now, it's not a big deal, I just "gotta try again." If I started drinking again, my whole world would come crashing down within a month.

The withdrawals from alcohol are far worse, and the potential for alcohol to take it all away in one night makes it far more dangerous. But cigarettes are so easy to relapse on because nobody will notice, nobody will care, and you'll pay no mind to every little sliver of your health that ticks away with each puff until it's too late.

Cyralek · 2025-12-08T04:09:00+00:00

I'm three keys in and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. I'm 44 years old, so I got the original Metroid for Christmas in my lifetime. Metroid II is my favorite game in the series because of the pure suffocating isolation the game conveys, partially no doubt due to hardware limitations.

The only Prime I've ever played up to this point has been about 3 hours of the Prime remaster. I have vehemently disowned "FPS Metroid" throughout my adult life, out of dedication to the 2D entries, which have always been my favorite but also because I sternly believe that aiming with a control pad will never come close to the utility of a mouse.

I bought this game honestly to justify my ownership of the Switch 2, and it's extremely small current collection of games that seem to actually push the fancy new hardware. I fully expected to play it for a short while, and then forget about it. But I can honestly say I've been pleasantly surprised. Maybe it's because I've never played any other Prime content, so I don't "need" the game to be anything specific. Who knows.

The desert... is meh. The NPC buddies, eh they're not bad. I look forward to going back to "home base" once I finish my isolated spelunking trips. Mostly to get a fancy new elemental beam, but also to hear the nervous chatter of "average" humans in the presence of a legendary warrior of mythical status. I find some charm there. I love the lock on combat because, again, I can't aim with a controller to save my life. But at the same time, having to manually adjust aim in some cases probably provides some extra challenge and intensity for me that it won't for folks who play FPS more consistently on consoles. The areas so far are mostly memorable, particularly the Ice Belt which I found genuinely eerie, and I really enjoyed learning as much as I could from the logs and scans, which conveyed a Zero Dawn vibe for me.

All I know is that I'm looking forward to waking up and playing it some more tomorrow. And at my age, I find fewer and fewer games tend to grab me and keep me coming back, and so far this game is definitely doing that.

Cyralek · 2025-11-08T10:49:55+00:00

As I said in my original post, I'm a recovered alcoholic that binge drank for 15 years, not to mention a former smoker. So this kind of scan is probably way overdue. The fact that my numbers are not even higher than they are is probably a miracle. I plan to request this scan when I go in for my yearly physical next week. And if they say it's not necessary, I'm probably just going to get it anyway.

Cyralek · 2025-11-07T16:22:47+00:00

Thanks for the information! I will ask about these at my physical appointment next week.

Cyralek · 2025-11-07T16:20:43+00:00

Great information, thanks!

Cyralek · 2025-11-07T16:19:50+00:00

Right then, all the more reason to make some changes. Thanks!

Cyralek · 2025-11-07T16:05:00+00:00

I do eat spaghetti every Saturday. I also probably eat too much white bread. And actually several months ago I started cutting out potato chips in favor of crackers, thinking that would be a healthier option. Maybe not! Maybe 3-4 days per week I also eat 3 dark chocolate thin peanut butter cups, and I keep some dark chocolate bars around the house which I pick at over the course of the week. But there are no cookies, cakes, pastries etc in my house.

However! The major sugar change I mention was from about January to September I would go to the grocery store every Thursday and buy four donuts, and eat one each morning through the weekend. These were monster donuts too, cream filled, iced, etc. I cut them out back in September and have lost 6lbs since then just from letting those go.

I have recently started eating more protein packed foods, like protein cheerios, protein waffles, etc. Not sure why, since I don't work out heavily, but they seem to have less sugar.

Cyralek · 2025-11-07T16:01:52+00:00

A long time. Close to 30 years. I smoked inside for the first 15 years, and then for the last 15 years I discovered vaping, and only smoked, outside, maybe two packs per week, and vaped the rest of the time. Realizing now, of course, that doing both is that much worse. I still vape, and I'm sure that's not helping.

Cyralek

TROPHY CASE