Drink Responsibly

Late last week a close friend's life unexpectedly came to an end.  He had the perfect life: An amazing job as a teacher where he inspired many kids, a beautiful wife, and 2 amazingly brilliant children.  At 11 and 8, my heart breaks for them, as I can't imagine losing a parent at a worse time in their lives.

He was struggling with a substance abuse problem, although we aren't sure yet what finally ended his time here.  Alcoholism is one of the worst diseases to manage, because as a friend if you reach out to help, you end up not helping.  Almost anything you try is considered enabling, and you feel helpless.  It is truly a no-win situation.

The city he lived in (outside of Nevada) did not have inpatient rehab, but just had a 3 day detox program. He went several times, but did not end up getting the full help he needed for the long term.  His entire community will be worse off for it, as he was devoted in everything he gave them.  I do hope that in the future they end up having better facilities in his town.

I feel that just saying "Drink Responsibly"does not go far enough at all. I could tell you to take care of your friends and make sure they are in treatment if they need help, but they have to seek out help on their own.  There is nothing much that you can do unless they want to seek help, so don't beat yourself up about anything that might happen.  My friend had everything to live for, but he needed to want to get better.  He was putting forth the effort, but sometimes it's like fighting against an undertow.

So just do the best that you can do, and seek out the most amount of help you can if you need it, in all things.  At some point in everyone's life they need help from someone else.  Don't ever turn down someone offering their help when you have fallen.  Don't ever be afraid to ask for help.  Don't be ashamed to ask for help, no one will judge you for wanting to better yourself.

Everyone is loved.  Please get help if you need it.

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Where to Start (Drinking)?

My About page is a small overview of my story.  I'd like to start off the blog going into a little more detail.  If you aren't into a lot of back story you can skip this one.

If you were a fan of my Vegas blog at all, you'll see I was pretty down on the city.  If you've ever lived in Vegas you could/would completely understand why.  There are things that were awesome about the city that Reno doesn't have...but in the end it wasn't enough to keep me there.

 (not actual Vegas Neon)

I was never the kid growing up that said I was going to leave Reno as soon as I graduated.  I liked Reno enough, but I thought that bigger cities must mean better.  After all, that was true of San Francisco when we went to visit family as a kid.

Ten years ago my soon to be husband and I sat down to discuss where we would get our graduate degrees.  It was down to the Bay Area, Sacramento, and Las Vegas.  Vegas won out, even though we'd only been there once before on a not-so-great vacation.  We figured UNLV would be easier to get into. We'd get our Masters and then move onto bigger and better things.

It turns out that UNLV is just as unsavory as you'd expect being from Northern Nevada.  Vegas itself is like the Washington DC of Nevada, in that it just isn't part of Nevada.  It's completely out of touch that people there actually think that Reno was right next to Laughlin.  Yep.

We left Vegas last month after 10 years with no Masters Degree, but a lot of fond memories.  We overstayed our welcome and wanted to be back with family.  Along with finding myself a new job, I decided I needed to start a new blog.  Since Vegas is a wasteland of not quite top quality booze, I figured my best chance of finding the state drink would be in Northern Nevada.

Since we don't have an official state drink, I decided it would be a great start for a blog.  Now I just need to set up some rules for the search.  That will be coming up soon!

Drink, Drank, Drunk.

When I graduated from UNR about 10 years ago, I decided I needed an adventure.  My brand new Husband and I packed up a large moving van and headed down to Sin City with some small savings and a lot of faith.

We did have quite an adventure there, but in the end it wasn't for us.  We missed our friends and family in Reno, as well as the culture and...tasty drinks.

You see, in Vegas it's more quantity and not quality.  You can't get a wonderfully crafted cocktail hardly anywhere in that town, and nothing for under $10.00.  I really started to miss "real" drinks.

Since moving back to Reno, my husband (The Neon Beast) and I realized that Nevada has no "official" state drink.  Unless you count Buzzfeed as a source.  Although that "Nevada cocktail" looks yummy, I think as a State we can find something even more amazing.

According to some, Picon Punch is the "unofficial" state drink of Nevada.  I'd be totally fine with that, except then the blog would be over here and now.  I'm not ready to give up just yet.  However, the Picon Punch at 1864 Tavern is both dirt cheap and the best version of the drink I've ever had.

Let the drinking begin!
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You can read about the Las Vegas adventures here.

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