MMMM a new tattoo

So,

It has been quite some time since I last posted! All I know is that I got a new tattoo last night and it hurt like a SON OF A BITCH!

And when I say that I really mean it. Luckily I got a tattoo that I have wanted for quite awhile now, which says "When I'm Dead I'll Rest" Which if you know me, then you know it is a true statement. Alllssssoooo There is a cancer ribbon at each end signifying each time that I have had cancer.

Anyway I got it done at this great tattoo shop on Burnett Ave in syracuse called Biographix Tattoos. They were doing a benefit where if you get a cancer related tattoo the cost of it would go to the American Cancer Society! Brilliant!!

I am hoping to be able to team up with them next year and get other shops involved and help them make this a great yearly event!!

That is all for now,

-The Tech

VIDEO BLOGG

Birthday dinner

Heyyyy Everyone,

So right now I am hanging out, headed over the hill with my whole family over to get dinner for my birthday and my sisters birthday which is tomorrow.

Just thought I would tell you that...

-The Tech


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Resumes?

hey everyone,

I haven't been writing many resumes lately, but I mean I have just been tooling around the web and I came across this website that I think that anyone writing a resume should check out, it is called Resume Dictionary...you can find it at www.resumedictionary.com

so everyone please go check it out if that it what you have been looking for!!

Until about 15minutes from now...

-The Tech

Blogging from my phone

So basically I want to do a quick blog from my phone because I am now able to!!!

Also I want to let you all know that I am going to be re-reading my past blog posts, then posting things that I really wish I had said before in my posts, but wasn't sure that I should have!!

Talk to you all again soon!!

-The Tech


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Home

TGE News

Hey everybody, so I got turned on to this new site tonight and I wanted to throw a quick blog up about it, because I mean this is www.astoldbyatech.com!!

www.tgenews.com you should check it out for Tech, Gadget, and Entertainment News!!!

Until Next time,

-The Tech

Twit Neighbor

You guys should check out http://twitneighbor.com

[TwitNeighbor lets you find twitter users by location. Also track local trends using twitter.]

It is an awesome service!!!

- The Tech!

You Don't Know Jack

So tonight I watched a HBO movie called, "You Don't Know Jack". It was the premiere on HBO for this movie and Al Pacino played Dr. Jack Kevorkian. I have to say I had a completely different outlook on who he was and what he did before I watched this movie. I thought he was this man that, as most people believe, convinced people to kill themselves or something completely absurd like that. The fact of the matter is that is not what he did at all.

Dr. K merely assisted people in a painless death that were suffering and wanted to die. He did not convince people they should die, he did not murder them, and he did not do it in a hurtful manner.

I think that there is a huge taboo over this, assisted suicide situation. In my case, and in my way of thinking I believe that everyone has the right to choose if they should live or die, just like Dr. K did. He made a great point when he said:

"Well, let's take what people think is a dignified death. Christ was that a dignified death? Do you think it's dignified to hang from wood with nails through your hands and feet bleeding, hang for three or four days slowly dying, with people jabbing spears into your side, and people jeering you? Do you think that's dignified? Not by a long shot. Had Christ died in my van with people around Him who loved Him, the way it was, it would be far more dignified. In my rusty van."

-Dr. Jack Kevorkian - July 29, 1996

I know, a lot of people that believe in Christ, and that that is a controversial statement, but I mean he does have a point. Having a public death where you are practically tortured is not dignified. Yes the people that loved him were there, but come on he was tortured and that is not a dignified death. With that said the way that Kevorkian gave people a simple option, which was a non-painful way of death, in which he did nothing but show the how. He himself did not kill his patients until the last one who wanted to stop suffering and could not physically do it himself.

Anyways, that is all I have to say on Dr K for now, but I am sure the more that I think about it...the more I am going to want to write about it!

For now though I have to do a little advertisement! The site is called EnviroFILE! It is a site that is looking to revolutionize filesharing! Please Please Please check it out and give it a try!

So for now...that is all

-The Tech

Laying in bed

So,

i pretty much hung out all day and did laundry yesterday, and then...Nick messaged me that he wanted to get a beer and that he was bored, so naturally I asked him if he wanted to go out and get a drink! We went, to the Caz Bowling Alley (the most redneck place around) and got a few beers and saw people that we had not see in...well...years! Mind you Nick is older than me, so it was a little different for him! I saw some people younger than me that were of age to drink....so that was wierd because I am not used to that since I am only almost 24...2 more days!!! Then I talked to and saw a girl that I have not seen since my HS graduation and it was nice to talk to her.

Anyway Nick went home, then I went home and got on my computer...naturally because that is all I ever do anymore! Anyways I got talking to a girl that I am friends with and got dated my senior year in HS. I got thinking to myseld...why did I ever stop dating her. I have a simple answer to this...it is because I was a young idiot and didn't care about anything really at that point in my life. I am not sure where this blog is going right now but basically I am kinda upset that she and I went our separate ways! She is just as damn cool, if not cooler than I ever remember!

Basically what I want to say to you, girl who shall remain unnamed is that I wish I hadn't been an idiot back then...and ACDEC was a lot of fun, and I am glad I got to know you, but wish I hadn't ever disconnected with you....but with that said, I am glad we are talking again now!

That is all for now...

-The Tech!

Guest Blog for The Cancer Warrior

So today has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster...for the first time in a long time! I decided last night that I was going to move my blog over to blogger.com. In the process I decided that I was going to read all of my previous posts, and kind of look at how I had changed from the beginning of treatment to the end.

So with that said I realized one thing...that I always acted like there was nothing really wrong, like nothing could get me down, and that cancer was not a big deal.

Chemotherapy kicked my ass, I want to get that out there right now. I acted like it was no big deal, and that is the actual attitude I had because if I let it get to me then I would have never made it through it all as well as I did. While reading my blog I took a step back and tried to pretend that I was just some other person reading my blog. It was a strange experience because there were some things that I read where I thought that I should be more open about what I was really feeling, and then there were others where I read it and thought to myself that I should have not said what I said. Though I guess I would not be who I am if I hadn't just typed what I was thinking like I did.

I have to say for any person that is going through chemo or radiation, or treatment for any illness or disease...write a blog, it has proven to be very therapeutic in my case. Now that I am reading through it I mean I am realizing that there are a lot of underlying tones and themes to some of the things I said that I never notice before. Which I won't go into, I will let you read them for yourself!

Anyway, back to how it made me feel today. It made me really feel like a survivor! The complications I had, the way I felt during treatment, and the people I met and the things that I went through with them all. I have never felt more like a survivor in my life. I mean going through all of the cancer treatments I also had my other previous issues like having heart disease, a pacemaker, and having cancer before. Cancer really took the front position though, I mean it was during all of this that I decided I wanted to start an organization to raise awareness about cancer, and during this was when I realized that I wanted to write a book on my life starting with my cancer and the retouching on all my other life experiences.

As much as I hate to say this, I hate to admit that cancer has changed me for the better. I would love to say that I changed myself for the better, but it was really a damn disease that changed me as a person. Though I guess that tough situations end up being the things that changed people for the better or worse, and luckily mine changed me for the better.

It also changed the way I wear my hair haha! Before I was all for growing my hair out, but now that I have gone through the process of losing my hair and my beard, I decided that I should keep shaving my head (though I haven't cut it in 2 or 3 weeks now). Soon I will start shaving my head again, but my beard shall stay. Always appreciate your hair whether you have a lot or a little, because once you lose it you will never be the same!

This is all for now my friends!

Until next time,

-The Tech

Ideas Ideas Ideas

Heyyyyy Everyone,

So it has been awhile. I am currently laying in my bed, checking out my fiverr.com account. If you people haven’t been there yet you should definitely go check it out because it is an awesome website.

So lets see what to talk about...I haven”t been doing this regularly anymore but I really thing that I need to because every time I blog I feel so much better. Today was an extremely boring day, other than getting to see my brother, sister in law, and nephew.... I love that little poop machine haha. Today, well technically yesterday he turned 2 months old so they went to the doctor so he could get his shots. His little fat boy legs seemed to be a little sensitive! I didn’t really hold him that much because lately I have been feeling sick. You know the normal kind of sick for once, cough, congestion, and the things I would rather be dealing with compared to the things I have been dealing with. Actually now that I think about it I didn’t hold him at all.

Over the weekend my friend Chrissy was home from NYC with her boyfriend Matt, so of course I spent the weekend with them and Nick. Imagine that me spending time with Nick. I have to say he is the only person that I am around lately that doesn’t ever get on my nerves. I am sorry if you are reading this, and you are like, “hey I am around you all the time”; it is just the way things are. Anyway, we went and saw The Scarlet Ending play here in Syracuse. You should really check them out, I have known them for some time now and they are GREAT people. (www.thescarletending.com)

Beyond that I have put a hold on my book. I had a better idea that I think might inspire me more to be able to complete my book! I want to put together a compilation of stories of survivors. Now I know you are probably thinking CANCER when I say survivor, but that is not exactly what I mean. I want stories from younger people that are heart disease survivors, that are anemic, people with sickle cell, HIV, whatever it may be because they are ALL survivors. Cancer is the big thing now and I feel like it gets way too much of the focus. There are plenty of people in the world that are a survivor of much more serious things other than cancer. For instance, and for those of you who have followed me you know this, but I am a heart disease survivor, a stroke survivor, and lastly a cancer survivor. I have been a survivor since I was 8 weeks old and plenty of other people in the world are too! So that is now my current mission, along with PYP and taking care of all of my other things that I am doing right now.

I also have been talking with one of my closest friends about a very very awesome idea that I cannot disclose any of the details about right now because it is just that awesome. I really hope we can go through with it!

Ok so I guess that is it for now other than this, I want to advertise and plug a book here in my blog for everyone to go check out. I know you guys that read this always check out my links and I really think you should go check this out. It is called “Snap Shot” by Ms. J aka Jeanette D. Williams-Smith.

So please please check that out because it would mean the world to me and the author!!!

So Long for now, (promise I will blog more)

-The Tech

Life and Level

Hey everyone,

This is a blog that has one simple purpose! I am dedicating it to promoting my friends over at Life and Level. Please visit their site where they describe themselves and their show as:

“The web show starring the obnoxious Josh and the studious Johnny. Both gamers, albeit not very good ones, who are out to prove who is better than their rival.

So determined are they to prove which of them is the “N00B”, they compete in strange and mostly painful ways to play otherwise fun games. When there is a clear winner, the loser is deemed a “N00B” and has to do something stupid as decided by the “N00B Wheel.”

Take your pick, which one will win in what games?”
So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check them out, I will greatly appreciate it, as I am sure they will more than me! Also check them out at http://www.youtube.com/lifeandlevel

Thanks Everyone!!

-The Tech

A couple weeks ago

Was when I did my last blog!

Hey again everyone, The Tech here! So it really has been a couple weeks since the last time I updated my blog. What has happened since then...lets see I went over last time how I had a strange rise in the number of twitter followers that I had for some reason. Last time I updated I had about 620 something followers. Now I am up to a miraculous 1,481 followers...I have no idea how this happened, but it is awesome. Feel free to follow me, my name on twitter is @astoldbyatech.

Anyway, lets move on! As you can see I have given up on shaving my face, and cutting my hair for now. Everything is coming back much darker than ever before. This past weekend was the Relay for Life and my team from Protect Your Pair was there to support survivors like myself and my brother, and of course their families. We had a lot of fun, and Nick figured that he must have walked at least 15 miles that night haha!

Anyway, sorry for the short post

-The Tech

Hanging Out

So,

Last night I think I got the best night sleep I have gotten in a long long long long time. I wasn’t even up that late to make myself extremely tired!

Tonight is Walk Up Radio and it is the GREAT GUMMY SOAK OFF! For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about you should go to their website and check it out or you should watch the show tonight at 8pm EST Live! You could always just come to the show at Wise Guys Comedy Club on Salina St in Syracuse, but I know that some of you live much to far away to do that!

Anyways, there has been a strange thing happening today, and I have no way of explaining it...when I woke up this morning I had about 230 followers on twitter...now, and 4:40pm I have 620...oh wait...nope sorry update that to 622! I don’t know how it is happening, but it is incredible! I figure this will help me spread the word about Protect Your Pair! Which for me is very exciting!

Speaking of PYP I am going to be applying to the Pepsi Refresh Everything Competition today! Please check it out, and I will update you when we are able to vote for us! This would be a giant step for us and help us accomplish our dream to help people in every way shape and form!

Unfortunately I have to stop here for now, and start getting ready to go! I hope to talk to you all soon!!

-The Tech!!

There is NO place like home

I am home...and that is all for this blog

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME

oh and I can’t wait for Walk Up Radio on wednesday!!!

or to see my BFF’s!!

-The Tech

Cancerversary

Hey everyone,

So today is my cancerversary...so...how do I feel?

I feel more accomplished than I ever have in my life and the funniest part is that I have so much more I want to accomplish in the very near future! I mean I have got this great idea, and many people that want to back me up...but now I just need to be able to raise the financial backing to be able to get it all up and running. To register it and establish it as a NPO, and to be able to start offering support to people because that is really what I want to be able to do.

Unfortunately today on my cancerversary I am exhausted! I am in Florida as you may have seen from previous posts visiting my grandfather, so I guess I better go spend some time with the family!

All I have to say now I guess is thank you! Thank you everyone that has helped me directly or indirectly and supported me by doing something as simple as reading my blog :)

So long for now,

-The Tech

On the road

Hey everyone!

So currently I am on the road with my sister, Derek, and my mom. We are headed to Ocala, Florida to see my grandfather, and so that Jill can help one of her friends at a horse show! I am excited just to be away from New York!! Right now we are just about to get on I-95 South from 26 East in South Carolina. Derek and I stayed up all night and drove, he started at about 2 am and I took over at about 4 am and drove until about 8. So I should be tired right now, but I am not really so I have taken some really good drugs to try and help knock me out because I am wired! (ps Red Bull Cola may be my new favorite energy drink!)

Anyways, I have been updating my Facebook and Twitter the whole way, you should check them out...I have been uploading pictures and everything! So really I think I am just going to plan on tweeting, posting on facebook, and working on my sites and my book while I am down here...not to mention relax and enjoy some quality time with my grandfather.

I have seen my grandfather since he left for Florida after my grandma passed away. This was also before I started chemotherapy so it will be nice to see him after I went through all that bullshit and my hair is finally growing back!

I have been having a lot of fun posting all night...sometime while driving, but that is what has kept me awake along with everybody commenting on the shit I was posting.

I think this trip is exactly what I need right now, just to get away and relax. I have been relaxing for the past couple months, I know, but I mean this is different. Now I am not cooped up at home in my bedroom!

While I have so time to write, I guess I will. Lets see, what is buried deep in my mind...

Lets start with my Cancerversary...it is only 4 days away, and the more I think about it the more I realize that it is a HUGE day for me. I mean that is the day I became a cancer survivor...well...I guess technically I became a survivor on the 28th of March, 2008 because that is when I had the Orchiectomy. That was a huge day for me when I look back on it though. I had a positive attitude ever since them about the whole situation. I mean from day one it was jokes, like the doctor asking me how I felt after surgery...my one word answer was....”Lighter”. My friends still laugh about this, I mean the way I told them all is still a little comical to me to this day...I simply did it through one mass text message to all of them saying, “it’s cancer”. Talk about the flood of phone calls that came in after that one, damn it was insane. Nothing could keep me down though...a week after my surgery I was in the car driving to Fredonia to party with all of my friends. Only one of them knew I was coming so all the rest of them were quite surprised when I walked through the doors of our favorite bar with a little bit of a limp.

From then on I was known as “uno” which was a nickname that I completely accepted and encouraged my friends to call me. I didn’t really realize though that someday this would bother me a little bit. I guess it was my own fault though, because I got them all making jokes about it. I mean it should have only been taken to a certain point, and there were some people that took it a little too far for my liking but I never said anything about it because I didn’t want to make any of them feel bad.

Eventually I kind of drifted away from those friends. I had so many serious things going on in my life, that I really didn’t have time to do most of the stuff that they wanted to do...like partying. I really started to grow up fast, or so I thought at that point....turns out I didn’t grow up as fast as I thought. It wasn’t until October 16th when I really started to grow up, and I would say that on November 2nd, 2009 was when the process got rushed, in a good way. November 2nd was the day that I started chemotherapy for the Stage III Seminoma in my Para-Aortic Lymph Node. For those of you that have been reading along since I started chemo you understand what I mean. If you haven’t been reading since then I would suggest going back and reading my past entries, because my process through chemo truly was a battle, and not necessarily because of the chemo itself. I had a lot of complications other than that, between thinking I had the swine flu, to cardiac issues, and finally of course that god awful blood clot that I had which is still limiting some of my activity still today!

NOW...of course these thing are not the only thing that kicked my ass into a different mode of thinking. In my third week of chemo, I met the single most influential person in my life. I had a roommate named Paul. Most of you have probably heard me talk about him, but I don’t think anyone really understands how much he really did influence me except for Paul’s wife Ruth Ann and the rest of his family. If it wasn’t for Paul I would not have had the drive that I have now to help people the way that I want to. He was a caring, kind, and hilarious man. I learned from him how to keep a smile on my face when I felt like crap by watching him with his family in the hospital when he was my roommate. I have to thank Paul for that extra push that I needed to really jump on Protect Your Pair. Paul recently passed away, and when I saw the news I had to make sure and be at his wake, because I am sure he would do the same for me if I had passed. Of course that isn’t the only reason I went, I wanted Ruth Ann and Paul’s sisters to know how much he meant to me and I wanted to show them that in person. I am sure that for the rest of my life I will keep telling the story of how I met him, and how much he influenced me. I feel like we really need more people like Paul in the world, and it would be a much better place.

On that note, I am going to try and take a mini nap here in the car, it is about 10 am, and we have about 4 more hours of driving ahead of us! I will update again later!!

Thanks for reading!

-The Tech

Watching the SU game, getting ready to go...and stuff

So lets see, lets start with watching the SU game. I am currently watching the game, and I am jealous that Kevin is out in Buffalo at the game. He sent me a picture of where he is sitting, and he has great seats! I am really hoping that SU moves on to the next round! Anyway, now onto getting ready to go. This afternoon my sister, her boyfriend, my mother and I are headed to Florida!! I haven’t been there in years!

There is more than one reason for us to be going to Florida. I am going so I can see my grandfather, and so I can get away finally. I have been wanting to get away for a long while now, but because of chemo and all of the crap that went along with that, I haven’t been able to! Also we are going because my little sister is going to help one of her friends at a horse show!

So I had this great idea today, I am going to wear my Walk Up Radio shirt on the way to Florida, and at every stop we make throughout the states I am going to have someone take a picture of me with it on. For those of you that may be new to my blog, or haven’t hear me talk about Walk Up Radio it is a Live, Interactive, Hilarious Internet Radio show. It consists of three people, Joshua Grosvent, Kevin Keefe, and Paulie Scibilia. These three guys have to be the funniest people I know. They have great topics that they talk about, and they are just out of control. For those of you that don’t like crude humor, I must warn you this is probably not for you, though it is hilarious so I don’t know why people wouldn’t like that. For more information go to www.walkupradio.com, or search for their podcast on iTunes.

Beyond that I miss my BFF...Kelly...she and I spent a few days together, and her daughter Olivia was with us too! She came out to the house to stay and it was awesome to have the two of them to keep me company. Now that she is gone though I miss her.

Also I am not sure if I told everyone this or if people know but recently I redesigned the Protect Your Pair website. Check it out, let me know what you think!

I have been thinking lately about finally getting my second tattoo. There are so many I want, but I think have narrowed it down to two that I am split between for my next one. My first idea is simple, and it is a scottish proverb, “Is mios' an t-eagal na 'n cogadh.” which is Gaelic for “Fear is worse than Fighting”. I know that if I don’t get that now, I know I will eventually. My second idea is a sleeve on my right arm that would be worked around my binary tattoo that I already have. For those of you that don’t know about my binary tattoo, it all converts out to say Livestrong. I got it not long after I was diagnosed with cancer the first time, and still love it even though I have had it for almost 2 years now. For the sleeve that I want to get around it I want these things incorporated in it:

-an infusion machine on the pole

-3 IV bags each with one of the chemo drug names on it, but the one with bleomycin on it to have an X through it.

-a cancer ribbon with the dates of each diagnosis at the bottom if them 3-26-2008 and 10-16-2009

-maybe the third date of 1-9-2010 which was the last day I had chemo

-The words “How we survive is what makes us who we are” which is from a Rise Against song

-the connectors for a PICC line

I am still working on it a little bit, and then of course I need to have it drawn up, because I am pretty bad at drawing lol.

Ok, lets see...I am making so progress on the book still. I am hoping to just work in it a ton on this trip I am about to take, because I am going to have a lot of time in the car when I am not driving! Also I am going to try and upload a picture and update my blog every day while I am there, but I have no idea if I am going to have internet at my grandfathers house...so it may just be a picture each day that I upload on my facebook!

So Long for now everyone! I will update from the road!!

-The Tech

Love, Lust, and oh....my Cancerversary!

*DISCLAIMER* -in this blog I go into some personal things that I have never publicly expressed before. You will most likely see a different side of me, but I would not be the person I am today without the things I have done in my past.
-Thank you,

The Tech


So lately I have come across an interesting space in my mind. This space in my mind is full of old memories...friends, family, girlfriends, the good, the bad, the ugly, hospital stays, and I mean just random things. It is about 2:51 am, and I am having a lot of trouble sleeping. Not because of these things that I have come across in my mind, but because of...well I am not sure really. Not sleeping is not really the point of this blog though...but if I had been sleeping this unfortunate series of flashbacks may never have occurred. The funny part is though, that all I can think of it as is one of those cheesy movie flashbacks where someone looks back on their life.

How it all started was I was watching Cadillac Records (I highly recommend watching it if you know anything about old blues and rock and roll) and I happened to think about a blues concert that I went to with my mother and father when I was younger. While I was there I remember I got a picture signed by one of the old blues gods that was playing there that night. I can’t remember who it was, but I went into my closet looking for this picture. Unfortunately I did not find that picture, but I did find a lot of things that brought back both good and bad memories.

The first thing that I found was an old cross stitch that an ex-girlfriend had made me that I didn’t realize I still had. I won’t mention her name other than to call her beautiful. Anyways, it was in a frame and there was a big “I <3..."

Ok let me stop here. There may be ex-girlfriends reading this, and I have to tell you...if you are reading this you are probably not the girl I am referring to. Not to make any of you angry, but there is only one girlfriend that I am talking about in this blog.

With that said...

Throughout my life, I have been through a lot of things that didn’t seem to teach me any sort of lessons. Now though, that I am looking back on all of those things that should have taught me lessons. The girlfriend I had, “beautiful” definitely taught me some lessons. The one I wish I had really learned then, was that no matter what happened...if you love some one, then you should show it. When times got tough, and things weren’t going the way we planned I did what I had never experienced before, and ran away. I wish I had never run, and there was girls between her and I dating again briefly...but because of everything we had been through before and me leaving, things would never ever be the same. I have dated a lot of girls on and off, and some of them I have to say were not love. I do regret some these things now, but without the experiences I have been through I would not be the person I am today.

The every other girl that I have dated, other than two of them I have not really loved in the way that I loved “beautiful”. Even now today I know there is something different about her...still today there is something different about her. There were a lot of girls in my past that I did not love, I only really lusted...and well that is as far as I will go with that.

While I was going through chemo, one of my ex-girlfriends came to visit me. I hadn’t seen her in a long time, and she was more beautiful than I remembered her. Though not much with her had changed other than she was more grown up. I still remembered the day I met her, confused well...I guess if I said why I was confused it may give away who she is to some of you, and I want to leave you guessing. It was a pretty funny situation though. She and I went through the good and the bad times, we had a lot of fun, she came on family trips...she was part of the family.

Unfortunately at the end of our incredible relationship there were a few things that tore us completely apart, and she and I ended up going separate ways and living very very different lives. There are a lot of days in my life that I wish I could go back and change a lot of the things that happened, and the decisions that I made. If I could do that though...I probably would not be the person that I am today.

So I started writing this on tuesday the 16th...it is now Sunday the 21st, and I am finally getting around to finishing this. I wrote all of the previous part before on that tuesday. Anyways, on the 26th it will be my 2 year Cancerversary from when I originally found out that I had cancer. Thinking back to that day I still really don’t think that day in itself changed me. Like I said before I believe that it was October 16th, 2009 was the day when my life really started to change. When I found out that I had cancer the second time, and that I would have to go through chemo.

I really do not know where I would be if I hadn’t gone through all of the things that I have. I mean and things could have gone much worse. I am still in great condition for going through cancer twice now, having heart disease, a blood clot, a stroke, and all the other crap that has been dealt in my hand of cards. I feel like every card I am dealt now is a joker card...always laughing at me, but never taking me down.

Anyways, I have to get some sleep, I am going to start blogging again regularly! Hope to talk to you all soon!

-The Tech

Brainstorming, Planning, and Headaches

Hey Everyone,

I am sorry it has been so long since I have done a blog post. I have been working away at my book, planning this new event, and trying to get just back into the swing of things! Luckily I have been getting out of the house more lately. I have started driving again and seeing my friends :)

Like the other day Kelly and I hung out! It was a lot of fun, I got to see Ben, and I mean yea, I am starting to have some fun again! Of course I have my weekly Wednesday outing to Walk Up Radio (www.walkupradio.com) please check them out, they are LIVE every Wednesday night at 8pm ET. You can watch them live at Wise Guys Comedy Club in downtown Syracuse, or on the live stream on their website! They are a very great and hilarious group of guys, and you are almost guaranteed to hear me on the mic at least once each week whether it is them calling me out on something, or me putting in my 2 cents. Anyways!

I am starting to get my facial hair back, but the hair on top of my head is not coming back nearly like I would want it to...I have been growing it since the end of chemo, and its growing in...very thin hahaha. So Today it is time for me to go back to shaving my head for now. Though I am not going to shave my face, I am going to keep on growing that because...well I love having a beard. I wasn’t as upset about losing the hair on top of my head as I was the hair on my face!

So onto this new event that I am in the process of getting planned with my PYP (www.protectyourpair.org) buddies! We are trying to organize an event for the spring/summer of this year. Something to kick off summer at the end of the school semesters. We are looking for people to perform at it so if you are in a band, a solo act, or whatever please email us! Send any ideas to events@protectyourpair.org. I want this to be bigger than the last one, so we are going to try for like an all day event, or something like that at least! So Please email us with any ideas!

Lets see...so what to write about now. I have to go to the doctor today for blood work, and then they want me to talk to a social worker about my anxiety. Ever since I have been off my Ativan things have been a bit worse than before. I don’t know if it is just a mental thing, or what but I do notice that my hands shake, and that also that I am just very jumpy. Beyond that I am off my Ambien, and have been for awhile...so they started giving me Benadryl just to help knock me out, but that isn’t helping anymore now. I was up until about 3 last night, but I tried to stay off my computer so hopefully I would fall asleep. Turns out that after the 3rd time watching Law Abiding Citizen I will fall asleep. Then today I woke up earlier than I had hoped, just because I haven’t been getting that much, or good sleep. I think working on my book and planning for PYP might have me a little stressed.

Lets move onto the book now, I am having a very hard time with this. Now though I think I have a better idea on how to approach it. I originally wanted everything to be right in order, but I don’t think that is how I am going to do it. I have sold myself on the idea where I am going to start the book at the beginning of my chemotherapy, and then flashback to early points in my life. I think this will work better because each of the complications I had during chemo links back to something that happened earlier in my life. Even having cancer and the chemo itself links back to the first time I had cancer. So we will see how that goes, start writing again and go from there.

Hmmmm....What else....OH...DUH I am an uncle! My brother and his wife had their first child, he was born on Feb 20th! He is an adorable little guy, and A great start to the next generation of the Gemmell family!

Ok so I am now going to go shave my head, take a shower...you know...my normal thing haha...anyway! I will start updating more regularly again, and I hope to see and talk to you all soon!

-The Tech

Lots of fun and my old glasses

So lately, since my treatment has been over...I have been hanging out with some of the best people ever...well there are two of them, that are just way to much to hangout with. Kelly and Nick. Sorry man I think if I put you first I may have gotten yelled at by Kelly!

Anyways, Nick and Kelly are the two that I go to Walk Up Radio with, singers with, and well just hangout with haha. Way to much fun!

Ok so I have been trying to complete Blogs, and lately I have not been able too...so...the next one is a video blog, and I think I might need to do that for awhile!

Love you all,

-The Tech!

Friends and Singers and Bears....OH MY!

Anyways lets start with Last Wednesday. I went to Walk Up Radio (www.walkupradio.com) with Kelly and Nick! This is going to become a new weekly thing for me, and I really hope that you guys will listen because it is hilarious and I mean come on...it is almost guaranteed that you will hear me on the Mic at some point. That brings me to my next part of the story. So after WUR on Wednesday, we headed to Singers! It is a local karaoke bar in Syracuse, and it is hilarious.

Ok so I am going to have to comeback and touch on all of this...I need to sleep!

I had to use this picture again!

“It’s Nuckin Futs”, to quote Dickie Roberts haha! I love that picture that I put up there!

So I got home last night from Schenectady last night, well Guilderland to be more accurate, and then today got up and went to the doctors! “Oh fun” you may say with sarcasm, well it was a little fun actually...While I was waiting for my CT, I had a whole ton of people sitting around me and somehow I became the focal point for everyone in the room. I had a lady start talking to me who’s father was in for a scan and asking my if “I was the young man I saw on the news?”

So of course I said yes, and then the questions started rolling in. I didn’t realize how many people actually know who I am, well at least in my local area. It feels kind of nice to have people ask me questions about what I have been through, what I think they should do, and on top of that...how my book is coming? Hahah I would have never dreamt in my life that I would have people recognizing me that I have never met before. I don’t really like to be in the spotlight, but people have been telling me that I am really good at it, haha!

Anyways, speaking of my book, I have started a new writing exercise that seems to help me clear my mind so that I can write more with the book. For example I wrote this the other night:

“Sometimes in my life, I feel like…I just don’t know what to do. I feel like no matter what choice or choices I make it will never ever be right. I am not sure where I am going with this, but I feel as if I need to write. Writing has become my new outlet in life. When there is something wrong, or I get anxious, or I am even feeling great about myself…I write. It used to be before that I would take a drink, or I would take something to calm my nerves, but now I do that to make myself survive in this life after cancer and chemotherapy. Well not the drinking part, but you know the doctors have given me all of these drugs to help my nerves, to help me sleep, to help me eat. I hate having to rely on all of this shit to make me feel good. I wish that I could just feel good on my own. I wish that I could just take away all the things that make me feel like shit and be a normal person again.

I never have felt like this, and I know that most of the time I act so strong. “

So I mean I wrote that, and it is kind of revealing for me. I mean I try to act so strong, and most the time succeed, but I have had friends tell me that I can’t just hold it all in all the time. I have to let out my weakness...just let it out.

So from time to time now you might see these little blurbs on here, I think I may incorporate some of them into my book as I get more of them. A lot of them are probably going to be way to personal for me to be putting them in my book, but we shall see.

-The Tech

Vendetta

So today on twitter I wrote cancer a little note, and then posted it on Facebook, it read:

“Dear Cancer,

Just because you are gone from my body...doesn't mean I don't have a vendetta towards you...your fucked!

- The Tech”

With that said, that is really how I feel. I am not going to stop until either I die or there is a cure for cancer. I am going to keep supporting people, I am going to keep raising awareness, and I am going to keep kicking cancers ass ever day of my life in every way I can. For those of you that read this and may think I can be vulgar, I apologize...but I am fed up with the way cancer can take over people’s lives. I am doing this not only for me, or my twitter peeps (love you all), but for every person that has had, has been affected by, or will be affected by cancer. Which is really a good majority of people.

Right now I feel pretty damn sick. and I think I am going to pass out. I will do an actual Blog post tomorrow...

Love you all, and thanks for reading!!!

- The Tech

AND BLAST OFF!!

So last night was the first event for Protect Your Pair. We had 3 great bands, and I want to thank them for everything!

Also, I want to thank the Westcott Theater, and the people running it. You guys were great!

I want to thank everyone that came out! Without you there we wouldn’t have been as successful as we were.

Finally I want to thank Jenn! You set it allll up and I have to give you credit! Love Ya!

Anyways, Lets see now...The picture I put with this one is from last night. News Channel 10 was there and interviewed both Jenn and I. It is nice to see that the media around here wants to help us spread the word!

We had a pretty good turnout last night, well not really but I would say it was good for our first event that we planned in a month. I think if we can have more time to plan the event, then we will be more successful.

Anyways, I have been sleeping pretty much all day, and I am still exhausted, so unfortunately I think I am going to go to sleep soon!

Love you all!

- The Tech

I was on the news today!

So here was my day...

6:00 am - Alarm going off....I wake up and go, “F&^% where is my phone!” because Obviously that is priority #1 when I wake up. So...I have to say...I love my iPhone, one reason being because I can locate it on my MobileMe account online and then have it play a noise so I can find it haha. So what did I do? Instead of using that first I began to rip my bed apart because I knew it was there. So I stopped and went on my computer to make it play the noise. Once it started going off again I started ripping things apart again haha then the noise moved....Yea I flung my phone down to the end of my bed, then between my bed and the footboard, and then on to the ground. Then I celebrated’ “HA FOUND YA!”

6:30 am - Stumble out of my room to the bathroom...start the shower...then stand there for 10 minutes trying to decide if I should shave my head again. Decided not to, got in the shower, tried not to fall asleep in the water, then did.

6:55 am - Jumped out of the shower, went “Oh S%#$ ITS 6:55!” Speedily got dressed, went downstairs, and my mom wasn’t ready to go.

7:20 am - Got on the road to the Doctors...

8:00 am - Went and check in at the front desk at the doctors, and headed upstairs for blood work. Got all that done and saw the NP Pam, and they decided I should have a blood transfusion today! YAY...not.

9:45 am - Arrived at news station and got settled in and talked to people from the station.

10:15 am - Live on the News for their show “Bridge Street” See above video...

11:00 am - at the hospital for a transfusion...

6:30 pm - left damn hospital after transfusion and tried to nap on the way home, but was not successful because of the steroids they gave me.

7:30 pm - got home, texted everyone that had been after my phone died, sorry everyone! Love you all, but I am talking to you now!

After that, who knows other than the blogging...and all this texting and chatting with my favorite people in the world! My #chemofamily, my #tweeps, and everyone else haha!

Ok...off to be lazy!

-The Tech

Relay For Life

So today I have setup my Relay for Life team in the name of Protect Your Pair. If you go to Protect Your Pair you can either join my team, or make a donation to my team! Either way it would be incredible!! I am going to keep this blog short and sweet because I actually have so much to get done today.

I am feeling much better today than I was yesterday, eating normal, got a letter from a friend today which was incredible...one of my #chemofamily. Watched Drew today on the Price Is Right, and have been emailing to make sure I am ready not only to be on the News Tomorrow morning, but also to make sure I am ready for the Event on Sunday. Again for more information on the Protect Your Pair Event, go to www.protectyoupair.org and check it out!

I want to thank you all again for all your support, and I want to give a special thanks also to Kevin Keefe for plugging my cause and my event on his radio show last night! Everyone should check it out if you like live comedy talk shows, it is www.walkupradio.com and they broadcast live from Wise Guys Comedy Club here in Syracuse every Wednesday night at 8. I have to warn you though that it is not something you will want your children listening to most likely, so considered your self informed!

Thanks Again Everyone,

-The Tech!

So I am going to be on the news!

So haha yea like I said in the title of this blog, I am going to be on the news. Well I guess technically its not the news, it is a local TV show called “Bridge Street” on New Channel 9. A friend of mine that I met while going through the hospital and his wife told the news station about my Protect Your Pair campaign, and they found it interesting enough to ask me to be on their show on Friday so I can promote it and the event that I am holding this coming Sunday! So if you are in the Central New York area tune in the News Channel 9 at 10 am for Bridge Street and to see my bald ass head on the news to promote my cause!

I have to take a second say thank you to Paul and Ruth Ann for mentioning it and I hope all is well with Paul!!! Email me!

So beyond that, lets talk about how I am feeling today. So I have been out of the hospital for a few days and things have been up and down...today for some reason...much more down than up. I woke up this morning with a horrible stomach ache, which Zofran started to take care of along with my other cocktail of drugs that are trying to keep me feeling good. I guess I didn’t expect to feel worse after feeling so much better.

Today, is going to be a really lazy day I think...lots of naps...and hopefully food, we shall see about that though. I have already ate a little bit today, and at first it was making me feel better, but not so much anymore. I think I will try again, maybe I just need to get more food in my system to be able to start feeling better. I am going to keep telling myself that at least for now!

Well, I think that will be all for now. Time to put on some tunes, sit back, relax, and probably fall asleep...blah!

-The Tech

Oh PS, I am thinking about adding another section to mywebsite...I will add more details later once I throw some ideas around!

Dear Cancer,

don’t know if you have heard, but I have just beat you. You are the weakest link! You thought you could take me down, actually you thought you could take me down twice. Well, I have a really funny story for you. It is about me, and the way that my family, friends, nurses, doctors, supporters, and fans have driven me to be able to kick your ass.

I will keep this note short, I just wanted you to know that. I hate you, and I will never let you win!

Sincerely,

Drew

So, now onto my actual blog post. I am currently home! Done with my final treatment, and in my recovery process. Which at first involves a lot of struggling to eat, sleeping, getting upset, and trying not to snap on people that don’t deserve it. Though it is a bit easier to deal with the stress, feeling bad, sick, and anxious since they gave me Marinol. I think I want to be a spokes person for the company that manufactures that because they are doing a wonderful thing! I mean I have to say a few things here that maybe people won’t really like. Here it goes though:

Things I have realized -

. -I have known people that have gone through chemo, and you have no idea what it is really like until you go through it yourself. That is what made me want to start up Protect Your Pair because I cannot imagine not trying to make a difference when there are people suffering!


. -That it is ok to let go and let yourself let out what you are feeling when there is so much pent up inside you that you are ready to explode. If I had not cried, bitched, or let myself out in my blogs I do not know what I would have done now!


. -That using Marijuana as a medicine for cancer patients should be a NATIONAL THING! I mean I was not given medical Marijuana, but Marinol it the closest thing I have gotten to. I don’t care what your views on this are or what you think of me for believing in this. Before the doctors put me on Marinol I was losing weight in a horrible way, I felt really sick a lot of the time, and I was in a horrible snappy mood most of the time. So I mean for whoever reads this, keep an open mind...think of people that could actually use it as a medicine...it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.


Anyways now that I have said that I am going to plug for the event that is a week from today! I am very excited, but at the same time very nervous! I am sure it will be successful and I don’t really care if we don’t get a lot of people. I mean I do, but hey whoever comes out to support it that is awesome! It is our first event, and hopefully we will be able to keep on keeping on from here after this one! Actually I know we will be able to because I am not going to let this fail because it is way to important to me. For more details please check out the website, www.protectyourpair.org or email us for more information at info@protectyourpair.org

So here is the important information, the event is on Sunday January 17th. The doors open at 5 pm and it is $10 at the door! There are 4 bands, and it is an ALL AGES show, because our purpose is to reach out the the younger generation!

I hope to see everyone there, and please if you are there please please please come and say hi to me! I would love to be able to thank everyone personally that shows up and that has supported me!

That brings me to something else, please please please do not hesitate to contact me if you want to help out in anyway, or have ideas for future events. Your input would be great, because we would all love to be able to attract more people to help support this cause!

Ok, Blog done for the night!

I love you all!!

I will keep updating as the days go on from recovery!

BYEEEEE

-The Tech!

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

I am currently laying in my hospital bed, I started my final treatment today about an hour ago, and I am extremely excited to be able to say that!

I thought this morning would be a video blog but there is things going on with my roommate with my room that would not be pleasant for a video blog. I feel so bad for him right now, he literally thinks he is dying right now he is in such pain, and really not to complain but I am not feeling so hot myself right now.

I really haven’t been able to eat anything in the last couple of days, just because my stomach has been off for the last couple of days and that is starting to make me feel sick (the lack of eating). I have yet to actually be sick during my treatments, which I am very thankful for.

Ok side note, to hear the man in the bed next to me praying for god to take him easily is kind of freaking me out. I cannot imagine being in that much pain. All I want to do is help him, so I am trying to talk to him but in my attempts I don’t think he realizes that I am talking to him because of all the pain he is in. I don’t want to go to far into detail because it really is not my place, but this is sure making for an interesting part to my morning lol.

So I need to get off that topic because it is making me pretty...sad, and I am just laying here listening to it anyways, and you my dear readers don’t need to experience this with me.

So not to seem insensitive, but I am moving on. I am trying to make the best of this FINAL TREATMENT! Only a few hours left, thats all. Then rest for the day, take it easy, and get myself in the mental state for the roads that I have ahead of me. I am going to work on Protect Your Pair, to my fullest extent and accept any help or suggestions that anyone wants to give me. Please check out the site and let me know what you think. Protect Your Pair’s first event is going to be on Sunday January 17th, I hope to see you all there and you can also get more information about that on the Protect Your Pair website on the events page.

Anyways, now I think it is time for me to look back on what everyone has done for me. Since November 2nd when I started my treatment I have to thank every single one of the nurses, assistants, and doctors that have helped me through my treatments. Whether it was caring for me during the days of treatment, working with everyone else to try to make things easier for me, or just lending an ear and listening to something I had to say about treatment or life or whatever I wanted to talk about.

Thank you to EVERY NURSE that took care of me on that floor. I have to say it is the best care I have ever got while being in the hospital. Thank you for making me laugh, listening to what I was blabbering on about, and just like I said before, taking the best care of me I have ever got in the hospital. I don’t think you all know how much you really help all of the patients on 4S. I don’t think I could have gotten through it without the care that you gave, or the jokes that we shared, like asking the only male nurse that I had for a sponge bath (which didn’t happen at 3 am that night) but it made me laugh anyways while I was having trouble sleeping. You all know who you are, and I really appreciate every single one of you! THANK YOU again so much for everything you did for me!

Thank You to EVERY ASSISTANT that helped all the nurses take care of me while I was there. Without you things would probably be a lot harder on that floor. You talk to people just like the nurses, and make people feel better everyday. Watching your interactions with other patients and myself has made me really want to help people, just like the nurses made me want to help people, and just like the doctors have made me want to help people. Of course there is one assistant that sticks out in my mind, and you Mr. Singing Man, wanting to try and steal my girlfriend, were and are a great friend. I cannot express enough how much you and all the other staff mean to me. THANK YOU!

Thank You to EVERY DOCTOR that helped me through my treatment. You all did everything you could for me, from just talking to me like everyone else did, or bringing me a cheese pizza when I was in for a blood clot, bringing me chocolates before I went home for Christmas, or even just making inside jokes with myself and the other doctors. Thank you for doing everything you have, and I am sure everything you are going to do for me in the future!!

Thank you TWITTER PEEPS! You guys and gals have pulled me through some rough days from all over the country and all over the world! I really do not know where I would be without you!!! You are all so special to me! Between some of us changing our names to match each other, meeting some of the best friends and cancer survivors I will ever meet! I cannot wait to meet you all in person someday at an event that I hold near you! You all really have inspired me more than I would have ever expected. I got on Twitter so I could find an easy way other than this site for my family and friends to follow my progress. Really I have a whole new section to my family and friends now and you know who you are #chemofamily. I love you all, THANK YOU for helping me so much!

Thank you to my FRIENDS. Thank you to everyone of you that visited me, called me, texted me, emailed me, sent me a message on Facebook, ok you get the idea! Thank you guys and gals! Thank you Jenn for really getting me/us rolling on Protect Your Pair, without your help and wanting to help me I don’t know if I would have got rolling as well as I have without you. No I know that without you I wouldn’t have gotten working on this so fast while I was going through my treatment. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Finally to my FAMILY, without you I don’t know where the hell I would be without any of you today! Taking me to the doctors, to the hospital, staying with me at the hospital. I have never been so appreciative of my family. You made sure I had everything I needed and still will, you made my life as easy as you possibly could through my treatment. To all of you, THANK YOU SO MUCH and I LOVE YOU. I really really really cannot find the words right now to emphasize how much you mean to me. SO SO SO SO much! I really do love you all so much and thank you all for helping me!

Ok to wrap this up for now I have to say a couple things, one is F#$% YOU CANCER WHAT NOW? Kicked your @$$ once again. The second would be everyone everyone everyone please please please make sure and get checked, especially if you are really showing some sign, not that you can really tell if you actually have cancer on your own. Take it from a survivor, you do not want to go through this, unless you really want a life changing experience that has made you a totally brand new person. I would say that it totally not worth going through this though, I would first recommend just looking at your life and figure out what you need to change and what you want to do! The third, please appreciate every day you have. I have seen some sick people while I have been in the hospital, and I used to think I was in bad condition. I realize now that life is precious, and it is not to be wasted. Please please please remember that because life really is a beautiful thing.

Ok I need to try and get some more rest for now!

I love you all so much! I cannot express that enough!

THANK YOU

My Last Week Of Treatment!

So I am just finishing the first day of my last week of treatment....and SHIT AM I EXCITED! Can you tell by the picture?...No? Well you should be able to!

I am in great spirits, and I have a great group of friends, and a great family, and the best set of nurses ever. Like no shit!

So I am actually typing this at 1:41 am in Tuesday because I cannot sleep and I have some great conversation right now!

But day 1 of my final treatment has gone great! Seeing people here that I have been taking care of me for the last couple months.

I am way to distracted right now though. I would do a videoblog but I Have a roomate that is trying to sleep. hahaha Maybe tomorrow..

Shout OUT TO MY TWEEPS! MY CHEMOFAMILY, love you guys,,

-The Tech

Over and Out