How is he doing? (If this isn't too nosy).

He's doing pretty well. He isn't going to AA or any other rehab-y thing, and he hasn't found a therapist (which he had initially talked about doing even before all the shit hit the fan and he went to the hospital [we had talked one night about being our parents' children and therefore IMMENSELY fucked up, and I told him that therapy helped me to deal with my crazy, and it could help him, too, if that's what he wanted]). But he's doing well, and at this point (which is still early days; it's really only been a little under 3 months) he's adamant about not drinking, because he associates it with being physically ill, as well as the stress it apparently put on his marriage.

I know it's easy to start out with the best of intentions, and just as easy to start drinking again; my entire family is full of alcoholics. (I don't like my odds.) But there's a fine line for me as his sister between constantly bugging him about going to therapy, is he still clean, how does he feel, etc., etc. versus my genuine concern and wanting to know that he's okay. Plus I *know* my parents are bugging him too much, so I don't want to add to it.

But for right now, he seems good. At the age of (almost) 36, for the first time in his LIFE, his hair is curly. When I remarked on it the other night, he said, "Yeah, it's amazing what happens when you destroy your insides!" He has a good sense of humor about it, which is good, but he also knows what he almost lost (the doctor in the hospital said he was about 1 year away from developing cirrhosis [yeah, at the age of 35, and don't think that didn't freak my shit out HARD]).

Has he found other work (he is a cook, right?)

He is currently cooking lunch at a restaurant in Montpelier, but it's not really what he wants to do in the long term. He's actually not sure what's next, but says this is a decent job while he figures it out.

That is good to hear about your brother. I completely understand not wanting to do AA, although I have to tell you that for my BFF's husband, it provides a great social outlet with a bunch of people who don't drink more than something that seems "preachy", if that is what your brother is afraid of. (Your brother might not be in the same position BFF's husband is- an extremely extroverted, social person, married to an introverted geeky person with an introverted geeky family, who has moved away from his home and the friends he grew up with. So this really helped him meet people.)

Sport is a subset of competency porn, that's all. I figure most people get some kind of that, don't they?

GOOD GOD, TiVo. WHY CAN'T YOU EVER GET THE WHOLE TEEN WOLF EPISODE???

OMG, ita ! - my TIVO DOES THE SAME THING.

or my BFF's husband, it provides a great social outlet with a bunch of people who don't drink more than something that seems "preachy", if that is what your brother is afraid of

I know a lot of people who are turned off by the "higher power"stuff, but what that means varies HUGELY by locality. Some meetings are All God All The Time and some just assume that by "higher power" you mean the Flying Spaghetti Monster and that's fine.

Our DVR consistently cuts off the last 30 seconds of every preview for the next Leverage and SPN, and it makes me crazy. But it REALLY makes DH froth at the mouth. It's cute.

Don't the networks deliberately schedule shows to run over to foil time-shifting? It seems really counter-productive to me - I'm way more likely to go find the last two minutes online than I am to watch it live the next week.

or my BFF's husband, it provides a great social outlet with a bunch of people who don't drink more than something that seems "preachy", if that is what your brother is afraid of

I know a lot of people who are turned off by the "higher power"stuff, but what that means varies HUGELY by locality. Some meetings are All God All The Time and some just assume that by "higher power" you mean the Flying Spaghetti Monster and that's fine.

The "higher power" stuff would turn my vaguely Satanist brother into PURE RAGE. Plus, like me, he's not a joiner.

Yeah, if he's not a joiner, I don't think it would be helpful to him in the same way it is to BFF's Husband, who is TOTALLY a super joiner.