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From the Canadian Press: Saskatchewan investigating after hospital found to be reusing syringes.
It's a terrifying article, but don't make the mistake I did when first reading this. I thought it said "Sasquatch investigating after hospital..." Come to think of it, any hospital that reuses syringes should have to answer to this guy.
Positively Yours,
But, before I do so, I want to post a couple of funny videos. Here are some not-so-scary outtakes from the Dark Shadows TV series, which, upon first glance, should have been called "The Fly".
Alright, have fun tonight and eat lots of candy. I am off to scare children in my Frankenstein costume- that's how I get my free candy.
Positively Yours,
It's one week until our next president is elected. All the polls indicate that Obama is in the lead, and that Virginia is going to be a key state. They say if Virginia is called early, Obama likely has won. If it trails off into the night, I say that Joe the Positoid will be Joe Six Pack times two.
Or no, wait, if I vote for Obama I'm not a "real Virginian". And I probably would be considered Joe Chardonnay, not Joe Six-Pack. Either way, if Obama tanks, I'm getting tanked. If I have to resort to huffing to get through the night, then so be it.
This is widely considered to be the most important election of my young generation. Yes, the first black president of the United States is pretty badass, but after the last eight years I'd have to say that 2000 has thus far been the election of my lifetime.
A sex scandal! A Democratic one! Which caused a Vice President to avoid using a widely popular sitting president to win an election! And out of nowhere, a former president's son comes to the rescue and runs a successful campaign as, get this, a Washington outsider!
I, of course, was in the tank for Al Gore. I look back on that wide-eyed, young 25-year old positoid I once was, thinking that the Republican party blew their chances when they went with Bush over McCain. I was convinced that McCain would beat Gore in the general, and that Bush didn't have a shot. They guy just seemed like a bit of a manchild.
I felt bad for McCain when he lost the primary in 2000. I kind of liked the guy, especially when he railed against Jerry Falwell for being an "agent of intolerence." Plus he was really cool with the Daily Show guys, calling them a bunch of "rapscallions" or something of the sort.
Then I felt horrible with Gore's agonizing, drawn-out defeat. Say what you will about Florida, but if Gore hadn't have kissed his wife at the convention, and had won his home state of Tennessee, Florida wouldn't have mattered. Several years later, the American voting public lined up to kick me in the balls once again when young Sanjaya was voted off of Idol.
But I digress.
McCain may be running on fumes and squeezing the assumed soul of Joe the Plumber for every ounce of inspiration, I still think that he is unbeatable in the general election. And if he does win, I will blame the Democrats for not supporting my original choice for the party's nomination: Mr. Dennis Kucinich.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
I really can't stand that guy, Joe. A political operative, and now a rallying call for the McCain camp, who namedrop him as some kind of proof that they have a blue-collared friend. "How 'bout that Joe? He sure did tell Obama, didn't he?"
No, Joe stood there like a douche with his arms crossed, pretending to listen to Obama answer his manufactured question. Joe delivered his lines as stiffly as the poor actors in this ad who are pretending to admire Joe.
t's suspicious how often McCain is mentioning Joe the Plumber. It's making me think that, should McCain pull off the upset, he'd support gay marriage just so he can pursue Joe and lock down down the deal before anyone else can.
Positively Yours,
Joe the Positoid
In the study, they found that people who started on HIV drugs with higher t-cell counts had a better survival rate. My worry is that I foresee doctors shoving pills at newly diagnosed people who have healthy immune systems.
I can't overstate the role that HIV drugs have played in my health since I started in 1999. I also can't overstate the importance of not starting on AZT in 1990 when it was suggested I do so- I wouldn't have adherred to the treatment in the early days of my diagnosis. Of course, I wouldn't recommend waiting until you have less than 100 t-cells, like I boneheadishly did, either. 
A daily reminder of your status in the form of pills is something that you have to be ready for, mentally and emotionally. If the physical threat isn't there yet, I don't think a positoid should be asked to swallow more than they already have to, all things considered.
One other thing, the article mentions that drug holidays are a no-no. " Another key study found that briefly interrupting treatment to give patients "drug holidays" puts them at grave risk." ... How about some details: How long were the holidays? What were the patients numbers/health like when they took the holidays?
I blog my truth, without assuming that my truth would be the truth of anyone else living with HIV. I write occasionally about my week on/week off HIV meds schedule, which I've been doing successfully for six years now. I don't feel like I am at grave risk.
I know the medical community likes to paint people with medical conditions with big, broad strokes. My only suggestion is to let the patient determine which colors are used, and not to strap everyone down with the same well-intentioned advice.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
The details are fuzzy- someone tested positive and informed authorities that quite a few people were in danger of also being positive. The article skirts around how these people were exposed- it mentions all the risk factors, including sexual contact, unsafe piercing and tattoo'ing- but I'm guessing it was probably unsafe sex.
A recent story that isn't getting headlines happened to a couple of my friends.
After hitting the grocery store, the couple decided to swing by CVS to pick up some condoms. Once they got to the aisle, they noticed that condoms were locked up. They went to the register, and asked for assistance. "I don't have a key," they were told. When another employee who was closer to the aisle was asked if she could unlock the glass door, said employee blushed, giggled nervously and exclaimed, "I don't have a key!"
Then she ran away.
My friends stood in shocked silence. Still condomless. Finally, the employee returned, mentioned once again that she did not have a key, and disappeared never to be seen again. The third time was the lucky charm, and the door was unlocked.
Now, it's a pet peeve of mine that condoms are locked up to begin with. And if it's any wonder why condoms are stolen, then this story should clear up that mystery. Fortunately, my friends are in their late 20's, and weren't going to take no for an answer... but imagine if a high school student dealt with this kind of ignorance?
When I was in high school, a friend went into a drugstore to buy condoms before they were locked up. The person behind the register asked if he was old enough to buy condoms. My then 14-year old peer handled the situation a bit differently than my friends this week at CVS... "Fine, I'll get the bitch pregnant!", he shouted, before throwing the condoms at the drugstore employee.
In terms of the St. Louis story, it is mentioned that the students had HIV education. Did this involve proper use of condoms, or any advice outside of "don't get it"? And beyond that, should we be warning students about the attitudes they will face when attempting to purchase condoms, which are locked up like hardened criminals?
Positively Annoyed,
Shawn
I didn't even have to pull out my fake letter from my hematologist. Or the fake emails from readers concerned for my well-being, hoping against hope that I wasn't going to be beaten to a pulp... so I could live to blog again. So what saved me?
A wedding anniversary. Today is Gwenn and I's four year wedding anniversary.
Positively for using anniversaries to your advantage, Positively Against Prop 8.
Shawn
Bruce and Eliza go on their honeymoon, so Gwenn steps in to do merch for Bella Morte's CD release party the following weekend. Fun fact: Gwenn manages the band, but sleeps with the lead singer of...
Synthetic Division opens the show for the Bella Morte CD release party! (That's me and Marshall Camden, who is not smoking in this pic.)
I snapped this photo from stage while singing a cover of "Photographic" by Depeche Mode. Get it? That's two members of Silent Muse, who will be playing with Bella in December.
We have fans, check out the shirt! That's me and Sharley, who rocks.
Andy Deane resteals his thunder with Bella Morte- CD release party is a success!
A couple days later, it was off to Beaumont, Texas, for the Triangle AIDS Network conference on HIV. I spoke solo last year, but this year Gwenn and I went together to speak about being in a sero-discordant relationship.
What was interesting about this year was that Hurricane Ike had ravaged the community about a month before the conference. There were blue tarps on roofs that were waiting to be fixed, and rain water caused more flooding the night before we flew back home.
And speaking of home, another speaker, Tom Donahue of Who's Positive, was at the conference, too. He dropped me a line quite a few years ago, just after he tested positive. Well, turns out he's been living in Charlottesville for a year, and the first time we met in person was in- you got- Texas.
Here he is with a new camera, which he was very excited about. I think he was working for the Pozarazzi of Poz Magazine, I didn't have the heart to tell him that photos of me don't sell!
One of the problems brought about by Hurricane Ike as it pertained to the conference was the host hotel- they were closed longer than expected, which meant the conference needed a new home. It also meant that Gwenn and I and the rest of the speakers spent a night or two at a Catholic Retreat Center in the woods. I picked Room 13, just because I thought that was funny, given my love of Friday the 13th movies.... well, the joke was on me when I woke up that morning, and there was no power!
Everyone knows the power goes out before you bite the bullet. Fortunately, the only thing I missed as a result wasn't a limb to a machete-wielding maniac, it was a shower.
The conference went well, and it was nice to see some new faces this year, and some familiar ones from last year's conference.
On the way home, I posed with some cardboard cut-outs of the two respective presidential tickets, and I had a revelation...
The "Rebel Without a Cure" has been supporting these guys?
Look at McCain, he's the only one of the four who was ballsy enough to pose for his cut-off without a big cheesy grin. That's enough for me, consider the Rebel Without a Cure a full-fledged member of the Team of Mavericks. (I figure that, being a smartass with AIDS, my endorsement probably hurts.)
Then this past weekend, Gwenn and I spoke at the 4th Annual Conference on HIV in Maine, where my ego was stroked by quite a few people who knew me from my column in Poz. One very nice person said she's been reading it for over ten years now... another stopped me in the hallway and apologized for gushing. I encouraged her to go on, then later she asked when Synthetic Division was going to play in Maine... hey, maybe someday Tom can sell those photos to the Pozarazzi after all?
Oh, and with all the above Gwenn found time to judge the Miss Hill City pageant in Lynchburg, Virginia, while I was at home with Andy of Bella Morte, watching Bernard Hopkins box Kelly Pavlik's ears. If any sporting event should make cocky democrats, who believe in polling, nervous, it should be the sight of the 43-year old Hopkins dismantling the previously undefeated Kelly Pavlik.
All of this is the perfect tie-in to my column in this month's Poz magazine. It's about, what else, pageants. You read read "Life's Rich Pageant" at poz.com. (For a trip down memory lane, here's a column I wrote for Poz in 1998, "Kid Gloves".)
If this blog seems long, well, it may be the last one until the after life. Just found out Erin Weed is coming into town today. I thought I heard her cracking her knuckles on the voicemail message.
Pray for the thinblooded maverick.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
You may remember the video I posted of her beating up someone in a big helmet. I foolishly taunted and challenged her, and she accepted. I laid low, and I thought in all of her travels she'd forgotten and I was off the hook...
Well, I got an ominous message from my friend, Weed: "I'm coming to Charlottesville, this week."
I plan to get hopped up on clotting factor all week, just in case she launches a surprise attack. Still, I think my big trap may have finally done me in... stay tuned.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
The issue of gay marriage in California is bursting at the cumberbund, and unfortunately it looks like the tide is turning in favor of hate-mongering.
Here's a blog post by John Corvino at 365gay.com, couldn't agree with it more.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
He didn't get a Wish, because thankfully he was born a decade after me and missed the HIV blood contamination window. That's good news, but I still feel guilty that I'm the only person in my family to get a wish, and I want to change that... but here's the swerve: I'm not writing about my thinblooded cousin. Actually, it's that cousin's thickblooded big brother, Jeremy.
He has a very special wish- he wants to be cast in Daisy of Love, the spinoff of Rock of Love with Bret Michaels. If you're a reality TV junkie, you may remember Daisy. If not, here she is. (Click to see a YouTube video. She talks with her hands.)
Daisy seems nice, I think she would get along famously with my cousin. Make Jeremy's wish come true. This isn't partisan, we can all come together around this young man's dream to find love.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
It's also wedding season- I've been to two in the last two weeks, having beared witness to two of the coolest guys I know marry their loved ones. Not each other, but more on that in a bit...
What's great about weddings is the mix of people. The first wedding, everyone I knew there- including the bride and groom- was through Bella Morte. Most of the local music were present, and I even got an ego stroke for my hard work in Synthetic Division.
Then this past weekend, Gwenn and I traveled away from the homestead to Connecticut, where I saw one of my thinblooded positoid brothers (brother in shared medical history, that is) get hitched. There, the familiar faces I saw were from hemophilia conferences, and Gwenn and I shared a table with five strangers who became fast friends- one was even a thinblood. Whereas at the first wedding, you couldn't throw a rock and not hit a musician, at the second you couldn't throw a rock and not hit a thinblood.
Unsurprisingly, throwing rocks would have been frowned upon at the wedding in Connecticut, where, once again, I got an ego stroke at a wedding. This time for My Pet Virus.
"You're the guy who wrote that?" I was asked. "I have that book!"
Where am I going with this? Well, recently I got a message from someone who read my book who wasn't happy that they'd gone to www.mypetvirus.com, which led them to a blog (here)where I was writing about- gasp!- politics.
"UGGGGGGH!" Was the first word of the message.
Well, in the last year I've been thinking about politics a lot. And during the Vice Presidential debate, I was upset to see both candidates take an unnecessary shot at the gay community. "I don't support same sex marriage." "I don't either."
It upset me, but then I got distracted by everything that followed, until the weddings reminded me of how unfortunate it is that people invest so much energy in either discriminating against others, or pandering to those who do. I don't get it.
Some would say it's because I don't have kids.
Recently opponent of gay marriage said that it would be too hard to explain to a child. It's the same mentality some have about talking about sex with teenagers, where the issue is more about an adult being uncomfortable than a child's ability to apply reason to a very simple notion. In the case of gay marriage, it's very simple: does everyone have the right to express their love for a fellow human in the same manner?
My two buddies, had they been born with an eye for the same sex, would have made a brilliant couple, for instance. To think that they wouldn't have had the opportunity to have a wedding seems to be a great injustice to me.
It's about a hopefully dying notion that unmarried couple aren't legitimate. I know a lot of legit couples, of same-sex and opposite-sex stylings, who have been together longer than Gwenn and I have known each other, who for legal or their own decision have chosen not to get married. And that's totally cool, too.
I just think everyone should have the opportunity to throw a big party- and call it a "wedding"- to celebrate that relationship should they choose to do so.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
"Magic with his "faked AIDS""," Langdon Perry said. The victim of his own bad joke, apparently, because Magic responded with a statement:
"I am extremely disappointed in KTLK in Minneapolis. I am outraged that Chris Baker and Langdon Perry would minimize such a serious and deadly issue. Millions are dying from HIV/AIDS and the fact that they would make jokes about my status is unbelievable," Johnson said. "Chris, Langdon and KTLK should use their power in a more positive light by encouraging people to get tested for this disease instead of making up such ridiculous lies."
At my poker night, someone made a joke about Magic Johnson, calling him "Black Magic Johnson", not in reference to his skin color, of course, but in reference to the public's perceived notion that he is cured because he looks healthy/chubby/happy.
I laughed, guilty as charged. I still think my poker buddies would do better in radio than those guys.
Positively Yours,
Black Magic Decker
Well, good thing that the McCain camp isn't taking my advice... because recently, Johnny Knoxville interviewed The Great Khali, and things went worse then when I interviewed Ric Flair on the telephone earlier this year. Apparently, wrestlers don't like being asked about their penises.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
The big debate between McCain and Obama is tomorrow, and I'm currently negotiating with Evelyn's handlers (namely her mom, Lauren) about teaming up again. If so, I'll post the results on Wednesday. I honestly believe that we are the best political team in the world.
In a related bit of personal news, the adoption went through and Gwenn and I are now the proud parents/legal guardians of Andy Deane, lead singer of Bella Morte.
Actually, the big cheesy grins are for another reason, Bella Morte's new album, Beautiful Death, comes out tomorrow. So swing by iTunes and give a listen to the samples there, or check out BellaMorte.com for details.
I have to go... dammit, Andy's gotten into the cotton balls and honey again. I have no idea why we store those together, but that's going to have to be reassessed... being a parent changes everything.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
I know I look a little nerdy, but I'm a little nerdy so there you go! But before you write anything snarky, take notice at the hand on my mic stand- that's the left hand of the last person who talked smack on the Division.
TuPac had nothing on me.
I steal a lot of my stage moves from the thickblooded frontman of Bella Morte, Andy Deane. Of course, I can't do the jumps due to a bum ankle, but I make up for it with geek chic charm.
Speaking of Bella Morte, we're opening for them tonight in Charlottesville, at the Outback. The Bella boys released their music video for the first single on the new album, check it out here, it's swoon-worthy for the ladies and boys.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Then it came to me at lunch. As I sat there with Gwenn, my brother Kip and his family which includes a beautiful wife and two daughters (9 and six months old, respectively) it came to me: the children are the future. That cheesy song is right... they will have to live with the consequences of this election longer than I will, and they don't even get to vote!
That's why I turned to a new neighbor to sort this debate out. Meet My Pet Virus' first political correspondent: Evelyn.
Well, later that day Obama sent me a signal through the national media, just a little hint that I'd be taken care. And I quote: "I enjoy a little friendly game of poker myself every now and then," Obama said... what else could that possibly mean?
The media is once again allowing themselves to get excited about a political debate, with tonight's Biden V. Palin slobberknocker. The hype machine reminds me of boxing, where I'm constantly told that I can't miss something, only to tune and be let down.
Fight of the Millenium, anyone? That was Oscar de la Hoya VS. Felix "Tito" Trinidad. In 1999, the two best fighters in the world circled one another for 12 rounds, hardly throwing a punch and uncapitivating an audience whose bloodlust would have to be satiated elsewhere.
If entertainment is what you seek, my friend made a Palin parody of the uber-catchy summer hit, "I Kissed a Girl". It's called "I Killed a Moose", check it out here.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
This week I finally willed myself to email Dr. Greg and get my viral load test results, they were undetectable- the best result possible.
Which is cool, since the labs were taken on my 7th day off meds before starting a week on cycle. (Think Karate Kid, only "Week On! Week Off!", instead of "Wax on! Wax off!")
At my appointment two weeks ago, Dr. Greg informed me that his teenage son is re-reading My Pet Virus... which got me thinking... maybe I should put Dr. Greg in my next book? You know, the one I said I wouldn't blog about anymore?
During the book publishing process, a "sample cover" was sent to me, which scared me shitless and may have inspired the expression on my face on the real cover. But I'm thinking, this might be awesome for the next book! The one where Dr. Greg stakes vampires through the heart...
I ran this by the good doc, and gave me the green light to use him, under one condition: if it gets made into a movie, he gets final say as to who plays him. I retained potential film/TV rights when I signed with my publisher...
Like patient, like doctor.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
With pen in hand, I awkwardly watched Evelyn as the Vice Presidential candidates met center stage... it was awkward because Evelyn was breast feeding. "Research!" I told my friend, Lauren, as she tended to her child. 
