Shaving and Where I am today

ShaveKit_web
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

So this is where I am today.

The razor you see in the picture used ot be my grandfathers, the brush is the new one that kelly bought me for x-mas, the nivea well that's self explanatory, and the L'occitane is the shaving soap I am using right now.

In a few weeks I'll post a new picture of the madness that has ensued.

and then I Called classic shaving dot com

NewV4_Satin
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

So I got an e-mail from classic shaving dot com which is the place I have been ordering quite a few products from and home to the infamous Ray Dupont and here's what they said...


Hi Edmund,

Looking at your order we guess that you found us on MSNBC Today Show link.

While the "Hefty Classic" is a fine beginners razor, we really recommend one of the adjustable blade razors: Vision, Futur, or Progress.... The Vision, of course, being the most infinitely adjustable.

But no matter which razor you buy, we welcome you to wet shaving,...come on in, the water's fine.

Customer Service Team
ClassicShaving.com



So after reading the message I called them to find out what they suggested I might buy instead and got to talk to Ray's daughter Danielle on the phone. We chatted for a bit and then she said she ought to have technical support call me back, to answer some of my questions. At which point she said she'll have Ray might call, back, this is in effect like talking to the dali Lama of shaving. ON top of the fact I thought that Ray might have passed on based on his post on the straight razor forum. So upon hearing this I have to admit I got a little excited as I waited for the call, but sadness, fifteen minutes later, no call from Ray...


AND THEN the phone rang, and it was Ray! And we talked about razors for a little bit and he convinced me to buy an adjustable instead of the Hefty Classic. Which adjustable was really dependent on how much I could afford.

But the one that he really likes and has in his bathroom is the "vision" and since this guy is pretty much the man with the plan in the shaving world. I gave it a lot of thought and took his advice, I bought the vision, well the vision 4 piece set really. After all this should be the only time I ever need to purchase any equipment, hopefully from here on out I am only buying blades. As I can't afford to do this again, but as they say you only live once so you might as well enjoy it.

So that brings the equipment list to:

Proraso Shaving Cream $9.99

Taylor of Old Bond Street Shaving Soap in Wooden Bowl $24.99

DOVO Block Alum Styptic $12.99

Nancy boy Super shaver combo $49.00

Merkur "Double-Edge" SS Platinum Blades $4.59

Vision 4 piece set $259.00

So what started out as an innocent exploration into getting a better shave has ended up costing me about $360.56

WTF has come over me, this always happens!

Whenever I really get into something I can never go into it half-assed. Instead I do a little research and then jump in with both feet. Well here's to hoping the waters great!

Oh! and Ray said when I got my razor to give him a call if I wanted and he would talk me through how to get the best shave ever. I can't wait to call him back. ;)

The Merkur Heftyclassic

Merkur_heftyclassic
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

So I made the plunge.

I told Bookworm that I was going to buy a new razor to compare against my grandfathers razor and the gillette I bought off e-bay, well I chose the inexpensive Merkur Hefty classic and by inexpensive I really mean not the $100 merkur vision, which seemed just a bit excessive right now.

I have however invested quite enough money into this endeavor for now and need to give it a go with the materials I have ordered. Which include some Merkur blades and some shave creams.

But I figured that rather than give it a go. And maybe have a bad experience because of the quality of the razor and write it off.

I should instead try it in depth and then make my judgements based on some time spent with the new equipment

So here goes...

Stop the madness

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Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

So you can see here what happens when you get so sucked into the world of shaving that you just start buying up brushes in the pursuit of the perfect shave.

This guy has maybe gone a little too far, and the bizarre bit is this is only a small part of his collection.

How to get the perfect shave.

One of the things I got for X-mas was a new shaving brush, my old one having gotten pretty much worn out.

I have been shaving with a brush and soap now for the last year and I like it better than using the foam that comes from a can. Aside from the positive aspect of not using an aerosol can, for the environment, the lather feels and smells better to me.

So this x-mas Bookworm got me a new brush and also printed out an article for me about shaving and how to enjoy it more. Now here's the irony, I learned form the article that it seems most people buy a nice razor first and then a shaving brush. Instead I bought the brush to be done with the aerosol can but continued to use the disposable razor cause it was convenient.

But this article she printed me out, said that one should be using a safety razor,, you know one of those old style razors that were popular way back before the disposable. And better yet if your a man of discerning "wet shaving" tastes you might use a straight razor instead and get that truly professional barber shop shave.

Well the safety razor I can see. But the straight razor brings visions of one morning I might be half asleep shaving, as often happens, and slit my own throat. Well as you can imagine that doesn't sit to well with me. Sure there are men who shave everyday with a straight razor, and survive it, but I'll bet there are quite a few trips to the ER in the beginning and I think the majority of those men started cause it was cool, not cause they thought anything about that quality barber shop shave.

So I think I am going to give up a little cool factor on this one and go with the safety razor, in fact I think I may even go with a Merkur, based on the info in the article that Bookworm printed for me, called "How to get the perfect shave."

And since I have to shave every morning for my job, well except the weekends when I give my face a break, I really did appreciate that she gave it to me.

So I am now passing it on to all of you, that read my blog in the hopes that you either read it or pass it along to the men in your lives. Boyfriends, fathers, brothers whatever, because I know I found some good bits in there. And the hopes that one day, shaving could be a more enjoyable experience and not a daily CHORE that I trudge through in the morning. Well I think everybody would really appreciate that.


And for more information one might visit:
the wet shavers messageboard

Corey greenberg talkas about shaving

Shaving Blog

Merry X-mas Everyone

So every year for a few years at least NORAD has been tracking Santa as he makes his trek around the worl. NO this has nothing to do with anti-terrorism or anything like that, there is no extra money allocated into the defense spending for it rather it's well...

Click here to learn more.

While Squarepants has the Panda Cam, I have to admit that once a year dial into the Santa cam. Although I am not sure why.

Oh and here's why Norad does it

Vegetarian... TOOTHPASTE

So over lunch a couple of weeks back it comes up that there are animal products in toothpaste. This fact I would then promptly forget, not really wanting to know which animal product it is.

Then last week I bring in a new freelancer who is a vegetarian and for some reason I ask, "oh what toothpaste do you use?" THinking of course if she is vegetarian she must be up to date on the animal products in toothpaste debate.

Now, why on earth I thought that I have no idea, I just figured Vegetarians end up doing a lot of research cause there are quite a few products that have animal products in them you would never think would have them. A la the toothpaste question.

She says "crest" I say "oh, doesn't that one have animal products in it"

"THERE ARE ANIMAL PRODUCTS IN MY TOOTHPASTE! What animal product do they think is going to make it clean my teeth better!?!"

So then I try to let the subject drop and go back to work, wishing I could take back the moment, when I told her there were animal products in her toothpaste. (filter wasn't working that time)

Not really knowing enough about it to let her know what it really was only that I heard there were animal products in there, I suggest she do an internet search later.


"Toothpaste Ingredients

A major point to understand in reference to toothpastes is that glycerin can come from pig or cow in addition to plants.

Crest says they will be going to use glycerin from a vegetarian source in the future, which means that it is made from animal ingredient right now.

Sensodyne uses animal (beef).

Colgate has a list of the toothpastes that they make which are vegetarian. Click Here to view the letter from Colgate listing the toothpaste product they produce made with vegetarian ingredients.

Arm & Hammer baking soda toothpaste, no animal products (have been environmentally friendly for over 100 years, peta reports they do animal testing, though)

Tom's of Maine very environmentally friendly and animal FREE in their toothpaste.




Wow, the things you can learn on the internet...

Rockfish

Rockfish
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

And so ended this years Striper season for me. One of these was mine, the others given to me by people also on the boat.

More on this later.

We used to have a house, once.

House.jpg


Housein_theSnow.jpg
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo

Now, we live in an apt. a 2 bedroom apt. in Ghent, that we really don't fit into. Tomorrow morning we are going to look at a 4 bedroom apt.

Anybody, even bookworm and I should be able to fit into a 4 bedroom apartment. And I can't wait to find out.

I am really excited by the idea that we may once again have neough room for our stuff.

Even though we have been working on getting rid of stuff, it seems as though we may never get down to enough stuff to fit inot a a two bedroom apartment.

So...

Maybe we just need to get a bigger apt. It could be we need a 4 bedroom apartment and while we will continue to get rid of more stuff. We will have enough space to put it away in the meantime and can go back to having people over for various social activities.

Like game night, amateur poker night, and the occassional just hanging out / wine / beer drinking party.

TraderJoes in Newport News!

TraderJoes.jpg
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

On many of our journeys to washington DC, Bookworm and I would make sure to stop at a Trader Joe's This picture is just one of those times.

But NOW we've discovered there is a Trader Joe's in Newport News...

NEWPORT NEWS ?!? what gives!

Why on Earth wouldn't they put it in Norfolk ?!? What is in Newport News that convinced them to locate there? Is it close proximity to both williamsburg and Virginia Beach. Is Newport News, the midway point. Just close enough so that people from either local would go.

Well we will be going for sure, and probably this week! Maybe we can meet some of our good friends while we are there.

I never know what to say or do...

Keith_n_leah.jpg
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

My Mom just called to tell me that Keith, who was the twin brother, of my little brothers wife Kelly, was killed last night in a car crash. "T-boned" she said, "He died instantly..."

I can't even imagine what that must feel like; to hear that your brother was killed, much less to hear your twin sibling was killed. Especially in such a way and when he was so young.

Funny thing for me to say he was so young, am I that old...

At times like this I am always at such a loss for what to do, what to say.

You think of calling, to let them know you care, but what will I say. And I am sure they don't want to recount the tale again. And won't they feel pressured to tell me what happened, after all I did call...

Right now I think I will give them some time and some space to deal with the whole thing.

But I want to do something, something to let them know I care about them, cared about keith, care about how they are feeling. Something that will last.

And here was a guy that was always helping other people. Taking care of his siblings, and even people that were in no way related to him. So what do you do for him.

We'll probably send flowers to the service, but they won't last much beyond that. And even if they do what do you do with them all.

I am not sure there is a heaven, but if there is, I hope he's in it. He's earned his place.

Off the crossbar ?!?

Ronaldinho

Going to the lion King...

For Kelly's birthday one of the things we are going to do is go to the
Lion King

And I for one can't wait!

Everyone has their own styles

European_whiteTrash.jpg
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

I like to think they did this on purpose and that the window is some sort of artistic statement.

But I only think that because I was in Europe, If I had seen this in america I would have thought they were trailer park for not fixing the window.

Instead in Europe I thought it was art.

why ?!?

JavaTheHut

JavaTheHut.jpg
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

This was, or could have been a great idea. But they didn't do anything with the execution.

There was no menu with Light side and dark side designations. Your lattes and cappucinos would be on the light side and your Espresso and black coffee would be on the dark side.

Oh, there was so much they could have done with this, even the logo could of course been done better.

Instead we got this Java the Hut, a drive through coffee stand that fell flat on execution.

Welcome to America, get your standard Wall Art!

Wal_art.jpg
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

What irony in that I think many people go to Walmart for their standard household items.

Get your groceries, get your entertainment, get your clothes, get your wall Art.

If you need it you can get it here!

Smart Choice, smart car!

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Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

I liked this photo, even though the composition isn't the best and the cropping, well whose cropping.

But in the image it looks as though this couple is happy they have that car, or at least it does to me.

Welcome to Belgium, Brugge that is.

Brugge_11.jpg
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

So I go all the way to Europe and what do I do. I buy a disposable camera to shoot images with...

The Next trip I would buy a digital camera to shoot images with. But here are some from the archives. Click on the image to flip through my photo blog.

Ter Driezen, Turnhout Belgium

TerDriezen_04.jpg
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

I like many others in this world I am quite sure spent some time at Ter Driezen. In fact here is a photoblog image from one of those people
The beauty of staying at the driezen besides "au GUST" (which is another post entirely) was the company I worked for previously put me up there so I got to Belgium on the company dime. Thanks little d for doing that. Nor really, thanks.

Click on the image of the room to see more images of the Driezen

Drinking and fishing

I know there are people out there who drink beer while they fish. AlthoughI am not one of them, I am not sure why, as I do like both drinking and fishing. But instead I split the two activites and try to enjoy each of them individually appreciating the differences they hold.

For instance:
Last night I went out to a pizza joint (cogans) and had a couple of beers and a mediterranean (sic) salad. Then this morning I got up at 5 am to go fishing. At 9 am when nothing was biting, I went back home and back to bed to make up for the sleeping time I lost to the night before.

Now I am beginngin to wonder if maybe I have it all wrong; perhaps the two should have been mixed, as all the old timers I talk to say "You have the best luck at night, this time of year." and "The striper only feed at night, you ain't going to catch shit during the day."

Trouble is this is also the time I like to do my drinking.

Black Eyed Peas - Review

I have to say that I love the Black Eyed Peas I got two of their albums via a good deal from a friend. And immediately went out and bought another album. I currently have "monkey Business, elephunk, and bridging the gap" I Love them all. I think bridging the gap is my least favorite, But that is only because the other two are so good. However if I had to pick only one, I think 'Elephunk' is my favorite. Tracks like 'let's get retarded' in here, just get you dancing around your house even if you can't dance.

Would I buy them again?

Yes, I would buy all three of them again, but if I could only afford one I would buy Elephunk.

George Foreman Grill - invented by...

georgeforemangrill.gif
Originally uploaded by doornumbertwo.

What more can one say, besides he should have made some serious loot on that one. but here is the article for your perusal.
" The loggerheaded take note: George Forman did not create his namesake grill but was asked to endorse it by Michael Boehm, 61, who, while never having had his face pummeled by Muhammad Ali, knew a heavyweight promoter when he saw one. Ali, Joe Namath and even Joe DiMaggio were tapped as potential talking heads for the all-pervading product, originally named the Short Order Grill. But Foreman, "he's kind of nuts, and he loves burgers," Boehm says, explaining his logic for choosing Gorgeous George. "I found out that he ate them before every fight!" About 70 million units have been sold since 1995, so does that make the Illinois-based innovator a bazillionaire? As a salaried employee of the grill's original manufacturer, Taiwan's Tsann Kuen, Boehm was entitled to a modest semimonthly paycheck—no more, no less. Foreman, on the other hand, received 40 percent of sales in exchange for lending his moniker and eventually sold his name outright for a beefy $127.5 million (plus $10 million in stock options). Let's hope Boehm—who also invented the Hamilton Beach Steam Grill and Salton Sante Fe Quesadilla Maker—sees a better return on his top-secret, hush-hush Foreman Grill spin-off, a wonder product for the microwave due to debut soon. But if it sells like gangbusters don't expect the laid-back Boehm to enter the limelight. "I am fine with my anonymity," he says. "What can I say, I just like seeing hungry people satisfied."

You can find the original article here I brought the whole thing here cause I know some of you just won't click the links.

The best Albums (cd's) of all TIME

I am trying to assemble a list of THE BEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME that one should have in their collection. This is a list of albums that comprise the best of the best. What would your top ten be?

maybe you think...

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
or
Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen
or
London Calling, The Clash
or
Are You Experienced?, The Jimi Hendrix Experience

but what about?

Nevermind, Nirvana
or
Thriller, Michael Jackson
or
Appetite for Destruction, Guns n' Roses

what would be on your list?