derekl_1963

Ever since I started shaving regularly for Movember, I've not really been happy with the process... which is part of why I grew a beard in the first place. So, yesterday, off the web to do some research on shaving. I discovered two things mainly... The first is that there is a lot of information on the web on just about any topic you care to name. The second is that there are a lot of people who obsess over any topic you care to name. (Neither should have been a surprise really though.) I found half a dozen discussion boards dedicated to shaving, most of whom eschew the modern multi-blade commercial razor (more on that below), some even going so far as to use an old fashioned straight razor. (Not for me! With my eye-hand coordination, that would be akin to Russian Roulette.) Many of the boards featured a "Shave of the Day" thread, where guys listed the razor, soap, aftershave, etc... they had used that day and often how the felt about the shave (subjectively and philosophically as well as objective results.) I found that *just* a little bit... creepy.

Anyhow, the results;

• Soap The soap I'm currently using is a no-name brand from Rite-Aid... and it sucketh rocks. There's a lot of soaps out there, so some more research is indicated. The brand I used to use was a recommended starter, but I haven't seen it about in ages and ages. There's a couple of local places I haven't checked yet though...
• Mug Other than slavish devotion to the Moss Scuttle among some... the general consensus was to use "whatever works". Coffee mug, sugar bowl, tupperware, the palm of your hand, whatever "it's all cool". My mug is a beat-up plastic travel mug bought from the Ship's Store thirty odd years ago...
• Brush My current brush sucks, it's a cheap piece o' krep bought on the fly decades ago to replace another cheap piece o' krep whose handle broke. There's more than a few brush options, and they will let you spend about as much money as you want to. While I don't need a $300 brush, there's a variety of decent $20-$30 options out there that I'm considering.
• Razor The more blades they've added, the crappier a job they've done on my face. There's a variety of single-blade option out there to look at (and cheaply available), so I'll be trying a few. As I said above, straight razors are however *right out*.

Yeah, I know, first world problems and all that... But August is going to be one busy month, lurching from one thing to the next.


August 3-5 Summer Madness

The annual Baronial Picnic - and I'm in charge of the meat for the feast... Brenda will be staying home to deal with a sick piggie, so I have to camp by myself.

August 11-12 Photographic entries due for the County Fair

Which means picking the pictures I'm going to submit, and getting them printed and matted. The latter can take a couple of days, so I have to get the lead out ASAP.

August 11 EGG-Stravaganza

BGE gathering at the fireplace shop up in Poulsbo

Sometime the week of the 13th-17th will be judging for the Fair... and though I haven't talked to Jim yet, he knows I'm volunteering for support staff.

August 18 Sergeant's Trials

I'm coordinating the lunch

August 22-26 Kitsap County Fair

I'm figuring on at least one day and one evening/night photo session, plus Brenda will probably want to go on Sat.

August 31 - Sept 03 September Crown

I'm parking coordinator... I need to get volunteers and plans finalized.

And I haven't even listed the normal monthly round of meetings for various clubs, or the normal weekly socials and chores... Somewhere in there, I also have to wedge some shop time to finish various projects. By mid September it'll start getting cool and I'll have to start heating the shop and that gets expensive. (And I still haven't gotten the insulation in the ceiling.)

I'm installing a trial version of some photo-editing software. It was interesting to watch the last five years go by (nothing older on this machine) as it crawled my catalog and created thumbnails.

On the other hand, it was very disconcerting considering the cultural connotations of "having your life flash in front of your eyes". (Especially when it came across the folders of pictures of Caramel and of Dad...)

I'm trying to get into the habit of choosing/editing/posting on a regular basis... so when I have nothing in the queue I dive into the archives. This picture was actually taken last Sept along with these images.

I tried to crop it more conventionally, with more space for the bird to fly into, but it never seemed to work. It just seemed to me that it want to be framed just as it (accidentally) came out of the camera. Among other things, it seems to represent how I'm still feeling and losses I'm still wresting with. I also like how the full (original) frame emphasizes how the color of the sky is *not* uniform. That can be to the photographer's advantage even at times that aren't sunrise or sunset.

I edited this in DPP, straight from the RAW. While DPP only allows a few basic whole-image tools, sometimes it's the best tool for the job. (And I'm slowly getting more comfortable editing from RAW and relying less on in-camera processing and complex edits in Elements.)

Also, this is the third minimalist seagull shot I've posted in a fairly short time span... (Others here and here.) I don't know what that says, other than they just keep catching my eye.

*If* you put too much soap in the washer, and *if* you have a decent shop vac, and *if* you use said shop vac to suck up the excess foam/water from the washing machine - it *will* make a credible attempt at vacuuming up the laundry as well.

Sitting here, sick and miserable - comparing my varied symptoms and worrying that they don't quite match whatever symptoms I think I should have for what I think I have.

I've been watching waaaaay too much House recently.