Been a bit since I have updated my journal, although I have been meaning to for a week or two. The main obstacle for me providing updates is that I find myself otherwise occupied with "work" during the day and in the evening I put my regular computer away (so i don't work at home) and live on my ipad. I dislike making detailed or long posts using the ipad because its more difficult to type on. Such is life.
On the shaving front... I have managed to maintain a mostly everyday shave, with an occasional skipped day. I had to switch to a DE razor when shaving at the gym becasue days that inlcude arms/chest often leave my fine motor skills too compromised for an open blade. Until today my gear has been consitent, with the knotworks synthetic, Canadian soap (thats probably not the name but I know it has Canadian in it) rosemerry and lime Aristocrate DE and a Feather blade. Its all been rather routine. Today, I shook things up by swapping the razor, I used an everready with the new GEM blade I got from @Bullgoose. The razor is one I rarely use, a simple one with the BIG fat black handle. I like the big handle becasue it helps the old man grip. There was plenty of blood involved in today's shave but mostly from weepers here and there not from any real damage.
I had a couple very nice weekend shaves (after skipping a day or two) using one of my straight razors. I have mainly been using the tedalus for open blade shaves so the regular straight was a bit of a change. The most notable difference was the length of the blade, I got pretty used to the smaller blede length so navigating my face was a little odd.
On the home front, not a lot has changed. We bought my youngest daughter an old honda civic a few weeks ago and I have been doing some repairs and maintenance on it here and there. She gets her learner's permit soon so for now the car sits but eventually it will transport her to work and school. I am far from being a mechanic but my deeply rooted desire not to pay enormous amounts of $ to a mechanic makes me willing to turn wrenches and bust knucks as much as I can. I ran into some problems changing the spark plugs that made it take much longer than the few minutes and limitted cost I had promissed. The little rubber seals on a couple of the coil packs stuck on the plug so I had to dig them out and order new coils (red perfromance ones of course) so it took far longer than expected. Funny thing is I was able to change out the passenger side CV axle in about the same time as it took to change the plugs and coils. Alas, all that is left to do now is change the transmission fluid then its all fresh and ready to put more miles on.
I continue to go to the gym most week days and some weekend days. I have more than 90 gym days logged since starting in September. My weight has remained very close to were I started, with only a few pounds lost these past few months (NOT happy about that) but my physical health is notably improved. I have regained much of the muscle and bulk I once had while wrestling and have significantly improved strength. My goal was not to build massive muscles so much as it was to improve strength and stamina (while loosing weight) but there has been a siginifcant improvement in muscle mass recently. If I can loose another 30-40 pounds I will no doubt LOOK like I did while wrestling.
I have seen several doctors about my neck/arm issues that cause numbness in my right arm and hand but so far they have all been duds. I scheduled a visit to the ortho doc as suggested by my primary only to be told when I arrive that they don't do necks, so i was referred to a neuro surgeon (despite my insistance that I will NOT have surgery). The neuro surgeon said the nerve impingement in my neck is not a surgical case so she could offer no solutions beyond a referral to her colleage in neurology/pain management. When I pressed her for more she suggested I might try one of a couple drugs known to help with nerve pain like I have...but she would not preseribe it so I had to see my primary doc for a prescription. I visited my primary (a PA who is not inclined to think outside the box or think independently for that matter) only to find out she had no idea how to prescribe the recommened med since the neuro doc had not indicated a dosage. So she prescibed the lowest does available and said give it a try. 3 weeks later and no improvement I reached out to the neuro surgeon to have HER suggest a dosage and have my primary update the dosage. So thats done. When I called to schedule an appointment with the neurologist i was told the soonest appointment is in mid MARCH...so here I sit having visited 3 different doctors waiting to see the one who presumably will have a better solution.
This entry is getting a bit long but I did want to mention that a year ago today is when my first grandson was born. I'm not sure how we are supposed celebrate this day, nor how I feel about it, given how short his life was. None the less I feel it is important to celebrate his short life and his birthday is a good day to do so. So for those who are inclined to do so, raise a glass in honor of my grandson this evening if you would.
On the shaving front... I have managed to maintain a mostly everyday shave, with an occasional skipped day. I had to switch to a DE razor when shaving at the gym becasue days that inlcude arms/chest often leave my fine motor skills too compromised for an open blade. Until today my gear has been consitent, with the knotworks synthetic, Canadian soap (thats probably not the name but I know it has Canadian in it) rosemerry and lime Aristocrate DE and a Feather blade. Its all been rather routine. Today, I shook things up by swapping the razor, I used an everready with the new GEM blade I got from @Bullgoose. The razor is one I rarely use, a simple one with the BIG fat black handle. I like the big handle becasue it helps the old man grip. There was plenty of blood involved in today's shave but mostly from weepers here and there not from any real damage.
I had a couple very nice weekend shaves (after skipping a day or two) using one of my straight razors. I have mainly been using the tedalus for open blade shaves so the regular straight was a bit of a change. The most notable difference was the length of the blade, I got pretty used to the smaller blede length so navigating my face was a little odd.
On the home front, not a lot has changed. We bought my youngest daughter an old honda civic a few weeks ago and I have been doing some repairs and maintenance on it here and there. She gets her learner's permit soon so for now the car sits but eventually it will transport her to work and school. I am far from being a mechanic but my deeply rooted desire not to pay enormous amounts of $ to a mechanic makes me willing to turn wrenches and bust knucks as much as I can. I ran into some problems changing the spark plugs that made it take much longer than the few minutes and limitted cost I had promissed. The little rubber seals on a couple of the coil packs stuck on the plug so I had to dig them out and order new coils (red perfromance ones of course) so it took far longer than expected. Funny thing is I was able to change out the passenger side CV axle in about the same time as it took to change the plugs and coils. Alas, all that is left to do now is change the transmission fluid then its all fresh and ready to put more miles on.
I continue to go to the gym most week days and some weekend days. I have more than 90 gym days logged since starting in September. My weight has remained very close to were I started, with only a few pounds lost these past few months (NOT happy about that) but my physical health is notably improved. I have regained much of the muscle and bulk I once had while wrestling and have significantly improved strength. My goal was not to build massive muscles so much as it was to improve strength and stamina (while loosing weight) but there has been a siginifcant improvement in muscle mass recently. If I can loose another 30-40 pounds I will no doubt LOOK like I did while wrestling.
I have seen several doctors about my neck/arm issues that cause numbness in my right arm and hand but so far they have all been duds. I scheduled a visit to the ortho doc as suggested by my primary only to be told when I arrive that they don't do necks, so i was referred to a neuro surgeon (despite my insistance that I will NOT have surgery). The neuro surgeon said the nerve impingement in my neck is not a surgical case so she could offer no solutions beyond a referral to her colleage in neurology/pain management. When I pressed her for more she suggested I might try one of a couple drugs known to help with nerve pain like I have...but she would not preseribe it so I had to see my primary doc for a prescription. I visited my primary (a PA who is not inclined to think outside the box or think independently for that matter) only to find out she had no idea how to prescribe the recommened med since the neuro doc had not indicated a dosage. So she prescibed the lowest does available and said give it a try. 3 weeks later and no improvement I reached out to the neuro surgeon to have HER suggest a dosage and have my primary update the dosage. So thats done. When I called to schedule an appointment with the neurologist i was told the soonest appointment is in mid MARCH...so here I sit having visited 3 different doctors waiting to see the one who presumably will have a better solution.
This entry is getting a bit long but I did want to mention that a year ago today is when my first grandson was born. I'm not sure how we are supposed celebrate this day, nor how I feel about it, given how short his life was. None the less I feel it is important to celebrate his short life and his birthday is a good day to do so. So for those who are inclined to do so, raise a glass in honor of my grandson this evening if you would.