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For the Love of Old Spice - Illini's Shave Journal

Happy Monday Cadre, another weekend come and gone far too fast.

Saturday was up near 70 degrees here, which was a wonderful sign of spring. Made it to the museum right at opening in the morning, which was definitely the right call - we had a ton of the wings pretty much to ourselves for the first hour. I think my son enjoyed running around the display cases and playing hide and seek with grandma and grandpa more than seeing all the taxidermied animals, but it had been probably 20 years since I had been to the Field, so I enjoyed it! Enjoyed some Blue Moon Light Sky's on the back porch in the afternoon which was a wonderful way to cap off the day. Yesterday we spent the afternoon at my wife's grandparents house, not the most relaxing way to spend the afternoon and I'll just leave it at that.

It's officially March and with the way the Big 10 games played out yesterday, it definitely feels like it! With Nebraska knocking off Wisconsin, we had the chance for a share of the Big 10 season title with a W at home against Iowa and despite looking inept at times, we held on and officially are [co] Big 10 champs! I'm still not feeling all that confident heading into the big dance, but these last 2 seasons have been far better than the prior 16 or so!

Today the Canadian Williams mug soap finally gave up the ghost at 33 shaves, or an average of 1.6g per shave. Is modern Williams the best soap of all time? Definitely not. But with the right prep its lather is just as good as most and I am devastated to see it discontinued.

Saturday - Monday March 5th thru 7th, 2022
Razor : Schick Krona
Blade : Bic SP (31 - 33)
Brush : Yaqi Tuxedo Barberpole
Pre : Shower
Soap : Canadian Williams Mug
Post : Thayers WH
 
Got the unfortunate news that apparently our company is doing nothing to adjust annual merit salary raises to reflect the sky high inflation, and that the starting point was 3% as in prior years. Needless to say I was NOT happy to hear that and I have to imagine I'm not the only one at the company who is mad. I was "gifted" a whole 100 basis points more due to my prior year performance rating, but that is a far cry from the 7.5% inflation last month. Sigh. Expressed my surprise and displeasure but know nothing will change unless I'm willing to make one...

First shave with a change in soap scenery in over a month was a lovely one with LEA. Just a nice and clean scent with great performance. Still loving the cheap freshie that is Blue Sail too.

Have a great Tuesday friends, thanks for reading.

Tuesday March 8th, 2022
Razor : '55 Gillette Flare Tip SS
Blade : Bic SP (34)
Brush : Whipped Dog HM
Pre : Shower
Soap : LEA
Post : Thayers WH & Nautica Blue Sail EdT

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Bummer my friend. Our company was not quite as bad - but what they did was give the managers a pot of money and then we were able to make the decision based on individual performance. The unfortunate part is that the money put in the pool amounts to 2% of each person’s salary, and the only way to give someone a ”raise” is that then someone has to get less than 2%. But if you do that, then the manager has to meet with HR, even if that person received a below average rating.
 
Almost to Friday, friends. Went into the office yesterday, again slowly trying to reintroduce myself to the commute. Good news is after talking to my boss yesterday, I'll be going to the office 2 days a week and not 3. Which feels right and what most of us had assumed would be the standard issued by HR. Finally some good news (as long as that truly occurs starting next month.) One of my close colleagues also happened to be in the office yesterday so it was good to catch up with her over lunch.

Been nice switching up the shave soaps again, with Hombres yesterday and a superlather of MWF and Mr. Taylor this morning. Bic SP continues to provide nice shaves, starting to feel like I might need to settle in for the long haul on this blade!

Wednesday March 9th, 2022
Razor : '55 Gillette Flare Tip SS
Blade : Bic SP (35)
Brush : Omega 11575
Pre : Shower
Soap : CBL Hombres
Post : Thayers WH & Nautica Voyage EdT

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Thursday March 10th, 2022
Razor : Merkur 37c
Blade : Bic SP (36)
Brush : Razorock Beehive
Pre : Shower
Soap : MWF & TOBS Mr. Taylor
Post : Thayers WH & Azzaro PH EdT

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Fightingillini22 said:
Almost to Friday, friends. Went into the office yesterday, again slowly trying to reintroduce myself to the commute. Good news is after talking to my boss yesterday, I'll be going to the office 2 days a week and not 3. Which feels right and what most of us had assumed would be the standard issued by HR. Finally some good news (as long as that truly occurs starting next month.) One of my close colleagues also happened to be in the office yesterday so it was good to catch up with her over lunch.
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Great news on all counts! Good stuff Ryan!
 
Happy Friday Cadre! In an unexpected turn of events, woke up to around half an inch of snow on the ground this morning. Just enough to require a shovel but not enough to break out the snowblower, also known as the worst amount of snow. Hoping that's the last time I have to break it out this year, and the next two weeks are looking nice and warm so we'll see.

We have a wedding tomorrow downtown, so taking my son to my in-laws for the night and we get a real date night! Looking forward to celebrating my wife's friends tomorrow, not to mention having a dedicated DD with my wife pregnant! Planning to get breakfast Sunday morning just the two of us before picking up the little guy too. Should be a great weekend!

After working out and then trekking out to shovel, I was feeling a warm shave this morning. Broke out the Amazelnut soap which continues to be a wonderful scent. Chased with MJ Legend EdC and feeling cozy and ready to wrap up this work week.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend friends!

Friday March 11th, 2022
Razor : '55 Gillette Red Tip SS
Blade : Bic SP (37)
Brush : Stirling Kong
Pre : Shower
Soap : B&M Amazelnut
Post : Thayers WH & MJ Legend EdC

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Back to the grind - hope everyone had a nice weekend! The wedding on Saturday evening was at The Rookery downtown, which is an absolutely beautiful building. This was the first wedding we had been to that felt "normal" in a while, which is good for this couple as this was the 3rd time they had pushed it due to Covid. It was a great night out for us and a much needed date night. Yesterday was more relaxed although my son was crabby due to having clearly been thrown off his sleep schedule with the time change. Ah well, such is life.

Excited for March Madness, don't feel great about my Illini especially with the way they've played down the stretch, but happy they made the Big Dance. Hoping for a quiet week at work but we'll see.

Saturday March 12th, 2022
Razor : Gillette Canadian Prewar Tech
Blade : Bic SP (38)
Brush : Yaqi Tuxedo Barberpole
Pre : Shower
Soap : CBL Hombres
Post : Thayers WH & YSL LNDL Bleu Electrique EdT

Monday March 14th, 2022
Razor : Gillette NEW LC
Blade : Bic SP (39)
Brush : Whipped Dog HM
Pre : Shower
Soap : Soap Commander Endurance
Post : Soap Commander Endurance & Grey Flannel EdT
 
Trying to figure out what my new schedule is going to look like when we are officially back into our "hybrid" policy of office work / WFH in April. Leaning towards Tuesday and Thursday in the office with MWF at home. Today's commute was the busiest I've seen our commuter rail since March 2020. The good news is prior to Covid, I had to arrive at the train station no later than 6am to secure a parking spot. Now I can arrive at 7 which makes a world of difference, as although the wake up time is still 5, I'm able to work out, shower, have a shave, and eat some breakfast before heading to the station. Compared to rolling out of bed into the shower and then immediately the car in the "old times," that's a huge improvement. Plus it's only 2 days a week...

Shave today was #40 on the Bic SP and I'm officially calling it. Shaves haven't been bad, but definitely not as butter smooth as I'd like and no reason to push on just for the sake of pushing on. Quite a run! Threw on TdH after the shave which continues to be a wonderful frag and one I'm thrilled to have picked up a full bottle.

Tuesday March 18th, 2022
Razor : Schick Krona
Blade : Bic SP (40)
Brush : Razorock F400
Pre : Shower
Soap : LEA
Post : Thayers WH & TdH EdT
 
Fightingillini22 said:
Trying to figure out what my new schedule is going to look like when we are officially back into our "hybrid" policy of office work / WFH in April. Leaning towards Tuesday and Thursday in the office with MWF at home
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You get to pick your days in the office? That sweetens the deal a bit I guess!
 
GearNoir said:
You get to pick your days in the office? That sweetens the deal a bit I guess!
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The thought is the time in the office should be for meetings and collaboration, so I think it's going to be a bit more fluid than a set schedule, but will definitely be aiming to get some type of normal cadence.
 
Are there particular days that are the worst for commuting? Here in the DC area - before COVID, a significant portion of the fed workers would take Friday as their work from home day (or they were working a 4 x 10 schedule) - So I would always work Fridays at the office because the commute wasn’t bad and then picked Monday as my work from home day.
 
Scuttlesoap said:
Are there particular days that are the worst for commuting? Here in the DC area - before COVID, a significant portion of the fed workers would take Friday as their work from home day (or they were working a 4 x 10 schedule) - So I would always work Fridays at the office because the commute wasn’t bad and then picked Monday as my work from home day.
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In this new world where most people commuting have some sort of WFH flexibility, I'm anticipating the busiest days to be Tuesday through Thursday, with Monday and Friday much quieter. As a train commuter, doesn't make all that much difference except for train station parking which I'm hoping stays at the level it is now compared to pre-Covid.
 
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