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

Hello shaving family, it's been too long! What will be unsurprising based on my prolonged absence from TSC is that life has been just slightly chaotic around here the last 3 months or so. On the home front, my daughter did indeed start with the head-shaping helmet back in February much to my wife's dismay (since she still feels like it's her fault despite the doctors all saying it clearly was not from being laid down too often) so that's been quite the ride. Unfortunately looks like we might need to do a second round aka second helmet but will know more in a couple weeks. We've also been on the potty training rollercoaster with my soon-to-be 3 year old son with plenty of highs as well as regressions. Couple that with house projects like working to replace the ceiling of our back porch roof with my FIL and new windows, and this spring has been a bit of a whirlwind.

On top of that, on the job front, I officially accepted a new job at a clean energy firm here in Chicago last week that I am very excited about. They just acquired a large clean energy company on the East coast that doubled their size from both headcount and project portfolio perspectives and thanks to the IRA Congress passed last year expect to see continued rapid growth. It will definitely be a bit more chaotic and stressful than my previous job but it not only gets me the professional development I've been seeking (but not receiving) at my current employer BUT also comes with a material bump in pay as well as an overall stronger benefits package. There were a couple instances this spring where I went through multiple final rounds with other firms and didn't get the job which obviously is rough but as my wife loved to remind me "that just means it wasn't where you were meant to end up." I'll wrap up my current job next Wednesday then have a week and a half off before starting new in mid-May.

Lots going on but definitely wanted to check in with everyone - hoping to be able to get back around here regularly as I've missed exchanging with a lot of you. Thanks for stopping by!
 
Congrats on the job front, Ryan!! Will keep all of your family in my thoughts. I never had kids so I never got to go through the "potty training" thing, but, based on your post and what others have told me, I can tell it's a "difficult" stage. :oops:

Take care, brother!
 
Great update Ryan! Glad to see you pop in and to hear that things are well! Congrats on the new job!

Potty training was a mixed bag for us. Pee did relatively easy in most cases…it was the poo that really took some effort!
 
MarkB said:
Congrats on the job front, Ryan!! Will keep all of your family in my thoughts. I never had kids so I never got to go through the "potty training" thing, but, based on your post and what others have told me, I can tell it's a "difficult" stage. :oops:

Take care, brother!
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Thank you sir! Definitely difficult but wouldn't trade these kiddos for anything.

Graybeard57 said:
More interesting work, more money, and better benefits. What's not to like?

Potty training for boys can be an adventure. For instance, at 66 years of age, I'm almost there.
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Amen brother! Hoping it turns out to be the next exciting chapter I'm envisioning it to be!

GearNoir said:
Great update Ryan! Glad to see you pop in and to hear that things are well! Congrats on the new job!

Potty training was a mixed bag for us. Pee did relatively easy in most cases…it was the poo that really took some effort!
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Thanks Chris! It's been a mixed bag where once week he's got EVERYTHING down and then suddenly it all gets thrown out the window and is peeing all over our couch again. Just one of the many rollercoasters to come I'm sure.
 
Finally got some sun again in Chicagoland this morning, feels like it's been a week of colder and uglier weather around here. As is typical in our springtime though, it was 80 degrees to kick off last week and by the weekend snowing again.

It's been a nice and relaxing time at work since giving notice and wrapping up much of what I was working on. Today is my second to last day here in the office, and will come in again next Wednesday on my official last day to turn everything in. Kinda surreal.

This Saturday is my son's birthday party, with this year's theme being Paw Patrol which is FAR and away his favorite thing on the entire planet. My wife is going overboard per usual, and has created tons of homemade decorations and it will be nice having the family over to celebrate. Exhausting, and of course tons of cleaning to do between now and then, but should be a fun day.

In shavedom, I've been using a combo of Denton Majik's Masters of the Green and B&M Sunny Lane since early March and have really been enjoying them as springtime scents. On the frag front, been trying to get through some of my near-empties, and finished off Burberry for Men recently. Of course, I also have an order coming in with a 100ml tester bottle of D&G Light Blue Italian Love along with 0.15oz minis of Missoni Wave and Coach for Men landing later today, so it's a never-ending battle. On the bright side, the minis will go fast and I'm still down 3 bottles net from the start of 2023, so counting that a win!
 
Happy Hump Day friends, and more importantly, my last day at my current employer! After almost 6 years it's definitely bittersweet since I genuinely love the people I work with.

This past weekend was a whirlwind of family time between my son's birthday on Saturday then celebrating my SIL's birthday on Sunday. The party on Saturday was wonderful and my wife's ability to decorate cakes and make the house explode with "Paw Patrol" homemade decorations will never cease to amaze me. My son had a great time and thankfully didn't cry during "Happy Birthday" this year! :ROFLMAO:

My minis of Missoni Wave and Coach for Men came in alongside my bottle of DG Light Blue Italian Love so that's been fun. Definitely enjoy the Missoni Wave and would pick up a bottle on discount. Coach for Men is an "eh." And of course Italian Love is such a wonderful summertime fun scent. Just need the weather to improve a bit here as it's been unseasonably cool.

Thanks for stopping by!
 
Happy Birthday to your son and SIL!

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I'm just really not good at getting into a rhythm these days am I? It's been a bit of a chaotic month, particularly in the work department as I'm in my 4th week at my new employer now. Definitely one of those things where it feels like I'm trying to drink from a firehose - I had been at my previous employer for so long and developed such a level of comfort with colleagues, financial reporting systems, deliverables, calendars, etc. that I had forgotten how humbling it is to change jobs. The good news is there haven't been any "well THAT wasn't brought up in the job interview or description" moments yet, and my new team and boss are all great. It was definitely the right move in terms of professional development and it's great to have some wind in my sails and feel truly motivated again. Plus the nice pay bump always helps, right?

Continue to plug along with my 3017(ish) of my MWF puck which continues to deliver fantastic shaves. Have a nice rotation of summertime frags going too among Jimmy Choo Man Ice, Hugo Reversed, Polo Deep Blue and YSL Y Eau Fraiche. Really have managed to cull the frag acquisitions this year and enjoying what I have.

In nib land, I discovered my VERY neglected Platinum 3776 pen in my desk at my previous employer which, per my ink journal, was inked up over a YEAR ago and barely used. Took to cleaning that poor pen out over the weekend and need to decide what pen to ink up next as I'm trying to get a proper rotation going again there too.

Thanks for stopping by, I promise despite the lack of posts I'm still keeping up with many of your journals!
 
Family is hanging in there! My son was diagnosed with esotropia (aka cross eye) a few months ago and while there aren't any signs that would point to it being anything other than genetics/bad luck (since evidently cross eyes runs on my wife's side, previously unbeknownst to us) he's having an MRI done in a couple weeks to make sure there isn't anything more serious going on. A little unnerving when the words tumor get thrown around no matter how unlikely it appears. Ideally that all comes back a-okay and we just need to correct it with glasses or surgery. Think we'll all breath a little easier once that's formally ruled out.
 
Fightingillini22 said:
Family is hanging in there! My son was diagnosed with esotropia (aka cross eye) a few months ago and while there aren't any signs that would point to it being anything other than genetics/bad luck (since evidently cross eyes runs on my wife's side, previously unbeknownst to us) he's having an MRI done in a couple weeks to make sure there isn't anything more serious going on. A little unnerving when the words tumor get thrown around no matter how unlikely it appears. Ideally that all comes back a-okay and we just need to correct it with glasses or surgery. Think we'll all breath a little easier once that's formally ruled out.
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Hoping for the best!
 
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