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Not quite Music City USA

I'm starting to get used to the 4pm shave. I'll regret it tonight at 11 when there's nothing to do!

Prep: Hot shower, Ach Brito Glyce Soap, Proraso Red Pre-shave cream
Razor: Timeless .95
Blade: Personna Israeli Red (3)
Soap: PAA Black Bot
Brush: Thater Synthetic
Post-Shave: Osma Tradition Alum Block, cold water rinse
After-Shave: PAA Black Bot

I'm sticking with the Timeless, even though I got a little irritation around my left chin area. I'm thinking that the hefty nature of the razor may have resulted in applying too much pressure on the last pass. I was extra careful today, and seem to have suffered no I'll effects. Today I test drove the PAA Black Bot soap and Aftershave, and I really like the scent. Supposedly, it's a clone of Black Belt, which I remember, but never smelled. The soap is the standard Crown King base, and although I prefer the CK-6 base, this stuff is plenty thirsty and very slick. I'm a big fan of PAA. Got an email from them today announcing the expansion of their Coconut Lime product line, and I ordered the shaving soap in the CK-6 base. I'm giving the Timeless another month. If I can't get a consistent irritation-free shave by then, it'll go up on the BST. I got a shipping confirmation today for a Paradigm Diamondback 2020, so I have that to look forward to. I also ordered 100 Gillette Platinum blades, having enjoyed the ones that came with my Heritage. Tonight's simple pleasures of a blessed life will be finishing up the current Volume of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, and listening to two more classic baseball games. I'm spending my days studying for the A+ computer technician certificate. It's slow going after 20 years away from the industry, but I'm enjoying it when you get to the bottom of things.

Thanks for reading and have a great shave!

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Graybeard57 said:
Ambitious plan. Career adjustment?
Click to expand...
Actually a return after years of teaching. When I moved down here to take care of my mother, I needed to find something close to her house, so I took a retail job. But for 15 years I taught computer science in Baltimore and DC, and did a few years as a network administrator. All the tech jobs around here are looking for that A+ cert, and my hardware knowledge is a little out of date, so I'm working on getting the A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications, and a Microsoft Professional certification for Azure Cloud Services. My plan was to get them done by Fall, but with all this time on my hands ( my retail job let me go when the pandemic closed them) I hope to take the first tests in July.

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GearNoir said:
What’s your certificate include? Programming and all that?
Click to expand...
The A+ certification is both PC hardware maintenance and repair, and the last three Windows versions and MacOS. The Network cert covers hardware and software configuration and Security is pretty much just that. I have a firm grasp of the fundamentals of all three from my years doing Network Administration, I'm just in need of an update on the newer versions of the Operating systems. There's not really programming per se, although I did get an Android Java Programming certification from Google, I just don't think I'd enjoy doing app development for a living. But it's nice to have that in my back pocket, given the uncertainty in the economy.

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My sleep schedule is totally screwed up. I fell asleep around 8:30pm listening to an Orioles game from 1979 and woke up at 11:30pm in the middle of a Dodgers game. I never got the year. But I stayed up all night listening to talk radio (baseball) and watched the first half of Dr. No. I watched Michael Freedburg shaving videos as the Sun came up, and then shaved around 10. It's 2:00pm and I can probably sleep, but shouldn't. I should tough it out and get to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight. The quarantine is starting to mess with me I think. Anyway, it was a mild, comfortable shave with the AS-D2 and a Feather blade. No irritation, and a DFS+.

Prep: Hot shower, Stirling Charcoal Facial Soap, Proraso Red Pre-shave cream
Razor: Feather AS-D2
Blade: Feather Hi-Stainless
Soap: PAA Black Bot
Brush: West Coast Shaving Silvertip Badger
Post-shave: Osma Tradition Alum Block
After-Shave: Proraso Red Lotion


Thanks for reading and have a great shave!

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If my sleep gets too messed up I have to tough it out and stay up also...naps just make it worse at that point.
 
My sleep schedule has been pretty messed up as well. I’ve had to force myself to not take a nap a couple times, knowing that it would just be worse when I tried to get to sleep that night.
 
Well, I got a good night's sleep, ran the errands for the week, came home and had the best shave in quite a few days.

Prep: Hot shower, Ach Brito Glyce Soap, Proraso Red Pre-shave cream
Razor: Timeless SS .95
Blade: Personna Israeli Red
Soap: PAA Mega Flora (first use)
Brush: WCS Silvertip Badger
Post-Shave: Osma Tradition Alum Block, cold water rinse
After-Shave: PAA Atomic Age Bay Rum

I finally dialed in the Timeless today after 11 or 12 tries. I was holding out hope, because it's a lovely razor, a major investment, and I really want it to work, but I got some irritation - as bad as I've ever had, the first few tries. The Personna Red seems to work better than the GSB, at least for me, in this razor. I tried out the PAA Mega Flora, and it is aptly named. It is very floral, and as fresh a floral as I've found. The freshness is such that I perceive a sense of "freshly cut-ness" about it. It's confident but not overly strong. I suspect it will be a mainstay of my lineup along with some Neroli and Lavender soaps, during the May floral shave participation. My Aftershaves have more floral variety than my soaps, but I think I can pull off a month with at least one floral element in each shave. Tonight's radio classic ball games are Twins games, both World Series games, so I'll probably have them on in the background as I finish off the current Volume of Dick Tracy. Only 51 more years to go. So, in sum, a four-pass, irritation-free, effortless BBS with a formidable razor. I love the new soap. All is good!

Thanks for reading and have a great shave!

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Wow. I just used the Paradigm Diamondback that arrived today, and it was a fantastic shave.

Prep: Hot shower, Stirling Charcoal Facial Soap, Proraso Green Pre-shave cream
Razor: Paradigm Diamondback
Blade: Feather Hi-Stainless (1)
Soap: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Brush: Parker Long Loft Badger
Post-shave: Osma Tradition Alum Block, cold water rinse
After-Shave: Fine Italian Citrus

The best razor I've ever used, for me, is the Rex Supply Envoy. It's the most efficient razor I own, at least it was until today. It may have met its match with the Diamondback. I used a new Feather Hi-Stainless, and MWF, as these are my reference tools. They are the equipment I've used the most, and I feel like I understand how to use them. I'm not going to do a lengthy review here, I may post over in the Diamondback thread, but I really have always thought that a first-year review is sort of limited in value. I'm going to use it for a month and then I should be able to do a thorough evaluation. I will say that the audio feedback as the blade sliced through the whiskers was solid and not resonant, like with my NEW LC or my EJ89lbl. And finding the right cutting angle was very intuitive. It was an enjoyable, irritation-free, four pass BBS shave. Since I'll be using MWF for the next month, my participation in the May theme, about which I'm very excited, will be through After-Shaves. This shouldn't be too tricky, as I have a good supply of floral and fruity scents to play with, and, if I find that in two or three weeks I'm really dialing in the Diamondback, I might change soaps. So it's not a vow, but a plan that could change. Boy, what a shave!

Thanks for reading, and have a great shave!
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I wrote "first-year" above. I meant to write first- time. Whoops!

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