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Welcome to the Danger Zone!

Fightingillini22 said:
Great to see you pop in the Journals Don!

Our son was born in May 2020, and I have a constant ebb and flow of emotions around raising him during these wild times. There were a ton of things that I feel like he missed out on during the first 18 months of his life, things I feel like I didn't get to experience with him, and I worry about his future more than I think I would of pre-Covid. That said, there were also things that resulted from Covid that changed my work schedule and as a result, I was able to experience things I never would have since I would have gotten maybe 30 minutes per day during the work week with him before bed.

As with most things in life, there are always going to be pluses and minuses. It's always easy for me to dwell more on the minuses, but working to recognize the pluses has helped my mental wellbeing immensely the past 20 or so months.

On a much lighter note, love the Hot Apple Cider set, went through a tub of it years ago and it's just perfect for this time of year. Bic CPs were one of the first blades I ever used way back in 2013 and I had tossed them as "bad blades" due to bad results. I retried them a few years ago and realized I actually enjoyed them quite a bit and they obviously had suffered from my lack of experience at the time. It caused me to revisit many blades I had previously binned as "bad" in the earlier days to see if they truly were not good performers for me or if it was just my technique that needed better honing back then!
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Oh man! You really summed up a lot of my feelings! As I was putting my daughter to bed last night I was awash in anxiety not knowing what the future holds for my daughter. I have a few years to figure it all out right now, but schooling is a conundrum to me. I am not happy with certain things going on right now with our public schools, not that Louisiana is exactly known for its high standards in education, but there are some things that I just vehemently disagree with. There are some other options available to us, but like I said...we have a couple of years to figure it out.

Right now I am at that stage where I only see my daughter for an hour or so before bed. Sometimes less. It's hard, I mean really hard! I have to keep reminding myself that I am working for her. That said if I ever got the opportunity to quit my job, work from home, or change my hours so I could be with Amelie more...In a heartbeat.

Fightingillini22 said:
As with most things in life, there are always going to be pluses and minuses. It's always easy for me to dwell more on the minuses, but working to recognize the pluses has helped my mental wellbeing immensely the past 20 or so months.
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This is sound advice and something I really needed to hear right now.

Thanks so much for reading and commenting.
 
Clint64 said:
Wonderful post Don. You touched all the emotions for sure. I am sorry for your lose of Chauncey.

Amelie is simply gorgeous. Enjoy the time with her, from personal experience, they grow up so fast.
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Thanks so much Clint! And yeah...she is gorgeous isn't she!
 
Glad to see you posting....Amelie is getting so big.. I remember when you announced that you guys were gonna have her and the whole journey afterwards... I wish you were also able to be a stay at home dad too. I have been able to stay home with my kids ( mostly ) and it has been a blast !! They do grow up so fast.. I remember like yesterday when my oldest was born and being in the delivery room and the doctor saying "I see an ear" and she had me look and to be honest I started crying when I saw his little ear and NOW he is 13 !!
 
Way to paint that mammoth Don!

Boy is your baby girl a cutie! Before you know it she'll be 7 and from there they just get so big. Enjoy that baby stage. What I say about my girls is that I hope they look like their mom and fight like me. Thanks for sharing, you guys did great work there.
 
Blade-meister said:
Way to paint that mammoth Don!

Boy is your baby girl a cutie! Before you know it she'll be 7 and from there they just get so big. Enjoy that baby stage. What I say about my girls is that I hope they look like their mom and fight like me. Thanks for sharing, you guys did great work there.
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Yeah...she really is a cutie! I'm with you...if Amelie looks like her mom...she will do okay. But I think I would rather her fight like her mom too...that woman can be mean! 🤪 Believe me, I am soaking up this cute little baby while I can. She is already getting bigger than I like...but I guess that is life.
 
Okay...a non-shaving entry. It's work related but this one is worth an entry.

So I have a pretty demanding job. Not so much because of the job itself, but how the person who oversees my section runs it. If you don't know, I am an investigator for an agency that handles governmental Ethics. We investigate potential issues involving things involving general ethical situations, lobbying, and campaign finance for public servants.

My section consists of six investigators and the supervisor. The five investigators, excluding myself, are all women.

Anyway, my supervisor is a piece of work. He is a former Asst. District Attorney and is a textbook Narcissist. Personally I think he is a Psychopath...but I'm not a mental health professional...so we will leave it at that. This guy has been in his position for well over ten years and has had several people file complaints against him over time. Most of the complaints were informal complaints, but a few were formal. The problem is, anytime he has been reprimanded, he was then empowered because nothing really happened.

Several months ago, one of my co-workers decided that she had enough of how she was being treated and filed a formal complaint alleging many issues, including sexual harassment, and all issues were well documented. The powers that be who looked into things took longer than expected and my co-worker felt like she wasn't being taken seriously. In the end...nothing much happened. Fast forward a few months...something happened again with the same co-worker, and so she filed a second complaint. This time for retaliation. Mere days later, a situation occurred with another one of my co-workers and in part myself. My co-worker filed a formal complaint also.

A day after this last complaint, our supervisor had a closed door meeting with one of our agency's higher-ups. After which, he canceled our meetings for the following week and left for the day. He hasn't been back in the office for about a month. Meanwhile, there has obviously been an investigation of the sorts into the matter. It is obvious that he isn't gone permanently (at least yet).

Here is where things really get hinky at least for me. First of all I want to say that I have a great relationship with all of my co-workers. They are some of the best people I have ever worked with. But a toxic environment is hard to work in and all of us have been looking for other jobs. A week ago, the co-worker who filed the first complaint left our agency and found employment elsewhere. Yesterday was the last day for the co-worker that filed the last complaint. Another co-worker is waiting on a background check from a place that she was offered a position for before she leaves (and that will likely be before the end of the month), and a fourth co-worker was informally offered a position elsewhere just yesterday. If everything pans out for everyone...that will be four of the six investigators that will be gone.

I'm feeling a little left out!

So to recap...my section will be down one supervisor and four investigators. I've been shorthanded before...but holy cow! So...in addition to my workload, and any new workload that comes in...the two remanding investigators will have to absorb all of the cases for the four other investigators. This is going to be a wild ride!
 
Well dang Don! Sorry you’ve had to continue going through such a situation. Its one of those “between a rock and a hard place” situations and does sound quite unhealthy. I hope the management issue in particular gets righted quickly!

Hoping you get some extra recognition and reward out of this too!
 
GearNoir said:
Hoping you get some extra recognition and reward out of this too!
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Not likely and don’t really need it. But I can tell you that the stress level has been really a lot better since the tyrant is gone. Despite what I know is to be a lot more pro coming my way. I’m just sad knowing I lost good hardworking coworkers in the process.
 
Hopefully Karma will take hold of the situation. And not let go. Not sure of the dynamic. Hearing the story just kind makes me wish all of your coworkers banded together and got rid of the one cancerous person.
I’ve personally dealt with one humongous jackwagon of a boss. At one point I nearly transferred out of my shop to another to get away from all the BS.
Then one day talking to one of my trusted friends and coworker. Had an epiphany. It was there i decided to make him miserable. With the help of many others. So he would transfer. It took a couple years but I’m still where I want to be and the wanker is not. But I am not in an office environment. Not even sure the increase in the magnitude of difficulty for you guys to try and do similar a thing.
Wish you luck Don. Hang tough.
Fluffy
 
Maryland998 said:
Hopefully Karma will take hold of the situation. And not let go. Not sure of the dynamic. Hearing the story just kind makes me wish all of your coworkers banded together and got rid of the one cancerous person.
I’ve personally dealt with one humongous jackwagon of a boss. At one point I nearly transferred out of my shop to another to get away from all the BS.
Then one day talking to one of my trusted friends and coworker. Had an epiphany. It was there i decided to make him miserable. With the help of many others. So he would transfer. It took a couple years but I’m still where I want to be and the wanker is not. But I am not in an office environment. Not even sure the increase in the magnitude of difficulty for you guys to try and do similar a thing.
Wish you luck Don. Hang tough.
Fluffy
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Thanks!

Being a civil service employee has its perks. But if you are trying to get rid of someone it is nearly impossible. I have tried to make things as difficult as I could for him over the past couple of years. But even that had some consequences. I think he is likely gone permanently. But I can’t tell you for sure. My biggest issue with all of it though is that because leadership took inaction, he was empowered to continue with a lot of behavior that would get you fired at most places. And sued by other people. From what I understand, him being sued isn’t off the table either.
 
dangerousdon said:
Thanks!

Being a civil service employee has its perks. But if you are trying to get rid of someone it is nearly impossible. I have tried to make things as difficult as I could for him over the past couple of years. But even that had some consequences. I think he is likely gone permanently. But I can’t tell you for sure. My biggest issue with all of it though is that because leadership took inaction, he was empowered to continue with a lot of behavior that would get you fired at most places. And sued by other people. From what I understand, him being sued isn’t off the table either.
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Hopefully everything works out for you with work. Good luck.
 
Razor: Schick Injector
Blade: Schick Injector Blade (No idea how many shaves on it)
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery - Jack Frost
Brush: Stirling Soap Co. - 24mm Fan in Finest Badger
The Penultimate Aftershave: CBL Unscented Aftershave Tonic
The Ultimate Aftershave: Chiseled Face - Cedar & Spice

And Back to our regularly scheduled format...🤪

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The Shave -

I have told the story before, and looks like I will tell you all it again. But I got this tub of soap from Sudsy Soapery what seems like a million years ago, but with I think was circa 2016...maybe earlier. Anyway, I purchased it on one of there Holiday sales for a penny. Okay, a penny and shipping and handling, but you get the idea. It has a very pleasing scent to me around this time of year...Siberian fir needle, orange, spice, and some menthol. I love this scent. But it seems that coniferous smelling soaps (cedar aside) do not seem as popular. But I make do...I usually go with an Orange Dirt type scent or in today's case Chiseled Face Cedar and Spice. I feel like lit is a very festive shave. I only have a bit of this soap left, so I am taking a hiatus from the Stirling Hot Apple Cider. But my goal is to finally get rid of it this month.

I haven't shaves in almost a week, just one of those things. So I pulled out the Injector. It's one of the no frills version. But I have to say, this razor has to be the most efficient razor in the den. If I wanted to...I could just have a once pass WtG shave, and I believe that would be sufficient. The downside to being a super efficient shaver is that it can be a lethal razor as well. Luckily for me...this wasn't the case. Two passes...north to south then south to north. A couple minor areas of cleanup and my shave is as good as most and better than some.

I have been forgoing witch hazel altogether as of late. And I essentially put on two aftershaves. My first and base aftershave is always (since @CBLSoap.com @CBLindsay has come out with one) the CBL Unscented Aftershave Tonic. This is my go to aftershave always! The tonic has this mystifying ability to make any skin deficiency (scrapes, burns, etc.) just go away. Just before I go to work I will splash on the Cedar & Spice, for additional aftershave benefits...and for you know...the people in the elevator. Since mask wearing is at a minimum...I know the unsuspecting riders of the contraption that rises and lowers will be in for a treat...nay...they will be in for a blessing today. Yes...several glugs of the aftershave in a cupped hand with the scented liquid running over the sides. They will be in for a religious experience!

Like I said...two passes and I am good to go for the day!

The Danger Zone -

I have to admit...with all this cookie making and fruitcake baking I have packed on a few pounds. If you don't know what I am talking about...check out these threads...

If 2020 was all about the fruits...then 2021 is all about, well the fruits! The 2021 Fruitcake Thread

Last year I started the 2020 fruit cake thread. You can read it here if you are so inclined: https://theshavingcadre.com/threads/2020-is-all-about-the-fruits-well-fruit-cakes-that-is.3529/ Well once again I got to a late start...but no worries. The Danger Household is nuttier and fruitier...
theshavingcadre.com theshavingcadre.com

Holiday Cookie Thread

The wife went crazy this weekend and made a bunch of cookies for the holidays! Thumbprint cookies (apricot and raspberry) Snickerdoodle M&M chocolate chip Peanut butter blossoms Molasses (my personal favorite)
theshavingcadre.com theshavingcadre.com

Anyway...I have a plan once all the temptation has been rid (after Christmas obviously).

I really thought that my assessment of Danger Baby being a tetradactyl was misguided. Then yesterday, Danger Baby started screeching again. Yup, I am certain she is a pre-historic beast. All joking aside. Man this little one is so much of my life right now. I know you fathers understand this. But she is doing things at alarming speeds. She is just amazing. Gratuitous Baby pic below.

The drama at work continuous to go full steam ahead. The people who run the show still are refusing to do really acknowledge anything is going on and what is rest of our section is still baffled and left in the dark. I say what is left of our section, because if you haven't read previous posts here is the brief rundown. The supervisor of my section has been committing some really bad stuff for a really long time. Most of which he doesn't even realize is wrong. Of some of the violations are sexual harassment. Anyway, there is finally an investigation. But since, two of my coworkers have quit. One coworker's last day is just before Christmas, and another is just awaiting some formalities before she leaves. In a section of six people, that means there will be two of us left. As Ozzy puts it "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train."

Okay...enough Danger Zone for the day. Seriously though...checkout the cookie thread and the fruitcake thread and add your own pics and comments!

Have a happy and wonderful day Cadre!

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Spectacular picture of Danger Baby!

Great shave and love the tools!

I really hope the investigation demonstrates that this is an unhealthy working environment - it has all the classic signs - the icing being the number of people exiting - I truly hope it gets better quickly or that you find something else!

Have a great Monday!
 
Scuttlesoap said:
Spectacular picture of Danger Baby!

Great shave and love the tools!

I really hope the investigation demonstrates that this is an unhealthy working environment - it has all the classic signs - the icing being the number of people exiting - I truly hope it gets better quickly or that you find something else!

Have a great Monday!
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Yeah, the workplace was classic definition of Toxic and Hostile. It was allowed to go on and started well before I got there. Unfortunately management doesn't understand why the people are leaving. I have a couple irons in the fire as far as employment goes. But they might take a long time to develop. Thanks for reading my friend!
 
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