It’s Contagious
Get Well Soon, Drew Neitzel!
The Spartans lost last night to Michigan, mainly because Drew Neitzel has the flu and was very limited. He was on the bench at one point with 3:30 left to play and the Spartans down by only 5 or 6 points. They're not going to go very far without him. According to The Bracket Project, most people still have them getting into the tourney at this point, but only around an 8 seed. They certainly can't afford to go into Wisconsin and get whupped, and they need to be careful about an early exit in the Big Ten tourney affecting their chances as well. After Wisconsin and Ohio State, MSU, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Purdue all have close to the same resume, and the Big Ten is likely to only get 5 teams in this year, so a lot is riding on this last week. MSU will definitely be helped next year by getting NCAA tournament experience for guys like Raymar Morgan.
So like I said, "Get well soon, Drew!"
Wired Up
On Monday, I received my SunRocket "Gizmo" from UPS. This after emailing customer support at 9am on Friday, receiving a reply at 4pm that they were "backordered" on the gizmos, then having it ship out later that night. After opening the box and reading the "Quick Install" instructions, I was baffled. The colors of the ports and cables they mentioned were not matching up with my gizmo. I went online and found the real instructions, and was able to hook it up fairly quickly. Not exactly inspiring confidence so far. Luckily, the service is up and working fine.
I did run into a few snags along the way though. Back when I had our basement ceiling exposed, I ran a lot of wiring around, and tried to get everything centralized to the utility closet. All the TV cables run back there, and I thought I had all the phone lines run back there too. Turns out I did not, and the kitchen phone line, the one line we use for our cordless phone (i.e. the only one we ever use) was wired to the outside, not to the "home run." This meant that after I thought I had hooked up the gizmo correctly, whenever I would pick up the phone to dial, it was dialing both the landline and the VOIP line. This got really confusing when I would hear "Your call could not be completed as dialed" at the same time it was ringing.
I finally figured out the problem, but the wiring was too far under the ceiling for me to rewire the correct way. All I could do was cut the kitchen line, and move the cordless phone to a different phone outlet. This is not a huge deal, but it does leave the kitchen phone outlet mounted on the wall looking pretty bare and silly.
After figuring out the wiring, I set up our landline to forward all incoming calls to the new SunRocket line, and disconnected the landline. You may notice that calls coming from us show a different number on the caller ID for a while, but if we end up sticking with SunRocket, I will switch our existing number to them, so that should only be temporary.
At any rate, last night we made several calls (Disney planning and such) and no one seemed to notice anything untoward about the connection. I believe it even passed the wife test, which was "I like to make phone calls that I can hear the other person on the line and I like to keep costs to a minimum." Check, and check.
Two Days, Two Horrific Dislocations
Not for the squeamish. First Wisconsin's Brian Butch tries to stop his fall with his arm, dislocating his elbow.
Next, Clippers point guard Shaun Livingston dislocates his left knee cap.
Freaky stuff.
Quoted
Almost forgot to mention that I was quoted in a recent article about Sudip in the Chicago Daily Herald. My quotes sound a lot better on paper than they did coming out of my mouth. Jill Jedlowski is one heckuva reporter, seriously! She even spelled my name right!
Evangelizing: The Grooming Lounge
The Grooming Lounge has two locations in the DC area, one in Georgetown, and one closer to me in Tysons Galleria, aka Tysons 2. They bill themselves as "the country's premiere destination for quality men's grooming products and services." I had never heard of them until Lisa bought me a gift certificate for their hot lather shave. Since we were heading out on Saturday night, I decided that Saturday would be a good day to give it a try.
Walking into the Grooming Lounge, you are greeted by a well-dressed gentleman who takes your coat and escorts you to the waiting area. The waiting area is just two short benches with two small LCD TVs to get your SportsCenter fix on, but just next to it is the bar. Yes, a full bar is waiting for you. The host will ask if you want a drink, so be ready and order something other than a rootbeer like I did. I noticed they had Maker's Mark, so maybe you'll want to try some of that.
After a short wait, your "shaver" (for lack of a better word, the person who will be shaving you) arrives and takes you back to your barber-style chair. Only this chair has a neat twist: it pivots and full reclines so that you are totally comfortable during your shave. The shaver (whom I will call Becky from now on, since that's who did my shave) will ask about how you normally shave, whether you are sensitive in any particular area, and then explain the journey upon which you are about to embark. Then it begins.
First up is your first of seven (hopefully I remember all of them) hot towels. The hot towels help get your beard and stubble nice and wet, and open the pores as well. Following the first hot towel is the pre-shave face wash, which contains lavender, aloe and rosemary oil. I should mention at this point that at no time did I feel anything other than masculine. They're not going to let you walk out of there smelling like girly flowers or anything. You're a man! It's not girly at all, it's just indulgent. Becky scrubbed my face, removing any layers of dead skin, and getting all the grime and dirt off. This was quickly followed by another hot towel. I should also mention at this point that they never really rinse your face with water. They remove the previous application of face wash, lather or whatever with the hot towel, patting your face with the towel gently, and never rubbing the towel on your face.
After the second towel came an application of their shaving oil. The oil was a mix of meadowfoam, peppermint, and avocado oil, with a clove scent. I could feel it tingling my face, all over my day-and-a-half old stubble. Then it was time for the third hot towel. This was followed by more shaving oil and their hot lather. Time to shave? Not so fast my friend. Time for a fourth hot towel.
After the fourth hot towel, you start to wonder if you're ever going to feel a blade. Well, now it's time. After another application of shaving oil and hot lather, the shaving begins. Becky shaved this pass with the grain of my stubble. In retrospect, all that time she spent rubbing my face with oils and soap and lather, she was figuring out how the hair on my face grew, and by the end, she was more familiar with my face than I was. The Grooming Lounge uses Mach 3 razors with more hefty handles than you will find in your local store. They believe that there is some benefit to having more than one blade, but that 18 blades is probably too many. The first pass, again, went with the grain. Be prepared to stretch your face for the shaver, as they don't want to stick their finger up your nose to get to the hard to reach areas.
Next came the fifth hot towel. After this towel came some more oil and their own shaving cream. The cream is heavier and thicker than the lather. Becky used some water to moisten the cream and prep each area she was working on as she shaved. This set combined the across the grain pass with the against the grain pass, assuming that I am remembering everything correctly. Yes, against the grain. By the time she got to this point, my stubble was almost non-existent, but the against the grain pass got it right down to nothing.
After the sixth hot towel, Becky applied the fragrance-free aftershave with olibanum, almond oil and lavender. She noted a couple of the spots that she was going to finish off, and let me run my hands over my face to check it out. Very impressive! I didn't even notice anything wrong with the spots she noticed. She cleaned up those spots and applied the after shave, and it was time for one last hot towel. This hot towel was immediately followed by a cold towel, to close up the pores and get rid of any lingering stuff on my face. Finally, one more application of the aftershave balm, and I checked out my face in the mirror. Beautiful.
Becky gave me a soft sell on all the products she used on my face that day, as well as some stuff I can use with a brush, if I ever get a new one (the Calvin Klein piece-of-shit had the bristles come out of the handle after about 2 weeks of use, and no glue will keep them in the handle). I checked out with my gift card, which conveniently has enough money on it to pay for the shave and the tip, well earned by Becky, and I was on my way.
How good was the shave? Was it worth $50 plus tip? You're damn right it was. Look, it's not something I'd do every day, every week, even every month. It's definitely an indulgence for special occasions. If this place was around when I was getting married, the groomsmen would have all been in there getting hooked up for the wedding. I, according to Lisa, will be going back there for an anniversary shave. It's that good. Lisa stripped Evan down, and compared the baby's bottom to my face. A close call. My face was extremely smooth, but has been weathered by 32 years of living, otherwise, it was smooth as our baby's bottom. I had three other women touch my face that night, and all three were ready to send their men to the Grooming Lounge.
You can buy all of the products I mentioned (except the hot lather machine, and you're on your own for the hot towels) at their website. All but the lather part is included in their "Greatest Shave Ever" kit. I get nothing for referring you to them, which is a shame, because I'm gonna be pimping this place to everyone I know. I can't personally vouch for their $50 haircut, or $30 manicure, but the Hot Lather Shave is well worth your time and money.
Evangelizing: Peep
Peep is a kids' show that airs in the US on Discovery Kids channel. From the website: "Each half-hour episode contains two stories which highlight specific science concepts, plus two live-action shorts presenting real kids playing and experimenting with these concepts in their own big wide worlds."
Since I first recorded it a few weeks ago after getting a tip from one of the various parenting blogs I read, Lisa has been telling everyone she knows (with kids) about it. I am firmly of the belief that if your kids are allowed to watch TV, they should at least learn something while watching (I'm looking at you, Univision). That's why, even though the repetition gets annoying, I don't mind her watching Blue's Clues. Peep goes even further and teaches elementary science (how rabbits live, what's a rain storm, water displacement) in a simple way that even Ellie can understand. Even better, they have actual kids demonstrating the science in between the cartoons.
This show has Ellie's Seal of Approval, as she now asks to watch it by name. It airs in the US on TLC at 8:30am and Discovery Kids at 9am weekdays.
Indulgences
It was a weekend of indulgences at the Dauernheim household. And that's never a bad thing.
On Friday night, we ran out of ideas for dinner, and by the time we realized it, it was too late to go shopping for groceries to make something. Instead, we fell back on ordering food from Outback. They have a good setup that all restaurants should duplicate. You submit your order over the Internet to the place at which you will pick up the food. About 30 minutes later, you drive up to the special "Curbside Pickup" parking spot, and a guy comes out to your car to confirm your order and take your money. He then goes back inside, gets your food and rings up the order, and brings the food back out. Then you're done! Go home and enjoy. Which we did.
Saturday was a most busy day. I started off the day by buying our Nationals' Opening Day tickets. Shortly thereafter, we went out to the zoo, where Ellie was signed up for the "Winter Tweets" class. The zoo offers classes to members, and since we just recently joined up, we thought Ellie would have a good time with it. This class was all about what animals do in the winter, particularly backyard animals. They read a story, did some activities, and finally, made treats ("tweets") for the backyard animals. Ellie had fun, especially since we went and watched the gorillas afterward.
On our way home, we stopped by Hard Times Chili for some indulgent lunch. Nothing like some chili on a cold day. We stopped by our house for a few minutes before heading back out to the mall. I had an appointment for my hot lather shave, which Lisa got me for Christmas. I'll probably write more about this later, because it was just that indulgent. The Grooming Lounge, if you're ever in the DC area, is like a spa for men, but not so girly. They do fancy shaves, haircuts, massages, etc, but it always feels manly somehow. The rest of the day, Lisa had people touching my face. She even did the "baby's bottom" comparison, and it was a tough call. My face was just that smooth. I didn't shave at all yesterday, and it was still pretty smooth all the way through the day. I've been told that I will be getting this shave for our anniversary, not that I'm complaining.
Later on, we dropped Ellie off at her friend's house so that we could have a night out at Bangkok Joe's. It was our friend's birthday, otherwise we might not have chosen such a hip place. I indulged in a Bangkok Swing (Absolut Citron, Southern Comfort and ginger-lemon tea), while Lisa had coconut punch (coconut, pineapple and grenadine). The food was good, with various dumplings as appetizers and good Thai entrees.
Finally, it was time to pick Ellie up and head home. We got back just in time for me to catch the end of the MSU-Indiana game. It was like they were waiting for me to watch before they turned it on. Drew Neitzel had another great second half, and MSU took care of Indiana. They should probably be in the tourney, but a win at Michigan on Tuesday would probably clinch it for them.
We woke up Sunday morning to snow. Big, huge flakes causing what passes for whiteout conditions in these parts. Since we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, we had to shovel our way out a bit and brave the snowy roads. I did well until one last hill, when I slowed too much (I saw a minivan struggling at the top of the hill, and slowed because I didn't want to have to try to pass it) and spun my wheels in the snow. We turned around and took the long way home. Lisa had to park us in the street when we slipped sideways turning into the driveway. Luckily, there wasn't a huge layer of ice under the snow like the last time, so I was able to shovel the street behind the car and back into the driveway without too much trouble.
The rest of the day was a normal snow hermit existence. Hot chocolate, building a snowwoman with Ellie, potato leek soup (accompanied by Bell's Third Coast Old Ale to warm the insides; review forthcoming).
Now the weekend of indulgences is over, so we're back to our normal routine. It should be a relatively slow week. I'm expecting the SunRocket "gizmo" to arrive today, so we can start testing out our new VOIP service. But other than that, we have very little going on, which is just how I like it after a busy weekend.
Abita Turbodog
Poured a deep brown with some reddish tinges. Not much head, but my wife poured it for me, so who knows, but I'm not blaming her for anything.
Malty aroma with a bit of caramel. Fairly subtle flavors previously mentioned, with a tiny bit of chocolate creeping in, as well as a hop bitterness at the end too.
I'm a bit late posting this in honor of Mardi Gras, but this is a solid brown ale from the Louisianan Abita.
Overall rating: 3.5
Rocketman
I decided to go with SunRocket for our VOIP service. Their current plan is $199/year with 3 months free, and they have a 31 day trial period, with no activation or equipment fees. I also found a site called CrazyRefund.com that purports to offer you $80 cashback if you sign up through their link (and stay signed up for 32 days), which knocks the price down to $7.93/month. I have no idea if it will actually work, but I figure it is worth a shot. They did respond to an email I sent them asking about how I would get paid, so that much is good. I guess I'll find out in a month or so.
Right now, it seems my order is still processing through SunRocket, so I have no idea when I will actually get the "gizmo" and be able to try the service out. But you can call my new temporary phone number and leave me a voicemail. The cool thing is that it will send me an email with the message as an attachment, so I don't have to wait till I get home to check it. They also have a lot of stuff that you can control from your account's webpage, like blocking certain numbers from even ringing the phone. So beware, or you'll be blacklisted!
Books
My Goodreads ListAmazon Wishlist
GSI Outdoors JavaGrindLifestream
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Brian is back from the last day at the pool, having barely gotten wet.
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Brian is pretty sure the first day of school wake up call will be filled with grumpy.
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Brian Bitches Brew, Live Free or Die, Old Chub.
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Brian is coming to the realization that I am not a size XL. Or even a L. Time to donate some ill-fitting clothes.
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Shared The Thousand .
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Nordstrom's also has a free personal stylist, might trust them more than Banana Republic. (Can you tell I'm bored with my clothes lately?) [BrianDau]
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Who knew that Banana Republic had complimentary "personal styling appointments"? You know, if you go for that kind of style. [BrianDau]
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