I read a BuzzFeed listicle yesterday, "40 Forgotten Pandemic Trends From 4 Years Ago That Feel Like They Are From An Alternate Universe" (30 Mar 2024). I thought as I clicked into it, "I wonder how many of these trends, if any, applied to me?" Answer: ONE! One out of FORTY. Clearly I am NOT trendy. (Little surprise there1Among the things I did not ( Read more... )

Last weekend when I was searching for replacement parts for my electric shaver I found an interesting alternative to replacing some of the bits: a whole new shaver for $20! That was less than half the $47 for the replacement bits, let alone the $125 cost of buying a whole new shaver in a 12 year old design. (The more modern ones cost even more.) ( Read more... )

Yesterday I wrote about going bald. To be clear, I don't mean "going" as in, "I'm shaving my head tomorrow." I'm talking about the normal, natural condition of gradual hair loss that's been playing out for, at this point, a few decades ( Read more... )

I'm going bald. That was a startling realization I had at the tender age of just 23. Hawk and I had been to the beach the day before, and as I was looking in the bathroom mirror to apply lotion to my face I realized that I had sunburn on my forehead in places where I didn't even know I had forehead ( Read more... )

A few days ago I posted How Often Do You Shower? about the recent social media blowup involving celebrities who don't shower or bathe, or don't wash their kids, every day. Like some of those celebrities I don't shower every day. Though unlike a few of them I don't take it quite as far as "Wait until you can see and smell the dirt." I shower most ( Read more... )

A minor kerfuffle erupted on social media last week when a few Hollywood celebrities wrote that they don't shower/bathe themselves or their children every day. Reactions ranged from, "That's disgusting!" to "This is wealthy people showing their un-self-conscious privilege by conspicuously eschewing a luxury [the ability to take a shower, apparently ( Read more... )

Recently there was a discussion amongs my colleagues about how important attire it is when working from home. Specifically, whether there should be a dress code for remote employees. Yes, really! It has been suggested in some places that instituting a dress code for remote employees improves productivity ( Read more... )

Arcata, CA - Sat, 17 Oct 2020, 9am

I've joked before that every trip I forget to pack one thing. It's a joke because it's not every trip, though occasionally I do forget one thing that makes me shout, "D'oh!" On a business trip a few years ago, for example, I forgot to pack socks. What did I forget on this three day weekend roadtrip to the North ( Read more... )

Last week we discussed if/when we'd start going back to a hair salon for haircuts again. Our stylist had texted us they were open. But when we follwed up with her to inquire about her hours, she responded this morning that she's being fired-not-fired ( Read more... )

Wow, it's been weeks since I wrote a blog in the "Lockdown Day XXX" series chronicling the daily ins and outs of life in the time of Coronavirus. Today's installment about the abnormal becoming the new normal concerns a mundanity many of us used to take for granted: visiting a barbershop or salon to get our hair cut. And this is a case of whether ( Read more... )