I believe that men should provide some sort of selfless service in their life, either by donating their time or money (but never both). I went a little crazy over the weekend. I volunteered to help out with Preston and Steve's Campout for Hunger on Thursday morning. Since I was on the "early" shift (had to be there before 7 AM), in order for me to make sure I was there on time, I had to wake up at 4 AM. So, I was in bed early on Wednesday, which would explain no post there.
This past weekend, I was helping with my youth group at a state wide induction ceremony. Before I left around 3 on Friday (I got the day off), I needed to get some tires for my car. I was thinking it was going to be an in and out job, seeing as it was a Friday, and I was going to get my Christmas shopping done before I took off. Not the case. I left the house around 10, and didn't get back until about 2:15. Still having to pack, I had avoided the Christmas shopping. The weekend was awesome, as always, but I didn't get a chance to post here because we're always busy.
Anyway, I just wanted to mention that I'm trying to edit my own book so that I can get it published. It'll be on Amazon for sale, but still. It'll be published. I will tell you from experience that writing is fun, but editing is not. You can't edit nearly as fast as you write, and if you try it yourself, you'll definitely understand why. Regardless, I was busy defriending a ton of people on Facebook that I haven't talked to in a while, so editing is my project for tomorrow after work.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Homebrew
My bad for not posting. I've been a little busy.
As you may know, I brewed a fresh batch of beer a few weeks ago. I went and tried one today, and the initial gravity, which tells you potential alcohol, was full of lies. My initial reading was 1.065, which tells me that it should be right around 6.5%. That's not the case. I had one, just ONE tonight, and I feel GREAT. Like nearly tied one on great. I'm going to fully enjoy this batch.
I have a ton of clothes to take to Goodwill from a few weeks back. I'm going to try to get a few suits while I'm there. When I was an elected state officer, I actually got a Tux there for about $20. No joke. I can't wait.
And that's about it for tonight. See ya'll next time.
As you may know, I brewed a fresh batch of beer a few weeks ago. I went and tried one today, and the initial gravity, which tells you potential alcohol, was full of lies. My initial reading was 1.065, which tells me that it should be right around 6.5%. That's not the case. I had one, just ONE tonight, and I feel GREAT. Like nearly tied one on great. I'm going to fully enjoy this batch.
I have a ton of clothes to take to Goodwill from a few weeks back. I'm going to try to get a few suits while I'm there. When I was an elected state officer, I actually got a Tux there for about $20. No joke. I can't wait.
And that's about it for tonight. See ya'll next time.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Rant
NSFM
Tonight is a gripe night. Deal with it.
On the way home from work tonight, I rediscovered something: when it starts to rain, people forget how to drive. I mean, really. The road is just a little wet. Why is traffic delayed 30 FUCKING minutes because two people freak out.
I get it. Slow down. Drive safe, and all at that stuff. But, really. There's no need to do 20 in a 55. The rain really isn't that bad. It's not going to kill you. In fact, the slower you go, the worse it is. Your tires can't get traction if you go that slow. If you don't believe me, watch the episode of Top Gear where Richard drives a Grand Prix car. I'm not saying that we're driving Grand Prix cars out there, but logic will dictate that you need to have some speed to get where you need to go safely and efficiently.
And that leads me to the other part: double parkers. Don't be lazy. Park your car, then do what you need to do. Stopping in the middle of the road and throwing your hazard flashers on does NOT excuse the fact that you're a lazy asshole that can't park his car. I passed 2 people tonight that double parked next to absolute NOTHING. I mean, seriously. Pull up to the curb and don't disrespect the rest of humanity by blocking their way.
Anyway, end rant. I shall be busy tomorrow night helping my friend Kevin in planning for his meeting. Synopsis to follow tomorrow night.
Tonight is a gripe night. Deal with it.
On the way home from work tonight, I rediscovered something: when it starts to rain, people forget how to drive. I mean, really. The road is just a little wet. Why is traffic delayed 30 FUCKING minutes because two people freak out.
I get it. Slow down. Drive safe, and all at that stuff. But, really. There's no need to do 20 in a 55. The rain really isn't that bad. It's not going to kill you. In fact, the slower you go, the worse it is. Your tires can't get traction if you go that slow. If you don't believe me, watch the episode of Top Gear where Richard drives a Grand Prix car. I'm not saying that we're driving Grand Prix cars out there, but logic will dictate that you need to have some speed to get where you need to go safely and efficiently.
And that leads me to the other part: double parkers. Don't be lazy. Park your car, then do what you need to do. Stopping in the middle of the road and throwing your hazard flashers on does NOT excuse the fact that you're a lazy asshole that can't park his car. I passed 2 people tonight that double parked next to absolute NOTHING. I mean, seriously. Pull up to the curb and don't disrespect the rest of humanity by blocking their way.
Anyway, end rant. I shall be busy tomorrow night helping my friend Kevin in planning for his meeting. Synopsis to follow tomorrow night.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Food
I'm in the middle of the 30 quest, which means tonight was the night that I had to make dinner. It was pretty good. I slow cooked a bolognese for about 9 hours, from scratch, and had it with pasta. It came out a bit thicker than I wanted, and could have used a bit more zest, but it was definitely very good. I would make this again. It also reminded me that I actually did know how to cook, so it looks like I'm being tasked with cooking every Monday night. Go me.
I bought another pair of shoes today. And before you tell me I have a problem, which I don't, I did need to buy these. They were $200 pair of Steve Madden's listed at $50, and I had a $10 coupon. I got a really nice pair of shoes for more than 75% off. I may sound like a woman, but a man needs to have quality shoes so that they can take care of his feet. These have wooden soles, so I'm hoping they'll last longer than the rubber ones. I'm still on the lookout for those deer fur soled shoes that I found a few years back. Those are some shoes that I could use.
I bought another pair of shoes today. And before you tell me I have a problem, which I don't, I did need to buy these. They were $200 pair of Steve Madden's listed at $50, and I had a $10 coupon. I got a really nice pair of shoes for more than 75% off. I may sound like a woman, but a man needs to have quality shoes so that they can take care of his feet. These have wooden soles, so I'm hoping they'll last longer than the rubber ones. I'm still on the lookout for those deer fur soled shoes that I found a few years back. Those are some shoes that I could use.
Friday, November 22, 2013
It's Friday!
It looks as if, in my ever growing "busy" life, I missed an entry or two into the journal. I shall explain.
On Wednesday, I decided that it would be of good value to take inventory of my damaged and ill fitting dress shirts, along with other things. Figuring out what doesn't fit was the easy part: I have a 15 1/2 inch neck, with a 32/33 inch sleeve. Just look at the tag, and you have the answer. As far as what is damaged, that's another story.
Stains are difficult to tell, especially if you follow proper care on your clothing (FYI: dress shirts are not to be washed every time you wear them. Depending on how harsh the environment is around you, you can make it to five wears without thinking of needing the washer. Just sniff the pits, and decide from there.). This led me to deciding that every single one of my dress shirts, 16 to be exact, needed to be washed. I threw all of the colored shirts in the washer, leaving the whites for the second round. All of my shirts have been washed at least once. No problem in bleeding there.
As I'm prone to do, I checked the Art of Manliness on how to properly iron your shirts while they were in the washer. One article said to just iron them out of the dryer, since lint is actually pieces of the clothing. So I opted for the straight out of the washer approach to ironing my shirts. That was a mistake. I was ironing, no lie, from 7:00 PM until 1:30 AM. Work yesterday was an adventure, to say the least. I do, however, have a great inventory list of what I need to replace.
After work yesterday, I decided to stop at the Men's Wearhouse on the way home. I needed a pair of brown dress socks to go with my saddle shoes, because being the idiot that I am sometimes, I didn't get them when I got the shoes. They're also doing a buy one, get one sale, and you can take an additional 50% off of everything else you purchase. I ended up leaving with that pair of socks, a tie bar (I'm tired of my ties blowing in the wind), a grouping of black dress socks, and 3 dress shirts. This cost me about $120, when it could easily have costed me $240. Krista, if you're reading this, I'm sorry. I only intended for the brown socks. But I promise, after the holiday, I'm coming to you for more shirts.
And that catches us up to now. The next task on the 30 day challenge is to create my bucket list. I have a bunch of ideas, but I need to get them down on paper. Tomorrow's task is to declutter. That should take me all day. In addition to that, I still need to do a number of things before I even get started, not least of all is to pick up my dry cleaning and to get a file box. I'm not going to make any promises on a post tomorrow.
On Wednesday, I decided that it would be of good value to take inventory of my damaged and ill fitting dress shirts, along with other things. Figuring out what doesn't fit was the easy part: I have a 15 1/2 inch neck, with a 32/33 inch sleeve. Just look at the tag, and you have the answer. As far as what is damaged, that's another story.
Stains are difficult to tell, especially if you follow proper care on your clothing (FYI: dress shirts are not to be washed every time you wear them. Depending on how harsh the environment is around you, you can make it to five wears without thinking of needing the washer. Just sniff the pits, and decide from there.). This led me to deciding that every single one of my dress shirts, 16 to be exact, needed to be washed. I threw all of the colored shirts in the washer, leaving the whites for the second round. All of my shirts have been washed at least once. No problem in bleeding there.
As I'm prone to do, I checked the Art of Manliness on how to properly iron your shirts while they were in the washer. One article said to just iron them out of the dryer, since lint is actually pieces of the clothing. So I opted for the straight out of the washer approach to ironing my shirts. That was a mistake. I was ironing, no lie, from 7:00 PM until 1:30 AM. Work yesterday was an adventure, to say the least. I do, however, have a great inventory list of what I need to replace.
After work yesterday, I decided to stop at the Men's Wearhouse on the way home. I needed a pair of brown dress socks to go with my saddle shoes, because being the idiot that I am sometimes, I didn't get them when I got the shoes. They're also doing a buy one, get one sale, and you can take an additional 50% off of everything else you purchase. I ended up leaving with that pair of socks, a tie bar (I'm tired of my ties blowing in the wind), a grouping of black dress socks, and 3 dress shirts. This cost me about $120, when it could easily have costed me $240. Krista, if you're reading this, I'm sorry. I only intended for the brown socks. But I promise, after the holiday, I'm coming to you for more shirts.
And that catches us up to now. The next task on the 30 day challenge is to create my bucket list. I have a bunch of ideas, but I need to get them down on paper. Tomorrow's task is to declutter. That should take me all day. In addition to that, I still need to do a number of things before I even get started, not least of all is to pick up my dry cleaning and to get a file box. I'm not going to make any promises on a post tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Damn Trees!
Well, in continuation from yesterday, the DSW I was in didn't have enough shoe trees for me. I had to go to a different one to pick up another pair today. I originally asked my boss if he had an extra pair, and he told me that he didn't use them.
"You know that they're pretty much essential, right? They draw out the moisture and return the shape to the shoe, elongating the life of the shoe." I say to him
"Yeah, but I just never liked them."
Blasphemy from a man who knows how to dress. Blasphemy, I tell you!
By the way, ALWAYS make sure you have enough shoe trees for each of your shoes. Other than the 2 benefits I mentioned before, it keeps the shoe smelling quite nice. I actually like the smell of cedar, so take that as you will.
Today's task, on the continuation of this, was to ask a girl out. As I don't have any prospects right now, I'm taking a rain check on this one. But once I find a girl that piques my interest, I'm going to jump on the ask-out train.
I, for the first time, was able to fix not one, but TWO buttons on my one suit. The top jacket button had fallen off, and the pants button was just about there. I know you're thinking "big deal", but I'm pretty happy I was able to do this on my own. I also have a ripped seam in my other suit, and I was going to attempt to fix it. However, I had a quick realization that I'm neither a tailor nor a seamstress. I'm taking it to the dry cleaners tomorrow. They'll fix and clean it for less than $20. That's worth the cost. And it needs to be cleaned anyway.
"You know that they're pretty much essential, right? They draw out the moisture and return the shape to the shoe, elongating the life of the shoe." I say to him
"Yeah, but I just never liked them."
Blasphemy from a man who knows how to dress. Blasphemy, I tell you!
By the way, ALWAYS make sure you have enough shoe trees for each of your shoes. Other than the 2 benefits I mentioned before, it keeps the shoe smelling quite nice. I actually like the smell of cedar, so take that as you will.
Today's task, on the continuation of this, was to ask a girl out. As I don't have any prospects right now, I'm taking a rain check on this one. But once I find a girl that piques my interest, I'm going to jump on the ask-out train.
I, for the first time, was able to fix not one, but TWO buttons on my one suit. The top jacket button had fallen off, and the pants button was just about there. I know you're thinking "big deal", but I'm pretty happy I was able to do this on my own. I also have a ripped seam in my other suit, and I was going to attempt to fix it. However, I had a quick realization that I'm neither a tailor nor a seamstress. I'm taking it to the dry cleaners tomorrow. They'll fix and clean it for less than $20. That's worth the cost. And it needs to be cleaned anyway.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Journaling
As some of you may or may not know, I've been doing a challenge for the past week, courtesy of The Art Of Manliness called 30 Days to a Better Man. This includes small tasks, such as shining your shoes, and some not-so-small tasks, like finding your gratitude. Today's task is to start a journal.
Now, I know what you're thinking: I've already had this blog, or journal in this case. If only it were so easy. I need to keep up with it everyday. That is not a typo. Every. Day. And I'm just supposed to write about how my day went. I'll have to leave details of work out, but other than that, I can write about whatever comes to mind. Today, it just so happens to be shoes.
As I've been doing everyday, I was reading an article on Art of Manliness about the importance of having multiple pairs of shoes. Being the typical guy that I am, I really only had 3 pairs of shoes: dress shoes that I also used for work every day, a pair of sneakers, and a pair of flip flops. That's it. I dealt with all the seasons in with just those 3. In that article, it mentioned how you can seriously hurt the quality of the shoe if you wear them more than 2 days in a row, and you don't use cedar shoe trees in them. The shoe trees absorb the moisture from the day, and help retain the shape of the shoe. My current shoes aren't that old, but they are clearly showing wear. I figured I should listen to the article.
Another article there that I happened across last night mentioned the importance of casual shoes. They weren't talking about sneakers. These are shoes that look as great with jeans as they do with more dressy pants, excluding suits. And being that we wear jeans to work every other Friday and every Saturday, it was probably a good time to invest in some casual shoes. I went to DSW to pick them both up after work.
I went right for the dress shoe aisle. The one pair that caught my eye the most were a relatively low cost pair of Giorgio Brutini's. The pair I already had were Perry Ellis; I didn't want a rehash. I wanted similar, but not the exact same. If you're going to have multiple of something, why not throw a little change up? Since they were relatively priced, I tried them on. They were fit great and were comfortable, and with the amount of walking I do at work, that was definitely needed. I picked them up. The next task was to find a pair of casual shoes.
This was a task that I thought was going to take at least an hour. I knew I wanted a muted color, something that would compliment the outfit, but not overpower it. I did not want black shoes, however. My dress shoes are black. I wanted something different. Brown, tan, navy blue. Somewhere in that range. I just figured that it would be a task that would take some time. I was wrong.
Because of where I chose to sit, I ended up facing the casual shoes when trying on my dress shoes. Just after I was done boxing up the shoes, I looked up, and right there at the end of the aisle was a pair of Bass & Co saddle shoes. Tan suede paired with brown leather. These were the perfect shoes that I was looking for. Luckily, they had a pair each in the sizes that fit my feet (some shoes run a 10.5, others an 11). I, again, grabbed these. The next task were the belts.
Like any good man of fashion, your belt should always match the shoes you wear. I've known this for years, so I always only had a black belt (my sneakers are black too). I had to get at least one more belt. Finding a belt to match the saddle shoes, however, was a much more difficult task than I had realized. I couldn't find a tan belt to match the suede. The hue was off by just a little bit. I did find a belt to match the brown, but it was a bit too big. I had to punch a hole in the belt when I got home. -- SIDE BAR -- If you stuck between two belt sizes, ALWAYS get the larger belt. You can punch always punch a hole in a belt that's too big. -- END SIDE BAR --. I would have just stuck with the belt for the black shoes, but I found a low cost one that matched the black shoes. So I just grabbed it. And don't worry. I also got the shoe trees.
If you haven't been able to tell from this post, I'm trying to build a quality wardrobe that will last. I'm about 2/3rds of the way there. There are some items that I do want to replace, due to damage and poor quality. But I'm good with what I have for now. I have set aside a budget each month ($100) that flows month to month, so if I don't spend the $100 this month, I have $200 next. I don't know what I'm going to get next, but it's definitely a push in the right direction.
Now, I know what you're thinking: I've already had this blog, or journal in this case. If only it were so easy. I need to keep up with it everyday. That is not a typo. Every. Day. And I'm just supposed to write about how my day went. I'll have to leave details of work out, but other than that, I can write about whatever comes to mind. Today, it just so happens to be shoes.
As I've been doing everyday, I was reading an article on Art of Manliness about the importance of having multiple pairs of shoes. Being the typical guy that I am, I really only had 3 pairs of shoes: dress shoes that I also used for work every day, a pair of sneakers, and a pair of flip flops. That's it. I dealt with all the seasons in with just those 3. In that article, it mentioned how you can seriously hurt the quality of the shoe if you wear them more than 2 days in a row, and you don't use cedar shoe trees in them. The shoe trees absorb the moisture from the day, and help retain the shape of the shoe. My current shoes aren't that old, but they are clearly showing wear. I figured I should listen to the article.
Another article there that I happened across last night mentioned the importance of casual shoes. They weren't talking about sneakers. These are shoes that look as great with jeans as they do with more dressy pants, excluding suits. And being that we wear jeans to work every other Friday and every Saturday, it was probably a good time to invest in some casual shoes. I went to DSW to pick them both up after work.
I went right for the dress shoe aisle. The one pair that caught my eye the most were a relatively low cost pair of Giorgio Brutini's. The pair I already had were Perry Ellis; I didn't want a rehash. I wanted similar, but not the exact same. If you're going to have multiple of something, why not throw a little change up? Since they were relatively priced, I tried them on. They were fit great and were comfortable, and with the amount of walking I do at work, that was definitely needed. I picked them up. The next task was to find a pair of casual shoes.
This was a task that I thought was going to take at least an hour. I knew I wanted a muted color, something that would compliment the outfit, but not overpower it. I did not want black shoes, however. My dress shoes are black. I wanted something different. Brown, tan, navy blue. Somewhere in that range. I just figured that it would be a task that would take some time. I was wrong.
Because of where I chose to sit, I ended up facing the casual shoes when trying on my dress shoes. Just after I was done boxing up the shoes, I looked up, and right there at the end of the aisle was a pair of Bass & Co saddle shoes. Tan suede paired with brown leather. These were the perfect shoes that I was looking for. Luckily, they had a pair each in the sizes that fit my feet (some shoes run a 10.5, others an 11). I, again, grabbed these. The next task were the belts.
Like any good man of fashion, your belt should always match the shoes you wear. I've known this for years, so I always only had a black belt (my sneakers are black too). I had to get at least one more belt. Finding a belt to match the saddle shoes, however, was a much more difficult task than I had realized. I couldn't find a tan belt to match the suede. The hue was off by just a little bit. I did find a belt to match the brown, but it was a bit too big. I had to punch a hole in the belt when I got home. -- SIDE BAR -- If you stuck between two belt sizes, ALWAYS get the larger belt. You can punch always punch a hole in a belt that's too big. -- END SIDE BAR --. I would have just stuck with the belt for the black shoes, but I found a low cost one that matched the black shoes. So I just grabbed it. And don't worry. I also got the shoe trees.
If you haven't been able to tell from this post, I'm trying to build a quality wardrobe that will last. I'm about 2/3rds of the way there. There are some items that I do want to replace, due to damage and poor quality. But I'm good with what I have for now. I have set aside a budget each month ($100) that flows month to month, so if I don't spend the $100 this month, I have $200 next. I don't know what I'm going to get next, but it's definitely a push in the right direction.
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