These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things

I was getting the little chick ready to spend some time with her grandma. I put on some cologne before we went downstairs, and I guess some must have gotten onto her, because when grandma picked her up, she gave Allison a big hug and said, "oh, you smell good!".

This seemed to be good news to the little chick. "I smell good?" she asked. She stopped for a minute to think, trying to figure out where the smell may have been coming from. Then she realized - it must have been lunch.

"Like hot dogs?" she offered. And then, figuring that if a little is good, more would be better: "Smell my breath" she said, leaning over to share the love a little bit. Grandma said that she didn't think it was exactly like hot dogs, but took a sniff of the breath anyways, just in case.

I thought it was pretty cute. I also found it slightly worrying: if my Jean-Paul Gaultier works for a 4 year-old little girl, is it possible that I am not making the best grooming choices that I could be?

Something to ponder.

Airport Security

As time goes on, I find myself less and less concerned with who may be carrying a bottle of water onto a plane, and much more regularly affected by people who seem to have missed health class on the day that they talked about why showers and deodorant are a good idea every day.

I'm okay with them making people take off their shoes as they go through the security check. But maybe instead of sending the shoes through the x-ray machine, they could just take that opportunity to give them a good smell; if they fail the smell-check, it doesn't matter what the machine says... they don't get on the plane. They can either take a shower or check themselves into the hold.

THAT I would wait in line for.

You Smell Nice

On the way home from feeding the ducks with the little chick today, I saw a guy driving by on a scooter. That's not unusual - there are a lot of scooters in Geneva. What was a bit odd is that, while he was driving, he was smelling one of those little paper strips that you put perfume on to test it.

I can't help but think that if your cologne smells good while you're driving along a city street at full speed, it may end up being just a touch strong for anyone who ends up in the elevator with you at the other end.

Is That.......? Uh... Never Mind

It's because I love the earth.


I have a habit of shaking my hands rather enthusiastically after I wash to try to get the water off... I use fewer paper towels that way. The problem is that, in summer when I'm wearing light dress pants ("trousers" for those in the UK), those water drops that go flying everywhere make spots on my pants. And those spots really show up.

Really, really show up.

And, as a result, every time I walk out of the bathroom, it looks very much like I've urinated on myself. But I've been doing better on containing that the last couple of weeks, and I'm pretty proud of that.

I think that perhaps now I'm ready to consider that career in politics that I had been putting off.

Modesty

The little chick has been working on using the toilet. She did it quite a while ago, for a few days, and then lost interest and really didn't want to try again. She's decided now, though, that it's time, and she's doing very, very well.

On the first train-ride home with me after she began, she told me she wanted to show me her underwear. I explained that it was wonderful that she wasn't wearing a diaper, and I was very proud and very excited and we would be sure to marvel at her diaperless-ness once we got home, but that the train was not a great place to do that. Still, it was beautiful.

And I thought it was interesting, that both kinds of modesty - whether or not it's okay to be naked and whether or not it's okay to brag about what you've got going on - are learned, or, at least, develop over time.

Yeah, I know.... you were expecting some kind of catchy phrase or, at least, a point at the end. I don't have one. I just thought it was interesting.

My Wish

Yeah, it should be for world peace. Or an end to hunger. Or even another U2 tour this summer (didn't anyone tell them I was leaving?!?) or love.

But I think that, if I only had one wish, I would get rid of nose hair. But not just mine: yours, too. Not that I've noticed yours - quite the contrary - but I think that maybe this is one of those things that's not doing any of us any good, and I'd like to be the guy who takes care of that.

And before someone (not naming names) spouts off about how it's important and our body needs a filter and blah, blah, blah, let me just say that THAT'S why we have technology... to take care of stuff like that without us having to have hair growing in our noses.

Happy weekend, all. After the departure of the MNB's last bass player in a quest for a better work/life/band balance, we have a new guy, and he's playing a solo guitar/vocal gig Saturday night at the Seven Arms in Geneva (in Paquis). I'm going to go cheer him on, and probably
sit in on a tune or two on percussion, and have a great cigar. So if you're in the neighbourhood, give me a shout and we'll meet up. It'll be fun, I promise.

The Difference

...between wanting a haircut and needing a haircut is usually, for me, a pretty big one. And it pretty much always comes with "wanting" first. I got a cut before the wedding... I wanted to look sharp since I'd be pretty visible, but it ended up being, uh, pretty short. I don't blame the girl... I don't think there was much she could have done. But I really have to find a way to disassociate "haircut" with "look better" and "nice way to spend my lunch time" in my mind.

Rats.


Here's the evidence (as seen by Allan's camera)... end of the night, as you can probably guess, but short hair or not, it was a great time.

Me, John (groom), and Allan (co-speech-giver)

This Stinks

There's something in my apartment that doesn't smell right. And I can't find it.

That's kind of disconcerting.

I hope it's not me.




I better keep looking.

Once Again

I didn't make the list.


I think I may need to do more sit-ups.

The Wig

Denise was kind enough to bring her Nikon along and let me try it out in Calgary. I celebrated having a great DSLR with a fantastic lens in my hands by taking pictures of a wig on a mannequin. Oh well. I though it was pretty cool, if somewhat creepy.

Question Of The Day

What is the shelf-life of shampoo? Anyone?

Regression

Remember then the two bladed razors with "suspension" came out (like the sensor excel)? I watched the commercials and distinctly remember seeing a close-up of a few whiskers being cut. From the close-up, it was clear that the first blade missed the whole bottom part of the whisker. But, thankfully, the second one came along and got it all.

Whew! Good thing it had the second blade, I thought. I better get one.

I used one of these for a long time. Sure, one stroke wasn't quite enough... I would usually end up shaving a few times with the grain and then a few more against, but I like a really close shave. It worked pretty well. Sure the blades are $2 each, but sometimes that's just the price you need to pay.

Then they came out with one with three blades. And right in time, it seems. New animation technology made it possible to determine that while it had seemed that the second blade in fact got the whole whisker, it left some, too. The good news was that they introduced a new razor with three blades. Talk about timing it right for the market - amazing!

When I tried one of these, I noticed there were some drawbacks, though. These blades were even more expensive, but didn't seem to last any longer. And, while you would think it would reduce the number of passes need by a third, it didn't seem to quite work out that way. And it was starting to feel a little more like shaving with someone else holding the razor... not much precision, since it was so wide. In fact, I couldn't even shave properly under my nose. So yeah, I tried it, but stuck to the two-bladed ones.

And it's gone on since then. Four blades, batteries... I think there's a new one that includes an ape who will sign obscenities at you when you cut yourself. And I just saw an add for the Gillette Fusion which has, as far as I can tell from the commercial, 11 blades. It's about 8 inches wide. In the animation, it's at least clear that (finally!) we have the technology to get the last of that whisker in one stroke. Or at least that what I assume... it takes about 3 minutes to get to the end, so I've actually never finished watching. And since it's about the same size as a tennis racket, they've actually added another blade on the back so you can fit it to shave under your nose. Word on the street is if having an additional blade on the back does not prove to be dangerous enough, they have a plan in the works to be able to ship it with blades actually in the handle. Of course, the blades are $27 each, and you have to know the secret handshake to get them unlocked from behind the counter at the store.

Whatever. I'm growing a beard. I'll post picture in August so you can see how it's coming.