deguia.net | writings on the west memphis three, parenting and live in sonoma county

Obama Just Won the Election

October 14th, 2008 — Ramblings of the Dan

I’m calling it; Barack Obama has just won the election and will be the next president of the United States. Know why?

Because his campaign just launched the “Obama-Biden Tax Calculator“:

People are going to eat this shizzle up!

DeGuia.net Turns 5 and I’m Giving Away Stuff!

October 10th, 2008 — Ramblings of the Dan

Today is the 5th birthday of this blog. That’s right; you all have been subjected to my rants and ramblings for 5 years. And it all started with a lunch break test.

Through this blog, I’ve had the opportunity to meet some truly awesome people: Logtar & Bea, Jeremy and the Discovering Dad team, and Derek Semmler, just to name a few.

Readers of my blog have shared in some major changes in my personal life, such as the anticipation of and birth of my son, medical scares and some miscellaneous deeply personal thoughts.

Some of you have engaged in heated debates with me over hot-button issues, like religion and politics. All the while I’ve also tried to do my best to help increase the awareness of the struggle of the West Memphis Three.

After 5 years, over 720 posts, thousands of comments (and a lot of personal growth) I’ve come to one realization: I’ve achieved my goal of being a self-published writer.

Granted, it’s not in the classic, expected meaning of the phrase, but I am nonetheless proud of what I’ve created.

To celebrate the occasion, I’m putting on the very first
giveaway contest DeGuia.net has ever had!

The Prize

With Halloween right around the corner, I wanted to give away something in the spirit of the season. When I learned about the “Nightmare Revisited” CD (read more below) I decided to put together this kick ass collection of “Nightmare Before Christmas” schwag:

The winner will receive:

The Nightmare Before Christmas (2-Disc Collector’s Edition) - here are just some of the features of this Collector’s Edition:
Format: AC-3, Animated, Box set, Collector’s Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Widescreen
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number of discs: 2
Rating: PG
DVD Release Date: August 26, 2008
Run Time: 76 minutes
Extras: Audio commentary; deleted scenes; “making of” documentary; featurettes; test footage; bonus shorts “Vincent” (1982), “Frankenweenie” (1984)…
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Nightmare Revisited - This album features brand spankin’ new, unique recordings of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. Bands on this cd are the likes of Marilyn Manson, Amy Lee of Evanesence, Korn, Rise Against, Flyleaf, Plain White Ts, Tiger Army and several others. I’ve listened to this CD and trust me, it’s awesome!

The Rules

The contest runs from Friday, October 10th - Friday, October 17th, and it is open to people living in the U.S. and Canada.
My wife and I will read all participating posts and comments, after which we will pick a winner.
The winner will be announced the week of October 19th.
Once the winner is announced, I will contact them for their mailing address.

How to Enter

If you have a blog or web site, write a post about your most memorable Halloween experience. Link back to this post so I can track your participation, and it wouldn’t hurt to leave a comment here, too, letting me know where to find your entry just in case the trackback doesn’t come through.
If you don’t have a blog or web site, leave a comment below describing, in detail, your most memorable Halloween experience.

As an aside, if any of you reading this are not currently subscribed to my RSS feed, please do! Subscribe to my RSS feed

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The Shaving Conundrum

October 5th, 2008 — Ramblings of the Dan

For a while now I’ve been trying different things to make my shaving regimen a better experience all around. You see, I was born into a lineage of Mexican, Irish and German blood and therefore my facial hair is coarse and thick. While that’s great for my go-tee, it’s not so great with the cookie cutter styles of razors on the market.

I’ve tried the Gillette 2 blade razors, the Mach 3, Mach 4, two styles of electric shavers, generic disposable razors and, yet I’ll come clean, even women’s razors with the large amounts of moisturizer strips all around the blades. After wasting who knows how much money on these things, I saw the light at the end of the stubble-laden tunnel.

After reading “How To Shave Like Your Grandpa” over at The Art of Manliness, I began to kick around the idea of switching to a safety razor. Hell, the money saved on replacement razor cartridges alone was enough to make me stop and think about it.

A few days later, Keli and I took the kids to a flea market at the local Veteran’s building. It’s free to walk around and there are always a lot of things to look at. We happened to stop and check out one booth which, lo and behold, had an old school Gillette safety razor for $5.00. I checked to make sure that the blade opening was still functional, which it was.

About a week after that I was at Walgreens, standing in line at the pharmacy to pick up my son’s medicine for his ear infection, when I happened to look at the shelf to my right and found that Walgreens carries double-edge razor blades. They only had one pack left and at a steal of 10 razor blades for less than $6, I couldn’t resist.

When I tested the razor out for the first time, after cleaning the well-used razor first of course, I had about four days of stubble to work with. It took some time to get used to the new style of the razor but I quickly got used to it and within about 15 minutes the 4-day stubble was gone and my skin felt smoother than it has been since I started shaving about 11 years ago.

A few pointers :

If you’re new to safety razors the biggest pointer anybody can give you is Do Not Apply Pressure!. Unlike crappy store bought razors, you will not need to apply pressure to get it to shave closely. The primary reason these razors weigh as much as they do, is because (aside from being made to last) the weight of the razor will be enough for a close shave.
If there are patches that aren’t shaved as close as you want, Do Not Apply Pressure! Simply rinse off your face, lather and repeat.
When you’ve worked your way up to a 4 or 5 blade razor, going back down to one may seem like an exercise in futility. Believe me, one blade gets the job done. Don’t believe me? Watch Sweeny Todd.
I have to admit it, I lucked out when I found my safety razor. If you can’t find one in your area from an antique shop or a flea market, the Merkur Classic Safety Razor over at Amazon seems to have good reviews and is a decently small hit to your wallet when taking on for a test drive.
Until you’re sure that using a safety razor is the thing for you, avoid spending a bunch of money on a badger hair brush and expensive shaving soaps and oils. There are a lot of products out there which can easily set you back over $100.00 before you’ve even tested the new process. If you stick with this method of shaving, you can always upgrade!

Some specific recommendations:

Soften your facial hair by taking a hot shower first. Most of us don’t have the time every shave to sit with a steaming hot towel on our face to accomplish this.
Use Neutrogena Men Skin Clearing Shave Cream. This shave cream is extremely smooth and a relatively small amount is enough to cover your whole face. It doesn’t lather like the gels and creams you’re used to, but trust me, it works!
After I’m done shaving, and my face is rinsed, I put on some of the Neutrogena Men Tripple Protect Face Lotion. The lotion does cut down on razor burn and it also keeps my skin soft, which helps for the next shave. To be honest, this tube is disappointingly small, for the price, but you really only need a small dab and the tube will last quite a while with an every other day application.

No, I’m not a salesman for Neutrogena, but their products for men smell good and I can notice a definite improvement with my skin after using them.

As I mentioned earlier, the money I’ll save by switching to a safety razor is just icing on the cake, compared to the realization that my face and neck don’t have to be perpetually plagued by razor burn and stubble patches.