Goya Mango Wafers

"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand" - Unknown

 

I discovered what might the best damn cookie in existence last night. I was shopping at my favorite grocery store, Dorthy Lane Market, after going to the gym.

A little tip from Uncle Jake: Never go to the grocery before you have had dinner (especially after you work out and haven't had dinner) as pretty much everything looks awesome and you will end up with a bunch of crap in your cart.

On the way to the register, already with a shopping basket full of crap that I shouldn't be eating, I made another total impulse buy and picked up some of the Goya brand Mango Wafers.

Turns out that this is a cookie company from Brazil. The whole pack is only $1.00 and includes what I would estimate to be around 30 cookies. When I opened the pack after dinner to have a few for dessert, I uncovered the joy that is this cookie.

Straight Razor Shaves

"Wisdom is in the head and not in the beard" - Swedish Proverb

 

I'll Get To The Point: If you haven't had a professional shave,  go get one!

 

I took the leap and decided to shave the beard off for the spring. I grew it back in October and kept it in varying degrees of lumberjack-ness ever since, but the weather is getting warmer and it's time to freshen up. Here's the before:

The Before

Rather than go the traditional route and just simply take a crappy disposable razor to my mug, I decided it was a perfect opportunity to cross something off my bucketlist and go get a professional shave. I went to the Mariemont Barber Shop , an old school barber shop over in the quaint Eastside neighborhood Mariemont.
 
After an hour of trimming, hot towels, oils, lather, and a straight razor in the capable hands of my barber, Lucky, I am very happy with the results. It was $30+tip for a full haircut and shave, and like I said it takes about an hour, but it's money and time well spent. There have been few lunch breaks that have been as enjoyable.

The After

I think that my next purchase will be a home shaving kit from a store I heard about at the Kenwood Mall, The Art of Shaving.

My First Post - Why Do This?

In my pursuit of self improvement, I strive a little everyday to become more proper, cultured, well rounded, polite. I am always trying new things, traveling new places, eating new foods, drinking new beers, and along the way coming up with opinions on all of it. Until now, I hadn't really thought to write any of it down. Then I read Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern.

While you may think reading a book with "Shit" in the title it is counter-productive to becoming more civilized, I should preface it by saying that I've made a New Years resolution to read a book per month this. Of course my original intent was to stick to the classics, but after it took 3 months and countless references to the a nautical dictionary to finish Treasure Island, I thought I'd give a book on tape a try to catch up.

I saw SMDS on sale at the book store and had heard a little bit about it before, so I decided that was the winner and bought it. With a 2 hour commute everyday to work, it only took about a week to finish. One of the many takeaways that I learned from Halpern's experiences with his dad was that unless you actually record things in some way, you are probably missing out on a lot of incredible things that are going on right around you. In fact, Halpern went his entire young adult life never realizing how much he appreciated his dad's direct and often hilarious quips of fatherly advice. One day, he started tweeting out these random nuggets of knowledge and now he , and millions of followers, appreciate his father's teachings and display them for purpetuity.

I will use this blog to that same purpose, sharing my feelings and opinions on all things: hobbies, the rest of the books I hope to read, sports, food, family, travel, bassett hounds, friends, current events, and anything else that may move me.

Like they say "the beginning is always today", and we're off...