The Journal of a Backwards Professor

[Rosseforp]

Alex and crew finished painting the interior of the house on Tuesday, the kids and SWMBO gave it their thumbs up, then Alex came back today and finished tearing the offending walls in the garage down, then got out his jackhammer and made short work of the ceramic tiles that were in the offending room shortly after I took this picture.

Tomorrow we will sand, re-install all the electrical, patch and tape all the drywall and paint the interior of the future Man-Cave in Antique White. Yes, the same color I painted the garage walls in my condo. I like it.

Oh yeah, the kitchen cabinet and flooring contractors are supposed to be coming by tomorrow also.

It also appears that I am growing an Amish style beard, as the hair that grows on my chin is quite sparse. I'm starting to think about just shaving off the pitiful fuzz on my chin and going for the Wolverine look.

The best part?

I haven't shaved my neck in over two weeks and the beard is covering it up!

 

[Rosseforp]

For those of you that have been following along, the new housing project is moving right along. Pretty much all vestiges of the room in the garage have been eviscerated. The entire interior of the house has been painted, then I had the painter replace and patch all of the drywall in the Man-Cave, and paint it Antique White.
Next up on the list was building a laundry room inside the family room for the washer and dryer that were originally inside of the garage. Having the washer and dryer running 24/7 while I am trying to relax and wrench on the 'stang would have been a major bone of contention, so they are being moved inside and I will put a vanity in the Man-Cave where they were, as there already is running hot and cold water and a drain.

Of course there have been a few bumps in the road, and a few surprises. It seems the house had gone through several remodels by previous owners, and lots of rewiring do to small animals that seem to be fond of electrical insulation.
Of course none of the circuit breakers were marked as to where they went, and 4 of the 23 breakers seem to not turn anything on or off. Each of the three patio lights have their own 20amp breakers and there is plenty of other questionable wiring throughout, like one of the garage wall outlets being traced to the garbage disposal and dishwasher. And some pretty heavy duty wiring that is completely isolated, probably due to the family of insulation hungry animals (rats).

And if the attic wasn't hot enough, one of the turbine exhaust vents had a piece of drywall blocking it off. Every room in the house had a ceiling fan except one, it was in the attic on top of that room, brand new in the box unopened for decades. Works great!

I also found a box containing paycheck-stubs dating from 2004 until 2011 and an apprenticeship to journeyman ironworker document with all the boxes checked off. One of the neighbors told me the guy had passed away and one of his kids took the house over for a bit before selling it to the lady I bought it from.

The neighbors are stopping by to introduce themselves to me as they go on their daily walks, it is a fairly quite street. I say that as I am finding out the guy three houses down from me has a 1948 Anglia with a blown BBC that he used to run at Lions Dragstrip, Irwindale, and OCIR. A bit further down is a guy with a nice 1971 Dodge Dart, and the guy on the corner has a 1934 Ford. There is supposed to be a local Hot-Rod gathering a mile down the street every Saturday at 8:00 am, but I have been too busy with getting the house and Man-Cave ready, and haven't had the time to check it out.

I have found the time to mow the lawn three times though.



Man I need a shave.

 

[Rosseforp]

As Jose the Contractor is building the laundry room, and Cody the Plumber is making sure I have hot and cold running water and working drains, the hardwood flooring finally showed up. I now have 59 boxes of bamboo waiting to be installed. All I need is a flooring contractor, phone calls are being made.

The hookups for the Man-Cave vanity are done, the wall is patched and ready for more paint, Antique White, of course. This corner of the Man-Cave looks so much nicer than it did just two weeks ago. I plan on building an enclosure for the water heater myself when all of this is over. Not sure it will look as nice, but I will try.

The SWMBO liked the vanity I picked out for the laundry room so much she suggested/told me to get the same one for my Man-Cave.

Some assembly still required.

I have two speakers hooked up to my Technics SA-GX350 receiver, but haven't determined where to put it yet. It has hookups for front, center, back, and a subwoofer. The Man-Cave will rock.

I finally put up a mirror in the bathroom and now that the water heater is hooked up again, it's time for some Dutch Resistance.

Doug

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

This is going to be very nice!

I like the antique white. My other choice might be a flat black with a lot of color in the decor, but that's much harder to pull off. Antique white is so easy!

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

SOTD


Razor: R41 with @Rosseforp Lightweight Special
Blade: Gillette Platinum (1)
Brush: Simpson PJ2
Soap: Dutch Resistance
ASL: Layrite No 9
ASB: Nivea balm

Now that we have hot water again I put a mirror up in the bathroom, got out the Dutch Resistance and made a bowl of lather with the Norco water.
It seemed to take some time to build a decent lather, but it looked so nice I got out the R41 and shaved off the month long growth on the bottom of my neck.

The bathrooms in our new house are tiny. Compared to our condo it is like shaving in an airplane lavatory, just before landing after a 14 hour flight, and I bumped my right arm against the wall a few times, but a fairly decent shave was had.
I sure am glad I already got a vanity for the Man-Cave, and the plumber is supposed to hook it all up on Monday.

The laundry room is also supposed to be finished up on Monday, but we ran out of paint, and there seems to be a paint shortage, so that will have to wait a few more days.

We also start ripping out the carpet on Monday and a crew is supposed to come in on Wednesday and start laying down the hardwood bamboo flooring.

Good times.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

⬆ Now that is one good looking R41 handle ⬆

The regular old R41 handles (especially in Rose Gold) really appeal to me, visually. They also work for me (especially in Rose Gold). Unlike everyone else on the planet I do not have issuess with them being slippery.

That said, your new R41 handle blows them away.

I have an R41 GS in transit (I guess it's actually on the way). From what I've read it's not a bit better shaver than the zamac version. From what I've read the SS handle is not all that great either. (Good thing I have options; I didn't buy the R41 GS for its handle.)

From what I've read (Errol's comments on a site from which one can easily cut and paste) the titanium R41 is the best of the bunch, including best shaving. Of course, they only made 200 of 'em, you can only buy them in the two brick and mortar stores selling them in Berlin and London, and so they're unobtanium.

Unlike your beautiful handles! You can make as many as you need.

My goodness gracious, that's a nice handle!

Good luck with finding a great place to shave in the new digs. My old house doesn't have the best shave dens, but the one I use is adequate and has quite good light. (If the drains were better...) You will have a place to shave in the new man cave, right? A shower, too?

If not, I am reminded of old timey shave mirrors with a drawer. These were used with a bowl and pitcher, all of which lived on the top of a dresser or chest of drawers. I have a couple of old shave mirrors; one of them has a very clear glass and is useable. Those guys didn't have a shower and might have had a bathtub in the yard.

My grandmother told me her family had the first bathtub in DeKalb County (Atlanta area). I remember seeing the house where she lived as a child, but the bathtub which originally had been outside in the yard (I assume in an enclosure for privacy) had been move into a bathroom addition by then.

The pictured shaving mirror is a reproduction almost certainly made by my grandfather in his basement shop. I have another much finer antique shaving mirror but it has glass which would have to be replaced if one wanted to use it.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

I just realized it has been ten days since I last posted, and ten days since I last shaved.

Some thirty plus bags of leveling compound, eighteen plus bags of feathering compound, six buckets of glue, and the flooring guys finished up Monday around 7:00pm.

We can finally start moving in

I was able to start moving some things from my one-car garage/Man-Cave by then, and have moved everything over to the new Man-Cave but my worn-out five foot long three door cabinet. It won't fit in the back of my Volt, I need to borrow a pick-up truck, and then I can bring the desk from my den over also. It is also worn-out, but they will function for now.

The washer, gas-dryer, gas-range, and refrigerator are scheduled to arrive and be installed Wednesday, the 29th. For some reason they can't get a part for the dishwasher, so it will be delayed for a day or so.

We were hoping to get all new bedroom furniture for the kids before moving in, but with our October 5th deadline coming up in less than week I told them they will have to do with their old stuff for the first month, at least until we get settled in a bit.

We also got the SWMBO's Forrester back from the auto-body repair shop on Saturday, but my desk and cabinet won't fit in it either.

I have been taking pictures along the way as the work progresses, but don't have the energy to post anything right now.

Man, I need a shave.

Doug

 

[Esox]

Some thirty plus bags of leveling compound, eighteen plus bags of feathering compound, six buckets of glue, and the flooring guys finished up Monday around 7:00pm.

Damn, thats a lot. I thought they'd just be laying some laminate haha.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

We can finally start moving in



Doug

In case you have any leftover leveling compound...​

Congratulations, Doug.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

Damn, thats a lot. I thought they'd just be laying some laminate haha.

Hardwood Bamboo flooring. Looks beautiful. A ton of work.

 

[Esox]

Hardwood Bamboo flooring. Looks beautiful. A ton of work.

Bamboo is really nice yeah. Making sure the floor is level is important.

 

[Rosseforp]

Slantember SOTD


Razor: Phantom Blue
Blade: Gillette Platinum (2)
Brush: Simpson PJ2
Soap: Mystery Bowl
ASL: Clubman Vanilla Classic

What a fantastic shave, the PAA Phantom Blue is now my favorite razor. The first time I used it I had the handle tightened down snug and it seemed like only half of the razor shaved.

Tonight I just barely tightened the handle, and Voila, the magic was there. Of course, the Mystery Bowl soap performed above the call of duty along with the PJ2, no bowl needed to get a superb lather for my neck shave.
I didn't count the passes as the stubble was almost two weeks long and lots of rinsing was involved, but it was all WTG, and comfortable, I also trimmed my neckline a bit with the open comb.

I have the old garage completely cleared out, and all but four of my razors are at the new house. Almost all of my stuff is moved, all I have left is a filling cabinet, my computer desk, my clothes and some small things in the closet.

The new refrigerator was delivered on Wednesday, and the rest of the appliances, the washer, dryer, gas range, and dishwasher all showed up and were installed today, Thursday.

We have until next Tuesday to finish moving everything out.

The SWMBO has turned into a Tasmanian Devil and couldn't wait for me to get my things/crap out before she started pilling her things/crap in my way.

Oh the joys of moving.

Man I needed a shave.

Doug

 

[Raven Koenes]

The SWMBO has turned into a Tasmanian Devil and couldn't wait for me to get my things/crap out before she started pilling her things/crap in my way.

They'll do that!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Why the deadline?

 

[Rosseforp]

Why the deadline?

The nice lady that bought our condo wants her keys.

I finished up moving all of my stuff, save for a laptop, the corner computer center, a small toolbox, four razors, and most of my clothes. All of that can go in one trip.

Most of the kids stuff is in their rooms but the furniture.

SWMBO and her cousin have been scurrying about and moving even more stuff than me, and of course, now she is complaining that my stuff is in HER way. Lol

I got every box checked off on the list of things I needed to get done so the family can move in, and I am relaxing. The only thing left is the furniture movers, and I left that one job up to SWMBO. She told me the beginning of this week she had it all arraigned and set-up for Monday. Last I heard she needs me to talk to them to confirm the details. Nice.

Man I needed a shave

Doug

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The nice lady that bought our condo wants her keys.

I finished up moving all of my stuff, save for a laptop, the corner computer center, a small toolbox, four razors, and most of my clothes. All of that can go in one trip.

Most of the kids stuff is in their rooms but the furniture.

SWMBO and her cousin have been scurrying about and moving even more stuff than me, and of course, now she is complaining that my stuff is in HER way. Lol

I got every box checked off on the list of things I needed to get done so the family can move in, and I am relaxing. The only thing left is the furniture movers, and I left that one job up to SWMBO. She told me the beginning of this week she had it all arraigned and set-up for Monday. Last I heard she needs me to talk to them to confirm the details. Nice.

Man I needed a shave

Doug

Oh, I missed something very important. I thought you were fixing up, remodeling, etc. the place you were already living. My bad.

Leaving old digs for new. Remodeled the new digs before moving in.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

Leaving old digs for new. Remodeled the new digs before moving in.

Yes sir, sold the 2 bedroom 1 car garage condo, bought a 3 bedroom 2 car garage house in Norco. The patio had been converted into an enclosed family room decades ago, so we have a lot more space, and there is RV parking with a huge driveway. The downside is the lavatories are tiny, but we added a nice vanity in the Laundry Room I had built in the Family Room.

And I also had hookups installed for a vanity in the ManCave

Doug

 

[Rosseforp]

Just confirmed, I had to call the movers today. The ONE job I asked SWMBO to do, she dropped the ball in my lap. Took me all of 5 minutes to make the arrangements.

 

[Rosseforp]

OCtober SOTD


Razor: Phantom Blue
Blade: Gillette Platinum (3)
Brush: Simpson PJ2
Soap: Mystery Bowl
ASL: Black Label Fougere

The nice thing about my Phantom Blue razor is I can use it for Slantember and OCtober as it is both a slant and an OC razor.

It is also a smooth cutting razor, but more of a cap rider than most of my other razors.
That is not to say that the Phantom Blue wont shave steep, I used it mostly steep on my first WTG pass. It was so comfortable that the second pass and subsequent cleanup passes were all ATG. That is when I noticed that cap riding was the way to go with this razor.

Once again the Mystery bowl soap and about 50 swirls with a fairly damp brush was the way to go. There was lots more lather than I needed as I am still only shaving my neck, but it sure was a pleasant experience, the PJ2 really coming into it's own. I lost count of how many times I have used it after 100 shaves or so, but it started to rise up in my rotation after about 60 shaves.
I remember thinking that I would only use my PJ2 as a travel brush, even though it was my most expensive brush at the time. It is no longer my most expensive brush, but it is one of my top performers.

We got everything moved out of the condo on Monday, and our house is a complete mess, boxes and plastic bags stuffed full with who knows what piled up in the Family Room, and SWMBO deposited her stuff in everyone's rooms except the Man Cave.

Oh, that is not to say that she didn't try. She thought I was out of hearing range when I heard her tell the movers to put something in the garage, to which I shouted "NOTHING GOES IN THE GARAGE".

I had already parked my car smack dab in the middle of the Man Cave, and there was no need for further comment after that. Lol

I have made it very clear that she can do whatever she wants with the Family Room and the Laundry Room & Vanity I had built just for her, but the Man Cave is strictly off limits. It is already the most organized room in the house, but nowhere the way I want it to be. I also let the kids know that their rooms are their rooms and that they should not put up with SWMBO putting things in their rooms, to simply tell Mom that is what the Family Room is for, then immediately putting it there for her.

The house itself has thrown me a few more hurdles than I expected, but nowhere near the Money Pit type of stuff. Mostly simple things like the original Mixet Valves that came with the house are still in the showers and need replacing. I don't need a plumber for that. Cabinet handles missing half the screws and glued instead. It just appears there was little to no maintenance ever done by the previous owners over the last 3-4 decades. It is just going to take me more time getting the living quarters up to snuff than I had thought, so the Man Cave will take second place on the need to be fixed list. It is, after all, going to be my place to relax and play, I want to take my time and make it nice.

Man I needed a shave.

Doug

 

[Rosseforp]

It has been ten days since we moved in, and I am still in recovery mode. SWMBO and her cousin moved most of the stuff she boxed up in her Forrester making millions of short trips, that of course were made a bit longer because of street construction.

Yes, the hits just keep hitting.

Oh, the signs were up, but not a specific date and which streets. Fortunately there are quite a few less direct routes, adding about a mile to the trip one-way, from 3.2 miles to 4.4. Of course they started construction on the day we/I scheduled the movers.
As SWMBO and her cousin had moved most of her stuff already, much to my dismay and loud disapproval, they had moved at a feverish pace and when finished with their utter madness, the Family room is almost completely filled to the ceiling with her things, and enough to fill a walk-in closet is sitting next to the house in the RV parking.

I had thought that was what we hired the movers for. DOH, What Was I thinking???

Now she tells me I need to build her a shed and I pointed out that less than two days ago all of this stuff was inside our condo which is 400 square feet smaller. I told her bluntly that she needed to start minimizing, as all of my things fit quite nicely in my Man-Cave along with my Volt and four bicycles, and I have yet to have time to sort through things and organize.
I just put up a 2' x 4' x 7' shelving unit with six shelves to get started.

Of course things got slowed down a bit when I had a mishap with the garage door on our condo as I was showing the buyer how the release mechanism worked in case of power failure. I had initially just thought it was a bruise as I was wearing a shirt and a Pendleton, that is until I felt my shirt sticking to my arm as I was leaving. When I got home and peeled off my shirts there was a very large raspberry like wound next to my left bicep. About the size of a large egg.

I cleaned and bandaged it but didn't use enough Bacitracin and the bandage stuck to the wound, necessitating two trips to the ER two days later to have it bandaged and cared for properly.

I am pretty sure I heard a few car alarms go off in the parking lot when the ER Dr. yanked the bandage off my arm, even after about 6 shots to numb the pain. They sent me home with a Xeroform bandage, a script for two antibiotics to hold off infection, and told me to come back two days later to have it checked out.
Medicare does have it's advantages, as everything was covered 100%, but each trip involved about 4 hours of sitting around waiting for paperwork. It is healing with no signs of inflammation, albeit slowly.

It will probably be at least another week before I can do any heavy lifting, so I have been gelling a bit, watering the lawn and deciding where things need to go in the Man-Cave.

Oh yeah, this disappeared around the time my daughter was two years old, she is fourteen now. I can't tell you how many times I have dug through the room I suspected it had been hidden in.
As SWMBO is starting to go through the mess, things that I had been told were thrown away have started turning up, buried for over a decade.
It was in a box marked DVD's, that actually had a bunch of my old cassette tapes, a Black and Decker drill I haven't seen in almost 20 years, and my daughter's hair dryer. Everything was stuffed in plastic bags so you had no idea what was in the box until you pulled everything out. Was is crazy is all of the items inside the box had disappeared years apart, the Vox pedal and drill disappeared decades apart, the hair dryer only a few years ago, and were all inside one box. There were no DVD's in the box.

Man I need a shave

Doug