Chazography

The shaving industry is fast at work trying to revolutionize the shaving experience for both males and females; however, given that I don’t use women’s razors I’m not too concerned with that facet of the industry. I will therefore stick to covering the advancements to male grooming hygiene by these truly innovative and cutting edge manufacturers of shaving devices. The two biggest names in the razor/shaving industry are without a doubt Gillette and Schick, and if you don’t live under a rock, you’ve no doubt seen at least one commercial touting each of these companies finest shaving accomplishments. To date, this has been the Mach3 for Gillette and the Quattro for Schick. It’s been a bloody battle with each side trying to one-up the other in terms of technological advancement and finesse. The ultimate goal…. “The Closest Shave Ever!” Up until now, Schick has claimed to have the upper-hand with its Quattro razor which sports not 1… not 2… not even 3….. but 4… yes, count them…. 4 blades! It’s rival Gillette has only been able to muster up a measly 3 blades in its premiere razor, and with fewer blades, it certainly can’t boast as close a shave as Schick’s Quattro.

In spite of this, I’ve always been a Gillette man. I guess I’d pin that on the fact that Schick has never convinced me that they’re “The best a man can get”. Gillette is consistently making that claim, and I’m not too sure how one competes with that? Maybe if Schick were to change their slogan to, “The best a manly (not a pussy Gillette man) man can get!”, they might have a fighting chance. Until then, I’ll probably be sticking with my Gillette razor since a big company would never create a slogan based on anything but absolute truths to sell razors. That would just be crazy and certainly something that would never happen.

In keeping with their slogan, Gillette has made 2006 a year to remember. They have made what could very well be the greatest technological revolution to shaving in the entire history of humans. Yes, they managed to one-up Schick and have finally introduced a razor with 5 blades! It’s okay. Please sit back and take deep breaths. It truly is amazing. What good is another blade you might ask? It gives you the closest shave ever, of course! If you thought the innovations ended with an extra blade, then you’d better get ready for an even bigger shocker. They’ve also added a “Precision Trimmer” onto the backside of the razor cartridge, and this officially means that this new razor has not 5 but 6 actual blades! I am glad the extra blade is made for precision because it would really suck, if in trying to shave his sideburns, a guy shaved off his ear instead. You know… due to lack of precision. That would just hurt. Way to go Gillette! Let’s also not forget the “Flexible Comfort Guard” or “Enhanced Lubricator Strip” which might not be anything new, but I’m sure it took a team of brilliant engineers months to port these features to a razor with 6 blades!

All these crazy innovations in the shaving world have got me wondering, what in the world will they come up with next? What could give a closer shave than a razor with 5 blades? A razor with 6 blades perhaps. Nah, that would be heresy. In the meantime, they’ve got me on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what they’ll come up with next, but I just don’t know how they’re going to top this whole 5 bladed razor. I really don’t.

UPDATE: A friend recently pointed out a nice cartoon illustrating the absurdity of the razor industry. Check it out here.

The past few days have left me feeling as I never have before. I don’t really know how to describe it, but it’s a strange and not necessarily good set of emotions. I’m not even sure what the emotions are that I’m feeling. I’ve found myself unable to sleep and not really wanting food even though I’m clearly hungry. I’m not trying to shun food or worried about weight or anything like that. So one can rest assured it’s certainly not a some sort of eating disorder. In fact, the only eating disorder I could ever be diagnosed with is the desire to eat way, way, way too much at times. Consequently, eating too little or nothing at all will never be a problem which only makes my current state seem that much weirder to me. Part of it is that my stomach has felt a little uneasy, but I really just assumed that was due to the fact that I hadn’t eaten way too much. So I tried eating some larger meals thinking it might solve the problem only to find it didn’t really help anything.

At this point, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that that queasiness I’m feeling in my stomach is partly due to my emotional state after the past couple of days, and likewise, I’m also attributing the restlessness to the same thing. So right now it looks like I’m just going to be riding these feelings out which surely won’t be fun. After all, my current feelings have led me into unchartered waters, and I really don’t know how to navigate back to calmer seas. I’ve also found that when it comes to one’s feelings and emotions there is no map or directional device to follow. It’s really just a matter of weathering the storm and learning from it which is never fun but always necessary.

So I must apologize for the post which is really not entertaining at all. In fact, I realize that it’s probably even a bit depressing and as a consolation I figured I’d end on a happier note. Since Google knows all and Google knows images, I’ve decided to leave you with a few images that Google Images recognizes as happy.

I don’t know if the last one necessarily evokes happy emotions, but I thought it was pretty darned funny. Oh well, I guess th-th-that’s all folks.

Okay, so first it’s cute little teddy bears (half naked ones at that!) and now it’s going to see Tristan and Isolde by myself. If I keep this up, people are serioulsy going to think I’m gay (”Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”), but I’m most certainly not! I’m really not even sure why I decided to go see the movie, but for some reason or another I did. In all honesty, the movie was pretty good, and it had plenty of appeal to both sexes. For the girls, there was love story, and for the guys, there were some memorable medieval combat scenes. Personally, I enjoyed both aspects of the movie.

The story essentially evolved around a couple’s love that could never be for so many reasons. Tristan and Isolde came from different worlds. Worlds that were steeped in conflict. However, by some stroke of luck or fate, Tristan is saved by Isolde after being believed dead by his own people. Recognizing his ailment she is able to nurse him back to health, and so begins their forbidden love affair. They are separated shortly after meeting because the Irish are scouring the countryside for Tristan after finding his boat washed upon the shore. Before parting, they each pronounce their love for one another. Later, they are reunited after Tristan wins Isolde to be his King’s bride, and thus, their love must be forbidden once again. Of course, they must act upon these verboten feelings and hence provide the conflict for the movie. I’ll leave out all the details and conclusion for those who actually want to see the movie; I recommend it.

Hmm, lovely… my neighbor is ridiculously inebriated. I can hear him coughing up flem and all sorts of things in the hall, and two other students actually had to escort him back to his dorm. They knocked on my door to see if I knew him very well (which I don’t), and from what they said, it sounds like he had a LOT and I do mean LOT to drink. Why can’t people drink responsibly? Afterall, waking up hung over in your own puke doesn’t sound like much fun to me. Oh well, what do I know?

First off, it’s been forever and I do mean a long, long, long time since I’ve posted. To give a true sense of the large expanse of time since my last post, I’d need the use of a “Yo’ Momma” joke, and in that end, “Yo momma so “big boned” Google couldn’t even index her!” Imagine that momma and then think of an even larger amount of time and then you should have a clear idea of how long it’s been since I’ve posted. I guess you could also look at the date of the previous post and do a little Math to realize it’s been 17 days since my last post. Yeah, that’s a long time, and it’s even longer if you’re a dog! (Think about that)

In any case, today marked the first day of my last semester here at Duke. It’s bittersweet. I’ll graduate on May 14th, and I’ve only got one semester left. However, it also means that my undergraduate career is coming to an end, and hence, one more chapter in my life is coming to a close. It’s always sad leaving some place you’ve grown fond of, but it’s always a bit exciting to. After graduation I’ll get to look forward to even more schooling as I pursue a masters degree in Computer Engineering. I’m looking forward to it.

Though the last first day of a semester in my Duke career, it didn’t feel any different than in any past semesters. I woke up, went to class, and performed some errands. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t without its moments. One of my professors was wearing one of the coolest t-shirts that I’ve seen in quite a while, and the sheer fact that I liked this t-shirt so much probably shows how much of a dork I really am. Still, I thought it was ingenious! Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ve recreated the shirt below.

I can’t stress enough how much I really want one of these t-shirts, and I may have to ask him where he got it (probably from the Math Department). Then I’d only need a holster for my calculator to make me “Quick Calc Chaz”. That would be awesome as I’ve always wanted a Western name since about 5 seconds ago. Oh yeah, that would be pretty sweet. My professors dopetastic t-shirt was probably the highlight of my day which was a pretty good day overall. I also believe that class should be pretty fun since my professor seems like a rather cool guy and has a teaching style that I like. That’s it. That was my day. Pretty normal, and I’m sure amazingly… boring interesting. On that note, Chazcrest out.