Wmcmanus

A good friend of mine, both a former student and a former colleague, died the other night. Hank was about 40, give or take a year. There are all sorts of rumors flying around at this point as to whether his death was from natural causes, or not. I've heard that he died in his sleep from suffocation, but I've also heard that he hung himself. He was quite overweight (even much more so than I am) and I know that he suffered from an extreme case of sleep apnea (whereas my case is quite mild), but it definitely gives me pause. Hank was quite bright and had earned two master's degrees, yet for whatever reasons he couldn't ever seem to keep a job and was forever looking (in recent years, especially). His general disposition was kind of glum and at times he seemed almost expressionless; he didn't talk much and often seemed depressed about his physical appearance and lack of luck with women (which were things he did actually, and often, talk to me about). But he also had a masterful dry and sarcastic wit and an uncanny ability to express himself with very few words (think John Belushi with the eyebrows and devious grin followed by a cryptic comment but with no indication as to whether he was joking or not). The students at the College all loved him as a teacher and advisor, I guess because of his verbal economy in the classroom and the fact that he was such an intent listener and sort of an eerily others-oriented person. He wanted all of his students to succeed, not only in his classes, but in their lives as well. Oddly enough, he never seemed to be able to make his own life work, yet he helped so many others to make their lives work. He was the kind of person who seemed to know what everyone in the room was thinking, and could anticipate almost exactly, word for word, what they would say next. He watched people carefully. I remember one student telling me that one night just as she started to raise her hand in a class of about 30 people, Hank glanced up just for a split second and said, "We're on page 178, Lisa, problem 2." Then she went on to say, "I don't know how he does it. He was looking down at his book. He must have eyes on the top of his head, like flies do." When I asked Hank about it, he just said, "Whenever I sense movement in her general direction, I just assume that her brain has gone AWOL again." He didn't smile. I'll sure miss him; he was a good, albeit little understood, man.

I did the lawn mower search earlier this year. Wanted something that would last for a long time. Not because I have such a terribly large lot, but because it's really hard to get reliable and affordable service done on lawn movers here. So better to buy good quality and not have to replace it any day soon, or get killed on the servicing costs. Found this place: http://www.mowersdirect.com/ and had a good buying experience with them (best internet prices I could find because they specialize, cut out the middle man, etc). They sent the thing directly to my freight forwarder in Miami. I ended up getting a 42" Toro zero turn and now absolutely love cutting grass. Sometimes I go out there every 5 days or so to cut my yard, or if I have the time I'll wander through the neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon and cut several of my neighbors' yards! Just wear my UE10 Pro (since I lost my JH13 somehow) and listen to some Bob Marley on my iPod and I can be out there for hours...

Yes, very impressive.

Thanks for this, Knucks. I'm not exactly a fan either, but it was really cool of her to agree to do this. The most amazing part of it all, of course, was that these people were so stupid that they weren't able to make the connection on their own! Watching Karen tear it up all night in unbelievable fashion, a true "dead ringer" of a voice, and then the REAL Jewel for some unexplained reason shows up, and they still don't get it. The power of beer...

Man oh man, Salty, I have that same fear every time I pack up my camera bag(s) and head out on a flight somewhere. Not too long ago, I was convinced that I'd left my 70-200 at the security clearance area at the Tampa airport and had to wait 3 weeks before my next trip back, only to find it right where I left it in my motorhome. So I know the feeling... I sure hope this one turns out well for you.

Idea for next year... the ginger thing may just have some merit afterall, Colin! In an email exchange with one of my repeat Santa clients, a suggestion was made that I could do some "Son of Santa" events in October each year, either at schools or perhaps at Halloween events as well. I know, sounds a bit like "Son of Sam" but it's worth considering. The idea would be to wait until late October to do my first bleaching session, after which I'd be nice and orange. Then make special appearances at grade schools to talk with the kids about what it's like to live at the North Pole, and the pressures I faced growing up always having to be "nice" (with Santa as my dad), the pranks that the elves and I pulled over the years on Santa and Mrs. Claus, and of course to check in on the kids to make sure that their names still belonged on the nice list. This particular client is the principal of a large private grade school that I do Santa work for, and he was all excited about the possibility of a visit in the Fall. Of course, this kind of idea would only play with a very limited audience (maybe his school alone, unless I could arrange an Island-wide tour including the public grade schools as well), and it would only work if I shaved each year on Christmas day and then immediately restarted the process. Never discount the power of ginger.

Ha! For me, that was really freaky. Yes, conditioning like mad. Going to wait several days before hitting again for (hopefully) my last full round of bleaching for a while.

Happy birthday, Phil. Hope you enjoy some tube warmth and other things that make you smile.

First bleaching (repeated for reference): Second bleaching: Third bleaching: About that advice I got about waiting several days between bleachings... ya, I pretty much ignored that! Thankfully, I haven't given myself a chemical shave... at least not quite yet. Will give it several days rest this time, and hopefully the next round will get me close to where I want it to be. From there, it will be spot bleaching and daily toner sessions to get the rest of the yellow out. In an odd kind of way (given that you have to be rather odd to do this kind of thing to yourself), I'm kind of having fun with it.

Wow, so sad. Not much of a retirement. Enjoy it while you've still got it, my friends....

Way to go, Tom! Truly an event worth celebrating! Nice pic, Augsburger. That's actually a look that I'll need to work on quite soon. I've got several "Beach photos with Santa" events lined up already, and will be expected to wear Santa beach attire (red shorts, Christmas shirt of some kind, flip slops, etc). I've received some good advice from my fellow Santas that so long as my skin is not irritated from the first bleaching, I should be good to go for the second round at any time. Maybe later tonight after the baseball games. Looking forward to the buttered popcorn look, but will take a small clipping of the pumpkin hair from the back of my head for memento sake as well.

Good one, Al. I'll have to share that at ClausNet. Just started a thread there asking for, no begging for, advice on bleaching intervals. Long story, but there are essentially three things that will damage your hair in the bleaching process: peroxide, heat, and bleach. I've eliminated the peroxide altogether by using an enzyme-based developer, which although more expensive, isn't damaging at all (or not measurably), and I didn't use any heat either (no blow drying while the bleach was setting). So it's just a matter of the bleaching time, and I pushed it to the full 50 minute limit yesterday. In the meantime, I've been applying gobs of leave in conditioner, and so far, my hair doesn't feel or look damaged at all. Just don't know if that would still be the case if I hammered it again with another bleaching session today, as opposed to a week from now as is normally recommended... I could simply stay indoors all week and keep meeting my sustenance needs by calling Dominos. The little Filipino guy who makes $5 every time he shows up at the door would love it. He might even agree not to laugh at me if I gave him a $10 tip!

^ Me too, Al. Trust me! But all will be Santarific in a couple of weeks. I hope.

First bleaching pics. What do you get when you cross a red headed Santa and an albino Santa?

^ Sounds incredible, Peter. Wish I would have done some mountain climbing when I was a youngster with good knees, and without a big belly and the shortness of breath it tends to bring at altitudes of 100 feet above sea level or higher, especially when steps are involved.

I think I will next year (if I stay white bearded and haired all year in between), but since this is my first time the advice seemed to be to start early so that I can make adjustments before my season starts. At the moment, that will be November 22nd for a tree lighting ceremony in front of thousands of people, so I thought I'd better get moving on it!

Good job, Al. I'm doing my hair now. A bit more invasive in terms of the skin irritation on my scalp. I've got to head to class tonight but will post some pics late this evening or tomorrow to show what I mean by pumkin! The next bleaching should get me to a yellowish color and the third one will result in white (or near enough). The biggest problem is that you really should wait a week between bleachings to give your hair time to repair (condition, condition, condition). As you will soon see, that means I'll look TOTALLY ridiculous for a week!

I'm in the middle of my first bleaching session. So far, so good. At least I haven't blinded myself. I started with my beard first, and will do my hair next but as a separate session since there is so much of it (hair, that is). Other than the smell, all seems to be going well. It would appear, judging by what I can tell by looking in the mirror through all of the goopy stuff in my beard, that it will turn out to be a rather pumpkiny looking thing in another 20 minutes or so after I've rinsed, shampood and conditioned. It will probably take about 3 sessions over the next couple of weeks to get it white enough to look Santa-ish.

Like Reks said, that really sucks, Raffy. Hope you get your situation resolved soon, Al. Such a nice place you have there in town. I can't even imagine the need to do anything with it to begin with, so I'm sure whatever you're doing will turn out to be top class.

Hey, thanks for the belated well wishes, guys. Steve and I have exchanged birthday PM's, and I was totally shocked to learn that I'm actually younger than him. I thought he was in his early 40's but apparently not! Must be something about that California air that makes people look so young.

The judge says, "You seem like nice young men, and I'd like to give you a second chance instead of jail time. I want you to go out this weekend and try to convince others of the evils of drug use. I'll see you back in court Monday." On Monday, the judge asks the first guy, "How did you do over the weekend?" "Well, your honor, I persuaded 17 people to give up drugs forever." "Seventeen people? That's wonderful. How did you do it? " "I used a diagram, your honor. I drew two circles like this: O o Then I told them that the big circle is your brain before drugs and the small circle is your brain after drugs." "That's admirable," says the judge. Then he turns to the second guy. "And how did you do?" "Well, your honor, I persuaded 156 people to give up drugs forever." "Wow!" says the judge. "156 people! How did you manage to do that?" "Well, I used a similar diagram," the guy says. "I drew two circles like this: o O Then I pointed to the little circle and said, "This is your asshole before prison...

Nothing like "mind blowing" revelatory experiences, I can tell you that much. Those are always good.

That is pretty cool, Steve. We'll have to drink disgustingly to it the next time we meet up somewhere in Headphone Land. I had a great day and hope you did too. The real highlight for me this year was being glued to my laptop screen trying to watch 4 fate-deciding baseball games at the same time on mlb.com. What an amazing final day of the regular season! The Tampa Bay comeback win in extra innings and it such dramatic style that ended just a few minutes after the Boston loss! The Atlanta loss coupled with the St. Louis win! None of it could have been scripted any better, and each one of these 4 games turned out just the way I wanted them to. Nothing against either Boston or Atlanta, but I'm always cheering for underdogs who have made up a lot of ground in short order, and am not a big fan of teams that choke. So I was quite buzzed, just watching all of that unfold.

Wow! Great response, TMoney. Thanks for the UM1 recommendation as well, Dan. I'll pass along the link to Tyll's usual genius insights, and all will be well once again with my friend who only emails me when he has audio questions... I'm sure you all know people like that. [/Thread] (Feel free to close the thread.)

That really is remarkable because the 4070 is truly amazing in those respects. I won't have the 009 back to Cayman for another month, unfortunately, so the anticipation will just have to keep building.