Lets talk travelling: weekend bag

Lately I have been doing increasingly more travelling for work.  I have always owned nice travel luggage but with the bulk of my travel being between one and three nights, I have never had the justification for an appropriate weekend bag that works for a carry on.

I recently picked up a Calvin Klein weekend bag that has nicely fit my needs.  It doesn't look like traditional travel luggage which is nice because it doesn't give the impression of being a tourist or traveller outside of the airport, but it still packs the same way.  I have included my Allen Edmonds slippers in the photo for the sake of size reference.  Savvy planning easily allows for a week of business casual and "civialian" wear, my toiletries and spare set of casual shoes.  I found the CK bag to be incredibly convient because it opens wide like a doctors bag.  The downside is because of the sloped top, it is difficult to efficiently fit a full-sized laptop and typically requires carrying a seperate bag for such.  Because it is shoulder luggage, it can be burdonsome carrying for extended periods.

I picked the CK weekend bag up solely because I found it insanely cheaply.  I was concerned that it would quickly look scuffy or simply not hold up.  I can confidently say those concerns were unfounded as it has been incredibly versitile and sturdy.  Despite the additional weight and burdon I would love to replace it with a full-on raw hide leather solution, but for the moment it has fully exceeded my exceptations and core needs.

Lets talk drinks: Petrus Aged Pale

[Image used without permission from http://www.craftbeertime.com  great site to check out, sorry guys for the infringement but my camera failed me]

Hopefully for anyone reading this will associate keystone with an architecture term before that of a beverage...  that would not be gentlemanly befitting.

I prefer not to use this blog space for reviewing my craft beer drinking exploits but it is important to at least be aware of some of the trending topics in the craft beer world.  A few years ago we had the massive trend of over hopped beers, followed by the IPA/Belgian mash-ups of the wild ales, we had the resurgence of red ales.   But this year I think has really been the resurgence of sour ales.

Sour ales are exactly what they sound like, they are sour.  They range from sour sub-notes that complement the beer to over powering where the sour takes the overall taste far removed from your anticipated beer experience.  Petrus Aged Pale is the latter.

I first had Petrus Aged Pale on tap at the Maproom the other month.  I fell in love with it and it has been the most memorable sour beer I have had to date.  I recommended it to a fellow female companion who normally isn't a beer drinker but it fairly ambitious and she was definitely impressed.  On tap it is slightly more beer like than it is in bottle  I had seen it on the shelf at two top shelf stores since but hadn't picked up any bottles.

I was at a suburban blues bar the other night who had a fantastic beer lineup, but the only item that really stuck out to me was the Petrus, and I will recount the story for comedic value.  After I placed my drink order, the gaggle of waitresses were clearly talking about me with hand covered mouths.  The waitress returned shortly with my Petrus and said they were debating about whether they should serve me that beer or not.  Apparently, it is the only beer on their list that they won't take back....  but she said it was OK because I looked like a beer snob from the city.  Its hard to know if I should take that as a complement or not.

If you have the opportunity to try Petrus Aged Pale and your adventurous, do not hesitate to order it.

In future posts I hope to have some writeups on some of the other heavy hitters in the sour beer category like the Bruery's Hottenroth and Professor Fritz's 1809

Dapper

I switched to Double Edged shaving about 6 months ago.  I was sick of being a prisoner of the Gillette corporation. Its been a tough rollercoaster,  its a stuggle to find the right equipment and the right technique.  Yesterday I switch the razor I was using and the brush.  Let me just say NIGHT AND DAY! I switched to a badger hair brush and the foam simply exploded off the brush where before I had to furiously work to get light lather.  Do not except less than badger!  I also switched the razor I was using to a Gillette (ironically) I was given many years ago from a long passed relative.  It is far more aggressive than what I was working with prior and I'll track down exactly what model razor it is but it is well over 60 years old.

Let me just say I am very happy with the results and I couldn't wait to get home tonight to repeat yesterdays magic.

New Kicks

Everyone has shortcomings in their wardrobe.  One that I've needed to deal with is a pair of kick around shoes that don't look like they are owned by a hobo. I've been using 2 pairs of skateboarding shoes for many many years and they simply needed to be thrown out.  I have been keeping an eye out for a really cheap pair of shoes that I don't care what happens to them.  Well got these nice pair of New Balance for 20 something shipped online....  and promptly threw out the old shoes.

So fresh and so clean

On aspect of appearance that I often overlook is Saturday morning in general.  Most of my saturday mornings involve a couple quick errands, the post office and some car work.  Today I shook things up and got spruced up first thing in the morning.  Shower with Dove Men+Care Deep Clean bar and some cucumber face wash.  Followed by a 3 pass wet shave using my standard supplies but adding in Zirh's pre-shave oil.  Topped off with todays scent: Chanel Sycamore which is not my usual choice for day scents but today its definitely working for me.

Scent of the Day: Tom Ford Tuscan Leather

I am going to be covering men's cologne quite extensively, but I wanted to start off where I started.

Cologne is an aspect of my appearance I have long neglected.  It wasn't until 4 or 5 years ago that I even really owned any cologne.  I got a bottle of Aqua Di Gio as a gift, and I remember having a big smile on my face as it genuinely smelled really good.

And time goes on, and I start to notice other men wearing cologne.  And more often than not I noticed they were wearing the same thing as me, or something really similar.  And I quickly stopped wearing it all together because now it was like associating a sausage fest with a scent.

There is too much of a niche market out there to have to not have your own unique scent.  I started picking up a number of 10mL decants of cologne blindly.  One of the first scents I picked up lit me up like a christmas tree...  Tom Ford's Tuscan Leather.

Its a strong scent for sure, and its very linear meaning there is not a lot of subtly about it or lingering sub scents.  But what it is, is dead on right and it makes no apologies.  Its considered a reinterpretation of a traditional english leather.  Its stripped down, and a more sweet/sour of a traditional leather.  It strangely smells like cocaine, so right there you are building an allure around yourself.  The other nice part is it a one spray scent and it doesn't transform over time (the opening comes off the same as the basenote) and it lasts forever.

Now here is where it gets interesting,  Tuscan Leather is part of Tom Ford's Private Blend line which includes a dozen other scents.  The entire line is meant to be mixed and layered with each other to TRUELY give you your own unique scent.  The layering concept probably explains why the scents them selves are all quite linear (but they all do stand up on their own).

The most difficult part about the layering concept and well Tom Ford in general is that the price is incredibly high.  50mL in the Private Blend line will run you $195, or $260 for 100mL.  I picked up a 100mL because I know this is a scent I want to wear for a long time and will definitely state it is worth every penny.

Lets talk about Soap

So as a man, its easy to get into the routine that bar soap is bar soap and be content with whatever is on the shelf at the grocery store.

I switched over the Dove Men+Care about a year ago and while I was very happy with it,  it really only addressed skin cleanliness and not conditioning.  In that time I have been experimenting with random soap I've come across that have had sandlewood or sea salt.  And they did a fantastic job conditioning the skin but were short on the hygiene and cleanliness.

A week ago I picked up a Zirh body bar (can be found at Sephora).  I was initially hesitant as it does have a strong scent (the girlfriend thought it was odorless and I was crazy).  I was also hesitant at the price as its a $15 bar.

So its been a week (photo reflecting that week of use).  It appears I am going to get a solid 3-4 weeks of use out of it.  I do feel it does a fantastic job hygiene/cleanliness wise and it has been some of the best moisturizing my skin has had....  I guess I didn't realize just how dry my skin had been.

But back to scent:  you shower, you towel off, you sniff your skin and its quite neutral just a very light citric twist.  Strangely the citric twist only seems to grow as the day goes by.  If you don't wear scents/colognes,  its going to be very subtle and pleasant.  If you wear colognes you picked up at macy's like aqua di gio, you probably won't even notice the difference.  Now if you are into some more niche stuff, it really is a buzz kill and destroys longevity.  Yesterday's Tom Ford Tuscan Leather only held to my skin for 4 hours where normally it will stick for 16 and had a sickly twist.  Today's ELDO's Fat Electrician simply was not the experience it normally is and the vetiver just fell flat.  I am going to cycle through my cologne stock, and my continued use of the Zirh soap will depend entirely on if there is a batch of my scent collection that works with the soap.