i don't know the price of a haircut
Every time I shave my head, I still have a hard time fully realizing how much money I save every time I do it.
Given I legitimately did not know what the price of men's haircut was before I started writing this, I did some research and found out.
Let's start with answering this question: What is the price of a men's haircut?
After answering this, I'll also tell you how much the cost is when you shave your own head.
The absolute rock bottom price before tax and tip that I could find at some dumpster fire national haircut chain is $22, and that's before tax. Assuming you're a cheapskate that will only tip 15% and no more than that, the price with tax and tip then goes up to almost $27.
What you're supposed to do is get your hair cut once monthly. I don't do that, but let's say I did.
Leaving aside that $27/mo just for a man's haircut is ridiculous, that means I'd be spending $324 a year just for hair. And again, that is the rock bottom price for the lowest cost haircut.
When not being a total cheapskate and going to a hair place that isn't a total dumpster fire, the price is $30 before tax, and the tip is 20%. After tax+tip, now the cost is $38 per haircut every month or about $457/year. And we're still in "low" price territory.
Then comes the average price. These are barber shops where the prices aren't listed on the web site at all nor on the door at the shop. The price with tax+tip now goes up to $51 or about $610/year.
For highfalutin barbershops, the total price bumps up to about $83, and by that point it's basically $1,000/year just for monthly haircuts.
At any of these shops, there is also no guarantee whatsoever that your hair will actually be cut correctly to your liking. Chances are likely that the cut you get will suck. It doesn't matter whether you go to the dumpster fire shop, regular shop, or the highfalutin one. Your cut will look like ass regardless of what you pay.
Now let's compare that to the price of a proper trimmer kit + micro trimmer. The micro trimmer is optional, but I recommend getting one anyway for trimming hair around the ears. It's that spot right near the top of the ear that can be difficult to trim hair with a full size trimmer. A micro trimmer makes it easy to do touch-ups for those little areas.
The cost of those two things pays for itself after two head shaves, or one head shave from a highfalutin barbershop with plenty of cash to spare.
The process (with bonus luxury tips)
Take the hair trimmer and attach the #1 guard, as in the red one.
There is a lever on the side of the trimmer with two positions, long and short. Set to long, which makes the shave head stick out longer.
Shave your head. Remember to go in all directions, especially around the crown.
Set the lever on the side of the trimmer to the short position.
Shave your head again.
Trim with micro trimmer around the ears.
Hit the shower.
For extra added luxury, there are two other things you can do after showering. Do one or both, your choice.
Put a small amount of Noxzema (or CeraVe if your skin is super sensitive) in your hands, rub hands together, rub that over your head. Once done, wet your hands and rub your head to wash that off, then pat try with a towel.
Put a splash of Pinaud Clubman aftershave lotion on the face, even if you haven't shaved your face. The one that "smells like barbershop" is the original, meaning not vanilla and not bay rum. This very specific scent is something a lot of guys chase after but didn't know what it was called. Now you know what it is.
Shaving my head gets easier every time I do it
I'm specifically talking about the psychological impact.
Shaving your head is in fact easy, but being comfortable with it is a different story, because that takes time.
I am mostly comfortable with it. Whenever I shave my head, I still have that "Whoa, what did I just do?" feeling right after I'm done. This used to last for a couple of days, but now only lasts for about an hour.
What's making it easier each time is the older I get, the more annoyed I get with hair.
When my hair grows out, the most annoying thing by far is how it shags out in the back just above the neck and shags along with getting wiry above the ears. Regardless of what shampoo or conditioner I use, that shag and wiry crap will happen, and it annoys the bejeezus out of me.
Then the moment comes where I think oh, I can probably fix this by getting a better shampoo, and... NOPE. STOP. My brain kicks in, and I know it's time to do a head shave. Shortly after that, I'm in the bathroom with clippers out and doing the deed. It's not even a question of should I do it, I just do it.
Just like the price of haircuts will send you to the poorhouse, the cost of shampoos, conditioners and whatever other goop is out there can do the same. I can see spending money on Noxzema or CeraVe, a nice aftershave lotion, and maybe a cologne (I'm still a Jovan Musk fan), but not shampoos and conditioners. Nope. I know that no matter what, my middle aged hair is going to shag and go wiry when it grows out, and there's not a damned thing I can do about it.
Okay, that's not true. I could see a stylist once a month and have her chemically bring body and fullness back to my hair. And it would be a woman performing the service due to it being a salon thing. I'm not doing that.
The price of getting a haircut was the primary reason I started shaving my head in the first place. But in all honesty, even if I were a millionaire, I'd still be shaving my head once every few months. Money doesn't fix the fact that most barbers give bad haircuts. Money would fix the shag/wiry crap my hair does, but what it doesn't fix is having to take time out of my life to go to the salon over and over again.
Relief best describes how I feel after a head shave. There's that negative emotion crap that happens at first, but then after about an hour passes, I calm down, and that's when the happy happens. When the hair is shaggy and stupid, that's a problem. When the head gets shaved, the problem is solved.
There was a time however that even with that relief, what I used to do after a head shave was wear a hat for a few days whenever I went out. But then I realized that was stupid and nobody cares, so I stopped doing the hat thing. I'm glad I realized this, because I don't even like wearing a hat.
At this point, the I'm Done Moment now comes sooner than later. And by that I mean, "I'm done dealing with this shag/wiry mess on my head. I'm done paying way too much for a haircut I won't even like. I'm done with shampoos and conditioners because none of them work. I'M DONE."
There used to be hesitation after the I'm Done Moment before I marched to the bathroom and plugged in the clippers. Not anymore. When I'm done, I'm done, and to the bathroom I go. Yes, there's still that hour of slight depression after a head shave. After that hour, that emotion changes to a nice sense of relief, then I get on with my life.
fighting with fonts
Fonts are something I've been battling with for about 30 years. Maybe slightly longer.
Based on customer reviews I've read, some who buy the Garmin Drive 53 think it's too small as a 5" screen. I know it's not because I use it myself. Bear in mind I also own a DriveSmart 76 that has a 7" screen.
The perceived smallness of the 53 isn't because of physical size. It's the font.
I'll talk about Windows 11 in a moment which is its own can of worms, but if you compare the 53 to the old nuvi 50 from the early 2010s, you would be shocked at how much more legible the 50 is.
That 50, even though a 5" and a matte screen, has legibility that outdoes 7" screens and all smartphones. Yes, all of them.
Why? Bright, daylight readable screen, and the font used. I don't know the name of the font, but it's the near-equivalent of the most legible font ever used in Microsoft Windows, Verdana.
It takes a 7" navigator to almost equal the legibility of the 5" nuvi 50. Yes, I said almost. The 50 is absolutely top dog.
You'll be left scratching your head as to why a 5" outdoes a 7" screen, because people think a physically larger screen means better legibility. Nope. If the font is done wrong, you're not going to be able to read that display no matter what.
The 50's font is big, wide, and ideal for automotive use. In addition, the top left arrow and distance indicator is white with thick black outline against a dark green field. And the map acts the same way with its route arrow. That's perfection.
With Garmin's modern UI for the Drive/DriveSmart, gone is that wonderful Verdana-like font, replaced with a more difficult-to-read skinny Arial type. The font size also got smaller, and that nice black font outline is gone from the top left field as well.
Garmin could, if they wanted to, add in a simple option to the Drive/DriveSmart UI settings to increase or decrease font size. Or better yet, add in the ability to change size and/or BOLD the font. That's never happened, and I doubt it ever will, because that would just make too much sense.
UI designers don't seem to realize that everybody hates skinny fonts with glyphs that smash into each other.
Remember how in Windows you used to be able to change the menu font size and bold (or even italicize) it if you wanted to? And remember how that DID NOT affect the font sizes in programs? That's been gone for years. All you have now in Windows 11 from Accessibility > Text Size is one slider to increase/decrease the global system font. Can you change that font? Nope! Can you bold that font? Nope! You get a slider bar that affects the system font that you can't change system wide, which includes programs. This means increasing the font size increases it everywhere, including places you don't want the font size increased. Lovely, eh? That's modern UI hell.
Modern UI hell is also in all smartphones. It absolutely does not matter how large your phone screen is, nor how high of a resolution it has. Your font is going to be skinny garbage that looks like a family-sized bucket of ass no matter what. Can you change the font? Yes. Your other choices will be other skinny font garbage. Regardless of what you pick, it will be nothing more than different flavors of ass.
"Glyphs that smash into each other" is exactly what happens when the font is too skinny. The skinniness refers to both line thickness and glyph width. Verdana or its Linux equivalent DejaVu Sans does not have this problem whatsoever. Glyphs are wide, dots over lowercase letters i and j are easily seen, bold truly means bold, and the font is good. Take away the glyph width and go skinny, and the font is bad, style be damned.
What glyph smashing does is make a font appear to "vibrate". You could have perfect 20/20 vision and that crap will still happen with a glyph-smasher font, effectively ruining usability.
"But 'crispness' of a font counts!", you may argue. Nope.
Using a watch as an example, some men purposely buy Seiko diver watches because the hour indices are big dots or thick sticks, the hands are thick, and one of the two hands will be an arrow, depending on model. Legibility is guaranteed, and you will never confuse one hand with the other. If the watch had skinny hands, that's a no-go because legibility is ruined. At certain times of the day, the hands would "blur" together.
It doesn't get any more "crispy" for appearance than an analog watch dial, and if THAT has issues with skinny hands screwing up legibility, what makes you think a skinny glyph-smasher font would be any better on an electronic display? I'll answer that for you. It's not.
"Get your eyes checked" is not a valid argument.
The reason I know this isn't a valid argument is because I've seen proper user interfaces that use the correct fonts, and know that the trash offered today is vastly inferior.
Some devices, such as the old Garmin nuvi 50, got it right the first time.
With my phone, I've had my fights with it. I found a way to bold the fonts on the home screen, and wow, that wasn't easy. What I have isn't great, but at least it's than the awful skinny font trash look it had by default. Fortunately, my texting app does have its own individual font settings. Being that's what I read most, at least that's taken care of.
When it comes to the operating system I use, Linux saved the day.
Were I using Windows 11, I would have to buy a physically larger monitor (probably a 27" display size) just to compensate for the lack of font customization in modern Windows.
Since I'm using Linux, I was able to keep using my existing 24" monitor. All that was required were a few minor font size tweaks here and there that Windows USED to have, but were taken away.
It's probably possible to tweak Windows 11 to get the font settings/sizes I'd want with registry edits. But that's not really a solution, is it?
It used to be true that to tweak Linux font settings, you had to manually edit complicated configuration files, but that's no longer the case since it's all in the GUI. Now it's Windows where you have to do complicated registry edits to get the fonts how you want whereas you didn't have to do that before.
Funny how the script flipped like that.
so i finally baked something
The more I think about this, the more embarrassing it is, but it is one of those "better late than never" things.
For the first time ever in my life, I baked something.
This is almost as embarrassing as admitting I didn't fry anything in a pan nor so much as cracked a single egg until my forties. But at least I've been frying eggs along with other foods for years, so I actually do know how to cook.
However, it took until the fifth decade of my life before I finally opened an oven to actually do some real baking with one.
What did I bake? Cookies.
No, I didn't make the dough. I acquired the ready-to-bake type.
Only one part of the process can ruin the batch, and only because a specific instruction is not mentioned on the package.
Step 1. Get a baking sheet. It does not need to be lubricated with cooking spray.
Step 2. Break apart the dough like the package says, putting each piece 2 inches apart from each other on the sheet.
Step 3. Preheat oven to 350F.
Step 4. When oven is heated, put the cookies in, bake for 10 minutes.
Step 5. After 10 minutes, turn the oven off, open oven door, wait 10 minutes for the cookies to firm up. THIS RIGHT HERE is where most people get cookies wrong. After baking, the batch is still soft. The rookie mistake is thinking you need to bake longer. No. Baking longer will burn the batch and ruin it. All you have to do is just wait another 10 minutes after baking, and the cookies will firm up properly on their own.
And that's it, done. Take the cookies out and eat.
The reason it is embarrassing to admit it took me so long to finally bake something is because of how stupidly easy these things are to make. This is basically no more difficult than heating something in a microwave. The only difference is that baking takes longer because you have to preheat the oven and the overall baking process is slower.
How much time does it take to do all this? About a half-hour. Preheat + bake + cooling all put together takes about that long.
Is any money saved by doing this?
Yes, absolutely. Fresh baked cookies cost less than prepackaged crap, and way less than bakery cookies.
And, obviously, fresh baked cookies taste best.
The entire reason I decided to bake a batch of cookies is because nobody in my local area can make a genuinely good tasting cookie. It doesn't matter if the cookies are prepackaged, baked in a grocery store, or baked in some upscale highfalutin bakery. Everyone around here gets it wrong.
In other words, frustration was the reason I finally decided to bake something. Since everybody around here does cookies wrong, the only way to get it right was to do it myself.
Did my cookies come out correctly? Yes. Did they taste good? Also a yes. They were about as good as I could get for a ready-to-bake batch.
The Big Question however was this: Were they better than the garbage sold locally?
Yes. I finally got a cookie that tasted right.
I will at some point go the mile and actually make the dough myself. But for now, at least I know I can buy ready-to-bake, chuck it in the oven and get something decent. Job done.
guitar prices are weird right now
There's a specific price range for electric guitars right now that's just weird.
What makes the price range weird is that some guitars within it outclass guitars above them, even within the same brand.
I'm trying to make sense of this.
For that Squier Affinity Telecaster I just bought, I've given it a closer look. The neck is tightly fit into the pocket as it should be with no huge gaps. Frets were installed very well. Selector switch is solid and tight. Nut is cut correctly, doesn't stick out from either side of the neck and doesn't have sharp edges either. Whoever is doing quality control at the China factory that made it is doing an excellent job.
Yes, I said China and not Indonesia. A factory change has happened, and it's a recent thing for the Affinity Telecaster. The bump up in build quality is noticeable in a good way.
It's weird that the guitar is as good as it is, given its price point. But I think I've at least partially figured out why, and will explain that in a moment.
That Affinity is the first Squier I've ever bought that outclasses a Classic Vibe. In appearance? No. In functionality.
Technically, yes, the Affinity is a "lesser" guitar because it has ceramic magnet pickups and not alnico. The CV also looks better because of the pine body (which absolutely takes to butterscotch blonde better) and tinted neck.
However, Affinity is the better player's guitar. The satin urethane neck finish feels better, the belly cut in rear of the body is more comfortable, and six-saddle setup is obviously better than the barrel style the CV uses.
And then there's the price. With Classic Vibe, there's a sting with buying that. With the Affinity, not-so much.
Affinity falls between $250-$350; this is the weird price range I'm talking about.
I thought it was just a Squier thing with Affinity falling within this oddball price range. No. As it turns out, other brands are doing the same thing Squier is. See Ibanez AZES31, Jackson Dinky JS20 DKQ, and Epiphone SG Tribute Plus. Just like Squier, they are all punching well above their price tags considering what you get. Also just like Squier, those guitars are the better players compared to models just above them within the same brand.
My guess as to why this is happening is that it's an answer to low-ball priced guitars on Amazon such as Grote, Firefly and Leo Jaymz. Those guitars are better than Squier Sonic series, but not better than Affinity, at least for the Telecaster.
I'm also guessing the reason $250-$350 guitars are such awesome player instruments is because they have to be. They have to outclass the "Amazon guitars".
Do they? Yes.
Again, it's a weird price range for guitars, but I'm glad it's there.
i bought a squier affinity telecaster
I thought I was done with Squier, and even implied as much. I also thought I was all-in with Yamaha.
Well, that went all out the window. Both my Yamaha Pacifica PAC112VM and TRBX174EW bass are out, and a new Squier Affinity Telecaster is in.
The one I bought has your standard Telecaster look. Butterscotch blonde with black pick guard. I made a video when I first got it. Since that time, I've taken off the stickers and changed the strings to my preferred set.
I wasn't going to buy the Affinity and had my eye on a Squier Sonic Telecaster, but when I got to the guitar store, I couldn't find it anywhere even though the web site said it was in stock. This most likely meant it was there, but hadn't been unpacked yet and put out on the floor. Since the Affinity was already there and about the same price as the Sonic as it was on clearance, I played that, and it was definitely good enough, so that's what I went with.
What convinced me to get the Tele was my second vintage '89 Squier II Stratocaster. The first is my very first electric guitar that I still own, so I don't play that one too much. I break out the second '89 after not having used it in a while, start playing, and damn, it sounds good. Really good.
Then I go to play the Pacifica again, and... it's just not the same. Even though the PAC112VM is truly a good guitar, I realized something. I'm trying to make this thing sound like a Fender, and that's never going to happen, so it's gotta go.
I also watched a few past videos of mine where I was playing a Squier Telecaster or other guitar brands in Tele shapes, and thought yeah, that's a sound I want back again. Two sounds, specifically. The overwound bridge-only and the bridge+neck tones.
There is a way to get all the Strat and Tele tones out of one guitar, and that's the Squier Paranormal Custom Nashville Stratocaster. It has the Tele pickup set, a middle pickup, and a push-pull to get the bridge+neck traditional Tele middle sound. Fender also has one with the Fender Player Plus Nashville Telecaster, and yes, the push-pull is there. And if you're wondering why the Squier is called a Strat and the Fender is called a Tele, it's because the Squier has a double-cutaway body and a Strat headstock, and the Fender has a single cutaway with the Tele headstock. There are also other differences, but once you see the body and headstock shapes are different, then it makes sense why those two guitars have different model names.
I didn't need a Nashville since I already have a Strat I like, so a separate Telecaster works for me. I'm not opposed to getting a Nashville style Squier or Fender in the future, but just not now.
Two things I've learned
First, I gotta stop buying basses.
I go through this cycle every few years that really needs to stop. I think yeah, I need a bass, so I buy one. At first, I love it. Thumb some basslines here, pick a little there, cool. This lasts for a few weeks to a month, then the bass gets put on a stand, stays there, collects dust and doesn't get played for months.
At some point I pick it up again, dust it off, play it again, and I hate it. But I don't part with the bass just yet, figuring I'll give it another chance. That lasts for a week, then back on the stand it goes.
A few more months pass, I pick the bass up again, and I'm still hating it. I ask myself why I even own the thing, and can't come up with a good answer. That's when I get rid of it.
Add to this that I've never owned a bass with a body shape I truly liked. I've tried the P shape, J shape, Jaguar shape, and other shapes. None have ever been truly comfortable.
And there's another thing to add into the mix. If the bass isn't 34" standard scale, I don't want it. I tried the short scale thing before. Didn't like it. In bass world, 34" is the only thing I like.
Maybe in the future I'll give a go with a Stingray shape, as that's one of the few shapes I've not tried. I've also never experimented with the giant humbucker with the huge pole pieces with one of those either. Even so, I'm not going to actively seek out a bass any time soon.
Second, I gotta stop trying to fool myself into thinking I'll like anything other than Fender tones.
At this point in my guitar playing life, I've tried every popular pickup configuration there is. SS (Telecaster, Jazzmaster, Jaguar), SSS (Stratocaster), S/H (Telecaster Custom single-coil + humbucker), HH (Les Paul, Thinline Telecaster, and others), HSS.
The few pickup configurations I've not tried aren't ones I'm interested in, such as a one-pickup configuration like the Esquire and HHH like a "Black Beauty" Les Paul Custom, be it by Gibson or Epiphone.
And I suppose you could also throw in a few outliers, such as mini humbuckers like what the Epiphone Firebird has. That is obviously HH, but the pickups sound different compared to standard size humbuckers. Not better nor worse, just different. Then there's gold foil pickups. Just from the demos I've heard, I'm fairly certain I'd never get along with those. The foil absolutely isn't just for show, as it does have a very distinct tonal character, but not a character I like.
Fender tone is what I like, which to me is a single-coil equipped solid-body Strat, Tele, Jazz or Jag.
Every time I stray away from Fender tone, it doesn't last. I always go back to the single-coil solid-body Fender sound.
It's fair to say I really did give other pickup layouts and other guitar brands a genuinely good try. I tried Schecter, Yamaha, Ibanez, Epiphone and a few other brands. But then I pick up a Strat or Tele, plug in, play and say yep, that's the sound I want, and I get it from Squier.
Even though I'm very settled in to what guitar tone I know I like, I will keep my mind open. For now, I'm a Telecaster owner once again.