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Here it is February and I am writing about New Year's Resolutions. I must not be taking this blogging too seriously. Actually, that is one my New Year's Resolutions: Blogging is for fun! For when the muse strikes me and I feel like writing; For posting whatever I want, whenever I want. I don't have to keep my blog "fresh!" Or Trackback every other post on VentureBeat. I don't have to monetize my blog or focus it to a targeted audience! And I certainly don't have to move my blogs to Wordpress or host my blogs on a dynamic IP over my home DSL connection on a C#, ASP.NET & XML backend Open Source project just to show I am techie! I will blog whenever I want, whatever I want. And I'll play with the blogger JavaScript and update to the new templates and tag on all my previous posts only when and if I feel like it. The only commitment I will make is that I will write more technical articles on my other blog and that I will be be just as unfocused and erratic about that blog as I am with this one. I will not just rehash the latest iPhone news. I will not review Windows Vista. And I will not pontificate about the best and latest Linux distro. This is supposed to be for fun! I have an interesting and challenging job! I have a loving family and happy friends to spend time with! I also want to spend time volunteering for groups like the San Gorgonio Search & Rescue Team. I have skis, a mountain bike and a spear-gun in the garage! I have a life! I'm fortunate!

Something is missing though, I need a clear, concise New Year's Resolution for 2007. One that I can achieve with some effort and that will be a visible mark of self-improvement. Something that will show me I can discipline myself and give me a self-deceiving, superiority complex over my fellow human beings when I accomplish it!

It turns out that this New Year's Resolution is going to be easy. I actually already accomplished it over the Holidays. Here we are in February and I'm going strong. The inspiration for my New Year's Resolution came to me last year when I read one of the best rants I have read in a while. The Shaving Cream Racket was a revealing and revolutionary article that exposed the fallacy of that supposedly special shave I could only accomplish with my Edge Shave Gel Sensitive Skin With Aloe. This article also gave me irrefutable proof that I had been not only a wimp but a also dupe ever since I proudly shaved that first peach fuzz off my adolescent face. For years, all I really needed for a perfectly good shave has been simple soap.

Starting on this New Year's Resolution did take some effort; You see I am one of those guys who hates running out of stuff; Buy two of each staple or sundry item and when one runs out, you have plenty of time to replace it. You will never run out of important things at an inconvenient time, like the one announced by the sound of a sputtering can of shaving cream. So I had a couple of cans of the stuff to run through. I had the opportunity to implement my New Year's Resolution when I traveled abroad for the Holidays and I did not want to worry about all the new TSA regulations about liquids and toilet items. I also liked the idea of not having to pack one of those monstrous cans of shaving cream that never seem to fit anywhere and always seem to vomit its content over the hair and tooth brushes. It was also great timing because I was on the last can of my shaving cream stash. From Christmas Day on, I have used nothing more than soap to shave my face: Cheap, plain soap from a modest hostel in Barcelona; Fancy, luxurious soap from an elegant four-star Spanish hotel in Santander; And a sublime organic lavender soap that my wife hid into my travel bag as a Christmas stocking stuffer.

My face seems tougher. I don't cut myself anymore which happened regularly when I used shaving cream. I love the freedom of knowing that all I need to shave is a simple, disposable double-blade razor and a bar of soap. (Does anyone really need three, four or five blades in a razor?) I am certain that I will never buy another can of shaving cream for myself. It is only the beginning of February and I have already accomplished my New Year's Resolution. With that out of the way, I been thinking about how to improve it and about getting one of those fancy horsehair shaving brushes. Except that I have learned that a good shaving brush is not really made our of horsehair but out of badger hair. And they are very expensive! This New Year's Resolution keeps getting better and better!

Labels: ramble