Ah, aging. It really sucks. Just ask your folks and they will tell you. Or stick around here because this is probably going to turn into a series of posts, complaining about my experiences. Let’s go ahead and take it from the top.

Just logged my 55th trip around the sun in June. As my wife was cutting my hair, it was looking less and less sparse, and not in a good way. We discussed shaving it off but didn’t do it, until I received an electric shaver as a gift from my wife, ready to go the minute I was. Finally, I just said fuck it and did the deed.

Really, from the front, I couldn’t tell the difference. However, the front 3/4 view was something that I definitely knew was going to take some getting used to. So began the rituals.

For me, to keep it looking, um, bald, I need to shave every other day. I barely shave my face that often! If one does not keep up on the maintenace, bad things can happen. Things like velcro head. This is an actual thing (all the bald fellas, what up!) where the layer of fuzz on your head acts like the sticky side of velcro. Towels stick, shirts and, especially and, sweaty workout clothes. I’ve actually gotten trapped once, flailing away in the closest until my wife came and helped me escape.

Now that I’ve been at it for a few months, including a few weeks without a shaver, I’m still at it, with modifications. I have determined that a good routine is to shave once per week, typically on Sunday. That leaves me a few days to let the 5 o’clock shadow for form, which actually looks better than fully bald. Since there is no way for me to keep that length, weekly shaving is how I will maintain.

This is a topic I am pretty sure I haven’t written about here, a fact that I just realized earlier this week. For those of you that follow me on twitter, you might understand that I like beer. While I wouldn’t call myself a true enthusiast because I’m just not that douchey, I do like to dabble.

I have been accused of drinking too much beer, and with my old pal diabetes, that would be a valid accusation. But here’s the thing; I don’t drink too much beer. I track too much beer. Please note the image for this post. That’s from an app called untappd, which me and many of my fellow beer drinkers use to keep track of the brews we drink, where we drink them and who we drink them with. And that app can be noisy.

For example, while in New York City, I checked into 1 beer and that check-in generated 7 social media posts. Each subsequent beer check-in that night generated even more posts, so by the time I got back to my hotel room, Mom thought I was turning into a raging alcoholic!

Anyway, I’ve been tracking my beers since 2013. in that amount of time, I have tried 489 unique beers according to the app. That is not a perfect number for 1 reason; beer festivals. 1 in particular that is my favorite and it is called Arizona Strong Beer Fest. When it started, it was mostly beers that had an ABV (alcohol content) of 7% or higher. It has turned into a general craft beer event and, I think, it is the largest in Arizona. And it is a great way to spend a Saturday in February on a sunny day with good friends. Don’t bother trying to track the beers you drink unless you are hardcore. Too many people, not enough bandwidth. Also, beer.

I do have my eye on 500 uniques before the end of the year. I could do it this weekend since I’m only 11 away, but that’s not my style. I’m thinking 1 or 2 week until I hit that number, which is reasonable since that is about how many beers I do drink. Just need to make sure they are unique!