We had to run to the city yesterday so I didn’t have a chance to write. I thought about a quick blurb, but then decided I didn’t want to. I don’t want this to become a “chore” or just some task I need to check off a list daily – this is supposed to be a cathartic release for me so I’m sticking to that.
I got my haircut while in the city, and I think I finally found the person I can keep going to. I had tried this location out early on and the fist gal was great, but the next time I tried to make an appointment she had quit (I later found out that she left to work in at a spa facility). They had another guy do it, but I wasn’t impressed with the job he did, and didn’t care to hear him bitch and moan about Trump the whole time – I mean, I don’t care much for the guy either, but there’s no need to proselytize to a captive audience.
The next several times I ended up at another shop and after several visits found a gal who did a good job and seemed reliable so I kept seeing her. While I liked her work, I didn’t care much for the shop she worked at. The manager was rude whenever I would call in and ask if she was working to see if I should drive down and would always say that any of the staff could address my needs. I think since they were a chain (albeit small), and were already struggling with turnover that she was concerned about customers becoming a “regular” of a particular employee. Well they changed the reservation system (I could no longer call in half way to the city to get on the list, and their list hold time was shorter than the time it took for me to drive all the way there) and while she would manually re-add me to the list, she decided to leave as well. I would have followed her to another place, but she decided to take a break and got a job in another industry, so my search was back on.
Well this time I hit the jackpot – I called the first place again and asked to talk to a manager. I expressed my concern about seeing one person consistently and asked for an appointment with someone who had been there for a period of time. It turns out I spoke to the owner and she set my appointment with herself – at least I don’t have to worry about her just up and quitting one day.
The cut itself was great – she did an amazing job and used scissors instead of clippers on my beard to reduce the amount of split ends that would develop. And now I believe I found my “forever home.” I previously had 6 people who would cut my hair regularly (barring the occasional one-offs at a chain place or while looking for a regular) – the old-school barber I went to as a kid, the stylist who cried and had a customer yell at her for cutting my long hair when I was planning on going into the Navy, the stylist who took care of my long hair for years and encouraged me to donate every now and then (and told me I needed to consider shorter styles when I started thinning), the gal from Great Clips that I followed to three locations because she was great, the gal I found in Idaho when we first moved (originally at Great Clips and followed the notes from the previous gal well) that I followed to her new location, and the gall who left the field altogether… but now I’m on number seven and I think I’ll be here a while. I tend to be loyal to people, not businesses.
I wasn’t intending to write that much about a simple haircut, and actually had something else in mind for today – maybe I’ll get to that tomorrow.
Interesting Tidbits
Song of the day: Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi
The Lost Art Of Thinking Historically – “To understand the world today, we must see it as actors of the past did: through a foggy windshield, not a rearview mirror, facing a future of radical uncertainty.”
Why my friend Christopher Robin grew to despise his father A.A. Milne for ‘filching his good name’ – “When he died, aged 75, in 1996, I think he was at peace with himself and the world of Pooh. He knew that his father had created something unique: an innocent, idyllic world that, as he put it, ‘just by picking up a book, you can visit any time you like’. He smiled. ‘There’s always Pooh,’ he said, ‘there’s always Pooh and me.'”
NASA confirms Moon landing by a private American spacecraft – “Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 made a landing near Mons Latreille in Mare Crisium on the Moon’s near side, and teams expect about one lunar day of surface operations.”
When Astronauts Enter Space, a “Dark Genome” Activates in Their DNA – “Researchers have found that human stem cells are constantly under stress in the microgravity of space — activating hidden, ancient sections of DNA called the ‘dark genome.'”
Proton Mail Suspended Journalist Accounts at Request of Cybersecurity Agency – “The journalists were reporting on suspected North Korean hackers. Proton only reinstated their accounts after a public outcry.”
In police youth program, abuse often starts when officers are alone with teens in cars – “A quarter of sexual misconduct allegations in law enforcement Explorers programs involve officers grooming or abusing young people during ride-alongs.”
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